Okay, it's 7 o'clock, so I think we can
go ahead and get started. Um, Evelyn,
can you kick us off with a roll call?
Trusty Lee here. Trusty Keane
absent.
Uh, Trusty Marquez is absent. Vice
President Weekley, President President
Walls here.
Good evening. Um, so welcome to our June
18th, 2025 meeting of the Redwood City
School District Governing Board.
de lasala. Again, welcome. Um on the eve
of Junth, uh we we honor the freedom and
resilience this day commemorates and
reaffirm our shared commitment to
equity, justice, and opportunity for
every student that we serve. And also in
keeping with that commitment, we want to
make sure that all part members of the
public um are our partners in education
and the board encourages you to
participate and provide comments on
issues of concern regardless of whether
they're on the agenda um to speak.
Please complete one of the speakers
cards in the back of the room. Uh if
you're here in person or if you're
online um there's a link from the agenda
to be able to complete that there or I
guess you can raise your hand at Zoom
when your agenda item comes up. Um, if
you're addressing a subject that's
listed on the agenda, you'll be called
at that time that the item is being
considered. And if the issue is not on
the agenda, uh, you'll be called shortly
during your oral communication, which
will happen right after we approve the
agenda. Um, and then to be fair to all
speakers, we do limit public comments um
to typically to three minutes per person
per topic unless otherwise noted. Uh,
with that, let's uh get through the
approval of the agenda. So, the first is
uh changes to the agenda. Any changes?
No. Okay. So, let's move to approval.
Can I get a motion in a second? You've
only got two of you, so you got to do it
all. Second. All right, then. Uh, all in
favor? I I Okay, perfect. Um, so now we
are on to oral communication. I know I
have one for oral communication.
It's for the LCAP. Okay, for the LCAP.
Perfect. Then, uh, at this time we'll
call Augustine. Uh, Espino.
Oh, did you want to take an hour or
during the LCAP portion? Oh, this is for
the Lap. I'm sorry. I thought this was I
was so used to 8.1 being oral
communication that uh yeah that uh yeah
I jumped the gun. Sorry about that. This
is oral communication. We'll do it when
it's time for the L cap. Um okay. So
then we'll move on. Let me double check
that there's nothing online. Uh nothing
online and hands up. Okay. And no hands
up. Perfect. Then uh we'll move on to
the next agenda item which is our uh
bond consent items. Um because we have
no action items and so can I get a
motion to approve the consent items? I
move we approve the bond consent items.
I'll second. All in favor? I I Okay.
Thank you guys. All right. Thanks. So
now we're on to 8.1 which is the public
hearing for the local control and
accountability plan the LCAP for 24 to
27. Um this is a as a reminder uh for
the trustees we're going to run it in
two parts. We're going to hold the
public hearing um which will be
primarily about receiving public input.
Um maybe there's a presentation to go
with it at that time. Um be by all means
ask clarifying questions during the
hearing, but um we'll keep the board
discussion for once the hearing closes.
Um and then yeah, in the second part,
we'll just have our discussion and it's
not an adoption or any sort of action
item. So we're we're really just
discussing it tonight. We're not going
to make any motion. That'll happen next
week when it comes back. Uh okay. Okay.
So now I'm going to open the public
hearing on the LCAP for 2427 at 7:04.
It's closer to me. All right. I do have
a presentation.
Okay.
Can get something. Hold on.
Okay. So, good evening. Uh tonight we
are going to be going over the review of
the LCAP and um the presentation is
going to just go over where we are at
currently and our goals. Um there is a
lengthy report. It has many addresses
many actions. I'm not going to go over
all the actions as you guys have seen,
but I do want to note the you received a
draft on last week um and we just
currently updated it today as we've been
working on all the finalizing the
budget. So, there is a current version
um that was uploaded to the docs as
well. Just want to make sure that you
guys are aware of that. Um as well as
the report. Okay, let me see. So,
tonight, as we know, we're going to be
going over our LCAP goals. And just as a
reminder, these are our LCAP goals. It's
a three-year plan. Um we are going to be
going into our second year next year,
2526. And then in our third year, we
will begin um a review and then
revamping the LCAP all over again. So,
one more year and then we're back to um
back to the board and recreating. So, um
as we are looking at our LCAP goals. So,
just a quick um reminder that this just
is an internal document that really
tells us and leads our district plans
and it is our strategic plan of what we
need to do to um for our district as we
move our school district forward and our
goals. So we review it every year.
Um there are three goals. The first one
is really on attendance and suspensions.
Um and the second on multilingual
learners and the third on academics. So
our LCAP again is just our plan of
action. Just as a reminder, we do have
um this we we went over this on the
midyear report. It's just a reminder for
all the public that uh we do have to
address all our California dashboard and
red indicators. um and we're looking at
two years of row. So if you can look at
23 24 those are the red indicators from
last year. Those have to stay in the
alcat for the period of the three years.
Even though we may exit a group from
being in um in our subgroups are really
our African-Americans. Even though we
have done a lot better, we still have to
continue to address them for three
years. So they don't come off the LCAP.
Well, nothing actually comes off the
LCAP now. Everything is just
discontinued as you can see. Um but as a
district-wide we do have our subgroups
and our areas that we need to work on um
and that we continue to work towards. So
all of those reds and we're hoping to
some changes for next year as the
dashboard comes out hopefully in
October. So hopefully we'll hopefully
see some changes.
Um just as a quick reminder um the ALCAP
does address um part of the we have to
have a percentage of um allocation that
goes to our unduplicated pupils again to
our highest need schools um that have
the highest percentages. So this is not
a new um graph to you for everyone but
this is just what we do need to address
as we are 62% unduplicated pupils
currently.
Um so goal number one um really
addresses I I do want the board to take
into consideration because there was um
one of our board members Dave doc u Mr.
Lee had asked that we remove go the se
first section by June of 27 every
student in the Bradford city will
receive appropriate social emotional
support. So he had asked that we remove
that. So I'd like you guys as we are
thinking about today what your
recommendation would be about that
section. It does is an overall a little
bit broader, but it does encompass all
our MTSS work that goes into go one.
That's a proactive approach to reduce
chronic absenteeism to improve
attendance and to approve our suspens
suspensions. Um, it was a
recommendation. So, I want to bring that
up to the board today as you guys are
thinking about whether we leave it or
not because then that comes off or not.
So, I was a recommendation and I did
bring that up um at at the meetings with
the parents as well. Um, but I did want
to just put that on the table for you
because this is for our adoption for the
new year.
Um, so just want to start with our
attendance. Um, as you can see, we have
not made as much progress as we wish. It
fluctuates throughout the years. Our
goal was to increase by 2%.
Unfortunately, we didn't meet our goal.
So, you don't see any greens on this
table. Um, you do it does fluctuate. We
have a lot of work to do on attendance
and our rates um to in order to reach
our goal in two years. Um as you can see
we only had um our homeless we had an
increase by.5
as a district we had point4 increases.
Um for our African-American students who
we are monitoring there were eight
students that make up that percentage um
I that are that are at attendance. And
so we really want to make sure we are
looking at our English learners which
about 404 students that we're
monitoring. So we have a number of
students that are monitoring for our
attendance and we're really it's
something that we're looking forward for
forward to addressing next year um as we
are also writing a grant to hopefully
help support this effort
for our chronic absenteeism. As we spoke
about before we did do um you can see
the green. I do want to highlight our
foster youth. um we have made some gains
with them at 33.3% that's the only group
that we've actually been able to uh
decrease all the other groups have sort
of maintained
um and you can see from uh Mar from
February to March there was only you
know a.7 change um for our district so
again chronic absentism is something we
really do need to address um and we do
have some plans in place for next year
so that we can begin to address this a
little bit more cohesively and hopefully
begin to make a dent and change in this
area.
Um, and so again, for our
African-Americans, we have to be
monitoring their attendance because they
were really in the group of chronic
absenteeism.
Um, and so you could see here that we
got into um they were identified in thou
in 22122 because we had 17 students who
were at 30.2% 2% identified chronic
absenteeism. So you can see it sort of
fluctuates from year to year to where we
are today. So if you look at 2425, we're
talking about 12 students. We're still
at 35. They are one of our smaller
groups of identified uh students. I
believe we have only about 31 students.
Um and then we are also I I put in our
Pacific Islanders because we were in um
a differentiated assistance for them in
2122. If you see the score there, 4449
um 23 students and then we got out
because it went down then it went back
up and then right so we're decreasing.
So again it's a group we have to monitor
because at any time that it can go back
in they can put us back into DS DTS if
it's two years in a row. So um you know
we it fluctuates. So I just wanted to
put that on the agenda because they were
our one of our red indicators last year.
So hope but it looks like we've
decreased. So hopefully it won't be
another red indicator this year. Um but
our be we do have to be continue
monitoring them. Um this is an area
suspensions. I have to say this has been
a big highlight of ours. Um we have
really really we want our goal is to
reduce by 0.5 for the district and our
areas and really reduce 1% for our
African-Americans.
So as you can see this is an area where
we have met our goal. Um and so we have
really reduced a lot in many of the
areas. So this is a great highlight um
of the systems that we're putting into
place to help support our students. We
continue to suspend um but not at the
rates that we were from last year. Um so
I believe there was 14 on 2324. So you
know we had 149 students that were
actually suspended this past year. Um as
of our calculation that Jenny made was
67. So we've gone down quite a bit.
Okay. So it's a highlight for for us in
the district.
Um again we continue to monitor African
Americans because this is another area
where we have to monitor. So you can see
we've really done a lot of work this
year. Um we have 0% and so when you look
at 23 24 it was only two students. So it
is a smaller group but we're again it's
a win for us here. um and it'll take us
out of DTS if we have this group moving
um out of u technical assistance.
So our fall climate um for our h this is
the first year we've actually
implemented California healthy kids and
so um this is just showing the table. We
did a I did a a fall climate survey just
with the students sort of similar just
to give us a gauge in the fall to see if
there was any change in the year. We did
it really later in the year. Um but if
you can see um the first one filling
close to people at schools you know in
the fall was 70% and then you can see 64
67 so not too much of a change. Um and
then the next one was how happy are at
school. Again our fourth and fifth
graders always outshine our eighth
middle school uh 70 and then our middle
school are at 54. Um you can definitely
see um one of the areas about treatment
of students fairly which is that third
bullet point where we are again middle
um elementary students always love their
teachers. 82% feel they connect but then
it drops again in middle school. It's
always those middle school years that
are really difficult. Um and then we've
also been trying to focus on our safety.
Um so you can see we're a little bit
higher in our safety this year. We had
80% for fourth and fifth grade and sixth
and eighth grade are 72% favorably. So
we've had a little bit of a bump there.
Again in parley we're reducing
suspension. So that's also a positive.
