Good evening everyone.
Thank you for coming to tonight's
special meeting and study session. Um
so we are going to
do we roll call and then approval of the
agenda.
>> You're welcome.
>> Roll call. Welcome. Okay great. So, um,
can we kick off a roll call, please, for
all those in attendance?
>> Trusty Wells
>> here.
>> Trusty Lee
>> here.
>> Trusty King
>> here.
>> Vice President Market
>> here.
>> President Weekly
>> present. All right. And with that, we
will now do my welcome. So, thank you
for coming. I can see that there's quite
a few people in the audience and some
people online as well. So, very glad to
have you all here tonight. Um, and we
are going to have public comment. Um,
Yep. And Yep. And public comments may be
made live via Zoom. Virtual speaker
cards can be submitted during the open
session uh using the links that you can
see online. Um, remote participants can
also use the raise hand function in Zoom
to indicate your desire to speak. If you
would like to speak in person, there are
speaker cards available at the entrance
and they can be submitted to the
secretary. He's Evelyn right here.
Public comments will be limited to three
minutes per person uh per topic. There's
one topic on the agenda tonight uh
unless otherwise noted. Great. Um
I think we're we can skip the pledge of
allegiance for tonight. We'll do that
tomorrow. Uh and so do we have any
changes to the agenda?
All right.
Would someone like to move?
>> I'll move that we approve the agenda.
>> Thank you. Second.
>> Second.
>> Wonderful. All those in favor?
>> I. All right. The agenda passes. Great.
Um, so now we would like to open things
up for public comment.
>> We wanted to comment right now. The
presentation first and then public
comment.
>> Presentation and then public comment.
Yeah. Okay. Great. Let's do the
presentation and then public comment.
>> All right. Good evening everyone and
welcome to tonight's study session. I
want to welcome not only board members
but those in the audience and also
wanted a big shout out to um our
participants who were on the strategic
resource alignment committee. We had
President Weekley on that committee. We
also had uh Trustee Wells and then we
had uh three of our principles on the on
the committee. We had Lupe Gusman who is
with us tonight. We have Tina Mercer who
is probably online this evening and also
Winnie Chen as our administrators. Plus
we had uh one or two parents from each
of our school sites. uh for the meetings
in English and for the meetings in
Spanish they were held at Taft Garfield
and Hoover after our English meetings
where we had many parents from each of
those school sites attend the meetings.
So welcome to everyone and thank you so
much for participating uh not only on
the committee but also for the parent
engagement meetings that I had at Taft
Garfield and Hoover.
All right, if we could go to the next
slide, please. So, tonight's agenda,
we're going to give a board update on
the uh strategic resource alignment
process, what that looked like, where we
are with it at this point in time. We
want to share a preliminary budget
reduction, their preliminary budget
reduction options. These uh reduction
options were definitely shared with the
larger group and then they were also
shared with our site administrators and
our site administrators took it one more
step and met with their not only their
staff but also their site councils and
some met with their PTAs and PTO's too.
And then of course I um shared the
preliminary budget reductions with the
Taft, the Garfield and the Hoover parent
participants that were at the meetings
also.
So and then the other po portion of this
meeting tonight is that we want to
receive uh board feedback and direction
before the final recommendation comes
before the board on February 4th. So
this is a study session and so a study
session is a quite a bit different than
our normal board meetings. So during a
study session we don't really need to go
handinhand with the Brown Act. If
participation from our audience,
participation from members who are on
are online, if there are particular
questions that you may want to ask to
get a better understanding of the
comment, to get a better understanding
of the question, it's okay to entertain
a dialogue. Whereas, you know, in a
regular board meeting, we don't do that.
If you feel that um further information
any board member from a comment is
needed then I would ask that you kindly
uh request that um President Weekly
direct me on what it is that you're
hoping to garner for more information
and then I will get that back to you.
All right. Uh the next slide please.
So, why is this work necessary? You
know, we came out of the pandemic a few
years back and we had a lot of one-time
dollars and those onetime dollars we
definitely used in a manner that was
going to meet the needs of our students
here in the Redwood City School
District. Last year around this time, we
were talking about those one onetime
dollars that no longer exist. And so how
are we going to reduce our budget to
accommodate still some of the needs that
we have and that those dollars paid for
to continue on as we felt not only by
myself at the district office cabinet
and board members that were really
important. One of the items being
counselors. And so that that item was
moved forward to continue to maintain
and we have maintained at most of our
school sites. The other piece that is
really necessary is to look at the
enrollment as it continues to be
declining. Uh we had a lot of data that
was shared with our committee members in
regard to the declining enrollment and
what that's going to bring forth in the
next few years. And so we want to make
sure that we adjust our services
accordingly that are at each school site
depending on the enrollment that as not
only the district but at each school
site regarding the number of students,
the number of staff members, staff
members being our teachers and staff
members also being our classified staff.
Redwood City is now community funded.
Um, but the revenue is not increasing
fast enough to keep up with the pace of
our operational costs. And our
operational costs meet the needs of our
student services. They also garner
additional support for our employees in
the realm of compensation and which is
something we have not entered to yet
this year in negotiations which my
colleague to my left Wendy uh Kelly and
also Rick Edson will be starting those
negotiations towards the end of
February. Correct. So we still have that
to look forward to. And then the budget
reductions have become kind of an annual
necessity. And that's something that we
as myself as a superintendent, you as
board members need to start, we need to
start realizing how are we going to kind
of shift and move to we're not going in
this direction every year.
Next slide, please.
So the structural challenge for us
as I pointed out earlier the declining
in enrollment so more than 1,000 fewer
students are projected by the year 2033
34.
So we need to adjust our services that
we're providing to the number of
students as we come become a smaller
organization. If you look at what we're
providing right now, and I'm talking in
relation to the different program needs,
our staffing needs, we have not since
the pandemic started reducing um the
number of staff members, and I'm
speaking in the the line of teachers in
regard to the number of students in each
classroom. You will see in some of our
schools in some of the data that we
shared with the committee, we have some
very small classrooms which uh don't
really warrant a teacher in that
classroom, but you could take those
students and make a combination
classroom and we have not done that. So,
we're looking at that fact at this point
in time. The district is still operating
programs and services designed for
larger student populations. So we're
really looking at that data of the
number of students and the number of
students we serve according in the
classroom according to contract and that
needs to start mirroring the contract
quite soon.
um it requires additional long-term
range planning and not short-term fixes
because we want to maintain our
financial stability from this point from
you know after the decision is made
moving forward. Yes, there's talk about
other avenues which the board will be um
thinking about and making decisions in
the near future. And that avenue I'm
talking about parcel tax whether that
comes to fruition or not and how that
can really support us.
Next slide please.
So what is strategic resource alignment?
Well, it's aligning the staff, the
services, and the operations with a
smaller organization. We have become a
smaller organization. Years ago, we were
a school district of 10,000
and now we are a school district of
6,400 some out correct. So, we have to
adjust ourselves according to that
number. Uh we want to achieve long-term
financial sustainability. So that we're
not going through this process every
year as we maintain that sustainability.
This act will no longer be necessary. It
will just be um an act depending on
attrition, an act depending on whether
there is growth. uh but nothing compared
to what we've been doing every year now
for for my last 10 years with the
exception of co with the exception of co
we have gone in this direction
and then not simply about cost cutting
but about responsible planning is we're
not here just because of the dollar
amount but as we're reducing we want to
make sure that we're responsible and we
are heading in a direction that we're
meeting the needs of our students at
each of our schools with the programs
and the staffing that is needed to
accomplish where we want to be.
Next slide.
So the process to date. So you will see
on this slide here that we started um
this process um with the large strategic
alignment committee and I previously
voiced members of that committee not
only board members that sat on the
committee and site administrators but
also we had parents from each school
site on the large committee here that
was held in English and we had parents
uh on the bay side that attended each
committee meeting in uh large forms.
Also, we wanted our parents and our
staff to really understand um where we
were. So, there was a community survey
that was given to our community. From
there, we started our orientation on
September 16th and the orientation dealt
with financing,
staffing and other contexts that we
needed so that people could really
understand it. Then on October 14th, we
looked at values, priorities, data, and
then the community input from the
survey. And then on November 18th, there
were the tradeoffs and a preliminary
scenario which I gave the committee
which um members of the board did see
that spreadsheet that night and each of
the members that were at the committee
meeting got a copy of that spreadsheet
and then I in turn went and did the same
thing in for Spanish community and also
gave that copy of spreadsheet to
principles. to review with myself and
colleagues at a principal meeting. Then
they took it back to their staff. They
took it back to their site councils and
some also went further with PTAs and
PTO's.
Additional engagement um was also at our
ELAC and our DAC meetings which was
spearheaded by Katherine Rivera. I want
to thank her. she's here in the audience
tonight that help me move in that
direction along with Michelle Ramon and
Horge Kintana who are also in in the
audience this evening.
