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

Good afternoon and welcome to September 9th, 2020. Good afternoon and welcome to September 9th, 2020.

Good afternoon and welcome to September 9th, 2020. any public comment on closed session items. Individuals who speak on closed session items listed, if you are here in the auditorium and haven't done so already, please submit a WCCURC public comment card. Individuals who raise their hands up to the mat, if you are sent to the meeting by phone, press star nine. to be expressively without intimidation. Please visit and speak to each speaker's comments at a respected time as you go to your home. Be open to the one is offered. Due to the Brown and board members who have discussed items that are not on the agenda, the items presented in public comment. The items listed for public and agenda tonight are, the diet and trade, conference of labor negotiated, public employee

Okay.

Good.

That's one thing.

1, 2. 1, 2.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Let's see. Let's see.

Let's see.

Testing, one, two, sound check.

And we will now be going on to public comment again.

Can you hear yourself? Can you hear me?

Can you guys hear me? Yes, we can hear you. So good evening, board. Good evening, superintendent Cotton. My name is Jose. I'm a sophomore at El Cedro High School and also a current All-Student Congress member. I just want to take the time to congratulate new Student Board Trustee Ashton and returning Student Trustee Brooke Miles. It takes a long way for them to be a student trustee. The work they will be doing, I know they will do a great job stepping up to represent thousands of students is a big job. It takes real courage and it is a great thing that they're doing this to see student voices and having worked with these students is important because I know what they are. I know that they will hear our voices. And my message to these new trustees is Ask tough questions. Don't be afraid of asking tough questions because both of you are representing us, the 26,000 students who go in this district. Before my time runs out, I just want to invite the board to our first All-Student Congress meeting this Monday at the John. library from 6 p.m. to 7.30. Thank you so much.

Okay, so the comment we will now close the session. We will be back at 6.30.

Good afternoon and welcome to the open session of the September 9th, 2026 regular board meeting of the West Contra Costa Unified School District. I am calling open session to order at 6.31 p.m. Para acceder a la traducción en Zoom, haga clic en el icono de globo de la parte inferior de la pantalla. Si se encuentra de John y necesita audífonos para la traducción, puede recogerlos en la esquina trasera del auditorio. Now, to access translation in Zoom, please click on the globe icon at the bottom of the screen. If you are here at Dijon and need headsets for translation, you may pick one up at the back corner of the auditorium. In a few minutes, we'll begin the public comment agenda item. Members of the public are invited to speak to the board on any matter that is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the West Contra Costa Unified School District, but 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 at the entryway hallway. If you are participating via Zoom, please raise your hand in the Zoom app and prior to the beginning of the 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 will call on speakers one at a time, alternating between public comment here at Dijon and one on Zoom. Public comment generally lasts for one hour. The time allotted to each speaker is two minutes. In the meantime, we will be moving on to the rest of our opening procedures. Item B2, Pledge of Allegiance. If you are willing and able to rise, please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Item B3, Land, Labor, and Body Acknowledgement. We recognize that we are presently on the land of the Chochenyo, Muwekma, Clarkian, Ohlone peoples and acknowledge them as the first inhabitants of the land we currently occupy. I acknowledge that the burden of environmental exploitation and systematic injustice falls upon the labor of black and brown bodies in the building of this country and its institutions. I remember that black and brown bodies were born and died working this land against their will for generations. I also acknowledge 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 R. I don't for what's got to cost a unified school dish aboard anti-racism statement the governing board is committed to the work of anti-racism the conscience and active effort to identify challenges. Correct ratio and equities of the sense of an institution within our schools and community racism explicit or implicit that's a direct conflict to the fundamental principles of district education. To carry district education into the future, we recognize that we must continually renew and reflect on the roots of racism and develop new ideas to meet the times. Unjust ideas and policies and racial inequities they produce have shaped us, our schools, our society. The board strives to uncover unconscious biases and practices anti-racism as individuals and as board members. We challenge ourselves to persist through the discomfort necessary for growth, learning, to deepen our listening and our examination of racism and oppression, and to develop strong an understanding of how our 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, nurturing an anti-racist learning environment where each student, staff member, and community partner is a respected and valued member of the district community. The governing board is uniquely positioned and it is our responsibility to identify, dismantle racist ideas, 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 living the standards of anti-racism in our schools. Board approved March 20th, 2024. And we'll now move on to item five, introduction of new student trustees.

Thank you, Board President. Good evening. I'm very excited to introduce our new student trustees, new and returning student trustees. First, I'd like to introduce Brooke Miles. She is the returning student trustee. She served on the board in the fall of 2025. Brooke is an 11th grader at Vista High School. In the future, she would like to major in ecology and become a tropical ecologist. Never heard of that, but I'm really excited, and it sounds like you'll be in amazing places and doing amazing things. Her hobbies are golf, softball, cross-country, weightlifting, and hiking. She's joining the board to advocate for alternative education. Welcome, Brooke. Welcome back. I would also like to welcome Ashton Demangles. Did I pronounce that correctly? Would you turn on your mic and tell us how to pronounce your last name, please, sir?

Oh, okay, wow. It's pronounced Demangles. Oh, my God, this is loud. It's pronounced Demangles, so almost like it's just D-E-M-O-N-G, not the L-E-S silence, so Demangles.

I will start over again. I'd like to welcome Ashton Demangles. He is an 11th grader at, I'm sorry, a 10th grader at El Cerrito High School. When he goes to college, he would like to major in political science and international relations. Some of his hobbies are speech and debate,

He also enjoys collecting vinyl records and traveling.

He is joining the board to promote youth oriented policies that can really make the district better and give more students across the district leadership and civic engagement opportunities. So welcome to you, Ashton. So glad that you're both joining us. That concludes our introduction of our student trustees.

Thank you and welcome. We will now move on to roll call. Superintendent, will you please call roll?

Absolutely. This is the time when I call out your name and you can respond with hello or present or here or however you choose to greet the community. We'll start with Student Trustee Miles. Good evening, President. Student Trustee DeMont.

Good evening, President.

Board Trustee Reckler.

Good evening, present.

Board Trustee Smith-Bolts. Good evening, everyone. Welcome, student trustees, present. Board Trustee Hernandez. Good evening, present. Our board clerk, Gonzalez-Hoy, is absent right now. And Board President Inanna.

Buenas noches a todos, presente. We'll now move on to our agenda review and a stop. I mean, sorry. We'll now move on to report ratification of post-session to Superintendent Cardin. Is there anything to report out?

Yes, please.

Regarding agenda item A21, the board took action to reject claim number 677386 related to an alleged personal injury. The vote was as follows. It was moved by Trustee Reckler, seconded by Trustee Hernandez. Board President Ayanna was yes. Trustee Reckler, yes. Trustee Gonzalez-Hoy, absent. Trustee Smith-Bowles, yes. And Trustee Hernandez, yes. The board took action to reject claim number 676746, related to an alleged personal injury. The vote was as follows. Moved by Trustee Reckler, seconded by Trustee Hernandez. Board President Inanna, yes. Trustee Reckler, yes. Trustee Gonzales-Foy, absent. Trustee Stuntfolds, yes. Trustee Hernandez, yes. Regarding agenda item A-2-2, there is no report out. Regarding agenda item A-2-3, the board voted to approve the appointment of David Oliver as director of IT operations. The vote was as follows. Moved by Trustee Reckler, seconded by Trustee Hernandez. Board President Inouye, yes. Trustee Reckler, yes. Trustee Gonzales-Moy absent. Trustee Smith-Fold, yes. Trustee Hernandez, yes. The Board voted to approve the appointment of Suzanne Lefer as Director of Business Services, State and Federal Programs. The vote was as follows. Moved by Trustee Reckler, seconded by Trustee Hernandez. Board President Ayanna, yes. Trustee Reckler, yes. Trustee Gonzales-Hoy absent. Trustee Smith-Bolts, yes. Trustee Hernandez, yes. Regarding agenda item A24, in closed session, the Board approved apologize in closed session the board approved the notice of intent to recommend disciplinary disciplinary action re dismissal from employment of a permanent classified campus safety specialist and directed the superintendent or designate to issue the appropriate legal notice A roll call vote was as follows. Moved by Trustee Reckler, seconded by Trustee Hernandez. Board President Pagano, yes. Trustee Reckler, yes. Trustee Gonzalez-Hoy absent. Trustee Smith-Bolts, yes. Trustee Hernandez, yes. That concludes this report out.

Thank you, superintendent. And now we'll move on to agenda review on adoption. Does the board have anything that they would like to adjust on the agenda? I see now we will proceed with the we will proceed with the agenda as published. When I move on to Public comment. Members of the public are invited to speak to the board on any matter within the subject matter jurisdiction of the West Country Council Unified School District, but not on today's agenda. Public comment will last approximately one hour. The time allotted to each speaker is two minutes. Should additional speakers remain at the conclusion of one hour, Public comment may be extended. The time allowed 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 the item on the agenda. If you are calling in by phone, press star 9. 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 and one minute per speaker. The same protocols are cited above apply. The public comment period is a safe space where diverse viewpoints may be expressed in a civil manner without interruption of intimidation. Please listen attentively to each speaker's comment and respect their time at the podium as if they were your own. Be open to a different point of view if one is offered. Due to the brown act, board members cannot discuss items that are not on the agenda and do not usually respond to items presented in public comment. Is there any public comment tonight?

Yes, we have public comment.

If you are here speaking on the summit time applies I doubt we are going to hold that often to the item is caught right now we will only be taking general public comments.

First public speaker. I don't think you'll miss Gonzalez.

Good evening, members of the board. My name is Aracel Gonzalez. I'm a local resident, an early worker, and I'm here tonight to humble ask for your understanding. I'll help her get in her first grade daughter, Sunny. Sunny has been attending Michelle Obama Elementary since her first day of school. On August 18, she loved her teacher because completely safe and has formed a beautiful bond of trust with her classmates. For a six-year-old child, this stable routine means everything to her. This morning, our daughter was physically turned away at the school door later. The school say they will let her in just for today that that much was already done and it was overwhelmed by being rejected the morning that she was crying and she's like, I refuse to enter the building. She's already being deeply affected emotionally and psychologically. By this sustainable situation as a parent, it feels different for my 6 year old child. He's been punished, punished it and power front of nature to be capacity issue that she did not break. Our request to keep her here comes on to a vital bicycle safety concern. Sandy's primary caregiver is her grandmother, who does not drive and navigates everything on foot. Specially her grandmother also wants her own youngest child, an 11-year-old six-year-old to Michelle Obama Elementary School. If Santa is transferred to a different campus, it becomes a bicyclist. It could also be a laborer, a pediatrist, or a mother to cross dangerous traffic corridors and simultaneously deliver to children to separate schools. Miles apart at the exact same morning bell. Of course, this operation puts minor children at active rates of poverty every single day.

We have an IP ticket, 411-3353, open with an ombudsman to review the safety hardship.

We are not looking for something or simply asking you all the as elective justice to care about neighborhood families to remove this paper then from our daughter, please don't hurt her hardship exception so she can stay where she is safe, happy and walking together with her family. Thank you so much for your time and compassion tonight.

Next public speaker, Jeffrey Bean. Please unmute yourself.

Good evening. Jeffrey Bean here. I teach fifth grade at Shannon Elementary. We're having an excellent year. I have 28 students now. I got a new student yesterday and I am very happy with the year so far. We're having a lot of fun. Students are, for the most part, very kind and caring for each other and we're having a good time. The major issue right now is the temperature. I'm in Shannon Elementary on the south facing side of the building and I have a thermometer I put on the whiteboard in my classroom, and today the high temperature indoors at 2.14 p.m. was 85 degrees. So imagine you're in a classroom with 20-something people, nearly 30 people, and it's 85 degrees inside. This is 85 degrees for children who are 10 or 11 years old. It's not okay. And I mean, do you know how hard it would be to have students be able to learn in those conditions? It's not okay. And I know the district has a deadline of next summer to solve this issue based on our new contract with my union. However, you don't need to wait until next summer. You can do something now because every day that we have 85 degrees indoors is the day that we don't get as much learning done as we would otherwise. I mean, I want to ask them to be quiet and to listen to a math lesson. And it's hard to do when you're 10 years old. It's hard to do as a grown-up. If you were all in your meeting right now at 85 degrees, I don't think you would... You'd probably call the meeting off and go into a place that has better temperature settings. So something ought to be done, and it's been way too long. It's been this way for a long time, and I hope that you can find a solution tomorrow. We've got fans. Parents don't have fans. It helps a lot, but it still is very, very, very hot. So thank you very much. Have a good night.

Next public speaker is Rob.

Hello, my name is Rob Brown. I'm from right here in Richmond, California. I've been active for 25 or 30 years. I've been active on the Human Rights Commission in many areas. I have a neighbor today in need, and I'm very pleased to see Mr. Booker over there speaking, because what I do is I'm active. I'm not paid by Richmond. I work for Costco. So I can speak my mind, and I can see I have your attention right now. That's what I wanted. That's what I wanted from him. First-year generation from Mexico and his wife. They're not against anything. The grandma walks the kid 10 blocks to school, Michelle Obama, who we name that. Put effort into it. That's why I want to let you know is that The child didn't go to school today because she's mixed up. The cousin goes to the same school, which we don't generally mix, but I guess there could be changes. I explained to him the school that they were going to send her to, Maravista. Yours truly went to Maravista. I'm from here like a few of you that are left. But the hardest thing of all is to get your attention. To have your attention enough so you remember that you stand, you are the voice for the community, what Mr. Booker is doing right now. Whether you give this family their way doesn't matter to me. But the second that I don't hear the people anymore with this bald head walking from north, south, central, everywhere I go, the second I don't listen to the people, there's a problem. and all our public schools will be gone.

We don't want... Next speaker, Gail Montanez. Please unmute yourself. Gail Montanez.

