It's 7 o'clock. All right, [sighs]
Evelyn. Roll call, please.
>> Trusty Welds
>> here.
>> Trusty Lee
>> here.
>> Trusty King
>> here.
>> Vice President Marcus
>> here.
>> President Wake weekly,
>> present. Welcome everyone to the public
session for the January 14th, 2026
meeting of the Redwood City School
Board. Ben Benos. Our interpreter will
now give instructions for how to access
translation.
No.
No. No.
Gracias.
>> Thank you so much. The board encourages
all members of the public to participate
and to provide comment on issues of
concern regardless of whether or not
they're on the agenda. If you're here in
person, please fill out a speaker card.
You don't have to give your legal name,
but if you'd like us for us to follow up
with you, please consider adding contact
information. If you're online with Zoom,
you can just raise your hand and we'll
call on you based on your Zoom name. If
you're speaking on a topic that's on the
agenda, you'll be called at the time
that the item is being considered. If
it's not on the agenda, we will call you
in the public comment portion near the
beginning of our meeting. To be fair to
all speakers, comment is limited to
three minutes and unless otherwise
noted, you'll see a countdown clock at
the front of the podium.
Next item is a report out from closed
session. The board met in closed session
to conference with labor negotiators
pursuant to government code 54957
decimal 6. No action was taken. And now
for my formal welcome. Hey everybody,
happy new year. Um, and also happy World
Logic Day. Welcome to our first regular
meeting of 2026. I'm excited to be here
as your board president. As first time
president, I hope you'll be patient as I
learn to discharge these duties. My
welcomes will normally be pretty short,
but I wanted to take this opportunity in
my first meeting just to make a uh few
quick remarks. There's a couple changes
you'll notice in this meeting. We'll be
starting with a student-led pledge of
allegiance. We'll rotate having a
student from each school site come lead
the pledge. It's a nice reme reminder
that e- plurabus unim out of many
diverse backgrounds, cultures, beliefs,
and histories. We can form one nation
and that we're stronger together than
apart. Speaking of which, happy
ratification day. Today is also the day
the Treaty of Paris was ratified that
ended the Revolutionary War and
recognized our independence as a
country. You'll also notice that we're
introducing a standing window at regular
meetings for our unions to address the
board. Our labor unions are how
basically everything gets done in this
district and they are critical partners
and allies in this job. We need to make
sure we hear from them beyond just
negotiations to understand how they're
doing and how we can be good teammates
in educating our children and having a
well-run school system. Finally, you may
notice that we're going to be shortening
presentations to allow more time for
discussion, dialogue, and debate. It's
clear from data that a school board that
spends the majority of its time focused
on deliberating student achievement
outperforms districts that do not. That
also means that instead of just Q&A, you
should expect real dialogue and even
disagreement here. The five of us bring
richly different backgrounds, histories,
and perspectives to this table, and it's
important that we hear from everyone to
get to the best outcomes. It's my intent
for our discussions to be vibrant,
professional, and respectful. I deep I
feel honored to share the deis with such
a thoughtful group. I want to share with
you that my hope that honest dialogue
about the things that are working and
not will not be seen as attack on anyone
or attempt to find scapegoats. We
recognize that everyone who is here from
parents to admins to classifides to
certificated is here for the students
works really hard and is trying to do
the right thing. In industry we have a
concept of a blameless postmortem. If
something goes really wrong we don't
look for who screwed up. We look for
ways in which the system didn't work as
intended and how we as a team can
identify and resolve the root causes
that led to the failure. I'm hoping we
can engage in that here too and have
tough conversations that we need to
have. Same side of the table aligned on
goal number one, kids to excel at
school. And with that, I'd like to kick
our meeting off with our first
studentled pledge of allegiance.
Yeah. Face the flag. Yeah.
I pledge my allegiance to thei to the
flag of the United States of America and
to the republic which it stands nation
and
liberty and justice for all.
>> Thank you so much. That was great.
All right. And with that now, uh, do we
have any proposed changes to the agenda?
>> Nope. Seeing that, does anyone want to
move to approve the agenda?
>> I move to approve the agenda.
>> We'll second.
>> All those in favor? I. All right. The
agenda passes. Okay. And now we will
open things to public comment. Do we
have any commenters? We have speaker
card here. All right.
All right. And I will call to the stand
Megan O'Reilly Green. Make a public
comment.
May I approach um
for you guys?
Good boy.
>> For those online, we're being given a
copy of Unbalanced, memoir of an
immigrant math teacher.
>> Okay.
Hello.
Thank you all for everything that you do
and being our wonderful board member,
superintendent, and administrative team.
And thank you for letting me address you
tonight. My name is Megan. I'm a mother
of four children in the Mandarin
immersion program at Orion.
Um, and I wanted to share that last
night I heard Dr. Baker stated that he
would try to find funding for a
mandaring curriculum under a special
funer for next year, but expressed
discomfort with the lack of ownership
over a curriculum um or the ability to
train staff from within district
employees and that this would be the
final year of hiring our curriculum
consultant Pearl. Um and I heard you say
in the future that Pearl's contract
would for curriculum will not be paid
for. So, for clarity, so they're all on
the same page, I wanted to provide the
curriculum quote for Orion for next year
and also the actual contract for
services for Kennedy from last year,
just so make sure we're all on the same
page with what we're talking about if
you guys want to look at it now. Um, so
her contract covers Mandarin books. It
covers Mandarin writing assessment
rubrics, writing assessment and data
analysis,
um, kindergarten or as well as what's
most important, I think, is professional
development for teachers in years 1 to
three, so they can learn how to actually
implement this, you know, incredibly
difficult, challenging,
um, curriculum for Mandarin immersion.
Um, for Kennedy, it covers basic
translations of social studies
curriculum. And right now, there's no
um, Mandarin anchor books for this that
subject to Kennedy. and the benchmark
targets for Mandarin language arts have
not been determined or solidified. Um,
so for me it's difficult to understand
why the district thinks that Mandarin
immersion parents should, if we want a
curriculum, if we want books, if we
should be paying for that ourselves, um,
you know, to pay for the teacher
training and the curriculum. And my
biggest concern about this communication
last night is that in total we've raised
$24,000 for the parcel tax initiative.
So, from where I'm standing with what
I've heard last night, it's difficult
for me to see a reason for parents not
to prioritize contributing to their
school site budgets next year instead of
leveraging donations to help fund a
district that doesn't appear to respect
or prioritize their students basic
needs. Um, so I I was confused and hurt
to hear those comments last night.
However, I do realize that it's coming
from a deficit of knowledge about a
program, how it's developed, and how it
works. There is no way that I can share
with you all of the information I think
that you need to have in order to make a
good decision about this in three
minutes. So, I'm formally requesting
that you I'm going to send you some
emails. Please read them. I'm going to
send you some videos. Please watch them.
And most importantly, please invite
Winnie and Pearl to present at a meeting
justification for why Pearl is an
integral part of our team. As a parent,
I can tell you that we're repeatedly
told each year that Pearl is an
essential team member for Redwood City
Mandarin immersion and that her yearly
curriculum presentation is one of the
most important meetings that our
administrative team asks us to attend as
parents. So having this disconnect
between what we are told that we need to
exist and what the district thinks is
appropriate has had an impact on
parents. Um I would like to see that
board time dedicated to speaking with
Owen and Elva as well as Pearl and
establishing a shared understanding of
what basic and essential services for
Mandarin immersion are and why. Um, and
thank you so much for your time tonight.
I appreciate it.
>> Thank you so much, Megan.
I don't see any other public comment. No
hands raised on Zoom. And so with that,
I would now like to invite our labor
union reps uh up.
[clears throat]
Hello, my name is Brena Gear. I'm the
president of Redwood City Teachers
Association and a sixth grade science
and ELA teacher at McKinley Middle
School. I want to thank the board,
especially President Weekly, for
providing RCTA a dedicated speaking slot
moving forward. It reflects a commitment
to transparency and collaboration, and
we appreciate that. Tonight, I'm
speaking about the initial budget cut
proposal presented last night. Many
parents spoke powerfully about the
importance of student support services,
and I want to be clear that I fully
agree. Mental health services and
academic interventions are critical as
students continue to navigate the after
effects of the pandemic, the evolving
role of AI, and the broader social
instability in our country. Nothing I
say tonight is meant to diminish the
importance of those supports. However, I
was deeply concerned to see that 17
teaching positions may not be refilled
and that the district is planning to
meet class- size maximums. Teachers are
the most important resource that the
district has in regards to student
outcomes and performance. Support
services are critical and necessary, but
they are layered on top of the
foundation that the everyday classroom
teacher works to build. Teachers are
often first responders for our students.
We teach content, create safe spaces,
and support students socially and
emotionally. Teachers are the core
pillar for youth development in the
classroom, and when classrooms are
pushed to their maximum capacity, our
ability to do this crucial role and be
these pillars for children is stretched
thin. I want to be very clear. Reducing
teachers and upping class sizes is
impacting classrooms. Every additional
student in a class means less time for
every student in that class.
Individualized attention, planning, and
feedback becomes increasingly difficult,
especially when teachers are asked to
cover multiple subjects or grade levels
without protected daily planning time.
In a 50-minute class with 35 students,
there is less than two minutes per
student. It's a common argument that not
all students need the same level of
support. But teachers believe that all
students, low, middle, and high
performing, deserve time, attention, and
support. They are evolving human beings
and not numbers on a spreadsheet. Larger
class sizes make providing quality
support to every child simply
impossible. Let me give one concrete
example of many. One of my classes has
31 students. According to recent I Ready
data, 15 or two or more grade levels
behind and nine or three or more grade
levels behind. When anxiety, emotional
dysregulation, and behavioral needs are
also present, I ask you to realistically
consider how much targeted support is
possible in that environment. These are
the challenges that teachers across the
district face every single day. You
spoke last night about declining
enrollment. I urge the board to consider
retaining teachers so class sizes can
decrease naturally. I urge parents to
advocate for for smaller class sizes as
a true district priority. Every
reduction in class size means more time,
more highle support, and better results
for students. Please prioritize the most
impactful investment you can make. Stop
cutting teaching positions to inflate
class sizes and show through action that
students and teachers are the priority
in this district. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Brandon.
>> Maria,
>> that was her first time talking in front
of public. I think she did a terrific
job.
