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Tuesday, August 10, 2021 · School board meeting record
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(gavel bangs) - I call the meeting of the San Juan Unified School District Board of Education to order. The Closed Session items on tonight's agenda are, conference with legal counsel, existing litigation pursuant to Government Code section 549560.9 subdivision D, paragraph one, two cases, Magali Kincaid, Benito Juarez Neighborhood Association, Neighborhood Elections Now, Juan Yniguez, Carolina Flores, Damaris Canton versus the San Juan Unified School District, Complaint for Violation of the California Voting Rights Act and in the Alternative for violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the California Constitution, Sacramento Superior Court Case No. 34-2020-00286475, and Carolina Flores neighborhood election snap petitioners versus San Juan Unified School District, Paula Villescaz in her official capacity as board president, respondents verified petition for Writ of mandate pursuant to the First Amendment, the California Constitution, California Public Records Act, and the Ralph M. Brown Act, and complaint for the clarity and injunctive relief, Sacramento Superior Court case number 34-2021-80003644-CU-WM-GDS. And second collective bargaining matters, discussion with a negotiator David Thigpen, senior director labor relations, regarding CSEA chapter 127, general operations support, chauffeurs, teamsters, local 150 transportation, supervisors, teachers, and certificated supervisory units, and regarding non-representative groups, management and confidential units, Government Code section 54957.6, and three personnel matters. Government Code section 54957, superintendents goals for 21/22. We do not have any speaker cards on the Closed Session for the agenda items. We will now move into Closed Session, and we will return to open session at 6:30. - I call the meeting of the San Juan Unified School District Board of Education back to order. Board meetings are being held in person in the boardroom here at the district office, and the public is welcome to attend. Thank you to those of you who have joined us this evening. Alternatively, the meeting may also be viewed on the district's YouTube channel, where it is being live streamed. The meeting is being audio and video recorded, and the recording may capture sounds and images of those attending this meeting. The recording will be posted on the district website. At this moment, I invite you to please stand and join us in 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. - Good evening, and welcome. I'm Paula Villescaz, board president. And to my right is Dr. Michael McKibbin, board vice president. To his right is Ms. Zima Creason board clerk, and to her right is Ms. Pam Costa and Mr. Saul Hernandez, board members. To my left is Superintendent Kent Kern, and to his left is board administrative assistant, Stephanie Cunningham. Before we begin, I'd like to review the two methods that are available to offer public comment for tonight's meeting. For those of you who are attending the board meeting in person, and would like to offer a public comment on items that are on the agenda, we ask that you please complete a speaker card that is available, I believe over in this corner today, opposite the door, correct? And you will be called on at the appropriate time during the agenda. The second option is to submit a public comment online using the comment form, located on the district website at www.sanjuan.edu/boardmeeting. If you wish to submit a public comment on more than one agenda item, please submit a separate form for each item on which you were commenting. Comments received by 6:00 PM today, have already been shared with all board members. Comments received after 6:00 PM tonight, including those submitted during the meeting, maybe read during the meeting, depending on time restrictions. Comments may only be submitted on an agenda item, up until the time that the agenda item has been discussed. And please note that all comments are subject to a two minute limit, or approximately 1500 characters. With that, we will now move to the business of our meeting. We are at item D, approval of the minutes. Are there any corrections to the minutes? Is there a motion to approve the minutes for July 27th? It's been moved by Ms. Creason, seconded by Dr. McKibbin. All those in favor, please indicate by saying, aye. - Aye. - That was unanimous. We are now at item E1, staff reports. Dr. Calvin. - Good evening president Villescaz, members of the board, superintendent Kern and Ms. Cunningham. Staff was recently notified by the international rescue committee, and several other resettlement agencies, that we should anticipate the arrival of 1700 to 2000 special immigrant VISA refugees from Afghanistan to the Sacramento region between now and November 30th. IRC reported that the majority of the families arriving, have at least several children, and that there's a strong desire by many to relocate in areas near their family and friends, who have already settled. Since many families live in the yard and our K area, they have expressed a desire to remain in San Juan, where we have a variety of services and programs to support the newest members of our community. This could have a significant impact on our numbers. During our weekly meetings with the resettlement agencies, it has been made clear that the number of refugees, the timeline for their arrival, and the locations of which they may settle change constantly. So it is impossible at this point to determine exactly how many students we can anticipate. The only thing that we know for certain, is that new students will arrive within the next several weeks. Staff is preparing to welcome and serve students in a variety of ways, which includes the addition of 11 new bilingual instructional aid positions, four new school community resource assistants, and one new translator. Our focus was on finding staff who were fluent in Farsi, Dari and Pashto. Additional supports include, the creation of professional learning and training modules, related to the support of refugee and newcomer students, collaboration with enrollment team to ensure the availability of primary language support when families arrive to enroll their students, the creation of a pop-up enrollment center at Greer, to help alleviate the transportation challenges that many of our families face when trying to enroll at San Juan Central, videos in the student's home language, that outline many of the services provided in San Juan, the distribution of backpacks and school supplies to our students when they register, and the distribution of student bus passes. As stated earlier, we have no clear arrival date, and the projected numbers fluctuate constantly, but we are prepared and ready to support our students once they arrive. And with that, I would be happy to answer any questions. - Thank you, Dr. Calvin for the staff report. Do any of my colleagues have questions at this time? Ms. Creason. - Thank you for that report. That's big news, new neighbors at school. There's only so much as a school district we can do, which is a lot in the way of support. So I'm just wondering, and I'm sure this has to be the case. The state, county, federal government, others are gonna be supporting our new community members as well. It's not all gonna fall on SJUSD. We supported to support them better. Can you talk just a little bit about the inter-agency aspect of- - What I know about the resettlement agencies is that they provide a number of services for them prior to arrival, which includes the health services. We don't really have to worry too much about vaccinations and things of that nature, because that'll be taken care of. I know that the agencies are working on housing, which is a challenge, particularly in this market. And also we hooked them up, and other agencies do as well, with agencies that provide support in terms of food and other services. So we're not in this alone. - Thank you - Checking to see if there's any additional comments or questions at this time. - Thank you, Dr. Calvin for the report. I have also been able to join some of the organizing calls, and in addition to a robust representation from the San Juan community and the schools community, it does include state partners, including the department of public health, department of social services, our local congressional delegation, and as well as our state legislators as well. So there's at least the broad level of awareness, but I do appreciate how much We're gonna be the ones to feel this the most, or at least pretty significantly. And so I really appreciate and wanna thank the team for being ready to take it on, amidst everything else that we are taking on. So thank you for the report. - [Dr. Calvin] Okay. Thank you. - With that, we at item E2 through E4. I wanna make sure... I don't see at this time, any speaker cards for board appointed district committees, employee organizations, or other district committees at this time. Seeing none, we are at item E5, and there are no Closed Session actions to report. So that brings us to item F, visitor comments. I do have, it looks like three visitor comments. So if you are interested in providing visitor comments, but have not yet signed up, please at this time, go visit the back table over there. Ms. Rai is raising her hand, and we will get you signed up, and call on you at the appropriate time. I'd like to remind the public that comments are limited to two minutes, and the clock on the screen will count down the time up that way. Under the Ralph M. Brown Act, the board is not allowed to comment on items that are not on the agenda, so we're not ignoring your comments. We just can't respond to any individual comments. The superintendent can refer items to staff, who will follow up with you. We will get started with Marina Gabel, and I'll also be announcing who's next in line, just so you can be prepared and at the ready. So we'll start with Marina Gable, and we will follow that up with Katie Reed. Ms. Gabel, please begin when you're ready. - Hello. Hi. A little unprepared tonight. I am no longer a San Juan parent, proud to say. I have removed my son from child abuse, as I see it. Oh, this... Sorry. And I am really sad that we can't call CPS on the school board, when you're using children as political stepping stones and abusing them. I filed a complaint, I went through the right process. It's unfortunate, we're in the state of California, because they said what happened to my son was okay, and that the teacher did nothing wrong. And that it was okay to make him feel bad about himself, or somebody who didn't look like him. It's sad that the parents don't have the power that they should have. I mean, we basically put you where you are, and you said it's okay for this stuff to be taught in our schools. And you all know what's happening. You all know how up and down California, people are being recalled from school boards because of what's happening to our kids. And more and more parents are speaking up, and I wish a lot more would, because it is sad. I am a mandated reporter, but I can't call CPS on you, but we can recall you. So we are recalling you. And I just wanna make sure everybody knows that, it's recallSanJuanUnifiedboe.org. You can print out your own recalls, and you can mail them into our P.O box. So please take advantage of this, if you want things to change for your children. Thank you. - Next up, we have Katie Reed, followed by William Brooks. Ms. Reed, please pick up when you're ready. - Good evening president Villescaz, trustees and Mr. Kern. My name is Katie Reed, secretary of the board of the San Juan Parents Association. I've dragged my youngest two children here tonight on the second to the last day of their summer vacation, notably under protest, because it is important to us that we express your thanks for your support in transitioning our school district to a seven member board, elected by smaller trustee districts. Our goal as an association is to help each and every parent in our district find their voice, empower them to speak their opinion, and provide a vehicle when they feel their voices are being silenced. I would encourage you, for that reason, to consider again, our requests that zoom comments be allowed to encourage the participation of as many parents as possible. Parents who tonight are at back to school nights, soccer practices, PTA meetings, and second jobs, and parents who may be less comfortable bringing small children here tonight, or larger children who may be able to more strongly resist. I would thank you for that, and I know my children would thank you for that. - Thank you. Next up, we have William Brooks, followed by Jessica Silva. Mr. Brooks, please begin when you are ready. - Hello, William Brooks. My family and neighbors are very concerned that a known carcinogen is being sprayed on San Juan playing fields, I have photos of postings from a couple of schools. In 2014, a groundsman from Kenosha Unified School District, contracted non-Hodgkin's lymphoma cancer from spraying the same chemical on their fields. Another court recently awarded 125,000 groundsmens and farmers $10.9 billion for their cancer caused by the same chemical. The court obtained internal emails, showed that Monsanto falsified the safety research, and executives were aware of the dangerous toxicity of this product. As a result, they've now decided to discontinue its residential use. So isn't it time we stopped spraying these carcinogenic chemicals around our children? And my solution is to contact Irvine Unified School District, the City of Irvine, and many other schools that have adopted an organic first landscaping policy, or contact nontoxic communities. They've been doing this in Irvine since 2018, they're finding it cheaper and healthier for the kids. That's my comment. Thank you for listening. - Thank you. Next up, we have Jessica Silva, followed by Janet Rodriguez. - So I'm gonna read my email that I sent, and hopefully you guys have heard about this. But as quoted, "I'm writing you in regards to my concerns and frustrations regarding the upcoming 2021/2022 school year. I am a parent to three children, two of which I'm not able to get vaccinated, and I feel that I am forced to send them back, because the education options you guys are giving their children, independent studies nowhere near distance learning. The options, the credits, the lectures, it's nowhere near it. I've been to both orientations, middle school, high school, and they themselves, they tell us when we ask these questions pertaining to distance learning, "Is it anything like it? Will my student have actions to speak with other students like we do in school work?" "No, they will not. Unfortunately we will not have the ability to have your students do that." They will have a master teacher once a week. That is not the same as daily interactions with the teacher, giving lecture. They will not have someone who is supporting them and helping them. I understand that people wanna return to normalcy, I'm a hundred percent on board on that, but the thing is, jobs are returning in smaller phases. I myself have solely option to stay at home. I can return to work if I want to, it's a designated area. Why are we returning to full capacity? How was that an option for students who can't be vaccinated? I have a sixth grader. She's 11 years old. She cannot go, but I feel like I have to send her, or else her academic education is going to be lesser than. I really hope that you guys really push forward to this. I know it's legislation as well, but you guys have to really push forward this. I appreciate your time. - Next up we have Julian Rodriguez, followed by Lori Corder - My name is Jana Rodriguez, and I'm here on behalf of myself, my family, representing Jessica Lee, Jessica Jaimes, Raquel Strand, Cynthia Price, Sandy Silva, and all those children age 11 and under, who are not able to be vaccinated. All medically compromised, high risk families as myself, and those who are not here today, and I'm representing. I'm here to begin with many concerns regarding the limited learning opportunities for our students, the reopening of schools at full capacity, especially