Hello, can you hear me?

Yes.

Hi, good evening, President, members of the board, superintendent, and district administrators. My name is Gail Montaña-Sosana, and I'm one of the speech department co-leads for the district. I'm here tonight to raise an urgent concern about our SLP staffing. Due to a sudden change in HR policy regarding contracted SLPs, we have already lost five licensed bilingual in-person SLPs who are qualified and ready to serve our students. What is particularly concerning is that the new credential requirement appears to go above and beyond what California Ed Code requires for contracted SLPs. We are also potentially at risk of losing five additional contractors who have previously been allowed to provide services without this requirement. That means we could potentially lose up to 10 qualified providers, including critical bilingual and in-person capacity. I also want to clarify that teachers working under emergency substitute credentials are not the same as licensed SLPs providing services as contractors. These are different professional roles with different qualifications and scopes of practice, and that distinction should be considered when establishing requirements for SLP providers. This is not simply an HR issue. It is a student services issue. Losing these providers increases pressure on our existing staff, creates services gaps, and may force greater reliance on virtual therapy. I also want to acknowledge Dr. Rachel Chang, who has been working tirelessly with us as co-leads and following up with HR to help ensure our students continue receiving the speech services they need. We respectfully ask district leadership to please urgently review this policy and its impact on our students and staffing. Our students need access to qualified therapists and their services cannot wait. Thank you.

Mark Mitchell.

Good evening, President Yonah, Superintendent Kottman, and trustees. Welcome to the student trustees. I want to read a letter from Mayor Pro Tem Devin Murphy to Superintendent Kottman, President Yonah, and the trustees. I'm writing to urge the board and the superintendent to reinstate Troy McConnico as head varsity football coach at Pinell Valley High School. I've worked directly with Coach McConnico for the past three years for the early partnerships between the city of Pinell and Pinell Valley High School at that time. He has been a consistent and effective partner in bringing the city and school closer together, helping to build programs and relationships that benefit students well beyond the football field. What has struck me most working with him is his integrity. He is straightforward. He follows through. on what he commits to, and he has earned the trust of students, families, city staff, and elected officials alike. Beyond the field, Coach McConnico is an intellectually challenging teacher. He teaches world history at Pinole Valley, and given the state of our city and our country right now, I find that work especially valuable. Students who spend their afternoons under his coaching and their mornings in his classroom are getting a rare combination, rigorous instruction and disciplined mentorship from the same person. I saw the impact of Coach McConnico's leadership firsthand in 22, 23, when I was serving as the mayor of McConnico Valley Spartans to the CIF state championship. The city of McConnico was proud to celebrate that achievement with the team, holding a rally and a parade. to honor players and coaching staff. That season was a genuine source of pride for our entire community and it reflected the kind of program Coach McConnico built, one rooted in discipline, mentorship, and school pride. Coach McConnico is a dedicated educator, a graduate of Kanawha Valley High School, a star football player. He deserves respect as a black male teacher in this district who has served students for many, many years, reinstate him right away, work with us to restore integrity of the football program at the whole Valley.

Karen, please unmute yourself.

Karen?

Yes. Good evening, school board members. and Superintendent Cotton. My name is Karen Van Winkle, and I'm a third grade teacher at Murphy Elementary. We have two huge issues right now. Number one, in our art room, the CO2 monitor is reading red when all the doors and windows are open. Our art teacher got a headache within an hour of being in the room. Last year, we reported this to maintenance. Maintenance said, open all the doors and windows. We're doing that, and there's no change happening. This is a room where first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth graders are being serviced. Second large issue is our room temperature. I agree with Jeffrey Bean from Shannon. My classroom today was 81 degrees. My classroom yesterday was also in the 80s. Our OSHA standard doesn't go above 76 degrees. We are going to start keeping a tally of how many days our classroom goes above 76 degrees. Thank you for your time. And we appreciate school board member Reckler's response to our email last week regarding the poison oak all over our campus. We look forward to action. And thank you.

Marie Anayam.

First, I want to lift up the speech therapist department. As you know, those are my colleagues. There is a crisis going on. There are over 600 students who are not receiving speech therapy services. And as a speech therapist with 19 years experience, I know the importance of continually receiving therapy. My children also have IEPs and receive speech therapy. I hope this crisis can be resolved and we can have in-person therapists come so all children can communicate, all students. Now today, I had to use Uber. My car went out. I was just amazed with all safety features available to the passengers. PIN number, picture ID, camera, audio recordings, GPS sharing, license plate, a sticker in the window. I really felt safe in the car. I also want that same feeling with my children and the other students who ride on the buses. I'm grateful to leadership who's looking into the picture ID rosters, cameras, and GPS on the buses. These are safety precautions that are going to benefit all students on the buses. I think as a mother, yes, I'm very observant. And I see this as an area that needs to be strengthened. I also just wanted to tell you my kids had a really good time at Michelle Obama School last summer. Lydia learned a lot. She was even starting to blend. She came home and told me, Mommy, school hard. But I told her, you're now a kindergartner, and it's going to be a little more challenging. And her teacher said, Lydia is learning. Malik enjoyed his ESY program and his class did great working with him. This is my 22nd. I will continue coming back.

Mr. Sloan, please send me yourself. Mr. Sloan, please send me yourself.

Hi, can you hear me?

Go ahead.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Oh, thank you. My name is Matthew Sloan, and I am principal at Chavez Elementary in Richmond. I was humbled and privileged by a visit to our wonderful school by Trustee Hernandez, President Inanna, and Superintendent Cotton earlier today. We had the opportunity to walk classrooms and see many of our students first thing this morning. We enjoyed time with some of our youngest learners in Ms. Vasquez's TK classroom, We saw our site's intentionality with supporting the teacher pipeline. In Ms. Dolan's kindergarten class with her student teacher, Masayala, we saw our bilingual first graders doing their morning routine in Ms. Gonzalez's first grade DLI classroom. And in Ms. Buster's sixth grade classroom, we saw a wonderful Eureka math lesson focused on students' critical thinking or doing the lift of the lesson. We saw a range of social, emotional, and academic activities and a focus on our positive learning environment grounded in PBIS. I appreciate all of the efforts of our amazing teachers, special education staff, aides, office staff, custodial staff, food service workers, and administrators who contribute to our school to make it the special place that it is. Thank you to our board members and to our superintendent for the visit and for your ongoing support. Thank you.

I'm a speech language pathologist and a parent in WCCUSD. I want to share some numbers with you tonight. over 100 that's how many hours my colleague and i spent this summer trying to fix slp staffing and bacon 10. that's how many bilingual contractor slps we've lined up to help close the gap in person by the way five That's how many have already withdrawn because HR won't approve them over a CTC credential, despite California Ed Code stating that contractors don't need one. Four additional bilingual SLPs may walk away if this decision doesn't change soon. I want to be clear, our SELPA director has been pushing hard to fix this with us. The holdup is a jar. 23. That's how many sites are still fully or partially unstacked. Over 600. That's how many have no services. My colleague and I have been building assignments and recruiting since June 10th before our new roles even officially started, trying to get every site staffed before the year even began. But we are not the decision makers. You are. So here's what I'm asking for tonight, a dated staffing plan for these 23 sites and a public report back at your next meeting on what's been resolved and what HR still needs to move on. Not another acknowledgment that this is a problem, an actual timeline. One last number, seven. That's how many days overdue my own child's speech assessment is right now. 600 students is a number on a page until it's your own.

Sarah Shafry.

Hello, can you hear me?

Yes.

I'm calling in in support of reinstating Coach McConnico at Pinell Valley High School. Coach McConnico is a pillar of our community. He inspires our youth. He is an amazing teacher and colleague, and we request that the board pressure, puts on pressure to bring Troy back into his head coach position that he deserves and that our students deserve. Thank you.

Caitlin Markenzi.

Good evening, board. I'm here tonight as a teacher at Vista High School, where I currently work as the digital photography, advanced photography teacher, along with being a supervisor teacher. My students recently checked out their cameras for the year, and they're beginning to explore the world through a different lens, learning to see, create, and tell stories. through photography i also co-teach leadership where students are excited to pioneer change not just at vista but throughout the district and in our community they have ideas they have passion and they genuinely want to make things better we are incredibly proud to have trustee miles representing vista in all wc usc students and making sure our students voices are heard in a district this large there will always be voices that are louder than ours so as you make decisions about the future of wcc usd i ask that you please remember the students at vista high school i would also like to formally invite each of you to come and participate to observe our class i will be emailing each of you during our unit for portrait photography it will be a great time for you to come meet the students that you represent and also get some headshots taken When we get to our professional speaking and communication meeting and leadership, please expect to hear from me again. I know that our students would love to learn from board members and our superintendent. Our students are invested and ask great questions. That is the beauty of choice schooling. Students' needs are met where they previously were not. VISTA students are that they chose the school they attend, not by a red line, but by a need to learn in a different environment. They deserve to be seen, heard and invested in. Thank you.

Edith Jordan McCormick.

thank you um good evening board trustees superintendent cotton new colleagues um and those that know me my name is edith george mccormick and if you follow me on social media you know i call myself the happiest and luckiest principal in wcc usd but i think this year i want to start talking about my why I am the principal of the Vista family of schools. That's Vista High School. You just met my colleague, Caitlin Marchese. But that also includes what's now called the Vista Virtual Academy. And we are an in-person hybrid, fully virtual academy. Last year, under the math initiative, we were, as principals, we were assigned by Mark Labaco to go check out our Algebra 1 classes. And I have to say, I spent all last year and starting this year in our Algebra 1 classes. And as a proud product of LA Unified, I now know how much Algebra 1 I did not learn. In our Algebra 1 courses, Mary Chris Cruzat, who's also the lead teacher and who I proudly call the best math teacher in the district, teaches two sections of algebra to two separate different kids in a hybrid fashion. So she's teaching online and she's also teaching students. And I too would like to invite you to come check out and see what we do and how we do what we do. We are a school that uses independent studies as our primary vehicle of academics, but we are not a school where we hand out packets. We are a school that we are highly integrated and we really push our kids. But lastly, I really came to tell that young lady on the end over there, Brooke Miles, um what a pleasure it is to be your principal i am so proud of you and i want to thank you so much for reminding me why i do what i do thank you that concludes public comment for this item

President Pagnotta, after consent, is it okay if we move summit up to directly after consent since we have a number of people here and a number of families and children?

Yeah, it's not gonna get abolished yet. before we move it and i'm fine with moving it i think that we need to

suspend the rules and then suggestion this is the best practice and that just means all of us have to have a unanimous consent that we can suspend the rules it's believing that it doesn't have to be done that way but best practice is to spin the rules by a two-thirds vote we all think they get then make the motion second although i had to move that we suspend the rules so that we can move some of the other

I'll set the poll center. Everybody in favor?

You want to do a roll call vote or just aye?

We can just do aye.

Aye.

Anybody abstain? Okay, motion passes.

Okay, so now I'll put a motion on the floor to move F1, Summit, public hearing for Summit Town Pius to just after C, consent.

12 seconds.

So we have an item moved by a regular second by Smith vote. Everyone will move to roll call.

Miles. Yes. A student trustee.

Yes.

Trustee Regler. Yes. 12.

12 yes.

Trustee . Yes. Trustee . Yes. Absolute roll call. So motion passes to move item F1 to directly after consent. And now we'll continue on to our agenda with standing reports. And thank you to everyone who gave public comment today, by the way. So now we'll move on to standing reports and we have community schools and UTR.

Yes, we have community schools and UTR.

I'm the speaker tonight. I'm one of the co-chairs of our community school support collaborative. My name is Liz Sanders. I'm the president of community and community communications. Also cheering us on virtually is Joyce. Are we okay on the audio? Is it possible to restart the time?

Yeah, there's a buzzing, but also, is the mic on?

The mic is on.

We'll restart it. Give us a moment just to get the sound going.

Testing, one, two, three.

Testing, one, two, three.

Great.

Testing.

Hello, hello.

Yes. So I would just say speak into the mic. Testing, one, two, three. Great.

Very much. Good evening. I'm President Ileana . in the community engagement and communication. After speaking tonight as one of the co-chairs, we need to support collaborative for all the . I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Okay, that's good.

Can you hear on Zoom? I know that you're listening. Can't hear a thing on Zoom, so we'll hold it.

We'll take a five minute to try to adjust sound, audio.

Mic test, one, two, sound check, sound check. Mic check, mic check, one, two, sound check, sound check, one, two, mic test. Mic test, Leslie, do you hear me? Jeff, do you hear me? Okay, one, two, sound check. Check, check, one, two, one, two, sound check. Zoom test, one, two.

Testing, one, two, three.

Testing, one, two, three.

Testing one, two, three.

Do we have sound on Zoom? Testing one, two, three. I'm seeing nos from the dais. Testing one, two, three. Can you hear us?

We have sound on Zoom, but we just can't hear Liz Sanders.

Testing one, two, three. Can you hear us on Zoom? I see a thumbs up. So we're ready to go.

Thank you very much.

We will keep it moving. We appreciate everyone's patience. We are here to represent the Community School Support Collaborative. Joyce Sinnott, who is our community co-chair of the support collaborative is also here with us tonight and we appreciate Joyce's support. Kathy Baker, who is the educator co-chair of the Community School Support Collaborative, is cheering us on from afar. She looks forward to being here at a future date to report on the role of the community school's teacher leaders. We are here today to make sure that we are keeping faithful to our promise in summer 2026 to deliver a standing report from the support collaborative every month of this school year this month's report out from the support collaborative focuses on the board's request for metrics that really strongly show the progress of our district's community schools initiative so the board has a copy of the year-over-year summary of our community schools progression along the five capacity building strategies, which are integral to the California Community Schools Framework. These strategies are a shared commitment, understanding, and priorities, centering community-based learning, collaborative leadership, sustaining staff and resources, and strategic community partnerships. It's my honor to be here tonight with Tiara Shelton, who's our newly appointed district director of community schools, who shepherds this work. And we will be talking about two capacity building strategies that we have shown the most growth in as a district in the past year, and two capacity building strategies that we are working to accelerate. So I will pass it to Tiara to start with our collaborative leadership strategy. That was one of the ones we saw the most growth in last year.

