Trusty Lee here.
Trusty King here. Trusty Marquez here.
Vice President Weekly present. President
Wells here.
Right.
Um we do roll call.
Um, oral communication. Great. Uh, wait.
I do I
do. Okay. Report on close session. Um,
the board discussed the superintendent's
performance and no action was taken. Uh,
okay then. Good welcome. Uh, good
evening. It's the April 16th, 2025
meeting of the Redwood City School
District governing
board interpret.
persona solicit
transmissal. Again, welcome all members
of the public or our partners in
education and the board encourages you
to participate and provide comments on
issues of concern uh regardless of
whether they are on the agenda. uh to
speak, you know, please complete a
speakers card. I see many of you have
done this already. Um here in person,
they're available in the back uh at the
entrance. Um and you can hand them to
Evelyn. Uh or if you're online and
attending via Zoom, there's a sheet
online that you can fill it out. Um if
you're addressing a subject listed on
the agenda, you'll be called at the time
that the item is being considered. And
if the issue is issues not on the
agenda, you'll be called shortly during
our oral communications agenda item. And
then to be fair to all speakers, uh we
limit public comments to three minutes
per person per topic unless otherwise uh
noted. Um it does look like we're going
to have a large number of speakers here.
And so our, you know, I'll just follow
our board policy for setting what the
per speaker limit is uh based upon that.
Uh let's see, changes to the agenda. Um
does anyone have uh changes to the
agenda? No. Okay. Then uh let's move on
to approval of the agenda. Um we'll need
a vote, an action item. So move
seconded. Okay. All in favor? I. Great.
Uh we'll move on to oral communication.
Um we have clear policy. I just checking
online really fast to see if there's any
here. Okay. So there's one
online and we have one,
two, three,
four, six, seven, eight. Okay. So we
have nine public speakers. So, we'll go
with our 0 to 10, 1 to 10, uh, 3 minutes
each. Um, and I will point out that
because we're allocating, um, 3 minutes
per speaker, if there are late arriving
speaker cards, we could take one more,
uh, but then we'll hit 10 and we're
going to keep our time capped to that
amount of speakers. Um, and so going I'm
going to take the in-person speakers
first and then I'll move to online. Uh,
and so, um, we're going to move on to,
uh, Fenbar Rafferty.
Yeah. And
then Yeah. Thank you, Megan.
Hi, my name is Fimar. Hi, my name is
FBar. I'm a third grade I'm a third
grade student at Orion. I would love I
would love the school district to have
more advanced classes because I think
they are so interesting. I got into
Northstar scored really hard. I wanted
to stay at Oine because I think it's a
really great school for me. But
sometimes I get really bored and
distracted. I have a disability and
sometimes I have sometimes really hard
for me to get along. Sometimes I think
I'm not good at school. But this year my
mom signed me up for a pale anthropology
at Arizona State University. It's a
first year online college class. It was
really fun.
Learn about the evolution of
osteopaths. Osteopathic like Lucy who
was discovered by Donald
Johnson's 3.2 million years ago. She
lived 3.2 million years ago. She was the
first bipedal homminid. Later the
oipians developed into robos robust
species like bulli who was discovered in
old gorge in Kenya. Boy had bigger
teeth, bigger temporalis, muscles, and
bigger jaw. He also had a sagal crush.
He had a pronathic face and they called
him nutcracker man because he had to
crack nuts and tubers and process all
his food with his teeth. Unlike the
later homo species who probably learned
to use fire and process food to support
the bigger vulvan brain case. After
osteopines we deol we evolved into a
homohabos which means tool maker
actually that's the main feature of the
bull homogeneous creativity and tool use
then then even found remains of a huge
wooden structure made by homo erectus
5,000 years
ago homo everywhere homo was found he
also found small odawan tools that were
like pebbles or util and have hand
access. But in the upper pelathic
period, they made harpoons and out
laddles. Anyway, I could go on and on.
The class was great and my mother never
had to nag me to finish my homework.
This class was the first time I felt
challenged learning something before it
was but it was just really fun. I wish
all my classes could be like that. I
felt bad because in school I get
distracted all the time. I have a
behavior plan. I get reminders from the
teacher to stay on track. because I hear
things because I hear things I know and
I get distracted and think about
something else. I wish I could have some
I could have more challenges in the
school because I'd be a lot happier.
Thank you. Thank Thank you, Fenbar, for
and for sharing all that information
with us. Um our next speaker is uh Megan
O'Reilly Green.
Hey, thank you. Hello Redwood City
trustees. At the last board meeting,
eight students came before the board and
spoke about their experiences being
educated in public school. And they
advocated for a middle school curriculum
that continues the stellar academic
challenges and differentiation that
they've been receiving at Orion School.
There was coverage in the local paper
about the students advocacy. And M. Mr.
Quintana explained in the article that
the district's thinking is that the
curriculum is sufficiently challenging
for all students to continue to make
progress and that the district is
following conventions set by the Sequoia
Union High School District. However,
students have determined that these
streamlined courses are not sufficient
for students already scoring at an
eighth grade level prior to middle
school. And furthermore, Sequoia Union
High School District has eliminated
first year's honors courses, but they're
actually adding more AP and IB courses
at higher grade levels with the
intention to increase rates of
participation for marginalized students
and provide those challenges. Following
this uh student movement, parents
responded by asking the district to
reconsider schoolboard policy um 5,123,
which addresses acceleration retention.
