{"date":"2026-02-11","type":"Regular","videoId":"6VgYicePQto","audioDuration":6149,"speakers":{"A":{"name":"Cecilia I. Márquez","role":"Vice President, presiding in absence of President Weekly"},"B":{"name":"Mike Wells","role":"Trustee"}},"utterances":[{"start":4720,"end":14480,"speaker":"A","text":"Okay, it's seven o'. Clock. Could you please do real quick? Thank you. Trustee wells."},{"start":14800,"end":15200,"speaker":"B","text":"Here."},{"start":15280,"end":16239,"speaker":"A","text":"Trustee lee."},{"start":16560,"end":16960,"speaker":"B","text":"Here."},{"start":17040,"end":63700,"speaker":"A","text":"Trustee king. Here. Vice president marcus. Here. President weekley is absent. Thank you so much. Reporting on closed session. The board unanimously voted not to hear the appeal regarding the complaint. Presented again. Welcome, everyone, to another Redwood City school board meeting. Buenas noches a todos los quesana qui? Presentes. And I'm actually. I haven't done this in a long time. Are we doing a pledge of allegiance? We don't. Okay, so we're skipping the Pledge of Allegiance. Are there any changes to the agenda?"},{"start":64660,"end":74420,"speaker":"B","text":"I'd like to propose that we move. Let's see. It's 13.10, which is the acceptance of our CTA Sunshine proposal to right after public comment."},{"start":78910,"end":79150,"speaker":"A","text":"13."},{"start":80670,"end":90510,"speaker":"B","text":"That is 13.10. And move it to immediately after our public comment, which is section nine. So just before that, LCAP report. 10.1."},{"start":96030,"end":103230,"speaker":"A","text":"Great. Are there any other changes with that? Can I please get a motion to approve the agenda?"},{"start":103590,"end":107430,"speaker":"B","text":"Y' all move to approve the amended agenda. Second."},{"start":107750,"end":856600,"speaker":"A","text":"All those in favor? Aye. Thank you. Cero cuatro uno. El cino de numero para la contra se. Okay, so moving on to public comments, we have a few speaker cards, and the first one would be Brianna Gear. Hello. Today I speak as a member of the staff at mit. You've been presented with a folder containing a staff position, a petition, student petition, and some notes from students regarding how important Nelson Brazil is to our school community. Last week you heard from a parent representing a group of parents. Tonight, you will hear from others on our staff. Mr. Nelson is a foundational piece of our success that our school is starting to achieve. He is the CornerStone of our PBIS initiative. He is the person that students advocate for themselves to. And he is directly responsible for shaping classroom relationships between teachers and students. Mr. Nelson is the reason our halls are not filled with disruptive students. He is the reason there are few fights. He is, and this is not an overstatement, the reason many students feel comfortable coming to school. School, I ask you, we, the community of mit, ask you, please consider the documents you've been given and find the funding to continue Mr. Nelson's employment at MIT. He is a vital member of our school family, and his loss as part of that family would be nothing short of devastating. Thank you. Thank you. The next speaker would be Carolina Rodriguez. Good evening, RCSD board members. My name is Carolina Rodriguez and I'm currently a science teacher at MIT Middle. The team at this school are passionate about setting up our students for success. And half of that work is deeply understanding our students needs and providing the resources and so that they feel they belong at school. One of the students I am teaching this year, who I'll refer to as Lupe, started to decline in her attendance at school. I was worried as I started to see the impact it had on her progress as well as her happiness at school. When she would show up, she was quiet, but her classmates would sometimes get her to crack a smile with their silly jokes. She would walk the halls with her head down and I could sense she was carrying something much heavier than what her empty backpack let on. I fell at a loss because her family wasn't responding to calls and the student also avoided any one on one conversations, no matter how casual. I reached out to Mr. Bazill, our student services coordinator. He had known the family for many years and let me know that the student's family had been grappling with housing security and transportation. He was the only staff member. Lupe's family felt safe answering the phone and and after his reassuring words and support, they started responding to help. After a stream of incomplete assignments fueled by her chair being left empty all those days, I started seeing Lupe again. And last week Lupe aced her science quiz. I have another student who I'll refer to as Ricky, who at 12 years old has grappled with death from friends close to him and the pool of gang culture that promises belonging and status. A teddy bear at heart, he has invested in making his family proud and is figuring out what makes a real man. Hi Ms. Rodriguez. Guess what happened yesterday? He proclaims in the mornings. It took a few weeks for me to learn how to best get him to engage with conceptual science content because a big piece of what attributed to his success in the classroom was human connection. Mr. Bissell was his personal coach. This has been work that started since sixth grade due to collaborations in and out of the classroom and again a history of trust with the family. Mr. Nelson has coached Ricky to go from experience constant dysregulation when he came to MIT in sixth grade to Ricky initiating a restorative conversation on his own with a classmate that prevented the conflict from getting unsafe. Lupe's and Ricardo's stories are just a snippet of the work that Mr. Nelson does every day. His deep connections with families at MIT and the experience he brings with social emotional learning has prevented countless incidents of harm. His role at our school has influenced attendance, students, mental health and the increased physical safety of our Students and staff. Our students deserve to keep staff that directly contribute to a learning environment that is informed, preventative of harm, and see them as human beings capable of great success, not just numbers on a spreadsheet. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Molly Cross. Good evening. I have a letter written by one of our teachers who couldn't be here tonight, Henri Kuhn. She has been a teacher at MIT since 2021. To whom it may concern. The news of the termination of this position, not to mention the loss of Nelson himself, is a worrying blow to a school community which has experienced years of upheaval resulting in an unsettled school culture. Nelson himself has brought to our school the spirit and persistent practice of collaboration, connection and compassion. He cares for our students, gets to know them and their families, and seeks to work with them through restorative solutions and supportive habits. Nelson communicates with and supports teachers and their work with our students, providing insight and partnership as we work to grow our sense of community and shape our culture with our kids who trust Nelson. One thing the teachers and students of McKinley do not need is the change brought about through more turnover. Exactly. Because some change is unavoidable. This change feels not only avoidable, but unacceptable. Nelson's remaining with us would mean continuity and change. Positive. School culture is something McKinley is struggling to grow. Grow. And culture comes about when people remain together in one place for a time, building traditions and purposeful community. McKinley has seen enough administrators come and go in the past five years. Do not cause the exit of yet another. Reverse the decision to end the student services position. MIT wants Nelson. Thank you. So the next item here is labor association comments. Do we have any? Thank you. Good evening, board Dr. Baker, cabinet members and members of our school district community. My name is Amy Barstadt and I've been a teacher in redwood city for 28 years. And I'm a proud product of the Redwood City School District. I grew up in these schools and I have dedicated my career to serving the students and families of this community. This district is not just where I work, it is my second home. I am proud to be the chair of the Redwood City Teachers association negotiations team this school year. Tonight, as we formally begin negotiations and present to you our Sunshine proposal, we want to be clear about both our purpose and our approach. The educators we represent, deeply committed, are deeply committed to this district. We teach here, we mentor here, and many of us raise our families here. We enter this process in good faith, with professionalism and with a shared goal. Strengthening our schools for the students and families. We serve as we move into negotiations, the union's priorities center on many issues, but two of them are essential issues. Manageable class size. Fair and competitive compensation. In our schools, class size directly impacts the quality of instruction students receive every day. Reasonable class sizes allow educators to provide individualized attention, build strong foundational literacy and numeracy skills, support students with diverse learning needs, and maintain safe and productive classrooms. When class sizes exceed manageable levels, both student outcomes and educator sustainability are affected. At the same time, compensation must reflect the professionalism, expertise and increasing responsibilities placed on teachers today. Competitive salaries are essential to recruiting and retaining high quality staff and maintaining sustainability in our schools. We will be proposing meaningful salary improvements that recognize the value educators bring and to this community and the rising cost of living here, these issues are interconnected. Workload and compensation together determine whether the district remains a place where talented educators choose to stay and build long term careers. To the board, the superintendent, and to our community, we are ready to engage in thoughtful, respectful and data informed negotiations. We believe that through collaboration and good faith bargaining, we can reach an agreement that supports educators, strengthens student learning and reflects our shared commitment to educational excellence. We will look forward to the work ahead. Thank you. Thank you. Isn't she just great? Just the thing she hasn't talked in front of before people before. She's wonderful. Maria Stockton, the president of the counterpart of our cta, csea. First off, I want to congratulate David Lee on your new addition to your child. David came to our installation dinner. What was that, a week ago? I think time has blended all together and we were so appreciative of having you there. Shauna Ingersoll, our vice president, took and enjoyed his company so much, she took monopolized all the time of talking with David. So we're hoping to have another opportunity of all of us meeting you and getting to know you better as well as each board member. We'd like to invite you at some point to come talk with us and we get to know you better and you get to know us better. So we hope you're going to be accepting of that also coming to the dinner. I told David that every person who comes to the dinner because we have raffle tickets, if you win more than one ticket, the rest goes to the union, but you get to pick out one prize. And David, you left before your prize was there. So I brought it with me and I'll pass it your way. And it's not a baby gift, it's your gift. I don't know what it was, but we just picked out a gift for you. The other thing, I'd like to remind all our principals who have eighth grade students, we are giving away a 1 100A scholarship to one child at each of those schools. Last year we had one principal miss out. But we're hoping this is such an advanced notice they start thinking of it and it isn't for us to choose why this child is getting the scholarship. Every school has their own scholarships and for whatever reasons RCTA gives a scholarship, we would like to give a scholarship in which the principal and the staff truly feel a child has done something or been that needs to be recognized for. So that will be coming up soon and we hope we have everybody participate this year. Thank you so much."