for unvaccinated middle school students and elementary students as well. We strongly feel that as high risk families are being discriminated and not being considered, when it comes to the same learning opportunities as those attending in school. We are very familiar with El Sereno and what the school has to offer, and it does not support our students, as traditional school would. I have had many meetings along with the families that I previously mentioned, with both school sites, our homeschools and El Sereno School. And they have both voiced the differences between the school curriculums, and what they have to offer for our students. I've been told that the placement of my student, if I were to take and go into independent study, will not be saved. So I'm being kicked out of my home school, with a school that's not equivalent as in-person learning. I've heard it time and time again, from different staff members at both schools. My child is a 4.0 student, who thrive in distance learning, and demonstrated that distance learning is a successful school option for instruction. It brings me to my next concern as to why, and I'm asking you all, why is distance learning not being offered? I keep hearing the mention of legislative, but where is the district standing up for us families, who are medically compromised? Where is the school district standing up for our kids who are not vaccinated? Why are we not protecting our children, and rushing them and putting them in full capacity, jeopardizing our children, or jeopardizing their academic success. I ask that you please reconsider distance learning. (beep) - Thank you. Next up we have... And I briefly misspoke just a moment ago. Next up we have Julian Rodriguez, followed by Lori Corder. Julian, please begin when you're ready. - My name is Julian Rodriguez. I am a 4.0 student at Casa High School. And I'm here today to ask you board members, to reconsider distance learning for us high risk families. I'm an example, along with my few friends, that distance learning truly works, and is a good learning environment, as in school learning. I care deeply about my education, and want the same learning opportunities as those attending in person, and which independent study does not offer. Please reconsider distance learning, and keep our families and communities safe. Thank you. - Finally, we have Lori Corder. This is our last listed public comment for our general visitor comments. So if you're here, and wish to comment at this time, please be sure to go visit the back corner there, and submit a comment card. Ms. Corder, please begin when you're ready. - I don't know where to begin. I've lived in this district for 30 years, both my children have gone. I have served on boards with Mr. Saul Hernandez. There's even been a time when things were taken out of a storage locker, and Mr. Hernandez had some of it in his car, which I'm not sure how everything turned out, but we need to speak about a few things. I also know of a body shop that was received questionable bid information. They were asked if they would like to bid on painting their school buses, was sent the information, and then also proceeded to give the information, how to secure the contracts. The next thing I'd like to speak on, is on August 1st, 2019, Barrett was gonna be remodeled. A handful, I mean, a handful of flyers were distributed to the community regarding this project. There is also very much mitigation problems with the transportation, and the things that you're doing with the facilities that have not been addressed, especially regarding your zoom meetings, with your facilities people. Your facilities, people have also... There was a December meeting on zoom. The meeting on your website is altered. It's not portraying exactly the meeting. Many people were not allowed onto the meeting. You had to have a code to get onto the meeting. Currently the project that's over there, you're supposed to be mitigating the problems that are going on for the households that are nearby. They're not doing that. My house is full of dust. There's dust all over my backyard. My pool is receiving algae. I can't keep it clean. And if you're gonna tell me that they didn't know what was going on, because I didn't pick up the phone and call them, they're making their own dust storm. The wind blows in the direction towards my house. I have no way to avoid it. There's several other problems that need to be addressed. First of all, your facilities department, and in dealing with this, they have pretty much rubber stamped the sequence. (beep) - That's the balance of your two minutes. That was our final visitor comments. We do have written comments that have been submitted after 6:00 PM. Is there any objection to us having those read? Okay. Seeing none, Ms. Rai, will you please read the public comments that have been submitted after 6:00 PM? - Okay. Check, check. Certainly. We have two written comments for general comment. The first is from Adam Dondro who writes, "Until vaccinations are available for youth, all our children remain a high risk. I believe that my daughter will benefit from returning to school full-time, but to keep her and our community safe, we need to consider all reasonable mitigations. I believe there are two things the board should consider, that could keep our children safer. Outdoor masking. While guidance hasn't yet gotten there, San Juan could lead. We are seeing cases of kids in sports and other close contact catching COVID. Children do not distance when playing, and it is not fair to say those who choose to distance can. We need to make these decisions, not them. More importantly, unvaccinated teachers and staff are the single biggest risk to bring COVID into a school setting, and spread it. Across the country, we are seeing leaders requiring their staff to be vaccinated or tested. There is no other change you could adopt that will do more to protect our students, and keep our classrooms open. Unvaccinated individuals are consistently shown to be the source of the spread. Individuals are... Sorry, without testing unvaccinated staff, they put the entire school at risk. By testing them frequently, you will catch cases before they can create an outbreak. Ignoring our current reality is not how to get back to normal. While those who don't believe in vaccines and science may be louder, we have an obligation to rise above and do what is truly in the best interest, our children. Vaccinations and testing are how we keep our children safe, and in school, they are how we get back to normal." Our next general comment is from Juanita Martinez, who writes, "I'm writing to ask the board to consider additional measures, to protect our children as school starts. The Delta variant is not the COVID we knew last year. Nationwide, 15% of all cases are children. In Florida, where schools have opened, they're already seeing four times the number of cases, and in some districts over 10 times. As more and more entities are mandating vaccines, or mandating testing of the unvaccinated, I ask the board to do the same to protect our children and keep our schools open. Vaccinations are the only way we will stop the virus. And the only way to protect our students from those unvaccinated, is to test them. I know that opponents of these measures are angry, loud and sometimes threatening, but the reality is that we all want the same thing, we want our kids back in school full-time safely. And the only way to do that without having outbreaks that put our children at risk and closed classrooms, is to put measures like these, and masking in place and enforce them." And that's all we have for general comment at this time. - Thank you. Seeing no further comment at this time, we will move to item G, our consent calendar. We do not have any speaker cards or written comments on this item. Do any board members wish to remove items from the consent calendar? Okay. Seeing none, is there a motion to approve items G1 through G10? It's been moved by Ms. Creason, and seconded by Mr. Hernandez. All those in favor, please indicate by saying, aye. Aye. That was unanimous. We are now at our first business item, item I1, expanded learning opportunities. Ms. Bassanelli. - Can we get the slide deck up? Great, good evening president Villescaz, members of the board, superintendent Kern and Ms. Cunningham. Tonight, we're excited to present to you an update related to our expanded learning opportunities grant plan, that was approved by the board of education this past May of 2020. Presenting with me tonight is assistant superintendent, Kristan Schnepp and Mira Loma Principal Clete Purinton. Last spring, the state allocated approximately 27 million to San Juan Unified School District, and expanded learning opportunity funds through assembly bill 86, to provide supplemental instruction and support for targeted students. The approved plan we presented to you in May, we wove together the ELO funds with the elementary and secondary school emergency relief funds, to support actions connected to the seven strategies that you see on the screen. As a reminder, at least 85% of the ELO funds must go towards in-person services, with 10% of the funds going towards per professionals. Additionally, actions must be directed towards the targeted student populations that you see in the green on the right of the screen. Within the ELO plan, system level and site level actions were identified for implementation, to support and build upon student learning. As you may recall, the site level actions in the ELO plan were high-level, and did not include much detail. This was intentional, as we wanted to empower sites to utilize local control, to identify strategies and actions that best meet the needs of their student population. ELO actions planned for site level identification and implementation, include expanding certificated and classified staff, providing before, during and after school programs, to address academic and social emotional needs, expanding and building partnerships between school and community to increase services and supports for students, and providing staff professional development. To support and empower schools and their local control, processes and parameters were co-created with our teacher's association leadership. These parameters included the identification of targeted student groups, and focus areas through needs assessment, the expectation for collaboration and gathering input and developing plans, and the implementation of continuous improvement practices, which include the identification of success indicators, and progress monitoring. To help provide the board with detail about what this looks like in action, I would like to invite Principal Clete Purinton to the podium to share Mira Loma's ELO story. - Thank you, Melissa, and good evening board, superintendent Kern. As you can see from the diagrams here, we're just sharing a little bit about Mira Loma here. The enrollment hasn't changed significantly in the last number of years, but our demographics have. You can see from the diagram that our Hispanic Latino population has increased by roughly 4%. Our white population has decreased by roughly 5%, and our students who have two or more races has increased by about four. There we go. When you break it down by subgroup, our social economic disadvantaged students has increased by about 6%. Our English learners has more than doubled, and our foster youth and homeless students have increased as well. So over the last six years, working at Mira Loma as a vice-principal, and now this year as a principal, we've tried to address a couple of things, attendance and academic improvement with a part-time counselor. And in 2016/17, our attendance rate was pretty poor. It was about 88%, and we had a very high truancy rate. So Mira Loma is known for a lot of academic achievement, but when you look at those numbers, there was a lot of work to be done to improve our attendance. Our part-time counselor began running reports weekly, reaching out to families, setting up meetings and conferences. And then if there was not an initial improvement, setting up a habitual truancy conference, where we really tried to learn the story of our students, and find out what is it that they're struggling with? What are the barriers for them coming to school and having success? And through that work, we identified themes such as, obviously transportation being an issue. So providing transportation assistance, providing linked to medical services, closed closet connections, tutoring, and internet assistance. We also started to realize that we needed to do more in terms of wraparound services with our students. And in that work, we partnered with World Relief Sacramento, because a lot of our English learners are refugee students, that not only do the students are learning the culture here, and how education works, but the families are probably at more of a disadvantage than the students. And they don't know how to support their students and their success. So that connection has been powerful. The areas that we've seen improvement with that, was obviously our attendance, because that was our focus. So our attendance rate in 2019/20 was 94%. So it increased by six. We were able to establish other partnerships on our campus, like Improve Your Tomorrow. The work of EOS has been really huge, where many of our students were struggling, but with the support of our staff and encouragement, many of them have taken an IB class, or an AP class or been challenged to take more rigor. We've definitely made more connections with our families. And I think IYT has been instrumental in that, and becoming like a bridge for us, but also a partnership. So that when we do have challenges on our campus... Kern used this analogy at one of our meetings recently, where he said rather than sitting face to face, standing shoulder to shoulder. And when I heard him say that, I thought of what IYT has become for our campus. And so making those connections for our students has really been powerful, in terms of there's a trust. And so families feel like we're with them, we're for them. So we know we've made progress, but when you see areas of continued challenge, you don't see the data screaming at us that kids are learning at high rates. The students that we're trying to support and intervene are still struggling academically. We know that when we started this work, that it was gonna take time, but we've never seen the data really reflected. A lot of our students are making strides the way we want to. We've also identified that, the work that we've done has been very surface level. We've made connections, we've supported students, we've found wraparound services, but many of our students struggle with depression, anxiety, trauma, and we're not hitting on those things. And we're reaching out and trying to provide those. But a lot of times there's insurance, there's other things that are barriers for them to actually get that counseling and therapy that they need. And so once we refer those out, we don't really know what happens. And a lot of times we're not aware of the progress that those students are making, even if they are making those connections to therapy and counseling. We've also had some reductions in the services that we've used outside of our school in the recent years, which has been more challenging in trying to get students connected to that. So when we found out about the ELO Grant last spring, we quickly presented this to our staff, and I asked the staff to... In each of those seven areas that Melissa shared on slide seven, to brainstorm ideas and ways that we can support our students coming back to full in-person learning this year. We also asked our teachers to survey our students, to gather information from students. What do students think they're gonna need to have support and success when they come back? And counselors and administration working together over the last number of years on this intervention work, the main theme for us was kids need a lot more support and help than we're able to provide. So those things really... And mental health was the most glaring thing that came out of all of that work, and the feedback that we got from our staff and students. So with that information, I reached out to a colleague who