Hi, I'm Maria Stockton and you know me
uh classified
uh [clears throat]
csea president. So, uh I'm not going to
be as eloquent because with the last two
speakers, they kind of went fast and it
kind of got me like this and I'm not one
to write down a lot. So, I'm just going
to talk from the cuff and I know three
minutes. Yes, I've [laughter] got to
learn that. Yeah. So, a couple of
things. First off, um, a couple of years
ago, Wendy, I don't remember how many
years ago, our instructional assistants
that work with special ed changed their
title to PAR educators.
Then they went for a salary increase. I
will tell you when I do orientations, we
have many of the people who apply here
for those positions because the
surrounding si cities and school
districts are looking up to Redwood City
and our par educators. So I think it was
great that the district approved that
and we are getting more qualified
people. I'd like to say that when
teachers get training in curriculum, you
should have your par educator
instructional system right there because
if you're learning that 1 + 3 is four
and I'm teaching you 2 plus 2 is four.
We are not working together. So you
should really consider having your
instructional assistants getting trained
along with teachers. Uh the other thing
is uh I agree with teachers uh they're
overwhelmed with everything. One thing
that bothers me is we had training and
we were told about kids being sick. Now
unless the kids gets throws up twice and
really throws up I can't send them home.
Unless their temperature is over 100.4 I
can't send them home. If they say they
have a sore throat I can't send them
home. We have been given strict
guidelines I guess from Sonteo and our
teachers keep I send a kid back to class
they don't want that sick kid in they
send them back to me. It's back and
forth. We were told we told them when we
were trained what if the teacher keeps
on sending the kid back. What do we do?
You just have them talk to the school
nurse. You know, I as a parent, if my
kid has a 99.9 temperature and doesn't
feel well, I want to be called and I
want my kid to come home. I know it's
important for them to attend school. But
you're getting a petri dish of all kind
of stuff that's going back into the
classrooms, not only breathing on each
other, but also putting the teachers in
jeopardy of catching something to where
they can't come and carefully and com
comfortably do their job. So, I'd really
like that considered. I see 23 seconds.
So, I'm going to go a little bit faster.
I'm going to take a little personal time
for myself. So, after many years with
this district and everybody asking me,
I'm going to quel it now that tomorrow
you will receive my retirement.
>> Thank you.
>> Thank you for your service and thank you
for your comments.
Well, we everybody and administration
are asking, so it's time.
>> All right. Congratulations on your
retirement.
>> Sorry.
>> All right. Next up, we have uh is 10.1.
We have our health and wellness program
report.
We have a team
>> travel in a pack. [laughter]
>> So, good evening board members,
Superintendent Baker as well as our
executive cabinet. I am Patrina Red. I'm
the director of health and wellness. And
with me, I have my team that I would
like to introduce themselves.
>> Hi, I'm Lisa Cox. I'm one of the lead
district nurses.
I'm Phoebe Reed Chambers. I'm the other
lead district nurse.
>> And I'm Ann Lucero. I'm a TOSA teaching
puberty talk and teen talk.
>> So tonight our full presentation can be
found on the agenda, but we want to
discuss our key takeaways that were part
of our presentation.
So the goals of our health and wellness
department was established by the
Sequoia Healthcare District which meets
our state mandates and we are here to
provide comprehensive support to
students, improve student outcomes as
well as prepare staff for medical
emergencies.
And we definitely like to collaborate
with our families, our community
agencies as well as medical providers.
Next slide.
Very tall. So, the nurse and health
services, the core services that we do,
um, a lot of people thinks it's ice and
band-aids, but we implement and maintain
the school health program. Um, by
supporting students well-being. Um, if
they can't see, they can't hear, they
don't feel good, they're not going to
learn, they're not going to participate
in their education. Um, also we carry
out health rellated tasks in accordance
with state and district policies. Um, we
a lot of this is first aid, medical
medication administration, G ttube
feeding. There's a lot of thing that
goes on with what the the nurses do when
we're there. Um, and I want to be clear
with the medical services for nurses. We
don't diagnose, we assess. So, we will
walk down and ask the children how they
feel, what's going on, and we'll go from
there. Um, and make referrals as
necessary or call parents.
All right. So, I am going to go over a
snapshot view of a school nurse day and
no two days alike or each day is unique
for each nurse. So, we could start out
the morning doing mundane tasks such as
getting the office ready, restocking
supplies, making follow-up phone calls
to parents, and then in the middle of
that, we get a phone call from another
site that there's an emergency. So, the
nurse just needs to always be prepared
for a day like that. Um, we also focus
on students visiting the office
throughout the day. Could be for
injuries, illness, helping them manage
chronic health conditions such as
asthma, diabetes. And we attend IEPs and
504s and depending on the school site,
small, large, um, it could be five per
week or more. and also at the beginning
of the school year we attend more and as
well at the end of the school year.
So this is just a summary of with the
nurses. Um we have four RNs in the
district and two office LVNs and we have
uh I don't even I want to say five
onetoone RNs. So to ensure equitable
services um and availability across the
district, each RN is responsible for
three school sites, one large and one
and two small. So our students that we
can see or that we assist is anywhere
from 1500 to 2,000 per nurse. Um so we
organize the schedule to where we are
usually at a large school one to two
days a week depending on the school and
the need. And then the LVN's also, since
there's two, are responsible for six
school sites to assist the nurse when
we're not there. I want to point out
when we're not at a school site, we are
always on call for them to call us at
any point for an emergency. We can walk
them through a verbal assessment. We can
also drive over to assist or we will
identify who is the closest nurse,
whether it's another RN or an LVN to
have them go to that school site and
assist if we're not close enough. Um,
and then always have them call 911 if
that is an urgent situation.
All right. So, some key takeaways for
the nurses. Our vaccination um records
have I mean rates, my bad have um
increased because now we require that
all newly enrolled student need to
provide proof of being up to date with
their vaccinations. We have a few
exceptions. Student who enroll under the
Mckin Vento or have an IEP. those
students are given a little bit more
time as required by the state. And also
our referrals for statemandated vision
and hearing screening have declined
because the nurses lately we've been
using a spot screener to do vision
screening and that is a little bit more
accurate. And also for students who are
non-speaking or non-verbal or students
who don't know their letters um that or
shapes when we use a traditional chart
we could use the spot screener and they
don't have to know letters. Um for herin
the partner that we use to do our
mandated herin screening they have
changed how they're doing that. In the
past, they had an RV that is outfitted
to be used and they would screen
multiple students at a time. Past two
years, they have two audiometrists who
they're screening one student at a time
and we've seen that it's more accurate
and that has helped where we're
referring less. Um, also we have Vision
to Learn, which is a nonprofit, who come
in and they do screenings and follow-up
eye exams and give free glasses to
students in our title one schools. And
they do a great job with that. But our
team is looking for we're actively
looking for resources to help families
in non-title one schools who might need
assistance obtaining classes and eye
exams. So, if you guys know of anything,
let us know.
And I just want to add on that the
services that our nurses provide
actually helps to prevent those barriers
um from students that are um struggling
to meet their academic needs. And so,
we're able to identify the needs of our
students and get them what they need to
be able to see, to do their work, to be
more engaged in the classroom. So, I'm
glad that our nurses are able to provide
that um that service.
And then as far as our uh dental data
shows um that we continue to have a in
rise in tooth decay over the years in
addition to the followup that Sun
Reese's our partner who conducts the
screening and our enrollment department
does. Uh we will finally finally be
partnering with an agency that will
provide dental care for our students and
that will begin this month and that
dental care is exceeding what we were
planning to do last year which fell
through not to any fault of ours but um
due to some compliance issues but um our
partner will be Dr. Dr. Ruben Serell and
he'll be providing dental um exams,
fluoride varnishes, sealants, basic
cleanings, and referrals to local
providers. So, we're using Garfield as a
pilot and then we hope to expand after
that.
In addition to that, um we do help to
support behavior and our LCAP has funded
uh board certified behavior analysts as
well as behavior technicians in our
district and that helps to meet the goal
one of the LCAP um and that's providing
uh support to our students and our BCBA
and behavior technician focuses on tier
2 and tier three intervention.
and they provide targeted um
interventions and capacity building of
our teachers, consultations with our
teachers as well as evidence-based
interventions as well as modeling these
interventions within the classroom. And
so due to that I feel that we have seen
a decline and our uh our data shows that
there's a decline in individual student
referrals that are being made as well as
classroom referrals. And also I want to
give credit to PBIS that's being
implemented throughout our district at
all of our school sites. So a lot of our
tier one interventions are being put in
place that's helping to reduce our
behavioral referrals. And um I do want
to note though that the referrals that
we are seeing, especially at our lower
grade levels, there's an intensity of
behavior supports um that are needed for
our younger students. And so um our
behavior technicians and our BCBA are
working with those classes and students
that are impacted with that need.
And so we have many board policies that
fall within our department and one of
them is our comprehensive sexual
education which Ann Lucero will describe
a little bit about her work with
students.
>> So I um go into fifth and seventh grade
classrooms to use the health connected
curriculum that we've adopted. Um it's
CHIA um compliant. So, the California
Healthy Youth Act, um, we are unable to
pass out the information due to
copyright issues. The health curriculum
has not allowed us to pass that out. Um,
but we do have the curriculum on site
here at the district office for parents
to look at as well. I've just found a
contact at Health Connected that we can
contact if parents can't make it at this
time. Um, parents do have a right to opt
out of part or all of the curriculum. Um
uh and we
either send the students depending upon
the teacher's choice send the students
to another classroom to participate or
do an independent study there or at some
schools they go to the office or library
to work there as well. Um and then this
the SLC classes if there's a large group
I will go in to their class and and
teach that. If it's a smaller group at a
school, they will come in and mainstream
in that class that I'm teaching in at
that time. And that's how we do it.
So on this slide, I want to give credit
to the Sequoia Healthcare District. Um,
a big part of the work that we do is
impacted by the funding um through their
healthy start initiative grant which
allows us to do the work that we do. um
in addition to the goals that our
district has for us as well. So um it
helps provide that financial stability
within the district for us um within our
positions as well as contract services
with the districts and also funding
partnerships with our community
organization.
Um our department goal is to serve
everyone and bridge the gaps for
families uh that face disparities. We
want to dis um decrease the amount of
time students are missing in class and
provide preventative in-house services.
And next slide.