},{"start":856750,"end":856990,"speaker":"B","text":"Much."},{"start":857950,"end":899160,"speaker":"A","text":"Thank you. And the next item, the agenda again we moved item 13.10 to right after this. So that would be acceptance of the RID City Teachers Association Sunshine proposal. Oh, that was. Okay, thank you. Thank you."},{"start":903400,"end":959630,"speaker":"B","text":"No, I didn't have any questions. But of course it's a perfect opportunity to thank all the members of rcta those that are here tonight, those that are online, those that couldn't make it. Just for the work that you do for the students in the district, day in, day out, year after year. It's really appreciated. I love the stories of, you know, the impact that you're having with students. The stories that you shared from MIT tonight, those were very impactful. I appreciate those stories as well. And I just wanted to say thank you at the opening of the sunshine receiving of the sunshine proposal. There's every day I am thankful for the work that you do. But there are these special demarcations are just opportunities to make sure that we're saying it and that you hear it. With that I'll make a motion to approve the receiving the sunshine approval proposal."},{"start":960110,"end":2102970,"speaker":"A","text":"Second all those in favor, thank you. So the next item on the agenda it is now schools community reports presentation on the local accountability plan LCAP midyear report. Good evening board members and audience and teachers. Today I'm presenting the mid year report for lcap. We do this every year and it's just a to see where we are and in the mid year report. So just for everyone, there is a completed slide deck that has been on the board documents. I will tonight for the purposes of time we'll only be sharing some so if you want to see the full presentation you have access to it. So just for everyone, just to review our LCAP is a three year plan that focuses go has focus goals, actions, services and expenditures which are to support positive student outcomes and address our state and local priorities. This is, we are in our second year of our lcap. So this is our second year of implementation of our goals. And next year will be our third and then we'll begin the new LCAP goal later next year. So just as a quick reminder, we have three LCAP goals. Goal one is on attendance and suspension. Goal two is on our multilingual learners and goal three is on academics. This slide is just a quick review of where we started when we began with the LCAP in 2022, 2020, 23. It's just a quick reminder of the movement that we've been able to move. Everything, everything that we've been doing and the work that's been going into LCAP has really shown that we made a difference. When we started in 23:23, you can see all of the red areas, areas that we had to focus on. Thus this is where we began planning the LCAP because we had a lot of our subgroup English learners and so that's why some of our focuses. But as you can see, as we moved into 20, 24 and 25, we really have reduced the AM subgroups. Our current subgroup, a focus for this year and next year is really our students with disabilities in the areas of mathematics and then our chronic absenteeism. And we only have one school that's an ATSI, which is McKinley. So because of the subgroups, the subgroup of students with disability, we're also in DA which is direct assistance from the county. Just a quick reminder, these are just the current counts of our unduplicated pupils of this year. And you can see there's just a slight decline this year in our numbers. Not very big, but it's again just a slight decline. So we're going to get into what is goal number one. Again our goal number one is chronic absenteeism, suspensions and attendance. So this is our mid year report as to where we are right now. This data was. We always choose the date to gather our data and I believe this is from, you know, we close off in December and we try to use that data as every year. So as you can see, we definitely have. Our attendance is trending upward. We're very happy to see that we're making some gains for our English learners, our long term English learners, our foster youth, our African American students continue to have a decline, are homeless and social economically. So those are areas of students where we need to focus on and continue. Just as a reminder, African American students, There's about only 30 students that we currently have in the district. So it's a smaller group but we are continuing to monitor their, their attendance for our absent. Chronic absenteeism. This is one of our the work that we've been doing quite a bit and really trying to figure out how do we work with our families. Our toasts do a lot of the work here groundwork and monitoring this area. But again we have an upper trend if you can see that right now currently at this time we are doing. We have some great strengths. Again our foster youth is in red has not made any but we only have four students currently in that area. So it's a very, very small group. But this is an area that we are continuing to monitor and we have been doing that all year and continue to. So currently this is where we're at on the upward trend. Again we're. We want to make sure that we continue to create this decline as the year ends and then we were just looking at trends the other day and that we are definitely moving the needle here but it's just a slow, very slow process for suspensions. This is one of our highlights. We were doing really well in our district last year but again as the year progresses things change over time. So we have some strength. We actually have dropped dramatically. It means that our MTSS program, our PBIS and restorative practices are really taking place. But we do have some areas where we're looking at our English learners, our socioeconomically disadvantaged because our students with disabilities right now are on an uphill. Our goal is 0% by the end of the year. But we for students with disabilities and ourselves but we already, we can see that we have already. We're not on target already. So we're not going to meet that target for that those groups already because there's an upward hill already. So that just depends on what happens the rest of the school year this year as to where we're at in terms of those students. So again we're being, we're monitoring those students. So for goal two, again this is our English learners we're going to which we have looking at our increase our classification rate and our alta deter long term English learners. This is data you guys had an opportunity to see earlier. So again we had. We did really well last year but we have a projection that this is our just our projection of where we're at currently. We're hoping to get to our 55% in the LPAC this year. We've been doing a lot of work around that and our Reclassification rate was so close on onto all of them. So we're really just projecting that this is where we'll be as we'll have hopefully have the data before the end of the year, before our end of the year report. Again, just a progress from last year's data that we had. We did move some kids into the levels of 3 and 4. 4 means that we can reclassify. So we really want to make sure we're continuing to work on that. Our focus in the English learners has been quite. We, we put a lot of effort into what we've been doing, our professional development to really strengthen this area. So as you can see, there's a band not only teacher training, but we have been focusing and working with our administrators and making sure our administrators understand what we need to do for our English learners. We've done some training around the EL roadmap and the framework we are now doing our administrator walkthroughs with. We did one at Adelante and Kennedy and then we're going to have our third one coming at Clifford. So where we're all walking through, having a lens on our English learners and looking how we're doing in terms of the strategies we've been working towards and practices. So we're also hoping, you know, that we know that you guys are aware that we've been doing observations that principals have been doing some of these observations and giving feedback, which is important this year. We're also, Ms. Rivera looked into another assessment summit. It's giving us good information, but it's kind of long and for the first one. So we're trying to figure out what do we do for next year. We don't want to over assess students, but we want to make sure we're looking at how do we progress, monitor what they're doing. And so we've also put into practice this year two language power assessments with the students at the beginning of the year. Again, we're just really trying to figure out how do we progress, monitor the students to make sure we're allowing them to make achievement goals at the beginning of the year, setting up, starting early and towards as we get into the current season where we're doing LPAC now. So we're not sure what we're doing with summit yet. We're still looking at what other resources or what other things we could do because we don't want to over assess. So for our goal three, this is our academic area and really our focus was the 4% in iReady, which is our local assessment data and then that really fills in where the gaps are. And then we have our cast data with 20 and 16. So I did, we did review our cast data back in December. So I will only focus on iReady. So as you can see for IREADY data with our 4%, you can see that we are doing really, we did really well. This, we just did the test, just finished it in January. And you can see that for our winter which is January, last spring we did it in March and you can see the difference between the scores and how well the kids did. We're very proud of the work that everyone's been doing doing around this area as again, this is a positive trend for all of our students in our schools. And so everybody, I know the principals have been excited to look at their data and see where how an upward trend is in positivity. I do have to say earth graders did really well and I think it's because it's assessment that matters to them. Going into middle into high school. The gan for math, our groups, English learners altel as you can see again they're in green. They did make, they did, they grew some on this data and again our African Americans did not do as well. So that's an area of focus where we need to focus. What do we need to do with that group of students as we get closer to our end of the year assessment? So for our focuses for professional development, you've had the opportunity to hear our coaches come in and present some of the work that's been done and our in the area of reading and writing. And then we have our math adoption. One of the things that we really have been putting into place this year is the common assessments in both reading and math. And that means using our curriculum and embedding those practices and allowing teachers to use those that data to really inform their practices and what they're doing day in and day out. We've also done professional development with administrators and site lead teams with our professional learning community this year which again is looking at data, creating goals and then working towards those goals. We just finished the second round and now the teachers are working on their third and they'll end that round in April right before testing. So again that work of professional learning communities has really built into it was we built time into the calendar this year intentionally for teachers to have time to analyze, discuss and put something forth into, into progress about what they were doing. And so next year that'll be part of what we do monthly. So that would be Some of the practices we're doing. So some of our key takeaways what we did this year really we know that our suspensions we will continue to monitor as they can go up and down and fluctuate throughout the year depending on our students. But what we do know is that we continue to modern that we have effective MTSs. Our PBIS and restorative practices need to continue so that we can