works in the Rocklin School District, because they were using an organization called Wellness Together last year, supporting students when they returned to in-person learning. And they found that not only was it successful in helping students by providing counseling and therapy, they were providing professional development for their teachers around trauma informed practices. And that was one of the most powerful things, they felt like they gained from that, was really having those strategies school-wide, so that they could be providing that as a school and as a district. So I reached out to Wellness Together, and we began talking about how that could be a part of our plan, and included our counselors. And as we met and talked about it, we were really excited about the opportunity to bring a mental health therapist on our campus four days a week, six hours a day, where they become an extension of our staff. And so they're gonna have a case load of up to 25 students. They can do individual counseling, group counseling. They even have three family sessions that they can provide. And those counseling sessions go anywhere from 10 to 13 weeks. They're tracking the data that they're collecting for us, and they provide that every twice a year, January and in June. So that is one step that we're taking with the ELO Grant. The other step that we're gonna take is we are increasing our part-time counselor to full-time. And although that might not seem like a big step, to me it's the biggest step that we're taking, because what we've found is that our intervention work has fallen short. We haven't had the personnel to really do it in an effective manner, where we're consistently providing the resources and support that our students need. So this counselor is free, they don't have a caseload of their own where they have students that they're scheduling. And this counselor is gonna be our point person for what we're calling, learning support team. I think four years ago, our district spent a lot of time on training for learning support teams around intervention work, and we loved the training, and then we came back, and were never fully able to put that into practice. And one of the things I'm really excited about too, is not only is this counselor there, to provide the social emotional support for students, but they're gonna be that point person, to also promote the equity work that we do as far as academic. Really connecting them to our supports, and services that we have, IYT. IYT, we have early academic outreach program. This is a more recent partnership that we have. We had a hundred students this last summer, that were in a leadership program, through this UC Davis program. And there're students similar to like avid, where you identify at a young age that they have potential, but they would be first-generation college students, and they needed a little bit of extra support and encouragement. And so we're excited about that partnership. And we've been doing restorative practices, for a number of years. So having someone that's really focused on that work, and supporting our teachers in that, and then continuing with our attendance work. So those are the things that we're looking forward to doing. And this opportunity of the ELO Grant has allowed us, to add more support and resources for our students and families. We're also increasing in staffing, we had the full time FTE. So integrated Math 1 and Physics, we increased because we want to roll out our co-teaching this year, all science classes and Math are co-taught, with SPED, special education. And we really wanna have a positive roll out with that. So it allows us to reduce some of those class sizes, and make it more manageable as we roll that out. Japanese 1, we have three years of students now, that are on the new graduation requirements, and all of them are required to take two years of language. So surprising, I was anticipating adding a section of Spanish or French, but there was a lot of signups for Japanese. So we're able to add a section of that, and credit recovery for students, that are trying to recover credits from the last year and a half. And I'm gonna turn it over to Kristen now. - Thank you, Clete. So we showed you through Mira Loma's lens, how they went through the process, of identifying their specific needs based on their data, getting input from their staff, from their families. And then also how they created a plan, that met both the academic and the social emotional needs, and all of our high schools engaged in a similar process. And so on slide 13, you see some of the different areas, that the sites at the different high schools selected for the academics. And Math was a key area that all sites did receive FTE, and sites chose to either lower class sizes or do a co-teaching model. And so the sites were able to decide, based on their staff input, what would be the best model for them. They also chose many sites to include, and increase science classes based on our new NGSS pathway. And so this is giving more students an opportunity to more science classes. Many of our sites chose English Language Arts Interventions. So some chose smaller, like six week semester sessions, I'm sorry. Quarter sessions for some intensive reading intervention to support, as well as writing lab. So that students who are struggling, with writing conventions and with reading, are gonna able to get more support. Credit recovery, both Seat-based and Apex, was one of the options that sites chose. And then some sites wanted to increase visual and performing arts, to increase the elective choices for students as well. And then on the social emotional sides, sites selected between social workers, counselors, mental health therapists, bilingual instructional assistance, community intervention specialist, a wide variety of offerings based on their own needs assessments, that they did and went through with their sites. As we go through this year with our high school leaders, our plan is really a four step approach. And it's going to be to continue to do surveys. We want to survey students, and see how they are meeting, and making progress through the year. We're gonna be doing listening sessions with families and students, we'll analyze data both qualitative and quantitative. And then we'll also be using the cycle of inquiry, to really use the information, that we receive from our families and from our staff, and then adjust as needed based on our actions. So that's a snapshot of how the high schools, will be using the ELO Grant funds. And at this time I am available as well as Mr. Purinton, to answer any questions that you may have, regarding the secondary level. And Ms. Bassanelli is also available to answer questions as well. - Thanks to the team for the presentation. I'm going to turn to my colleagues for any questions, or comments at this time. Ms. Costa. - Thank you very much. I really liked the idea that this was not a one size fits all design, and that local site control was utilized throughout. And I appreciate the fact that there's going to be ongoing monitoring. So we'll get feedback about success stories, and things that people decide they to modify, as they go through the process. One of the things I would really appreciate, is just an executive summary of what the other sites are doing. So that it does not... I don't wanna read everybody's plan, but a bulleted list of the things, that each individual site has selected, would be helpful for me. - We can provide that. - Thank you. - [Paula] Ms. Creason. - Thanks for that. The last slide was my main question, that I was gonna ask was, is there going to be room? 'Cause I know that all the hoops you had to jump through, to build the plan and make it happen, and build in the room for autonomy to meet the individual needs of the schools. That was the whole thing. So I was really wondering, is there going to be room for... I don't wanna say course corrections, but adjustments as we learn. 'Cause it's all new, right? So, and not look at that as a failure. "It's okay, we're rolling this out. Maybe if we tweak this, that'll be better." But it sounds like there is room to do that throughout the year. We don't have to wait until the end of the year, and do one big assessment and have it last year. So that's right. - Ms. Creason, let me speak to that too a little bit. I think what we're really looking at is, changes possibly during the course of the year, but it's likely that this is the ultimate example of local control, and there may be two schools that had very similar needs, but did things a little differently. And that's where I think even over the course of the year, in division meetings, you're gonna have an opportunity to say, "This is what we're doing that's working really well. This is what isn't." One of the really exciting things, and challenging things related to this, is we're using a significant amount of one-time funds, to provide another level of support that historically we haven't. And I think we've talked in the end. We're gonna learn some things that we want to continue. So how over the next two to three years is... Ms. Bassanelli kind of built that out over three years, is what do we wanna look at? What are we learning along the way, that we're going to keep and what are the available funds, whether that's supplemental dollars, district-wide through the LCAP, whether we're getting concentration dollars again, by that point in time? Because I know that we're gonna provide some services through this, that we absolutely have to continue. The reason I wanted this presented tonight, was 'cause Kristan and I showed up at Mira Loma this summer, and really hearing Clete's excitement over the work, that they were going to do specific, and how they had already seen some growth in those areas. I think it is, as Ms. Costa said, so much better than a top-down approach. They know what they need at their school. Our schools are so different, across the course of this district. So we're excited to share throughout the course of the year, with the board on this, and we'll provide our victories as well as the areas, where we're struggling as well. - That's awesome. And then my next question, it's really two buckets, and it's how are we empowering self-help, and just raising awareness of all this great stuff. So the bucket of... I appreciated the comment about... There's still issues to address with our students at Mira Loma, but we are introducing them to the supports that we have, housing supports, and transportation supports, and addressing food insecurity. So I guess my question is two things, the stuff that we've already been doing, and all the new stuff, how are we making students and parents aware, of both of those things? We remove the need to be identified, that folks can engage in self-help. - Thank you for that question. I'm thinking about the answer right now, as you ask that, because we haven't put this out to families yet in terms of the Wellness Together, partnership, or even increasing the counseling, and really for us right now, it's gonna be kind of approach of... We're not sure what we're gonna get. Last spring, the kids came back, and about 40 to 50% of our students came back, and it was not the same as what we're gonna see, starting on Thursday. It might take five to six weeks to really gather, what our kids are needing most. We're certainly gonna reach out with these, and let people know of what we're offering in terms of support, but to know how this is gonna play out, and provide the intervention for students, it remains to be seen. Our attendance and behavior data that we typically looked at, would use to identify who we needed to support the most, isn't really there. We don't have behavior data from last year. We have attendance data that doesn't match, what it's gonna look like this year, with kids coming back in person. So it's gonna take a little bit of time, I think. And us gathering feedback from our staff and students, about what's going on, and how we can support them. But certainly we don't wanna provide a resource, that would embarrass students, or put them in a position, where they would look like they don't fit the mold. That part of the question I was trying to hear, what you meant by that as- - [Zima] I'm not sure which part of the question you're referring to. - You say something about the services, like when you talk about transportation, or clothing, or anything like that. - [Zima] Just promoting, how are you raising awareness of folks know that they exist? That's it. - Okay. Okay. I'm sorry. I think I misunderstood you on that. - [Zima] I probably over-complicated how I asked the question. So I apologize for that. - No problem. - For example, mental... My colleagues on the dais have heard me say this a million times, that I don't want kids to have to wait to be identified, to receive services. And I get it, a lot of this is so new, so I don't necessarily need you to tell me, exactly what you're gonna do. It hasn't been the first day of school yet. But we're gonna have this new professional staff, there's gonna be counselors, there's gonna be people. What are we gonna do to raise awareness, so all the kids know, and their families know, "If I need help, this is where I go." I've used the example, and I have permission to show this story of my son, who went to Oregon. They had a counselor that he absolutely adored there. And whenever his friends were struggling, he would literally march them down to see Ms. King, because he trusted He knew that's where you go and get help. And I think that just empowering them to take that step. So that's just what I'm getting at. - One of the things that we've focused on already, is just communicating with our staff, that referral process, because what we don't wanna have happen is, it's inconsistent in how we do it. We wanna have good communication, with our regular counselors, that have these students assigned to them by Alpha. We wanna have communication, with our intervention counselor, and then identifying that step to tier three support. We've tried different things. And one aspect of it is, students get comfortable with one person, and that's the person they wanna go to, 'cause they have a relationship there. But just so far in our work, we've had teachers back for two days, that's been our focus, is how we're going to do this, so that it's a systemic thing. Teachers know the process when they identify a student, that's in need. And that next step, is gonna be how we communicate this out to families, and reach out to them about what resources we are providing. - And I won't just pick on Mira Loma. So I'm just thinking about this a system... You know what I'm getting at. Is I just don't want the kids to wait to be identified. So how are we putting it out there? So really, I'm not picking at you. - It didn't feel like. I think it's actually a really good question. And I think one of the things, that I'll speak for at a school site level, is there's probably a lot of even anxiety, over just returning and coming back for the first time. And so as a site principal, I would just be so worried on my first day about, "Okay, is everything in order to have this go smoothly?" All the other issues we're dealing with, but Clete, I think there's a really good point brought up, in our folks that oversee schools as well. We've got to make sure that, people know the resources are there, whether it's around support for, what does it look like for transportation? What does it look like for food insecurities? if you're struggling social emotionally. 