Thank you, Assistant Superintendent. Hi, everyone. We are glad to discuss how we've seen a lot of progress when it comes to collaborative leadership due to the hard work of our community school directors. One, being empowered to know that they are the conveners of the work with the school site leadership, as well as parent leaders and student leaders at their site. And collaboratively, they all have begun to work hard starting last year. We're always monitoring the goals that they have set out in their AIP and their CISAs and making sure with every action collaborative meeting or community schools leadership meeting at our legacy school sites that they're bringing those goals to the forefront and meeting to identify are we on point with moving this needle forward? Are there things we need to address or conversations that need to be held with our team as a whole or our community partners?

We also want to recognize that we saw incredible growth this past year and strategic community partnerships as a strategy. This makes a lot of sense because strategic community partnerships and braided resources have been 1 of the key elements of our district's community school strategy for over 20 years. So it makes sense that where we have invested resources and focus over a long period of time, we're seeing growth. And as we are designing our strategies for this coming year, we're turning our attention to two capacity building strategies that are strongly linked to our district-wide goal and where we see a need to accelerate. And so I'll turn it back over to Tiara to talk about centering community-based learning.

We have an opportunity to start prioritizing community based learning with what we call our wide plan. I had the pleasure of coming to speak with you all about this specific engagement, but you may not have been aware of of the many projects that were going on at different school sites. including what the community school directors were able to support with those sites, such as Greenwood with their cafeteria and meal plan, as well as Richmond with our community school director, Kenny Moore, going to the Richmond City Council with his scholars because of that project. We're really wanting to make sure we uplift that even more. We've already had our one-on-ones to increase the community school directors that are involved in the Y plan projects. I'm excited to say that Helms is one of our school sites that we'll be championing on and many more. And just making sure we're part of that cross collaboration with the college and career team to get our students in honest, true, like advanced learning where they feel connected civically, but also empowered to do what they can for their community.

Thank you. And the second capacity building strategy that we are focusing on this year is shared commitment, understanding, and priorities. That strongly links with our district-wide focus on coherence, building coherence across all of our schools. It's also how we think about taking our community schools' work from tier two and tier three focus work to really tier one focus work so that every student who's walking in our doors is experiencing their school as a community school. So when we think about center and community-based learning as that foundational focus on courageous scholarship, so that all of our scholars are getting the skills that they need to feel empowered to address issues in our communities. Also that shared commitment, understanding and priorities are important so that our whole system understands that we are a community schools district. And so the other resource that we've provided you tonight is a directory of our community schools by school families so that you can see that our Kennedy feeder family of schools and our Richmond feeder family of schools are entirely community schools from TK through 12. And you can see it in many of our other school families in the green. We have current grant funded community schools. schools in the yellow are schools that based on their UPP threshold we anticipate applying for new funding and those in the blue are those who have had community school strategies like our wellness centers but because of their UPP threshold don't qualify for the state grant but we still consider them part of the district-wide community school strategy we hope that that's been useful clarity and metrics and we look forward to continuing to come back to present

We have Francisco Ortiz for UTR.

Good evening board members, community, staff. My name is Dr. Francisco Ortiz and I am here today to share a couple of updates on some issues that have been recurring in the district that we have also as an organization, as United Teachers of Richmond has been bringing to the forefront of the district's attention. The first issue that I wanna highlight as can be evidenced in today's meeting is the heat wave that we're currently experiencing. And UTR through our heat survey that we conducted last spring has identified 24 schools throughout the district that are not adequately prepared for an extreme heat event. And in those classrooms or in those schools, classroom temperatures have exceeded above 80 degrees Fahrenheit. And the main findings that our members, that our educators are reporting are the conditions and how they impact student learning. And so they report reduced academic performance, physical health concerns, behavioral and emotional impact, and disrupted instructional environments. And so we know that high classroom temperatures severely hinder students' ability to focus, concentrate, and retain information, often making learning impossible as students become lethargic, sleepy, or disengaged. We also know that extreme heat causes significant physical distress, including headaches, dehydration, nosebleeds, dizziness, nausea, and in severe cases, symptoms of heat exhaustion or heat stroke. We also get reports that teachers are frequently forced to abandon planned lessons, adjust schedules, or see cooler locations like libraries or hallways as both students and staff struggle to function effectively in an overheated, poorly ventilated classroom. This is further evidence by the Ford Elementary School indoor air quality assessment that UTR commissioned last spring as well. It confirms with research what our members are reporting. What we also notice is that during a 2026 heat wave in March, indoor temperatures reached 84.7 degrees with a heat index of nearly 87 degrees. We also noticed and reported that HVAC filters were found to be 15 months past the replacement date, which potentially restricts airflow. And we also tested 14,000 BTU portable air conditioners, which demonstrated a reduction in both temperature and humidity in the classrooms. And so, while those solutions are effective ductless mini split systems were identified as a superior long term option, due to lower power consumption, and so we look forward to meeting with. The new superintendent over facilities Dr Ronald Hickey in the next coming week, so you can share all of this information, because we know that. June 2027 is coming in fast. And the more that we can get ahead of this issue, the faster that we can address the extreme heat in our classrooms. Next, I also want to echo what our SLP colleagues have been sharing today. We've been sounding the alarm about this all spring and summer. Now 600 plus students and families will receive notices of compensatory educational services owed to them because we don't have the staffing necessary to provide those services. And as you'll notice today in the on other actuals, spending for special education was actually less than what was projected. So those compensatory education services could have been done over the summer when UTR consistently advocated for that during each meeting with management. Lastly, I want to add on a positive note, I'm really happy to be working with the growing coalition of the Measure V Committee I want to commend Trustee Reckler and Trustee Hernandez for their leadership on that committee. We have secured endorsements from the Labor Council, the Democratic Party of Contra Costa County, the League of Women Voters, the El Cerrito, the Kensington Democratic Club, the Richmond Progressive Alliance, and we've already scheduled two mailers to go out to voters, and our first canvassing Saturday is this Saturday on September 12th, and we will be meeting at 12929 San Pablo Avenue from 10 to 1, and we will be getting the word out about Measure B, about Proposition 3. Neither of those are a new tax, and we will be canvassing for Richard Barrera for State Superintendent of Public Instruction, and Claudia Jimenez for Richmond Mayor. Thank you, everyone, and have a great evening.

second for standing reports thank you to everyone who gave standing reports we'll now move on to item 11 2627-22 resolution and recognition of latinx heritage month and that is miss sanders's item

Thank you very much. Now therefore be it resolved that the Board of Education and the West Contra Costa Unified School District proclaim September 15th through October 15th as Latinx, Chicano, Hispanic, Afro-Latino Heritage Month and encourage all educational communities to commemorate this occasion with appropriate instructional activities. Be it further passed and adopted by the Board of Education of the West Contra Costa Unified School District.

I got a motion.

I move that we pass, sorry. Resolution 2627-22 in recognition of Latinx heritage month.

Regler will second.

I don't move by another second by Regler and we'll move on to the vote. Do we have any comments from the board before the, Okay, seeing no comments, we'll now move on to the vote. Trustee Miles? Yes. Trustee DeMond?

Yes.

Trustee Redler? Yes. Trustee Smith-Fold? Smith-Fold, yes. Trustee Hernandez? Yes. Trustee Gonzalez-Hoy absent and Trustee Nunez is a yes. When I move on to item 122627-23 resolution and recognition of the California Native American Day.

Thank you. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the West Contra Costa Unified School District recognizes September 15th, 2026 as California Native American Day and encourages all students and teachers to learn about California Native American peoplehood and experiences, both past and present, and encourages all WCCST educators, staff, and leaders to engage meaningfully with our local tribes as intergovernmental partners.

Board President, I move to approve Resolution 2627-23 in recognition of the California Native American Day.

I will second.

Moved by Hernandez, seconded by Reckler. We'll move on to the votes. Trustee Miles? Yes. Trustee DeMond?

Yes.

Trustee Reckler? Yes. Trustee Smith-Folgs? Smith-Folgs, yes. Trustee Hernandez? Yes. Trustee Gonzalez-Hoy absent, and Trustee Añanaza, yes. We'll move on to item 13, 2627-24, Resolution and Recognition of Constitution and Citizenship Day.

Now, therefore, be it resolved that the West Contra Costa Unified School District recognizes September 17th, 2026 as Constitution and Citizenship Day and encourages all students and teachers to learn about the United States Constitution and our nation's democratic processes.

Smith-Foltz moves resolution 2627-24 in recognition of Constitution and Citizenship Day.

Reckler will second.

Moved by Trustee Smith-Fold, seconded by Reckler. Do we have any comments from the board? Trustee Reckler?

Thank you. I have a comment. And I just wanted to say that being a citizen, one of our most important rights and responsibility is voting. We have a very important election coming up. Everybody, register to vote. Learn about who you're voting for, the issues. We have so many good sources here in California, nonpartisan, excellent information, CalMatters, KQED, many sources from the government. So register to vote and vote in this election. Thank you.

We'll now move on to the vote. Trustee Miles? Yes. Trustee DeMond?

Yes.

Trustee Riggler? Yes. Trustee Smith-Fold? Smith-Fold, yes. Trustee Hernandez? Yes. Trustee Gonzalez-Hoye absent, and Trustee Ayanna is a yes. We will now move on to item C, consent items. Does any board member wish to pull any item from the consent for discussion later in the evening? Trustee Riggler?

Thank you. I'd like to pull C12, revised job description, adult ed human resources and systems technician for discussion.

Trustee Hernandez?

I would like to pull item C13, revised job description for health assistant and licensed vocational nurse.

Okay, so we items 12 and 13 have been pulled for later on in the evening. Otherwise we will accept the rest of the consent items as presented. We'll now move on to item F1. The discussion item for public hearing for summertime applies charter school renewal. So good evening, everyone. I am now opening the public hearing regarding the charter renewal and petition submitted by Summit Public Schools proposing the renewal of Summit Tamapais, which is currently authorized by the district at 7.56 p.m. The petitioners are asking the district board to approve the charter renewal petition for summit TAM applies for a five-year term, which will end June 30th, 2032. The education code requires the board to hold a public hearing within 60 days of receiving a charter renewal petition. The purpose of the public hearing is to determine the level of public support for the renewal of the charter school from district teachers, employees, and parents. The format for the public hearing today is as follows. First, representatives from summit will have 10 minutes to present information to the board and the public regarding their request to the board to approve their charter renewal petition. Following the presentation, board members may wish to ask the petitioner's question. After summit, schools presentation, we will take comments from the public in order to dodge the public support for charter school. Public comment for this matter will be limited to a total of 10 minutes. After public comment, I will close the public hearing. Again, I want to remind everyone that the board will not be taking action tonight. Staff are currently reviewing the submitted petition. Following the review of the petition and this public hearing, the governing board of the school district shall either grant or deny renewal of the charter within 90 days of receipt of the petition. The board will make its decision on the charter petition on October 7th, 2026 board meeting. The representatives from Summit Town will present to the board with public comment to follow. Will the representatives from Summit Schools please introduce yourselves and proceed with your presentation.