maintain the work that we've been doing. We know that our attendance is improving district wide for all of our students. For our chronic absentee continues to decrease. But we do have our subgroups that we need to monitor and continue to focus on. And for macademics we've seen the growth in our IReady with their 4% both in ELA and math which is very hopeful that this will be then you know when we look at CAST data that that will be an upward trend in CAST this year again for our LPAC continue to focus on English learners and making sure that we continue this upward growth that we're seeing for our students. We continue to work with our African American students who is a smaller group but we have to continue to focus on their their attendance as well because if they're not in school they're not able to achieve. So they also have. We need to work on making sure they're in school and figuring out how to especially our third through eighth graders because I was looking at our numbers. We do have some kids kinser k12 that are not taking the test but it will definitely affect them if they're in middle school. We do have some middle school students that have definitely some areas where they're not their attendance is being affected. So we've been working with those families as well. Our homeless students again always are a focus. We want to make sure we continue to support them in small group and students. But again they're also the ones that sometimes we are working with with chronic absenteeism. And then again although our state assessments are lagging behind our local measures, we know that if we can sustain what we've been doing the work that over time we'll have a better implementation of what we've been doing that we will we will eventually see the outcomes on our CAF scores. So some of our in you know, some of the things we need to make sure to continue is to be consistent on everything that we're doing and the work that that was being done at the site level which has been very positive that the teachers are very focused and providing them time. So some of the targets that we have to focus on again are our African American students, our students with disabilities, and making sure that we're meeting our homeless youth and our long term. Those are our big focuses for this year and next year. We need to make sure that we have instructional time and literacy and math for these groups and that we're achieving the closing those gaps that we're making sure. We need to make sure that we're contin. That we're being consistent in using our practices, especially with all the work that's gone in this week, this year with reading comprehension. And as teachers we're trained and we need to make sure that we're supporting them through planning next year and really integrating those practices and all the areas with our formative assessments. We know that with stronger coaching accountability, this will ensure that this will happen. And we just need to continue with that, that foresight and we need to continue to progress, monitor all of our students. And so I think those are things, the things that we've been put into practice the last two years. We just need to continue to fine tune them so that we can then start seeing the outcomes. So with that being said, we are still working on our professional development for next year, what that will look like. And so those are some of the things we're still working in development for next year, what we'll be doing to address some of the needs. We've been doing a lot on reading, just so you know. We're also talking now about science, how do we bring back science and making sure that's super impactful. So we're looking at how to provide that for next year as well, but not adding any more to ELA or math. We have to really hone in and dig in and give them the time to really hone in on what has been happening and make continue that growth that we're seeing across those grade levels. Any questions? So we have a hand on zoom. Wendy brown, Can you guys hear me? Yes. Okay. Good evening school board and school board meeting attendees. I'm Wendy Brown. I'm the MTSS TOSA at Roosevelt. I wanted to speak briefly just on the TOSA efforts in supporting attendance. We have 12 school sites. We have six of those. 12 school sites have halftime or less tosa position. Five of the school sites have a full time TOSA and one school site does not have a tosa. The every MTSS TOSA this year, whether they're halftime or full time, is supporting attendance. The average number of hours that any TOSA in our district spends on attendance weekly is 14.5 hours. In that 14.5 hours across the district we have managed to 14.5 hours weekly. Sorry. We've managed to complete 243 school student engagement support plans which is attendance contracts. We've managed to complete 12 SARB school attendance review board meetings. At the district level we have five pending cases or wait listed cases for county level sarbs. We've done five documented home visits. And what does it look like when I say that the TOSA support attendance. We have weekly meetings for with our school site team for attendance. We collaborate and work with teachers to get information about students and to hear their concerns. We have meetings with parents, we do a bunch of outreach. We for example at Roosevelt, I can speak to that because that's where I work. We have attendance drop in attendance days where we are available from 8 to 5 for parents that we've identified that need support with attendance and we send them invitation, they come in. I am thank goodness for the support of our community schools family center because we then have, it's like a, it's like a one stop shop to talk about attendance and start addressing the core issues as to why the attendance is a problem. We have our school based mental health clinician there. We have safety net services available to families. We offer bus passes to families for their students. It's been really positive in building relationships with families, gaining their trust and being able to support their needs. Some of the key barriers that we've identified through this is challenges of transportation, students struggling with school avoidance. There's also a big issue with kinder and TK and how it's not legally required for students to attend but their attendance data is taken taken into account. So last year at roosevelt, for example, 30% of our chronic attendance cases were in kinder and transitional kinder and our preschool, our special ed preschool. So I this year took it upon myself to have a meeting, a night meeting where parents were invited from those populations from Kinder, TK and Pre K so that we could go over district attendance policies and really Monday your time is up. Thank you. Thank you. So, questions? Are there any questions? Comments?"},{"start":2106410,"end":2391140,"speaker":"B","text":"I mean pretty positive. It's nice to see the trend of all of these things going on. It's meaningful and change. And thank you Wendy for providing color on what MTSS toasts are doing because we're seeing the numbers there where attendance is trending up, chronic absenteeism is trending down, you know, and suspensions are down. So that's awesome. On our NPSS goal, it's the Projections are looking good for goal too. You know, I think that that's, that's an area that we know is a big focus. It's one of our. That's why we make it a top goal for the district. It's really nice to see that. And particularly not just the growth that's happening but the real strong increase at level three and level four in the lpac. It's a real testament to, I don't know how many years we've been in sort of implementing the curriculum for language power and sort of pushing that through and starting to see the rewards of sticking with that program and going through it. So that's really neat. And goal three again, you know the trending up there. So that's nice to see. Not all student subgroups are. And you called it out accurately in there. So we need to keep our equity lens on all of this and ensure that every student is having that opportunity to see this kind of growth and think I, I know that that's happening. You had mentioned it there and of course we want to make sure that at every site they're having seeing the same kind of opportunity that's pulling in there. But thanks for the update. I didn't have anything particular here that you had covered other than the stuff that you had covered either in the full presentation just right now or in the memo. You did list a couple other challenges in the memo too that you didn't cover here. Making sure how. I think maybe you even mentioned it. Fidelity. So I appreciate the administrative walkthroughs and making sure that all of that's getting put together. There was one around just making sure that we're protecting time for ELA and for math instruction. So that's good. And making sure that our teachers have the time to be able to prepare and train for that. I think we've got a good strong set of. We know the outcomes we want to get. It looks like we're trending in the right direction. So thanks for the work in the mid year update. Great. Per usual echo everything that Mike said. 1. Just one other thing to put out there first. I, I really appreciate the conciseness and the formatting of this. It was really easy to digest and some of that enabled us I think to. Or enabled me to see clearly like the. The dashboard for example, the year by year progression like how much progress we are actually making each year. So that was really helpful to see. And then just throughout I can tell that you are. The district is thinking about the ways in which to present it to really communicate where we are. So I appreciate that the Delta's on the side as well. There's a lot of numbers so just seeing like all the changes and more importantly than all that is of course the actual results which are super positive especially for goal two, goal one, lots of celebrations as well and in goal three and then obviously there's work to do on across the board but there's a lot of progress to celebrate. So just thank you to everyone that's putting in all the efforts to help make that happen. A couple things, not really questions, just more thoughts on the top of my head. One is actually it was really helpful to hear the discussion on the summit piece just not because that's particularly. I trust that you guys are making the right decisions but it's just. It's helped for me to hear like the thinking that's going on of like we are testing these different things and sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. Just to understand the micro adjustments that are being made each year. So those as an example that's really helpful to hear and if there's more like I'd love to hear them. Doesn't have to be at this meeting. The, the one thing that I think would be helpful at least for me to see and I know this is this is the technically the LCAP mid year report which is very focused on the district wide basis. I think it would be helpful for me the same way that we do see the disaggregation by the student subgroups, sub populations to get a better sense of if we are seeing similar sorts of patterns by school site. Not because it's a judgment of okay you know one school's performing this but more of okay, are there ways that in the future we can really target the support even more so so I think school site and then to the extent it's possible also I know that we do characterize where we classify students based on their baseline levels of two grades below one etc that that I imagine that might be more difficult but that might be another interesting piece just to better understand in the future is just my two cents. But otherwise thank you for all this."},{"start":2391140,"end":2406110,"speaker":"A","text":"You'll like that we've made some changes to the student. We're lining the SPSAs more to be like okay so you're right that's coming up in March. So just so you know. So it's coming up in March."},{"start":2406590,"end":2407230,"speaker":"B","text":"Thank you."