'Cause some of the students will never show the signs, that we need to see, but they may be willing to reach out to somebody, if they know they're there. So it's a great point to bring up. And it just encourages us, to reach out to all our site administrators, and say, "How are you doing this? And then how can we as a district support you, to make sure that we can help you in those efforts as well." - Thank you. I am really excited, and it's going to be exciting to see my little one, go through that process, and see how... We're already seeing the fruits of all the work, and the planning that has gone... He just had what was it? Orientation day. And we're already seeing some of this work, starting to play out for the kids and from his friends. And so I'm very thankful for everything that went into, rolling all this out. - Dr. McKibbin. - Talking about the counselor that does not have a case load, as well as some of the... One of the things that we found over the last few years is there were more students in tier two and tier three, than most of the predictions, and most of our capabilities. Do you see this counselor without a portfolio, working primarily with people at tier two or tier three level, or referring those people to those kinds of levels? Dr. Calvin, just a few minutes ago, talked about a group of refugees. You may remember the last time we had this, we were actually, I think what the third largest in the country, in terms of receiving refugees, do you see this counselor maybe taking on some of those issues, as they come up looking to see, what are the various kinds of things that the role of this person may take? And also what are the adequacy of the services going to those students, that fall into tier two and tier three related to mental health? - Yeah, absolutely. That's why we wanted to take this step as a school. We've recognized that, we really do need to provide counseling therapy for many of our kids. 25 sounds like a small number at a time, but those students are there for a 10 week session. And hopefully through that process, they're making strides, they're growing, and they no longer need that weekly counseling session. And we're gonna be adding students to that as well. I definitely think there's a need in terms of our English learner, what Dr. Calvin shared earlier. The languages that she shared, that we're gonna need support, are the languages that we need support already at our site, Farsi-Dari, Pashto. And many of those students have come from environments, where as a refugee they're in survival mode. And so when they come here, there's a lot of need of support, a lot of PTSD that they're dealing with, those kinds of things. And so when I talk about trauma, it really does fit that student group, that we could potentially be getting more of so, absolutely. - Thanks to the team for the presentation. And thank you as well, Principal Purinton. I know it's a really quiet time right now, at your school site, and there's absolutely nothing else going on. So, no, I really do appreciate time, two days before the official school starts here with us. And also just being willing to display the work, that you're doing and speak to it. It really helps us add some context, to otherwise a bunch of acronyms that we talk about a lot, with no disrespect to the team or the state of California, but acronyms get really boring. And so it really does help. And I had a few questions along the same lines, what are our check points and moments to pivot, if any, but mostly geared towards... On this last slide, we have this analyzing data piece. And I just wanna make sure that that's not draws to exclusively, or perhaps at all, the district doing the analyzing data, but instead our site leaders, being supported to do that, so that they can then pivot as needed at the ground level. So just wondering if you could speak a little bit, about that process and how it's kind of... I'm assuming a shared responsibility, between the district and our site leaders, but feel free to enlighten me in any way. - So I'm very excited about this portion of the actions, because as superintendent Kern said, "One of the things we want to do is really highlight, and showcase the things that are going well." So throughout our division meetings, we will be looking at the actions. We also hired ELO coordinators. So for the secondary and the elementary, we have somebody that's going to also be able to help us, as we're rolling out some of these actions. So it'll be nice to have teammates, to help me as we're moving forward, with the work that we're doing. And so one of the things, that we're gonna start with the division, is sharing what our actions are. I think being able to come together, and talk about based on our needs assessment, what each of our sites really needed. And then we as team members need to decide, what are we going to be monitoring? So for Mira Loma, it's gonna look quite different, than what say Rio Americano is going to be monitoring. So we'll each commit to small cycles, where we're collecting data, bringing it back, analyzing it, and then adjusting, based on some of the feedback that we're getting. One of the things we're also committing to doing, is I want to go out to the high schools, and with the principal I wanna talk to students. So we're gonna try to select the same students, that we would meet with in September, that we would meet again with in December, that we would meet again with at the end of the year, to talk to them, like it's a little listening session, to find out what's working, what supports are they still needing, and how are they doing with this return to school. So there's gonna be a multi-tiered approach to this, but I'm very excited, about really trying to put a lens on these ELO actions, because I think it's really interesting, to see how our sites adjust based on what their needs are. - Thank you. I'm excited for that work too. And it excites me that you're excited, that you're all excited about this work. And I also had some questions along the same lines of, how are students IDed for services, particularly as we think about our doors opening up, but I also just wanna express the same sentiment of the expectation, I think it's well known enough to the entire student population, that both there's an opportunity to engage them and directly ask them, but also for them to know where to go. So I invite anyone to expand further on that, if you'd like to. - I would like to jump in, because at our leadership meeting at Milagro last week, we did some listening sessions with students. And I can tell you across the board, there is a new level of understanding, with our students about mental health. They are much more willing to share their story, talk to each other and reach out. I see a shift in that with our students. It's not something that they are ashamed, to talk about in many instances, because they are all going through similar journeys right now. So I do see that through communication, students are seeing that, this is something where they can help each other, and just like your son was willing to help his friends find those counselors. I think the more we do those listening sessions, and we encourage our teachers and our administrators, to continue those listening sessions, that will open the door, so that students know that it's okay to talk about, where they are mentally and that they can get support. - Fantastic. And I'm excited to again, see and hear the roll out. And I also appreciate that we've got some insider information. So I'm sure it will be updated as things progress. My last question was just, it might be more of a comment. I might find a question a little bit, along the way in this comment, but that's just that, I'm excited about the addition of a full-time counselor. And of course, that is in addition to an existing counseling staff, and the small... It's not even a flag I wanna raise, but the thing I just wanna note, is I wanna make sure we don't end up in a situation, where one group has their case load. And then there might be an overlapping case load, and not for lack of intention, but just for pure lack of hours of the day, they don't have an opportunity to connect and talk to each other. 'Cause as you mentioned earlier, the kids just might find comfort with one adult over the other, which is great, right? We want them to go where they can, but I just wanna make sure it doesn't result in like, "Oh, I thought they were getting them, versus I thought they were getting them," and then all of a sudden no one got them. - Yeah. That's an excellent point comment that you made there, Paula, and going back even further, to what you were saying earlier about communication, and Zima, what you were saying. One thing that just came to mind, that we do every year as we go, and visit every single classroom, and go over all the classroom expectations guidelines. And this is gonna be something that we add to that, providing that academic supports that we do, and social emotional learning, and mental health supports, but the comment that you made. One of the things that has created the most anxiety for me, is that we don't utilize the resources that we have. I've had nights where I didn't sleep, you're thinking about, "This has to go well, like we have to roll this out right. We have to have defined roles. We have to clearly..." That's where most of my work has been, not communicating with families yet, but trying to make sure our staff is very clear, about what is this process, and how we're working together to support our kids. And we've had Wellness Together. The organization was actually out today, working with our counselors on building that up. So the nice thing about it too is, it is a partnership, and they're not just providing somebody, that's gonna be on our campus, that it's ongoing work. And if four weeks into this, the counselors that they've given us, aren't connecting with kids, we tell them that, and they're gonna pivot, and work with us to find somebody that will connect. So that's another thing that's really nice, about this partnership. - Great. And I think I said that my last comment, was my last one and I lied. And that's just that, I'm just curious, Principal Purinton and the team to comment, this moves super-fast. And it certainly sounds from this presentation, that you had a pretty strong awareness of what was available, of the menu if you will, and how it would or would not work with the team there. I'm just curious if someone could speak a little bit, to how we made the options list available to our administrators, and how we empowered them, to make appropriate decisions for their sites. - As we were building the ELO Grant, Ms. Bassanelli, Ms. Townsend and I, we put together a list with all the positions, that were available as supports, also with the costs, a general drop down menu, of what each position would cost based on the funding that they received. So they were able to look at that, with their leadership teams to help make decisions. "Okay, we can't afford this." Or, "We can afford a part-time here, and then a community intervention specialist here." So by providing those different options, with what those salaries were, I think that helped them once they had their needs assessment done, and they knew what they were looking for. - Fantastic. Thank you. Anything to add? - Yeah.
2369 D 08/24/2021 San Juan Unified School District Board of Education 3738 Walnut Avenue, Carmichael, California 95608 Board of Education Minutes August 10, 2021 Regular Meeting Board of Education 5:15 p.m. Open Session/Call to Order/Announcement of Closed Session Topics (A) The August 10 regular meeting was called to order by the vice president, Michael McKibbin. The board meeting was held in person and also livestreamed on the district’s YouTube channel. Roll Call Present: Paula Villescaz, president [arrived at 6:25 p.m.] Michael McKibbin, Ed.D., vice president Zima Creason, clerk Pam Costa, member Saul Hernandez, member Visitor Comments: Closed Session (A-1) There were no closed session visitor comments. Closed Session (B) The meeting was then recessed with the board convening in closed session to conference with Legal Counsel – Existing Litigation pursuant to Government Code section 54956.9(d)(1) – two cases – Name of Case: Magali Kincaid, Benito Juarez Neighborhood Association, Neighborhood Elections Now, Juan Yniguez, Carolina Flores, Damaris Canton v. San Juan Unified School District, Complaint for Violation of the California Voting Rights Act and in the Alternative, For Violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the California Constitution, Sacramento Superior Court Case No. 34-2020-00286475 and Name of Case: Carolina Flores, Neighborhood Elections Now, Petitioners, vs. San Juan Unified School District, Paula Villescaz, in her official capacity of Board President, Respondents, Verified Petition for Writ of Mandate Pursuant to the First Amendment, the California Constitution, California Public Records Act, and the Ralph M. Brown Act; and Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief, Sacramento Superior Court Case No. 34-2021-80003644-CU-WM-GDS; to discuss with negotiator Daniel Thigpen, Senior Director of Labor Relations, regarding CSEA Chapter 127 General/Operations support, Chauffeurs/Teamsters Local No. 150 Transportation, Supervisors, Teachers and Certificated Supervisory units and regarding non-represented groups: management and confidential units (Government Code section 54957.6); and to discuss one personnel matter (Government Code section 54957) – superintendent’s goals for 2021-2022. Reconvene Open Session/Pledge of Allegiance (C) At 6:30 p.m. the meeting was called back to order by the president Paula Villescaz. After the Pledge of Allegiance, Ms. Villescaz explained the two methods (in person or electronically) available to submit public comment for tonight’s meeting. Minutes Approved (D) It was moved by Ms. Creason, seconded by Dr. McKibbin, that the minutes of the July 27 special meeting be approved. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY [Villescaz, McKibbin, Creason, Costa, Hernandez].
2370 Staff Reports (E-1) Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services Debra Calvin, Ed.D., shared that the International Rescue Committee recently notified the district about an expected influx of refugees from Afghanistan between now and November 30, which could impact enrollment at schools in the Arden-Arcade area. Dr. Calvin outlined the steps that are being taken to welcome new families and she answered questions from the board. Closed Session/Expulsion Actions (E-5) There were no closed session actions to report. Visitor Comments (F) [in person] Marina Gabel spoke about her son’s experiences in San Juan Unified and recall efforts that are underway. Katie Reid congratulated the board on the move to trustee areas and she encouraged the use of Zoom for visitor comments. William Brooks spoke regarding the spraying of toxic chemicals on school fields. Jessica Silva made comments about the need for distance learning options for Fall 2021. Janet Rodriguez spoke about the need to continue to offer distance learning. Julian Rodriguez expressed his support for continuing a hybrid learning option. Lori Corder spoke about the construction projects at Barrett Middle School. [via electronic comment form, and read aloud by Communication Director Raj Rai] Adam Dondro commented about outdoor masking and unvaccinated staff. Juanita Martinez supports mandatory vaccinations and testing. Consent Calendar Approved (G-1/G-10) It was moved by Ms. Costa, seconded by Mr. Hernandez, that the consent calendar items G-1 through G-10 be approved. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY [Villescaz, McKibbin, Creason, Costa, Hernandez]. Personnel (G-1) Appointments, leaves of absence, separations, reassignments/change in work year, job description/salary range change and charter school personnel actions – approved as submitted. Purchasing Report (G-2) Purchase orders and service agreements, change orders and construction and public works bids – approved as submitted. Gifts (G-3) Acceptance of gifts to Dyer-Kelly Elementary School, Family and Community Engagement and Grand Oaks Elementary School. Disposal of Surplus Property (G-4) Approval to dispose of surplus property pursuant to board policy 3270 and Education Code sections 17545 and 17546. Permanent Exemption from Physical Education (G-5) Approval of permanent exemption from physical education for 456 qualifying students that have given consent. Head Start/Early Head Start American Rescue Plan and Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (G-6) Approval of the Head Start/Early Head Start American Rescue Plan and Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act supplement funds agreement No. 21C6651S0ARP-CR between SJUSD and the Sacramento Employment and Training Agency (SETA). LCAP PAC Membership (G-7) Approval of six members to the Local Control and Accountability Plan Parent Advisory Committee (LCAP PAC).