We ask that the district consider
research that overwhelmingly supports
acceleration as a successful academic
intervention for students that high have
high intellectual processing speeds. I
think gifted is a really terrible term.
I think off the norm or under the tail
is much better, but we are stuck with
gifted and I disagree, but I digress.
Um, but I would ask that this student
designation be considered as a special
need like others in the district. And
we're asking that the school board
change this policy to provide explicit
support for acceleration for these
students. The district has experience
with acceleration. There are 20 forms of
acceleration that meet the needs of
high-f flyers. Offering a compacted
curriculum is one. The wind blocks
developed at Henry Ford and that have
spread to Orion school. It's another
form of acceleration. And we we would
like the board to lean into this and
learn from the research around this
issue in order to figure out the best
way to serve the many nuanced and high
highly individual needs of students in
this district and actively construct
programs that are attractive at all
community school sites that retain high
earning families and high achieving
students in order to create more
economically integrated schools within
the district. The drawbacks of keeping
things status quo were that community
schools and schools of choice that don't
offer acceleration will continue to
attract to our thriving public private
school industry or the only school in
the district with the availability of
acceleration. Redwood City's poverty
rate stands at
6.2%. Which is well below the national
average and you would not be able to
tell this by looking at most of our
demographics of our school sites. The
students in the parent group are making
strong calls for the reinstatement of
honors courses that used to exist at
Kennedy. This is a complex and nuanced
issue that deserves a complex and
nuanced resolution and it's not
something I'm addressing at this time
due to time constraints. But I will say
that the ask for reinstatement of
advanced classes at Kendi would not have
arisen without the support from the
school site and a principal who we
believe knows her student body the best.
I don't support systems and policies
that lower the bar expectations for
marginalized students or tracks them
into an undesirable future that they
can't escape from. I do believe that
school systems can serve those with deep
needs as well as high-f flyers on the
same school site. And I believe that
Redwood City has a large untapped
resource in creating programs that over
time return public schools. Thank you,
Megan. Yeah, I have to cut you off, but
but thank you. Thank you very much. And
uh and we did receive your email as
well. Um Okay, great. And the next
speaker is Sa.
Hello, my name is Sa. I will be going to
Kennedy next year and I would like the
school board to consider adding the
avail the the availability of
acceleration at Kennedy Middle School.
There is this prevailing idea that kids
that are bright will do well no matter
um what uh no matter what experience or
or no matter what environment or
curriculum you expose them to. I know
that this this is not true from
experience. In first grade, I was really
behind in all subjects. I really did not
know how to learn. It was Orion, Winnie,
and Chenlasher that taught me how to
excel. It took me time to learn
um how to engage with the M material
correctly so that I retained the
information. took a lot of practice and
dedication and honestly it was just a
lot of hard work. These earliest
experiences still stick with me. I know
what it's like to feel lost or to feel
like everyone else knows something that
I don't know and is doing better. I also
know
um I I also know that advancement is
achievable for all students and what it
takes is being willing to put the work
in and work in to achieve success and
have options available. It's not a given
that students are doing who are doing
well in elementary school will just
continue to do well no matter what.
regardless of the curriculum they're
exposed to. In order to have progress,
you need to have the ability to make
progress. If students aren't put in
classes where they
um they are learning new material, they
are stuck learning the same material
over and over again. There is no way
forward for progress. For me, the only
time I felt really challenged
um and am using all of my brain power is
during the win classes. Um especially
the math class that Winnie uh principal
Winnie taught. So because of this
advanced coursework in in Kenn in middle
school is a mustave. I don't feel that I
will get a sufficient education
um if I don't have the ability to keep
pushing and testing myself. Recently on
the I Ready test, I scored in the 97th
percentile, not for my own grade level,
but for eighth graders. The reason I
know this is because I also have a
severe disability and I stay um and I
have to stay on top of my development
because it has been so easy for me to
fall behind. I have severe ADHD.
Yeah, Susan, I'm so sorry, but I do have
to yeah cut you off. Thank you for
honoring the time there and for sharing
your experience with us. Um our next
speaker is Elmer Molina.
[Music]
We start
[Music]
Keep Much gracias.
I will translate the
comment. Good afternoon. My name is Elar
Molina and the reason why I'm here uh in
person is to ask if you could help keep
school in regards to the kids do need
more than anything uh the air
conditioning because many of the times
the
kids when I pick up my kids I have two
kids there I've seen them very
suffocated
and I feel badly about it because
they're not only my kids but also the
rest of the kids that are in a situation
where I believe that that's a priority
and so that if you could please put that
into like a number one priority so the
Kip uh school can take care of that.
Thank you.
Um Dr. Yeah.
Thank you. Thank you for speaking. Um,
our next speaker is Jose Talo.
Hello everyone. My name is Jose. I'm the
associate director advocate for KIP.