},{"start":2408670,"end":2444510,"speaker":"A","text":"Thank you Anna. Thank you for answering the questions I had and for the presentation. I just had one more question as you were Presenting today reminded me that we did the I ready early this year. Have the teachers kind of liked that idea and are taking that information or I guess we'll wait till we see the CAST scores this year or. That's a good way. You know what? We haven't asked. Asked the teachers yet about that change. I'm looking out the line. I don't know if they liked it or not, but that's a good thing. We'll have to take that into consideration. Yeah, we haven't really asked that question. That's a good question."},{"start":2444910,"end":2446110,"speaker":"B","text":"We had a reason for doing it,"},{"start":2446110,"end":2552760,"speaker":"A","text":"but I want to make sure the intent is there and. Yeah. That the timing is actually correct. I think for our eighth graders. I think it's bit. I mean, I have to say, when I look at our eighth grade scores and the eighth, the man of seriousness they took, I could say, especially at McKinley because I've been there a lot and looking at their data, their 8th grade score is really rocked. Like, kids really took it seriously. And because now we don't have a math test that we used to do now where they're using two years growth of data using our. All right, so the kids really need to take it seriously for math and ela. So I think because of that pressure that you got to do this. We did see results a lot better for eighth grade across the board. Everyone had Bert, but definitely the eighth grade took it bit seriously because they're using them now for sending all that information to the high schools now. Okay, so maybe. Yeah. When we get the. When we review the CAST scores, maybe we can see if. Yes. If it's the right time or we're making the right decision. Yeah. Thank you. You're welcome. And again, thank you for the presentation. Everybody has made all great comments. I just want to say that I applaud everyone that is involved with their students. Keep up the good work. To everyone. And then I was just thinking, perhaps moving forward, when we talk about the next reclassification, since there's so many people involved, at one point, maybe we could acknowledge all those individuals at our reclassification. Not necessarily the students, but the actual teachers and classified staff that make a big difference. Those people calling the home, contacting the parents. So that was that. Those were just my only comments. So thank you so much. Thank you. I think Catherine's noting it over there."},{"start":2558200,"end":2581110,"speaker":"B","text":"Ana, thank you and your staff for everything you've done. And also the teachers and the staff and the principals that are at the school sites, thank you for keeping the momentum going. Doing and trying new strategies, techniques, programs. Without your endeavors that you're doing every day, this work wouldn't show the progress that we're seeing right now. So a big thank you to all of you."},{"start":2583750,"end":2612960,"speaker":"A","text":"Thank you all. Great. And with that, we move Forward with Item 12, Approval of Consent items. Oh, I'm sorry, I totally skipped it. Here's one more discussion items. Review of draft resolution calling an election, establishing specifications of the election order and requesting consolidation with other Elections occurring on June 2, 2026."},{"start":2613600,"end":2925390,"speaker":"B","text":"Great. Thank you so much and welcome, everyone. This evening I have the pleasure of moving forward with a discussion item which the board is going to discuss along with parent, community, staff members, administrators in regard to the possibility of putting on a parcel tax on the June 2 ballot. We have been working very closely with a fantastic parent group and I know one of the parents is right here in the front row, Carlo Contavalli, who has been moving us in that direction of getting really great funding for this school district that this funding that the school district really needs to move items forward and to really look at the compensation packages for our teachers. Teachers also during this time. So as we go through this evening of discussion and learning, there is a draft of a resolution that's going to be discussed and with that a discussion with the board, community members, people that are online of their questions and maybe their comments. And then a final recommendation will be coming back to the board on the 25th of February. Do we move forward? Do we not move forward? But before we start all that, I want to introduce a couple people who are going to be. Number one here will entertain our questions. Number two, and that one who would entertain our questions is our attorney William Tunick from dwk. And the one that's going to give us a presentation, well, not really a presentation, but of where we've been, where we are and where we're going to go. And that's Jeremy Hauser, who's our consultant with Team Civics. So, Jeremy, I'm going to have you start and then William, when we start getting into the nitty gritty of the resolution. Any questions? We'll bring William up. Thank you, Dr. Baker, and thank you, members of the board for having me again, Jeremy Hauser, partner with Team Civics, Just want to give you a little bit of a run through of what our goals for tonight are and kind of how we're going to walk through this resolution. You're first going to hear from me on the high level overview of the measure from a structural perspective. Tax rate, duration, accountability provisions, all of that. And then going to invite up William Tunick, your attorney, to walk you through the resolution itself and orient you to the various components built into it. Then we'll also turn it over to CBO Rick Edson to walk through the funding formula that has been built into this measure as well. And I will also mention that we have Brandon Van Leuven from SCI Consulting Group, who's been doing all the hard work on the back end to do the tax analysis and help us understand the revenue that could be generated from a parcel tax. So he's available to answer any questions you might have about the details of the measure itself and how it's structured. But let me start by walking through the measure that you all are looking at tonight. And as Dr. Baker mentioned, really tonight is meant to be a discussion to give us some direction so that we can come back to you all on the 25th with a final recommendation based on the input we hear from you tonight. The input we hear from the parent community and the community at large. You know, this resolution became public when your board agenda posted on Friday became public for you all, but also for the community as well. So they've had, you know, the same amount of times digested as you have. But looking through the resolution itself, there's a few things I wanted to point out. First, we are putting forth a parcel tax that's based on the square footage of buildings. That's not a new concept to you all. We are recommending the 17 and a half cents per billion square foot rate that is consistent with what we've presented to view previously and what was tested in the polling. There is a difference in the structure we're presenting tonight. We are including a cap on the overall rate that any one parcel could pay effectively in the first year. That cap would be a little over $13,500. But it is a variable cap that could grow over the course of the measure based on growth in the district itself. Right. It's based on the overall square footage in the entire district. We sort every parcel from smallest to largest. We find where we hit the 80th percentile of all square footage and that parcel sets the cap. So each year we're going to be getting updated data from the assessor. If there are parcels that have grown that is have been developed and we see more square footage, that parcel that sets the 80% dial cap might move. Right. And you could collect more revenue as a result. So we'll talk a little bit more about that. But that's kind of the high level overview of that, we've also written in a distribution formula that takes the $12 million annually that would be collected from this tax and splits it in half. Half of that revenue would come directly back to the district for district wide initiatives like attracting and retaining qualified teachers and staff and any other district wide initiatives you'd want to undertake. The other half of that funding would go directly to the school sites and that would be distributed on an equity based formula that Rick will walk through"},{"start":2925390,"end":2926170,"speaker":"A","text":"in a little bit. Bit."},{"start":2926730,"end":3119530,"speaker":"B","text":"And then lastly, before I turn it over to William, we are recommending an eight year sunset for this measure. As we saw in the polling, the lack of a sunset in the original measure we tested was a big vulnerability and the number one reason to oppose the measure. So it's our recommendation that we include a sunset for eight years to show voters that there is a need, but they're going to have the opportunity to check back in with you and renew that measure if it's successful eight years down the line. And it would be beginning collection in July of this year, if it's successful in June. So with that I'll invite up William Tunick from DWK to walk through the resolution in a little bit finer detail. Good evening everyone. Thank you, Jeremy. So William Tunick, attorney with dwk, been working with the team on this measure. I've actually worked with the district on probably several of these parcel tax measures now. So I'm happy to be back to speak with you again about this tonight. So what I want to do just quickly is, as Jeremy mentioned, is kind of just orient everybody as far as what this resolution is, which parts kind of do which, which things and where to look for certain pieces of information so that when we're talking about it tonight, we can kind of identify which parts of the resolution. We're talking about the resolution better. Oh yeah, yeah. Sorry. Thank you. Thought I was doing a good job of getting into the mic, but so I think it'll be up in a minute. So the resolution really has four parts to it. We're going to primarily talk about two of them tonight, but I want to tell you what all four of them are. The first, I think four pages on this one are the resolution language which is really directed at calling the election. So what this is doing is, this is explaining why the board is doing it. That's. You see those whereas clauses on the first page talking about the need, the ability to levy a parcel tax, the requirement. So that's really what that first page is. And then as we get to the second page, we're providing directions, the borders, writing directions to various county officials to actually call the election in June of 2026, and then to actually collect the tax beginning in July of this year as well. So the tax year would be the 26, 27 tax year. So that's really what this is going on to the next page. This is more, to be perfectly honest, legalese that the register of voters in the county is used to seeing from us. So we include it the same way that we do in every measure, just asking them to run the election, talking about ballot arguments, all the normal stuff that you would see in these parcel taxes. Nothing really out of the ordinary, I think, in these provisions. And I think that ends on page four. So that part's pretty straightforward. When we get to the next page, this is probably one of the more important parts of the entire resolution. This is the ballot summary summary. So sometimes we talk ballot Label, ballot summary, 75 words. You'll hear all of those terms used interchangeably. This is what voters see on the ballot when they go to vote, yes or no. And so obviously it's very important. By law, you're only limited to 75 words. And you have to put in certain things, obviously the name of the district, there's a certain format. That's why it's in the form of a question, even though it's probably a crime against grammar. But that's how we have to write it."},{"start":3119680,"end":3119920,"speaker":"A","text":"It."