2371 Super Co-Op Joint Powers Authority Representative (G-8) Approval to name the director of nutrition services as the district representative to the Super Co-Op Joint Powers Authority. Resolution No. 3071: Barrett Middle School New Construction Project Lease Amendment No. 3 (G-9) Adoption of Resolution No. 3071 approving the third amendment to the lease agreement for the Barrett Middle School new construction project no. 004-9512-P1 between San Juan Unified School District and Landmark Modernization Contractors dba Landmark Construction. Resolution No. 3072: Barrett Middle School Modernization Project Lease Amendment No. 3 (G-10) Adoption of Resolution No. 3072 approving the third amendment to the lease agreement for the Barrett Middle School modernization project no. 004-9495-P1 between San Juan Unified School District and Landmark Modernization Contractors dba Landmark Construction. Expanded Learning Opportunities Grant Plan (I-1) Deputy Superintendent of Schools and Student Support Melissa Bassanelli introduced the topic, and she reviewed the Expanded Learning Opportunities (ELO) plan requirements and shared how school sites were given additional staffing and funding allocations. Mira Loma High School Principal Clete Purinton provided information about the ELO actions that were identified and are being implemented at Mira Loma High School, which includes the addition of a mental health therapist, increased counselor support and increased staffing to provide expanded courses to students. Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Education and Programs Kristan Schnepp explained that all secondary schools were given local control to determine what actions would best meet the needs of students based on conducting a needs assessment. Ms. Schnepp also discussed the next steps, which involves a four-step approach including surveys, listening sessions, analyzing data and using a cycle of inquiry to make adjustments as needed. After the presentation, staff answered questions from the board. Update on California Department of Public Health and Sacramento County Public Health Requirements (I-2) Chief of Staff Trent Allen gave a presentation about revised federal guidance and the latest updates to district safety practices related to changes in health recommendations and requirements from the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and Sacramento County Public Health (SCPH). Mr. Allen shared that the priority is to prevent disruptions to learning by maintaining the health and safety of students, staff and community; that the district’s updated district COVID-19 safety plan is posted on the district website; and that each school also has a COVID-19 prevention plan in place. Mr. Allen highlighted some of the changes in guidance regarding face coverings, daily symptom screening, physical distancing and meal service. Mr. Allen noted that Sacramento County has seen an uptick in case rates, hospitalizations and ICU usage since July 2021. Mr. Allen also reviewed guidance recommendations related to events and meetings and visitors and volunteers, and also guidance related to returning after symptoms, modified quarantine, COVID-19 testing and school/program closures. Mr. Allen said he anticipates that additional guidance will be forthcoming. Public Comment: [via electronic comment form, and read aloud by Ms. Rai] Jenny Managhebi expressed concerns regarding COVID-19 protocols at the school sites. After public comment, staff answered questions from the board. Mr. Hernandez asked clarifying questions about wearing face coverings. Ms. Creason made comments and posed questions related to events, staff, campus closures, learning during quarantine and testing. Dr. McKibbin commented that free lunch for all is good, and he asked questions related to the county data, testing and quarantining. Ms. Villescaz posed clarifying questions related to events and meetings and visitors and volunteers, shared her frustrations with the current state and county COVID-19 case rates, which will once again require modifications at school sites, and she expressed excitement about the free meal service. Resolution No. 3067: Notice of Intent to Convey Easement at Barrett Middle School (I-3) Chief Operations Officer Frank Camarda presented the topic. Public Comment: [in person] Lori Corder made comments about the construction project at Barrett Middle School. It was moved by Dr. McKibbin, seconded by Mr. Hernandez, to adopt Resolution No. 3067 declaring the intent to convey a permanent easement at Barrett Middle School to the Carmichael Water District and to call a public hearing to be held on September 14, 2021. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY [Villescaz, McKibbin, Creason, Costa, Hernandez]. Resolution No. 3069: Notice of Intent to Convey Easement at Del Campo High School (I-4) Chief Operations Officer Frank Camarda presented the topic. It was moved by Ms. Creason, seconded by Ms. Costa, to adopt Resolution No. 3069 declaring the intent to convey a permanent easement at Del Campo High School to the
2372 Carmichael Water District and to call a public hearing to be held on September 14, 2021. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY [Villescaz, McKibbin, Creason, Costa, Hernandez]. Board Bylaw 9270 Conflict of Interest (I-5) General Counsel Linda Simlick discussed the proposed changes to Board Bylaw 9270 Conflict of Interest Code and its accompanying Exhibit 9270 and the sunset of Board Policy 2300 Conflict of Interest Code, which aligns with the California School Boards Association guidelines. Ms. Simlick answered questions from the board. Action was scheduled for August 24. Williams Complaint Report (I-6) General Counsel Linda Simlick explained that the district must report on the status of Williams-type complaints filed with the district per Education Code section 35186(d), which requires each school district to publicly report, on a quarterly basis, summarized data on the nature and resolution of all Williams-type complaints. Ms. Simlick stated that, during the time period from April through June 2021, there were no Williams-type complaints filed. Declaration of Need for Fully Qualified Educators (I-7) Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Paul Oropallo presented the topic and answered questions from the board. It was moved by Dr. McKibbin, seconded by Ms. Costa, to adopt the Declaration of Need for Fully Qualified Educators for the 2021-2022 school year. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY [Villescaz, McKibbin, Creason, Costa, Hernandez]. Exemption to the Separation-From-Service Requirement (I-8) Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Paul Oropallo pulled the item explaining that the exemption is not an option for the 2021-2022 school year due to the recent PARS retirement incentive. Tentative Agreement: California School Employees Association (I-9) Senior Director of Labor Relations Daniel Thigpen presented the item, explaining that the California School Employees Association Chapter 127 intends to ratify the contract with its members later this week. Mr. Thigpen stated that the one- time, off-schedule payment will not increase employees’ base compensation. There being no public comments, it was moved by Ms. Creason, seconded by Ms. Costa, to adopt the tentative agreement between the California School Employees Association Chapter 127 and the San Juan Unified School District. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY [Villescaz, McKibbin, Creason, Costa, Hernandez]. Board Reports (J) Ms. Creason reiterated that the change to by-trustee areas elections does not impact school boundaries. Dr. McKibbin shared that he attended the Citrus Heights Chamber Elected Officials Reception, and he recognized Casa Roble Fundamental High School alumna Ali Aguilar for her silver medal as part of the Olympic softball team. Ms. Villescaz also congratulated Ms. Aguilar on her Olympic accomplishment, she shared that she greeted administrators and new district staff at several welcome back events, and she noted the recent move to by-trustee area elections. Future Agenda (K) Ms. Villescaz requested that an item related to employee vaccination requirements be added to the future agenda. Visitor Comments (L) [in person] Lori Corder requested that the board reconsider agenda items G-9 and G-10, and she posed questions about the construction projects at Barrett Middle School. Adjournment (M) At 8:41 p.m., there being no further business, the regular meeting was adjourned. _____________________________ ___________________________________ Paula Villescaz, President Kent Kern, Executive Secretary Approved: _________ :sc 08/24/2021 , Vice President
1 San Juan Unified School District Regular Meeting of the Board of Education 3738 Walnut Avenue, Carmichael, California 95608 Paula Villescaz, President Michael McKibbin, Ed.D., Vice President Zima Creason, Clerk Pam Costa, Member Saul Hernandez, Member PUBLIC PARTICIPATION GUIDELINES Board of Education meetings are held in person in the board room located at 3738 Walnut Avenue, Carmichael, California. Public attendance is welcome and encouraged. Alternatively, you can view the board meeting on YouTube from a computer, mobile device or tablet. The YouTube link can be found on the district's YouTube channel or by visiting https://www.sanjuan.edu/boardmeeting where the link will be posted approximately 15 minutes prior to the start of the meeting. The district has taken the following steps to assist the public in offering public comment: 1. In Person Public Comment. Public comment may be offered in person during the board meeting at the district office located at 3738 Walnut Avenue, Carmichael, California. Board Bylaw 9323 limits visitor comments to two (2) minutes per speaker, with no more than 30 minutes per single topic. Time will be extended for any speaker who uses an interpreter. 2. Online Submission of Public Comment. Written public comment may be submitted using the public comment form located on the district website at https://www.sanjuan.edu/boardmeeting. Comments received by 6:00 p.m., on August 10, 2021, will be provided to the members of the board prior to the meeting. Comments received after 6:00 p.m., on August 10, 2021, may be read on the record during this meeting subject to time limits established in Board Bylaw 9323. All public comments will be limited to two (2) minutes or approximately 1,500 characters. Any portion of a comment extending past two (2) minutes or the approximate 1,500-character limit may not be read aloud due to time restrictions. All written comments that are not read into the record will be provided to the board members for review, provided that such comments are received prior to the end of the meeting. Please be aware that written public comments, including your name, may become public information. The business to be considered at this board meeting is on the following agenda: Board of Education Agenda August 10, 2021 A. OPEN SESSION/CALL TO ORDER/ANNOUNCEMENT OF CLOSED SESSION TOPICS – 5:15 p.m. 1. Visitor Comments (for closed session agenda items only) Board Bylaw 9323 limits visitor comments to two (2) minutes per speaker, with no more than 30 minutes per single topic. Time will be extended for any speaker who uses an interpreter. B. CLOSED SESSION – 5:15 p.m. 1. Conference with Legal Counsel – Existing Litigation pursuant to Government Code section 54956.9(d)(1). a. Name of Case: Magali Kincaid, Benito Juarez Neighborhood Association, Neighborhood Elections Now, Juan Yniguez, Carolina Flores, Damaris Canton v. San Juan Unified School District, Complaint for Violation of the California Voting Rights Act and in the Alternative, For Violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the California Constitution, Sacramento Superior Court Case No. 34-2020-00286475. b. Name of Case: Carolina Flores, Neighborhood Elections Now, Petitioners, vs. San Juan Unified School District, Paula Villescaz, in her official capacity of Board President, Respondents, Verified Petition for Writ of Mandate Pursuant to the First Amendment, the California Constitution, California Public Records Act, and the Ralph M. Brown Act; and Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief, Sacramento Superior Court Case No. 34-2021- 80003644-CU-WM-GDS. 2. Collective bargaining matters – discussion with negotiator Daniel Thigpen, Senior Director, Labor Relations, regarding CSEA Chapter 127 General/Operations support, Chauffeurs/Teamsters Local No. 150 Transportation, Supervisors, Teachers and Certificated Supervisory units; and regarding non-represented groups: management and confidential units (Government Code section 54957.6). 3. Personnel matters (Government Code section 54957). a. Superintendent’s goals for 2021-2022.
2 C. RECONVENE OPEN SESSION/PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE – 6:30 p.m. D. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES – July 27, 2021, special meeting, pages 2364-2368. E. ORGANIZATIONS/ANNOUNCEMENTS – 6:35 p.m. 1. Staff Reports 2. Board-appointed/District Committees 3. Employee Organizations 4. Other District Organizations 5. Closed Session/Expulsion Actions (Government Code section 54957.1) F. VISITOR COMMENTS – 6:45 p.m. Board Bylaw 9323 limits visitor comments to two (2) minutes per speaker, with no more than 30 minutes per single topic. Time will be extended for any speaker who uses an interpreter. G. CONSENT CALENDAR – G-1/G-10 – 7:15 p.m. Action: The administration recommends that the consent calendar, G-1 through G-10, regarding regular business items, be approved. Any item may be removed for further discussion and separate action following consideration of remaining agenda items. 1. *Personnel – appointments, leaves of absence, separations, reassignments/change in work year, job description/salary range change and charter school personnel actions. 2. *Purchasing Report – purchase orders and service agreements, change orders and construction and public works bids. 3. Acceptance of the following gifts: (# = donor’s estimate) Dyer-Kelly Elementary School: from Northminster Presbyterian Church: $2,000. Family and Community Engagement: from Carmichael Kiwanis and Sacramento Kindness Campaign – for 140 scientific calculators for math camp participants: $1,778. Grand Oaks Elementary School: from Phyliss Lochelt – for cello: $2,000#. 4. *Approval to dispose of surplus property pursuant to Board Policy 3270 and Education Code sections 17545 and 17546. 5. *Approval of permanent exemption from physical education for 456 qualifying students that have given consent. 6. *Approval of the Head Start/Early Head Start American Rescue Plan and Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act supplement funds agreement No. 21C6651S0ARP-CR between SJUSD and the Sacramento Employment and Training Agency (SETA). 7. *Approval of six members to the Local Control and Accountability Plan Parent Advisory Committee (LCAP PAC). 8. *Approval to name the director of nutrition services as the district representative to the Super Co-Op Joint Powers Authority. 9. *Adoption of Resolution No. 3071 approving the third amendment to the lease agreement for the Barrett Middle School new construction project no. 004-9512-P1 between San Juan Unified School District and Landmark Modernization Contractors dba Landmark Construction. 10. *Adoption of Resolution No. 3072 approving the third amendment to the lease agreement for the Barrett Middle School modernization project no. 004-9495-P1 between San Juan Unified School District and Landmark Modernization Contractors dba Landmark Construction. *Material provided. H. CONSENT CALENDAR (continued, if necessary) Discussion and action on the items removed from the consent calendar. I. BUSINESS ITEMS 1. Expanded Learning Opportunities – 7:20 p.m. (Bassanelli) Material provided. Report: regarding Expanded Learning Opportunities within the secondary school division.
3 2. Update on California Department of Public Health and Sacramento County Public Health Requirements – 7:45 p.m. (Allen) Material provided. Report: regarding the latest updates to district safety practices related to changes in health recommendations and requirements from the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and Sacramento County Public Health (SCPH). 3. Notice of Intent to Convey Easement at Barrett Middle School – 8:00 p.m. (Camarda) Material provided. Action: The superintendent is recommending that the board adopt Resolution No. 3067, declaring the intent to convey a permanent easement at Barrett Middle School to the Carmichael Water District and to call a public hearing to be held on September 14, 2021. 4. Notice of Intent to Convey Easement at Del Campo High School – 8:05 p.m. (Camarda) Material provided. Action: The superintendent is recommending that the board adopt Resolution No. 3069, declaring the intent to convey a permanent easement at Del Campo High School to the Carmichael Water District and to call a public hearing to be held on September 14, 2021. 5. Board Bylaw 9270 Conflict of Interest – 8:10 p.m. (Simlick) Material provided. Discussion: regarding the proposed changes to Board Bylaw 9270 Conflict of Interest Code, its accompanying exhibit, Exhibit 9270 and the sunset of Board Policy 2300 Conflict of Interest Code. Action anticipated: 08/24/2021. 6. Williams Complaint Report – 8:15 p.m. (Simlick) Material provided. Report: regarding the status of Williams-type complaints filed with the district per Education Code section 35186(d), which requires each school district to publicly report, on a quarterly basis, summarized data on the nature and resolution of all Williams-type complaints. 7. Declaration of Need for Fully Qualified Educators – 8:20 p.m. (Oropallo) Material provided. Action: The superintendent is recommending that the board adopt the Declaration of Need for Fully Qualified Educators for the 2021-2022 school year. 8. Exemption to the Separation-From-Service Requirement – 8:25 p.m. (Oropallo) Material provided. Action: The superintendent is recommending that the board adopt Resolution No. 3066 Exemption to the Separation-From-Service Requirement. 9. Tentative Agreement: California School Employees Association – 8:30 p.m. (Thigpen) Material provided. (Discussed: 07/27/2021) Public Comment/Action: The superintendent is recommending that the board approve the tentative agreement between the California School Employees Association Chapter 127 and the San Juan Unified School District. J. BOARD REPORTS – 8:35 p.m. K. FUTURE AGENDA – 8:45 p.m. The board may wish to identify items to be discussed at future meetings and the reasons therefore.
4 L. VISITOR COMMENTS – 8:50 p.m. Board Bylaw 9323 limits visitor comments to two (2) minutes per speaker, with no more than 30 minutes per single topic. Time will be extended for any speaker who uses an interpreter. B. CLOSED SESSION (continued, if necessary) Announcement of topics/announcement of actions. M. ADJOURNMENT – 8:55 p.m. The Board of Education welcomes and encourages the public’s participation at the board meetings and has devoted time throughout the meeting for that purpose. You may comment on items included on this agenda; however, we ask that you limit your comments to two (2) minutes, so that as many people as possible may be heard (Education Code section 35145.5, Government Code section 54954.3). When an item indicates “material provided,” the additional information is available prior to the meeting in the Information and Communication Office, 3738 Walnut Avenue, Carmichael, (916) 979-8281, or on the district website at www.sanjuan.edu. A person with a disability may contact the Board of Education office at (916) 971-7111, or email stephanie.cunningham@sanjuan.edu at least 48 hours before the scheduled board meeting to request receipt of an agenda and other distributed writings in an appropriate alternative format, or to request disability-related modifications or accommodations, including auxiliary aids or services, in order to participate in the public board meeting. Translation and interpretation services will be made available upon request with advance notice. If you wish to utilize these services, please notify the Board of Education office at (916) 971-7111, or email stephanie.cunningham@sanjuan.edu at least 24 hours before the scheduled board meeting to allow for the scheduling of appropriate translation staff and other resources. NOTE: The times indicated are approximate. Mission Statement Valuing diversity and excellence, the San Juan Unified School District’s mission is to educate and inspire each student to succeed and responsibly contribute to a radically evolving world by providing innovative, rigorous, student-focused instruction and programs in a safe, caring and collaborative learning community.