Um and then you know staying focused on
school we had our middle we didn't have
enough in our fourth and fifth I guess
in there but we have 30 there are
certain questions that are only middle
school. Um we had 33% so similar to the
fall as well as doing their work. Um so
you can see those similarities.
Um so this just continue. We had about
10 questions um in the middle school um
that were similar to what we did and
just thinking about the adult child
relationship and who they care which is
really important for our students for
social emotional well-being. Um so very
similar to the fall for middle school
but 81% feel more favorable in the
elementary. So no surprise there um how
students really feel about their
teachers and the adults at their school
sites. So very favorable 74 and 71. Um
we want to make sure that they're
noticed. So again, middle school 60% a
little higher than the than the than the
fall. Um so you can just see that
there's not very much of a change, some
higher than others, but the middle
school sort of telling about what we
need to do. But um and so when we think
about what we did last year was the
panorama, it's kind of we this year's a
little bit more favorably because
they're different questions. the
students really are able to answer these
a little bit more forward thinking than
the other one. A panorama was sort of
like a catchy sometimes with the kids.
Um so we will be able to see this is our
baseline. So hopefully we'll be able to
see a difference next year and maybe
more favorably as we continue to work on
our um safety at school. So for our
district focus for next year in order to
address our chronic absentee because
that is an area we need to continue to
focus on. We're really thinking about
how do we do this districtwide campaign,
making sure we're sending out messages
that are consistent and about
attendance. That needs to be a focus for
us. And there are messages that go on,
but trying to figure out that the beggar
squall
on the same page. I think the other area
we need to talk about is where how we
need to identify what are our barriers
for some of our families not of the
students not attending. What do we need
to do to help them? Is that
transportation? we really need to really
get down to understand the reasons why
and then figure out how do we get them
on site. Um again, we're we've written a
grant. It will be going in tomorrow. Um
and part of that grant's focus will be
chronic absenteeism. Provide having a
team to actually work on this will be
very important because it is a large
amount of work and really trying to
identify and we're going to try to do a
little bit of that next year at the
start of the year. Um, we also want to
make sure that all our staff are trained
on what is chronic absenteeism versus
truency. We want to make sure there's
early warning signs. We do a lot of that
data analysis.
Um, and with our new system, we're
getting information faster, but because
we rolled it out a little bit later. We
weren't catching the students earlier.
So, we're hoping to be able to start in
the in the fall right away meeting with
parents earlier on versus later in the
year like October. We started pretty
late. By October, we already had some
students who were chronically absent.
And again, just to continue to provide
that outreach and if the grant goes
through, then we'll have a whole new
system of looking at how to engage our
students probably with an online
uh online platform to start getting them
engaged. So, it's one of our goals
trying to figure out how do we engage
them so that they are attending school
even if it's an online type of thing.
So, it's something we're going to try in
the fall. Just want to let you guys
know. Okay. So, we're really trying to
think outside the box with our students.
Um, as and so these are all just some of
the goals that we're going to be doing,
our actions that are in there. So, we
have our seven sites who will be taking
on Wayfinder next year with the social
emotional learning. Um, we will continue
with our positive behavior supports. We
have Adelante and Garfield who are
coming on and then we have our second
year. Sorry, I didn't put the other
names on there for our three sites that
will continue. Um, we will continue with
our P school. We have our P school analy
analytics which are visualization and
then we're also hoping to roll out our
behavior focus for positivity with all
the sites. So, we have some sites that
are already doing something like this
using a different app but this one's
connected to power school. Um, we will
continue supporting with uh behavior
specialists. Um, and when I was meeting
with kids the other day, um, they felt
that was something they we needed to
make sure to help support students who
had difficulty with behaviors. And this
was the middle school kids. Um, mental
health, we'll continue supporting them
with our mental health and our life one
life counselors. And again, our trauma-
based um, teacher training that occurred
this year, we're extending it to the new
school sites um, to McKinley, Henry
Ford, and Clifford. These are the
teachers getting trained on how to
support students that have been trauma.
So, by the end of next year, we'll have
had eight of our schools trained on this
um opportunity school. So, we're going
to be changing that name a little bit
next year. So, our opportunity school
staff will be working with me on chronic
absenteeism and with Jorge. So, we're
going to be looking at how to do this um
in a way to begin next year instead of
waiting for the grant. How do we how can
we begin to attack it at the beginning
of year as a team? Um, still we know
that there are kids who will need an
alternative to suspension, but we're
also going to try to flip it to give it
some chronic absenteeism
um focus as well. Um, so we applied for
the it's we're calling it the care
grant. um county attendance to re-engage
excellence is what we're calling the new
program if we get it and and we'll know
if we have it and we can begin in um
January once we expend the money from
the opportunity the old grant. Um we
continue with our healthy kids. We're
also looking at our we're going to
continue with transportation and gift
cards for our homeless families as we
have have gone up. Um so are we continue
with all the same supports we've had
this year with our focus for um for our
multid-disciplinary
areas of motosas you know our ed
services team our community school
coordinators who are so essential
all right so for goal number two now
we're going into our English learners
again um we want I want to high this is
an area we have worked our director of
multilingual learns have worked very
very hard um at making
um being at school sites to really
monitor our English learners and really
be at sites to see what is happening
with our curriculum. So, she is on h all
hands on deck. So, this is an area we do
want to celebrate our long-term English
learners. We made we actually decreased
by 12%. Um and so if you look at there,
I think it was 270, we actually have to
about 276 kids who could RFP, but only
271 of them are fapped currently. were
Katherine was really working with the
fam with the principles to get the
paperwork done before the end of the
year so that they start the year not in
ELD. So 271 kids will be reclassified
next year. Um we take out the eighth
graders out of that. That will be our
ceremony in the fall. So we had good
gains there. Um so once everything is
estimated it'll be about 16% we're
hoping.
Yeah. question. I know Katherine's here
because I was meeting with David last
week and I didn't have the slide, but
you got it to me. Thank you. I thought
it was 276. So, what happened with the
five? Five of them have um IEPs and so
they we have to hold an IEP in order to
reclassify them. It is 276,
but f we have in order for that because
we were doing it at the end of the year.
Oh. Oh, so two were able. So
we're at 273.
Yeah.
Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So
So that number is 273 now. And then so
we then the other ones will go to the
next year's count. Okay. So a good
percentage there. Um our ELPAC again
it's one year growth. We had 39.6 six.
Not as high as we wanted to be, but
we'll take what we can with our
long-term English learners and
decreasing those numbers in the middle
school. Um, very happy to see and I know
our principles were very happy to see
that as well um at looking at each of
their um data. So again, this is just
our summit of ELCAPS. You can see how
many levels um students made progress um
with 99.5% released. Um, so we had a
13.3 on level four. Again, those are our
feeping kids, right? So a good number.
So you really want to look at we had
28.2 level three, 90 29.8 level two, and
we have 28.6. So our lowest numbers
right now in level one, which is a good
we don't want that to be higher than our
others. A lot of work to be done still
um in terms of our LPAC and our uh
English learners. Um, but we'll take the
growth as we are now starting to really
see the high the the fruit of all the
work that we've been doing and that
Katherine is monitoring and working with
staff. Um, it's it's great to see a
little highlight and to see um that the
light at the end of the tunnel is coming
brighter and brighter every year. So,
this next year some of our focuses is
going to continue. We're not letting
this go just because we made a little
bit of gains. We continue to focus since
we have so many of our students are
English learners. Um we really want to
push that forward and we've been talking
to principles more about um our feing
kids by in five years and so a lot of
work to do there and looking at students
who've been with us for five years and
really trying to track where they're
going and making sure that they're
making the growth. Um, we started our
work just this last week with our
principles and looking at the English
roadmap and the ELA EL framework and
getting them to understand what does it
mean to be an English learner, some of
the strategies and so some of that work
we'll they'll be doing as PD with their
staff. Um, so that's work that we're
continuing. We're part partnering with
Come um COMI Creative Minds um is a
company. It's actually one of our
coaches that we've had this year and so
she continues to help support us and
just trying to really elevate our
English learners as well as our
principles and what to look for when
they're in classrooms and giving
feedback. So it was really I felt la
last week was really positive. I felt
like there was renewed um emphasis on
our English learners and not just that
it's good practices for it's good
practices for all if we highlight what
we can do for English learners. Um, so
really working on with our
administrators on making sure they're
providing feedback on what are some of
the best practices for English learners
in their in their classrooms. Um, and
really highlighting the things that are
um, coming about in their schools. So
we're we're really focusing on providing
principles those tools so that they can
then meet with their staff and move that
forward. Next year we're also for our
English our language power, we're
actually having common assessments for
monitoring students growth throughout
the year. So, Katherine has put together
a timeline of when those assessments
will be due and so that we can then look
at how are they're progressing on that
um assessment um that are doing through
the curriculum. So, we really want them
to have them done before we actually do
our alpac test again in uh February so
that they're monitoring them.
So, again, our focuses continue to be
our ELD looking at what we're doing all
of our supports. We continue to provide
um field trips enrichment for
unduplicated pupils and we continue to
have support staff for newcomer staff.
Um in meeting with the kids on Monday,
they really talked about we had a lot of
our newcomers in summer school when we
were working with them and talking to
them about LCAP and they really do
appreciate having someone in the
classrooms who can help them when
they're not still not quite ready to be
able to access English. So, they wanted
to make sure we highlight that.
Um, so we're looking at elevation,
continue with elevation. Um, we're
looking at our dy, we're actually
looking, Katherine and I were actually
talking about our duly identified uh
students. Um, which we still need to
meet because Stanford also wants to be
able to partner with us on this area.
So, it's something we have to meet with
Stanford about and we've already talked
to Mave about. So, we're trying to put
up a meeting um to see what we can do
about our dy identified students and
again continuing with our professional
development. And the one thing we added
actually yesterday, I forgot to put it
in here, was we're looking at actually
an assessment for our bilingual kids and
how we can monitor them a little bit
more in their language. So, not just on
Spanish, but also Mandarin. So, we're
trying to look at how can we monitor
their growth in their in the language
they're learning at Adilante as well as
our bilingual kids. So, Katherine and I
are looking into um just researching
what else is out there that we can use
to have some form of assessments of our
programs. It's not just taking the
English test, right? But really thinking
about the ORC parts of their learning
language as well. So, we're looking into
that. That's a new focus.
Okay. So for goal number three, again
our goals were to increase 4% in ELA and
math on I Ready and looking at reducing
our English learners, well increase our
English learners to meeting 20% in ELA
and math of 16%.
So as our scores have come in, uh we
definitely have had some gains here. We
wanted a 4%. We know in I Ready we had
4%. So our EELs, we were able to meet
our 4% with and also
looking at what do we need to do for our
uh target population
um to increase in ELA.
Um for math, again, we had a 4% growth.