},{"start":3120720,"end":3472450,"speaker":"B","text":"But things like the rate, the annual amount, the duration, the purpose, all have to be in there, which means by the time you're done, you don't really have that many words to work with. And we do try to get as much information about the measure in there as possible. And so you'll see kind of the references to oversight, the senior citizen exemptions, the various uses, as well as the rate are all going to be in that 75 words. And I think we're right at 75 would be my guess on this one. So that's exhibit A. So that's obviously an important piece then, when we get to Exhibit B. So exhibit A is what's on the ballot. Exhibit B is really the measure that the voters are being asked to adopt. This is the full text of that measure that they're voting on. If you want to think about it, this is kind of the law that the voters are approving, that the board and the voters are approving. It goes in the ballot pamphlet. It doesn't actually go on the ballot, but it's in a place where everybody can Read it. It because this is essentially the law that the voters are adopting. Once this is adopted by voters, it's fixed. The resolution, you can probably there's some wiggle room there because that's a resolution that's adopted by the board. But a ballot measure, when voters approve it, that's what it is unless the voters go back and change it. And so because of that, when we're writing these types of measures, what we're looking at, there's two things that we want to make sure that we're doing. One, we don't want to have a measurement measure, especially over eight years or longer sometimes, but even over eight years, where there's going to be confusion or questions about how it functions or what it's supposed to do because you don't want to be as a district, be in a spot in six or seven years and someone's trying to figure out how something's supposed to work. Right. You want it to be very either be very clear or provide flexibility. I think those are kind of how we approach that. The other thing that you want to do and kind of do that flexibility point is make sure that it doesn't put the doesn't sort of bind the district in a position or sort of tie your hands on the ability to adjust to whatever's going to happen in the next eight years. You know, we don't know what's going to happen. We don't know the economy. There's all kinds of things. We've obviously, in the last eight years, things have happened that we didn't expect to have happened. So when we're drafting these, we're trying to take those two things into account and make sure that we put together something that is going to work for the district that's going to be clear that also provides that flexibility to the district to make sure that the funds are available for what the district needs over the entire term of the measure. And so what you have in here, you've got those findings at the beginning, the terms. These are what this is telling voters is these are the things that the parcel tax proceeds may be used for. Obviously, on all of these measures, there's always a lot of things that everybody would like to use the money for. There's a limited amount of money, but these are the categories that it may be used for. So you'll see in there the reference again to, to teachers, different types of programs, everything down all the way to the classroom technology in the bottom. It does also specifically indicate that parcel tax funds cannot be used for administrative salary. So that part talks about what the money can be used for now in this measure. If we go down a little bit further to that next part, and I know this will be talked about in a minute, but the allocation of funds that Jeremy just mentioned, this next part of the resolution talks about how that exactly works. So the formula is actually in the resolution and we've explained how it is. When we go down further, you'll see the definitions. It talks about the district being able to have procedures and processes for how this money will actually be allocated, what that process looks like, approval of plans, that type of thing similar to what you have right now. And then also again, we talked about flexibility, allowing for the board, if there's certain fiscal conditions, to be able to make modifications. So that's all built into that part of the task tax. So that's about how the money is allocated. The part below that is about how the proceeds are brought in in the first place. So that's where you'll see the reference to the rate and the annual amount. And then also an indication that this does not affect the current parcel tax, that these are separate things. So that's B. C is a lot of definitions that kind of inform B the ones probably that are. You might want to take a look at the OR that we've kind of referenced already. If you go down a little bit further, the maximum building size and the maximum tax amount, those are those cap language that tells you how that is going to be calculated every year. I think that's the important part on the definitions. Then we get down to subdivision or section D a little bit further down on that page, the exemptions. So these are the same exemptions that you have in your current measure. Under state law, you're only allowed to have these three exemptions. You can't have any other exemptions, no school district camp. So you continue to have these three. And additionally, I think a little bit further down the language indicates that for individuals that already have exemptions, those continue they don't have to reapply again. And for folks that apply for the first time, those continue for the length of the parcel tax as well. So you do not have to annually apply for exemptions. And then pretty much C is some technical language just about tax administration, just identical to what you have in your current measure. And then similarly, when we get to the accountability provisions, that's where we talk about the requirement for an annual audit as well as the oversight committee, again mirroring essentially what you have now, there's a requirement that we have to indicate that it'll be in separate, a separate account and be used for the purposes left mentioned in the measure. And then the last two are again sort of just generic language we put in there to protect the district. So those are pretty straightforward. Just so you know, the last page of this is an exhibit. It's something we provide for the county superintendent because for parcel tax elections the county superintendent actually calls the election. So we give them a form notice to use that just mirrors the 75 words above. So that's what that last page is. So I hope that's helpful just to kind of get a sense of where everything is in the measure, kind of where those highlights are. And I think now turn over to Rick to look at the allocation formula."},{"start":3473320,"end":3474040,"speaker":"A","text":"Sure. Thanks."},{"start":3491960,"end":3560460,"speaker":"B","text":"So good evening board members of the community. As mentioned by both Jeremy and William, the draft or preliminary distribution models up on the screen, it's also in the board packet for review. The draft shows an estimated 12.2 million that's mentioned in the parcel tax resolution centered around student based and equity focused. The first 50%, approximately 6.1 million is allocated to district wide programs and services that support all schools and students such as instructional support, district and district operations that cannot be assigned to a single site. The remaining 50% becomes the school pool. The pool is divided between district operated schools and independent charter schools based on enrollment. So funding follows student proportionality. Each school's allocation, district and charter alike is then made up of three components, base funding and enrollment funding which is similar to our major U parcel tax. Now and then we also add on"},{"start":3560460,"end":3564660,"speaker":"A","text":"the third which is student need which"},{"start":3564660,"end":3594110,"speaker":"B","text":"is roughly 45% of the school site amount that's distributed based on unduplicated pupil count, providing additional supports to schools serving higher proportions of low income students, English learners and foster youth. The structure of the proposed distribution reflects the underlying principles used in California school finance. Providing funding tied to enrollment with additional resources directed towards student need while remaining a locally defined parcel tax model."},{"start":3595230,"end":3597030,"speaker":"A","text":"The result of this is all schools"},{"start":3597030,"end":3611910,"speaker":"B","text":"receive funding, larger schools receive more than smaller schools and schools serving higher needs student populations receive additional funding on a per pupil basis. Please remember this is draft framework intended for discussion tonight and further policy refinement"},{"start":3611910,"end":3612750,"speaker":"A","text":"as we move forward."},{"start":3619470,"end":3629950,"speaker":"B","text":"And I'll come back every to say I think with that we're happy to answer any questions you all might have about process, next steps, structure of the resolution, etc."},{"start":3632680,"end":3633480,"speaker":"A","text":"Somebody want to start?"},{"start":3638520,"end":4120780,"speaker":"B","text":"No, not yet. So maybe they want to wait see what the board discussion is like. Okay. Yeah, I'LL start. I have actually one question for William on the oversight side. I know for go bonds, was it Prop 39 that set up for the 55% approval has some requirements around what the oversight has to look like. Like that is not true for parcel taxes. So the oversight that we're putting in is just, you know, we're going, we're, we're modeling it similar with an oversight committee and that kind of thing. It's based upon that. But there's not a legal requirement of what that has to look like. Yeah, that's correct. No, there isn't. So Prop 39 requires the oversight committees and there's sections that talk about them for bond measures, for Prop 39 bond measures anyway. But for parcel taxes, it's not a requirement. So it's really up to the district and up to the measure as far as what that looks like. Okay. Yeah, I think it's great. And as the board member that ends up reviewing the, you know, take the first pass of reviewing how we're doing our Measure U expenditures, I'm always thinking of those. The citizen oversight committee meeting of like, how are they going to read this? Is this something that they're going to look at and sort of look at it? And I'm sure the rest of the board members when it comes to us for approval of the site plans are thinking about that too. So I like the structure. It's the same that we used for Measure U. That kind of makes sense to me. You know, in general, I think that, you know, this looks really good. I mean it would be, it would be tremendous win for our school sites and for our districts to be able to put in there. The per site funding that we're talking about, even on this formula is significantly more than they're even looking at for Measure U. And I'm really supportive of making sure that the sites have, you know, control over a meaningful share of these dollars, you know, because these, each school community, they really know what their needs are best. And at the same time we have to make sure that we continue to have this equity lens that's on it. So I appreciate that the formula is sort of being kind of roughly modeled on how LCFF formula works for being able to fund students. The other thing too is that some of our schools may look better resourced than others on paper, but they still have high needs students there. And this funding formula ensures that those additional dollars are going for those students regardless of what school they're at. So I think that, you know, it's great that, you know, like our English learners or unduplicated students will be able to benefit whatever school they're going to. And at the same time, I think it's important that it reserves some money for district wide stuff like staffing stability or district wide programs that we might want to put in professional development, mental health. Those things benefit the sites. All of the money here is 100% of the money here goes directly to benefiting students. There's clearly the exemptions about it can't go for administrator salaries and funding like that. So regardless of which pool it's coming from, our students are going to be the winners out of this entirely. But