And we want to continue to work to
support uh with our behavioral supports
and continue to implement PBIS
districtwide to decrease behavior and
increase student engagement. And we all
want to provide highly qualified staff
um to establish
essential um whole school, whole
community and whole child wellness. I
know that our data is not perfect
because we don't have a data program
that we use and so a lot of this is you
know hand figure data. So, we do need to
look into a data program that um could
help uh synthesize some of the data that
we have. And then finally, I know it's
not on my report and that is really my
bad, but I want to acknowledge um my
health and wellness committee and that
is composed of our board members,
district staff, um our parents, our
community partners, and we also have
five amazing students that are part of
that committee. Um, Ben, Dorian,
Gabriella, Hannah, Matiel, and Will. You
may not be watching, but your parents
might be. And so, I I just want to just
thank that partnership with our students
so that they can give a voice to the
work that we do. That's any question.
Thank you so much for the presentation.
Um, folks, do you have questions?
>> Thank you. Yeah, thanks for the
presentation. Uh that was great,
Patrina. Really, really appreciate it.
Ann and Phoebe and Lisa, uh thanks for
being here and really the whole health
and wellness team. Um it's, you know,
the stuff the work that you're doing is
just really, it's like core to our
mission, right? If the students aren't
healthy, they can't learn. If health is
a barrier for families, they can't get
their kids to school. Um so, it's just
so critical. Uh what an amazing amount
of impact. uh it didn't really come
through in the abbreviated presentation,
but the the entire presentation that's
available on the agenda just shows the
number of screenings, identifications,
the follow through to make sure that
they're getting like glasses for example
or follow through with the um you know
with the dental care. Uh just a lot lots
and lots of impact. Um I know it's a big
workload like 2,000 students is crazy,
but um it's a you know it's it's really
impactful work. So it's great to see
everything that's um you know that
you're able to put in there. And then of
course uh the partnerships are so
strategic uh really here. Um it's just
remarkable to see like VTL vision
supports, the immunization clinics, the
Stanford Teen Van, um HCA of course says
now Dr. Sell uh that sounds like a great
addition that's coming on. Looking
forward to hear about that. Um Sanonteo
Public Health and of course our
collaboration with the Sequoia
Healthcare District. Uh and all the
funding that they bring in. Um that's
that's just amazing. Um
uh and then yeah, you already you
addressed thanks for addressing my one
question which was I had noticed that
the hearing referrals had gone down and
so I was just kind of curious what was
behind that and it sounds like it's just
a higher fidelity uh screening now so
it's fewer false positives which is good
to see. So yeah, I love it. Um great
work. Uh tons of impact to the students
and families. Uh so thanks so much for
everything that you do.
Um, Mike, this is great. Mike uh says
all this stuff first now. Um,
>> but I echo all of the sentiments. Um, I
had a a few several questions that I
asked and really appreciate uh you
answering them in advance. A lot of them
frankly were just me not understanding
the program and now I have better sense
of it as well as I think a lot of what
you addressed. Um, couple things that uh
just to call out. One was just general I
I think our district as a whole always
talks about equity and so a lot of my
questions were just centered around that
to ensure that all the services that are
provided are done through an equitable
nature and it's great to hear all they
are right that like we think about the
workload we think about the students and
the distribution and always um putting
students first to ensure that there's
even if it's on call that there's um a
resource um available so really
appreciated that and then to Mike's
point uh and to the broader point of um
board discussions and district
situation. It's it's just so interesting
to I don't I don't think I had a a good
understanding of this beforehand and I
suspect a lot of um our families don't
either but just the complexity of uh how
a lot of our things get funded um and
really appreciate health district I mean
there's so many things that we are doing
um with kind of sushing and duct tape
funding to make it all work but I really
appreciate um obviously what you guys do
um but also our partners in it um a
couple things. Well, one thing is one
one question I did ask was about um
vision and if there's a situation where
there's a student who might need classes
because they're screened um but it's not
one of the title one schools and
therefore they don't have it. Uh it
sounds like there it it could be
possible um just because we have limited
resources but uh I was very glad to hear
that this is also something that your
team is well aware of and really working
actively to ensure that we are
minimizing or eliminating those
circumstances. I think that uh come
comes through with all the work that you
guys do. So I really appreciate it. The
one thing uh the one question that I'll
ask and is a little bit counterintuitive
to where we are, but I think it's
important is um obviously we we have
funding constraints right now. If we if
in a magical world we did not have those
constraints,
what could we possibly do to even boost
the services that we provide? Uh and I
asked that in the context of um I think
we should always have an eye toward uh
what we could do if possible and then if
we can work our way there but we have to
know what the vision is. So I'll put
that to you.
>> Off the top of my head, the first thing
that I thought of is a nurse that's at
Hoover School all the time cuz that's
one of our schools that's high acuity.
like they have students come into the
office probably I don't know 80% of the
day for the nurse spends with students
um and also
that when the nurse isn't there it's
interrupting the office staff cuz then
when the nurse isn't there they're
attending to the student so that's one
thing and then the other thing that I
thought about is a nurse specifically
for the preschool program That's um the
SLC preschool program because they it's
a continuous enrollment. So as soon as
the student turns three, then they can
enroll. And so the nurse has to and go
over to the preschool, we do like an
intake assessment and then we have like
many we have a premeating and an IEP and
follow up with parents and writing care
plans. And before we had because the
preschool was is at Taft, the nurse at
Taft was the one that was doing most of
it. But she was saying, "I have an IEP.
I have an IEP." And we're like, "Well,
how many IEPs do you have?" And when she
explained to us what was going on now,
we rotate, but if we can have a nurse
part-time, the minimum for the
preschool, that would be helpful, too.
Go ahead, Lisa. No, my other thing would
be um that we notice is the non-title
school, non-title one schools to have
the vision uh for glasses. There are a
lot of students that transfer into those
schools that are also at a disparity
that can't afford to get that kind of
thing. So, when they do fail, we don't
have a way to assist them. Um I
shouldn't say that we do have way to try
and assist them. And most of the time we
can get that covered, but there are a
lot of students that may not be able to
get that. we can only use that resource.
One that we've been that I've been using
for my schools um uh is the Lions Clubs
and we all do, but I've been reaching
out to the Lions Club for a lot of my
students and they've been fantastic at
helping us, but they only have so much
money as [laughter] well. I can't send
all of my students that need it. Um so
that's the other thing I would say if we
could some way other than VTL because
they only do title one schools. That
would be fantastic because there's four
schools in our district that don't get
covered by them.
And and just to add, anytime we receive
other grants, we have received grants
from the Lucero Foundation. We try to
hold on to that money so that way when
we do have those needs, we're able to
use it for those purposes.
And I would like to plug that if we are
living in a world where we have all the
money, I suggest that we would get um
anatomy models of the reproductive
systems so that it wasn't just so tech
heavy and look at it on on a flat piece
of paper but actually have the model in
front of us um and a computer as opposed
to a Chromebook for the teacher myself
so that when there are tech issues we
can plug into um uh
air not air tame the other
the other one that I can't even plug
into, so I haven't even learned the name
of it. Um, that [laughter]
>> HDMI.
>> Yeah,
>> that's it. That's all of our requests.
>> Thanks. That's very helpful. Thank you.
>> I'll make a request on your guys's
behalf. [laughter]
U No, thank you very much. And um the
kids on the call last night or two
nights ago, um you sent them home with
homework. they came back, it had really
thoughtful responses. Um, but one of
them did bring up that the counselors at
their school site were pretty loaded.
Um, and you know, they want to just be
able to stop by. There's a sign on the
door or something. You know, they're
they're in something else. So, I wonder,
do we keep track of kind of the overload
that's not kind of being addressed at
school sites or is that
>> Yes. So, our mental health counselor
collects all the data from the school
sites. And so, within the month of
February, we're going to start having
discussions um with our principles as
they're doing their budget planning. So,
we could discuss what the needs are for
counselors based off of the data from
this year to make sure that we're able
to appropriately assign counselors for
next year's school year. Um, and we also
look at the funding from LCAP, the
funding coming in from Sequoia
Healthcare District and the
contributions the school sites make so
that way we can maybe so that way we can
address those needs.
>> Yeah. I mean, it was good to hear from
the kids that they felt comfortable that
they knew they had these resources, but
hopefully they're more available to them
if with the need. Um, I had one one
question though about Dr. Sorl for the
dental um exams. Is that going to be
happening on site at our field or?
>> Yes. So, this is one that the parents
have to give consent for. Um, Sun
Reese's is um parents opt out if they
just don't want the screening, but
because this involves treatments, the
parents have to opt in. So, um we will
be sending out permission slips. Um from
what we've heard from other programs,
typically about 40% of parents um submit
the permission slips will find out this
is our first goaround and so we'll need
to um Dr. Charelle has already attended
the capacito um at Garfield. So that way
parents are aware of what the service is
and then with the permission slips it
will describe the services. So the more
outreach we could do to parents and um
they can understand the better we'll be
able to service um our students and Dr.
Charelle um unlike Sun Reese's he will
be providing uh services to all of our
school sites and not just our title ones
and so we do um try to order it based
off of need and what we see as part of
our data results from our dental with
the students that have the most urgent
needs. And so he'll be um supporting
those school sites first.
>> Great.
>> Thank you.
>> Um I don't have any questions. Just
obviously thank you for everything that
you guys do. Um again, we're talking
1,500 2,000 students and everything
going from one school site to the other.
Um just so happy for all of you and
hopefully your wishes will come true at
one point. [laughter] Um but yeah, just
want to tell you thank you so much for
um everything that you guys did.
>> Thank you.
>> Really appreciate all your effort to
attend to the health of our students. So
thank you for that. Um thank you for the
presentation as well. Um I learned a lot
from it. I also learned a bunch from the
back and forth that we had in advance of
the meeting. So thank you. I I know that
my comments are sometimes volumous, but
uh I appreciated your your replies
there. It was great to learn that we've
got AEDs at every school site, for
instance. It's not something that I knew
going into this. And so that's wonderful
to hear. I recently got my first aid AED
certification myself. Um very cool to
hear about the Garfield dental pilot.