This is an area we continue to have to
focus on. Math is definitely not an area
we're doing well in. um we had you know
1% districtwide 1% with our eels then we
decreased by one and then we decreased
by five. So again an area that we are
still needing to work on um and part of
it is a lot of it is also the reading
comprehension part of math. So really
targeting what we're doing in language
arts will really help support um our
math. So now we get to see our CAT
scores. Again, this is with 91% scores
released um on 69. Um so our goals for
the district was actually to uh have
4.8%.
So when we look at our districtwide,
we're at 49.6 tenatively. It can go up
or down once we have more release
scores. So um Jenny is online, so she
has the latest scores um if she um
online. So if you guys have questions
for our English learners, we had a gain
of 8.8 right now. And for our altos as
well, so it's a small gain, but it's
we're in yellow because we're not green
yet. We missed it. Um our
African-Americans again decreased and
our students with disabilities um
decreased as well. So again, we take all
the small gains that we're making
progress. We still have a lot of work to
do, right?
Um again for our mathematics data as low
as uh we have again we're looking at our
district-wide was 2.9 was about 3%. So
we only made 2.9 for so we looked at our
eelss they stayed the same our alts were
at 0% before so we have a 1.2 gain with
them and again a decrease for our other
two subgroups. So again math continues
it's just an area that we really need to
work on. We've been working so much on
reading phonics skills and getting them
back into school that we need to
continue to focus on math next year.
So, we are now also tracking our science
because we don't know if that's going to
come on the dashboard. Um, but we do see
some gains here, small gains, but there
nevertheless we have some gains. And
next year, you'll see that one of our
focuses is going to be science for
elementary schools um to hopefully
increase these numbers. But again, only
at the time that Jenny had this data, it
was on 85% scored. Okay.
So, our focus really next year is going
to be on reading comprehension.
Um, and so districtwide, we have
different things that are happening. And
I think I missed putting one on here,
but our language arts, um, we are going
to be partnering with CRLP again for
third through 8th grade teachers are
going to be getting trained on a reading
comprehension protocol. Um so we're
working with um uh CRLP on that. We have
our K2 we're sort we're revamping coming
back to benchmark adalante curriculum
and they'll be training again just on
getting back into the basics of of our
actual curriculum for K2 and looking at
the reading part. We've done so much
foundational uh skills work but we
really need to bring not just
foundationals, we need to bring the two
together. Um so focusing on um on our
curriculum with a with an emphasis of
comprehension. Um we know that
mathematics continues to be um an issue.
So we are continue with our mathematics
program and our coaches trying to give
feedback and doing lesson planning with
some of our coach our our teachers. We
know we're also one of the areas we're
asking everyone to do is common
assessments districtwide in math. So
every chapter really trying to do that.
They have on the IM has math test that
actually can be done online that the
teacher does some grading. They have to
do the reading of the writing but other
month the calculations that's done for
them. So we're really trying to move
that forward especially with third and
up. Um K2 again you have to read the
problems a little bit more to them
because a lot but um so they they still
do paper pencil but we really want to
try to move um the teachers to start
using some of those online assessments.
We're continuing to do PLC work next
year. Again, this year we sort of laid
the foundation. So, next year our goal
is that teachers actually start using
the data to really start planning their
lessons to really impact what's
happening in the classroom with
differentiation. Um, and so that that's
just a work and we're actually bringing
in uh solution tree to help create the
collaborative work on site with our
coaches, our teams. Um, so it's work
we're continuing. The other thing we've
just I didn't add on here, our middle
school um language arts teachers are
also going to be trained in what's
called um ECRW, which is expository
reading and writing um or creative
writing. And right, am I right, Wendy? I
always expository creative reading and
writing.
Yeah, reading and writing. Um and so the
teachers we have partnering with the
county um this year. So, in the fall, we
all our teachers, language arts, middle
school teachers will be will be trained.
It has an emphasis of integrated EL. Um,
and so we're really happy to see that
because it's part of the work we've been
doing. And so, they're going to be
getting trained as well as we're just
opening it up to other people in the
area as well. Um, and we don't have to
pay for it because we are hosting it.
Other people will have to pay. So, we
sort of got on the bandwagon and uh
before they're disbanded because they're
losing federal funding, too. So, and is
that the same class that Kennedy's been
offering for exposed now? So, we're just
expanding it to the other middle school,
but it's been revamped. Okay. It's been
revamped with an emphasis on EL that'll
expand to the other middle schools as
well. Yeah. So, everyone's getting
trained.
Yeah. So, it's really some of the good
practices and how to integrate the ELD
content into it. So, that's what we're
excited about that.
Um so again our continued focus um as
you see um fourth and fifth grade next
year actually we're actually just talked
about adding third grade but fourth and
fifth grade definitely we're going to be
doing false training we're going to
actually ask all teachers start the year
with science f kits we're having a
training for them to plan and prep for
the first unit um and we're adding third
grade now to it as well um so really we
know that there are some sites who are
doing this f but we want all sites to do
it Um and so that's going to be one of
our focuses next year. And as you know,
pilot, we're doing a new pilot with our
new benchmark at Taft and Garfield. And
then we have the new dedicated planning,
weekly planning at TAF for 3 to 5th for
uh an area to a new pilot there. So lots
of things happening in the district as
well as we're trying to revamp our um
and Katherine and I are also revamping
our bilingual program model. So, um, you
know, we're continuing with a lot of
different support systems in place, uh,
to help achieve this and monitoring our
students. Um, and we're just one of the
things we're adding a little bit more
this year is tutoring. That was one of
the kids by far the what the students
asked for is tutoring in the middle
school. Um, so we're adding a little bit
more funding for the tutoring and we're
going to tr figure out how much more we
can do with our kids because we they do
need it specifically more in the middle
school which is a little harder. Um, so
looking into that and we're going to
continue with summer school, right?
So any questions on anything? It's just
a quick snapshot of what's on this
100page document. Um, anything to
clarify real fast isn't on the slides.
Otherwise, we can take public comment
and then go into our quick question. U
FOS, it's the Yeah, it's our science.
It's our It's our elementary science
curriculum. Cool. Does that stand for
something? It stands for
something. The science is science. Okay.
Hands-on something. Yeah, it's it's a
hands-on curriculum. So, in the
elementary, it really h it's a kit that
comes to you with everything. Cool.
Yeah. It's a lot of fun. A lot of fun.
Yeah. I love teaching that. Yeah. Like
it.
All right. Let's continue with public
comment then as part of the public hear.
And then now now Augustine is your Yeah.
And then you'll have three minutes. Um
you'll be able to see the timer on the
screen. It's it's actually on the front
of the podium. And then the button to
turn it on. Yep. You got your pro.
Perfect. Thanks. All right. Good
evening. Uh my name is uh Augustine and
I'm a parent. Uh my daughter go to uh
Kennedy. Um, I want to say thank you for
the work you guys doing and then all the
effort you have put in to help the kids.
Uh, the time is limit. The report that
we see over here is it said over here
that we didn't met the 2% goal this
year. last year I I believe I was around
over here and that's why I want to come
again to see if we gonna be able to the
district is able to make those goals and
then we also last year say hey we have a
plan in place
uh let me take you back a little bit I'm
I'm also the the president of the ELAC
and I'm I've been attending with
Katherine every month in the meetings so
the where I'm going with this is
on the meetings, we don't see a lot of
parents and the district has uh a lot of
Hispanic community. So, I I'm here to
say what the district is trying to do it
to in make sure that those families
attend and participate to help these
kids. I have a family and friends that I
know firsthand
they are not educated and I am in one of
those and then the goal in the mind is
they just go and drop the kids on the
door and leave and all that. So
we see from their report something is
not working is uh uh the absentees and
then uh uh the family is not getting
engaged with the district with uh the
meetings. So I'm curious to see if the
district has something really serious
plan how to engage with parents to make
sure that they be uh engaged with the
the district with the schools and so
that the kids benefit from it. Having
said that
one more meeting I'm going to jump into
a different subject. Uh I I have been
hearing the district is considering to
bring more advanced class for those kids
that they're good doing good and I'm
good for that. But uh and in one of the
meeting last year, I also noticed that
uh
I don't know if I'm allowed, white and
uh uh Filipinos, I think it was, they
were scoring really high.
African-American and uh Latinos were
really low. The gap was huge. And I
wasn't impacted by
because I really do believe that we we
can do better. And then I'm wondering
and I'm asking you all why you guys are
doing to to close the gap and then if we
bring those advanced class what we are
going to be doing to those who are are
struggle I'm concerned about that. I'm
not blaming the parents or those kids
the Oops. Sorry. Yeah. Thank you
Augustine and thanks for your work on
Elac um and again for being here and uh
and discussing tonight. Um,
any other Let's see. Uh, before we move
on, I'm going to look and see if we have
any more public comment, any additional
comments from the public.
Okay, then it's 7:40 and I'm going to
close the public hearing. Uh, and now
that it's closed, um, any further
questions, comments, uh, discussion? Um
maybe Trusty Lee if you could start by
clarifying your recommendation for goal
one language and then on to anything
that you want. Yeah, thank you. Uh yes,
I'm uh a little bit concerned slash
embarrassed. I I do want to clarify the
piece Anna that you mentioned about gold
one. I think uh happy to discuss it and
we should because it's been brought up.
Um my my initial question was more about
because the way that it was uploaded on
the official California dashboard. I
think that specific piece about MTSS and
social emotional learning references
2024. So I I when I I think my question
was intended to ask whether or not that
was a typo in whole that was supposed to
be removed because it's in the previous
LCAP but I have no issues with keeping
it like I think it's important we should
do it. I think it does tie to some of
the metrics although not all of them. If
if I had my perfect world we'd have
probably a separate goal that ties a
little but let's not you know let's not
do all that. Um but from my view I'm not
trying to I did not intend to say that
we should remove it but we I mean if
there's other discussion we should have
a discussion if others feel differently.
No I I think that's fine. I I agree that
the the statement including social
emotional health is you know it's an
important part of it. Yeah. Like so I
appreciate keeping it there. Thanks for
clarifying.