it's great to know that there's some things that can only be done at the district level and there's some things that the sites know are better. And I think the split in the funding formula is a really interesting way to put it together. So I'm pretty excited about that. I did have a couple questions. One I think is for Jeremy, just, I think you mentioned the 17 and a half cents. That's the number that we've pretty consistently been seeing. But can you just remind me where that I, I imagine that there are folks who are like, wow, more could be better. But I assume that there are reasons for, you know, how that was chosen from, I mean, where there's. I came from. Yeah. So we initially pulled 17 and a half cents per building square foot without a cap. That was the results that we presented to you all previously and, and the assumption that we've been operating under. But as we said when we presented those results, you know, stakeholder engagement and outreach would be an important component and another data point in helping inform the decision of placing a measure on the ballot. And feedback that we did get from the business community is that that while they are happy to be supportive of the schools under the non capped rate there would be multiple properties paying six figures annually and you know, times are tough and, and the economy is not where it should be. And so this was, you know, our listening to the business community and offering a cap that we, we think is meaningful but also still brings a lot of revenue into the schools. Right. So initially when we were looking at, at a measure without a cap, we were looking, you know, closer to $15 million annually, but we're still looking at 12 under this current structure. Okay. So I think what I heard was even, right now the risk of even going further was there's we may not be perceived as good community members and that could put the overall initiative at Risk. Okay. Correct that understood. Yeah. A couple other thoughts, not so much questions. One is like, I really do appreciate the transparency that was provided, Rick, by the formula that's out there. I do appreciate that it has the equity lines. I think one thing, I think we're all used to seeing the terminologies unduplicated, but in case that's not clear, like the term itself, it basically means students who are generally higher need for a bunch of reasons. The term itself is kind of of crazy in my opinion because it's acknowledging the fact that we're not double counting students who are, you know, dealing with multiple types of things. So it's good to see that that's being taken into consideration. I think it's aligned with the, the way that the district has consistently thought about things. And also, just as a reminder, it's not a student by student basis. Right. So these are the ways that we're calculating for at the school level. And the entire school benefits from this and the whole school benefits by better serving all of our students, including those who are unduplicated. So, so just really appreciate that. The last comment I have, Sorry. Generally with like Mike, this, this seems pretty sensible to me in terms of framework, so I don't have big comments. The only thing is the, the definition of max buildings. And you can completely disregard this. If, if, if you think it's like pretty clear. I, I found it a little bit hard to read and I like to think I'm pretty good at reading. I actually thought the way that Jeremy explained just in layman's terms at the beginning was much clearer. So to the extent that that is helpful, that might be worth just clarifying. But if you feel that it is, you know, pretty clear there's not going to be subject to litigation or confusion, then you can completely disregard it. I'll say there's a reason you hire a political consultant for communication and a lawyer for your legal documents. And not to throw you under the bus, William, but I do think the language as written in the resolution itself, while confusing, is probably the most legally defensible. And that doesn't mean we can't have content available on the district's website to explain it in layman's terms. You know, a future campaign could also consider doing that as well. And I do think that would probably be the best approach just so we can, you know, be forthcoming and, and honest with the community on the intent of the structure while also making sure it stands up to legal challenge. Yeah, it'd be great if those Two just matched. Yeah. Actually the one last comment I had, which is not. I don't think it's a ballot question per se or ballot comment, but I do think it would be helpful at some point not to get ahead of ourselves, but if this does end up going forward with us putting on the ballot, I think it would probably be helpful also to get some sort of of, again, not legally binding ballot language, but just an illustration of what the district could use the funds for. Like what they would like to use the. Again, non binding but just illustrative because I think that'll be helpful for the broader community to kind of understand what, what 12 million actually means, which I think is quite a bit. Even if again, in my humble opinion, not enough. But it still would move the needle. That's all."},{"start":4123749,"end":4137509,"speaker":"A","text":"Thank you. I've got some follow up kind of to David's question about the eight years. I know you said for sure that without having a sunset we probably would not pass. How did we come to eight? Or I couldn't remember how if that was."},{"start":4137589,"end":4155019,"speaker":"B","text":"Yeah. So eight. Eight is probably the most typical for a sunset. We didn't again explicitly test different sunset lengths in this poll, but what we've seen generally in polling that in order for sunsets to be effective in the eyes of the skeptical voter, they're usually single digits."},{"start":4155019,"end":4155339,"speaker":"A","text":"Right."},{"start":4155339,"end":4197309,"speaker":"B","text":"And what eight years allows us to do is get us through multiple gubernatorial and presidential elections in the future. You know, so you have multiple opportunities to renew it. And I will say, you know, we have strong poll results, but we are seeing throughout the Bay Area and state a lot of tax sensitivity and cost sensitivity currently. And so. So we just want to be a little conservative with the measure that we're recommending putting on the ballot. I would argue we're not being very conservative on a lot of other data points. Going from a measure that brings in a million bucks a year to one that brings in 12 is a big change. And so we just want to recommend something that we think has the highest likelihood of being successful. And eight felt like the right number to us."},{"start":4199309,"end":4248030,"speaker":"A","text":"And probably a follow up to David, Another of your comments. One of the committee members brought up a really good point about showing really that impact of $12 million and how it is moving the needle because it will kind of help us continue if we need to keep continuing with the parcel tax. Thank you. I am okay with the resolution and I just have a comment in regards to the ballot language. And I'm just wondering when we talk about retaining highly qualified teachers slash counselors actually wondering, John, for the word counselors. I know we have some staff, but is that something that we want to use? And maybe not all schools have an actual counselor,"},{"start":4250910,"end":4267980,"speaker":"B","text":"but they all do have an active counselor. Maybe there may not be one that is assigned to the school site, but there are dollars coming in for counselors to work as contractors. For example. One life. One life counselors. Some schools do have one life counselors."},{"start":4268780,"end":4275260,"speaker":"A","text":"Okay, makes sense. Thank you. And that's it for me."},{"start":4279340,"end":4346790,"speaker":"B","text":"But any other questions, comments? I don't see any hands that. And of course, this is just, just process wise. I mean, this is just our first sort of reading of it. I mean, it's only been out in public. We may. It may get tweaked a little bit before it comes back to us for second reading and approval. That's always a possibility right around some of these things. Okay. Always a possibility. And I don't want to will it into existence, but even when we bring it to you on the 25th, you could make edits from the deus. I'm not going to encourage that, but that is. That is an option available to you if you need it. Okay. But our deadline to qualify for the ballot for June is in early March. So really, the 25th is going to have to be the. The time to take action and vote to place it on the ballot. Yeah. Okay. I mean, I think holistically it sounds like there's generally support for the framework of what's in there. There might be some of the details around it that as. As more information comes in or we hear more from the public, we may want to come in and tweak some stuff up and down. But that sounds. Yeah, yeah, that sounds pretty good. Okay, thanks."},{"start":4349990,"end":4358710,"speaker":"A","text":"And I do see two hands up. We have David Camarena and then after Carl Lancer Landers and then."},{"start":4364000,"end":4366480,"speaker":"B","text":"Good evening, members of the board, Dr. Baker, everyone."},{"start":4366480,"end":4367200,"speaker":"A","text":"How are you?"},{"start":4369600,"end":4380880,"speaker":"B","text":"We are fine. This is my first time that I speak over zoom, anyway. Well, I am very excited about this parcel tax. I think it's going to benefit all of us."},{"start":4381520,"end":4387320,"speaker":"A","text":"You know, I'm striving myself to keep improving the achievement gap there at Taft."},{"start":4387320,"end":4389840,"speaker":"B","text":"And I believe that these partial dollars are going to help me do that."},{"start":4389840,"end":4390540,"speaker":"A","text":"It's definitely going to."},{"start":4390770,"end":4407370,"speaker":"B","text":"And if this were to pass and move forward, we would be able to continue funding steam. It would definitely help me get that additional support that you mentioned there with the counselors. I do have counselors now, but I"},{"start":4407370,"end":4409650,"speaker":"A","text":"have one life counselors who are part time."},{"start":4409970,"end":4419570,"speaker":"B","text":"This would allow me to get more support, possibly a full time counselor. And I could definitely use the money for different types of professional development that"},{"start":4419570,"end":4421550,"speaker":"A","text":"we are, you know, taking on that Taft."},{"start":4421550,"end":4426070,"speaker":"B","text":"It's definitely, you know, maybe we were trying certain things. Now we have a pilot going on all that."},{"start":4426070,"end":4427590,"speaker":"A","text":"But I think that this will definitely"},{"start":4427590,"end":4433990,"speaker":"B","text":"help us, you know, keep folks on especially, you know, I also think about"},{"start":4433990,"end":4436390,"speaker":"A","text":"my guest teacher and that's been very"},{"start":4436390,"end":4438950,"speaker":"B","text":"helpful in terms of coverage, support for"},{"start":4438950,"end":4444550,"speaker":"A","text":"IEPs and also just sub coverage and release time for teachers. So I think this parcel tax will"},{"start":4444550,"end":4446680,"speaker":"B","text":"allow me to keep, you know, certain"},{"start":4446680,"end":4459800,"speaker":"A","text":"staffing needs in check and it would be beneficial for all students. So thank you very much for my comment. Thank you. Next car landers. Next car landers."},{"start":4464280,"end":4465000,"speaker":"B","text":"Unmuted."},{"start":4465000,"end":4465360,"speaker":"A","text":"Okay."