You know, that that I've been uh hoping
that we could make some forward progress
on that front. It sounds like you we had
some setbacks, but now we're making some
forward progress. That sounds
delightful. Um
really neat that we're doing these
screenings. uh at the title one schools
for for vision. Uh I think a lot of
members of the public may not realize
the degree to which children get
diagnosed with learning deficiencies and
really it's just a pair of glasses is
sufficient to resolve the problem. Um
and so it can be just an incredibly
straightforward very cost-effective
intervention. Uh I I feel the passion
for getting that rolled out at every
school in the district. Uh, and I would
love to find a way to cheerlead making
that happen because again the data is
really clear, very inexpensive
intervention, very effective. Um, so
just I I I love that I don't need to
preach to you. You all are are fired up
about that already as well. Um,
so
one thing that I I I want to figure out
is with the decline in student referrals
and for for behavior um just making sure
that we've got the right data there,
right? um that that we're actually
collecting all those referrals and that
they're they're getting logged
appropriately. Do we do we do some like
double-checking or audits of that just
because it could be easy to paint a
picture saying like, well, we'll just
not log those kind of referrals and then
things things look good, but um it's
important for us to be able to see the
data to know like what's working, what's
not, so we can lean in. I'm just
wondering what what can we do there? So
there's um we have our staff fill out a
Google form whenever they request a
service. So that's one form of data, but
then I then at the time I'm um doing
these reports, I review the case load
with our BCBA because he's the one
that's working with these kids. And when
I find that he um there's no referral
for a particular student, then we go
back and ask the school site to submit a
referral. Um so we have the individual
referrals which may be for one
particular student, but then we also
have classroom referrals. And so you may
have a classroom, for example, we met
today and there's a classroom that has
four students in that classroom that
he's servicing. And so it's impactful
because
it's not just the individual students.
So technically, yes, there are more
individual students being served.
There's sometimes we have students that
may have like
10 12 students in the classroom, almost
half of the classroom that has behavior
needs. And so, you know, we have many of
our teachers having to um request
support because it's beyond just
classroom management. is how can we
support individually these students? And
at that time sometimes we have to bring
in the behavior technicians in order to
help
>> support those needs because without the
behavior technician then the teacher may
have kids running out of the classroom
that they can't support all by
themselves. And so all that to say is
that yeah, the data can be a little
skewed depending on how it looks. Um
because there are more students that be
are being served when you look at the
classroom, but we may have less
classroom referrals. That doesn't mean
that there's less students being served.
It just means that, you know, maybe say
at Roosevelt, they no longer need as
many classroom supports as maybe TAP
does, but you know, we're still serving
the same amount of students or even
more. Thank you. Um, one question that I
had going on to the like physical
education slides, we do these um, PE
tests, right, to to assess the fitness
of our children and we report out in the
Sarkcs the percentage of children that
participated in the tests. But nowhere,
as far as I know, do does the board or
members of the public actually discern
uh, the output of [clears throat] those
tests. Um, so I think there's a very
straightforward question like how fit
are our kids? do we have a problem there
and are should we be looking at uh
policy changes or other things a as a
board to address our kids fitness or not
and we're we're a little bit running
blind there um just to not have any of
the data about uh student fitness that
we had before the pandemic and now we
just don't have so I want to call that
out and what do we do about that
>> so I think at the time of COVID um is
when they stopped doing the pass or fail
with the tests Um, and it also got rid
of really the body shaming um, by
identifying students who have passed or
failed the test. So, with our PE Plus
programs and with our middle school PE
teachers in our district, their focus
are on one getting the students
healthier than when they first began.
Um, so those that are like for example
our PE+ program, they are they assess
students in the fall and in the spring
and their goal is for students to
improve 20% in the five areas than what
they did at the beginning of the school
year. So that we are on the road um to
being healthier. And then with our
middle school PE teachers, their goal is
one to work on those five areas
throughout the school year so that um
our students are meeting that healthy
fit zone. And so unfortunately because
the state doesn't require that we, you
know, do a pass or fail, we're just
reporting that the students took the
test. But the teachers have individual
results. Middle school teachers can
identify um where their students are and
some actually um have their students
prepare goals um based off of their
results so that they can get to a more
fit, you know, zone. Even if they are
considered fit, they may want to
continue doing, you know, get more fit.
>> Yeah. Yeah. So, um, that's our goal as a
district is just to be more healthier,
but, you know, not to, you know, tell a
student they're doing good or bad. We
just want to see them excel and be able
to do more or at least, you know, fit
within that zone.
>> Helping people improve is great and I
absolutely applaud those efforts. At at
the same time, I really would love to
know like what what is the degree of
urgency that we have to go and focus on
further investing in the health of our
kids. And it's not about shaming. It's
not about calling out individuals. It's
just population health. Like, do we have
a healthy population or not? And what
kind of interventions might be helpful
for further investing in the health of
our students? It's obviously not
something that we can resolve tonight,
but just like I I want to kind of note
for the record, I'm curious about this.
I would love for us to have some
population level health to be able to
answer how how healthy are kids and what
options do we have for further investing
in that
>> and we'll continue to look into that. Um
for example last year um nutrition was a
concern that came up in our classroom
and so with some of our partners they
were able to come in and do cooking
demonstration with our PE classes to
help them prepare fit meals. some of
them pro some of those programs due to
federal cuts are being eliminated. But,
you know, we're looking at what other
options can we do and partner up and
what kind of resources can we get from
the healthcare district, you know, to
bring in, you know, programs like that.
And so just to continue to grow our
curriculum, but we'll look at what other
options we can use to um maybe measure
the healthiness level of our students
and how to improve that.
>> Fantastic. Thank you so much. And the
final thing that I learned from our back
and forth uh was in a number of
surrounding areas there's been a
resurgence of of terrible diseases like
measles uh that were once thought
eradicated. And boy, it looks like uh
our population is very nicely vaccinated
against measles. So, thank you for all
your work you do to uh keep all of our
students safe and invest in their
health. Appreciate you.
>> Thank you. Our our team works really
hard with these immunizations. You don't
know how far we've come with this. So,
>> as a result, we don't have measles here.
So, thank you. Much appreciated.
[laughter]
>> Thank you,
>> Dr. Baker.
Patrina and the team. Um, Patrina, since
you have taken over the health
initiative for the district and also
become the director for the health and
wellness, since we have partnered with
Sequoia Healthc Care District, prior to
you coming on board, it was a real
different story. You have made
immense, immense progress on where we
are today. So, I want to thank you. I
want to thank the nurses. Um, Phoebe,
you are right. Hoover, when I was at
Hoover many years ago as the principal,
I had 900 kids. That included the
preschool because the preschool was part
of my population. There was a full-time
nurse there. There was a full-time
nurse. Um, but I was not the only school
with a full-time nurse then. So, just
for the board to know, every school had
a full-time nurse, no matter what size
you were. I wanted more, but the
superintendent said, "No, everybody gets
one." But um but but that's something
that I think the board should really
consider and look forward to and see how
we can provide that funding. I don't
know if Pamela is someone's ear I should
be talking to because Pamela is the
executive the CEO of Segoia Healthcare
District and Pamela and I kind of
started out together uh in the realm of
me being a superintendent and her being
the CEO and really um has helped us move
this program forward, work with you
nurses um in making the program that it
is today with your leadership.
Patrina, not the previous but yours. Um,
we've come a long way and for those
board members and I don't think Were you
on with the previous director we had or
not?
I don't think so. Right, Wendy? I don't
think any of these board members were
right.
>> I don't think so. I don't I I think um
>> it's nothing for you.
This is going on
>> right in the pandemic, right during the
pandemic. But it's just taken a total
turn for the best with what with what we
wanted for the district. Um
it took time and Pamela understood and
Pamela who is like I said the CEO helped
me get to that direction um to where we
are today with your leadership. So kudos
to you, kudo to the nurses where we are
today. The different types of programs,
the PE+, even though there is a portion
that we pay, the majority comes from the
Sequoia Healthcare District. And I think
we are the district that gets the most
dollars from the Sequoia Healthcare
District, if I'm not mistaken. Uh I I
know I and I and every time I go to
those meetings with Pamela and if Pamela
wants me there, I go because I don't
want us to lose any of the money. But
it's it's come a long way and um the
counseling piece also which they support
not our own counselors that are at the
school each day but the one life
counselors that we have at this point in
time. That's another piece that they
give us which is a real positive for our
students and for our uh staff that work
at the school sites. I just want to give
you kudos and I'm so grateful that
you're leading this program forward and
the nurses are with us moving it and you
correct about the measles because they
are on top of it. I remember come them
coming in these kids cannot come back to
school. You understand that right? No.
but they were out there making sure that
they got their vaccinations. So, thank
you all and Ann, thank you so much for
joining the team. Really appreciate it.
>> They'll be back.
>> Great. Thank you, Patrina.
>> Any other questions there? Thank you so
much. Appreciate you.
>> Thank you.
>> Next up, we have our presentation on
California Reading Literacy Project.
Curb.
>> All right. So tonight, uh, BA and Laura
from my staff will be presenting our
professional learning that we've been
doing, uh, this year.
>> There we go.
>> I'm Lao Lopez. Happy to be here today.
and I'm Brana Web. Also happy to be here
today. [laughter]
Um so we're going to talk to you a
little bit about our plan for developing
lit literacy for all our learners.
Um so this we're going to talk more
about a timeline in another slide, but I
keep dropping my pencil. I'm going to
ignore it and let it stay on the ground.
Um overall, uh as a district, we want
every student to succeed and part of
that is becoming skilled liter skilled
literates. Um and so we need to give our
teachers the best possible tools in
order for that to happen and that means
the best PD that we can provide. So
today, what we're going to talk about is
what we're learning, why we're learning
it. I'm going to add a little bit of who
we're learning it from because we
realized that we didn't add that very
much of that. um how teachers feel about
it and what happens next.
So
our why is
even a little more grounded than this
but the most recent iteration of our PV
training was around comprehension. Um
and we started this journey with
foundational skills training two years
ago. um which is one component of
literacy and we needed to add
comprehension to the mix because as you
can see here our baseline I already data
shows that this essential component of
literacy is has has really remained
pretty stagnant. So we need to continue
our journey of PD to include
comprehension. And then in addition, it
is clearly one of our LCAP goals that we
provide professional development and
coaching for all staff around our LPAC
um goal three of academics.
So as I mentioned before um we started
this journey um with our foundational
skills training from CRLP the California
reading and lit literature project. Um
literacy is a really complex skill that
involves many skills that are
intertwined into a larger skill.
um we you cannot train foundational
skills and comprehension together and do
it well. So we separated it and we
started with foundational skills because
it was a bigger need. We did not have
anything that fit um with that component
of literacy. So it made sense to start
there. Um
so we started with CRLP and with our
Hegger Heggert curriculum.
um two years ago trained all of our TK
through three teachers and provided
Heggerty uh foundational skills
curriculum for the English language K
through two and we provided apprenoair
uh foundational skills for the bilingual
and immersion K through two also two um
And
it's worth noting here that that
curriculum though went K through two. So
our current sixth, seventh, and eighth
graders did not benefit from that
curriculum. Um they they just they were
not it we hadn't adopted it yet. Um but
one of the outcomes of that in in be
partly because our teachers were so on
board and they came to us with the need
and understood that they needed it and
because our training was provided by
this organization that did it so well.