Good evening, everyone. Before we start the presentation, thank you for moving us up. Our community really appreciates that, and thank you again. Okay. Whenever the clicker is ready to start. I have 10 minutes, correct? Okay. We ready? Go? You may proceed. Thank you. Appreciate you. Good evening, President Inanna, members of the Board and Superintendent Cotton. My name is Eric Dilley and I am proud to be here tonight on behalf of Summit Temel Pius to respectfully request a five-year renewal of our charter petition for the 2027 through 2032 term. Next slide, please. For 10 years, Summit TAM has served as a small caring public school in West Contra Costa County, where students are known deeply, challenged academically and prepared for what comes next. Tonight, we present the evidence showing how our school is fulfilling its mission, meeting state renewal standards and delivering concrete outcomes for the young people of this district. Next slide, please. At Summit TAM, our vision is that every student is equipped to lead a fulfilled life, grounded in purpose, financial independence, strong relationships, community, and health. We achieve this by preparing a diverse community of young people with the academic skills, habits and self-direction needed to attain economic empowerment and succeed in life after high school. Over the past decade, that mission has translated into consistent daily practice in our classrooms. Next slide, please. Our educational model puts four distinct structures into practice. First, mentoring. Every student meets one-on-one with a dedicated mentor who knows them deeply, tracks their progress and partners with their family over time. Second, deep learning experiences. Students master a core academic knowledge and apply it through complex problem solving. Third, self-direction. Students learn to set goals, build actionable plans, and reflect on their learning, developing independence before they reach college. And fourth, expeditions. Three times a year, students step out of standard coursework to explore real-world career clusters, hands-on arts, and specialized fields, connecting classroom learning directly to potential career pathways. Next slide, please. Turning to the statutory criteria, under Education Code Section 47607 , Summit Temel Payas meets the standard for a five-year renewal as a middle performing school. Next slide, please. In our decade of serving this community, nearly 700 young people have graduated from Summit TAM. Their post-secondary performance reflects that preparation. Next slide, please. I'm entering my fifth year leading Summit Temel Payas. While these members reflect our enrollment data, I want to invite everyone to look around the room. You'll see a room filled with our students, our families and our staff and other community members. This community is who we serve every day. And they are the reason we're all here. I'm grateful to serve such a driven, committed and resilient community that truly reflects West Contra Costa County. Next slide, please. Looking directly at our performance on college and career readiness, TAM students consistently exceed statewide performance because our academic structure is built for access and to prepare students for life after high school. Every single senior at Summit TAM applies to a four-year university and 100% of our seniors graduate with at least one four-year college acceptance. in their hands and 100% of our graduates complete advanced placement coursework during their high school careers. We do not restrict AP access to a selective group. We prepare every student to engage with college level work. When you look at post-secondary enrollment, roughly three out of four of our graduates immediately step into higher education. 80% of our college-enrolled graduates persist year over year. That persistence rate demonstrates that our students don't just get admitted to college, they enter with the academic self-direction and study habits needed to stay and complete their degrees. Next slide, please. Summit Temel Pius maintains a 100% A through G completion rate across all student groups. This demonstrates our commitment to equity and practice. Across California, the state average for A through G completion is roughly 54%. In the district, it's roughly 43%. For Hispanic and Latino students specifically in the district, A through G completion is 32%. A 100% completion rate is the result of continuous four-year monitoring. From ninth grade forward, every single student is enrolled in an A through G sequence. Mentors audit transcript progress and hold weekly one-on-one check-ins so that when a student stumbles in a core subject, targeted intervention is built into their daily routine. By holding strong expectations for all students, TAM graduates complete four-year entrance, college entrance requirements at nearly double the state rate and more than double the local district rate. Next slide, please. This is my favorite slide. Love Stephanie. Behind these metrics are real student stories like Stephanie Macinos, Tama Pius class of 2025, who is currently attending NYU Shanghai, New York University, Shanghai, to major in global business. Stephanie's path was purposeful. During her freshman and sophomore year, she explored creative expression through art expeditions. In her junior year, she pursued music through drumming, and by her senior year, she chose Korean as a passion project. These experiences helped her realize that she wanted a future combining international business, culture, and creative design. Her mentor, Ms. Vo, stayed close behind every stage, helping Stephanie research international financial aid, meet scholarship deadlines, write common app essays, and evaluate the financial return on her degree. Next slide, please. At Summit TAM, there are hundreds of stories like Stephanie's because high school graduation requires three tangible deliverables. A three- to a five-year post-secondary plan. Students map out academic career and financial steps for life after high school. Number two, at least two vetted, actionable options. Every student must hold at least two concrete paths, whether four-year universities, technical programs, or high-growth apprenticeships. And three, a personal advisory board. Students assemble a network of trusted adults, family members, and mentors committed to guiding them through post-secondary transition. Next slide, please. Our state dashboard indicators also show sustained strength across key priority areas. On English learner progress, TAM has outperformed state benchmarks every year from 2023 through 2025. Last year, our long-term English learners reached 54.2% progress, exceeding the state average by five percentage points. In science, our 2025 CAST score outperformed district across every single student subgroup. Our graduation rate sits at 89%, well above state average. Our suspension rate remains low at 3%, below the regional district average at 4.5%. Finally, through focused support from our attendance team and mentors, we reduced chronic absenteeism from 30% in 2023 down to 25% in 2024. Next slide, please. In addition, We know that safety and belonging are the non-negotiable prerequisites for academic growth. Internal culture surveys tell us that 90% of TAM students report that adults at school care about them as individuals. And 85 explicitly state, I belong here. Next slide, please. We also analyze our dashboard results in English language arts and mathematics with complete transparency. We have work to do, and there are bright spots. TAM outperformed neighboring high schools in seven of the eight direct comparisons in ELA and math, and our black students outperformed both district and state averages in both subjects in 2025. Summit TAM is committed to continuous improvement. Next slide, please. We have implemented targeted instructional shifts at TAM. In ELA, we have adopted EL for education and ODEL curricula, and Course Mojo in middle school for real-time feedback for writing and evidence. In math, we have paired inquiry-based problem solving through illustrative mathematics with Teach to One to recover foundational skills while maintaining grade-level instruction. In terms of supports, we focus at coaching at every level. Our leaders are receiving coaching from our network team. We are prioritizing direct teacher coaching and active caregiver partnership. Next slide, please. In conclusion, Summit Temel Pius meets the standard for a five-year renewal as a middle-performing school, supported by 10 years of strong post-secondary outcomes. The program provides a safe, relationship-rich public school environment where students complete rigorous A through G coursework and graduate with concrete plans. We maintain instructional plans to drive ongoing academic growth in ELA and math. On behalf of our 600 plus students and families and our faculty, we respectfully request that the West Contra Costa Unified School District Board of Education approve the Summit Temel Pius Charter Renewal for another five-year term. And we thank you. That's it.

Thank you.

At this time, I would like to invite public comment to the charter renewal petition. Each speaker will have one minute. and up to 10 speakers for this item.

Does the district have a presentation? Does the district have a presentation before I would comment?

No.

April Sun.

Good evening, everybody. My name is Avril Sun. I'm currently in the 12th grade, and this is my sixth year at Summit Tamalpais. Since coming to Summit, it has made me love coming to school, not just because of learning, but also because the teachers, students, friends, and the community here make school something I genuinely look forward to every day. This school is filled with so many wonderful opportunities like expeditions and internships. We also receive a lot of information and support that prepares for our concrete next step. which for me is college. I did the Project Destined Real Estate Program and Pathways to Health Internship, which I both found it out about through Summit. As a 12th grader looking back, I can see how much this school has shaped me to become the person I am, and I would never change this decision I made to come to Summit. I would really appreciate if you guys vote yes to approve keeping our school open. My sister is at Summit too, and I want future students to be able to have the same opportunity

Mariana Lourdes Arguello. Mariana Lourdes Arguello.

Hello to everybody. My name is Mariana. I'm in the 12th grade and I've been at Summit Tamil Pies since 7th grade. When I started at school, I was very reserved and felt awkward all the time, and I'm sure many others felt the same. But by the end of the school year, I felt like I had found a place to belong and that many new doors had just opened for me. I learned a lot better by doing things rather than just listening, and all my classes helped me apply that. For example, just like English has always challenged me and my capabilities for writing, or science pushing my curiosity further with experiments, or my mentor helping me plan for my next step after high school with abundant advice and resources. The teachers at Summit helped me in ways that go beyond the classroom. They have shaped who I am today and I'm thankful to all of them for it. Summit Tamil Pass is the right school for me because it has taught me the value of proper education and academic independence. I ask that you please vote yes on our treasure renewal. Thank you.

We will call up Sandra George, Alicia Roback, Ali Akahili, Marilee Espinoza de Rivas, Arturo Cruz. If you guys can please line up. Again, Sandra George, Alicia Roback, Ali Akahili, Marilee Espinoza, and Arturo Cruz.

Sandra George. Good evening. My name is Sandra George, a parent of a proud student at Summit Tamar Pius. Good evening, everyone. For the past four years, Summit Tam has been more than just a school. It has been a vital anchor to our community. An education for our students beyond academic success, it's a community I have grown to love. It's an investment for our students' future. Summit renewal will ensure that our current student can continue their journey in a supportive, caring environment. Summit is focused on being a college ready school. It has a great school environment. My daughter and myself feel very supportive there. The school is structured for success. Morning mentoring classes is not just a focus on work.

I'm a parent at Summit Tama Pius. My son has gone to Summit since seventh grade. For us, this was the best decision. My son happens to be autistic as well as ADHD, and we knew he couldn't go to a mainstream school. He can't handle 45-minute classes and changing to seven classes a day. For us, Summit was a saving grace. Since starting Summit, we've had some great experiences, but also had staff go above and beyond. From an English teacher creating a graphic organizer so my son can keep the books that he reads in order, to our principal and his mentor recognizing kids that have problems socializing, creating a Dungeons and Dragons club specifically to get those kids together and create their own community. It's been helping my son who's scared of heights help him walk upstairs every day so when he went to high school he wasn't scared anymore it's them taking the time to know our kids and creating this community it's not just a school we are summit so please please vote yes for next election

Buenas noches, mi nombre es Merly de Rivas y mi hijo José Rivas. Este día estoy representando lo que es la comunidad latina y nuestros padres. Este día doy las gracias porque nuestra comunidad de la Tamalpais nos ha abierto las puertas para mi comunidad y mi hijo para enfocarnos lo que es la ayuda y el proyecto del estudio de nuestros hijos. Y sobre todo a mi hijo, le he ayudado a la veracidad, ayudarle en el apoyo, en la seguridad y enfocarse en el estudio para proveer a mi hijo en ayudar lo que es las inquietudes y ayuda para nuestra comunidad. Gracias.

Good evening, everyone. My name is Ali Al-Kahlil, and I'm a 12th grade student at Summit TAM Applies. I've attended Summit TAM for nearly six years. Summit TAM has played a big role in helping me plan for my future, from Mr. Rob's advice about careers and college majors to our expeditions. I have learned a lot about what I want to do next. I'm now planning to take a CNA program to earn my certification I pursue a career in nursing. I was once interested in architecture, but over the past year, my chemistry class helped me discover a stronger interest in the medical field, thanks to Dr. Nunez. It showed me how many fascinating opportunities there are in healthcare. Our mentors and staff also supports us with scholarship opportunities and helps us prepare college applications, essays, and English class. Summertime Applies is the right school for me because this community truly cares about its students and goes above and beyond to support us. I ask you to vote yes on our charter renewal. Thank you.

Hello, good evening, everyone. I'm San Pablo Council Member Arturo Cruz, and we are here because we care about education and know it is essential to our children's success. I strongly support Tella Pius Summit Middle School. As a parent, I've seen its positive impact on my daughter, Lisette. She has thrived academically, in sports, and in leadership, becoming more confident and responsible through the school's guidance and support. Each morning, Lisette checks in with her mentor, Ms. Abby, who supports her with schoolwork, challenges, and anything affecting her success. that personal connection matters. Summit staff do more to educate students. They mentor and encourage them in a safe, supportive environment where they can believe in themselves and their futures. I respectfully ask the school board to continue funding Summit and providing the resources it needs. Investing in Summit means investing in our children, families, and community. Let's give these students the tools and opportunities to pursue their dreams, attend college,

Okay, our last group, Jackson Bailey, Eric Bailey, Anthony Durham, Sam Claire, Erica Jones, Luciano Cano. Again, Jackson Bailey, Eric Bailey, Anthony Durham, Sam Claire, Erica Jones, Luciano Cano.

Good evening, everyone. My name is Jackson Bailey, and I am in eighth grade. This is my second year at Summit, Tim. I've been here since seventh grade, and I'm glad I stayed. Honestly, at first, I was upset that I had to leave all my friends, but after a while, I really enjoyed being at school every day. One reason I really liked being at school was because of how close of a community we were, like how I basically knew everybody by the end of the year. Another reason I enjoyed going to school was because of the great opportunities we experienced from visiting the Capitol to interviewing artists. And additionally, I've gotten to do so much career planning that I may not have done anywhere else that I went. Thank you for listening to me and I do hope you choose to renew some at Temple Pius.

Hello, my name is Eric Bailey. It's my son, Jackson. This is our second year in the Mountain Time family and go Timberwolves. Okay. So I'd like to talk, I'd like to talk about the expeditions program. So it's, it's a career driven program. And thanks to that program, he's got a bank account. He's got a bank card to help him manage money, manage his allowance. That was never, I went to Portland. I went to El Cerrito, none of that there for, you know, to help us. So he, you know, he wants to be an architectural engineer. And so with the expeditions programs and showing him, you know, more than just the curriculum and the teachers and the staff and the curriculum at Mount Tam, it's definitely going to get him there. And I mean, all we want is for our kids to have a better life than we had. And with Mount Tam, Summit Tam, sorry, they're...

Hello, my name is Anthony Durham. My daughter, Selena, is a junior at Sacramento State University. I'm a founding parent and she is part of the founding class at Summit Temple Pius. We've been part of the community since it opened in 2016. I continue to support this school because this is the best fit for my daughter, was the best fit for my daughter, and I want to see it stay open and available for some families to come and to Summit where it's the best fit for their child also. The dedicated mentor discussions about college that started in the seventh grade, along with my guidance from home, put her in the college mindset and gave her more confidence to succeed in college. Self-directed learning and personalized learning plans also prepared her for college and put her on the path to success. She learned how to better manage her time and be more accomplished in getting her work complete on time. I ask that you vote for Samy Tamalpais and take the time to come visit our school.

Good evening, Ward. My name is Erica Jones, and I have an eighth and 10th grader at Summit TAM Apias. I'm here tonight supporting our charter renewal because Summit TAM is a school that helps our future leaders find their academic strengths, ensure college readiness, and champion students finding real interests while creating a plan for life beyond high school. When choosing a school, I visited all local district and charter schools. With excellence and leadership being paramount, together our family chose TAM. As a parent who encourages youth self-advocacy, I was pleasantly surprised that TAM leaders, mentors, and teachers also promote self-advocacy for their students while encouraging them to strive for greatness the way that we do at home. We would be heartbroken if you did not renew TAM for the next five years, so please vote to renew Summit TAM to ensure that their students can continue to summit any of life's mountains, present and future. Thank you.

Good evening. My name is Lucia Cano, and I'm a proud mom of a freshman at TAM who's been there since seventh grade. For my family, Summit TAMO... is a place where my son has known my name and goal. It is a place that has proven to have a pathway to higher education that provides incredible real world experience. For example, my son took a barbering slash braiding class that taught both the skill and the business side of the industry. And he quickly realized that he was more interested in the business administration than the braiding. But that is just what Summit does. Through mentor-driven learning, our diverse student body gets the personalized support they need to thrive. Renewing Summit ensures stability for our hardworking teachers and staff, as well as tells Richmond's youth that we believe in their future. Thank you.

That concludes public comment for this item.

Thank you everyone who gave public comment. The board will now have an opportunity to ask clarifying questions of the petitioners or staff regarding this charter renewal. Is there any questions from our board? Trustee Hernandez?

So from what I was reviewing in your report, students with disability represent 13% of their enrollment, correct?

Yes, you're correct.