Um okay cool. Um I other I do have a few
other comments questions. Um, one is
maybe just to address the latest
speaker. I don't know if this is
necessarily the forum for discussion,
but in general, I I do agree that I
think community engagement efforts um
within committees are super important
and we should be focused on it. Again, I
don't know if that's something to I
don't think it's probably something to
address today, but I want to just
acknowledge that I do think it's
important and we should, you know,
figure out a way to to move that
forward. And that's not that's kind of
an entire government team and everyone
else responsibility. Actually, thanks
for bringing that up. I don't know, Dr.
maker, do you want to have a a quick
response about what you're thinking
about the issue? So, Augustine, um we
have uh Michelle Griffith who oversees
the community schools and all of our
schools with the exception of four don't
have a community school. So, over the
last two days, she and her staff, which
are the community school coordinators,
which are the principles at the
community schools, which are teachers at
the community schools. One of the
biggest pieces that's going to be an
emphasis next year is parent engagement
and getting those parents involved at
each school level. So there is a plan
that's being developed right now to make
that come to existence at each of our
community school sites. Now that for
those parents who are not at a community
school and the community those schools
that do not have them are cloud uh cloud
Orion, Henry Ford and Northstar. If
there are parents that want to
participate in any of this type of
engagement, we will encourage them to do
so being that there's not a community
school at their site. but it's one of
the biggest um components that was
discussed over the last three days and
we brought in an outside facilitator to
help us with this. So you will be seeing
um more emphasis in parent engagement.
Now it's just now we have to come up
with a a gimmick to make sure that
parents come. So does that mean we
should have uh serve? Definitely we need
to have child care. We know that for
sure. But what do we do? Do we turn do
uh dinners? Do we like have raffles or
something? You come to and you
participate and you get this or that.
But we have to come up with something.
It was seen at all of the school sites
that have the community school and
family centers that it's a very
important piece that we need to put into
place. So it was highly discussed
yesterday. There's a format right now to
get it started. So look for that
information as it comes out in August.
Okay. and then and maybe share it with
anyone else as well. Right.
Per usual, Dr. Baker is way ahead of me,
so that's great. Um, and thank you for
sharing that. A few other things. One, I
know that this is a presentation that's
a public hearing mostly on the document
itself, but it's also kind of doubling
as a recap of kind of how the year went.
So, just want to acknowledge and
appreciate this is very helpful for me
to see. I think the big two things that
I noted were um yes we have and thank
you for putting together a lot of the
slides that kind of summarize the the
different pieces but one is yeah there's
some growth areas specifically I think
is we've already acknowledged chronic
absenteeism is um still something that
we need to tackle and I think it is
largely among l population I I don't I
don't think it's a surprise given the
general climate and kind of the impacts
there is that we we just we still need
to figure some way around that u but on
the brighter side like the ELTEL
progress across the board was very very
good, right? Which is only even more
impressive given the chronic
absenteeism. So that that tells me that
a lot of the prog I know that there's
been an immense amount of work from
Katherine, from everyone else on
focusing on that, but it's like yeah,
when we put in the effort and the work
like we can achieve great things. So
that's that's uh that keeps me very
optimistic. Um, so I just want to
acknowledge uh that a few kind of small
notes on the document itself and just as
the context for me I think it's helpful
like there's just so many moving pieces
right the district obviously is very
very in the weeds and knows all the
things obviously the school does as well
um as a board member I'm a layer removed
and then I think the general public is
also another layer removed but from my
perspective I think both the
presentations and the document in my
ideal world is that like some a lay
person could read it and understand
what's going on and obviously they're
challenges because of the format and
that's you know that's a state issue
whatever um but we can do I I think we
should push to to do what we can to make
it clear um the the specific ones that I
had in mind were just very like word
smith smithing uh one of them is for the
uh the growth metric that we use the IRA
um and and I know this and I'm just
going to put it out there in public and
I think the board knows I know it's been
discussed in other forums but I I know
that when we use the I Ready growth data
what we're looking at is the projected
annual growth at that period of time
when the students are tested. And
they're not tested at the end of the
year obviously because that would just
you can't do all the tests at the same
time. Um but I believe we're looking at
an 80% uh we're basically saying look
80% of the year. So we're expecting 80%
growth. That's what our target which is
totally fine. I just think we should
make sure that it's there because what I
fear is that we we have multiple sets of
data and then people are going to read
it and interpret it differently. I just
love to have single source of truth, let
everyone be on the same page of like
this is exactly what we're looking at so
there's no confusion. Uh the second
piece is on just the title for the
growth metric itself and I I can pull it
up but um you know let me pull it up so
that I don't uh get the the wording
wrong.
Yeah. So we we call it currently three
this metric 3.1 and 3.2 I already
reading annual growth. I it seems small.
I would just add I already reading
annual growth met or exceeded or
something like that because when I read
that I actually don't know what the
percentages mean exactly but what we're
saying is this is the percentage of
students who met or exceeded their
annual growth target. Um again very
small but I think it helps clarify what
the what the intention is.
Um
last couple things. Um, and again, I
don't think this is for this form
necessarily, but in the spirit of like
we did a recap. Obviously, we just got
in a bunch of data and we're digesting
it. I love slides 15, 21, and 30 that
are just very clear of like, okay,
here's a bunch of numbers. Now, this is
actually what it means. And I I think
what I saw was a lot of statements of
here's kind of what we're generally
thinking. We're going to plan for this
and then move a step forward uh based on
that. I think it would be really helpful
in the fall once it's been digested
again to know like okay we we did the
the diligence we understood it and
here's what our plan of attack is uh in
light of that. So again not like a today
thing or a not certainly not a criticism
of what the work was to put together but
I think it would be helpful just as a
future-looking kind of thing. Um and and
I think part of that is also I know that
obviously we we look at the
district-wide uh sort of data. I think
we do and this is maybe a controversial
piece but I I do think it's helpful to
also acknowledge the pockets of success
that we're seeing right because I think
that what I I imagine that we are having
different strategies to some degree in
different schools and probably different
reasons for success or or lack of
success and to the extent that we can
really isolate what was causing the
successes in one area and maybe not in
another but we can replicate that like
that would be helpful to understand um
so I know we don't like uh it it's
difficult to highlight different schools
um but I do think it is it can be
helpful but I think that becomes
especially important where if we're
running experiments at like Taft for
instance like we we do that explicitly
because we expect different outcomes and
so I I think where we are unsure about
an approach having different approaches
at different schools and calling out
what's working what's not working is
itself the learning process and would
not be a bug but a feature. Yeah.
Uh, and I say, yeah. So, I think we're
on the same page, which is great. I say
that although with, of course, the idea
that like this is not an idea of that we
need to be demonizing or casting blame
on anyone. Like, yeah, it's we're just
everyone's learning. Um, anyway, that
that is just my general thought. Um the
uh last actually only only question that
I have um is just in in light of all of
kind of what we've seen which is I think
a lot of progress even if we didn't ex
exactly meet the goals that we set on
the kind of per year basis do do we feel
that the metric targets that we've set
for year three are still appropriately
ambitious and achievable
that was a phase I I I think, you know,
I wanted to say I think we've put a lot
of effort in and I think we as long as
we continue to make sure we're building
and it's one of our goals is really
building what we're doing with the
schools, right? We we put in our
foundational skills. We put that very
clear in for two years we've been
working on that and we've sort of left
the comprehension behind
um which is essential to our to taking
the test. Um, and actually this week
when we met with the principles last
week, there was a lot of conversation
about the work that needs to go in and
them thinking about how what's the work
we they need to do at the site level and
what supports they need. Um, and I think
if we can do all that collaboratively,
really build, I think we can meet our
goals. Okay. Um, we didn't set I mean
honestly they could have been higher,
right? and 3% 4% is not a lot when you
look at what we thought but we haven't
achieved that in the last five years
right so we're making gains this year
finally moving the target slowly but
surely so I do think that next year
we're going to be seeing a little bit
more different because our teachers are
also being impacted with what we're
doing and really putting into the same
protocol about reading and looking at
the emphasis of what we're doing for our
English learning learners as a district
and the principles doing that work at
the sites I think will impact because
strategies that are good for one are
going to be good for all. Um the other
thing we've been talking about across
the district is making sure our students
are engaged in their learning. Um that
has been something that's been evident
that came yesterday like how do we get
our kids engaged? How do we get the
teachers involved in that engagement?
It's not just um reading to the kids,
right? It's about making them be um have
that that opportunity to really have
that communication. And I think last
last week when we went over um the
strategies that we went over, I think
that was something principles felt they
could take away and do with their staff.
Um a lot of great buzz and we're going
to continue that work coming back in
August and then throughout the year. So,
we also have a coaching model for our
coaches, our principles, which I think
we want to empower and engage. Um, I
think we have the right person that
we've selected to help us. Um, she's
dynamite and everybody's very positive
and she's willing to help us create the
systems of change as well. So, I think
we're off to a good start and she's also
going to be working at some of our one
of our at some of our sites um and doing
some of the good practice that we
started this year that we're going to
continue. Um, so I do I do think it's
positive. Do I wouldn't want to change
them right now. Okay. Yeah. Um, I think
it'll allow us to see when our when we
develop the new LCAP, what is
achievable, right? And then we can set
higher targets if we can achieve little.
And I I do think the chronic absenteeism
is something that's huge. And I I been
talking with John about we need to think
outside the box for our chronic
absenteeism. And if that's online
learning at the start, that's online
learning. we have to figure it out. We
can't continue to not address these
students. So, we're really trying to
figure out how do we do that to engage
them and bring them back um because
they're not learning at home um and
they're it, you know, they're affecting
the school sites. So, if we can get them
engaged in a way um even online, it's
purposeful and meaningful for them and
hopefully bring them back onto the
campus and that's always our goal. So,
we're trying to really figure that out
and have a team to do that. is going to
be really important to do because you
can't move it with one person. It has to
take be a team effort. Um and so we're
hoping that we can get this grant that
we can put a team effort into it for the
next three years and hopefully sort of
um cut out that some of this, you know,
thousand kids that we had at chronic
absenteeism at the end of the year is
not okay, right? Um cut that in half at
least, if not, you know, deplete it. But
it's going to be hard. Um but we need to
start. So, yeah, I think we're we're on
the right track and we're doing the work
and I know teachers are doing the work.
Um, and I do want to appreciate they the
teachers have gone through a lot of
training in the last three years. Um,
they're sort of like can we just plan no
more PD, right? They're at that point
where can we just plan? Um, you know,
but it's constant, right? You have to
constantly be looking at things and and
revamping things and giving them. So
this everything we're doing this next
year though is planning is the focus is
planning our PLC minimum days. It's to
have a focus and for have teachers to
plan. So every part of the week this
year is all about having instruction
time instructional time for them to
actually do the work that needs to be
done to make it move. So I think it'll I
mean we've done a little bit and we've
done a little bit of PLC work. So next
year that we have a really solid plan I
think it'll be we'll see we'll see the
we'll see the benefits at the end of the
year. Okay. Yeah. I I trust the process.
If I believe it's we don't want both too
high and too low are bad. So if we think
it's achievable, I just that I trust
that. Thank you.