Um and because it has become such a
focus of the district to and the
administrators and the teachers to work
together to make sure that everything is
happening um the way it's supposed to.
we really are seeing very big gains in
in the foundational skills of our K-
through2 students. Um so in 2425 that
was kind of the maintenance year where
anybody who came onto the district was
given the training. Um and then the
practice let's let's get better at it
through practice. And then this year is
when we added in the comprehension
training for our 3 through eight
teachers and um in six through eight
specifically social science and science
and in three through five all teachers.
Uh this finished just last week.
So there are many things I personally
appreciate about going with K CRLP for
this training.
um they are out of the UC system. So
it's really sort of a threepronged
approach from them. One is that they are
clearly experts in literacy and and in
in learning how to read. They understand
the process of learning how to read.
They understand education because they
are the UC system and they're out of the
school of education. So they understand
all of the parts of what is it that we
do to make this work for teachers and to
work within instruction. And then
they're also a UC so they understand
research. And so they make sure
everything that they do is grounded in
all three areas of research, the
literacy, the education, and um and and
just the research on research. Um and so
these are their goals that they crafted
for their their um PD program. Um that
through the training teachers are going
to learn to plan with intention to
improve motivation for students to
scaffold rigorous texts. Whereas
practice oftentimes without this kind of
training is more to um simplify rigorous
texts so that students aren't asked to
be challenged when they read. This is
more about keeping the challenge and
making it accessible to students. Um,
aligning the the content with the
California frameworks, both ELA and EL
because again it's the UC system. So
they understand that we need to be part
of grounded in California. Um, and then
providing support so that students
across the spectrum can
uh access this text and teachers feel
that they have the tools to do that.
Then one really important part of the
CRLP shufflebine framework if uh this is
the framework that they use about
literacy where you can see on the left
is decoding which was the first training
that we did and on the right is
comprehension the same buckets that you
see in Scarboro's rope but this is
designed in a slightly different way and
enveloped by motivation because without
that idea of student motivation
uh the learning just doesn't take as
well. So they um they really
uh put that idea at the forefront in
their training and in their framework
and remind uh us about it and teachers
about it as much as they can
and again grounded in California,
grounded in the California ELA and EL
framework. So those are um at the
forefront of everything building that
bridge between what the state uh
frameworks are, what our curriculum is
and what works.
So um we know that in order for teachers
to successfully implement any new
learning um they need to have they need
to buy into the process and so we
periodically ask for feedback from them
in regards to the professional
development that we're offering them.
Here are just a few uh more recent
quotes from some of our teachers. Um
I'll read the first one. Uh one teacher
said um this was the best training I've
had. The framework is very well planned.
Um in general, our teachers feel that
the content that they received was
valuable. They feel that the quality of
the CRLP training has been um one of the
best that they've had in the past. We're
very confident that with this training
and the ongoing support and planning
sessions that we're providing uh we'll
give our teachers the practice that they
need to change their instructional
practices on a regular basis uh so as to
improve student achievement.
So um we want to tell you a little bit
about our progress so far. Um in
addition to our teachers participating
in this very comprehensive um training
around reading comprehension, there are
also things that we're doing in staff
development to support the work moving
forward. So one of those is that we um
are available to support teachers in the
planning of these instructional
practices. teachers uh learned about
this 10-step process which I'll tell you
a little bit about in a minute and
coaches are available to uh plan with
teachers every step of the way that is
in selecting the rigorous text in
analyzing that text in planning for the
implementation of these lessons we're
available to model lessons to co-e to
absor observe teachers and give feedback
um so that they can reflect and through
that refine their practice
In addition, uh we have created a bank
of resources that are available to
teachers on the staff development
website. These resources are constantly
being updated. So coaches constantly
often often being updated. Um coaches
along with teachers at all the sites are
working rigor rigorously to create these
lessons that are then shared across
sites. this work is going to continue um
the rest of the year and probably we're
still going to work on this next year
and even the one after that. Um and then
finally we know that in order for um
change to take place in the class in in
at the school sites leadership has to be
present as leadership has to be involved
and they have to uh be informed. So
principles met with our CRLP experts
where they too learned twice. Yeah.
where they two learned about the content
that teachers were going to be presented
with and they learned um strategies and
look fors in the classroom so that they
can also support us in um making changes
across the school sites.
So uh we mentioned this 10step
instructional flow. Um the reading
comprehension module was divided into um
sections. uh one day in August long ago
uh we learned about the before reading
part of the training and then just
recently we finished the during and
after reading sections. So we'll tell
you a little bit about the content that
teachers uh received in the before
reading um session that was the largest
module and the most important one
because that is where teachers learn to
make intentional decisions about the
text that they're engaging with. So you
just mentioned how we're moving away
from making text easier and simplifying
tasks for our students. Instead, we're
learning how to access core curriculum
with fidelity and making intentional
decisions of how we're going to present
that text to our students so that they
can engage with it more effectively. So,
here teachers learned how to analyze
text for the language demands. They
learned how to create clear objectives
and communicate them effectively to
students. And they also learned how to
select appropriate scaffolds to meet the
needs of multilingual learners as well
as students um with some reading
difficulties or our beginning readers.
Okay.
And
January 5th um our teachers just
completed the training and there we
learned about the next two parts of the
flow which are the during reading and
after reading sections. In the during
reading section, we learned how to um
guide our students to self-monitor as
they're engaging with the reading
because we are learning how to um hand
things off to them and how to um support
them in driving their own learning and
making decisions about um their
thinking. And in the after reading
section, um, teachers learn strategies
and routines to create meaningful and
engaging expressive tasks where students
can demonstrate what they learned and
what they took from the text through
oral um, compositions as well as written
um, prompts.
So looking ahead, the training is now
complete. um all our 35 teachers as well
as our content teachers in middle
schools uh received the training. But
the work is really just starting. Um now
that we have this knowledge um now is
when we need the opportunity to engage
in collaborative planning uh where we
can sit down um and really select text
that is rigorous and consider how we're
going to use this text in the classroom
to meet the needs of all our learners.
knowing that there are so many diversity
within it. Um we um also know that we
need to continue to build on our online
resources. Uh we want to make sure that
um we're working really hard to create
these lessons and so we want to share
them with all our teachers at all our
sites. So, not only posting them on our
website and sharing them out on our
newsletters, but also as we're going out
to the various sites, making sure that
teachers are aware and of these
resources and know where to find them.
And then, um, in the next couple of
months, we'll be making some decisions
around the calendar as to how we're
going to make sure that our teachers in
the fall are going to receive this
training and also support them. in
particular, we're talking about brand
new teachers and also receiving new
training. Um, so we'll be making a plan
to to move this this work forward.
>> So [laughter]
I think and our children are adorable.
>> Yes.
>> Um, so yeah, we really do believe in
this training. It is again literacy is
an incredibly complex skill and um
learning to teach it well is also
incredibly complex. Every time we've
been through this training at least
three times at this point and every time
I go I still learn something new and I
still learn something that I want to get
better at. Um and so uh it our teachers
are in the same boat that the more the
it learning to read we all you're all
readers right but you still are
challenged with some texts.
>> Um and teaching reading is the same way.
There is going to it's there's always
something more that we can do to to
refine and it's but it's exciting. It's
an exciting journey because um because
it is a really great way of teaching.
>> Absolutely.
>> Thank you.
>> Yeah.
Now we're any question
favorite part?
>> Maybe we will not call on Mike to start.
It's as brilliant as comments are.
>> Thank you Laura Banna. [laughter] Um I
didn't This sounds great. I I just had a
couple questions um on um the shared
resources that sounds are you guys the
ones uploading lesson plans or other
teachers are it's open to everybody? I
mean sounds like a great So we have a
crowdsourcing link and we have received
some resources from teachers. We've been
making both of them or some often we're
making them in um in collaborative
groups with teachers. Um but then yeah
we have received submissions from some
from from other teachers as well. It's
one
one one thing about teaching is that
crowdsourcing isn't part of our um
>> natural skill set.
>> Our natural skill set. [laughter]
Um
>> yeah, that's a good way of putting it.
So it that kind of um of of collecting
is is a learned skill for us. So, but
the more that people see that here is
something that we can all uh use, then
then the more likely people are to to
then share. And like I said, we have
received I've we received at least three
from teachers that were not even um
necessarily where I said, "Hey, I'm
looking over your shoulder and I really
want you to send that to me." It was it
was it was given free. So, hopefully
there will be more. Um and I think I I
failed to mention that the um the
resources that we are putting out there
are all using our um district adopted
curriculum because we want to make sure
that we are act using rigorous text at
the various grade levels. So that's also
um something that we're ensuring as we
are receiving these lessons as we're
going around the sites and collaborating
with teachers to create these lessons
we're ensuring that we're using adoptic
curriculum. And one thing that's and for
you just one thing that's really
exciting to me is that for example one
example of a VBO that we received was
not for our ELA curriculum but for our
science curriculum. So teachers are
transferring the idea to support reading
in other content areas too.
>> Cool. Um and the other question I had
was about coaching. I know we it's such
an important part of for the teachers
and for our students and we're always
kind of short on coaching. Do teachers
request or we choose teachers or how
does that?
>> Yes, please. [laughter]
>> So, we have coaching at designated sites
which are our target sites. So, for
Laura is at Hoover, Brana is at Taft
right now. Um, but Brana does wears many
hats. Um, and then we have so there our
targeted sites have an individualized
coaching, but there's always other sites
that may not have a coach and always
request support as well. And so one of
the things just so that you know that we
shared with principles just this Monday
as we were viewing is this takes time to
implement and so ted
planning time um throughout the year
whether that means release days or half
days. principles really need to be able
to be able to provide the teachers the
time built into the rest of this year.