Next slide please.
So when we're talking the scenario
development
um the preliminary
reduction options shared in November at
the committee was a request from the
committee. the committee felt they
wanted to hear from uh the district and
the district members that were on the
committee were myself, Rick and Jorge in
regard to what we felt we could do with
reductions and also keeping in the front
forward of one's mind to keep it as far
away from the classroom as possible.
So, uh, I came up with a scenario. It
was developed and when you when we go
through this, uh, spreadsheet, you're
going to view that the district office,
uh, definitely we're restructuring the
purpose and what's proposed for the
district office. While we're looking at
reducing programs and services, there
are some programs and services that we
are required to provide. And those
programs that are required for us to
provide are definitely our programs that
um are mandated by the ALCAP. There are
some items in there that are mandated.
The federal programs that some of our
school sites have with their title one
dollars or title two and so forth and
our multilingual learners dollars, those
are mandated and must be followed. if
not um every 3 years we get an audit
from the feds and I think Katherine
that's coming up next year. It'll be
coming up next year where they um look
at our uh expenses and how we're
spending money with a fine tooth comb
and look at our board policies and even
change those even though Gamut said one
thing, they're the feds. If you want to
keep your dollars, you're going to put
this language in. even though we argued
with them, we we lost and I was not
going to lose the money. So, um those
are items that we have to adhere to. and
then specific s uh charges not yet
discussed due to required confidential
employee conversations because we are
coming to you on February 4th, not only
with the reductions for you to approve
if everything goes well tonight and then
everything goes well at our next large
committee meeting with the group. Um but
also you will see the reductions of
those positions as laid out by the human
resource office. and Wendy will bring
that forward.
You'll see that February 4th, but we are
going to have discussions in regard to
what that'll look like.
And then um the next piece
turn this section over to you.
>> Thank you. Good evening everybody. Uh
touching on what Dr. Baker started uh
the preliminary options that were
presented to the committee uh and now
the board tonight uh are broken up in
the spreadsheet that we'll share in a
moment on the screen uh showing
approximately 3.9 million in district
office uh restructuring operational
efficiencies uh with a reduction of 5.65
management FTEES. I want to be clear
from the start that the you can't divide
simply 3.9 by 5.6 six and see that we
have people making $650,000 700,000 a
year around here. It's a combination of
different restructuring and different
cost savings that equal that amount but
are not correlated one to one with the
FTE reduction that'll be true in some
other areas as well. Uh the school-based
reductions uh that we'll show on the
spreadsheet of approximately 2.5 million
uh that we've captured at this point and
as Dr. Baker mentioned uh mostly it's
right sizing the district right in terms
of uh the number of students we have the
number of classrooms we have uh the
amount of services that we need to
provide to our students. This isn't to
take away needed services to any of our
students. uh but it's providing uh
adequate services for the students that
we do have. Knowing that uh not
necessarily today, but over the course
of several years, we're going to
continue to see declining enrollment as
we've uh started to see maybe the start
of that uh with some of the enrollment
that we've been tracking uh since
believe late October Jorge is when
enrollment started
November uh beginning of November uh
through now. So we're starting to see
that with the new students that are
coming into the district or lack of new
students coming into the district in
some cases. Uh so when we looked at this
as Dr. uh Baker mentioned uh we looked
at what we could do uh from the
standpoint of providing the necessary
programs and services uh and keeping
cuts as far away from our current
classrooms as possible. Uh and we
brought this back to the committee uh in
November I believe. uh for them to give
us feedback on that and we're now
presenting it to the board uh in whole
tonight.
So, Dr. Baker will also go through some
of this, but I'll give a general
overview. I have the spreadsheet blown
up. It's quite large, but we're really
focused tonight
on the 2526 proposed expenditure
reductions and revenue enhancements and
the 2627 proposed expenditure reductions
and revenue enhancements.
Um, as I know each of you as we've
talked about it and we presented on the
first interim report, uh, we, uh, were
able to show that we needed
approximately 5.25 25 million in needed
fiscal stabilization measures which uh
that number had decreased from 7.5
million at the June budget through a
combination of uh the natural process of
closing of the books and then going
through the first portion of the 2526
school year uh and looking for uh any
savings or ways that we could reduce the
needed number or reductions in the uh
2627 7 school year as well as need of
reductions in the 2728
school year. So with that uh
uh Dr. Baker and and the team uh went
through the spreadsheet broken up into
several different areas in our district.
We're not at this point looking for
revenue enhancements, although if we
happen to find any, we'll certainly add
those at any time. uh and we would be
looking at unrestricted revenue
enhancements rather than just another
grant coming in that type of thing.
Although that helps. Uh but it's broken
down into certificate administration,
classified administration. And within
each of those two bands, it's broken out
by district office as well as site uh
and then certificate class and
classified personnel. And then at the
bottom other and we'll talk about the
other box when we get to there. Uh so up
on uh in the B section B 1 through3
shows management uh at the DO site uh
and then a singular line item for admin
IEP sub coverage over uh in the column
labeled 2627 proposed expenditure
reductions. Uh you'll see a number in
there once again that does not correlate
uh one one for the number of FTE. So,
it's not 422,000
uh with a 1.2 FTE reduction. It's a 1.2
FTE reduction that takes up part of that
$422,000.
And then there's other savings that we
have identified uh in that line item. Uh
the same is true for uh each of the
following. Looking at uh $1 million
approximately for certificate
administrative administrative reductions
between do site do and the sites. Uh
same with classified the 352600
uh that number is pretty close to the
2.75 FTE uh for that particular one. uh
certificated personnel
uh 2.6 million uh or 2.7 million
approximately with the reduction of 17
teachers. Uh and that is all around uh
lower enrollment. Uh there are teaching
positions that were not filled this year
that we thought we may be using that
aren't. So not all of these positions
have people in them at this point. Uh
but we are looking in totality as Dr.
Baker mentioned uh across grade spans uh
with class sizes uh to contractual
limits.
Uh classified personnel isn't one FTE
reduction. That is the full cost of that
person at the district office level. And
then going into the other section F uh
F1's kind of a funny one when we look at
it, Zoom renewal of $10,000.
Uh and the reason why I left this here
and Dr. Bakers left us here. It's just a
really a marker. We're looking at those
types of savings across uh different
areas. So, if we find 10 of those,
that's $100,000.
Um or if we find larger ones or smaller
ones, it starts adding up to help offset
uh future reductions for uh services
that were no longer needed. And so
everyone understands with the Zoom
licenses, we're not getting rid of all
them, but we have uh a couple dozen that
are not being regularly used that we're
paying for an annual basis. So we're
simply reducing the amount of licenses
that we have. Uh we'll still be using
Zoom for board meetings and other
meetings, right? So uh the individual
licenses is what we're looking at. Uh F2
sped, uh that's a comprehensive
comprehensive, if you will, reduction.
Uh Dr. Baker will talk a little bit more
about in a couple of minutes. Uh
employee work visa, we're not using the
visa program as much as we once were uh
through uh Wendy's department and HR. So
we see a savings and ongoing savings
there. And then the bottom one, vacant
positions on this list. Uh that is not
the elimination of positions. that is
simply positions that have been vacant
at some point during the first half of
the school year where we're able to
recover that savings uh for monies that
were encumbered but not spent. Uh that
does not mean that we will not hire
these positions if applicants come
through the door. Uh but at this point
in time, we're estimating about $300,000
uh for the current year uh of savings
from those uh unfilled uh positions. So
on the bottom of this sheet uh you can
see for the current year it's $310,000
approximately. Uh and then for 2627
we've identified 6 point almost 6.3
million of savings which is in excess of
the required or what we noted as
required for reduction of 5.25 25 at
first interrum. Uh carrying all those
forward, every reduction in that column
is an ongoing reduction. So th those
monies go forward into the following
year uh as savings against the three and
a half million that we had to reduce
there. So uh not that it uh gives us
extra money per se, but it does give us
uh dollars that we've talked about uh
with fiscal stability moving forward.