So 13%. Are all students with disabilities currently receiving every service and service minute required by their IEPs?

Yes, to the best of my knowledge, that is correct. Yes.

Okay. So in your presentation, you provided overall academic results. But what are the ELA and math outcomes specifically for students with disability? And what are you doing as a school to bridge that gap?

So you're good. Thank you for that question. I think it's important to remind that Summit TAM does meet the standard for a five-year renewal as a middle-performing school. And I do appreciate the question. Okay.

But my question specifically is your subgroups, specifically students with disabilities, what are the results in ELA and math? What are their outcomes? And if there's bridges or gaps in it, what are you doing to bridge that gap?

Yeah, so I do appreciate the question. I'll definitely answer it. I think it's important to note that our post-secondary, I mean, IEP students are part of our larger student community and all of our graduates do graduate with an A through G certified. And the scores are in our petition, obviously. And if you would like more details on that, we can get back to you on actual specific numbers, but the numbers are listed in our petition.

The reason I'm asking the question, I don't mean to sound rude.

Sure.

But you're not answering my question. So if you can send us a report, specific numbers on that data for that 13% of your students.

Absolutely. And we have been communicating and working with, with supple director Chang and others from the district. So we'll, we'll certainly get you those numbers.

Okay. So my final question, sorry. I know it's three. Can you tell us about your current special education staffing? How many special education teachers or, and related services providers do you have overall? Are you have any vacancies? Are you using contractors or are they all higher credential teachers?

I'm very happy to answer that. So we have four amazing IEP specialists. We call them education specialists. I believe a few are in the crowd tonight. There's one in the front row. So we're fully staffed with our special education staff. We have four ed specialists. We also have a number of paraprofessionals. Students need paraprofessionals to serve their needs. We do not contract our ed specialists. They are Summit employees. And yeah, thank you for that question.

Are they fully credentialed?

Yes. Yes. All of our teachers are credentialed or in a credentialing program. They have documentation that allows them to be in our classrooms. Yes.

And then how many paraprofessionals did you say you had?

Oh, man.

Four specifically SPED.

Vanessa, four? I think four. Yes. We have another that we're trying to hire right now for a student that we just enrolled.

Okay. I have more questions, but I'll go ahead and let other board members answer.

Trustee Smith. Hi, you said you had 619 students and 8.6 are African-American. Can you give me the raw number, not the percentage? How many students is that?

So I think our African enrollment, African-American enrollment is at 9%. That's the number that I have. With 619 students, we'll just take it times 0.9%, but I believe that's roughly 23 students, I believe.

And you are 7th grade through 12th grade, correct?

We are 7th through 12th.

With the 23 students, what's the breakdown? How many 7th graders, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th graders?

I can definitely get back to you with those specifics for sure.

And then if you don't know now, could you also send the information about how the number of African-American students has grown, decreased, or stayed the same over the last five years?

I absolutely can do that, yes.

Thank you. I'm complete.

trustee regler good evening thank you for the presentation so in your petition you primarily compare summit to richmond and kennedy high schools because approximately 79 percent of your students come from that attendance area i understand why there may be some geographical comparisons that you want to you know look at, but when I look specifically at English learners and students with disabilities, I'm not sure you're looking at comparable populations. Summit serves about 27% English language learners compared to about 42% at Richmond and 44 at Kennedy. And more important, about 26% of Summit's current English learners are ELPAC 1 compared with Richmond at 50% and 65% at Kennedy. And at the other end, about 48% of Summit's ELs are at levels 3 and 4 compared with about 23% and 12% at Kennedy. For special education, Summit serves about 11% of students with disabilities compared with about 14% and 13% Richmond and Kennedy. At Richmond, 76% of the students with IEPs spend at least 80% of the day in general ed. Kennedy, it's about 66% and about 20%. I'm sorry. And then at Summit, it's about 93%. So it's considerably fewer at Richmond and Kennedy. So given all of those differences, how do you account for different levels of student need when comparing outcomes? And can you provide an apples to apples comparison based on comparable student needs at those schools?

Can I ask you to repeat that question? I'm having a hard time. Just the question, please, again. I'm sorry.

Sure. So basically, you've chosen to compare Richmond and Kennedy to Summit for geographical, because you say that the kids come from Richmond and Kennedy?

82%, yes.

But I'm saying that it's a different student population, that the levels of English language learners are more at Richmond and Kennedy, and they're also more likely to be ELPAC 1 versus Summit being ELPAC 4, and that your kids in special ed spend about 93% of their day in a regular classroom, whereas Richmond and Kennedy have way fewer, I'm assuming because they have disabilities that require more intense services. So It's not an apples and apples comparison to me. So do you have data that is comparable between Richmond and Kennedy and your students that mirror that? And how are the students doing? Because I don't think you're comparing the right, I think that there is, we're not really comparing apples to apples.

understood thank you for repeating the question um it's important to note that we are a much smaller community our school is 619 right um on a good year but we i do want to point out um we do enroll the community our demographics are nearly in line with with the regional demographics i believe we're nine percent african-american eleven percent is the district i believe um We do have 30% of our students who are, we call our English learners multi-language learners, MLLs. And 54% of them are making progress. We have a really high ELPI rating that we're proud of because we work really hard and our English learners are moving through the process at our school. And I think it's important also to note that you know, it's hard to make those apples to apples comparisons. And I should have started by saying this. We're not making comparisons for comparison's sake. We just want to provide context to the community we serve, which is largely looks like the Western Contra Costa County community that we all serve in this room. So as far as specific numbers goes and performance numbers, I think we can definitely get back to you with a follow-up because I know we have our information in our petition, but we can curate that so it's more digestible.

Okay, thank you. Moving on to special ed. Can you provide both the numbers and percentage of summit students with IEPs in each of the IDAA categories?

I'm going to invite my friend Caitlin up here. She has that number in her head. Hi.

Caitlin. Good evening. My name is Caitlin Herman. I'm our Chief Academic Officer. We provided the numbers in a letter of inquiry to the board today. The numbers in front of us, I can give the general numbers. I won't be able to give you the specifics around it. For 26-27, we have... 72 students receiving IEP services and only three of those students with speech only, which was something that was requested by the district. And we have one student who is in and on MPS 18 to 22 program. So we can continue to provide the additional documents if you want to see the specific breakdowns.

Okay, so I just wanted to make sure I understood what you said. There's 72 total SPED students of which you've identified three as speech only and one is in a non-public school.

Correct. Any other students have some continuum of services and label disabilities, but that's not to provide the breakdown for the other 68 students. It was already provided. We are happy to provide it again. Yes.

So someone on our side has that, I guess. Dr. Chang, do you have that? You don't have to give it to me now. I just want to make sure that you have it.

Can you please turn on your mic? Sorry. Okay. So I do have the information that you just stated right now, but I don't have the breakdown that she's asking for based on student disabilities, their qualifications.

I do believe we've provided in the letter of inquiry. If something is still missing from that, we're happy to provide additional information.

I think that it was requested under cap had 16.1 and the answer to that was that we no longer did that. But I know that in that it had the breakdown of your students with disabilities regarding with regards to their eligibility.

Correct. We provided that information. That's what I didn't get. we can refurnish it to you. That was provided this morning. There was an ask for that data last night and we provided it this morning.

Okay.

All right.

Thank you. Okay. Then I'd like to talk about your college and career indicator. So you had an enormous jump. from I think it was 25% prepared and then it went to 89.3% over the course of just a few years. Can you tell us what caused the 61% point increase and what college and career indicators increased and what changed? Was it methodology? Was it programming course completion? What led to such a large increase? on that metric?

Thank you, Trustee Radcliffe. I appreciate that question. Our vision and mission statement is wrapped around it on the slide. It was up there earlier. It's wrapped around this concept of post-secondary readiness. It's something that we take very seriously at Summit. I think you heard that from some of our speakers. And we're truly preparing our students for the future. And we do that in many ways. But to directly answer your question, I think last year the college and career indicator was updated. The formula was updated to expand and reflect on all the ways that we're preparing young people, which included stronger AP participation. So I mentioned earlier in the presentation that all of our students, every one of them, we'll take at least one AP course. Usually it's two or three. So I'll be that higher participation rate per the formula, increase the number. Also, we have that strong 80% persistence rate when our students go into a four-year college. As a parent myself of a college sophomore, I told this to our site committee. It was something that's on my mind and I wanted her to persist to that second year. Our students at Summit, 80% of them persist to the second year. Yeah, we take it very seriously. Like I said, our mission and vision statement reflects that and does our daily work.

So again, who updated the formula? You updated your own formula or was it the state that changed something?

It comes from the CDE formula from the state, yes. Yeah.

Okay, I'd like to have that checked if the CDE updated their formula for College and career indicators. Okay. I have more, but I'm going to stop now. Trustee Smith-Fold.

What grade do your students start taking AP classes?

Typically junior year. They start taking AP classes. Go ahead. I'm sorry.

And then of the students that take the AP classes, because you said all of them take at least one AP course. How many of those students pass the AP exam with the number that's used to give them college credit?

I can get you those numbers in a follow-up, but I am proud to say that in a U.S. History AP course, more than a third pass the test with a three or better. But we will give you those numbers. You have my word.

Thank you. I'm complete. Trustee Miles.

Hi, just one question. I know many district schools have utilized dedicated resource rooms and separate study hours and physical spaces during the school day to provide IEP support. I'm wondering how Summit compares to the district for IEP support for students during the school day.

Is there a more specific question?

Do you guys have anything that's different for IEP students that the district doesn't offer at Summit?

I got you. Thank you for the question. So we do offer an inclusion model, a fluid inclusion model at Summit. Our students do have, you know, we serve their SAI minutes through their IEP and learning center. But for the most part, our students are in the classroom, in a full inclusion classroom. So did that answer your question? Yes, thank you. Okay.

Trustee Reckler.

Thank you. Can you, I feel really stupid asking this, but, you know, we're educators and going to ask, what does persist mean? Does persist mean they graduated or what? What does that mean?

So generally speaking, persist means to continue on, correct? So, but the persistence rate that we've learned with our years of data is 80% of our students students that are graduates that go, that attend a four-year university, 80% of them do persist to their second year, which is, it's a high number.

Okay, so they persist to their second year. So now you've had students that have graduated for quite a few years now. How many of them graduated from two-year and how many graduated from four-year?

That's a really good question that I can give you a follow-up with. We have the data. I just don't have it in front of me.

Okay. And can I ask another one? Okay. Can you tell us what's going on with your math?

Can you repeat that? I'm sorry.

What's going on with your math?

That is a really good question, and I'm happy to ask. We were very transparent about we have work to do. We have work to do in math and DLA. Reminding that we do meet the standard for a five-year renewal. We are a middle-performing school. And math is something that we're laser focused on. Every student does take a diagnostic in the first weeks of school to get a personalized Teach to One roadmap. Teach to One is a really awesome program that I believe the director of math for WCCUSD was at our campus last year observing how it actually works in the classroom. It was wonderful to have our folks on campus that day. I think it was April 1st, I think. So the students receive a roadmap from their assessment, and then they work on that roadmap daily. We dedicate student support block time, which is the last block of the day. Most of that block is dedicated to the students working on this Teach to One program. Originally, Teach to One was designed to help fill the gaps or fill in the learning loss from Algebra 1. It's an Algebra 1 mastery tool. We've learned through research that Algebra 1 is the gateway. It's the key to the future for college enrollment, for future success in math and academic achievement. So algebra one really is the key. And I think somebody said that earlier. One of the speakers mentioned her algebra one gaps, which was ironic. It was cool to hear that. And she clearly made the gap close. But students who fall behind in their roadmap targets, we escalate the support through various ways. And this is built into our system. It's not just something that we do, you know, scattershot or we do it case by case. We did adopt new math curriculum, illustrative math, and our teachers are being coached against this implementation rubric. So it's a rubric that we use when we walk into a classroom to observe and we meet with our teachers regularly. In regular coaching meetings, and we talk about the data, we talk about our observations, how we're improving the lesson, how we improve the launch, how we improve the close. What does the macro data look like? All these discussions happen in these weekly coaching meetings with our teachers, and it's very valuable. It's really how we move the needle for our students. It's a big part of our improvement and growth plan. To say more, I'm very, very grateful and happy to introduce my friend Tiffany. She's our Senior Director of Learning for Summit Public Schools, largely the architect for our math improvement plan, and I invite her to the mic.

Good evening, board. I'm happy to take more math questions, but at a high level, when we think about math improvement, we're thinking about a number of things. One, as a school that serves middle and high school, we know that young people enter a school with unfinished learning, with gaps in their math system, and grade-level math is really important. And so our approach braids two strategies. How do we help students fill that unfinished learning that they carry forward because we know math is an accumulation function. If you're missing reasoning about 440, then if you're in a class about ratios and proportions, that becomes even more challenging for you to access grade level work. And so the programs that Mr. Dilley referenced is both how we use grade level math through illustrative mathematic, a high quality instructional material and teach to one. We really followed their research around unlocking algebra and the ways in which algebra proficiency in high school is the gateway to opportunity in later grades. Is there a more specific question I could answer?

All right. I'll just be quick. So what I'm really curious about is, I mean, your math is, it's bad. It's really bad. It's worse than ours. I mean, it's bad. So how are you putting kids in AP classes and what are they getting on those AP tests? Are they taking the test? How many people score three or higher? Because I'm having trouble reconciling that score with quality mathematics throughout high school.

Yep. I will remind that our students access AP courses in a variety of subjects. And so whether it is in math or it is another subject, they can choose where they would like to test. We recognize that to help young people be prepared for AP, they first need to become algebra proficient. And so right now, we know that we have work to do around math. And our first gateway to that is understanding the pathway to algebra proficiency. Our improvement plan for math is included in our charter petition. And we have crafted that to begin this year.

Okay, thank you.