And then I told them for next year as
well because this does take a lot of
time. We're not expecting that every
lesson's going to be this 10step, but
we're going to build their skill set so
that they begin this year so that then
there's a shared resource so not, you
know, we're not having to duplicate all
the efforts. Um, so it's a process that
we're going to go through this year and
next year. And given that everything
always kind of takes a little bit of
time, are we gonna focus on
comprehension again in the fall? Is that
>> we're we're not adding anymore. Uh I
think we really need to we've added I
mean we really have added three separate
curriculums in three years and the math,
right? So it's really four. That's a
lot. Our K5 teachers are stretched thin.
Um they have to plan for every single
subject, right? And so it's a lot when
you're trying to do all of this training
and trying to learn the curriculum at
the same time.
Um again our middle school they're you
know they have a little bit more
stability in their they h they they
haven't had any new curriculum so they
are taking it on a little different
mode. Um and again they have you know
they're able to focus on just one and I
can do that multiple times where in the
elementary it's not that way. So, we're
not adding any new initiatives next year
because to do this work, it takes time,
right? And we want our teachers to to
really uh embrace provide them the
opportunities to really plan for it so
that they can it becomes part of the
system of the way they teach. Um, and so
it's going to take some time for us to
really get this going. And we're hoping
that the in my know I heard uh from a
site that's not where we're not coaching
but the principal shared oh they're
doing this this way we went in and we
got to see this. So it's exciting that
now it's coming together that they're
starting to see this rolled out a little
bit more and putting an emphasis on it.
>> I have a second grader so the assessment
piece that got that girl got rolled in I
I think it's very helpful um for him to
see where he's at and kind of see that
pretty often. And so yes, I am also
getting stressed about third grade
comprehension, [laughter]
but thank you very much.
Thank you so much again for all that you
do. I [clears throat]
not necessarily have a question for you
guys. Um but maybe this would be more
for or maybe you guys in the long run
too, but more of a district question.
[clears throat]
Obviously, it's a new um strategies
um different things that the teachers
have to learn and then once they learn,
I'm just wondering in order for us to
get better in literacy in our district,
are we thinking or have we thought of
perhaps not necessarily teach the
parents, but provide them with the
strategies that they would be able to
help with those tools to help their
children at home. Um because we come
from different backgrounds and I and
I've said this before, but um I was
never told that I had to read. Um I
didn't grow up in this country until um
I I was a little older, but I only read
cuz I had to read workbooks and answer
questions. So I didn't read a book till
I was here in the seventh grade.
>> Um and it was very hard and I never
really had a book that I really loved
that I said, "Oh my god, I really want
to continue to read." Right? So, if we
are this type of parents that never
really
I [clears throat] don't want to say
learn to read because I mean I read um
it's hard for us to maybe teach our
kids, right? Or maybe it's harder for
our kids to see if we're not grabbing a
book just like other people do. Some of
our children might just be like, well, I
don't like to read, [clears throat]
right? And so, it's it's very different.
And when we come to discuss the
different backgrounds and the diversity
that our district has, I think in order
for us to help our kids, we have to
provide also those tools to the parents.
So maybe this would be kind of a future.
I mean, obviously I'm not an educator,
but I think I I would think that this
would help the future generations to
come um with some sort of um you know,
the strategies to help their children.
And hopefully we will see, you know,
perhaps it's going to be many years to
come, but to see that big progress that
our district needs for us to actually
see that kids are reading at grade level
once they get to third grade. So, it's a
great question because Katherine and I
have been and I have been talking about
um parent workshops and where do we need
to go with that because this reading is
big and we used to do it a lot many
years ago where we had parent I mean I
was at Hoover and we were doing parent
nights and we were doing all these
things parent nights math nights and I
did it at Taft and we sort of moved away
from it I think we and it's time for us
to come back because there is all the
strategies that these are learned are
really good strategies that all of us
learn the way they've compact impacted
into it. So, strategies that are not
really new, but they've been around, but
just the way they packaged it. Um, but I
do think it's time for us to at all our
sites to start doing some parent
education around reading and around math
because we got away from it. We used to
do it on a regular basis
>> all the time. our teachers were doing it
and our you know we would bring in and
um part of SEAL when we were doing SEAL
was parent education every right Laura
you were part of that at so it was part
of our goal we we moved away from it I
just pandemic it and you know we just
got to come back so yeah it's definitely
needed to do and we've been talking
about it um with Katherine like how do
we roll this out and I know um Garfield
has a system they've been doing and
teachers are doing some parent nights on
reading. I know they did one last year.
>> Um so we were just talking about how do
we do that to make sure that's happening
at Taft. Taft has an anar cornerstone
that's doing some things. Um Hoover is
going to start PK. So we are starting
now to begin to roll this out again. So
I think it's it's it's a good time.
>> Yeah. When you make it a family event,
then that also addresses the motivation
component of the framework and that uh
that supports the students knowing that
it's something that their families want
them to learn to do too. And then it's
fun.
>> And I'll just add that I mean a
challenge in the classrooms nowadays
certainly developing the joy for reading
uh because of the demands and the
expectations that our teachers sometimes
feel like they have. Uh but we what we
are finding and what we know is that
when ch children can read, they are more
likely to engage with it and to enjoy
what they're doing. And so as we're
getting better at uh developing their
ability to decode, we're seeing uh
children who are more um willing to go
to the library and select books um by
choice. And that's the exciting piece.
That's what we want to see happen.
>> Yeah. Thanks Laura and for the
presentation. Um, I remember a couple
years ago when we were talking about
bringing CRLP here and just the
enthusiasm for it and it's great to see
that sustained enthusiasm a couple years
into implementation. The work's so
clearly tied to goal three um and even
goal two. Uh, so it's really uh it's
just it's just important work there and
I really appreciate the focus on making
the complex texts accessible for, you
know, for all the learners including our
multilingual learners. Um, I just think
that that's uh, you know, it's really
important and the fact that you're
supporting it through coaching and
through the shared resources. Um, I did
have a question about the collaborative
planning time like do are we are we
providing I mean I know we could always
use more but like are we providing
enough to be able to implement this to
Fidelity like you know and coaching.
Yeah. I I just want to want to ask
because everything's going to be a
trade-off, right? though
>> the proof. It's we um
>> I think where there are sites I I do
want to say I think Taft I mean um I
know Taft has
>> and Hoover
>> Hoover and Garfield do have some
dedicated time where they're um Laura
can talk about what they're doing at
Hoover because she's very very well
verssed on Lupe has a whole
>> planning right it's amazing she
developed really about planning and
making sure teachers have this dedicated
time so she has all this built-in
dedicated time um you know and the guest
teach and know the guest teachers and
she's always hasing making sure teachers
have this at at Taff we have the
dedicated planning time as well and then
at Garfield we also have some dedicated
planning time that's happening around
this um topic of reading so those school
sites have some very specific targeted
days um that's not happening at all the
other sites we have some days at MIT
um not consistently, right? But we are
we're getting there. Um and then we have
some days I know Henry Ford, her and I
um Henry Ford starting to do those. So
it's a little by little we're trying to
really make sure that all our site our
target sites are or the majority of our
English learners are are h it is
happening, but other sites do have some
days. Um and some of them are using
their release days also with their guest
teachers. Um but we want to make it more
consistent and so really trying to
figure out that's why when we were
talking on Monday with the principles
making sure that as we're planning next
year that they are embedded some of
these collaborative a little bit more on
a regular basis because it it's needed
>> and Mike I think what you need to
understand and the board needs to
understand also is that site those sites
especially the Bayside sites do receive
the additional dollars federal dollars
which allows them to do the plan that
Lupe put together. She took her measure
U, she took her title one, she took her
RCF and she put those dollars to use in
that manner. So it was available. Now
when we talk about the other sites,
that's where you need to start thinking
how are we going to make that happen at
the other school sites that don't get
those additional dollars.
>> I I really would like to acknowledge
Lupe. I'm I'm the instructional coach
supporting Hoover and the elementary uh
team and she figured out a way to ensure
that all teachers K8 have a weekly
collaborative planning session. We have
never done something like that before.
So, it's been fantastic. Uh but to
answer your question, it is not enough.
um to be an elementary teacher teaching
five content areas when you're learning
something new and have to be in front of
children tomorrow in front of 25 to 30
students tomorrow it is a challenge so
while we have collaborative planning
sessions for example on developing the
10-step protocols to um work on
comprehension that means I didn't think
about math or I didn't prepare for
designated EL or am I ready for small
groupoup instruction, right? So,
elementary teachers have a major major
load um every single day. Um so, it is
not enough, but it is a great start. Um
so, at the very least, that's where we
should be at at all our school sites.
For sure.
>> Yeah, for sure. I mean, it definitely
sounds like even if there is time
provided, there's competition for that
time. And so, really have to take that
into consideration of what are the
competing competing goals and how to
>> Yeah.
>> how to help out with that. Uh, and then
I I think you said this like three times
through the presentation, but just to be
clear, this is this is rolled into like
the core curriculum, right? This isn't
like an additional thing on something
else on it. It's just part of the way
the way that you teach the core
curriculum uh and the instructional
strategies that you can employ. One of
the really great aspects of using CRLP
is that their training is curriculum
agnostic and it is specifically designed
to be used with whichever core
curriculum you use.
>> That's that's great. Thanks. Thanks
again for the presentation.
>> Um yeah, this is great. The concepts not
my my wheelhouse, but they all sound
great to me. They make sense. Sounds
like uh experts also seem to agree. So
that's that's awesome. Um, also I really
appreciate the thoughtful responses to
some of my question. Clearly there's a
lot of thought that went into this that
continues to go into it. So, uh, really
appreciate that there's a number, it
seems, in my head, it sounds like
there's a number of things that have to
go right. Um, right. There's
>> buyin from the teachers. So, it was
great to hear that like what we're
getting from feedback from teachers is
like, yes, this is good. We we like
this. Um
uh then also ultimately hopefully it's
going to trickle down like we should see
this in student outcomes like that's the
end goal that we're trying to get to. Um
totally and I think honest made this
very clear which I totally agree with
like we're not going to see results
immediately like that's just not does
make sense. Um, but I think there's what
I want to get a better sense of is
when when should we expect to know and
how should we expect to know whether or
not it's working. Um, and I think in
some of the responses like we talked I
think one of the responses was first
short term is ensuring fidelity to the
method right which totally makes sense.
I think looking at the time frame of how
this has been rolled out also been very
thoughtful but yeah we didn't do it to
every for every grade level every so um
my sense is that we we we should expect
to see student outcome improvements
within like the earlier grades first at
some point um but I'm not sure like you
tell me and then what is the time for
and this isn't like we need to do this
right now but more just like how when
when should we check and how should we
check
>> no I think we have complimentary answers
But you go ahead.