Dr. Baker mentioned, we will be opening
negotiations
um at the latter part of February and
into March. Uh so that money will
certainly help us uh in that realm as
well. And with that, I'll turn over to
Dr. Baker to go through a little more
detail with the spreadsheet. So as
spreadsheet does not mention positions,
it does not mention of course names
either. And one of the rationale for
doing that is we have uh by ed code the
March 15th date, correct Wendy? of where
we need to um inform our staff members
uh if they will um be losing their
position at this point in time or at
also if there's the ability for you to
transfer somewhere else within the
district. when we came up with this list
and working very closely with my
colleagues Rick, Anna, and Wendy, um
even though you see 17 teachers here, uh
17 um yeah, the teachers that are there,
there will be a position for the 17
because of the the attrition and so
forth that we have found out that is
coming forth with people retiring,
people leaving for a personal reason,
whatever. So there will be jobs for
teachers. Um as we move to the guest
teachers, the guest teachers are
teachers that we put in place and I
believe this is year number two. Wendy
>> start during co
>> we start that's right. Thank you. Thank
you for Yeah, I remember. Yeah, I want
to forget that portion of time. But
anyway, we did start during COVID and
what it is is it's uh a substitute
teacher that's on a substitute salary,
but the added uh price for them is they
get benefits if they want to do it. So,
and most of the times when you're
subbing there are no benefits. I have
never heard of sub getting benefits. So,
we created this program then and it's
been quite successful. So what we
thought about was giving um each school
a half time and
and with halfime it's 400k compared to
the 800k it would be now in talking to
principles and many I will say hello all
principles because they're on if they're
loop is here but all the rest are online
if you they're all online thank you so
much that I asked them to be online and
they're here thank you um some had
indicated well I could use my measure u
dollars if I wanted to have a full-time
person and the district pay half and I
can pay the other half. But you know
that's a process that they need to go
through with their site councils and
their their staffs. So that that's that
piece in regard to certificated
personnel. The classified personnel is a
um position that is in one of our
departments here uh at the district
office that um we've decided that it's
not needed at at this point in time. And
then let me come up to the management
when we're talking at the DO. at the DO
there's um a point 2 position of one of
our senior managers that's going to take
a title change and that brings um some
of the dollars to this amount here plus
we have um one of our directors has
resigned well actually was on leave
absence and is not returning as we found
out uh this week so that's a position
the others as the other uh portions of
this um DO piece is we have some princ
retired principles that are working at
one of our school sites because of a
lack of an administrator that will no
longer uh exist after the school year.
And then you you we work we walk down to
the management piece at a site. Uh there
is at one of our sites an an additional
uh substitute that's there regularly.
We're not going to have that next year.
And then there is an additional uh
administrator at one of our sites that
will no longer be at one of our school
sites anymore due to the fact that they
already have two two assistants. And
then as we come to one of the items
which was admin IEP sub coverage, you
all know about this because you brought
it to my attention. Uh this is something
that I believe um
some of my colleagues that are at the
site will be talking to you about
tonight. So I'll just leave it at that.
And it is dependent on the number of
IEPs they have at their school site. And
you know, it's an individualized
education plan for our special needs
students and the time it takes to meet
with parents, meet with staff members,
come up with that plan and then there
every year there's an annual meeting. On
top of that, if you have our specialized
learning centers, it's more so because
of the needs of those children and the
triannuals plus the additional um
therapists. my mental health therapists,
speech therapists, occupational
therapists that also have to be at that
meeting and psychologists. So, it does
take up a lot of time. So, um that is on
here. So, that's that one. When we come
to the uh certificated personnel, as
Rick pointed out, there are 17 teachers.
That is in regard to the enrollment
numbers that we have at this point in
time. And these enrollment numbers are
taken into consideration as of Monday.
And Hor has been done a great job on
that because we opened up enrollment for
schools of choice. We opened up
enrollment for TK. We opened up
enrollment for kindergarten. Um and the
enrollment is not where we anticipated.
plus looking at our classrooms
districtwide and the number of students
you can have per grade level according
to contract need to be realigned. So
that's how we come up with that 17
number. Now noting again I just want for
our staff members, our teachers that are
out there, if you're going to, you know,
not have that grade level or not have
that class, there will be a position
somewhere in the district if you would
like it. Okay. Um, and then I talked
about the guest teacher funding uh,
district office I talked about and and
Rick talked about, uh, the Zoom renewal
and possibly more dollars from that.
When we're looking at special ed, we're
looking at our students who are in the
eighth grade right now that are at
non-public school settings. They will be
going on to the high school. They'll no
longer be part of the Redwood City
School District. They're going into the
high school district. Plus, we have some
other not only those te not only those
students that are in the eighth grade,
but we have some other students that are
returning back to us from NPS because
they're ready to re-enter the
mainstream.
So, that that's special ed. And we
talked about the visa piece and Rick
talked about the um vacant positions.
So with that being said,
um let me just go go to the next slide
Rick after.
Right. So the next steps that we have
are board feedback from all of you a
discussion uh what input we're getting
from our community members and our
parents about this uh sheet that is
moving forward tonight for further
discussion. We have a final committee
meeting with the larger group that Mr.
Weekekley and Mr. Wells are part of next
a week from tonight. A week from tonight
to go through this list. And if you were
to look at this list and I know you
didn't it it has for the committee to um
agree or not agree and the
superintendent also on these little
boxes which we'll check off next next
week. There it is right there. And then
um final recommendations come before you
in February, February 4th. And the whole
goal of this was transparency,
stability, sustainability,
and that we can have something that
moving forward we can live with and live
within our means. And that's with the
monies that we're receiving right now.
Not additional monies that may be coming
through grants, may be coming through a
future parcel tax, whatever. but live
with the dollars that we're receiving
every year from our taxpayers.
Okay. All right. Did you want to open it
up to comments or did you want to open
it up to
>> one question?
>> Sure.
>> Um, thank you. Thank you everyone. Um,
just for my own clarification and I I at
least I this is what I've heard from
some parents who had been reading the
presentation. So I want to make sure
we're all clear on this. This is very
different than our last year's process
where each school had to school site and
admin had to make some of their cuts. It
sounds like from what I'm understanding,
it's going to be the guest teacher
that's going to be partially cut at the
school site and potentially the IEP
admin. Right. Versus the process from
last year,
>> right?
>> Right. You are correct. And I I know
there are members from the committee on
here if they want to speak to it, but
they were very instrumental in moving
that forward. I think after our second
meeting to for me to come back and
coming back with staying away far away
from the classroom as you can.
Any other further comments before we
move things to public comment?
Nope. Seeing none, let's move to public
comment.
And I got some late ones here. So, we'll
do first uh public comment from the room
and then for online. All right. In no
particular order, I'll shuffle these up.
>> They're numbered in
>> Oh,
>> order. We
>> in very particular order. Starting with
number one that was thoughtfully
labeled.
>> Apologies if I'm a little new on this.
We'll have Stephen Jebik.
Stephen President.
press the button on the right.
>> Yep.
>> Just make sure the There you go. And
you'll have three minutes. Got it. Hi,
my name is Steve Yike. Excuse me. And
I'm here speaking on behalf of the Orion
PTO Mandarin Immersion Co-op presidents
uh who are back here as well as a large
group of parents who were here as well
and online. Uh first of all, I want to
thank you all for all you've done and
taking our feedback into consideration.
As you're aware, Orion sustained
$270,000
in cuts last year, the deepest of all
school sites, and we have trimmed our
operation and grown our parent
contribution significantly in response.
In spite of these cuts, our schools
showed improvements in nearly all
categories across ELA, math, and English
learner progress on the 2025 California
school dashboard. We need continued
investment to maintain this trajectory,
especially given Orion's enrollment
continues to grow. As a multi
multifaceted school population with two
unique programs within one school, our
needs differ from traditional school
sites.
We rely and on and fully utilize all our
administrative intervention and support
staff to their fullest extent.
Excuse me. Many of these positions are
supplemented through parent funding and
it is not feasible or sustainable to
increase the pressure to give on our
families any further. We understand the
district is proposing cuts to our guest
teachers across school sites. Our guest
teacher is a highly utilized staff
member and by therefore uniquely placed
to serve both programs effectively.
Cutting this position would have
negative impacts across our site.
Restructuring site funds to maintain
even a portion of the position would
require rebalancing funds currently
utilized for other critical support
roles likely impacting our students with
the highest support needs. We ask the
school board consider taking an
equitable perspective when considering
cutting the guest teacher position at
Orion. Thank you again for your time.
>> Thank you.
Next up we have Patricia Randeros.
Okay. Hi everyone. I am Patricia
Renderos and I represent Hoover School.
Okay.
My name is Patricia.
important
math.
The TK
emotional.
Um,
important.
The coach
profession
Someone should be transling.
>> Yeah. Can you guys hear me?
>> Yes, we can now.
>> Perfect. I will interpret the comment
that uh the parent just shared. Uh she
said um uh hi good evening uh good uh o
school board and my name is Patricia
Renderos and I am the mom of two
students and one in TK and the other one
in seventh grade. It's an honor for me
to be speaking with you and to express
myself. I want to share tonight that the
kinder and TK students and the
elementary students are very valuable
and and the years are very valuable in
the education and to start and to have
uh a foundation for success with better
students h during their school years
that they have left. So it's very
important the students are very
important in Hoover and
uh because TK is the foundation for
success and the issue that we have right
now is that when the teachers leave the
students lose uh stability and
relationships important relationships
uh and or request for you uh schoolboard
is that if we can provide uh coaching
cycles with uh free time as well and to
support the new teachers and to offer
them uh professional development with
modeling and and tracking not only just
uh workshops and because to keep uh the
teachers in Hoover uh it helps uh the
success for our children and students.