},{"start":4465360,"end":4504980,"speaker":"B","text":"Good evening, board. Thank you for taking public comment on this very important topic. And I'm a big supporter of any way that we can find additional funding for the district. I think you've done a good job in saying, hey, we want to allocate half this money to the schools, half to the district. That satisfies a lot of needs in the community to know that, you know, schools will have local control. I think it will be very important if this gets on the ballot to convince the doubters that, that you share your vision for what you would do with the district. District portion doesn't have to be in the ballot language, but I think the board could come forward and publicly say,"},{"start":4504980,"end":4506260,"speaker":"A","text":"hey, these are the things that we'd"},{"start":4506260,"end":4560510,"speaker":"B","text":"like to invest in with the, the 6 million a year that we would raise from the taxpayers. I'm a big fan of, as many of you know, of increasing teacher salaries. I didn't hear anyone mention that this evening. I think it's an important initiative. I think you get a lot of community support. If you said that's the number one thing that we want to spend the, the half that the district gets on that since the schools can't obviously increase teacher salaries with their half. So that's comment number one. Comment number two is it's going to take a lot of work to pass this. We know it's a tough environment to pass any tax measure. I would just challenge why are we at 17 and a half cents? What I heard is that, well, that was the number we pulled at, but we didn't poll at $0.20 or $0.22 or $0.24. We're going to go through all this"},{"start":4560510,"end":4561670,"speaker":"A","text":"work to pass this."},{"start":4561670,"end":4589080,"speaker":"B","text":"It would be great if we could raise even more money. And I think the answer that, well, we only asked about 17 and a half. So that's what we set it at is really insufficient to say that's the right number. So I would encourage you to say, hey, could we do more? Still have a cap, of course for the business community, but raise more from the square footage that the rest of us are paying. So thank you for the consideration of my comments."},{"start":4591000,"end":4716590,"speaker":"A","text":"Thank you. And now Ying Chen. All right, good. Good evening, Board of Trustees and Dr. Baker. This is Winnie from Orion. I'm also the admin representative at the Strategic Resource Alignment Committee. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight in support of the parcel tax. We are already feeling the impact of budget cut reduction at our school site this year we have only a part time reading intervention teacher and a part time mtss Tosa. These are critical position. They support students who are struggling academically and help families navigate complex systems so their children can access the services they need, need and maintain strong school attendance. And our Mandarin immersion program also relies on a Mandarin instructional coach and a Mandarin language intervention teacher. These roles ensure instructional quality and provide targeted language support to students who need additional help. They also help ensure that our program remains equitable so the students from family who do not speak Mandarin at home can fully access and thrive in a multi learning environment. Without them, this will be really challenging. To maintain the current quality and consistency of our program and next year we'll only have our part time guest teacher at our school site. That directly limit our teachers ability to attend iep, SST and Firefox meeting and to engage in a meaningful data analysis and collaborative planning. Teacher cannot effectively design individualized support while simultaneously managing a full classroom all day. These roles are not extra. They are very essential to student learning, progress monitoring and equitable access to support. So if this parcel tax passes, it will provide a stability. We need to continue serving our students at a level our community expect and our children deserve. So thank you for listening. Thank you."},{"start":4720990,"end":4723630,"speaker":"B","text":"I think that's it. Oh no, there's one more."},{"start":4733070,"end":4739230,"speaker":"A","text":"Hi. Sorry, give me a second. I have a child on top of me. Can you hear me?"},{"start":4739470,"end":4739950,"speaker":"B","text":"Yes."},{"start":4740110,"end":4912180,"speaker":"A","text":"Yes, yes. Okay. Thank you. It's also my first time speaking through zoom. My name is Rupert and I am the principal at Hoover Community School and I want to advocate for the parcel tax because it's the most direct way our community can protect the day to day supports. Our students need to learn, feel safe and thrive. As my colleague said, we're facing budget cuts and and we need the extra support. At Hoover, the needs are significant. Many of our students are learning English and many face economic Hardships. What closes opportunity gaps isn't a slogan. It's staffing and services, smaller class sizes, intervention counseling, and the adults on campus who build relationships. Keep our students engaged and help families navigate challenges so that our kids can come to school ready to learn and feel safe with the Hoover family. So the parcel tax helps stabilize funding so that we can maintain critical staff that directly supports students who are learning and in their well being, provide reading and math interventions. Our students don't fall further behind. Strengthen the support for our English learners and our newcomer students. Invest in the mental health and school safety supports that are so vital for our students. Especially given the political climate right now. Our kids really need to know that our schools are a safe place and that they're wanted and we love them and we're here to, you know, help them become the best version of them. It also gives us the opportunity to provide art and enrichment and opportunities that motivate some of the students we don't always reach. So this is also an equity issue. Schools like Hoover often feel like funding cuts, that the funding cuts hit us the hardest. And a parcel tax is a commitment that a community will, that a community believes in our students, in our city, and in supporting everyone to be successful. So I'm asking, please prioritize the parcel tax and thank you for communicating clearly with our families and our community to protect, like I said, protect our staffing, the stability and success of our students. So who are students are brilliant and capable and they deserve a just district that facts that and that believes in them and invests in resources. So thank you very much for your time and commitment to our students, our families and our students. Thank you."},{"start":4914420,"end":4933390,"speaker":"B","text":"I think just, you know, I want to thank the administrators that the need is real and the impact that the parcel tax could have. I think they said it great and hearing from them right at the site really kind of. I don't think any of us could say it better or with more authenticity than the folks that are there every day. So I really appreciate all those comments"},{"start":4936270,"end":4945030,"speaker":"A","text":"to Carl's comment. Jeremy, I thought we had. I thought we had pulled kind of a range, if I remember. Oh, okay. We."},{"start":4945030,"end":4985300,"speaker":"B","text":"We did pull a range. I. I misspoke. We did 17 and a half cents and 12 and a half cents. The reason our recommendation is, what it is, is we have data on that number. I also alluded to the fact that we have seen, you know, we didn't do tracking research for you all in this district, but in other communities that we're working in, we have seen Support softening for measures that are testing at the same dollar amount they were testing at a year ago. And so, you know, we just recommend some caution in our, you know, tax rate, duration and structure as we're putting this on the ballot just because we got to get to two thirds and, you know, we are seeing some tax sensitivity at higher levels than normal."},{"start":4989700,"end":5008850,"speaker":"A","text":"Thank you. Is there any more questions or comments? Okay, thank you so much. So now moving on to item 12, approval of consent items. And I get a motion I move to approve the consent items."},{"start":5008850,"end":5009250,"speaker":"B","text":"Second."},{"start":5009650,"end":5027490,"speaker":"A","text":"All those in favor. Thank you. And under action items, number one is a submission of 2026 California School Board Association, CSBA delegate assembly nomination."},{"start":5029980,"end":5031900,"speaker":"B","text":"Yes. Are there any questions in regarding this."},{"start":5038860,"end":5039820,"speaker":"A","text":"Double checking?"},{"start":5041500,"end":5052380,"speaker":"B","text":"But both good people. So, you know, like I'll make notion that Delegate assembly nominations. I'll second."},{"start":5053580,"end":5180070,"speaker":"A","text":"All those in favor. Okay, thank you. Moving to item 13.2, adoption of resolution number 17, reduction or elimination of certificated services for fiscal year 2025, 2026. Thank you. Good evening. Tonight I bring before you a variety of resolutions for consideration. You know, there are so many joys in human resources. Back to school, the breakfast, our new teacher orientations, meeting with staff, signing all those wonderful contracts for these new employees. This is one of the most difficult nights in human resources because over the course of many, many months, the committee work that was done for the restructuring and realignment was very thoughtful and comprehensive. And it leads to this moment tonight where we bring to the board that the formal paperwork, the resolutions to solidify and make these important decisions known. And Tonight for number 2, 13.2, resolution number 17, this particular one focuses specifically on certificated personnel. So based on the discussion last week, there were many items that compiled the total calculation recommendation for budget reductions. This evening, I'm only speaking about the personnel section. Current employees, there were other budgets and so forth affected, but for employees specifically, these employees have worked very hard this year and have been with us in many situations for many years. The work that's being done is important. And so these are very, very hard and tough decisions. So tonight I bring to you the resolution in regards to eliminating the services that would end in June and be discontinued for the following school year. Any questions? Comments?"},{"start":5182550,"end":5226140,"speaker":"B","text":"No. Thanks for bringing it, Wendy. I know there's going to be more on this, but obviously it's a very human thing here. And so it's, you know, I just want to acknowledge that these are not without any impact. These are not just like blanket resolutions that just come through. And so I do want to Acknowledge all the work that these positions and the people in them. And I realize that many of the people will be able to continue to find other opportunities within the district, but the work that they did in these particular roles and just, you know, thank them for it. It's, you know, it's unfortunate that this has to happen, you know, and hopefully we'll find new ways to continue to offer great services to all of our students."},{"start":5226540,"end":5249140,"speaker":"A","text":"Agree. And I appreciate you bringing that up. As Dr. Baker mentioned last week, after analyzing the different positions and noting our retirement resignations that are very typical as people move on in different times in their lives, we feel very hopeful with the. The people that will be staying with us. We recognize the positions will be going away, but to that point. Thank you."},{"start":5251700,"end":5257620,"speaker":"B","text":"I'll make a motion to approve the resolution. I'll second."},{"start":5258340,"end":5279070,"speaker":"A","text":"All those in favor? Aye. And then now. 13.3. Adoption of Resolution Number 18, Release and Reassignment of certificated administrators. This particular resolution outlines one administrator that will be released."},{"start":5286990,"end":5289790,"speaker":"B","text":"I'll make a motion to approve this resolution as well."