Cool. Um so yeah, I just want to start
off with superb progress on LELS that
that there was a lot of work by a lot of
people. Um really exciting to to see
that. Um I I think I've said before like
I feel like the state of California is
kind of moving in the wrong direction
with this. you know, having a longer
definition of how long ELTEL is, you
know, bumping that out from five years
to seven years. Um, especially when
there's so much data that makes it
really clear that English proficiency by
the end of third grade is really the cut
point where things become increasingly
hard to catch up if you've if you've
missed that. Um, and just taking a look
at some of our numbers, like 30 39% uh
making annual progress on the LPAC
levels. If a typical student enters with
ELPAC level one, like that math shakes
out to imply about seven and a half
years before English proficiency is
going to be achieved, which basically
means end of sixth grade, not end of
third grade. And that's way too late.
Um, even with our puditive goal of 50%,
that would mean English proficiency for
the median student by end of fourth
grade. Uh, which is still too late. So I
would say like if we do have you know
starting to think about what our kind of
next wave of LCAP goals might be you
know I would suggest a goal of something
closer to like 62% which would enable a
median student who's joining us in TK or
kindergarten to be English proficient by
the end of third grade right and that
that's how the math shakes out there
just as sort of like a a metabit as
we're in the middle of LCAP and
discussing LCAP and reviewing these
goals and making forward progress on
some and kind of struggling with some
others.
thinking about what does that tell us
about the process here about how we've
set these goals about the work that's
happening on these goals that can inform
that next round of LCAP like how are we
learning about the process of setting
goals and achieving in in achieving some
goals and struggling with other goals
right and are there ways that we could
be going about that even better bringing
in extra resources um having peer
districts that are similarly situated
wrestling with similar problems s um
just what what are the resources we can
bring to bear to go and and tackle these
things and set goals appropriately and
set goals with clear language, right?
Where we're all on the same page about
exactly what these things mean and can
measure them not just district-wide as a
dashboard, but on a per school basis and
ideally even on a per grade level basis
as well. Um so it' be good just for us
to capture as we bump stub our toes in
in terms of lack of clarity on some of
these goals or how they're being
reported out. Um, again, not with a goal
of uh blaming anyone, but just like a
goal of like we should have clear goals.
Um, that would be good to capture so
that that can go into our L uh LCAP goal
planning process. Um, that'd be really
good. Um, yeah, in in terms of the
experiments with online schools, I would
love to learn more about what kind of
experiments we're we're planning on
doing for uh chronic absentee students.
So, um, one of the things is trying to
figure out who they are, right? We're
going to identify
them and looking at what we're trying to
do. We're also, um, our goal is that if
we do an online, it will be bringing
them in slowly. So, uh, meeting with the
families because that's number one. We
need to make sure families on board
because at the end of the day, kids have
to log in, right? And so thinking about
a four day week online and a one day
week in person and then gradually
increasing that to two days at a site.
We're really thinking about middle
school. Start with middle school first.
Um and then think about what we can do
for the elementary level in terms of
what's the family engagement piece we
need to do with the elementary and
really at the TKK because that's really
where a lot of it is in the elementary
because they develop bad habits, right?
So they it's year after year. Um but for
the online it's really trying to we're
trying to think about creating a a se a
trimester by the end of the trimester
they would be back in school at their
regular school. But like what does that
mean for a TK or a K to be going to
school online with our district 4 days?
It would be we're starting with middle
school, right? Sorry where we're
starting with middle school. For
elementary it's a different aspect of
trying to engage the families. to figure
out what is the barrier to getting the
child there. So working with the
families and figuring that out like what
is it right? So we also know that
unfortunately in California kinder is
still not mandatory until you're six.
Right. Right. And so families tend to
say ah it's not important. So we really
need to educate them how important it is
that it may not be important. It doesn't
seem because it's not mandated but at
the end of the day it does affect our
scores and it does affect what children
do. and we are getting really good
results with our TKS and how important
that is for the foundation of what
there's happening right where the
families are so it's in the primary
world is really trying to figure out
what do we need to do with the families
to engage the students what is causing
this right to make them ed it's more
about an educational part part versus
bringing them online the online's more
at the middle school level so so for
that um let's imagine we have a school
avoidant sixth grader right um do we
have an online curriculum for them. Do
we have a mechanism for them to check in
and say I was actually present and
learning for x number of hours today? So
we are we have to work out all the
logistics of that still of what that
would look like because we have if we
identify an online teacher right one
person it's going to be hard for them to
do with say sixth seventh and eighth
grade. So we would have to say for sixth
grade unit and then having them do their
core curriculum. We're also looking at
providing some type of a tutorial
because most of these kids are not
attending or probably behind. So, we're
looking at what can we provide in terms
of tutoring for these students as well.
Um, and if they need some mental health,
how can we provide that online? If they
have an IEP, could we have someone from
an IEP to get their services? So, we're
really thinking about all of the
depending on what the needs of the
child. How do we get them so that at
least they're joining online throughout
the day, the amount of time we haven't
done, but again, it's just right now we
need to flush out those parts at the
beginning of the year. I mean, there's a
parallel universe where we we do a
really good job on this and maybe even
deliver a at good or better an
educational experience online. I'm like,
how are we going to be tracking? Uh,
well, we're going to start small. So, we
really want to start with a group. And
so, part of our thing is um we talked
about interviewing the families and
bringing and making a contract with
families because our goal isn't that
they're going to be online all year. Our
goal is to get them back into the
classrooms at at school school sites. So
part of their integration is working
with the families get them on to whether
we are at a school site as an say with
our opportunity school we're at one site
they come to they start coming here
first to build that relationship before
they go back to the bigger school but
and and maybe this is a perverse
question but what if we find they're
making more progress online than when
they come on campus so then we'll have
to figure out what that looks like okay
right I mean at this our our point isn't
our point really is not to come for be
online all year but to try to re-engage
them because some of the kids have
anxiety, right? And some of the kids may
be because of bullying. There may be
other things that are happen. But but
the point is to educate them even more
so than it is to get them% 100%. We need
to educate them. So trying to figure
that out because we don't have uh an
immense group of teachers that could do
that, but thinking how do we just start
and trying like an online platform and
see if we can get them. If we can't get
them on, then we have to think outside
the box. What's our next step? I I I
think it's fantastic that we're running
the experiment and I I would be
intrigued at a success failure with, oh
no, uh we've gotten very good at
teaching these kids online and it's
actually working better than in the
classroom. Um but we'll look at the data
and it'll be very interesting to see.
Yeah, if that's the case, then we have
to rethink. We have to re Yeah, exactly.
Rethink of what to do. Although honestly
school is more than just like the
education that they get in the classroom
is community building and some of that.
So you will lose out on that and I think
that that's an important aspect that we
wouldn't want to like you know so let's
not forget about that. Yeah. I don't
Yeah we won't forget about forget about
that because well right now we're
experiencing especially talking to these
parents and and I had a couple in my
office a few weeks back and they didn't
know what to do. I mean, we can't get
the kid out of bed and we're we're still
providing mental trying to provide
mental services and that's not working
because won't accept it. And so the
goes, I'm not going to impose it on
them. And I'm just going, but you're the
parent. I'm
just going, "Oh my god." And that's some
still the students we're dealing with.
And these are sixth, seventh, and eighth
graders. Um, so I applaud this and to
see where we're going to go with it. If
we find someone, especially a teacher
that can be assigned, we know that Ben
will probably they'll be starting it.
They'll be starting it. But then if we
find that it's becoming successful to
get them back into the classroom, then
we start thinking about, okay, is there
somebody else out there that we can
Yeah. When will we expect to hear more
about this program getting flushed out
and how it's going? So, um, we're giving
ourselves the first because part of the
the grant is is to focus on this the new
grant that we're trying to do. Um, but I
really want to try to start in the fall
just trying to catch a group of kids and
try to see it just for the first and see
how it goes because this way then we can
so if we get the grant then we're going
to have we're also the grant is also um
providing us an opportunity to have
someone who's going to focus on those
kids. It's not just me doing it or one
of our team, but it'll be a person
that'll focus meeting with the parents
doing all that background work so that
then the teacher can do their work,
right? So, they could be doing the ho
visits, they can be meeting with the
family, they can be setting all this up.
Um, but we need someone in the back end
to do that. And right now, we don't have
anybody. So, this being done is
contingent on our getting this grant,
but we're going to start, we are going
to start next year. We're just gonna
definitely go do something, but it can
be more of a something if this grant
lands. Yeah. If the grant lands and then
there there is some some dollars from a
foundation that are still left that we
have carryovers where that we can
utilize. When do we find out about
whether or not we got the grant? Um
we're turning it in tomorrow. Just
signed it off today. Today we're turning
Don just signed it. We're turning it on
Friday. Um, so we're hopeful, you know,
we're hopeful because it's it is one of
the things that's addressing is chronic
absenteeism is our goal. Um, and so
we're hopeful, but regardless of it, we
do have someone in the position. We have
somebody for next year because I'm
paying for it all gap. So we want to try
and see what we can do with that person
and impact a little bit more. What would
you say our odds are of landing the
grant? 60% 70%. I don't you know what? I
don't know because I've never they this
is this is the same grant where
Opportunity School came from. So, um I
think they're probably pretty high
because it's addressing a major issue in
the in the count and the state in the
state. Fingers crossed. Yeah. Thank you
so much.
Great. Thanks. Um you know, just
thinking about Yeah, I want to echo
everyone's thoughts on goal two and the
progress that was made there for um
long-term English learners, but also the
um our FEP numbers look outstanding. I'm
really excited uh for all the work that
you've done so that we get to stand on
the stage and congratulate each one of
those students at the next ceremony. Um
it's the one of the benefits of their
275. It's just it's uh remarkable.
Clearly still work on Elpac growth. Um
and you know need to continue to focus
on that but uh just great to see that
going. Um a lot of my questions were
really around gold one. Um one of them
was to David Lee's question about like
the aggressiveness of but we've talked a
ton about attendance and what we're
trying to do about that. So it's clear
that a lot of effort is going into
there. Um some of the other things that
I had noticed on gold line and I had
asked these and you kind of answered
them offline but I just wanted to make
sure that I understood the answer but
one of them was around um you know
where's you know we saw a lot of
individual counseling um services
rendered uh like 300 I think it was 393
almost 400 students got individual
counseling which is outstanding but you
know there's still weight lists and then
suicidal ideiation kind of doubled from
29 to 62 um and so I was just wondering
if you could sort of talk about are
there things that we should be doing
different? I mean funding is not going
to change likely for this program absent
like some external funding source. So
are there things that should be done
differently there? I think with um I
think the reason we have we've been able
and this is when I met with Anna Pala
she had said the reason that um we know
the data for ice suicide because
children are reporting it and they're
seeking help. So um which is a positive
thing right so it's catching them before
they actually um act upon it um and
because the mental health especially in
the middle school
students know who counselors are and I
think that's a big goal right because
usually it's not something it's not seen
as a negative impact they really do seek
out um the counselors and they're
available to them so I think in on
offset I think there's always work to do
especially in today's times
I think one of the things that we've
seen um we have seen a decrease in phone
bullying I think this year um that's not
to say it's not happening right because
at home on the weekends whatever may
happen so sometimes a lot of that comes
from the social media piece and suicide
comes from that um and so that is
something we can't control because it's
done usually at home but definitely I
think the outreach for the um from
students to getting help is important
Um, I think that's been impactful over
the over the years that we've been doing
this and as kids come into middle
school. Um, I know Anapala's team has
been working really hard in making sure
they're available at lunchtime at all
times so that the kids know where they
can be reached and get some support. In
terms of the weight list, we know that
the weight list has been at McKinley all
year. It's been a high needs for
counseling and although we have
counseling there, I know she was looking
at getting another intern for that for
that school as well. I believe we're
going to have four interns next year um
on in the district along with our one
life and along with um um our district
counselor. So I do know that in that
area McKinley has been the one with the
weight list mostly. Um and McKinley um
Kennedy may have some but I know we the
McKinley one is one Anna Pal and I have
talked about and how do we increase
those services for next year at
McKinley. Yeah. Great. Um just reading
through goal one it's clear just so how
much supports are in there and I
remember from Monopol's um presentation
about the recognition of who their
counselor is both from students and
parents and how that's been growing year
over year. So that's great. Um, but
yeah, reading through goal one, just
remembering all the supports that that
are offered around like, you know,
obviously our community schools and all
the community school coordinators and
the office assistants that help do that
and the thankfully the CSP grant that
um, you know, helps fund all of that.