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1 San Juan Unified School District Regular Meeting of the Board of Education 3738 Walnut Avenue, Carmichael, California 95608 Paula Villescaz, President Michael McKibbin, Ed.D., Vice President Zima Creason, Clerk Pam Costa, Member Saul Hernandez, Member PUBLIC PARTICIPATION GUIDELINES Board of Education meetings are held in person in the board room located at 3738 Walnut Avenue, Carmichael, California. Public attendance is welcome and encouraged. Alternatively, you can view the board meeting on YouTube from a computer, mobile device or tablet. The YouTube link can be found on the district's YouTube channel or by visiting https://www.sanjuan.edu/boardmeeting where the link will be posted approximately 15 minutes prior to the start of the meeting. The district has taken the following steps to assist the public in offering public comment: 1. In Person Public Comment. Public comment may be offered in person during the board meeting at the district office located at 3738 Walnut Avenue, Carmichael, California. Board Bylaw 9323 limits visitor comments to two (2) minutes per speaker, with no more than 30 minutes per single topic. Time will be extended for any speaker who uses an interpreter. 2. Online Submission of Public Comment. Written public comment may be submitted using the public comment form located on the district website at https://www.sanjuan.edu/boardmeeting. Comments received by 6:00 p.m., on August 10, 2021, will be provided to the members of the board prior to the meeting. Comments received after 6:00 p.m., on August 10, 2021, may be read on the record during this meeting subject to time limits established in Board Bylaw 9323. All public comments will be limited to two (2) minutes or approximately 1,500 characters. Any portion of a comment extending past two (2) minutes or the approximate 1,500-character limit may not be read aloud due to time restrictions. All written comments that are not read into the record will be provided to the board members for review, provided that such comments are received prior to the end of the meeting. Please be aware that written public comments, including your name, may become public information. The business to be considered at this board meeting is on the following agenda: Board of Education Agenda August 10, 2021 A. OPEN SESSION/CALL TO ORDER/ANNOUNCEMENT OF CLOSED SESSION TOPICS – 5:15 p.m. 1. Visitor Comments (for closed session agenda items only) Board Bylaw 9323 limits visitor comments to two (2) minutes per speaker, with no more than 30 minutes per single topic. Time will be extended for any speaker who uses an interpreter. B. CLOSED SESSION – 5:15 p.m. 1. Conference with Legal Counsel – Existing Litigation pursuant to Government Code section 54956.9(d)(1). a. Name of Case: Magali Kincaid, Benito Juarez Neighborhood Association, Neighborhood Elections Now, Juan Yniguez, Carolina Flores, Damaris Canton v. San Juan Unified School District, Complaint for Violation of the California Voting Rights Act and in the Alternative, For Violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the California Constitution, Sacramento Superior Court Case No. 34-2020-00286475. b. Name of Case: Carolina Flores, Neighborhood Elections Now, Petitioners, vs. San Juan Unified School District, Paula Villescaz, in her official capacity of Board President, Respondents, Verified Petition for Writ of Mandate Pursuant to the First Amendment, the California Constitution, California Public Records Act, and the Ralph M. Brown Act; and Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief, Sacramento Superior Court Case No. 34-2021- 80003644-CU-WM-GDS. 2. Collective bargaining matters – discussion with negotiator Daniel Thigpen, Senior Director, Labor Relations, regarding CSEA Chapter 127 General/Operations support, Chauffeurs/Teamsters Local No. 150 Transportation, Supervisors, Teachers and Certificated Supervisory units; and regarding non-represented groups: management and confidential units (Government Code section 54957.6). 3. Personnel matters (Government Code section 54957). a. Superintendent’s goals for 2021-2022.
2 C. RECONVENE OPEN SESSION/PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE – 6:30 p.m. D. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES – July 27, 2021, special meeting, pages 2364-2368. E. ORGANIZATIONS/ANNOUNCEMENTS – 6:35 p.m. 1. Staff Reports 2. Board-appointed/District Committees 3. Employee Organizations 4. Other District Organizations 5. Closed Session/Expulsion Actions (Government Code section 54957.1) F. VISITOR COMMENTS – 6:45 p.m. Board Bylaw 9323 limits visitor comments to two (2) minutes per speaker, with no more than 30 minutes per single topic. Time will be extended for any speaker who uses an interpreter. G. CONSENT CALENDAR – G-1/G-10 – 7:15 p.m. Action: The administration recommends that the consent calendar, G-1 through G-10, regarding regular business items, be approved. Any item may be removed for further discussion and separate action following consideration of remaining agenda items. 1. *Personnel – appointments, leaves of absence, separations, reassignments/change in work year, job description/salary range change and charter school personnel actions. 2. *Purchasing Report – purchase orders and service agreements, change orders and construction and public works bids. 3. Acceptance of the following gifts: (# = donor’s estimate) Dyer-Kelly Elementary School: from Northminster Presbyterian Church: $2,000. Family and Community Engagement: from Carmichael Kiwanis and Sacramento Kindness Campaign – for 140 scientific calculators for math camp participants: $1,778. Grand Oaks Elementary School: from Phyliss Lochelt – for cello: $2,000#. 4. *Approval to dispose of surplus property pursuant to Board Policy 3270 and Education Code sections 17545 and 17546. 5. *Approval of permanent exemption from physical education for 456 qualifying students that have given consent. 6. *Approval of the Head Start/Early Head Start American Rescue Plan and Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act supplement funds agreement No. 21C6651S0ARP-CR between SJUSD and the Sacramento Employment and Training Agency (SETA). 7. *Approval of six members to the Local Control and Accountability Plan Parent Advisory Committee (LCAP PAC). 8. *Approval to name the director of nutrition services as the district representative to the Super Co-Op Joint Powers Authority. 9. *Adoption of Resolution No. 3071 approving the third amendment to the lease agreement for the Barrett Middle School new construction project no. 004-9512-P1 between San Juan Unified School District and Landmark Modernization Contractors dba Landmark Construction. 10. *Adoption of Resolution No. 3072 approving the third amendment to the lease agreement for the Barrett Middle School modernization project no. 004-9495-P1 between San Juan Unified School District and Landmark Modernization Contractors dba Landmark Construction. *Material provided. H. CONSENT CALENDAR (continued, if necessary) Discussion and action on the items removed from the consent calendar. I. BUSINESS ITEMS 1. Expanded Learning Opportunities – 7:20 p.m. (Bassanelli) Material provided. Report: regarding Expanded Learning Opportunities within the secondary school division.
3 2. Update on California Department of Public Health and Sacramento County Public Health Requirements – 7:45 p.m. (Allen) Material provided. Report: regarding the latest updates to district safety practices related to changes in health recommendations and requirements from the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and Sacramento County Public Health (SCPH). 3. Notice of Intent to Convey Easement at Barrett Middle School – 8:00 p.m. (Camarda) Material provided. Action: The superintendent is recommending that the board adopt Resolution No. 3067, declaring the intent to convey a permanent easement at Barrett Middle School to the Carmichael Water District and to call a public hearing to be held on September 14, 2021. 4. Notice of Intent to Convey Easement at Del Campo High School – 8:05 p.m. (Camarda) Material provided. Action: The superintendent is recommending that the board adopt Resolution No. 3069, declaring the intent to convey a permanent easement at Del Campo High School to the Carmichael Water District and to call a public hearing to be held on September 14, 2021. 5. Board Bylaw 9270 Conflict of Interest – 8:10 p.m. (Simlick) Material provided. Discussion: regarding the proposed changes to Board Bylaw 9270 Conflict of Interest Code, its accompanying exhibit, Exhibit 9270 and the sunset of Board Policy 2300 Conflict of Interest Code. Action anticipated: 08/24/2021. 6. Williams Complaint Report – 8:15 p.m. (Simlick) Material provided. Report: regarding the status of Williams-type complaints filed with the district per Education Code section 35186(d), which requires each school district to publicly report, on a quarterly basis, summarized data on the nature and resolution of all Williams-type complaints. 7. Declaration of Need for Fully Qualified Educators – 8:20 p.m. (Oropallo) Material provided. Action: The superintendent is recommending that the board adopt the Declaration of Need for Fully Qualified Educators for the 2021-2022 school year. 8. Exemption to the Separation-From-Service Requirement – 8:25 p.m. (Oropallo) Material provided. Action: The superintendent is recommending that the board adopt Resolution No. 3066 Exemption to the Separation-From-Service Requirement. 9. Tentative Agreement: California School Employees Association – 8:30 p.m. (Thigpen) Material provided. (Discussed: 07/27/2021) Public Comment/Action: The superintendent is recommending that the board approve the tentative agreement between the California School Employees Association Chapter 127 and the San Juan Unified School District. J. BOARD REPORTS – 8:35 p.m. K. FUTURE AGENDA – 8:45 p.m. The board may wish to identify items to be discussed at future meetings and the reasons therefore.
4 L. VISITOR COMMENTS – 8:50 p.m. Board Bylaw 9323 limits visitor comments to two (2) minutes per speaker, with no more than 30 minutes per single topic. Time will be extended for any speaker who uses an interpreter. B. CLOSED SESSION (continued, if necessary) Announcement of topics/announcement of actions. M. ADJOURNMENT – 8:55 p.m. The Board of Education welcomes and encourages the public’s participation at the board meetings and has devoted time throughout the meeting for that purpose. You may comment on items included on this agenda; however, we ask that you limit your comments to two (2) minutes, so that as many people as possible may be heard (Education Code section 35145.5, Government Code section 54954.3). When an item indicates “material provided,” the additional information is available prior to the meeting in the Information and Communication Office, 3738 Walnut Avenue, Carmichael, (916) 979-8281, or on the district website at www.sanjuan.edu. A person with a disability may contact the Board of Education office at (916) 971-7111, or email stephanie.cunningham@sanjuan.edu at least 48 hours before the scheduled board meeting to request receipt of an agenda and other distributed writings in an appropriate alternative format, or to request disability-related modifications or accommodations, including auxiliary aids or services, in order to participate in the public board meeting. Translation and interpretation services will be made available upon request with advance notice. If you wish to utilize these services, please notify the Board of Education office at (916) 971-7111, or email stephanie.cunningham@sanjuan.edu at least 24 hours before the scheduled board meeting to allow for the scheduling of appropriate translation staff and other resources. NOTE: The times indicated are approximate. Mission Statement Valuing diversity and excellence, the San Juan Unified School District’s mission is to educate and inspire each student to succeed and responsibly contribute to a radically evolving world by providing innovative, rigorous, student-focused instruction and programs in a safe, caring and collaborative learning community.