Thank you Dr. Bakery for for sharing
that. Um yeah, we have a group of
parents tonight uh just to share their
concerns around our facility. As you
know, um we've been working with the
district around the facility master plan
and we would love for you all I know you
have the retreat on the 23rd to talk
about the facility master plan and one
thing that would love to you to consider
is the upgrades for the campus at
Northox. um as you can you could hear
from Elmer and we have a couple more
parents also going to be sharing AC is
one of the priorities but also parents
have other priorities around the campus
that they would like to see and the
facility master plan does offer um
different upgrades for the for our
campus that will benefit our students
and families. Uh so when you are in your
retreat in the 23rd um I hope that you
can consider Tip Excalencia as one of
the schools that uh will be able to um
to receive this upgrades uh soon uh so
our families and students can have uh a
better campus. Uh also I want to take
this opportunity uh I sent an email to
many of you about a planting an exciting
camp uh planting we're going to have on
Monday through Canopy in a partnership
with connect public schools. So, if you
are free on Monday 4 p.m. uh and this
also goes to the district staff. If
you're free and you want to come, uh
please do. Uh it would be awesome to
have you there and we would love to uh
show you also uh the students the
students work through this planting. So,
if you're available, please join us.
Thank you.
All right. Thank you, Jose. And I
believe the retreat that you're
referring to is actually an open session
study session. Yeah. So, it's an it's an
open meeting study session. Yeah.
sure that everyone's here. Okay. Our
next speaker is uh Carmen
Flores. Keep
excellencia.
Um
excellencia master.
Gracias.
Good afternoon. My name is Carmen. I am
a mom of two girls at Keep
Excellencia and I would like it if you
could choose Cape Excellencia as one of
the schools of as part of the master
plan facilities because when I pick him
up sometimes they tell me that
uh mainly the hot is coming the heat and
the water they say they feel the water
is a little bit like uh dirty and so I
feel like if you could support keep
excellencia with uh budget part of the
budget. So just like any other schools
other kids and my kids there are a lot
of kids at keep excellencia and so
that's why I would love it if you could
support keep excellencia don't leave it
out of the
the support that you will give uh soon.
Thank you very much.
Thank you Carmen. Uh, our next speaker
is Juan Bale.
Excellenc playground.
Thank you. Thank you all of you for
because you are the ones that have the
information and enough education. I
understand that each uh school has a
plan to improve. So I want to
congratulate Hoover that is better and I
would love it if you could also consider
Kip Ex excellencia just like the other
uh my peers said the challenges in the
classroom. I'm glad that you're going to
fix it. And the area of the uh
playground area also, there are
complaints from my daughters, but us as
parents, we do our best at home, but in
regards to school, you are the ones in
charge, the ones that know and have
better architects who can modify the
needs and also the little I understood
from the students here, I know that we
also need to improve so the kids have
better studies to move forward. Thank
you very much.
Thank you. Uh our next speaker is uh I
think it's Chris Terry.
Hi. I'm a parent of a first grader at
Orion and also an incoming
kindergartener. And just first I want to
say thank you to all the trustees for
being here and for giving so much of
your time and and your life to make our
school district happen. I really
appreciate that. It shows you guys have
a lot of heart. Um, so the way I think
of a public school is a public school is
something that should level the playing
field um, for all the students who come
into that. And I want to say I think
this district does a really good job of
that. We have not one but actually two
language immersion programs. We have a
fantastic ESL program. We have
Northstar. We have lots of support for
kids who have IEPs. You guys, you do an
amazing job and you do it on a
shoestring budget. So, thank you for
that. Um what I'm here to talk about
though in particular is advanced um
advanced classes like how do we deal
with the kids who are capable of more
advanced coursework at a younger age.
So, one thing we have which I think is
really good is Northstar parents who get
into that program whose kids do well on
the test in second grade, you know, and
any second grader can do poorly on a
test, any second grader, you know, can
have a bad day. But for kids who, you
know, pass the test and then who
furthermore get into the lottery, um, we
have a fantastic program that they can
go through through 8ighth grade, which
is great. um for kids who either aren't
in our district or who maybe have a bad
day in second grade or for who they
don't get into the lottery, you know,
they don't get go to Northstar. The
question is what are the options for
them? And I think at a lot of the uh
elementary schools, we do fairly well.
We have the wind blocks. Um we have the
two language immersion programs. We have
many ways for them to be challenged. But
once we get to middle school, those
kids, unless they're going to Clifford,
they're going to all end up at Kennedy.
So the question is what can we do to
support those kids who are a little bit
more advanced and who maybe who and you
know another reason they might not go to
Northstar is maybe their parents don't
choose to take put them there because
they would rather have them be in you
know rather than being in a school for
the gifted they want them to be in a
school for everybody. That's something
that a lot of us do value. Um, so the
question is what do we do when they get
to Kennedy? And one thing we can do in
order to help parents to support them in
that decision to go to Kennedy is to
provide as many advanced classes as the
kids are ready for. And again, this is
about leveling the playing field.
Because one thing that I have to tell
you is that a lot of parents who might
not choose to go to Northstar, they
might choose to keep their kids in Orion
or in whatever school, but what they do
is they will take them and they will put
them in tutoring. The number of kids
that I see in my child's class who are
in tutoring that the parents are paying,
you know, hundreds of dollars a month
for is is just absolutely incredible.
So, not all kids can afford that. So,
when you get to Kennedy, what I would
like to see is every child to have the
same opportunity to have the advanced
classes that maybe their peers have been
doing because their parents are funding
it to the tune of a 100red 200 in the
case of some after school programs $700
a month is what these parents are
already playing. So, let's paying. So,
let's go to Kennedy. Let's let them have
the chance to have advanced math, to
have advanced English, to have whatever
it is that might be helpful for them.