Thank you for your time and for
listening tonight.
Thank you so much for the translation.
Our next speaker is Augustine Espino.
Good evening. Uh my name is Augustine
Espino and I have my daughter uh
Kennedy. Uh I'm here tonight to
to say that uh to ask to please
uh keep focused on uh mental health as
uh I have attended a meeting and heard
how important it is mental health
programs for our kids for their success.
Uh also I want to ask to uh please let's
keep also working as uh we uh you guys
you all talked a few months ago about TK
programs for the to better our kids. Um,
this is a little tough, but I we had I
had to say uh
how how is the district need to make a
cuts
and I've been wondering around looking
try to figure out find out just to to
see how many um administrators classify
teachers all these so that money is
going to go allocated to where to
teacher who's at the end of the day our
kids going to be affected with by these
cuts because it's needed but uh as a um
Dr. Becker saying earlier few years ago
there were 10,000
students now it's six plus is the ratio
of the administrators classified and
teachers is been adjusting accordingly
also uh
I hope that at the end of the day that
when you all need to make this this this
these adjustments
that you all think about it are a Latino
community.
um and so making those decision very
equitable so it can be even so for all
equally
um I've been saying before I will say it
again for me
as a member of the community it's
frustrating to see Hoover
how is scoring compared to Roy school
both school from the same district with
very much the same amount of students.
If we look at this is so difficult to
see how the difference
I all all I know the education is
important. I I want all those kids to
have a fair share. So I ask you all to
please once you had to make the decision
to please think about those kids. Thank
you.
>> Thank you so much.
Our next speaker is Elizabeth Estrada.
Forever
dependent.
Miss Amy Kimura, Miss Era, Miss Lens,
Miss Molina, El Seor B, Miss Araseli,
Miss Heather.
frustr
Aluro,
Miss Pata
Mathemat
intervention
Hooveriva
reflect.
Gracias is best.
Do we have uh Intel again? Yes, she's
got her hands up.
>> Yes. Um so I will interpret the comment
that mom just shared. So, a mom stated,
"Uh, good evening, uh, uh, school board
tonight. My name is Elizabeth Estrada. I
am the mom of two students in, uh,
Hoover School that are going or that
are, uh, going through second and third
grade right now. I'm talking to you
right now to express my cons my deep
concern uh for the uh the retention for
the cuts for the retention of teachers
and the system uh of intervention MTSS.
The stability of our children uh depends
on on their teachers and how much they
stay. If the teacher stays uh or the
people that has to stay, it's an expert
that knows our community and to lose
them is to break the the learning cycle
and the and my children development is
being vital to uh to have the educators
and the specialists kind like Amy
Kimura, Miss Eera, Miss Lind, Miss
Molina, Mr. V, Miss Araeli and Miss
Heather and the impact that they have
had uh it shows that the professional
and structural support is the strategy
is the key strategy to retain that has
to be a priority and also regarding the
system MTSS
also to cut specialists of reading and
math is not is we're not saving money.
It's not savings. It's generating
educational depth. And without the
support at tier 2 and tier three, the
students that today have some
difficulties, they will need more uh
expensive services in the f in the
future. I've been a witness on how
students go from frustration to success
thanks to one specialist, a dedicated
specialist. And to eliminate this
resources is to take is to take away the
bridge to the future for a children and
for success. And my concrete uh my
concrete requests are not to cut uh
budgets and also not to cut positions on
the specialist for reading and writing
uh for reading and math. Also shielding
the specialist uh schedule so they can
only focus on student intervention and
also to ensure that the budget is there
for the professional development.
ensuring that the system is sustainable
or students cannot pause their learning
while the budget improves
and the success for Hoover School uh
depends on a on a support and a support
for everyone and I'm sure that your that
your support with the education will be
reflected protecting this vital
resources and thank you very much for
your time and to listening to the voices
of my community, my husky community.
Thank you.
Thank you so much. Our next speaker is
Christian Vasquez.
Clifford
is Christian.
Kennedy.
Evolution.
person
instru through.
Express Army
Okay, I will interpret the comment and
the parent stated uh hi uh good evening.
Thank you for the opportunity that you
guys gave us to open up this
conversation to so you know our concerns
as parents. I belong uh well my my kid
uh goes to Clifford and he is 8 years
old. He's in third grade. My name is
Christian Vasquez. And I just wanted to
share a little of my testimony on how um
I have a daughter right now that she's
20 years old and she attended Kennedy
and I could I can see the difference uh
with with how education has evolved
as as of now and how it has been bene
benefiting my my son that right now he's
three years
uh with my daughter I I didn't have that
many resources that my son has right now
and that he's taking advantage of uh so
he can develop his skills and uh with my
daughter she didn't have the opportunity
to uh be able to acquire this benefits
that he has right now when we're when we
talk about staff and specialist cuts uh
people that are dedicated
uh in teach uh our children uh or
concern as parents is that what are we
going to do like how are we going to
support our children uh in the same way
that the school is supporting us right
now. So in a way I just wanted to share
that uh that you know I can just talk
about my experience and in Clifford I
have h I have found not only a school
that I that where I can find support for
my for my son but uh technically I also
find resources that I didn't know before
and through the community center I've
I've known so many supports that I've
been able to use everything that this
school has been giving us and I've seen
the progress in my son and how he learns
English in this country. This resources
have been very uh big and I just wanted
to express and share my testimony right
and my concern as parents as well. You
know, we're also concerned about that.
So, thank you. Have a great night.
>> Thank you so much. Our next speaker's
card is for Tina Yim. Tina,
>> good evening uh ladies and gentlemen of
the school board. Um, my name is Tina
Yim and I'm a parent of a first grader
at Orion Alternative. MI. Um,
what I wanted to share today was, um,
Redwood School, Redwood City School
District has a high quality,
award-winning Mandarin immersion
program. Since 2017, the Redwood City
Mandarin Immersion Scholars Program is a
parent-run organization and has
partnered with the Redwood City School
District to cover funding gaps for
programs critical um critical staff
including Mandarin Speaking aids, the
teacher on special assignment, and the
MICurricular curriculum/professional
development consultant. Given the
projected cuts, um the the fundraising
pressure on families this year has
increased from 288,000
in the 2025 to 2020 um to um 410,000
in this 20 um upcoming 2026 to 2027
school year. And
to the district not be able to
intervene, that is a 30% increase. And
this is an increase from TK through 8th
grade at Orion. Um, RCMIS has been
working in coordination with Starship,
Orion, PTO, and school site council
members to think outside the box and to
maintain the level of support our MI
program needs to function. Making
additional cuts to our school site
impacts this coordination. Schoolwide
cuts inadvertently impact our program
quality by layering un added fundraising
pressure on our families that are
already giving um to maintain basic
level of support at Orion and at Kennedy
Middle School. Um RCMIS continues to
work with principal Leonardo and Zulashu
um and the Kennedy MI community to grow
the MI program through 8th grade.
Um, we advocate for the retention of
Orion's bilingual guest teacher and we
respectfully request that the district
continue its investment in the growth of
the MI program by continuing its
funding. Thank you.
>> Thank you so much, Tina. Our next
speaker is Aratelli Flores.
Good evening.
Uh my name is Ariseli Flores Mendoza and
I am a resource learning center teacher
at Hoover Community School. As a proud
Hoover alumni, this school holds a very
special place in my heart. I attended
Hoover from preschool through 8th grade.
Sorry, that was my check. Um and it was
here where I learned the true meaning of
friendship, support, compassion, and
most importantly, community. From a
young age, my parents instilled in me
the value of education. With their
encouragement and the their and the
unwavering dedication of my teachers, I
was able to reach my full academic
potential. Hoover did not simply educate
Hoover did not simply educate me. It
helped shape the person and educator I
am today. Many years later, like so many
educators, I return to serve the very
community that once invested in me. Each
day, I see my younger self reflected in
the students I support.
I am here to ensure that they feel seen,
valued, and capable. Oh, and capable.
When something truly matters, we do not
stand alone. We stand and rise together.
Students
must feel supported in order to succeed.
Our community is strongest when every
student is given the meaningful
opportunity to thrive. At this time, our
special education students and the
educators who serve them need more. more
resources, more staffing, and more
support. Currently, we have three
full-time RLC teachers with very minimal
aid support, which requires us to spread
ourselves thin and limit the level of
individualized guidance we know our
students deserve.
This is simply this is not simply a
matter of compliance. It is a matter of
commitment and our students are
absolutely worth that commitment. It is
my hope that I can demonstrate to my
current students and as well to and as
well as those who will come that they
are already intelligent, capable, and
deserving of high expectations.
With appropriate support and adequate
resources, they have the ability to
achieve their goals and reach their full
potential. This is why I am here today
to advocate for the needs of my
students. Thank you for your time and
consideration.
>> Thank you so much, Arati.