In your presentation, you provided data for the A through G completion rate for 24, 25. Do you guys have data for 25, 26 available?

Yes, it's still 100% A through G completion. Our graduates, 100% graduate with an A through G UC CSU eligible diploma.

And then from that number of students, how many students, I want a raw number, are students with disability?

It's a good question that I can get that number to you unless we have it. But we can get it to you later for sure. That number is known.

Okay, thank you.

Trustee Smith-Fold.

Can you speak to the belonging strategies that you have at the school for African-American students and parents separately?

Absolutely. I'm very happy to discuss how our African-American students build a sense of belonging at our school. Largely, he's in here tonight. You see him running around. He's taking videos. He's over here in the corner. One of our deans, he's our Dean of Culture and Instruction, Gregory Brickensenton, who's an a fantastic professional. I've known the man for five years. We've worked together five years. And over those five years, we have built systems in our school to facilitate and support our African-American Black student performance. A couple of those ways we build belonging. We've connected them to community organizations and groups, the Indian Genius Project, the Richmond, I'm sorry, the Boost program out of Cal Berkeley, various artists from the community, artists you've heard of who are well-known music stars and then artists who are their friends who come through our school and they they sit down with our students all of our students but these artists do tend to be african-american and they're speaking to our students in a way that builds this confidence in them and at school we're able to support this and give them the opportunity and the space and the time to actually interact with folks i think one of our students earlier mentioned meeting artists i think it was mr i think it was jackson bailey um It's something we do. We take very seriously. The research is clear about academic growth, and this is not a secret. This is across the board. If students don't feel like they belong in a school, they will not be academically successful. They must feel a sense of belonging. It's critical. The TNTP project, the New Teacher Project, project is very clear about that research and they've done lots of research across the country and belonging student belonging is critical for academic growth that's something we take seriously at summit so i appreciate that question i really do

Do you have a BSU or AASU on campus?

Yes. Thank you for bringing that up. I forgot to mention that. We do have a very active BSU. Ms. Golden is one of our math teachers. She spearheads that. I know Mr. Brook and Sinton helps. Ms. Flott's back here somewhere. I know she helps with it, too. Our BSU. So it's really cool. So I got my first BSU hoodie last year. It's got my name on it and stuff. We sell those for a fundraiser. But you'll see a lot of our faculty wearing our BSU hoodies. um sweatshirts throughout the year on fridays or thursdays i tend to wear mine on fridays but um we're very proud we're very proud of the work we're doing with all of our kids especially our black students and i'm so happy you asked that and then just to ask one more time about the parents how do you engage african-american parents um in your school and how do you recruit african-american parents to your school well we we are an open enrollment public school we do enroll the community And the communities at our school, you look at our demographics, it does reflect the Western Contra Costa region. I think once students are successful in our school, I think word of mouth travels fast. We do attend many, many community events. We'll be at the El Sobrante Stroll in a couple of weeks. Our DOOs, our deans of operations, Myra Chavez and Fatima Parker, I think are still back behind me somewhere. they table at these events and we're talking to the community. It's something that I love doing. In fact, you know, part of the job that we all love parts of our job more than the others. And one of the parts I love most is actually being with folks and being on the street at the level and talking to folks and and just spreading the good word. We see our current students out there. I'm speaking to other families and parents because I like to talk to people, but that's how we primarily recruit, but we are an open enrollment charter school and we are connected to the WCCUSD enroll like every other public charter school is. So parents have a choice. Thank you for the question.

Thank you, I'm complete. Trustee Hernandez.

I noticed that some of your students, they said that they had opportunities to have access to a barber program, and I believe they said a health program. I can't quite remember. But are you able to elaborate more what courses you offer that are on your master's schedule that are not through partners that are CTE-related?

So they're not courses, they're expeditions experiences. And primarily that work is done, so every summit school has a dean of expeditions. Ours is Diana Bernal's Locke, an incredible professional. And they work very hard to bring these experiences to our students. And like you heard a few, other experiences are we've had digital music creation. We've had robotics. I believe this year we have a Lego robotics crew coming in. Various community organizations throughout West Contra Costa County. We also send students to Oakland on some experiences. We've sent students to a variety of other places for their experiences. And through this process of expeditions from 7th through 12th grade, if a student persists all the way through to 12th grade with us, we want them to discover what they're really good at. And what they're motivated by. And as a parent myself, if I can just get my daughter to understand what her talents are and what motivates her and marry those two things together, did my job. So we do that as a school for our kids in a variety of ways.

And then is this integrated into your school schedule where it's period by period or how or in this an extracurricular that's available for the students?

Yeah, so it's our expedition cycles. We run three of them. They're each two weeks. And I think I will call up my friend Caitlin to give more information because this is your expertise. We got it? All right, cool. It's integrated indoor schedule. She's the mastermind behind Expeditions. But, yes, to answer your question directly, it's integrated indoor schedule. We do three two-week intervals. At the same time, our classroom teachers are in professional developments, and we're usually at the site. We're getting data, looking at what's working, what's not working, where we need to pivot, and what we need to do as a staff to bring about more student success. Yeah.

Would you be, sorry to cut you off, would you be able to provide the district or the board a list of different courses you've offered since you've been open?

Yeah, yeah, we can definitely give you a list of the experiences we have. We have the catalog that students actually choose. They choose. So, again, Deanna Bernal, a director of expeditions, curates all those experiences in a in a catalog, so to speak. And students have the ability to choose what they want. They can rank it one, two and three. Usually it's one, two and three. If they don't get their first choice, we work really hard to give them the second choice and they can take the first choice later. But it's really awesome to watch students discover what their talents are, what they're motivated by, learn things they never knew they thought they would ever learn. It's really why we become educators is to see that light just go off and students just get ignited by what they're learning. It's really special.

All right. Thank you.

You're welcome. Thank you.

Any more questions from the board? I do have a comment.

I have a question. So I think my question is around EO. So how many students have actually reclassified as fluent English proficient? And what is Summit K2? I mean, I'm sorry, not Summit. I'm lost. What is your average around reclassification time?

So that's a good question. Specific numbers, I think the theme is tonight we'll get back to you with specific numbers. But I do want to point out that in 2023, we had a large reclassification event. I think it was, I mean, I think our ELPI number was in the 60s. It was 68, I believe, which is a very high number. And then in 24, 25, we were around 50%. So that just means students that are moving through the levels. Reclassification percentages, we'll circle back and give those to you specifically. I do think they are in the petition, though. But I appreciate that question.

And how are EL students receiving designated ELD integrated and ELD instruction?

That's a great question. So I mentioned SSB earlier where students are going through their Teach to One roadmaps. We also have an SSB, a student support block dedicated designed for our multi-language learners. And we choose students per the levels. We have the certified teachers teaching the course. And we have a curriculum. We use English 3D curriculum, other supplemental curriculums to help students acquire English. So they have dedicated time every day.

My last question, how many EL students are being served through interventions and what are the outcomes of those interventions?

I'm sorry, President Nina, can you repeat the first part?

How many students are being served through EL interventions and what are the outcomes of those interventions?

Good question. So all of our students who have not reclassified, so they're striving for that four, that four cumulative on the ELPAC, Everyone has a dedicated SSB for English acquisition, for MLL support block, as we call it. Does that answer your question?

Thank you. If you just sent over those numbers too, that I asked for the first time.

Sure enough, yes, absolutely. Thank you. Thank you.

So with that, do we have any additional board questions? Do we have any comments from the board? Trustee Rutland?

Yeah, so my, my comment is, it seems like there's a lot of follow up that people would like answers to. And so I just was wondering how you would like to manage that? Is there a date that you want us to send them to the superintendent? Or how would you like to do that?

I will pass that out to our superintendent. How would you like us to proceed with that information? So the questions that you're looking for? The questions that we've actually sent those over to you for you to send over. or how would those answers be?

That would be helpful. I know that we've received some questions from board members that we did do a reach out to Summit, but those questions came the last couple of days. It would be great to be able to compile them and send them. They can be sent to my office, to myself, Rosa, or Nancy, Rosa Cornejo, or Nancy Perez-Ortiz, and we will compile them and get them over to Summit.

And also a particular date.

It would be great if that were to come, you know, end of this week. That would be helpful or early next week. to provide enough time again for us to compile to get them to summit and for summit to get those responses back to us. It would be ideal if they were, that information came back to us by the 23rd, knowing that we have a, the board will be taking action on the 7th.

All right. Well, Thank you all for your comments. The board will make a decision on the charter petition on the October 7th, 2026 meeting. At this time, I would like to close the public hearing at nine o'clock.

Thank you.

And I'm gonna ask for a five minute recess while they, Five-minute break. Okay, we are now back with our board meeting and we will now continue on to item D, the superintendent communication. Superintendent Cotton, this is your item.

Thank you. I will ask

Is that the live one from Canva? Okay, excellent, thank you. So next slide, please. I do wanna lift up, we have a few, there's a few that are coming. I do want to lift up in memoriam, Lynn Potter, who was a longtime employee with West Contra Costa having retired as Director of Curriculum Instruction for State and Federal Programs. She was a valued member of the West Contra Costa Unified School District. We do extend our deepest condolences to Lynn's family, friends, former colleagues, and all those who had the privilege of knowing and working with her. I did work with her as well for many years. I just want to acknowledge the loss of one of our long-time employees There's a couple more that we're sharing today. I also want to lift up the passing of Carl Debro. He passed away on July 15th of this year. He was the inaugural director of our Gateway to College program at Contra Costa, also served on the West Contra Costa Ed Fund for over 10 years. And so his celebration of life will be taking place on Thursday, October 1st in Oakland. There are ways that you can attend if that's something that you are able to do. Next slide, please. I also want to lift up Kathy Tagg. She actually passed away in January, but they will be hosting a celebration of life for her on Sunday, September 13th in Hercules. She began her career in the district in 1970, retiring from the district in 2009 after serving as an educator at both Ohlone, Hannah Ranch, and many other schools across the district. Next slide, please. Actually, before we get into that one, if we can just take a moment to acknowledge those three staff members who have passed away, some that we've worked with directly. Thank you. I do want to lift up that we have been out and about so I'm excited to share our updates. We've had the opportunity to visit schools, including since our last board meeting Chavez, Dover, Downer, Tara Hills, Montalban, Kennedy. Nome Valley High, Helms, Bayview, Lake, Richmond High. We have been all over the place in the last couple of weeks. I want to thank our board members for joining me on those visits, as well as cabinet and district staff for joining me on those visits. I think that this is an important way for us to connect directly with our students, with our teachers and our staff, ensuring and letting folks know that everyone is supported as we begin a new year of learning and growth for our students. Next slide, please. I wanna focus on critical aspects of our schools, safety, school climate, and communication. So I'm pleased to share that over 40 principals were trained on key safety procedures. This includes understanding the levels of incidents and responses, emergency notification protocols, and our discipline matrix. We've also tackled how to appropriately respond to challenging student behaviors, specifically including slurs and hate speech. Our safety department has extended this training to all of our expanded learning site coordinators as well. This is part of a broader effort to ensure that safety is our collective responsibility. It's about de-siloing and building connectivity across all of our teams. So remember, a safe environment is fundamental to effective learning and teaching. We're committed to maintaining and strengthening this foundation together. Next slide, please. I would also like to highlight the significant impact of our school district's parcel tax. So I want to emphasize that this tax has provided consistent financial support since 2004 with a steady rate generating at this point roughly $10.2 million annually and benefiting all of West Contra Costa's public schools. It's not a new tax. nor has it increased over the years. The parcel tax is a vital funding source supporting essential programs such as counseling, libraries, and athletics for our students. It's important to remember that both district and charters benefit from this tax. We have exemptions for seniors and individuals with disabilities, ensuring fairness and accessibility. Independent audits and oversight play a crucial role in maintaining transparency and accountability. Next slide, please. So what's coming up? We're excited to have you join us at our back to school nights. On September 10th, we'll kick off with our elementary school night. Following that, on September 17th, it's middle school's turn. And finally, September 24th will be high school night. These evenings are a fantastic opportunity for families to connect with students and staff and explore the school environment and learn more about our exciting plans that we have for the year ahead. Please plan to attend. Next slide, please. We'd also like to raise awareness and promote hope on World Suicide Prevention Day, which will be held actually tomorrow, September 10th, which is a key part of Suicide Prevention Month. We encourage our students to choose compassion over silence. We're actively encouraging students, staff, and families to support each other, stay connected, and seek help when needed. I would also like to lift up resources available like the 988- Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, which provides free 24-7 confidential support, as well as Soluna, which offers California students ages 13 through 25 free confidential mental health and wellness support. Remember, small acts of kindness make a huge difference. Next slide, please. I would also like to encourage our community to join us this Saturday, September 12th, in partnership with the City of San Pablo and the City of Richmond and many of our community partners as we celebrate Independence Days of Latin American countries, including Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Chile, Costa Rica, Brazil, and Belize. Our schools will be represented in the Fiestas Patrias parade, and Community Engagement and Human Resources will be recruiting both students and staff at the culminating event. So we encourage everyone to come out and support this community event. Next slide, please. I also want to spotlight the vibrant world of WCCUSD athletics. Our district takes pride not only in our academic achievements, but also in the diverse and enriching athletic opportunities that we offer our students. Their passion and the dedication of our young athletes is truly inspiring, and it's a testament to their hard work and commitment. I encourage you to visit the events calendar on our district website. where you'll find a complete list of fall athletics schedules, including football, flag football, and volleyball. Next slide, please. I do want to note that our regular meeting that was originally scheduled for December 2 has been rescheduled to December 9. We encourage everyone to mark their calendars with the new date.

Many people mark their calendars.