So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you,
Chris. Appreciate hearing your
comments. We're online. Let me
All right. On Zoom, uh I believe we have
Pam Barish.
I'm here. Can you hear me? We can. Yes.
Good evening, Dr. Baker, district
employees, community members, and
schoolboard members. Some of you had the
pleasure of seeing me in my classroom
the week before spring break. For the
rest of you, a bit of introduction. My
name is Pam Barish, Mrs. B, and I have
been a kindergarten teacher in room 1 at
Henry Ford for 23 years. I have been an
employee of RCSD for 28 years and wait
for it, I have taught kindergarten and
only kindergarten for 34 years. I love
what I do and I only speak up when I am
really concerned and that is why I'm
speaking tonight. I want to bring two
things to your attention. The first was
sent to you in an email last week. Thank
you David Lee for responding to me. Are
you familiar with Mumchants? Mum and
Chance was founded in 1972 and is a
Swiss mask theater troop who perform in
a surreal mask and proprioriented style.
The group became popular for its play
with bizarre masks for and forms,
specifically large tubular attachments.
I bring this up because it is exactly
what came to mind when my staff saw the
air conditioning units you installed
last week at Ford. The enormous white
tubes coming out of the units and our
windows are exactly like something used
on a theatrical stage. Here's the thing.
M and Shant is a live theater experience
on stage. We are classrooms meant to be
conducive to learning. Huge boxes the
size of the top of my refrigerator at
home with tubes the size of something
you might see on a stage that make an
ungodly amount of noise turn our
classrooms into theater, not a space for
learning. They are disrupting our
environments and in some cases blocking
sinks, cabinets, and the big screen
monitors that we use and are creating a
possible workers comp injury situation
for teachers when they need to climb on
furniture to get to the second set of
windows necessary to put the tubing out.
This is not conducive to a classroom. I
ask you if we are live theater meant for
entertainment or education at its best.
You all voted for these band-aids. I
invite you to come out to any of the
schools that got them over spring break
and ask yourself if your child could
learn with this apparatus in the
classroom or if you would put it in your
house to cool it. There has been there
has to be a better band-aid that is
suitable and conducive for classrooms
and learning. The mark was definitely
missed here. You were trying to do us
and our students a favor, but you
neglected to ask the actual teachers if
they were the right band-aid for the
situation. The other thing I would like
to bring to your attention is that for
the first time in many years,
kindergarten teachers will not be given
the time and ability to assess our kids
at the beginning of the school year next
year. For years, we have been able to
take minimum days for the first 10 days
of school to get to know our youngest
learners. These days have been taken
away from us. And you have scheduled
goal setting conferences for the end of
September. I will finish this on another
speaker card another time. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Thank you, Mrs. B, and
also for sharing the pictures of the air
conditioning units. So, Rick, Rick, I
Yeah, I know you sent out a
communication. Do you want to just um
briefly give an update?
Yeah. So, as he said, these were
temporary measures put in and we're
still working with the contractors, our
bond program managers to uh I'll say
properly install them in the best
locations possible in the classrooms.
We'll be working with our HVAC
contractors that are brought on board
for our summer HVAC projects to have a
more permanent usable temporary uh
venting and usage of these units as we
work to get in permanent HVAC in all
classrooms in the district.
[Music]
Okay. So, I was at um Henry Ford. No,
no, no. Got my screws. That was Henry
Ford. I was at Orion today, so I did see
one. There's one in the staff room. They
are large. They are large. Um, they do
there's going to be some piping that's
going to go outside, but it's not going
to go outside like was depicted in the
picture that we saw earlier. So, there's
we're still working on that. Um,
remember these are 900 square ft that we
have to cool. So, we're not going to be
able to put one of those little guys
that's goes into the window and it's
going to make everybody nice and cool
and happy during the springtime and
during the summer. So, I I hope that
people will give us grace and move
forward. Let us move forward with this
and let it
work. That's all I have to
say.
Surprise. All right. Well, thank you for
all our speakers. Um, several topics uh
shared with the board. So, appreciate
everyone taking the time to come and uh
speak with us.
[Music]
Oh.
Um yeah, I mean we
can are you uh are you trying to speak?
We can we can take one more speaker.
Yes, thank you. Can you hear me? Yes, we
can. All right, we'll start the timer.
Thank you. Um, thank you to
Superintendent Baker, schoolboard
trustees, and principal Leonardo. Um,
thanks for taking the time to hear
comments from the community this
evening. My name is May and I have a
daughter in Orion Elementary in third
grade. I'm a professional mathematician,
a graduate of public schools in
California, and the daughter of a public
school math educator. I'm here because I
care deeply about the next generation of
problem solvers and leaders who will
tackle complex global challenges. I
would like to advocate for policy
changes that offer increased access to
advanced curriculum at the middle school
level.