And our last in-person speaker card that
I have is for Lisa Onafrey.
Streets.
Mathemat. Mathematio.
Engagement enrichment. Mathematic.
Real estate
muchcas.
which is gracias Lisa.
>> Um yes, so I will interpret the comment.
It was uh uh good evening board. Uh
thank you very much for giving us this
opportunity to talk to you and uh to
give a recommendation and our concerns
that we have uh what was what is going
to happen with the budget uh in in the
school district. So my daughter goes to
Clifford and we are very satisfied with
uh the cultural approach and educational
that we have in schools. So uh my ideas
are more around all of the educational
system. So the first one is that uh
during this cuts for no reason uh we we
we have to cut people in the in the food
on the on the cafeteria and the meals uh
for the students. And it seems like it's
common sense but uh there are many
things that are hap that are uh common
sense right now and and that we are
losing. So for no reason uh to reduce
the food or the meals and also not and
not the employees that provide uh the
food and the meals for our children
because we can go through everything but
not when we're hungry. And also the the
school meals is not something that goes
uh you know that we have in in in United
States and uh it's been it's been taking
many decades to have it. So we do have
it. And second, I want to emphasize the
math uh matter. The numbers regarding
the math uh has have been uh decreasing
in a federal level and in a state level
as well. And as a member as a Hispanic
as a member of the Hispanic community, I
think that it's very important uh that
the public schools are talking about a
structural um topic that or or math
level uh needs to be as high as
possible. the San Monteo County and
other counties as Santa Clara. We need
to aspire to educate uh our own
engineers in the United States. It's a
country that has deficits uh of
engineers and to invest in the education
and the math education. It's important
in Clifford. Uh they're not giving out
anymore. But they don't have engagement
enrichment in math because the company
increase the the cost. So uh it it it
doesn't have to be it doesn't have to be
from the uh it doesn't have to be for
rich people to manage math. So and for
the last thing there's an idea in one of
the communications I've seen it that uh
to subsidize the deficit we need to sell
some assets and uh from the district and
assets and property uh material property
and we have to keep that for the schools
in the moment that goes to private hands
uh you know there's there's different
interests and private interests like
real estate and all of that and Well,
even uh you know they increment some of
the the they increase the cost the
property cost and they they they do not
support education in the long run. So uh
that would be it. Thank you very much.
>> Thank you so much. And looking online
looks like we have is that one comment?
>> You have two
>> two looking Mercer Tina Mercer and Laura
>> clearly looking in the wrong place. Um,
so let's just go with uh Tina. Tina
Mercer next. Tina Mercer.
>> Oh, there's more now. There's more now.
>> There's also one on the spreadsheet. I
don't know if the one you were looking
at.
>> Yeah, got it.
>> So, they raised on the spreadsheet. So,
it just gets
>> Okay, great. We'll just go down the list
of hands then. All right. So, Tina, you
have the floor for three minutes.
Hi there. This is uh Tina Mercer. I'm
the principal of Roosevelt. Um just
wanted to touch base specifically on the
admin IEP sub coverage. Um I'm I just
want to speak specifically to K or TK5
schools. Um and there are six of us. um
we don't have a system principles which
means as an admin needs to be attend in
attendance in order to make the legal
legally viable IEP meetings um in in
doing so I just want to give you an idea
of how many meetings this would mean if
we didn't have um admin subs so at
Roosevelt we have approximately 150
meetings per year IEP meetings um we tal
spoke to the other principles Henry Ford
and Taft both have around 135 give or
um largely because in our in our cases a
lot of that has to do with the fact that
we have um three or four specialized
learning centers. So those all of the
students in those classrooms
specifically have um IEP meetings
frequently more than one per year. We
also have a lot of transitions into
these classes um at the end of the year
and we have transitions out for all of
our fifth graders as well. Um, on top of
that, we have Adelante Selby and Orion
who both have probably somewhere around
85 meetings per year and Garfield's
probably in a similar boat to that. So,
from my end, I just want to advocate for
at least the TK5 schools having some
admin sub coverage during the school
year. Otherwise,
if I look at my own school specifically,
I'm looking at about 150 IEP meetings,
which takes me out of doing my other
roles um for probably 250 hours per
year, which is a lot of hours of not
being able to be with students, be with
our staff, um and so forth. Okay, thank
you.
>> Thank you so much, Dina. Our next online
is Laara Ramirez.
>> She needs to unmute. There she goes.
Yes.
responsib Fore
speech.
fundament.
Fundamental.
Okay, I will interpret the comment. Uh
parents stated um uh good evening. My my
students attend to Adilante Selvi uh in
as Spanish immersion. So, I wanted to
say a message to the school board. I do
understand that the budget cuts are
necessary and that the decisions that
you guys face are not easy. I appreciate
the work that you guys do and the
responsibility uh that it it takes to
managing resources for the whole
resource for the whole district. And I
talked today as a mom uh that attend to
Adelante Selby or my my students go to
Adelantes Selby and I wanted to ask to
protect everything that impacts directly
to the learning the safety and the
wellness of the students. So I I'm very
happy when my when my kids uh share with
me that they enjoy their classes, the
steam classes, uh art, dancing, and how
they enjoy the time with their teachers
and how they get excited when they share
uh what they learned in school. At the
same time, I get I it it gets me sad uh
to think that with this cuts, those
experiences are uh reduced to less
hours. uh there are less opportunities
uh to explore and to develop their uh
their talents. These areas are not a
luxury. They're fundamental for the uh
for the development the uh the
development for the students. uh and
also I wanted to emphasize the
importance of the resources that uh not
only help the students but also the
families uh to feel uh to feel part of
the community to feel as an active part
of the community and uh when this
families uh feel that they are welcome
they are informed and they are they are
not alone the students have better
results and the particip ipation with
the parents is not a luxury either. It's
a key uh tool for this for the
educational success. I also wanted to
add if the district can keep on
supporting organizations such as familia
needas that have been fundamental to
help parents to be involved in the in
the academic life of their of their
students. Thanks to these programs, many
uh many families find a way to support
better their students. they find ways to
communicate with them and they are and
they become they become partners to the
educational system and um and also I do
understand that they are hard decisions
or difficult decisions but uh I hope
that when you guys make the cuts we can
prioritize uh what is really important
for our students and for our families
and to protect this resources is to
invest in the present and the future of
our schools and our students. Thank you
very much to listen uh for listening to
us.
>> Thank you so much.
>> Our next online speaker is Lilia Amalia
Valdez.
>> Good afternoon and thank you for having
me today. My name is Lilia Malia Valdez
Monet. My kids go to Hoover Elementary.
My older son Logan is in the sixth grade
and my daughter Alexis goes to kinder. I
want to use this great opportunity to
express to the board of directors that
the resources of counselors and mental
health at school is important to Hoover.
My older son Logan after the pandemic
had a lot of anxiety in school and this
affected his learning. After he got a
counselor at school, it helped him and
he improved and he does not feel as
anxious as before. This res resourcer,
sorry, excuse me, this resource not only
helps my son but many kids at school.
Having counselors for kids is now
necessary with all the things happening
in the world. Without this assistance,
many students will not get the help they
need and will not get better in school
and in their learning. Thank you so much
for having me and hear me today.
>> Thank you so much.
Our next online speaker is Rita Melton.
>> Hi, good evening. My name is Rita Melton
and I am a fourth grade teacher at
Adilante Selpi. Thank you administrators
and board members for giving us this
opportunity to address regarding the
budget cuts. Um I appreciate the
opportunity to share my concerns as a
teacher in this district. I would love
to advocate for three important areas.
First, mental health professionals are a
critical part of our students daily
lives. without these professionals are
left trying to fill this role which
subtracts from our ability to focus on
the great amount of curriculum that we
have. Um students mental health has been
deeply spotlighted uh after COVID and it
is a pivotal part of the educational
day. Second, I would like to advocate
for our MSS toas. um that role is really
well. Um the numbers of IEPs and 504s
are only increasing yearbyear and this
role takes great pressure off of both
our our principles and off of our
resource teachers who are doing an
amazing job. And the last position I
would like to advocate for is our guest
teachers who are um so much more than
just teachers. They are everywhere at
all times filling so many so many roles
that that also take off pressure off of
our principles, our teachers and also um
play the role as de facto health
supports as well when they are
available. Um they can come to the aid
of teachers who have students that are
struggling. Um and yes, principles can
take funds from other areas to fill some
of these positions. Um, but that also
just means deeper cuts for our site and
that hurts our students achievement.
Thank you for
>> Thank you so much, Rita.
>> Um,
seeing Laura again. Should we
>> Yeah, I'm seeing Rita Melton next. No,
that was just
Yes. Dora Ramirez.
>> There you go. Dora.
Chess
Ramirez.
and educche.
The second
phase.
Um,
Gracias.