Um, obviously our mental health
counselors are there. Um, student
services and the attendance teams that
are working towards our our chronic
absenteeism, the thrive case managers to
help our homeless students. There's just
a lot that's in that, you know, in that
goal one that's supportive. um an
adjacent comment around this around um
it's not really for the LCAP. I think
the LCAP it makes sense that it tracks
annual goals and has sort of year-to-
date tracking. But one of the things
that might help next year to experiment
with is um like rolling window tracking
for chronic absenteeism and attendance
so we can kind of see the differences as
things move on. When we do the year-to
date, it kind of just like chronic
absenteeism only just grows. Um, and
there's nothing we can do about it, but
something along the lines of like, hey,
can we see like the if you know if we
reset every, you know, like the last 60
days, how many kids would be designated
chronic absent? What's the attendance
rate? So, we can see because a lot of
these efforts get put in. As you said,
not start, not starting until October
meant a whole bunch were designated even
if you, you know, even if they attended
every day for the rest of the year. Um,
so not for the LCAP. Um, just something
that I was thinking about as as we were
talking through that.
Um, and then real quick on the on the
goal too, the other thing I wanted to
comment about it is that I I'm just I
love that our multil- language uh
learners are a top level goal and their
success is right there at the top of the
LCAP. It gives it a lot of um spotlight
cover um a lot of discussion and focus
um from the board, the community um and
I know the district is focusing on it,
but it's really nice to be able to see
that pull up. Um it's been great to see
that. So, as I know next year is going
to be the same goals because one more
year of it, but as you think about like
how to plan for those kind of things, an
important part is like what do we really
want to surface at the top and I think
that their progress and making sure that
we all see how that's going is such an
important one. So, I'm really pr proud
about that. Um so of course I want to
end with thank yous um you know ed
services uh business teams just
everybody that worked together for
putting to um you know the you kind of
weaving together these aspirational
goals and making a you know this 150page
document and then condensing it down and
distilling it into the slide deck for
tonight. um you know the dialogue that
we've had here and sort of talking
through this um you know ensures that
you know we're sharing information with
our community our stakeholders uh and
just reinforcing our commitment to the
transparency of you know how we did it
was an honest reflection I thought of
how things went last year and you know a
good focus on what we want to be able to
do in the future year and you know and
it also gives us a chance to celebrate
you know a lot of our successes um where
they're there um I do want to thank our
speaker Augustine tonight for um you
know keeping the focus on the
disparities that we still see, the
disparities in opportunities and
outcomes. Um, you know, today's data,
it's just a reminder, you know, that
averages can really mask a lot of the
critical pain points. Um, you know, we
talked about the different groups on
academic achievement. We saw like LT
absentee, LTEL absenteeism and foster
youth suspensions. Um, so yeah, that
that subgroup that we well, we always
do. I mean, that's just part of the
nature here, but it's just really
important to to keep it in there. Um,
yeah. So, thank you. Uh, John, I don't
know if you have anything. So, uh, to
answer one of David Lee's, uh, remarks
in regard to making the alcap more, um,
layman language and so forth. So, Jorge
is working on this right now. We do it
kind of every year where he takes what
Anna has presented and puts it into a
different dialogue piece for the public.
So, you'll be seeing that in probably
the next four to five, six weeks when we
come back, you know, after break, you'll
see that how that goes out. It makes a
lot more it gives the parents something
that you can hold on to and you can
understand there's not all this legal
ease and all the business I mean
education ease that is that's great and
once again ahead of ahead of me he
reminded me he tech cuz he's on he said
he remind me I'm working starting to
work on this right now trust no that's
great thank you and and it's also ridic
I mean again the lcap is just it's a
beast that is it is we we just have to
deal with it for
Yeah, it really is.
We do have work to do, but I think um in
regards to our staff, our teachers, our
classified staff, um our administrators,
uh with the trainings and so forth that
are moving forward, I believe there is
more to come and where we're going to
see the increments moving in a positive
direction. uh just from the last few
days of trainings that the principles
received and then the days of trainings
that the community school folk and the
administrators received with them is a
step in that direction. I really
understand where Augustine is coming
from because we do have a population
that really needs to get involved. Um
although I attended a city meeting today
where it was difficult to hear but um
things that may be happening here in our
own community are probably going to be
coming to fruition.
Uh so um with that being said, I can
understand if people would be concerned
about coming to an engagement event um
knowing that um other
pieces are being put into play at this
point in time. So um but does that
doesn't mean we're not going to go
there. We're going to do it. we're going
to start and everybody is
ready and willing to move that forward.
And the consultant that we had with us
at that meeting, those two meetings that
took place, two days that took place
this week, uh, gave us the resources and
so forth to move this forward. And I
want to thank Michelle and her team for
um bringing this to the forefront,
especially with all the community school
administrators, the community school
coordinators, the family center,
everybody that works in the family
center. So, everybody's on board to move
it. So, you will see it, Augustine. We
got to get people there, but we we were
we are going to do it. So, um, with that
being said, and all the hard work that
Anna has put into the LCAP and Katherine
working with our English language
learners, our multilingual learners, um,
it's paying off. I mean, language
program, I mean, if you're if you're
working with it and you're working with
it on a regular basis and as Katherine
goes and does her observations, you can
see it paying off. So
it's a it's a more of a work not it's in
progress but we're beyond the work in
progress. It's moving and the impetus of
all staff members all staff members like
I said teachers administrators
classified people that are working in
the class in the classrooms and those
working in other portions of the school
are all taking this seriously.
We can get there. We were there one time
before so we can get back to it. Yeah.
Yeah.
Thank you. Thank you. And we'll see this
item next week for approval and
adoption. Thank you. All right. So, next
on the agenda is our public hearing.
And then next on our agenda is another
public hearing. Uh this one's for the
2526 proposed budget. Again, uh it's
going to run the same as the previous
item. Um you know, we'll do the public
hearing. We'll take public comment. Then
we can have discussion. But by all
means, if you have clarifying questions
during the presentation, by all means
ask it. Um it's also not being adopted
tonight. It's just the hearing um and
discussion. It'll come back next week
for uh that. So after we wrap up our
discussion, we'll just move on. Um so
I'll now open the public hearing on the
2526 proposed budget at 8:19.
I think that's Rick.
Good evening, members of the board,
community, Dr. Baker, and staff. I'm not
sure your microphone's on. It might be,
but Oh, there it goes. Yeah, perfect. Is
that better?
Uh, tonight, uh, just as I did with the
LCAP, uh, we're here to present during
the public hearing for the 2526 proposed
budget for Redwood City Elementary
School District.
Uh going back to some familiar slides
from other presentations,
uh we're now in the highlighted uh neon
green portion of the annual budget
cycle. Uh the budget uh LCAP adoption it
says there, but the first step of that
uh is the public hearing which has to
happen at a separate meeting from the
adoption. Uh and as I normally joke,
these kids still haven't aged year after
year.
So as part of education code 52062
uh a public hearing uh for the LCAP
followed by the budget uh is a
requirement and as I mentioned on the
previous slide it has to be held from a
separate meeting than the meeting where
the LCAP and budget are approved. Uh
those both items will be coming back
next week for approval. Uh and then as
we go through the summer uh and as we
close our books, our true financial
picture for the start of the 2526 school
year uh will come uh to light uh when we
come back in early September with
unawudited actuals based on uh the work
completed in the 242 school year.
So as we go into this uh these are the
assumptions that we used to create uh
the budget uh slight modification from
uh our second interrum assumptions
previous budget year assumptions. Uh of
note on here um CalPERS actually is
going down a bit for us although that's
not a windfall money. Uh historically
it's been going up year-over-year
uh and remaining relatively flat as a
projection over the course of uh the new
budget year and the two out years. Uh
the other uh the item of note on here is
discretionary block grant. Uh that was
originally about $35 per student that
would have come to even uh community
funded or basic a school districts. uh
on the uh budget bill that was passed,
it was slashed to about uh a third of
that. Uh and right now it's estimated
somewhere between 89 and $97 when it's
all said and done. Uh but we will not
know what that number is until the
omnibus education trailer bill is
passed. Uh usually sometime in July. So
we should be able to come back in August
or September with uh the real number uh
there. But because of that, uh, we did
increase, uh, state revenue by about
$570,000
as a placeholder going into 2526.
So, as we get into, uh, a couple of
slides on fund 01. And as a reminder,
uh, tonight with the public hearing in
the budget, we are only addressing fund
01, which is also known as our general
fund. Uh we have many other funds that
we have a one slide in the back to show
what we anticipate our ending fund
balances will be at the end of the 2526
school year. Uh but we do not focus on
that during this presentation. As an
example, our CNS or our food services
and fun 13 are not part of these. Our uh
CBC's and our child care preschool are
not part of this either in fund 12. Uh
simply fund 01, our general operating
fund. And on here you can see in the
last uh two columns before the grade
difference column is our estimated
actuals for the 2425 school year uh as
well as the proposed budget for 2526.
Uh of note on this slide uh you can see
that LCFF revenue uh has gone up from
2425 actuals uh but it is a bit less
than we were projecting at second in uh
and then the other one on here that uh
seems to stick out is local revenues uh
14 million655 estimated actuals
uh going down to 10.5 million in budget
for 2526
uh which can be attributed that we don't
know all of our carryover at this point
uh and we also don't have donations that
we normally receive during the first
part of the school year. So this number
generally goes up uh by several million
dollars between uh unaudited actuals and
first interim report
on here's a snapshot of the percentage
from uh each of our revenue sources.
uh of note on here is we do show the
transfer in from our fund 25 RDA of uh
$15 million that we'll talk about in a
couple of slides.