From an equity perspective, accelerated
programs play a vital role in addressing
educational
disparities. Without advanced programs,
families with financial means will seek
enrichment opportunities outside the
public school system, while those
without resources
cannot. Students who lack access to
advanced classes in middle school may
not be able to take AP or IB courses
later in high
school. And when only the children of
families with financial resources are
gaining preparation for degrees and jobs
of the future, public education is
failing in a primary duty. The
differentiated courses in public schools
help level this playing field as
discussed in by a previous speaker by
providing advanced educational
opportunities to high ability students
regardless of their so socioeconomic
background.
It ensures that all students, including
underrepresented students and those
often described at as at promise, have
their potential recognized and
nurtured. Rather than eliminate the
advanced courses, we should be applying
thoughtfulness in how to design these
courses, increase access to them, and
enable more students the opportunity to
grow, achieve, and excel. Thank you very
much for taking my comments.
Thank you, May. And that brings us to
the end of our uh open public comment
section. Um and so then we will move on
to our discussion item which is 9.1 the
board of trustees graduation and
promotion assignments for the 2425
school year. Unless you have anything to
say I think we can just start our
discussion and we all have the schedule.
I know there's one person with a
conflict um and we'll be out of town. Is
anybody else um unavailable during this
time? Um,
okay. Then next question. Did any was
anybody did anybody want to change their
current assignments? Um, and in case it
wasn't clear, we need to pick up three
more because one one trustee won't be in
town. I have a couple suggestions, but
it was based around just um assuming
that everybody was going to keep their
current
assignments. Um, okay. So, let's go
through uh the three the three
graduations are going to be Cloud on
June 5th at 6 PM, um Taft on June 6th at
9:00 a.m. and Kennedy Middle School uh
on the 6th at 6 p.m. Um and so for Cloud
on the 5th, um I could take it uh I
could head there right after Roosevelt.
I might be a little late or I could
attend Roosevelt and leave a little bit
early. Um it should be a quick
graduation. It's very close. Um I'm I'm
absolutely happy happy to do that. Um
Cloud is an eighth grade one. So this is
a graduation. Um our fifth graders uh we
our promotion so this will be a last
time to celebrate the eighth graders
before they move on to the next school
district. Um Cecilia could also take it
but she'd be coming from Hoover which is
kind of far um to be able to guarantee
and like right at the time where traffic
is kind of bad. Um David Lee, you and I
are actually kind of in the same
situation just before that. Uh, I'm at
Roosevelt. You're at um I forget
Clifford. Yeah. So, we're like
equidistance. And Jen, you can't do it.
You're you're out of the question. Yeah.
You're you're over at MIT already. So,
I'd say David is between you and me. I'm
I mean e I'm happy to take it. Uh unless
you were I would say stay No. No.
Clifford's not um K through8. No. Yeah.
Okay. So, we're in the exact same
situation. Um I mean, but I'm I'm happy
to take it.
How long do these typically go for? 45
minutes for Yeah, 45 minutes for now. Be
close for either one of us. Yeah, it's
going to be close for either one of us.
Why don't I just take it and I can I can
run over. I've I've done the cadence
before, so I kind of know like how the
gist of what's going to be happening.
So, okay. Okay.
Um Okay. So now the next day, uh
actually David Lee and I are both
totally free the next day if we wanted
to. Um for Taft, uh I think you know
Sicilian Jen have hard conflicts. So
David, it's you or me. Okay, great.
Yeah, Taff will be a good one. Um and
then last year at Taft, every student
said what they wanted to be when they
grew up as they came up. It was really
neat to hear all the different like
careers and aspirations that the kids
had. Um, okay. So then we have Kennedy
Middle School at 6
PM. Uh, and let me see. I already did
the math for this. Any of us actually,
we're all free at 6 p.m. So, um, I mean,
I'll offer myself. I'm happy to do it.
Um, but if anybody wanted to go to the
middle school one, it's one of the
larger graduations. Um, it's probably
the largest graduation. So, uh, and it
it fills, um, there's a bunch of people
out there watching it and a lot of, uh,
celebration and and noise and stuff that
goes on. So, it's pretty fun.
Oh, Cecilia, it's
you. Okay. Did you get all those
changes? Yes. Okay. Micah Cloud, uh,
Trusty Leah, and Trusty Marquez Kennedy.
any any other changes?
My formal gratitude to all of you.
Sorry, I have a pre-booked conference
overlapping that we're a team. We uh you
know, we we work as a team and we make
sure things get done. Try and get your
back.
All right. Um anything else to discuss?
I think we got through that pretty
quickly. Okay, cool. Then we can move on
to the consent agenda. Uh, we'll approve
the consent items in one motion. Uh, can
I get a motion to approve them? Move to
approve the consent items. Is there a
second?
Second. All in favor? I. Great. Okay.
Now we'll move on to action items. And
this is the approval of the school plans
for student achievement, the SIPASS. And
this is for Orion, Henry Ford, Taft, and
Garfield Elementary
School. I proceed.
you guys have received some updates that
we haven't updated into the system and
so we'll be updating some new um
information as well. Um but these were
currently approved by all of the um the
school site councils already and so
there these are the first of the four
but we will be updating the information
that I shared with you guys on the
attendance rate that we're adding that I
sent out. So those are just currently
we're waiting in the process for that to
be once that is done then we'll upload
those and share those with you. Um but
all that information has been shared
with principles and have that was
information they shared with their
school site councils already. Um but
just want to make sure that we can
approve these first four and then the
next round will be coming at the next
meeting.