>> Okay. My name is
uh Dora. And um and the
right now I have two children, two
students in Hoover School. Uh Santiago
in second grade and Angelique in 8th
grade. and my daughter Angelique uh she
has a special education and I want to
let you know that even that she has her
condition she tries really hard and
uh math I would like to
uh have extra support because she is
lower in math because they are in they
are increasing uh their difficulty
They're more hard. So for the cuts, I
wouldn't like you guys to uh cut music
or steam. Music is therapy. It's therapy
for the students. Uh they they start
their day uh happy with music and they
walk happily. And I will also like you
guys to open more special ed classrooms
for middle school uh six
uh and eighth grade. sixth, seventh and
eighth grade. And also it would be
important uh so they could you know so
the so the students can be there because
they also have smaller siblings uh and
they send them to a different school. So
to me it would be important to keep them
there. Um,
also, uh, as I was just saying, you
know, everything's important to me and I
wouldn't want you guys to make cuts. Um,
and
and and have a great night. Thank you.
>> Thank you so much. And with that, I'm
not seeing any more hands up on the
Zoom. Um, no more in-person comment
cards. No. Okay. So I think that
concludes our public comment section and
now we will move to board discussion.
>> Okay. So who'd like to go first?
>> I can start us off. Um thank you Mike.
Can I just ask a just a couple
clarifying questions sort of as feedback
from the comments to get in there
because some people had talked about um
I I did not hear you mention in the list
of things that you were considering
positions around like tier 2 or tier
three services um specialists or
anything like that, right? Like that
wasn't that's not right. I mean, I I
think we all sort of have the um the
same sort of non-negotiables around here
about like we really want to keep our
MTSS capacity and like keep up our work
on chronic absenteeism that we've been
doing. EL supports, we want to make sure
English learner supports remain and that
the ELPAC growth that we're seeing and a
reduction in long-term English learners.
We're still looking at that. Special
education compliance, even though
there's a big reduction in there, it's
not about
>> still need to comply.
>> Yeah. It's not about reducing the
services that you're offering here. And
then and um instructional time in core
classroom that's obviously the last like
that's don't even put that on the table
that's in there. And then on the food
services it's self it's funded by
special funds right so food nutritional
services. Okay good. I just wanted to
make sure because I was I heard a little
bit of concern about that and I didn't
think that those were quite on the on
the table. Um one thing I did want to
say I just want to thank everybody for
coming out and and sharing your
experience and your comments. Um, one of
the things that really hit me is just
the amount of impact that the school
district is having on our families. Uh,
it's incredible. So, I want to say
thanks first of all to the staff here at
the district office, our principles that
are here online. Um, you know, our
teachers that joined us tonight or or
online or just are working out there.
All of our classified staff. Hi, Maria.
Thanks for coming and joining tonight.
um the amount of impact that you're
having for these families. You can see
it's deeply meaningful um to everybody
to be here and spend some time talking
about it tonight. And I just thought
that was really really powerful. Um and
I want to thank everyone for sharing
their p first of all their personal
experiences, but also highlighting
what's really important to you. Um and
and how how the school district is
really impacting you. Um the uh I I also
want to thank the committee. I know
there's some committee members online.
Um it's been, you know, it's a lot of
couple several meetings, couple hours,
some ran over a couple hours. Um you all
did a lot of pres uh production for it.
Um you know, and it's like there's a lot
of work that goes into sort of naming
the structural problem honestly and then
you know bringing it forward in a way
that that aims for transparency and aims
for sustainability. Um it does feel like
the proposals that you're starting to
put together uh will be kind of anchored
will keep us anchored in sort kind of
our mission right for safe supportive
joyful and inclusive schools and let us
you know still achieve our vision of
really high intellectual performance for
every student. Um so I I do appreciate
that work. Um I noticed that a lot of
this stuff is is kind of vague. you
know, I mean, you're a little bit
specific about the areas where it's
going to be, but the actual specifics,
and I understand why it's going to be
there, but right now it's kind of a
list. So, I I had a request for when
this comes back um to help us kind of
put a framework around how to how to
think about these. Um I'm going to
propose these. I don't know if other
board members have things that would
help for for each one of these if we
could like have a framework around like
first of all, what is the reduction and
like what is what is that trying to
solve? um are the savings one time or
ongoing like the the financial parts of
it. Um but then is there student impact?
If it's impacting students, who and how
many uh if there's a way we could get
that for the for the different ones
because not all of them will have direct
impact. Um I think it's really important
that particularly given our variation
across the schools that equity is
explicit here. So some sort of equity
indicator on it. Um maybe it's the
number of unduplicated students impacted
or whether it's special ed or if it
affects English learners just something
in there that can give us sort of an
equity impact. Um and then some
operational risk. Uh what I worry about
is as we reduce at the you know maybe at
the district office I know some
positions are not currently filled and
you're already covering that work but
does does the work stop? Does it go to
other people at the district? Does it
get pushed down to the sites um for the
administrators? you know, when you're an
administrator, it works. It's a lot
different.
>> Yeah.
>> We don't have a union. Um, we work
within a job description, but that job
description always has other duties as
assigned. So, with that being said,
that's what's been happening, especially
in one of the categories where we've had
a person that's been on leave and now
that person is resigning. So that
position has been absorbed by others
around the table.
>> Yeah.
Right. And so as more changes happen, is
it going to be more absorbed? I mean,
some might might stop like maybe it's a
role. I think you had mentioned that
there's some positions that we we just
aren't going to need anymore because
they're filling in for an absence. Um,
>> true. But but those the the position
that I'm just spoke about uh still is
needed for supports at the at the school
sites. Okay.
>> When we don't want to put that
>> on the principal,
>> okay,
>> we can keep it here and but we have many
of us doing things um even some of our
people in the audience uh that have
taken on the experience of moving in a
different direction with their job
description. So anyways, I don't need to
know it tonight for each of the ones
that are there, but something when when
we're trying to make a decision about
it, it sort of feels like to me that
would be kind of the information that
around the different ones that would
help me understand kind of the priority,
what the real impact is and and how to
how to how to think about them. Um, and
finally, I just want to acknowledge
there's a whole human side to this. I
know that for our families um and our
our our families and our staff, it's
really stressful to live in kind of this
uncertainty of not knowing what's going
to happen. It's also very confusing
about what can be cut, what can't be,
you know, all all of that. Um and then
even, you know, even when it happens
through attrition, it's stressful for,
you know, the the staff, for our
colleagues, it's their colleagues, their
relationships. Um there's everything
there. So, I'm just uh you know, I'm
grateful for staff. Um and I just want
to make sure that as we communicate this
and we we go through this effort um our
communication and support continues to
reflect our values.
>> Thank you, Mike. Well said.
Sure. And like let's also have it be
back and forth too. It's
>> um I'll I'll echo a lot of what Mike
said. I won't repeat it all because
we've had plenty of meeting already but
um I think one of the big things one I
love the framework that Mike presented I
think to the same point it's
it's really helpful for me to understand
what the actual impact of each of these
cuts are um from operational financial
and personnel and on the operational
piece I think what Mike was saying I
don't mean to put words in your mouth
but there's a point where I already know
the district staff is doing above and
beyond their workload load and I assume
that there's going to be a point where
it has to break and I think what we want
to make sure is that we do not get to
that point. Um and so again obviously
decisions are being made uh Dr. Baker, I
know that you're having discussions
already, so like I assume that's the
case, but it help it would help ground
me in understanding that um the one
other piece just um that I'll point out
just for the circumstances that I really
appreciate all the people obviously all
the work from the committee um all the
people that came to to speak um to
represent and advocate for how they
perceive their their various communities
and I I really appreciate that we're
getting a variety. Um, one thing that
sticks out to me is that I think across
the board what I heard was all of the
positive things that the districts and
the schools are doing and their
questions of can we please make sure
that we're pro protecting this, which um
is is great in one way because it means
that we're doing quite a bit that's
really helpful and appreciated and
moving the community forward. Um, but
then it also turns us to the reality I
think of we're in a difficult situation
and that's not because it's a situation
of our own making where we were um
spending money irresponsibly. It's the
reality of we don't have the funds to
ensure that all students are thriving.
And so we have to make choices. Um, and
while I appreciate all the advocacy that
everyone came in with, a lot of what I
heard was, "Please protect this," which
is great and totally makes sense. But I
think from the board's perspective, the
actual question is what is the tradeoff?