},{"start":5290990,"end":5346270,"speaker":"A","text":"Second. All those in favor? Thank you. 13.4. Adoption of resolution number 19, determination of order of employment for certificated employees for elimination of or reduction in particular kinds of services for fiscal year 2025, 2026. This particular resolution outlines unique situations where there is an exact seniority date between two individuals who may be affected by a layoff. And so there are is a point system that's allocated based on a variety of factors that's outlined in the resolution, resolution to make that determination. It's a clear and concise way to communicate to affected employees. Actually haven't had to use this, although it's brought to the board in these situations every time there is a layoff in many, many years. But it's important to have it in place should we need to do that."},{"start":5347550,"end":5356090,"speaker":"B","text":"And this is similar to the one that was in place previously. Yeah, this seems like the formula and all of that. It's probably actually exactly the same, but. Yeah."},{"start":5356160,"end":5366960,"speaker":"A","text":"Okay, Move now. Somebody want to make a motion? I move to adopt the resolution."},{"start":5367600,"end":5368480,"speaker":"B","text":"All right, I'll second."},{"start":5369040,"end":5439540,"speaker":"A","text":"All those in favor? Thank you. 13.5. Adoption of resolution number 20, reduction of certain classified services for fiscal year 2025, 2026. Similar to my comments and sentiments regarding our certificated employees, Our classified employees are the backbone of our work and the support of students, greeting students every day, working very closely with them, whether it's in the office, out on the yard, in the classroom. And so there are a variety of positions that are Recommended for reduction. So this resolution outlines those positions. And again, just us Trustee Wells mentioned earlier, this is like the hardest thing that school board members have to do. And I just want to say we're very empathetic and it's very unfortunate that we have to do this cuts. So hopefully the parcel tax will come in and so our district can get some funding to get some staff into our classrooms. So with that, does somebody want to make a motion to approve?"},{"start":5442260,"end":5446900,"speaker":"B","text":"I move that we Approve resolution number 22nd."},{"start":5448340,"end":5480530,"speaker":"A","text":"All those in favor? Thank you. 13.6. Approval of non reelection of certificated provisionary personnel. This particular item outlines are the every district's ed code provision 4492 9.2 which notes the recommendation of non reelection of teachers. Each of you were given a handout tonight regarding those positions."},{"start":5482290,"end":5487650,"speaker":"B","text":"I'll move to approve the non reelection."},{"start":5489810,"end":5552490,"speaker":"A","text":"I'll second. All those in favor? Aye. Thank you. 13.7. Approval of release of temporary teachers. So each year as temporary contracts are written for employees, they have an end date. And so the board needs to take action to release the teachers at the end of that end date. So these could be individuals such as guest teachers. It doesn't mean they won't be employed for next year, but it's a one year annual annual cycle. And so new contracts for those that will be returning to us will be issued very soon. But it is a customary and HR related task to bring this to the board. I also do want to point out that our international teachers have some visa regulations that require temporary contracts. We don't have a choice in that matter. And so the same situation applies. The individuals would be asked to return next year on a contract tracked as well, which is why the list looks somewhat long."},{"start":5554250,"end":5557690,"speaker":"B","text":"And this needs to be done by March 15th."},{"start":5557690,"end":5564490,"speaker":"A","text":"I think all of these items need to be done by March 15th. And the way the board meeting was organized this year, this was the apropo time."},{"start":5564490,"end":5571890,"speaker":"B","text":"Yeah. Even if they may get funded sometime after that and come back as another temporary contract for the following year, that kind of thing. Right."},{"start":5571890,"end":5591300,"speaker":"A","text":"So aside from the guest teachers, which right was recently discussed, all of these other temporary contracts are positions held in our district. So we have one reading intervention, for example, or classroom teachers where the positions will remain, but the individuals are on an annual basis in regards to receiving a contract."},{"start":5591700,"end":5596980,"speaker":"B","text":"Makes sense. Okay, I'll make a motion to approve. I'll second."},{"start":5597860,"end":5637270,"speaker":"A","text":"All those in favor? Okay, thank you. Now 13.8. Approval of personnel changes for the 2025, 2026 school year. We have a need to add two three hour positions, one for one location to assist the students. This is for a crossing guard position. Excuse me. At McKinley School and one for Northstar. There's just two different locations at the same time time. So that's why even though they share a campus, it's not one six hour position. It's split between two individuals. So the request is to approve this addition"},{"start":5640790,"end":5649750,"speaker":"B","text":"and it is a hectic section for traffic, particularly at the time that the students are there. So I'll move to approve these two crossing guard positions."},{"start":5652400,"end":5730840,"speaker":"A","text":"All those in favor? Aye. Thank you. And item 13.9, receipt of governing boards initial proposal for negotiations with Red City Teachers association for the 2026. 2027 school year. Well, we're very pleased with the collaborative relationship we have with RCTA and we are looking forward to opening up negotiations. We have a successor contract that is up, which means it. Our current contract ends in 2026. And so we are looking to build a 2026-2029 contract, which is why many articles. It's an opportunity where the union and the district get to open up as many articles as they see fit in order to create a more robust contract for our workforce for teachers. Specifically, we are interested in a multi year contract and have reached out to RCTA who also mentioned that in their proposal. So that will be something we're considering and we'll bring back to the board accordingly. But we do start March 5th. We are ready to go. We're organized and prepared and so is rcta. So we're really looking forward to good negotiations so that we create a robust contract that's going to work for everyone involved. Thank you. Does somebody want to make a motion?"},{"start":5733240,"end":5744740,"speaker":"B","text":"I move we approve the. The Sunshine approval. But the board's initial proposal for negotiations with our cta. I'll second."},{"start":5745460,"end":5755460,"speaker":"A","text":"All those in favor? Aye. Thank you. And now on to board and superintendent reports."},{"start":5759700,"end":5792270,"speaker":"B","text":"No. Isn't there one more? Did we do it all? We did this. Yeah, we did it earlier. It's already up here. Yeah, we knew that. I don't. I went to the. They had the citizens initiative, had a meeting last night and I listened to it. There was. It was just interesting to hear the support. I think we covered most of the items that they were talking about around the ballot language that was in there. But they will, you know, when this move, if, if this. If we do approve to have this go to the ballot, they'll become an active part of the. Of the process for being able to get moving through. So it's nice to see that energy there."},{"start":5797950,"end":5888220,"speaker":"A","text":"I was at Taft last Friday. Thank you, Martin, for answering my question. They had some construction going on that I. That I saw, but it was really great to be on the campus and to see all that was happening over there. We did have a. Principal David and I had a couple discussions about tk, just enrollment in neighborhood school and trying to kind of see how we can kind of get people onto the TAF campus in general. But it was a great community. Was also on the citizens initiative call, I think. One thing that I think they're trying to do and something that maybe we want to highlight is just. Just making sure that all the community is involved in this citizens initiative. I think they're trying to really broaden their outreach. So any way we can kind of help support that or ways to kind of get more of the community involved would be, I think, a good thing for that. Great. Thank you. I don't have anything to report, but I do want to just. I know I mentioned it in the past. Kind of saved a date if you guys want to help or just show up to the O conference that's coming up on March 28th. And so we look forward to. I know that there's been some outreach communication with some of our community. Yeah. And so hopefully we will get some of our students to attend. So that's my comment."},{"start":5890620,"end":5952520,"speaker":"B","text":"I don't have anything to share. Except for tomorrow night, myself and Trustee Lee and Trustee Marquez will be going to a meeting in regard to the licensed vehicle T tax that the formula is being discussed. I'm very positive. After the meeting with. At the superintendent's meeting, Mike Callaghi came and spoke to us. We definitely were very adamant that, no, this cannot happen. We were brought into this very late in the game. And for Redwood City, if this were to go through, we would lose, like, 5,000,400. No. Yeah. $5,400,000. Yeah. Well, they had us up there, so we will be there to listen, but also hope that's what's supposed to happen tomorrow after our meeting on Friday. So looking forward to that."},{"start":5954840,"end":5976210,"speaker":"A","text":"Thank you. Is there any correspondence? Great. Other business, suggested items for future agenda? No. Okay. And board reflection."},{"start":5979970,"end":6059400,"speaker":"B","text":"Great job stepping up and running the. Running the meeting today. You know, it's. Sometimes it's. You kind of get in the mindset of, like, I'm not running meetings, and then all of a sudden, you are, and so, good job. Thanks, Cecilia. Yeah. Surprise. Actually, we knew this one in advance, so. So it wasn't. It wasn't that much of a surprise. And you know, I thought all the information was really helpful. I thought. I actually thought this one pretty efficient for the amount of information and the amount of things that were coming through. I thought went really well. Anna's presentation was out, was great. It was really, really helpful for the LCAP side. Really appreciated having Jeremy and William here in person to be able to help us talk through the resolution there. So enough Britney, meaning. Yeah. And I think all the teachers and community members that showed up as well, I think was really. I mean, I'm sure. I don't know if it was intentional or by accident, but thematically a lot of the things kind of came together all the same time of we're having to. To make difficult decisions. Obviously some of that will be alleviated through parcel tax if that ends up going through. So cohesive. Agree. Thank you. Great job stepping up. It's. Yeah. And I thought it was really helpful. Again, I said it before, but on the presentation I thought it was really helpful to really wrap my head around kind of where we are and everything."},{"start":6063160,"end":6134360,"speaker":"A","text":"Great. Thank you. Especially when you forget that you were going to be running the meeting. I just remember earlier I was like, oh, my God. But. And I just want to say, obviously for the community out there, it's hard to make decisions. We're here to support the Redwood City School District for transparency purposes, too. Obviously. We had the attorney and Jeremy here to explain about the parcel tax. It's not just Red City, it's a lot of school districts, probably countrywide, that are having issues. So just want to say we're here to just serve our students and that's what we're here for. So thank you so much. Any changes to the meeting calendar? Yes. So it seems the February 26th closed session will not be needed. So you can mark that off the calendars. And then there will be the special meeting on the 26th at 6:00pm Great. Thank you. And with that, does somebody want to make a motion to adjourn the meeting?"},{"start":6136840,"end":6139320,"speaker":"B","text":"I move wern. I'll second."},{"start":6139800,"end":6143080,"speaker":"A","text":"All those in favor. I thank you. Thank you, everyone."}]}