Uh before we take action on it, do any
does anyone have questions or comments
that they'd like to ask? Jen.
Yeah, I know we get the school reports
annually, but do we see any other
progress reports against the SIPs for
the schools?
You saying during the dur school year?
Um, we haven't typically. We usually do
those when we do the board
presentations. That's usually when they
um when schools report out. That's how
they will share their information.
Typically, do we have access to the
other school site council meeting notes
and stuff? If I know at the school site
councils they um oh this meeting notes
from each school site council um those
would be on um they would be on the on
their own agenda items probably that
they're posted wherever the schools post
them. So are you asking for those agenda
items that are at each of the other
school site councils when they go you
can access them because I know at the
site councils they do review kind of
their progress towards their sips. Sure
we can we can do that. we have no
problem getting the information or the
slide decks that are presented at that
time at the school sites. I just need to
make myself a note so that they do it
and and yeah because they do update them
periodically whatever
information whatever um so that's the
one thing it's ongoing because it's
throughout the year so they may be doing
surveys and they're updating those
surveys with their so that would be an
some some principles have an ongoing
document where they just keep adding um
but yeah we could definitely ask them to
share those
uh just a if clarification of my
understanding. So these are kind of the
initial cut but then they're going to be
updates that happen for example with uh
once we have the the CASP scores then
that's going to change things. Um and
then that the we're kind of approving
the same anyway but then those will be
updated kind of without further action
by the board. Is that correct? those are
updated just yearly because that's
whenever we get it. But the school site
councils see all that data um at their
school site council meeting. So when the
those scores come in and they're public
were allowed to show them to the public
and then that's when they um school site
councils typically in the fall will go
over all that data with their schools.
So principles meet with their teachers
and then they bring it up they show show
it at school site council. So that's
where that information becomes um part
of it. But in the SIPA itself, we don't
update it because it's yearly. So it'll
go into our yearly update for next year.
Okay. Is there is there will there get
kind of to Jen's point, will we be able
to how will we know what to look for
once? We do a presentation. So Jenny
once we have all the a Jenny will then
share the district data
um on the cast the calf scores as a
districtwide. Got it. Okay. Um, yeah,
that will be in the fall. Okay. I think
broadly, and I know we've had
communications about this, uh, I think
it'd be helpful just to make sure that
we have clarity on what the school
specific goals are and especially how
they align to the LCAP goals. Uh,
that'll help I think at least just track
the progress and make sure that they're
all tied together. But I don't think
that's a that sounds like that's already
in place, but just wanted to put that
out there. Um, the only other question I
had was the SIP. Are these going to be
uploaded to the website as well? Not
this version. So what we'll do is we
make want to make sure that all the DTS
that the slide deck that I shared that
that is updated and DTS that's in
progress right now they haven't up once
that's uploaded then we'll upload the
new one with all the correct
information. Okay cool. Um but for the
other all the other sites we're hoping
all of that will be ready to go on the
when they come to get ratified. Sure.
Thank you. Approved.
Any other questions?
questions.
No. Um, you know, I just want to
acknowledge the school leaders, the
staff, the families, you know, who
contributed to the SIPS. Um, you know,
they're thoughtful. They're they're data
driven. I do agree with Trusty Lee that
it's really important that we get the
SIPs and the LCAP data metrics kind of
aligned so that we all are talking the
same language from the board to the um
you know to the district administration
to site administrators and and hopefully
families. Um I think that's important.
Um but I'm grateful for the work. Um,
and you know, I also want to reflect
that, you know, we're not, you know, the
district's not standing still and and
we've seen some really major shifts in
the last year that I just wanted to I
think deserve recognition and reading
through the SIP has kind of reminded me
of that. The new math curriculum, we're
in our second year of that. Um, you
know, that's laying a foundation for
better outcomes. Um, the district
adopted ELD curriculum. Um, I don't know
if that's the first time it's been done
for a long for a long time. First time.
Yeah. And then the professional
development that came along with it. Um
getting TCM and focusing on grades three
through five. Uh that was great. Um the
leadership team, you know, you're you're
uh you're spending time in classrooms.
Um you know, walkaround management kind
of thing. Um and modeling right
alongside principles. Um that's a you
know, cultural reset and I think we
should really be proud of that. Um and
you know, we're beginning to ensure that
students aren't walking into the state
test cold. um you know or or or the
ELPAC holds and you know not not
teaching to the test but but preparing
them so that they uh they know what what
you know and showing them what they let
them have the opportunity to really show
what they want to know. Um but you know
the SIP is you know we do do need to
have clarity here right because this
despite all this good work um you know
we're still seeing patterns that should
kind of alarm us um you know across all
four of these SIPs long-term English
learners remain a major issue um and
that's true even at Orion where you know
100% of the fifth grade ELS were els um
and that was just that was kind of that
was kind of surprising to me um you know
math and ELA proficiency rates
particularly ELS and students with
disabilities they're I mean, they're
still in the single digits at some of
the schools. Um, and NPSS and SEAL
supports are really growing. Um, but you
know, chronic absenteeism still remains
high. We're making progress. We're
definitely seeing that one come down and
we hear all the school reports just how
much intense effort is being put in
there. Um, but it's something that we
have to watch about it. Um, you know, we
do reading through the SIPAS, it sort of
highlighted the um the difference in
amount of resources at different
schools. Um, and you know, are we really
making sure that schools are that we're
really, you know, we we talk about
really wanting to make sure that we're
equity focused on resource and funding,
but are we doing the right thing? That
we stepping back and measuring that and
putting that stuff in there. Um, so, you
know, it's like I want to celebrate the
changes that are underway and I think we
should celebrate the changes underway,
but we need to leverage them uh to
really make sure that we can get
everything to go further. Um, one thing
that I was kind of looking around for, I
was kept thinking as we were reading
this, like, man, we need a strategy for
long-term English learners. Like, we
really need to have a strategic plan for
this. Turns out we do. Um, they do.