Uh graphical representation uh of our
fund one revenue showing about 57% is
our LCF LCFF base funds uh which as a
community funded or basic a district is
derived solely from our property taxes
that we receive.
Going into fund 01 expenditures, uh the
estimated actuals and proposed budget on
the last two columns. Uh we do show uh
increases in some salaries. Uh and most
of this is attributable to the uh
negotiation settlement uh that was just
uh approved at the last board meeting, I
believe, with our AB1200s.
uh along with uh really cleaning up the
budget uh and services and other
operating expenses
uh showing uh a sharp decrease there,
but knowing that some of that will be uh
will come back into play with our
restricted ending fund balances uh and
carryover from 2425. So uh as we start
to uh allocate or budget those uh
dollars for the 2526 school year uh that
line item is likely to increase by first
income continuing through the year uh on
there.
So when we look at expenditures in uh
this nifty graph uh somewhat color-coded
as close as I can make it shows what
makes up those areas generally
certificated salaries, classified
salaries, employee benefits and services
and other operating expenses. Uh and as
you can see in the bottom on the bottom
left uh certificate classified and our
benefits equal about 80.7%
of our entire fund 01 operating budget.
Here is a sen key snapshot for a
different visual of revenues coming into
the district uh as well as expenditures
going out. Uh of note on this, this is
uh data pulled from the SAX forms. So
it's not u grouped together as you'll
see on the next SA key diagram. Uh
simply where those monies go according
to what we have to report to the state
on this uh this is a legend for the next
SAN key diagram that brings together
teacher and classroom support salaries,
administration,
uh contracted services, uh etc. going
into this is simply our expenditures
broken out in those areas. So you can
see uh on the first big band teacher and
classroom support salaries those are
generally all of the expenditures that
we have that directly benefit the
classroom uh on a daily basis.
Then going down on the bottom of note,
although my colors are a little off on
this this time, uh the contracted
services for people support and then
operating expenditures uh at the bottom
which are commonly referred to as our
5,000 expenditures uh in our SAX forms.
So on this uh is our ending fund balance
for uh showing estimated actuals and
proposed budget. I do have to apologize
on this slide. I did notice tonight as I
was sitting here uh there's a minor
error uh on the ending fund balances
based on some audit adjustments that we
had to do uh that weren't put into the
system. So I will correct that for next
week uh in the final version and make
note of that. But what's important uh to
show on here is under estimated actuals
and proposed budget uh the transfer in
from fund 25 showing the 9.3 million in
2425 and the 15 million in 2526.
Uh this is an increase of approximately
425,000 from second interim but it's
actually less than we anticipated
transferring in at budget adoption last
year. So, uh, I'm not celebrating that.
I wish it were a little bit better, but
I did want to make a note of that it is
less. Um, but conversely, for the
proposed budget in 2526, because of some
of the, uh, items that I've talked
about, we did have to bring more money
in to start the the school year.
So, on here, uh, and you'll see that the
beginning balances and ending balances
on this site are correct. It's just that
one page uh that needs to be updated. Uh
this is our multi-year projection. 2425
is our our current year. 2526
starts our new budget year as of July 1.
And then the two required out years of
2627 and 2728
uh showing uh both restricted and
unrestricted revenue and expenditures
combined. Uh just to give a quick
snapshot of where we're at where we can
see uh our expected revenues at this
point in time moving forward along with
our uh estimated transfer in from fund
25 of the 9.3 which is probably pretty
good for our current year. It may change
a little bit with our actuals uh but the
25 26 through 27 28 are something to
change as we go through those budget
years. uh with always a goal of moving
those down rather than up. Uh the same
for expenditures on this slide uh
showing our salary and benefits uh with
the increases
uh with our settlements as well as step
and column increases uh and then moving
other things along with CPI or other um
percentages increase based on um
historic trends. on this slide also uh
just as we did at uh the adopted budget
uh last June
um in order to make our 3% uh minimum
reserve for economic uncertainty we are
showing that there are unidentified
fiscal stabilization measures in both
the 2627 school year and the 2728 school
year of $7.5 million uh that we need to
reduce our expenditures by um uh as a
note on that uh it's really important to
differentiate between one-time savings
and then ongoing savings. Uh if we're
able to capture 7.5 million at this
point in time in ongoing savings, that
will reduce the 7.5 million in 2728 to
zero. Uh another example of that would
be if we had 3 million in onetime
savings. we just didn't spend money on
something, but we knew we would know we
would need to in 2728
uh and we had $4.5 million of ongoing
reductions. That number in 2728 would
move to uh a reduction of $3 million.
So, uh I think that's import important
to illustrate because we do at times
have a lot of one-time savings uh that
doesn't equate into long-term budget
stability, right? So, uh
uh we have to take that into account
when we look at this and the work that
we uh will need to do starting this uh
this late summer and fall as we go into
this. Uh I know as a district we went
through this last summer and fall
through the winter. Uh a lot of work was
put into that and we plan uh although it
might not be exactly the same but very
similar uh to what we did uh for this
school year in terms of outreach
communication.
uh and then uh decision-m when it came
to that um through uh community forums
and board meetings uh throughout the
course of the fall and winter months uh
going into and preparing for the 2627
budget which uh will be about one year
from today.
So when we look at multi-year
projections uh with the work that was
shown on the previous slide, although we
do not have to certify as positive,
negative or qualified during budget
adoption, uh we felt it was important to
show that we could make our 3% minimum
reserve for economic uncertainty and
what it would take to get there. Right?
So uh we could have had negative ending
fund balances for budget adoption but uh
that wouldn't necessarily tell the whole
story of the work that needs to be done
in the same way. Uh so it was important
for us to be able to show this without
uh those needed expenditure reductions
and I say expenditure reductions because
it's a lot uh it's not fun uh but it's
easier to reduce expenditures than it is
to garner new revenue right so although
we will try um odds are against us uh
getting a lot of new revenue that would
make a significant impact uh to what we
need to do.
So when we look at 24 uh
25 balances
um this should actually be 2425 and 2526
proposed budget balances. We see
estimated actuals for 2425 for fund 12
through 40 respectively on this slide
and then proposed budget of 2526.
Uh I will note on here uh there is a big
outlay in fund 40 that's for the solar
project uh that's um going to get
started relatively soon and then our
fund 21 building fund uh will be updated
with the HVAC projects uh we just signed
the guaranteed maximum
uh price um at the last board meeting
right so that'll be included when we do
a budget update for the unedited actuals
which will change that uh to more money
spent on our fund 21 major sbond program
going in as part of the public hearing
process. Uh we do have to present a
statement of reason for excess reserves.
Uh right now we're showing $116,000 in
excess reserves, 80,000 of which are uh
assigned for revolving cash stores and
prepaid items. uh just some general
operating dollars if we have to cut
checks or pick up something quickly from
the for the district. And then we have
36,000
um and change uh as unassigned right now
uh with with just a note to say assist
with unforeseen costs. Uh certainly
36,000 doesn't help our $7.5 million. Um
but it was easier to put it here rather
than to assign it to something that made
no sense at this point. Uh so that's a
total of 116,000
of excess reserves for our district.
So as we continue to move forward uh
there's still state and federal budget
funding uncertainty uh and how that may
or may not impact us as we get more
information throughout the course of the
year. Uh we're still experiencing rising
costs and liabilities
um especially with insurance uh and some
other uh operating expenditures that
seem to continue to climb faster than we
are anticipating. uh in some cases uh
still monitoring enrollment and when we
look at uh you know class sizes and
programs and services uh we'll have to
closely monitor that through um you know
really the whole year and and really uh
it'll be important to see who shows up
in August right and how many students uh
that we plan to show up actually show up
and those that didn't uh to help us make
decisions as we move forward staffing
and then facilities and operational
needs uh continue to be a a large item
that we need to look at as uh we do have
money from major s for
uh some of our facilities needs uh a
major modern modernization and
construction that type of thing. Uh but
we also have other aging uh items uh and
facilities and maintenance and operation
equipment and resources that are aging
as well uh that in some cases are
certainly past end of life uh that we
need to evaluate uh moving forward as
well. And I'll just give you one example
on that. I think we're still we're still
trying to drive a truck from 1991 that's
breaking down more than it's working
now. Right? So uh we're looking at ways
to replace some of that fleet as well.
So one, we have reliable transportation
for our M department. Uh and it's also a
safety concern for me uh to make sure
that they have viable um viable tools to
do their job
and that will continue as we go through
this year as well. So uh as we've spoken
uh about uh tonight is a public hearing.
The adoption for both the LCAP and
budget will be presented next week. Uh
as I mentioned, there will be some minor
changes that I'll make note of uh with
the presentation and book just to make
sure the numbers were correct. um based
on some last minute entries. Um I will
say uh a big um
was really a team effort between a lot
of departments uh services HR
uh business services and we also have uh
the great opportunity of transitioning
our financial system at the same time as
budget uh preparation and budget
adoption where this was actually created
in two different systems. Um, and so
I've had a lot of staff members going
crazy, I think, with trying to learn
this. So, uh, uh, it will only get
better, and I think the new system will
prove to be more efficient as we move
forward with trying to get some of this
stuff done, uh, in a more timely manner.
Uh, we'll come back in September with
unodudited actuals. Uh and then in fall
uh summer and fall uh looking at uh
starting the process for budget
decisions for 2627
uh culminating the 20 25 year with the
first interim report at the second
meeting in December. And with that I'll
be happy to answer any questions.
All right. Thanks Rick. Um, we'll take
public comment if there's any. I don't
see any online, none in person. Great.
Then if there's no additional comments
from the public, we're going to close
the public hearing at 8:39.
We can move on to discussion. Um,
David Lee started that last time. Would
you like to start this discussion? Thank
you.
All right. Um, the wheel of progress
turns on. Um I I love the rigor that you
put into these reports and sort of
reminding people where we are at in the
cycle. Um obviously 15 million in from
the uh from the fund is not great
because there's that that's a limited
kitty and we've we've got to move
towards balancing the budget which
involves a lot of not very fun uh
discussions. And so the the number that
came out tonight was 7.5 million. Um
it's possible it won't be quite as bad
as that, but um it's also not going to
go away. And so this does seem like
we're back at the same place we were at,
you know, kind of last year with needing
to kick off a process that's going to
involve a lot of uh community engagement
and coordination. I want to uh once
again uh congratulate the district for
the very hard work that you all did
around communication and process uh with
budget reductions and what's involved
there and getting opinions from the
school sites, from parents, from staff,
etc. and doing a really good job at
communicating that process out. Um not a
lot of fun. It was very well executed.