2364 D 08/10/2021 San Juan Unified School District Board of Education 3738 Walnut Avenue, Carmichael, California 95608 Board of Education Minutes July 27, 2021 Special Meeting Board of Education 5:00 p.m. Open Session/Call to Order/Announcement of Closed Session Topics (A) The July 27 special meeting was called to order by the president, Paula Villescaz. The board meeting was held in person and also livestreamed on the district’s YouTube channel. Roll Call Present: Paula Villescaz, president Michael McKibbin, Ed.D., vice president (via teleconference) Zima Creason, clerk Pam Costa, member Saul Hernandez, member Visitor Comments: Closed Session (A-1) There were no closed session visitor comments. Closed Session (B) The meeting was then recessed with the board convening in closed session to conference with Legal Counsel – Existing Litigation pursuant to Government Code section 54956.9(d)(1) – two cases – Name of Case: Magali Kincaid, Benito Juarez Neighborhood Association, Neighborhood Elections Now, Juan Yniguez, Carolina Flores, Damaris Canton v. San Juan Unified School District, Complaint for Violation of the California Voting Rights Act and in the Alternative, For Violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the California Constitution, Sacramento Superior Court Case No. 34-2020-00286475 and Name of Case: Carolina Flores, Neighborhood Elections Now, Petitioners, vs. San Juan Unified School District, Paula Villescaz, in her official capacity of Board President, Respondents, Verified Petition for Writ of Mandate Pursuant to the First Amendment, the California Constitution, California Public Records Act, and the Ralph M. Brown Act; and Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief, Sacramento Superior Court Case No. 34-2021-80003644-CU-WM-GDS. Reconvene Open Session/Pledge of Allegiance (C) At 6:30 p.m. the meeting was called back to order by the president Paula Villescaz. After the Pledge of Allegiance, Ms. Villescaz explained the two methods (in person or electronically) available to submit public comment for tonight’s meeting. Minutes Approved (D) It was moved by Ms. Costa, seconded by Ms. Creason, that the minutes of the July 13 special meeting be approved. MOTION CARRIED 5-0-0 [AYES: Villescaz, McKibbin, Creason, Costa, Hernandez; NOES: None; ABSTAIN: None]. Closed Session/Expulsion Actions (E-1) There were no closed session actions to report. California Voting Rights Act Public Hearing: Map Review Public Hearing No. 2 (F-1) General Counsel Linda Simlick presented the item and introduced Michael Smith, an attorney from Lozano Smith Attorneys at Law, who outlined the roadmap of tonight’s meeting related to the California Voting Rights Act (CVRA). Superintendent
2365 Kern provided an overview of the district’s public outreach efforts that took place and Demographer Justin Rich from Cooperative Strategies reviewed information regarding the nine proposed maps. After the presentation, Ms. Villescaz declared the topic of the proposed maps for potential composition of trustee areas a public hearing and invited the public to speak. Public Comments: [in person] Glenn Snyder stated he supports a seven-member board. Fred Latu expressed support for a seven-member board, map number 3. Timothy Slape offered his support for a seven-member board. Juan Yniguez made remarks related to the proposed maps. Carolina Flores, after she gave comments in Spanish, spoke about the proposed maps and Latino representation. Scott Rafferty made comments about the CVRA process that has taken place so far. Maria Grijalva made remarks about the CVRA process that has taken place so far. Michelle Wright suggested delaying the CVRA process. Magali Kincaid made comments about the proposed maps related to the Arden-Arcade area. Michael Seaman expressed his concerns about the Arden-Arcade region on the proposed maps. [via electronic comment form, and read aloud by Senior Director of Labor Relations Daniel Thigpen] Padres Organized Community submitted comments related to representation. There being no further comments from the public, Ms. Villescaz declared the public hearing closed and invited board members to speak. Mr. Hernandez thanked the community for its input and requested clarification about the 41-day timeline, which Attorney Domenic Spinelli addressed. Ms. Costa reiterated the timeline the board is required to follow, thanked Superintendent Kern and staff for the extent of community outreach and she thanked the community for its input. Ms. Creason noted that the lawsuit has dictated the condensed timeline and she clarified the criteria used to develop the proposed maps. Dr. McKibbin thanked the community forum participants and stressed that board members must continue to represent all students in the district, not just in one area. California Voting Rights Act: Potential Increase from Five Board Members to Seven Board Members (F-2) Attorney Michael Smith presented the topic explaining that state law dictates the size of a school board and County Committee approval is required in order to modify the size of the board from the default of five members. Mr. Smith also explained the process that would take place between now and the November 2022 election cycle in the event the size of the board is increased to seven members. Public Comments: [In person] Suzy Murray expressed support for more representation. Glenn Snyder expressed support for a seven-member board. Timothy Slape stated he supports increasing the board to seven members and map number 7-3. Scott Rafferty made comments about increasing the size of the board, election sequencing and census data. Maria Grijalva shared her concerns about the board and expressed support for a seven-member board. Shirley Hall expressed support for a seven-member board. Michael Seaman stated he supports a seven-member board.
2366 Magali Kincaid spoke regarding representation and the need for a special election. [via electronic comment form, and read aloud by Senior Director of Labor Relations Daniel Thigpen] Tawni Parr supports a seven-member board. Following public comment, board members were invited to speak. Mr. Hernandez thanked the community for its input and expressed support for a seven-member board. Ms. Costa shared that she is in favor of a seven-member board, noting that she has heard overwhelming support for a seven-member board. Ms. Creason stated that based on feedback she believes a seven-member board is best, noting that there are compelling arguments for each option. Ms. Creason also inquired about the logistics of a special election, which Mr. Smith addressed. Dr. McKibbin said that based on the feedback he heard he supports staying with a five-member board, noting that by moving to by-trustee area elections that voters will still gain representation without the need to increase the size of the board to seven members. Ms. Villescaz made comments about expanding the size of the board, noting that the maps with seven members did a better job of representation, and that she will support a seven-member board. It was moved by Mr. Hernandez, seconded by Ms. Creason, to seek an increase from five to seven board members. MOTION CARRIED 4-1-0 [AYES: Villescaz, Creason, Costa, Hernandez; NOES: McKibbin; ABSTAIN: None]. California Voting Rights Act: Public Hearing and Adoption of Resolution Directing the Superintendent to Seek a Waiver from the State Board of Education Related to Increasing Board Membership to Seven (F-3) Attorney Michael Smith explained that since the board has determined to increase to a seven-member board, that a waiver from the State Board of Education is needed in order to avoid the cost of a special election. Mr. Smith reviewed the legal requirements of Education Code section 5022 and the implementation problems that it could cause, stating that the waiver would allow for continuation of district elections in even-numbered years. Ms. Villescaz declared the topic of adopting a resolution directing the superintendent to seek a waiver from the State Board of Education related to increasing board membership to seven a public hearing and invited the public to speak. Public Comments: [in person] Glenn Snyder said he supports the waiver. Scott Rafferty made comments about the State Board of Education waiver and the need for a special election. Maria Grijalva thanked the board for increasing to seven board members and spoke about a special election. Timothy Slape expressed support for the waiver and not a special election. There being no further comments from the public, Ms. Villescaz declared the public hearing closed and invited board members to speak. Mr. Hernandez stated he supports seeking the waiver. Ms. Costa said she supports seeking the waiver. Ms. Creason explained her concerns about the seeking the waiver versus the cost of a special election. Dr. McKibbin expressed support for seeking the waiver, noting the fiduciary responsibility of not having a special election. Ms. Villescaz asked clarifying questions about the waiver, sharing that she struggles with taking away the decision-making ability from the community, which Mr. Smith explained the problems and challenges with not seeking the waiver. It was moved by Ms. Costa, seconded by Dr. McKibbin, to adopt Resolution No. 3063 directing the superintendent to seek a waiver from the State Board of Education related to increasing board membership to seven. MOTION CARRIED 5-0-0 [AYES: Villescaz, McKibbin, Creason, Costa, Hernandez; NOES: None; ABSTAIN: None]. California Voting Rights Act: Public Hearing and Selection of Preferred Trustee Area Map (F-4) Mr. Smith explained that there are nine proposed maps for consideration. Ms. Villescaz declared the topic of selecting a preferred trustee area map and election sequencing schedule a public hearing and invited the public to speak. Public Comments: [in person] Glenn Snyder stated he supports map number 7-3.
2367 Scott Rafferty made comments about the proposed maps. Maria Grijalva expressed the need for legal maps for minority voters. Michelle Wright made comments about communities of interest and noted problems with the proposed maps. Michael Seaman stated he does not support any of the proposed maps and commented about the 2020 census data. Timothy Slape expressed support for map number 7-3 and inquired about the use of the 2020 census data. Fred Latu stated that he supports map number 7-3. Shirley Hall expressed concerns regarding the proposed maps and encouraged delaying the selection of the map to obtain more community input. [via electronic comment form, and read aloud by Senior Director of Labor Relations Daniel Thigpen] Jeannie Bruins supports map number 7-5. Pamela Williams supports map number 7-4. There being no further comments from the public, Ms. Villescaz declared the public hearing closed and invited board members to speak. Mr. Hernandez asked clarifying questions about representation in the Citrus Heights area, which Mr. Rich addressed, and why the map must be selected tonight, which Mr. Spinelli addressed. Mr. Hernandez also shared that he supports map number 7-3. Ms. Costa explained the process she used to consider the proposed maps and shared the reasons why she supports map number 7-3. Ms. Creason clarified that the CVRA process is related to voting areas only, not school boundaries, and that board members would still represent the district as a whole, not just their specific area. Ms. Creason also inquired about the amount of community input received and the criteria used to develop the proposed maps, which Mr. Smith and Mr. Rich addressed. Ms. Creason shared her thoughts on why she supports map number 7-3. Dr. McKibbin thanked the demographers for their work and shared his reasons for supporting for map number 7-4. Ms. Villescaz responded to some of the public comments, thanked the public for its input and the
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(gavel bangs) - I call the meeting of the San Juan Unified School District Board of Education to order. The Closed Session items on tonight's agenda are, conference with legal counsel, existing litigation pursuant to Government Code section 549560.9 subdivision D, paragraph one, two cases, Magali Kincaid, Benito Juarez Neighborhood Association, Neighborhood Elections Now, Juan Yniguez, Carolina Flores, Damaris Canton versus the San Juan Unified School District, Complaint for Violation of the California Voting Rights Act and in the Alternative for violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the California Constitution, Sacramento Superior Court Case No. 34-2020-00286475, and Carolina Flores neighborhood election snap petitioners versus San Juan Unified School District, Paula Villescaz in her official capacity as board president, respondents verified petition for Writ of mandate pursuant to the First Amendment, the California Constitution, California Public Records Act, and the Ralph M. Brown Act, and complaint for the clarity and injunctive relief, Sacramento Superior Court case number 34-2021-80003644-CU-WM-GDS. And second collective bargaining matters, discussion with a negotiator David Thigpen, senior director labor relations, regarding CSEA chapter 127, general operations support, chauffeurs, teamsters, local 150 transportation, supervisors, teachers, and certificated supervisory units, and regarding non-representative groups, management and confidential units, Government Code section 54957.6, and three personnel matters. Government Code section 54957, superintendents goals for 21/22. We do not have any speaker cards on the Closed Session for the agenda items. We will now move into Closed Session, and we will return to open session at 6:30. - I call the meeting of the San Juan Unified School District Board of Education back to order. Board meetings are being held in person in the boardroom here at the district office, and the public is welcome to attend. Thank you to those of you who have joined us this evening. Alternatively, the meeting may also be viewed on the district's YouTube channel, where it is being live streamed. The meeting is being audio and video recorded, and the recording may capture sounds and images of those attending this meeting. The recording will be posted on the district website. At this moment, I invite you to please stand and join us in 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. - Good evening, and welcome. I'm Paula Villescaz, board president. And to my right is Dr. Michael McKibbin, board vice president. To his right is Ms. Zima Creason board clerk, and to her right is Ms. Pam Costa and Mr. Saul Hernandez, board members. To my left is Superintendent Kent Kern, and to his left is board administrative assistant, Stephanie Cunningham. Before we begin, I'd like to review the two methods that are available to offer public comment for tonight's meeting. For those of you who are attending the board meeting in person, and would like to offer a public comment on items that are on the agenda, we ask that you please complete a speaker card that is available, I believe over in this corner today, opposite the door, correct? And you will be called on at the appropriate time during the agenda. The second option is to submit a public comment online using the comment form, located on the district website at www.sanjuan.edu/boardmeeting. If you wish to submit a public comment on more than one agenda item, please submit a separate form for each item on which you were commenting. Comments received by 6:00 PM today, have already been shared with all board members. Comments received after 6:00 PM tonight, including those submitted during the meeting, maybe read during the meeting, depending on time restrictions. Comments may only be submitted on an agenda item, up until the time that the agenda item has been discussed. And please note that all comments are subject to a two minute limit, or approximately 1500 characters. With that, we will now move to the business of our meeting. We are at item D, approval of the minutes. Are there any corrections to the minutes? Is there a motion to approve the minutes for July 27th? It's been moved by Ms. Creason, seconded by Dr. McKibbin. All those in favor, please indicate by saying, aye. - Aye. - That was unanimous. We are now at item E1, staff reports. Dr. Calvin. - Good evening president Villescaz, members of the board, superintendent Kern and Ms. Cunningham. Staff was recently notified by the international rescue committee, and several other resettlement agencies, that we should anticipate the arrival of 1700 to 2000 special immigrant VISA refugees from Afghanistan to the Sacramento region between now and November 30th. IRC reported that the majority of the families arriving, have at least several children, and that there's a strong desire by many to relocate in areas near their family and friends, who have already settled. Since many families live in the yard and our K area, they have expressed a desire to remain in San Juan, where we have a variety of services and programs to support the newest members of our community. This could have a significant impact on our numbers. During our weekly meetings with the resettlement agencies, it has been made clear that the number of refugees, the timeline for their arrival, and the locations of which they may settle change constantly. So it is impossible at this point to determine exactly how many students we can anticipate. The only thing that we know for certain, is that new students will arrive within the next several weeks. Staff is preparing to welcome and serve students in a variety of ways, which includes the addition of 11 new bilingual instructional aid positions, four new school community resource assistants, and one new translator. Our focus was on finding staff who were fluent in Farsi, Dari and Pashto. Additional supports include, the