Okay, next slide. Thank you. Every year, we gather our schools and communities to engage in a district-wide conversation about our vision, our goals, and our progress. This year, our state of schools breakfast will be held on October 22nd. The timing for this allows us to share the new California school dashboard data, which will be also published in October. So we invite community partners to save the date. Next slide. And here are a few reminders as we are now in week, if you can believe it, week four has already started for us. Next slide, thank you. I do want to lift up that we need to stay connected and protected. Please remind all students and staff to wear your badges when you're visiting. Well, students should wear badges when they are at school. Staff should be wearing badges when they visit schools. to model safety expectations. Also make sure that you are downloading ParentSquare so that you can stay informed about events and notices and communicate directly with your child's teacher. And also keep your eyes open for information about our parent advisory committees and ways that you can get involved and active. Next slide, please. I do want to lift up that our annual school forms and educational benefit forms are ready to be completed. They are available in PowerSchool. You can also, if you need to, speak to your principal or office staff about completing your annual school forms. These are essential to ensuring that our funding and that our support for students are clearly provided. This also impacts bus passes and college exam waivers, as well as supporting our food programs here in the district. So again, we encourage you to complete your annual school forms and educational benefits forms. And then finally, we focus on literacy. And so we are truly committed to ensuring that all of our students are strong readers. Strong readers allow all people to be able to access information and access resources. access not just literature and books, but also math, music, arts, sciences as well. So we encourage you just 30 minutes a day, read. Doesn't matter what grade level you're at, preschool to high school, read for 30 minutes a day, please. With that, are there any questions? Thank you very much.

Thank you, Superintendent Carter for your presentation. We'll now move on to item E1, the unaudited actual financial statements for the 2025-26 school year. And that is Mr. Carter's item.

Perfect, thank you. Good evening board. Tonight, I'm going to present the unaudited actuals for the 2025-26 school year. First, I want to give a huge shout out to the business services team that all came together to make this report. possible. Closing the books is no easy task that we've been working on the last two months since school was over, and this is the culmination of that work. Next slide. What are the unaudited actuals? So the unaudited actuals are a California school district requirement to report the financials from the prior fiscal year, July 1st to June 30th, that have not yet formally been audited. These reports are prepared using a standardized system. They are submitted to our County Office of Education, who then ultimately submitted to the CDE California Department of Education for review. This is a crucial step prior to the financial independent audit for our district performance for the year. Next slide. Key messages to take away tonight. The Fund 17 outlook has improved from our estimated actuals. We've received an unexpected one-time refund or overpayment check from the IRS, as well as expenditures for special ed are lower than expected. So both of those combined allowed us to move less money from Fund 17 to Fund 01 to cover the deficit. There still was about a $12.9 million deficit, but it was not as large as expected due to the additional revenue and lower expenditures. Next, prior to 25-26, we've been consistently improving our ADA coming out of COVID. However, 25-26 saw a 2.5% drop in ADA, mostly due to the strike that occurred in the middle of the school year. And we continue to drop in enrollment and attendance. So both of those will affect our ongoing revenue. And then lastly, the increased LCFF revenue is mostly due to the growth in TK enrollment. Based on the governor's adopted budget for 2526, there was a new calculation for TK revenue, and that is a large impact to our LCFF revenue that we saw in 2526 increase. Next slide. So here you'll see the breakdown of enrollment and attendance. Enrollment and average daily attendance or ADA is how we are funded for school districts in California. So our attendance rate directly impacts our funding, our revenue. And with declining enrollment and declining attendance rates, We are going to see an impact in the future years for our revenue going forward. You can see that we had a decrease in about 1.9% of enrollment despite our growing TKA program as well as The received revenue is based on our three-year average. So the current 2526 ADA did not affect our revenue, but it will ongoing be part of the three-year average going forward. And so just be cognizant of that looking forward. So our district enrollment is 24,760, but we were funded at 23,129, despite only having 22,065 students on average attend school. Next slide. The cost of living adjustment, so the COLA in 25-26 was 2.3%. If you compare our revenues year over year from 24-25 to 25-26, there's a $3 million increase. And so we only saw effectively a 0.91% increase in revenue despite getting a 2.3% COLA. That's due to declining enrollment and declining attendance, as well as not every aspect of LCFF revenue receives the COLA. So there is, it does look like 2.3%, but we do not effectively receive a 2.3% increase in revenue year over year. Next slide. Here we're looking at the unrestricted revenues. And what you'll see tonight on all the slides for revenues and expenditures, I've done a full year comparison showing adopted budget, two unaudited actuals, and each reporting period in between to show the progression of revenues and expenditures throughout the year. If you recall, we did a 45-day revise in August of 2025. to incorporate the Governor's May revision that was adopted by the state late June, and we did not include that in our adopted budget. So you'll see an increase in revenues from adopted budget to unaudited actuals that include the new TK formula. The other state revenue has increased due to prior year transportation reimbursements and an increased state lottery ticket sales that we got data on last month. And then other local revenue also increased due to interest rate earnings and the unexpected IRS refund and tax penalties overpayment. So those are the increased unrestricted revenues. Next slide. On the restricted side, we also saw an increase in revenues. And again, the revenues at the adopted budget did not include the Governor's May Revise, which had $11.5 million for ELOP, $1.8 million for Learning Recovery Emergency Block Grant, and $7.2 million for the SSPD. That was all new money that came to us after the state adopted their budget, and we included it at the 45-day revise. So you can see that jump in revenue there. We also saw additional revenue from restricted lottery sales, teacher residency, literacy coach grant, and CTIG. In local revenue, we saw an increase in a Medi-Cal reimbursements from prior years and an increase in Medi-Cal reimbursements for this year, teacher residency, and some other grants such as Felicimo and athletic ticket sales and other local donations. Next slide. Here's the combined revenues. This is the unrestricted and restricted combined into one chart. So you can see the two prior slides combined here in a total revenue throughout the year and looking at where we're at for the unaudited actuals overall for the district. Next slide. Here you'll see the breakdown of what the expenditure categories are. So salaries, benefits, materials and supplies, services and other operating expenses, and then capital outlay and indirect costs. Here's a little definition for each of those. Next slide. Here we're looking at the expenditures throughout the year and looking at increased salaries due to the contract increases mid-year, the retro, and the employee benefits. So those are all increases. You'll see a decrease in the employee benefits. That's due to the fiscal solvency plan of moving the OPEB expenditures from Fund 01 to Fund 71. And so that decrease was part of the fiscal solvency plan to move those expenditures and spend down the Fund 71 balance. Books and supplies came in under and services and other operating expenditures came under as well on the unrestricted side. Next slide. On the restricted side, you'll see a similar story. Certificated salaries held steady, classified salaries increased, and employee benefits decreased, again, due to the OPEB contribution moving over to Fund 71. Books and supplies decreasing, and then on the restricted side, an increase in services and other operating expenditures. This is mostly due to the additional revenue reduction. the additional restricted revenue we received at the adopted budget from to the 45-day revise that also increased our expenditures so using that new revenue to spend down those one-time dollars next slide here we're looking at the combined funds of expenditures so this is unrestricted and restricted combined the prior two slides in one next slide Here we're looking at the contributions from the unrestricted general fund so special education came in at $94.3 million as a contribution to fund the special education program above and beyond what the revenue they receive that comes from fund a one, and then the routine Routine restricted maintenance and other contributions totaled $13.4 million. That is a 3% requirement that we must contribute from the general fund to the restricted side to maintain maintenance for the district. So our total contributions were $107.8 million. Next slide. Fund 17, our beginning balance was $27.9 million. We earned about $1.3 million in interest over the year. And then we transferred $12.7 million from Fund 17 to Fund 1 to cover the deficit. So our ending balance in 2025-2026 is $16.6 million in Fund 17. Next slide. Fund 71, our beginning balance was $61.4 million. Our interest and investments... grew significantly throughout the year of 25-26, and we received $7.1 million in investments and interest. Those expenditures that were moved from Fund 01 to Fund 71 to spend down that fund balance in our fiscal solvency plan was $15.3 million for the expenditures living in Fund 71 to spend that down to a new fund balance of $53.1 million at the end of the year. And we still have two more years of of the fiscal solvency plan spending down, Fund 71, before we need to move those expenditures back into Fund 01 and build those into our budget in 28-29. Next slide. Here we're looking at the overall operating deficit. So our revenues on the unrestricted side was $363.9 million. Our expenditures plus our contributions to special ed were $376.9 million. So we had a $12.9 million operating deficit. And then that's where you see that Fund 17 transfer coming in of $12.7 million to offset that deficit and bring us back to a balanced budget. And then the remainder of that deficit is covered by a reduction in our 3% required reserve. So our 3% last year needed a total of 16.5 million. This year, based on our expenditures, was 16.2. So the difference there covered our overall deficit with Fund 17 and a reduction in 3% required reserve, ending the year in the Fund 01 fund balance of $16.2 million. Next slide. And thank you. That's the report for the unaudited actuals financial report. Let me know if you have any questions.

We don't have any questions on this presentation. Trustee Smith-Holtz.

So I have a couple of questions. They're broad questions, because what we're looking at is last year, right? So when we're looking at last year, it looks like we're in a better position, but we still have a structural deficit. Is that accurate?

Correct. This is 2526 numbers, and we had a $13 million deficit in 2526.

And the definition of a structural deficit is we are spending more than we're taking in. Is that accurate?

Exactly. Our expenditures are higher than our revenues for the year.

Okay. And then knowing what we know from last year, do we have a estimated number that we would be at the end of the year? Like the deficit, will it grow? Will it, it's not going to shrink, right? Cause it's going to grow, but do we have an estimate of what it will grow to right now? Or is that just something we can't predict at the moment?

For 26-27? Yes, the current year that we're in right now. Yeah, 26-27, the adopted budget, we had a $1 million surplus planned and to move that $1 million over to Fund 17 at the end of the year. We'll adjust that as the year goes on, but our fiscal solvency plan and the reductions we made last year allowed us to have a surplus in 26-27.

The year that we're in right now.

Correct.

Thank you. And then because we need to build a better overall budget and reach physical solvency means that we're out of a deficit spending. What guide rails are in place? What lessons have we learned from the budget that we're looking at now, the 25-26 budget? So just...

To clarify, the surplus we plan on having in 26-27 does not include the expenditures that were moved over to Fund 71 for the next two years. So once those have to get built back into our budget, we will be back in a deficit. The board adopted the resolution to use one-time SSPD dollars to cover the reductions to not do additional cuts this year.

This year?

Yeah.

Okay.

26-27. Okay. They would occur this year. They would be implemented for twenty seven, twenty eight. And so lessons learned, you know, a lot happened in twenty five, twenty six with the strike, additional revenues, unexpected checks, you know, like everything always has to balance year over year. And, you know, all we can do is account for what we know at the time and what we project out. with the knowledge we have now and every interim we'll adjust that and and update with what knowledge we have at the time for first interim uh to really project out where we think we'll end for 26 27 and then when we're building the budget how do we account for how do we indicate that these are one-time funds right is there a way on that when we're looking at a budget

And we have the layman's eye to it, right? When we're looking at a budget. And so, for example, the IRS isn't going to give us a bump next year, right? Because they gave us whatever they owed us this year. So that's a one-time bump in funds.

Exactly.

Is there a way to indicate that on the budget? So then when we're looking at the budget numbers, we're looking at them with an understanding that it may be higher one year because you get one-time funds or your grants or whatever, but that doesn't indicate that that's the true accurate budget that's going to be a multi-year projection because that money, for example, with grants, it goes away right after a certain number of years. the grant may go away or you may get a lot of the grant money in the beginning, but you're supposed to spread it out over five or six years. Is that accurate? Am I on the right? I guess my question is, how do we see that in the budget? And then am I accurate about what one-time funds do to a budget, the look of a budget?

Yeah, you're exactly correct. We indicate that by budgeting the estimated number of revenue we're going to receive. And so back in the 26-27 budget, we lowered that revenue projection, knowing that it was one-time funds in 25-26. So we did not budget for them to reoccur in 26-27. On the unrestricted side, the operating deficit is where the problem is. You can't have an operating deficit. That's why we have to continually use 117 to offset it. On the restricted side where the one-time money comes in, you would anticipate to be in an operating deficit to spend down those one-time revenues that you get a bulk or a chunk of revenue all at once in one year. And then you spend it down over the next three to four to five years, depending on the grant length. And you would expect to have a positive surplus of revenue in the restricted side on that big year. So like SSPD this year, we're going to expect to see a big bump in one-time revenue. And then over the next four years, we plan to spend that down and see a large deficit on the restricted side to spend those one-time monies down before they expire. So on the restricted side, that would be expected. On the unrestricted side, you do not want to have an operating deficit long-term because those revenues are ongoing and those expenditures are ongoing. And you can't have more expenditures than revenue for an extended period of time or you will run out of money.

Okay. And my final question is when we're looking at Fund 71, And we're pulling from Fund 71, not this year. But we're pulling, am I, help me, am I speaking about Fund 71 or Fund 17? I think Fund 71, right?

So, yeah, Fund 71 is the other post-retirement employment benefits. And we're spending down that fund balance. Those are one-time dollars in a tune of about $15 to $16 million a year. And not replenishing it.

This year, but starting next year.

So that started in 25, 26 last year was year one, 26, 27. This year will be year two. And then 27, 28 will be year three. That was the fiscal solvency plan. And then in 28, 29, we've got to bring those expenditures back to fund 01.

And if it's 15 million times three, so you're bringing back 45 million? Yeah.

No, we'll spend it down one-time funds three years in a row. And then in that fourth year, year three currently, we'll need to bring those expenditures back into Fund 01. And so we'll have to stop using the fund balance of Fund 71 when it can no longer sustain those one-time expenditures.

Okay. I think, I mean, I may have to have you revisit that, but I think I understand it now. Thank you very much for the presentation. I'm complete.

Do we have any further board comments? Seeing none, oh, I'm sorry, Trustee Rekla.