Um and it does seem like we're we're
going to have to start that again.
probably nowish is roughly when the the
starting line for that kicks off. Now, I
think the the in so far as there's good
news in that. Um it's it was 7 and a
half twice, meaning that uh if we find
72 million of regular recurring
reductions to the budget, we don't need
to rinse repeat that yet again. That's
that's a new normal that hopefully we
can keep up so that we don't maybe have
to make an annual ritual of going
through systemic reductions. Um that
would be the hope.
So based on current knowledge, if we are
able to in this next round get a
systemic reduction of 7 and a half
million that that's good and we don't
need the further year to do further cuts
based on what we know now. Fingers
crossed. Yeah. Okay.
Yes. With an asterisk. Big asterisk.
There's lots of notes in there. I would
just only say costs continue to rise.
Yeah. Right. Uh bargaining units will
want to come back to the table and
negotiate course for salaries in the
future. Right. And so uh you're
absolutely right though. As it stands
today, 7.5 million would get us uh to a
really good place, right? And then we'll
go through uh a process uh based on uh
enrollment, right? based on staffing uh
and then based on additional costs that
come through either through negotiations
or because we get, you know, hit with a
brand new insurance premium that we
didn't think we were going to have two
years ago that's now a million dollars a
year. Uh whatever it may be, right? So,
we'll have to take that into account as
well. But you're absolutely right and
I'm not making light or fun of that.
It's just lots of unknowns to go up.
Totally. Totally. So that that's why I
was putting my asterisk on based on what
we know now and of course we're going to
learn more things and the situations can
evolve. But okay, um really appreciate
all the hard work that goes into putting
together these budgets and running the
business side of the the district.
All right, David Lee.
Um I'll echo kind of the same themes,
but also thank you Rick for putting this
together. Um in terms of yeah, the going
going forward piece. I think it's uh
obviously I was not a part of the last
process but um I I did generally track
it and agreed with trustee weekly that I
think it's super helpful one obviously
to have the public and transparent
process where there's um community input
and putting it together but also I know
generally the district has maintained a
focus on always trying to keep the the
students achievement at the core and
minimizing impact to that to the extent
possible. So, it's um yeah, I know it's
going to be an uncomfortable uh path
forward given what we know right now,
but um appreciate what you guys did last
time and we'll we'll have to move
forward.
Yeah, it's been a while. Um you know,
like I think the teens um pre- pandemic
is kind of when the funding model was
always that costs were outstripping the
pace of revenue growth. um we haven't
really had to see that since um 2020 and
the influx of the the COVID money. We
felt a little bit of it as this one-time
funding started to end. Um but now it
sort of looks like it's into that. Um
you know, I I think that you you said it
well that it is easier to reduce
expenses, but I do think it's imperative
that we continue to look for additional
revenue from the you know, from the
community if we can do state advocacy or
whatever. Um, part of the thing that
leans into the growing costs are like,
you know, these unfunded mandates that
come in that are, you know, maybe funded
through um, LCFF, but for a barely basic
a district like Redwood City, they
become unfunded uh, mandates and for a
high cost of living, it can be
significant. Um, you know, even though
they're important and I'm wholeheartedly
think they're an amazing programs, the
Universal TK is such a great thing to be
able to offer a two-year kindergarten
program to everybody in Redwood City,
but it's doesn't come free and it's an
expensive program um that comes in. Uh,
and those kind of things will just
continue to come. So, I think when we
say the asterisk, it's, you know, like
who knows what's going to be the next
priority that comes in that doesn't
actually come with revenue behind it to
help to do it. Um, I do also want to
just reiterate that there was it was an
outstanding job last last year bringing
the community along uh making sure their
input that they were part of the choices
um and the involvement there really set
the bar high. Um, yeah, I've got a
timeline already. Yeah, great. So, uh,
need to tweak it.
talked to staff and so forth, but um
when I mentioned well when I shared this
with
so we looked at some pieces and this
timeline I need to tweak it but once I
do that then I'll share it with you all
and then I need to take it to staff um
you give your input support but it has a
lot and we will be starting
we come back
I
Yeah. Yeah. I I think what we did last
time is we
Thank you. What we did last time is we
had this done prior to winter break. Um
the timeline here says that uh we're
looking at
the final recommendations coming to you
in May. We can't do that. It's too late.
So it's too late. But I have to tweak
this. So I have to really but I don't
think it has to be December like it was
last time we were working to get folks
working right
but I I also need to look at um the
requirements that were under by state
regulations when it comes to March 15th
right
that's probably the forefront the bigger
bigger factor of February
yeah so u keep that in the forefront all
the time so um yeah I'll work on this a
bit more uh and then
share it with you and you give me
comments and then before I take it to
staff and so but it's done. It's done.
It was done this afternoon. Yeah. Okay.
Um Rick, the one thing I did want to
chat about with you a bit, we talked
about it yesterday a bit was the
difference between what we saw at second
interm projected my for the coming up
budget year versus what we're seeing in
the budget year because the pictures are
different. Um what it looked like to me
was about like a $6 million decrease in
revenue. Um which is actual a decrease
in some of it. Some of it is obviously
local contributions. You already
mentioned that. Those will come back
when we know our PTO donations and other
things that we can't book already.
Negotiations obviously was a big So that
was on the revenue side. I think that
was all of it. Negotiations were a big
one on the on the expense side of
course. Um but uh I think you said a
couple others like balance audit
adjustments. Could you just sort of like
walk through kind of the changes from
second interm projected versus what
we're adopting for the budget? Yeah,
everything you said uh President Wells
uh was absolutely correct as well as we
did have uh audit uh adjustments that
affected our our starting balance for
2425
u of approximately $1.5 million, right?
But when you take that out of 2425, it
impacts the new budget year as well as
the two out years uh by at least that
amount going in there. Um uh and perhaps
a a little bit more when you look at how
some of it cascades through that
process. So that added to it. Um there
was some increased costs for services um
that also happened between second and
really throughout the course of the
year. Uh we also saw monies that were
held in reserve uh throughout most of
the year finally uh were allocated or
budgeted, right? That brought that up to
uh the expenditure lines rather than the
reserve line. Uh which then impacts
going forward into the next budget year.
Uh so as we go through that uh you know
there may be as as we've talked about
there may be uh some decrease of that
right as we go through un audited
actuals uh as we start doing that work
of formally closing the books it's
already started but we're not at a point
where we can say that we've found
anything they've been busy working on
this document
uh where uh especially contracts that
have been encumbered uh that are still
fully encumbered
uh we'll find out that we didn't need
all of them, right? Or all the services
that were contracted and encumbered
weren't used during the school year. Uh
which will reduce that number uh in the
September time frame.
All right. Thanks. Yeah, thanks for
clarifying all of that. Um well, you
know, thank you Ed services, HR, um
business services, uh for putting
together the budget book for us tonight
to discuss um and approve and then as we
close out the fiscal year,
congratulations. Not approved yet,
approved next week. um as we get through
the uh you know as you get through the
financial systems migration um it'll be
nice to close out the fiscal year and
that whole migration process there. So
um I don't know if you have any
comments, John. No, just thank you so
much Rick.
Okay, then we can move on to our consent
agenda. There's one two items on it. Um
can I get a motion to approve? I move we
approve the consent and a second.
Second. All in favor? I Okay, now we're
on to our action items and this is 10.1
approval of the Prop 28 expenditure plan
for the 2526 school year.
I don't know who that is. Is that okay?
Yeah. So, this is the estimated uh Prop
28 that we have to go by. We have to
approve every year. Um, we will get the
final allocation in July, but because we
have to do it before because it's
salaries. Um, so I just need to have you
approve it so that we have it in the
documents and then we'll come back in
the fall and make sure we update the
actual allocations for all the sites.
Outstanding. Um, I did not have any
questions or comments. So, either of you
have questions or comments? Okay, this
next less than 20 minutes. Yeah. Yeah, I
think so too. Thank you for the
allocation of 20 minutes. Yeah. 28
expenditure plan. I second. Okay. All in
favor? I I Okay. Now we're on to board
and superintendent reports. Uh David
Lee, would you like to start? Got
nothing. David Weekly. Okay. The only
thing I have to report is that uh Dr.
Baker hosted an admin appreciation for
the principal's vice principal's lunch.
I got to go. I was was honored to be
there. It was nice to see everyone and
appreciate them. We had a couple
retirees and people leaving so we got to
acknowledge them and it was really nice
event. So, thanks for hosting that. Um
and it was great to see everyone.
Congratulations again to everybody for
completing the school year
and thanks to Avlyn for setting it up.
Yeah, Avlyn, thank you.
That's it for me. Oh, I went to the
Redwood City together meeting this
morning and that's where I found some
more not found but received more
information on the immigration piece
which was unfortunate but
heard it.
Okay. Uh there are no information items
tonight, so we're on to correspondence.
Does anyone have correspondence to
report? I did receive some email
inquiring about our vacancy for a
taxpayer organization representative on
the CBOC.
Uh on the CBOC then I think believe
forward that to Rick who's managing that
or no who.
Yeah, we we work on it together. And so,
um, Jorge is putting it, we we talked
about this this afternoon. Jorge is
putting it back on LinkedIn again, okay,
to see if we get anybody there. We have,
I have, um, moved forward at chamber
meetings that I go to to ask if anybody
and not takers. Um, we have had it up on
our website for a while and pushed it
out also in the superintendent's
newsletter, not takers, and go back and
try LinkedIn again. And you are correct.
We did do it on LinkedIn, but it was
quite a while ago. If if somebody
engages and applies, um what's the
process? When should they expect to hear
back? And does that come before the
board or like what happens? They usually
hear back within, you know, I would say
within a week to two weeks from us.
Okay. And then it comes before the
board. Just like next week we're
bringing back the renewals for the CBOC
for the members that decided to stay on.
Yep. Thank you.
Um, and then under correspondence, I'm
going to remind the trustees that you
should have received your email for the
self-evaluation from CSBA. Um, it's open
until Monday, June 30th. So, don't
forget to set around about 30 minutes to
complete Awesome. Um, and then I'm sure
if you if you've read Awesome, good job.
Mine is not. Um, and uh, just as a
reminder, CSBA will present a put
together a report for us, but we're not
going to review it until it's posted to
an agenda for a open session. um which
we'll probably do in the fall sometime
um at which point once it's agendaized
we can read the report and then have a
discussion at the meeting.
Okay. Uh correspondents other business
suggested items for future agenda.
Future agenda includes one meeting.
Are there changes to that one meeting?
Evelyn there are none. Okay great. Then
we're at adjournment. Can I get a motion
to adjurnn? I move we adjurnn. All in
favor? I. Great.