Because when we work with limited
resources, the question is not please
don't cut this. It is please cut please
don't cut this and instead cut something
else. And it's just a challenge. Um, and
I think with that with the proposal as
is, um, it's super helpful and I know a
lot of work went into it. I'm a little
bit I'd like to better understand
um what the actual options are because
it seems like it's we have a specific
hole. Uh, this gets us pretty close a
little bit above um to what that hole
is. Um, but I don't know what the
alternatives are. Um is it like an all
or nothing like this is this is what is
proposed um or nothing or we will take
elements of this but only within this
subset of items or are there other
things that were kind of on the table
and that's not to say that please do I
just I want to understand as a framework
>> there we looked at everything that was
oh with the exception of the guest
teachers with the exception of the IEP P
coverage at the school sites. We looked
at items that we could reduce that would
not touch the classroom with the
exception of what I said the guest
teacher will touch the classroom because
th those guest teachers are being
utilized um for training. When a teacher
is going going to meet with a principal
and the principal is doing some training
with teachers, those guest teachers are
in the classrooms. They're they're the
sub. um they're also for you know other
types of activities that that school has
planned. So that does affect the
classroom. But when you look and what
affect the other piece that affects
which we try to hammer out but we
couldn't find anything different is the
piece about the IEP coverage because you
you heard Tina in the numbers and to get
into classrooms to do other items that
you have to do just on a daily basis at
a school site and then also have the
that time away from those other areas.
It's very very difficult for a
principal. So that's why the give is is
is is there coming from from the
principles. I we we get it. The other
pieces that you have before you um some
have to do with attrition, some have to
do with additional um uh
subadministrators at sites for this year
or for the last couple years they
received a this one school received a
coordinator but it was only for two
years. So now that's going to be gone.
So, with that being said, it's pretty
far away from the classroom. We're not
touching art. We're not touching music.
We're not touching PE. We're not
touching counselors.
Even though that was brought up, that
was brought up. Um the other piece about
the MTSS, we're not touching MTSS
either. I know um Anna's working very
closely with the group to maintain that
within the LCAP. So, that's not even on
here. Um, the other piece that I want to
just acknowledge at this point in time,
yes, we do have
school facilities that are being rented
out at this point in time to other
entities.
If we were to sell those school
facilities, remember, you cannot utilize
that money for operating expenses.
It can only be utilized for facilities.
That's law. So even though people think
yes, we have these sites that they're
being rented and it's helping us with
the small amounts we get, especially
from the charter school um because of
law, but um that money is going back
into the general fund and we utilize
those dollars. But if you were to sell
them,
it goes back into facilities. It cannot
be used for operating expenses. So I
just want the community to understand
that that is law and that's why so many
superintendent and boards when it comes
point to like my colleague at Jefferson
working on closing four schools people
say sell it sell it we can use it. No
that's not going to happen because it's
law you cannot use it for operating
expenses. So just get that out there.
Um, but going back to this spreadsheet,
um, we did our best for several
meetings, long meetings in my office to
come up and back and forth on that
whiteboard and look at everything and
this is what we
garnered that we could feel comfortable
that it's not going to really impact
those classrooms. Now the piece that
does is as you're looking at contract
where we have a contract for
TK has its own you know uh 20 students
to one teacher one one instructional
assistant that's law we can't change
that but our contract is when I'm going
to have you help me out K to
>> we strive
>> 20 we strive for 25 but we go to 28 and
then 31 moving forward. So that's the
piece that if you're concerned about
which you pro which when you start
seeing um the number here of enrollment
in the 17 that's the piece that will
impact schools.
Okay, I think that's that's super
helpful. And I just to summarize what I
think I heard was
I if we take it as a foundational idea
that we want to make sure that we are
cutting as far away from student
learning as possible, this is kind of
the list.
>> This is the list.
>> That that that's that was yeah, that was
my big question. Um on the the teachers
piece and I think this um goes along
with what Trusty Wells mentioned
earlier. It it would be helpful for me
also to understand not today but when it
comes up um where those positions are
looking or where they are spread across
just in terms from an equitable lens and
whether or not those and I believe the
decisions were made based on student
counted enrollment where that is ju just
to have that fleshed out um would be
helpful for me to understand. Okay.
Thank you. All the things you said I
assumed but it's great to put out there
publicly as well because I I know you
guys have put in a lot of work. Thank
you.
Yeah, I think um along the lines of what
Mike was asking, will we be know by the
time in February which site site admins
are going to use some of their measure
use to fund and then what's the kind of
the tradeoff there or is that going to
happen? I
>> I don't know by February if they will
have that. That's really it. It's
normally it comes a little later in the
school year because some are also um
looking at their PTAs and PTO's what
that's going to garner um even though we
did hear from one of our school sites
that it's becoming more of a hardship on
the community. um knowing that um we as
as as a district are seeing what other
fundings are out there, but that's those
are grant dollars and you know grant
dollars are not forever and see what
else is available that we can tag on to
>> and then I just wanted to understand
that if I understand correctly the sped
reduction so we're expecting attrition
in eighth grade
>> right
>> but potentially we can be getting
>> potentially it could be coming forward
with a student but at this point in
time, we have some we have eighth
graders that are graduating, going on to
the high school district. We have a few
students coming back to us from an NPS,
which is which is great. And then we
also have a few students that are
exiting our our our special eding coming
into the mainstream.
>> Okay. So then to like Mike's framework,
this would not be like a set one time
like we know this is going to be a
reduction that we can count on.
>> And as Rick pointed out, these are
reductions that are ongoing. And now the
special ed could vary depending on, you
know, student need.
We always have to keep that in the
forefront because special ed is not
funded fully as you all know and that's
in every district in the state of
California. It's not funded fully and
our cost at this point in time is about
$20 million from our unrestricted
general fund.
And then my my last question was if we
did want to fund the I the IEP sub admin
sub that's something that would come
from the district. This is not something
each school is going to
>> it would have to come from the district.
>> So thank you again everyone that um
showed up here and that made comments um
and even for those that didn't make com
comments are are here just for support.
Um, I appreciate everything that the
committee has done and again I'm not
going to repeat everything but just I'm
wondering if obviously this is the list
if when we talk about guest teachers
have we consider I understand if we cut
them they will no longer have a job but
have we consider maybe asking those same
guest teachers or maybe reducing the
number of guest teachers and maybe just
reducing unfortunately but their
benefits to where they will still have a
job with Redwood City but just no longer
getting benefits that would then save
Redwood City some money. That's just,
you know,
>> that is a thought. Um the rationale for
us back uh during CO to go with a guest
teacher and have benefits was to make
sure that you would have the same body
that would be continuous every day at
that school.
um I don't know if they would be
committed without the benefits because
benefits is a big piece uh to anyone's
salary and it does you know it it it
it's a real perk for a substitute to
have benefits because when I talk about
it to my colleagues I'm speaking
superintendent up and down the peninsula
that you're doing what and yeah and it's
really helped us with our sub issue that
we had right after co which was enormous
if you remember ano every time you
needed a sub at at your school site. So
it's a thought we can we can go in that
direction and see what we come up with
but um that's why we went in that
direction with the benefits.
>> Great. Um, and then when Tina made a
comment regarding like the number of
meetings that if I'm understanding she
would have to go to those meetings,
right? And then therefore miss the
observation and stuff.
>> I'm just wondering um she also mentioned
I guess they have two or three um
more um like specialized classes. I know
Hoover has a lot more too. Um but they
are a K8. Um when we look at numbers
like she's talking about 150 versus like
Henry Ford and Taft at 135 and I believe
she said Adelante Selby and some other
schools like 85. Have we considered um I
mean I guess to say what how much of a
burden it will be for those K5
principles? I mean and I understand I'm
sure you guys as committee have probably
talked about it and just for the um the
people in the audience obviously we
don't know this uh the committee was um
given the information but um this is why
this is a discussion
>> we can do as as as my colleagues and
myself around this table is go back with
just the K5 and see and we had talked
with um when we're making our rounds we
We talked to the principal about, you
know, the the amount of time that you
need for these IEPs. The and and Tina
was a very uh instructive instructive to
us about, you know, the real reality
that she has to deal with and what that
does for her at her school site. So,
with that being said, what is that cost
going to be and how many days is she
going to need per week? and then let's
calculate that out and we could do that
for all of our K5s. We have not done
that yet and that's something we have
discussed uh in our meetings that we we
could let's calcul get the principles in
here and let's calculate what this would
look like.
>> Really those were my only comments.
Thank you.
Just real fast on that administrator
one, like maybe one way to think about
it is is there a way to make the number
of IEPs that have to be handled kind of
equitable across the schools so that
it's not like almost double at one
school what it is what at another and
kind of No, no, no. I don't mean make
the IEPs. I meant bring in an
administrator to help with it so the
load is is um equitable. Yeah. Sorry. I
I realize you can't
>> um change that uh make that. And then um
can I ask a a quick question about the
the guest teacher too? just um cuz from
co you you reminded me like there was a
time where I think you all were actually
going into school into classroom to
build the sub need because it was
missing and that was sort of the impetus
for wanting to bring in the guest
teacher but it's morphed now and I think
it's not so much
>> do more than a sub
with the requirement that we have placed
upon the principles in the school site
with the type of planning that we want
the principal to do with the teachers
per grade level when we want them to
look at data and develop next steps who
goes into those classrooms when the
principal is meeting with those
teachers. I see Lupa nodding up and
down. It's those guest teachers and you
have somebody that is
>> that is known the kids know. So it's not
that person that's coming in for one day
and who knows what's going to happen in
the classroom, right? When we were all
kids and subs came in and um so no, it's
more than you know.