There's one. Yeah, Google. Google found
it for me. Um, I actually think it was
reviewed in a DAC uh recently because
Google found those notes for me, too.
Um,
and and so uh yeah, it found it for me.
uh it looked like it had been reviewed
annually by the board until 2019 like
the fall of 2019. we all know what
happened in the winter of 2020. um and
said that but it looked you know I
didn't read the whole thing but uh I
thought you know wish and all of a
sudden you will find right uh so that
that might be something that's worth uh
coming back and re-evaluating is like
what are we really going to do how are
we going to make this strategic shift to
be able to go there so that was kind of
cool look we're turning a corner uh it's
awesome so we just need to you know keep
going ahead with urgency so I
appreciated the sipsas and sort of all
the alignment that's going on
can I just ask a clarifying question
both uh Jennifer and David
Lee. So when you're looking at the data
and you're look you want to find how we
analyze it more so than what you just
hear when you get a board report. So
what you're looking for is what they're
doing at the school sites. and how Anna
presented how Anna spoke previously was
that they do this often at the school
sites and I know those of you that are
at school sites and on school site
council know that the principles go
through the data sometimes every other
month depending on their meetings and
depending on what they're focusing on.
So you want to see the agenda item along
with the discussion along with the
slides that went with it.
like I know like a rolling document.
Yeah. Yeah.
And at other sites what you'll see is
you'll see you'll see um uh a data sheet
where it has you know students that it
doesn't have their names on it because
they're sharing it with parents and so
forth and you'll see what's going on. Is
that something that if that site does
something like that you want to see?
I think it would be good to see it at a
more regular cadence than once once a
year when the schools come to the board,
right? And share kind of a data dump
with us. Got it. Yeah, I think that's
the same with my I don't I I don't have
a specific view and I'm not trying to
create any more work for people other
than like whatever is there. I'm happy
to just kind of take a look for the same
reason of from a government's
perspective. I think it's very helpful
to just get a sense of like where we
are. Just got checks here and there. So,
and I I don't know what's presented, but
not not more work, just more like
sharing because we're also asking for
data when we meet with them. And so, the
how they present their data to us may be
a bit different on how they're
presenting it to their parent group
because we ask every time we're out
there with meeting with principles as we
go through our rounds, we're asking for
data and next steps and challenges. We
get a lot with challenges, believe me.
Um, but that that we have that we we get
that on a regular basis. That might be
sufficient for what I would be looking
for if that I don't know if that's short
easily sharable. Right. I just need to
make sure that there's no kids names on
anything like that.
Yeah. Okay. That's good. Thank you. Any
other questions, comments? Otherwise, we
can uh look for a motion to approve
these four sips. It's an action item.
Yeah, it is.
Can I get a motion to approve them? I'll
move to approve these forces. Seconded.
All in favor? I I.
All right. Uh, we're on to board and
superintendent reports.
Who would like to start first? I will
start because I don't have anything.
I was a chaperon for the fourth grade
Orion field trip. um the only male
shaperon with 13 fourth grade boys uh
overnight uh which was exciting.
Everyone survived. Some people even got
some sleep. Um we we learned a lot about
the history of California including the
Miwok which were here before. Yeah.
Yeah. Good stuff.
Um I went to visit Ford. Um just typical
site trip. Few notes that I took down uh
that I think other trustees have also
noticed.
um consistent theme IEPs are taking up a
lot of time just that's a thing that I
think a lot of schools are dealing with
um but it sounds like the district is
you know being mindful and supportive so
that's a plus for that uh I did have a
conversation with the steam teacher who
is very um and passionate just about
making sure that the district continues
to support that as a priority obviously
we are working with limited resources
but you know wanted to call out that
that is something that um seems to be
valuable uh transportation um again very
grateful that that is problem that was
quickly identified in the district's
working to solve. Um obviously faster is
better but like great that um that's
something that's being given attention.
Um and then more just generally I saw a
lot of engagement in many different
forms among the students and the staff
like and with each other. So that was
great to see. It's always good to have
like a a very tangibly healthy uh
environment. Um and then I got to walk
around with the two Jennifers and I was
just particularly impressed with um
their dedication to coaching. So we'd
walk around and lots of positive things
but then like immediately it's like okay
here's the things that I think we should
talk about next which was um it was
great and healthy right it was it wasn't
like oh this is wrong but it was just
like how do we keep on improving um so I
was just very impressed with that
mindset so I'm very grateful that we
have um school leaders that are taking
that mindset
um separately I think uh Mike and I were
at the first and Dr. Baker at the first
parcel tax planning district measure
planning session.
Um was more just about process uh as an
introduction and then uh that's all I
have.