creation of professional learning and training modules, related to the support of refugee and newcomer students, collaboration with enrollment team to ensure the availability of primary language support when families arrive to enroll their students, the creation of a pop-up enrollment center at Greer, to help alleviate the transportation challenges that many of our families face when trying to enroll at San Juan Central, videos in the student's home language, that outline many of the services provided in San Juan, the distribution of backpacks and school supplies to our students when they register, and the distribution of student bus passes. As stated earlier, we have no clear arrival date, and the projected numbers fluctuate constantly, but we are prepared and ready to support our students once they arrive. And with that, I would be happy to answer any questions. - Thank you, Dr. Calvin for the staff report. Do any of my colleagues have questions at this time? Ms. Creason. - Thank you for that report. That's big news, new neighbors at school. There's only so much as a school district we can do, which is a lot in the way of support. So I'm just wondering, and I'm sure this has to be the case. The state, county, federal government, others are gonna be supporting our new community members as well. It's not all gonna fall on SJUSD. We supported to support them better. Can you talk just a little bit about the inter-agency aspect of- - What I know about the resettlement agencies is that they provide a number of services for them prior to arrival, which includes the health services. We don't really have to worry too much about vaccinations and things of that nature, because that'll be taken care of. I know that the agencies are working on housing, which is a challenge, particularly in this market. And also we hooked them up, and other agencies do as well, with agencies that provide support in terms of food and other services. So we're not in this alone. - Thank you - Checking to see if there's any additional comments or questions at this time. - Thank you, Dr. Calvin for the report. I have also been able to join some of the organizing calls, and in addition to a robust representation from the San Juan community and the schools community, it does include state partners, including the department of public health, department of social services, our local congressional delegation, and as well as our state legislators as well. So there's at least the broad level of awareness, but I do appreciate how much We're gonna be the ones to feel this the most, or at least pretty significantly. And so I really appreciate and wanna thank the team for being ready to take it on, amidst everything else that we are taking on. So thank you for the report. - [Dr. Calvin] Okay. Thank you. - With that, we at item E2 through E4. I wanna make sure... I don't see at this time, any speaker cards for board appointed district committees, employee organizations, or other district committees at this time. Seeing none, we are at item E5, and there are no Closed Session actions to report. So that brings us to item F, visitor comments. I do have, it looks like three visitor comments. So if you are interested in providing visitor comments, but have not yet signed up, please at this time, go visit the back table over there. Ms. Rai is raising her hand, and we will get you signed up, and call on you at the appropriate time. I'd like to remind the public that comments are limited to two minutes, and the clock on the screen will count down the time up that way. Under the Ralph M. Brown Act, the board is not allowed to comment on items that are not on the agenda, so we're not ignoring your comments. We just can't respond to any individual comments. The superintendent can refer items to staff, who will follow up with you. We will get started with Marina Gabel, and I'll also be announcing who's next in line, just so you can be prepared and at the ready. So we'll start with Marina Gable, and we will follow that up with Katie Reed. Ms. Gabel, please begin when you're ready. - Hello. Hi. A little unprepared tonight. I am no longer a San Juan parent, proud to say. I have removed my son from child abuse, as I see it. Oh, this... Sorry. And I am really sad that we can't call CPS on the school board, when you're using children as political stepping stones and abusing them. I filed a complaint, I went through the right process. It's unfortunate, we're in the state of California, because they said what happened to my son was okay, and that the teacher did nothing wrong. And that it was okay to make him feel bad about himself, or somebody who didn't look like him. It's sad that the parents don't have the power that they should have. I mean, we basically put you where you are, and you said it's okay for this stuff to be taught in our schools. And you all know what's happening. You all know how up and down California, people are being recalled from school boards because of what's happening to our kids. And more and more parents are speaking up, and I wish a lot more would, because it is sad. I am a mandated reporter, but I can't call CPS on you, but we can recall you. So we are recalling you. And I just wanna make sure everybody knows that, it's recallSanJuanUnifiedboe.org. You can print out your own recalls, and you can mail them into our P.O box. So please take advantage of this, if you want things to change for your children. Thank you. - Next up, we have Katie Reed, followed by William Brooks. Ms. Reed, please pick up when you're ready. - Good evening president Villescaz, trustees and Mr. Kern. My name is Katie Reed, secretary of the board of the San Juan Parents Association. I've dragged my youngest two children here tonight on the second to the last day of their summer vacation, notably under protest, because it is important to us that we express your thanks for your support in transitioning our school district to a seven member board, elected by smaller trustee districts. Our goal as an association is to help each and every parent in our district find their voice, empower them to speak their opinion, and provide a vehicle when they feel their voices are being silenced. I would encourage you, for that reason, to consider again, our requests that zoom comments be allowed to encourage the participation of as many parents as possible. Parents who tonight are at back to school nights, soccer practices, PTA meetings, and second jobs, and parents who may be less comfortable bringing small children here tonight, or larger children who may be able to more strongly resist. I would thank you for that, and I know my children would thank you for that. - Thank you. Next up, we have William Brooks, followed by Jessica Silva. Mr. Brooks, please begin when you are ready. - Hello, William Brooks. My family and neighbors are very concerned that a known carcinogen is being sprayed on San Juan playing fields, I have photos of postings from a couple of schools. In 2014, a groundsman from Kenosha Unified School District, contracted non-Hodgkin's lymphoma cancer from spraying the same chemical on their fields. Another court recently awarded 125,000 groundsmens and farmers $10.9 billion for their cancer caused by the same chemical. The court obtained internal emails, showed that Monsanto falsified the safety research, and executives were aware of the dangerous toxicity of this product. As a result, they've now decided to discontinue its residential use. So isn't it time we stopped spraying these carcinogenic chemicals around our children? And my solution is to contact Irvine Unified School District, the City of Irvine, and many other schools that have adopted an organic first landscaping policy, or contact nontoxic communities. They've been doing this in Irvine since 2018, they're finding it cheaper and healthier for the kids. That's my comment. Thank you for listening. - Thank you. Next up, we have Jessica Silva, followed by Janet Rodriguez. - So I'm gonna read my email that I sent, and hopefully you guys have heard about this. But as quoted, "I'm writing you in regards to my concerns and frustrations regarding the upcoming 2021/2022 school year. I am a parent to three children, two of which I'm not able to get vaccinated, and I feel that I am forced to send them back, because the education options you guys are giving their children, independent studies nowhere near distance learning. The options, the credits, the lectures, it's nowhere near it. I've been to both orientations, middle school, high school, and they themselves, they tell us when we ask these questions pertaining to distance learning, "Is it anything like it? Will my student have actions to speak with other students like we do in school work?" "No, they will not. Unfortunately we will not have the ability to have your students do that." They will have a master teacher once a week. That is not the same as daily interactions with the teacher, giving lecture. They will not have someone who is supporting them and helping them. I understand that people wanna return to normalcy, I'm a hundred percent on board on that, but the thing is, jobs are returning in smaller phases. I myself have solely option to stay at home. I can return to work if I want to, it's a designated area. Why are we returning to full capacity? How was that an option for students who can't be vaccinated? I have a sixth grader. She's 11 years old. She cannot go, but I feel like I have to send her, or else her academic education is going to be lesser than. I really hope that you guys really push forward to this. I know it's legislation as well, but you guys have to really push forward this. I appreciate your time. - Next up we have Julian Rodriguez, followed by Lori Corder - My name is Jana Rodriguez, and I'm here on behalf of myself, my family, representing Jessica Lee, Jessica Jaimes, Raquel Strand, Cynthia Price, Sandy Silva, and all those children age 11 and under, who are not able to be vaccinated. All medically compromised, high risk families as myself, and those who are not here today, and I'm representing. I'm here to begin with many concerns regarding the limited learning opportunities for our students, the reopening of schools at full capacity, especially for unvaccinated middle school students and elementary students as well. We strongly feel that as high risk families are being discriminated and not being considered, when it comes to the same learning opportunities as those attending in school. We are very familiar with El Sereno and what the school has to offer, and it does not support our students, as traditional school would. I have had many meetings along with the families that I previously mentioned, with both school sites, our homeschools and El Sereno School. And they have both voiced the differences between the school curriculums, and what they have to offer for our students. I've been told that the placement of my student, if I were to take and go into independent study, will not be saved. So I'm being kicked out of my home school, with a school that's not equivalent as in-person learning. I've heard it time and time again, from different staff members at both schools. My child is a 4.0 student, who thrive in distance learning, and demonstrated that distance learning is a successful school option for instruction. It brings me to my next concern as to why, and I'm asking you all, why is distance learning not being offered? I keep hearing the mention of legislative, but where is the district standing up for us families, who are medically compromised? Where is the school district standing up for our kids who are not vaccinated? Why are we not protecting our children, and rushing them and putting them in full capacity, jeopardizing our children, or jeopardizing their academic success. I ask that you please reconsider distance learning. (beep) - Thank you. Next up we have... And I briefly misspoke just a moment ago. Next up we have Julian Rodriguez, followed by Lori Corder. Julian, please begin when you're ready. - My name is Julian Rodriguez. I am a 4.0 student at Casa High School. And I'm here today to ask you board members, to reconsider distance learning for us high risk families. I'm an example, along with my few friends, that distance learning truly works, and is a good learning environment, as in school learning. I care deeply about my education, and want the same learning opportunities as those attending in person, and which independent study does not offer. Please reconsider distance learning, and keep our families and communities safe. Thank you. - Finally, we have Lori Corder. This is our last listed public comment for our general visitor comments. So if you're here, and wish to comment at this time, please be sure to go visit the back corner there, and submit a comment card. Ms. Corder, please begin when you're ready. - I don't know where to begin. I've lived in this district for 30 years, both my children have gone. I have served on boards with Mr. Saul Hernandez. There's even been a time when things were taken out of a storage locker, and Mr. Hernandez had some of it in his car, which I'm not sure how everything turned out, but we need to speak about a few things. I also know of a body shop that was received questionable bid information. They were asked if they would like to bid on painting their school buses, was sent the information, and then also proceeded to give the information, how to secure the contracts. The next thing I'd like to speak on, is on August 1st, 2019, Barrett was gonna be remodeled. A handful, I mean, a handful of flyers were distributed to the community regarding this project. There is also very much mitigation problems with the transportation, and the things that you're doing with the facilities that have not been addressed, especially regarding your zoom meetings, with your facilities people. Your facilities, people have also... There was a December meeting on zoom. The meeting on your website is altered. It's not portraying exactly the meeting. Many people were not allowed onto the meeting. You had to have a code to get onto the meeting. Currently the project that's over there, you're supposed to be mitigating the problems that are going on for the households that are nearby. They're not doing that. My house is full of dust. There's dust all over my backyard. My pool is receiving algae. I can't keep it clean. And if you're gonna tell me that they didn't know what was going on, because I didn't pick up the phone and call them, they're making their own dust storm. The wind blows in the direction towards my house. I have no way to avoid it. There's several other problems that need to be addressed. First of all, your facilities department, and in dealing with this, they have pretty much rubber stamped the sequence. (beep) - That's the balance of your two minutes. That was our final visitor comments. We do have written comments that have been submitted after 6:00 PM. Is there any objection to us having those read? Okay. Seeing none, Ms. Rai, will you please read the public comments that have been submitted after 6:00 PM? - Okay. Check, check. Certainly. We have two written comments for general comment. The first is from Adam Dondro who writes, "Until vaccinations are available for youth, all our children remain a high risk. I believe that my daughter will benefit from returning to school full-time, but to keep her and our community safe, we need to consider all reasonable mitigations. I believe there are two things the board should consider, that could keep our children safer. Outdoor masking. While guidance hasn't yet gotten there, San Juan could lead. We are seeing cases of kids in sports and other close contact catching COVID. Children do not distance when playing, and it is not fair to say those who choose to distance can. We need to make these decisions, not them. More importantly, unvaccinated teachers and staff are the single biggest risk to bring COVID into a school setting, and spread it. Across the country, we are seeing leaders requiring their staff to be vaccinated or tested. There is no other change you could adopt that will do more to protect our students, and keep our classrooms open. Unvaccinated individuals are consistently shown to be the source of the spread. Individuals are... Sorry, without testing unvaccinated staff, they put the entire school at risk. By testing them frequently, you will catch cases before they can create an outbreak. Ignoring our current reality is not how to get back to normal. While those who don't believe in vaccines and science may be louder, we have an obligation to rise above and do what is truly in the best interest, our children. Vaccinations and testing are how we keep our children safe, and in school, they are how we get back to normal." Our next general comment is from Juanita Martinez, who writes, "I'm writing to ask the board to consider additional measures, to protect our children as school starts. The Delta variant is not the COVID we knew last year. Nationwide, 15% of all cases are children. In Florida, where schools have opened, they're already seeing four times the number of cases, and in some districts over 10 times. As more and more entities are mandating vaccines, or mandating testing of the unvaccinated, I ask the board to do the same to protect our children and keep our schools open. Vaccinations are the only way we will stop the virus. And the only way to protect our students from those unvaccinated, is to test them. I know that opponents of these measures are angry, loud and sometimes threatening, but the reality is that we all want the same thing, we want our kids back in school full-time safely. And the only way to do that without having outbreaks that put our children at risk and
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