>> Yeah. Yeah. And given given how how
highly correlated planning time and
fully funded coaching is to student
outcomes, I mean it might be nice when
we're kind of looking at this all again
if there's like a framework that can
help us with through the decision to see
kind of how how that how you're thinking
about that impact of you know the
planning time uh the reduction in
planning time for for teachers because
we we did see that there is a strong
correlation to planning you know fully
funded planning time and coaching time.
So, all right. Thanks.
>> Awesome. So, some things I heard and I
just really want to call it out for the
community was that uh we are not in this
proposal cutting anything from music,
art, PE, mental health, or MTSS
supports. All right. So, just
>> yeah,
>> if you've advocated for it, please don't
cut it and we're not cutting it, right?
So, just I think that's the really clear
message for the community uh on on those
things. Uh, I think just again
emphasizing something you already said,
but just making sure that people
understand that we cannot sell land
parcels to go and put money in the
general fund to pay teachers. Just
legally it doesn't work. Be cool if it
did. That'd be a neat option to explore,
but but we can't. Um, in terms of impact
of the classroom, like there are guest
teachers and trimming that is going to
impact the classrooms. That's probably
the closest thing to the classroom
that's in this set of cuts. And we heard
from uh many commenters here that guest
teachers are a powerful tool for helping
to invest in our teachers. So like this
one is I mean they're all painfully cut,
but this one feels like pretty
especially painfully cut. And it's it's
an example of the sort of thing that
were we to raise a parcel tax that's the
sort of thing that we could fund with a
parcel tax is fund funding guest
teachers, right? So, um, be nice if we
could figure out a way to make that
happen. Um, I I I do want to take a
moment just to thank the incredible, uh,
community, uh, that that has come out
here in person and online that feels
comfortable presenting in their own
language. I'm so happy to have everyone
here uh, coming and and sharing
authentically about their own
experiences. Uh, we are so glad you're
here. We're so glad you're sharing. and
I hope that this typifies the kind of
board meetings that we we have going on.
So, so thank you so much for that. Um,
we heard um a couple folks from Orion
and I also had a number of people write
in uh about concerns in terms of funding
the uh MI curriculum there. And I I
didn't get into the weeds enough on the
spreadsheet to map that out. I don't
know if you could take a moment to
>> Right. It's not on the spreadsheet, but
um I've been working with a funer that I
think I can get the funding for one more
year. So for that for that um but then
we need to cons we need to think of how
are we going to keep that going,
>> right?
>> Um because now uh this is to be the last
year and
I think the fun is going to come through
for one more year.
>> Um but then she goes I have to stop.
Well, it's helpful for year. Um, but
yeah, I I I think that the hard part is
that like if we have a program, you
know, like our Spanish immersion
program, like our Mandarin immersion
program that needs certain supports to
to exist. Um, having those supports is
not a an an optional add-on, right? It's
it's core to what the program is. If you
have an MI program, you need to have
Mandarin curriculum. And so just I want
to make sure that if we are deciding
like hey we really do want to have
something like an MI program ongoing
that we have some mech reliable
mechanism of of funding for it. Um, and
I'm not at the point where I I feel like
I'm I'm hearing that. I'm hearing like
we've maybe cross our fingers we'll get
one more year of funding for that but
like that we don't necessarily have
structural supports that will invest in
that program on
>> and we hope that the Mandarin program as
it's been when I put this in place and
did the research for it I knew at that
time there was going to be costs to
start it up just like when we did with
the the Spanish immersion and we were
able to
um
move forward with the different types of
costs that at that time Katherine was
the admin at the site to get the
training and so forth and we didn't have
the person that we have now. We had name
was Danny. Danny, right?
>> Yeah.
um that that started out with us because
we needed quite a bit of help and this
is the person that started the Mandarin
immersion program in Certino
>> and we had her for a couple years and
then we found someone else but it's like
the the Spanish immersion program. It's
now, you know, been in in play for many
many years. It's to get it to get the
Mandarin immersion program there also so
that you don't need that anymore. It's
all developed. you've got the curriculum
that you're going to be utilizing.
You're just going to need um whether it
be a coach that is a district-wide coach
similar for what we have at other for
our for other programs at our school
sites or someone that it's a consultant
that comes in now and then but is not
here on a yearly basis with a contract.
And if that person is working with us in
developing materials that we as a
Redwood City School District have access
to those materials without having to be
charged
>> in the future.
>> Do we have a pathway to that?
>> We are looking at a pathway because the
the contracts we have we sent back to
our attorney and it's kind of
wishy-washy. So, we're we're trying to
work that out at this point in time, at
least again for if we're going in this
direction with with the same person for
next year. That that contract is very
specific for curriculum that's being
created for curriculum
um that's being taught in the classroom.
That is curriculum that is for Redwood
City School District. And if you're
going to go out and start selling it to
others, then why is Redwood City?
>> Yeah.
Getting something back for it.
>> Yeah.
>> So, we're working on that with our
attorney. Um there's been a little blip.
>> Okay.
>> Thank Thank you for the update. I
appreciate that. Um and then just kind
of finally, I want to acknowledge uh
Tina, thank you so much for speaking out
regularly about the need for uh extra
help on the IEP front. I think it's
really powerful when principles can get
time in the classroom to do observation,
to give teachers feedback. Uh we know
like all people, we we get better when
we get observation and feedback. Um and
so I I think that there's not a point at
which that stops that where you've
achieved perfection and no longer can
further improve. And so I think being
able to find a way to get our principles
in the classroom as regularly as
possible observing and giving feedback
will help to invest in our teachers and
make sure that the quality of the
curriculum that the students is
receiving is is going to be as high as
possible. So I'm
keen to figure out if we can do
something on the IEP front as well. And
Tina, thank you for your comments.
>> Cool. I think that's it for me. So I
don't know if you have any comments.
>> I just want to definitely thank the
committee and again there's a meeting a
week from tonight. So I have to have
this all organized by
a week in a week. Uh and as we the two
board members you will have it but I'll
send it to the others also. Um, I don't
know if I will have the um
spelled out as much as you want, but I
will definitely work on this worksheet
and work with the team to see what we
can come up with, especially in the
realm of the guest teachers, the IEPs,
and then the other pieces. Definitely I
will have four prior to that February
meetings not only in our individual
meetings but ahead of time what it looks
like and when you see the reduction and
what that means and what extra work do
people need to have to do so forth
>> on that spreadsheet Dr. that you showed
with the or Rick you were showing with
the column the committee is voting and
then checking the box or how
>> right so what we what we just what we
determined at the meeting was that here
were the items and then there is a there
is a column for strategic resource
alignment committee recommendations and
those are the ones they check off on and
then there is a superintendent
recommendations
>> it's just a yes no there's no it's just
a yes no there's no
>> I'm sure there'll be some discussion too
>> and and just as we see these artifacts
and and I know there's so much hashing
out that goes about behind them um the
more that we can see some of the deltas
of this this is what's different since
last we looked at this um to to draw
people's attention towards this and the
outcomes of that means that this is not
affected um that that would be really
helpful for helping people parse
I want to thank just not only the board
of course but also this committee and
the parents that um come to the
meetings. I mean the meetings that we
have at Taff Garfield and the Hoover
those meetings exist right after this
large committee meeting and the parents
are there to give their input to ask
questions. Thank them. Thank the team
that has worked very diligently with
myself that is Rick and Jorge and then I
have Michelle Ramon and and Jorge that
are also working behind the scenes with
with parents and the large group in its
in itself that comes to the meetings on
Tuesday evenings and has some good we've
had some really great dialogue for the
future um of what they're thinking of
which um I will put a notation to you or
we can talk about it at oneonone
meetings, but it is something that you
know is in the back of their minds also.
But it's been um I I believe we've been
transparent. I really do. Um the the
principles were when they got this
spreadsheet were very happy to see the
spreadsheet and what what was on it
because they were thinking they were
going back to their staffs and saying,
"Okay, we got to cut this. We have to
cut this and how are we going to do it?"
and that did not take place. So, um, as
you alluded to earlier, that was what
took place last year. So, um, I'm I'm
going to go back and work with my
colleagues and look at the items that
you have recommended that we've heard
about tonight and then bring this forth
a next week. And when I bring it forth
to the committee, you'll also get copies
of it. And the community gets copies
because what Jorge does after the
meeting, he gets notes together about
what took place at the meeting and
everything is online within about 48
hours
to the community.
>> Great. Thank you.
>> Any further comments or discussion?
Would someone like to move to adjourn?
>> We'll move to adjourn.
>> Second.
>> All those in favor? I hope.