I just want to say thank you to you and your staff for wrapping this up because I know it's horrible and just want to say thank you.

Yeah, thank you.

Do we have any public comment on this item?

No public comment. Okay, so do we have any additional word of comment? Okay, I will entertain now a motion on this item. Trustee Rekla, I mean, Trustee Smith-Boltz.

Just my board comment is when we are presenting these slides, they're still acronym heavy. So if we could like, what was it, a CTAG? If we don't, as the general public doesn't know what that is, if we could add this, the definition of what those acronyms are, it would be beneficial. The second thing that I would like to say is Knowing how to read the budget is one of the most important things that the board can do. And school district budgets are very, very complicated. So the more information that we have as a board, the better we can do to make fiduciary responsible decisions because of the idea that it has to be more than just the year that you're in and the next year that you see. Because we are responsible for children who haven't even been born yet, right? How do we make sure that they have a system a district that they can graduate from. So I am complete.

Okay. When I move on to a motion, I'll go ahead and move that.

We accept the, I don't know that the actual financial statements for the 2025, 2026 school year.

Do I have a second? Okay, I'll go ahead and second the item. So it was motioned by Trustee Reckler, seconded by President Ayanna. We'll now move on to the vote. Trustee Reckler? Yes. Trustee Smith-Fold? Smith-Fold is a yes. Trustee Hernandez?

Yes.

Trustee Ayanna? I mean, Trustee Gonzalez-Hoy is absent, and Trustee Ayanna is a yes. Motion passes. We'll now move on to our items that were pulled. Item C-12, the revised job description for adult education, human resources and system technician. Trustee Rekla.

That one's me. Thank you. So I have a couple of questions on this. The first one is, is this a revised job description or is this a new job description? Because I'm not able to find it on the salary schedule more adjoin a job description to compare. So is it?

It's a new job description. So it has not been board approved yet. So that's why you would not find it on EdJoin yet.

So it's not revised, it's new? It's new. Okay, because it says that it's revised. Okay, so that's helpful. The second is that, to me, it's a little unclear. The first part of this, it says, under general direction, the adult ed human resources and systems technician performs complex confidential and technical duties. That's fine. But then it says, under the supervision of the office manager, the position also provides support and training for software applications. So I'm not sure that you need the under general direction. Or does this person have two bosses? Or it just doesn't seem like it reads well.

So the position they're supposed to report to the office manager and the adult ed principal.

So then should the top part of it say under the direction of the principal, this happens, and then under the office manager, this happens?

Yes, I can take that under advisement to make the modifications and meet with the union and adult ed again to make the corrections.

Okay, and then there's a couple of things in here which I think need some additional clarification. And they are... Let me find this so I'm saying this properly. So it says... receives leave requests determines eligibility. So I don't think you mean that they're determining the eligibility, but the reviewing documentation against established district rules and salary schedules and communicating the results. for eligibility and then for determining benefit eligibility. They aren't determining them. They're looking it up against policies and procedures. So is it possible to clarify that as well? Because it sounds like they're making the decision and that's probably not the case.

Correct. So I will bring these recommendations for modifications to Adult Ed and Teamsters for revision.

Okay, so I'm willing to move it provided that the reporting structure is re-looked at and that, I'm sorry, some of the language is cleared up around determining salary eligibility or benefits eligibility that they are reviewing against existing documents of the board or HR. So that would be my motion.

Okay. I'll get that clarified. Thank you.

Would you be able to repeat that?

I couldn't hear you. I'm sorry.

So I just stated what I'd like corrected in that motion.

I thought you were asking me another question. I'm sorry.

Okay. I'm done. Do we have a second or do we have any more questions? Do we have a second?

I'll second.

Okay, we have a motion on the item by Trustee Reckler, a second by Trustee Hernandez. Do we have any board comments? I see none. Well, I'm going to run to the vote. Trustee Reckler? Yes. Trustee Smith-Ford?

Abstain.

Trustee Hernandez?

Yes.

And Trustee Ayanna is a no.

Okay, so it fails. The motion fails to call.

I would like to move the original motion as it stands in the agenda. I would like to move the revised job description for adult ed human resources and system technician. Without any of the changes. It's the way it is.

Do we have a second on that? Seeing no second on that, the motion also fails. And now we move on to our next item.

So could I ask the question?

Go ahead.

So Dr. Greenwood, with the motion failing, both motions failing, the revised motion and the original motion failing, what's the impact?

I need to make the revisions and meet with teensters in adult ed and then bring it back to the board.

Okay.

I didn't hear your question.

I guess my question is if we had a motion that had changes in it and that motion failed, and then we had the original motion, which is the job description that was brought forward by the district and that motion failed. what is the impact of not passing the adult ed human resources and system technician? So what's the real time impact? How does that affect adult ed? How does that affect our students? What's that impact is what I was asking.

So, and Dr. Greenwood, you can, can jump in that position. Um, was one that adult ed was funding that would meet the needs both of their hr requirements and needs but also would meet the needs of additional support that's needed clerical support that's needed on site and so that's the that's the intent of this position without that um i think we would need to to regroup i'm not sure how we would a fund that position because we don't have a um adult ed needs specific support around human resources it had been a full-time position we cannot fund that full-time position any longer and so now in absence of that they're losing that support I don't know where we will fill in for that support for human resources and the needs that adult education has. But again, that was a position that was not funded through our general fund or restricted funds. It would have been funded through our adult education fund. to provide particular services that they need, which is unique from the rest of kind of our district services. And so voting it down is quite impactful because we won't be able to move this work forward.

Thank you.

I'm complete. Dr. Greenwood, do you have anything to add to that?

I was just saying that adult ed won't receive the level of support that they needed from HR and the systems portion of the position and hiring process and the timelines that that take. Because per Teamsters contract, we have to post it for at least two weeks and then screen and then give the candidates to the adult ed school for review.

It's important. I'm sorry, go ahead. I just want to get clarity from the board of how you want us to proceed. So if it's voted down both the version that would have been revised based on Trustee Reckler's recommendations and it was voted down or it wasn't even, didn't come to a vote to accept it as it stood, is there an expectation of the board to bring this back? as revised or how do you want us to proceed?

I think the expectation is that when we bring stuff to the board, we should do it in a timely manner to when we are asking for revisions, it's able to then get revised and then brought back to the board to then be accepted. Because I think a lot of the time we're constantly doing this, hey, we're needing to now revise this. That is still a conversation that you're going to have to have with our unions. when it comes to revisions on what this looks like. Not because we're asking for those changes means that those changes are going to be accepted by our unions. I think that that's the concern that once we bring things to the board, they should be brought to the board with a timely manner that we are able to then, if things don't pass because we need revisions, then we're able to take them back to the drawing board and represent them to the board. With that being said, take back my vote. And I know that I, since I was the only no trustee regular.

I hate to be a stickler, but I think it has to be reconsidered. I don't think you could take back.

I mean, I'm not going to take my vote. I'm going to reconsider my vote because I was the only no vote. Right.

I still think that the action came to an end. It failed. And so then I think there needs to be a motion to reconsider to reopen it for the evening.

So I am the one that will be able to motion to reconsider because I was the only no vote, right? Correct. So I will motion to reconsider this item.

And then you'd need to get a second.

And I will ask for a second on this item.

So I think that if you reconsider, you have to have a, because it's only four of us, it has to be a majority of the board or all of the board has to say yes on the reconsideration. and then it can go back up for a vote. You're reconsidering your no on Trustee Reckler's motion, correct?

I am reconsidering the vote. So on both, I mean, it would have to be on this motion in its totality because I voted both motions. No, you didn't get a second one.

Yeah, you didn't get a second on that one. Yes.

So I am reconsidering my vote on Trustee Reckler's motion. And I need a second to be able to do that.

so then if she gets a second then she could put another motion on the floor for what she her desire is and we have the option of we have to vote on her ability to reconsider right and then after we vote on her ability to reconsider she can put whatever motion she wants on the floor including repeating yours or mine or any other motion on the floor that has to be seconded and then that has to be voted on exactly yeah So the first step is to ask for a vote for your reconsideration.

So I am asking for my vote. I'm in for a vote for my reconsideration on my vote. So I'll second that. So I have a second vote. So now we're moving on to the vote. Trustee Regler?

Yes.

Trustee Smith votes? Yes. Trustee Hernandez? Yes. Trustee Gonzalez-Hoy is absent. Trustee Indiana says yes. And now we will move. forward with the original motion posted by Trustee Reckler to take it to the to take it back with the necessary, what was your original?

To look at the three points, the reporting structure, and then clean up some of the language around, you know, the following procedures rather than determining, you know, like benefits.

Okay, so we will now be voting on that motion, which was identical to Trustee Rutgers.

Can I get a motion? Okay, so that was the motion. Yeah, that is my motion. I need a second.

Now I'll have Trustee Reckler's second. We'll move on to the vote. Trustee Reckler? Vote? Yes. Trustee Smith-Fox? Abstain. Trustee Hernandez? Yes. Trustee Gonzalez-Hoy is absent and Trustee Hernandez a yes. So motion passes. And now we will move on to item 13, revised job description with health assistance slash licensed vocational nurse. And that is Trustee Hernandez.

Yes, so the reason I pulled this item is because I still have several questions. Thank you, Dr. Greenwood, for answering my first set of questions. I just have clarifying questions. When you responded to my primary questions, You clarified that this is a specific LVN classification and not an instructional assistant classification, even though because the LVN will be working with students, it was a desire classification. Sorry, it's too hot. If that's the case, can you explain a little bit more in regards to why it's needed for the LVN to have that NCLB instructional assistant proficiency and why is it still remaining as a minimum qualification for this specific, if it's more LVN related?

I think we use the NCLB because that's been a standard practice for classified employees to make that the standard for most positions. And that's also related to what you talked about, the instructional assistant part of the position. So that's connected to that, not necessarily to the licensing for LVN.

But wouldn't that kind of discourage LVN to have the required license to do this job to apply for a position? Wouldn't that pool get smaller?

It possibly can be, but we want people with the highest quality of standards to be applying for our positions. So we know that there's a large shortage of LVNs across the state. And so we're trying everything we can. And so we do take everything into consideration when screening applications.

Okay, thank you. And then I did ask if we compared to, you know, our job description to other districts and you did acknowledge that that wasn't done.

No, it was not.

So why wouldn't we compare our requirements with the neighborhood districts and particularly when... you're acknowledging that we're not doing that, but we're asking for this specific position to be, is this, I don't know if I'm making sense. Am I making sense? Yes. Okay. So it's just, I guess it's like, where are we getting, I know you said standard practice that in the past we've done this, we've had these two positions be one. Right. But why aren't we just comparing our two other local districts to have? I believe San Ramon has LVNs. I think that was the only district I was able to find. There was one more, but I can't really think about it.

The reason we did not compare at this time because this job description was already approved last year. So the purpose of me bringing this forward was because we needed to align it with the number of work days and payroll schedules to make sure people are appropriately paid.

And then I know you mentioned that you guys are still reviewing the requirements. So why was it put on consent or approval if we're still kind of reviewing some requirements and we haven't done a Deep diet analyst.

The reason we did not do a deep drive, like I mentioned, because we needed to make sure people were paid appropriately and we did not want to hinder anybody from getting paid at this time. So it still can be reviewed, like I said, and we can bring it back again with the looking, comparing other districts. But because of the time frame to be able to pay people appropriately, that was the urgency behind bringing this forward.

Okay, I think those are all my questions. And I guess, you know, I don't know if anybody else has questions. And versus not.

Do we have any further questions on the item? Okay, seeing none, do we have any? Trustee Smith's votes.

Okay, so this had already previously been approved by the board, but it's coming back because it had some changes.

Yes, it had changes with the number of days sort of aligned with our payroll schedule, our student calendars, and making sure everything was aligned and it was not. And we found out when working with payroll.

Okay, thank you. I'm complete.

Okay, so now we'll need a motion for this item.

I move the revised job description health assistant licensed vocational nurse.

I'll second it. So we have a motion on the table to approve by Smith-Fold, seconded by Trustee Reckler. Do we have any board comments?

I guess my only comment is we keep doing this repetitive thing where it's like we need to things are brought back to the board and they have to be approved that day at that time instead of giving us enough time to kind of have you go back to the drawing board and it's it's not a one-time thing it keeps happening with multiple job revisions and then we're put in a hard position where it's like we have to approve it or we can't pay people and I don't like being put in that position because I want to be sure that we whatever we're posting and whatever job description we are providing to people it's accurate right and because this is people's livelihood but you're I feel that as a board member, I'm being put in between a hard and a rock place because it's just, I still have additional concerns, additional questions in regards to this. And receiving the answers to my questions the day of a board meeting, it's not sufficient for me. So that's my only comment.

Thank you. We'll now move on to the vote. Trustee Regla.

Can I make a brief comment, though?

Yes, you got one minute because we're two minutes away from.

Yeah, it's just I would encourage some more lead time because I know you all don't want our feedback. I mean, I'm just going to be straight up. It's not welcome. I realize that. But, you know, they come to us. We are going to give you feedback. And so there just needs to be a little cushion in there so that when we give you feedback, you know, like, It could at least get processed instead of being like, no, we need it right now. So that's what I request. Thank you.

May I call a point of order? May I extend the meeting to 1030 so we can finish with board comments and future agenda items? That's my motion. To extend the meeting to 1030 so we can finish the agenda with board comments and future agenda items.

Being no second, motion fails. We'll now move on to the vote. Trustee Reckler? Yes. Trustee Smith-Fold? Smith-Fold, yes. Trustee Hernandez?

No.

Trustee Gonzalez-Hoy is absent, and Trustee Indiana is a yes. And we are looking at our... Next scheduled board meeting for September 23rd, 2026 at Lavonia DeJohn Middle School. And I am adjourning this meeting at 10 p.m. Thank you.