>> Go ahead.
>> Well, one of the really great components
again of using a UC training program is
that they um have shared with us sort of
the research behind evaluating a PD
program. Um the the leader on this is uh
profess I think I assume he's a
professor.
>> He is Thomas Gusky. Um and he talks
about five different levels. Um and the
first two levels are kind of more
immediately right after the training and
that's uh learning from the teachers
both uh how did they feel while they
were taking it and how much did they fel
feel that they learned. So that's really
what the where those quotes come in. So
that's taking care of that. Then the
next two levels, levels three and four
are more about implementation of is it
affecting the practice in the in the in
the instruction in the classrooms um
regularly and uh with fidelity and to
evaluate that you do the walkthroughs,
you do the discussions with the
teachers, you do the interviews um and
and and you do collaboration. And then
after you've done those four, then you
move on to step five, which is looking
at student outcomes um in case of
literacy, one issue that we have with
looking at student outcomes is again
because it's such a complicated um
skill. The you know the one the part of
the district where we're further along
on this is foundational skills, but that
doesn't show up in ESPback scores
because it's not a separate component on
ESPback. So um
it will mean that we have more students
who can decode which means that that it
should show up a little bit in their
comprehension scores. The comprehension
is so vast that the impact will you have
to really look for it basically and
again our current sixth, seventh and
eighth graders weren't
were not uh
here when we brought in the foundational
skills curriculum. Um, so like you say,
the earlier grades, if you're looking
specifically at ESPback scores, would be
more like third and fourth and fifth
grade. And we I believe we'll probably
start seeing some gains in third and
fourth grade. Not this year because this
is we just finished last week, but next
year um we should see some gains and
then it will get larger. Um, but another
thing that he says is don't just go by
state tests. You also want to go by the
local assessments, by the writing
samples, by uh listening to
collaborative conversations. There's so
many other things to look at in addition
to just state tests.
>> I I'll just say I'm not married to the
state tests either. Well, I just don't
know what the right answer is. And so it
sounds um I guess that's a question
maybe foundational skills are not a
specific segment for ESPback is would
that show up in like I Ready or
>> we do have a specific segment and and we
have shown growth in the in the phonics
portion of the beginning of the year. um
our beginning of the year phonics
assessment scores have have increased
steadily since uh 2022 or whatever.
Okay.
>> And that will we're trying to put that
into the midyear report so that you can
see um the change in the phonics from
where we started at least and then also
looking at where we're at just having
that baseline of reading comprehension.
Um, so Jenny's looking at because we're
currently doing I Ready. Um, we're and
we're trying to look at where we are
from the base to now to see where we're
at at least start and kick this off
where we're going.
>> Okay.
>> So, we're going to try to have a
baseline at least a graph on our midyear
report on both of those two phonics and
comprehension.
>> This is super helpful for me to
understand because the complexity of all
the tests and all the different pieces.
So, I'll just repeat what I think I
heard, which is if if we look at I
Ready, we we should expect to see growth
in specific areas for the earlier grades
and probably most prominently in terms
of growth at the priority schools
because that's where we we know that
there's been the most dedicated effort
and time to to that coaching. Is that
fair?
I know you could
>> I well I I you know I was looking at
data today and so and I was looking at a
specific uh school just just taking
phonics and I was comparing it to two
sites. um this one site I was looking at
okay where is this you know trying to
project where is this kinder class going
to be in three years right with um 80%
of the students still not mastering the
our our initial what we call the BPST
which is the phonics and then I compared
another school um and that had 80%
meeting standard so right but then we
add the complexity to this one class
that has seven students with IEPs
So, it is so multiaceted at certain
sites. Um, and then I was looking at a
third grade class at the same school
site. Um, 27 kids, 10 IEPs,
50% on, you know, they they have the
range. I was looking at the range from
first to third grade and, you know,
majority not meeting still the st where
we need them to be. And then I'm looking
at another third grade class, same
school, you know, different. And and so
I'm like there's it's just so complex.
The variables that come in with our
students that impact their learning is
is it's a complex issue for a teacher
that has 10 IEPs that has to modify and
support 10 students and then prepare for
her general kids that don't have IEPs.
That's a lot, right? So the expectation
is they need a lot more tier 2 and tier
three intervention. And when we have
those those school sites that have these
massive needs, we're going to take it's
going to take a little bit longer. We
are seeing them make progress in where
they're at. We're seeing more green
versus red. Um but we're also seeing
that it's taking time. Um, and so I
think one of the things that I'm trying
to uh look at in in those groupings is
try to track which kids were TK and how
they're those kids are doing because we
are finding that the kids that are TK
are coming better prepared. But at this
specific school site, we don't
necessarily get all the kids and those
28 kids all go to TK, right? So they're
coming in already behind and the gap
continues. So, we're how do we play that
catchup when you have seven IEPs? I'm a
kindergarten teacher and I'm trying and
my my by myself trying to manage it.
It's it's it's just so there's so many
variables in some of our school sites
that we can, you know, trying to how do
we help support a teacher put
interventions in at the kinder level,
right? And I was also talking to a
principal yesterday. We were talking
about the same thing and she goes,
"Well, I think I'm going to have my TK
teachers support this group." But I
said, "Well, maybe you should think
about your TK teachers maybe next year
supporting the kinders that haven't met
or not at level at the beginning of the
year to help do a double dose." So, we
were talking about what things could be
done to help support um some of our
students are still not there, right? So,
as we're as we're looking at planning
for next year and budgeting, I'm like,
let's think of outside the box. What
else can you do? If you're asking a
teacher to do this, let's think about
what can you do. Um today we were
talking with another principal like why
can I use this? Well maybe you could do
that and pull them from the after school
program look at your students. So we
really have to be creative about how we
can provide some extra tutoring services
within what we're doing as well and
supports. Um so we are going to see
gains. It's just going to be slow and
steady. Okay. Um and so some of our site
just have so many variables to
>> I totally get it. Slow and steady. Yeah.
Is
>> slow and steady will win the race. We'll
get there.
>> Slow and steady in positive direction.
I'm all I'm still all in favor of that.
Um and totally hear you on the
complexity of it. Uh I'm sure that we'll
get to this at the other
>> and Brian has been up.
>> I just wanted to add that when you talk
about complexities too, there's also the
complexity of assessment. And so it is
important for us to use more than one
metric when we're talking about growth
because I Ready, for example, many of
our first and second grade students
still think of it as a game instead of
as an assessment. So we need to bring in
the BPST score that Anna was talking
about because that is also going to be a
little bit more reflective for some
students than than the I Ready
assessment.
>> Is that is that by design the mindset of
um I Ready to be a gamer?
>> So there is it's not by design, but you
know, you're trying to catch kids
attention, right? and the younger age.
And so there's always a game where
there's a break
>> and they're playing a game and then
they're little characters and
>> it's supposed to not be intimidating.
>> Yeah.
>> But when it's not intimidating, then
when you're six years old.
>> Yeah.
>> So we have one we have one test that
does not really give us growth data. Um
we have another one that
>> little we might have fuzzy data there
[laughter] as well
>> but it is giving us data at least where
we can you know if it's consistent we
can see over time okay are they moving
and so the one thing that is it's not
giving us exactly what we need and in
terms of the bigger scope but we also
are moving you know we've been moving
towards more common assessments at the
at the site level where teachers are
using it to guide their instruction
that's the valuable piece really
besides, you know, there's the bigger
one, but this is the valuable where
they're looking at it like, okay,
>> this child needs this. Like that's the
work that the collaborative work that
really needs to help. And that's where
the BPST comes in. That's where reading
assessments come in. And and on um I
Ready, it breaks it down by whether it's
informational text. And many of our
students have thatformational text where
it's when an area that's a lot lower
harder for them. So it gives us
information that says, "Okay, this is
what we need to work on more."
>> Got it.
>> Um, and so that's some of the work that
we've been working on, the complex text,
is making sure we're breaking down that
informationational text.
>> I I'm all in favor of the all the things
slow and steady growth trends, not like
individuals because individual whatever.
You're just going to have different
ideas and different circumstances. Um,
and I'm not married to like any specific
test. I I I just rely on you guys to
tell me like how do we know? Um, but it
sounds like you guys are very much on
it, which is great. And please keep us
on track for making sure that we're
looking at the right stuff.
>> Thanks again.
>> Thank you.
>> Thanks so much. [sighs]
Literacy is so important. It's in many
ways it's job number one for our
district, right? Um, and something that
uh I'm going to be continuing to
champion is like getting all of our kids
fully English literate by end of third
grade. Really important for fork in the
road. this is this is core to making
that happen. Um, and it seems like a lot
of what we're doing, the investments
that we're making, the kind of
curriculum that we're using is really
thoughtfully science aligned, right?
This is really, you know, science of
reading, best practices, uh, really like
the the structure there. Um, and so
that's that's awesome. Um and and like
it and I I I I I I'm I'm a little too
eager for the results to see the the
number move. And so I I share trustee
Lee's, you know, kind of uh hope that we
we want to know what to to look at and
and when it'll move. And you know, I
really appreciate the rich dialogue
we've had about like the nuance of
what's going to tell what over what what
time period. It sounds like maybe BPST
might be the thing that we should look
at for some of the earlier grades.
Possibly. I'm not trying to put words in
your mouth, but u
>> it's it Well, I'm I I'll have to show
you to [laughter] the complexity of
trying to I just analyze it both
>> and it's super hard.
>> Okay. All right. All right. All right.
>> I mean, it really was designed for
instruction for teachers to make
informed decisions about their teaching.
So, we really couldn't come up with a
way to use that data in that way. Um,
but I just wanted to add that in
addition to developing the English
literacy skills of our students in
Redwood City, we're also committed to
developing biiteracy skills. So, we also
have Spanish bilingual programs. And
what we're seeing is that um through the
systematic approach of teaching reading
uh through CRLP, we also learned that we
needed to do the same thing in Spanish
with our Spanish instruction. And so, we
also adopted our Spanish curriculum for
a blender. We're finding that our second
graders um are learning how to read in
Spanish a lot faster than they were in
the past. And those skills are
transferring to English. So, we're
seeing our third grade bilingual
classrooms already coming in with strong
skills in decoding um in English as well
because we're beginning to develop
English reading skills in kindergarten
now, too.
>> Fantastic.
>> So, we're really excited.
>> Yeah,
>> it sounds like progress.