Um Mike and I were at career day at
Kennedy uh last week. Bless you. Right
before spring break. They had a lot
going on that day there. Um, the
community school coordinator, Cynthia,
did a really good job. I was well
organized. I liked the variety of kind
of careers that were being exposed for
the kids were being exposed to. Um, I
don't know if the other 8th
grade schools are kind of doing
something like that. I not this year.
Not this year. Um, how it started was
last year when B. Williams was there and
she brought that forward and Cynthia did
a great job also uh during that period.
And I know that uh Bee was trying to get
it organized at her school, but she has
a brand new person in in that position
at her site. So, she figured she'll go
next year. But she started that last
year when she started with us. She
actually did the career portion for the
girls and it was done at Red Morton and
then the other VP uh who is now working
in a different district. Um what's his
name? The one that went to South City.
Jared Jared he did for the boys there at
Kennedy. So yeah. So great to hear I
didn't get to make it that it turn and
Dr. Rodriguez um hosted us and her
Mandarin is quite good. side
note. And yeah, she she just walked us
around. And then right after that, I
went to the Orion field day. It was nice
to walk around, actually leave the
campus and have the kids walk the loop
around school. It felt safe and traffic
was okay. Good.
Yeah, I got covered for those mind. But
it was neat. It was neat neat to meet
Dr. Rodriguez uh because I think she
just started this year. So that was nice
to get to spend some time walking
around. Um and Richie was there uh he
was presenting for culinary. Yeah. Our
careers in uh culinary career. So that
was fun. Good.
Um again with the proposal of the parcel
tax that that meeting uh and then I had
a meeting today with Orion in regarding
it moving forward. So something will be
coming to you the next board meeting. I
think we are um on our way. Uh a lot of
discussion and so forth but
uh I'll bring the information to you on
the May 14th 12th. 14th 14th. Okay.
14th. Okay. Perfect. That's our perfect.
So we'll hear.
Great. All right. Moving on. For
information, we have the quarterly
Williams report for the third quarter.
It's January through March. Um anyone
have questions on it? There are no
reports. Okay. Unlike this previous um
uh correspondence, um I'll just call out
the ones I know about. We had the um uh
email that they discussed as public
comment for the accelerated learning
policy revisions. Um I received just
some media requests. Um but these were
in response to public comment. So Jorge
responded to it. Since we hadn't
discussed them as a board, I didn't want
to discuss.
I'll just add on the first topic on the
advanced course request. I think we also
received an email um uh from PTO
president for from Kennedy just
responding that there's other groups
that have different sets of priorities.
Something so uh something that the the
board I'm sure is is weighing in
consideration of their overall
question.
Right. Other business and suggested
items for future
agenda. I wanted to ask about two from
things that we had started I think in
the fall of talking about um but or even
last year but the I know the dyslexia
screener decision is coming up. It's
coming. It's coming and the next meeting
is
it's been already. We're gonna we're
going to prepare to present in May. In
May. and that because that needs to be
selected by the end of the year, right?
Yeah. So, it's been selected. We just
have to do the presentation and then get
board approved. All right. Awesome. Um
and then the cell phone policy is
correct. Yeah. Right. That's the next
one that needs to be worked on and that
has to be worked on. Um I have all the
information that I received from the
consultants that were working with the
county office of education and what
that's going to take. And I'm going to
uh probably do this one a bit
differently because I'm going to do an
English component. I'm going to do a
Spanish component. Uh the Spanish I'm
going to
ask colleague over here to help me out
with that. Uh we have like our normal
Spanish advisory group, but I'm this
group is going to be larger than that
normally and so that we can get through
this and have it done hopefully by the
end of this school year. So there's two
pathways. I'm going to talk to Wendy
when she comes back. The English and the
Spanish and they both will merge. and
the requirements to have it done by the
end of next school year, but we want to
get it in place now
seems come back.
Great. Those are the two.
We've obviously heard a lot of
commentary about acceleration um and you
had some comments on both sides of that.
There's clearly some nuance here. I'm
wondering like uh would it be
appropriate for us to have a study
session on on that? Do we want to refer
it to policy committee to go and have a
discussion about what we would like?
Yeah. If we want changes or not to the
board's policy on acceleration. Well,
for well, that's one of the I think the
the questions right now that came from
this group is to look at the policy. So,
it would go to policy committee first
and then we can give policy committee
the information and the data that we
have garnered so far. Cool. How's that?
I think that makes sense for to start
policy committee. How?
I I agree. The only thing and I I've
mentioned this before I think it would
be helpful to get a fuller set of the
research um kind of really understand
the issue. I know that there's selected
research that's been provided. I think
the other side so it' be good to have
the full like the gardener center is
looking for me as I
and then they'll get it analyze it and
give us a
Yeah. And I I I trust that the members
of the policy committee will be looking
for that kind of data. But should
definitely ask for it as well. If uh
yeah, because I think he's um thinking
about it as
well. Cool. I think we're on to is it
I'm guessing it's adjournment, but I
can't remember. Oh, no. We did board
meeting calendar. No changes to the
calendar. Um we're going to move on to
adjournment. Uh can I get a motion to I
move we adjurnn and second.
All right. All in favor? I I Okay.
802. Haven't been to one of those in a
long time.