>> Lots of progress. [laughter]
>> Um there was a lot of mention in the
discussion about like uh rigorous
material. Um and that doesn't sound fun
for a third grader. Um, like in my
household there was a lot of Captain
Underpants and uh [laughter] you know
low low bra material in investigators
which has just a painful number of puns
in it if you've ever read it. Um
[laughter] like are are we making sure
that this is like the the kind of stuff
that is they're going to want to read
that's engaging?
>> I mean that's part of the work that
we're doing is we're uh intentionally
choosing the text that we think that our
children are going to find the most
relevant of the choices in front of us.
[laughter]
um and and the background
>> that makes them interested in it so that
they see the relevance to their lives
which is one part of the preing
process
>> because you know your question earlier
about whether or not we're going to see
gains in um the sites that are receiving
the most coaching. Uh the reality is
that to become a literate a literate
person, you have to have the background
knowledge and the vocabulary in order to
make sense of what you're reading. And
so we see that disparity across Redwood
City, right? So if we take a text and
don't invest the time in developing the
background knowledge to get kids excited
to engage with us, then definitely there
have no motivation to participate. And
so luckily that is the before reading
part of the training that we just did.
So, in the next few years, we should see
our teachers um feeling more confident
in just getting in on and tackling a
text and and figuring out how to h how
to, you know, approach it um much more
faster
>> because that's where they need to get
to.
>> Yeah.
>> Sweet. Um just naively, one thing that I
did with my kids that was a lot of fun
for them is that I would kind of uh
deliberately throw in errors and and
have them catch me. I I would I would
throw in errors. like I would I'd read
aloud to them and I'd make mistakes and
be dad no that wasn't right or you know
I' I'd uh try incentivize them to find
typos and then to critique the text like
how could that have been better right um
are there things like that where we're
we're going there there's decoding
there's comprehension and there's like
there's almost a third pillar there
critique right what did I not like about
the text what did the text screw up
fanfiction you know kind of stuff like
that like and is that part of the story
arc of literacy here too
>> that can be part of the expressive task
the um the how you show your reading or
how you show your understanding
afterwards which can happen dur
it it can happen after reading this one
paragraph. Um it can be one of the one
of the step aides um that we have when
we especially
in the manual they talk mostly about
doing the step aides to support our
language learners but really we use them
whenever but one of the subsides is
deconstructing sentences deconstructing
places where it's really juicy and that
is where you can ask questions like
would you have written this differently
what do you think of this person do you
really think that they're you know if
they're supposed to be the hero, but do
you think they're the hero?
>> Um, so errors, not necessarily. We
aren't really doing that right now. But,
um, but in terms of having them push
back against the text and really examine
whether they they react the way that the
textbook authors seem to think that they
should, that is definitely one of the
questions that can be asked.
>> Okay. Fantastic. Because I think like
sort of long-term story you get into
middle school, high school, etc. and
like you know grown citizens like
critical thinking you know there's going
to be lots of text that comes at us and
a lot of it may be BS a lot of it may be
wrong and a lot of it may have fatal
flaws you know and we're going to need
that ability to to not just interpret
and understand but then uh think for
ourselves and critique the the text as
well
>> the benchmark texts all do have a unit
on perspective taking too and so that's
always an opportunity for the students
to think in terms of looking at it
through a different set of eyes.
>> Love that. Um, ear teaching is another
theme of mine. It's a you relatively
lowcost, highly proven intervention. I
would love to know like is that a
component of what we're looking at here
of having students teach students.
>> So, I love reciprocal teaching as a
routine. Um we're really early in the
roll out of this, but it is on my list
of um sort of the bag of tricks to use
when coaching when people feel more uh
that we have the handle on the during
and the after reading. Um because
reciprocal teaching is basically the uh
the name of the of the routine that we
use uh for what you're talking about.
One of them there are a few others too.
Um I think if if I see a little bit more
peer teaching in terms of developing
writing. Yeah. Uh we're seeing a little
bit more of that when it comes to
conferencing and uh the students using
rubrics and checklist to support one
another. So I am beginning to see that a
little bit more um with that that area.
But yeah, it's too early for us to think
about in terms of literacy.
>> Okay. Well, fingers crossed. Uh I think
I taught my cousin Todd how to read. Uh,
[laughter]
anyhow, he's he's older than me. He went
to MIT. He did all right.
Yeah. Um [clears throat] well, one of
the things that that that came up in
review of actually like architecture
stuff was the impact that hallway
libraries have just like very casual,
you know, I I know we do visits to the
proper school libraries and sort of like
check out books and things like that,
but just having even like a rung below
that of like you've you've seen
scattered around neighborhoods the like
little libraries, right? There's no
checkout procedure. It's just like a
bird box with with some books in it. Um,
and that sort of extremely casual access
to books has been very strongly
correlated with increased literacy rates
because students who maybe feel like the
library is formal or like it would be a
big deal to check out a book like, well,
there's a book just sitting right there.
Well, okay, fine. Like they they grab
it, they engage, and they end up
bringing it home and engaging with it.
Have we looked at some approaches of
like very casual availability of books
like hallway libraries? Um, I had not,
but Nanias at Hoover is going to be very
pleased when I tell her that because she
does have a library in the hallway. Um,
so after this,
>> yeah,
>> there's good evidence for I would I
would love for our hallways to be, dare
I say, littered with books at our at our
school sites and just have it be a very
casual thing like there's books
everywhere.
>> Our classrooms have a lot of books.
>> [laughter]
>> probably in some situations too many
>> uh where we need to you know some
things. [laughter and gasps]
>> Cool. Awesome. Um and the last thing I
was going to ask but uh Trusty Marquez
just did a fantastic job highlighting is
just like what are ways that we can
better engage parents at home because we
know that high parental expectations
makes a huge difference for elementary
school readaloud time if that's
something that parents can can do. um
and just finding ways to engage them in
the process is is [snorts] a huge
unlock.
>> So, just want to kind of underscore
those brilliant remarks that you made.
So, thank you. Um yeah, and thank you so
much for for your time. Thank you for
what you're doing. This is like this is
our work. This is like right at the
white hot core of what we need to be
doing as a district. I'm really
appreciative of your efforts here.
>> Thank you.
So both LA and Brana thank you so much.
The items regarding to CRLP and also the
science of reading. There was an article
in the Times New York Times several
weeks ago and it's about Miss
Mississippi who has gone in this
direction of the science of reading and
with fidelity and the and the um success
that they're having. And I just said to
myself as I was reading that article,
well, we're doing we're in that same
ballpark right now. So, it was um
comforting to me to to to realize here's
another state and this state did present
uh there was a consultant from the state
of Mississippi that presented at our
conference that we went to who talked
about this and exactly what the teachers
are doing in the classrooms is what you
are doing in training them. So, thank
you so much. I applaud you in going that
direction. The other piece in regard to
um the comprehension and we all know as
we went through school through school
and then to another year of teacher
credentiing and so forth comprehension
reading it was never taught to any of
us. how I learned was through my co-teer
you know um who had many of years of
experience and to see this coming back
and be taught in this manner and I know
Wendy you have asked Anna you have asked
and I know Liz Prior had asked
universities you're not doing us any
justice when you're teaching teachers
about reading and reading comprehension
how to teach how to learn
It's left up to the districts and it's
it's it's so sad because
we constantly
listen to our teachers. I didn't get
that training. So, here we are like
little hamsters on a wheel getting them
what they need and to move it forward.
So, I applaud you and everything that
you are doing. I know the work that's
going on at Hoover because I got to see
all the plans. I also got to see the
data the other day when I met with
Lupus. So you're going to see a lot of
green and so thank you so much for
putting that together. I know you long
LA helped her with that piece.
>> Luckily we have a a team uh the middle
school team um Kendall and Sarah and
Kathy also do a lot of work there.
Anastasia has been coming around to do a
lot of work on math. So
>> it it's it's takes a village.
>> It does. And I'm we're meeting with
David today and I got to see with David
what's going on at Taft and um I know he
is in a bit in a different place than
Hoover but you can see that it's growing
and so the m momentum if it can continue
we're going to get to where we want to
be.
>> Um if I can also just really quickly
also mention that um Hoover also has a
very qualified reading intervention
teacher uh with Susie Klene.
um she's phenomenal and so as a partner
um that is supporting supporting the
work that we're doing there too.
>> And that Taff there is is one who is
she's retiring this year. I talked Dave
what's what's the plan? What's the plan?
We were talking what's the plan for
this? Sigy's leaving and you know we all
have gone to Siggy at one time or
another during our careers. Um so yeah
so we were on that we were on that kick
also. What are we going to do? Who is it
going to be? And have you talked to
Wendy about it? Have you talked to Anna
about it to see who we can snatch from
another?
>> I didn't know that it was public
knowledge. Yeah,
>> it we I I did we she and I had a it's
out. It's and and and and it's official.
>> It's been turned in also. And Sig and I
had a conversation. She go about because
>> Sig and I go way back and and knowing
that, you know, she goes, "Well, you're
going out too at the same time." and we
were talking about what she's going to
do and so forth and
>> and but I was with David today and I
said okay let's what's happening there
and he goes I know I know so we're
trying to find a
>> aw big shoes to fill
>> yeah a a great person to take on that
position because she is phenomenal I
know Cecile is one of our retirees who
comes back and and works at Hoover
>> at Taft
>> Taft I'm sorry at Taft and Cecil's
wonderful also but she's not there full
Yeah.
>> Uh he has her was it I think three days
a week or something like that, three
mornings, whatever as the reading
another reading intervention teacher.
But uh yeah, so we need to keep this
rolling forward and also finding the
right people to put in the right places.
But thank you so much and Donna, thank
you for keeping this moving.
>> Thank you ladies. Yes, always fabulous.
Thank you. Have a good night.
>> Thank you so much.
So, the next thing on the agenda is
approval of consent items. And I I
wanted to take a moment to explain to
the public uh what this is because this
is where we approve a whole bunch of
different decisions all in one go. These
tend to be things that the board is
required to approve, but that don't
likely need meaningful discussion. If
any board member disagrees and would
like to pull an item from the consent
agenda to discuss it or draw attention
to it, they do so at the beginning of
the meeting where we ask for any changes
to the agenda. Board members are
presumed to have read through items on
the consent agenda. It's a useful tool
to keep our limited time as a board
focused on discussing student
achievement. Our default for lowc
controversy items is to move them to the
consent section. For instance, today
we're going to approve a whole bunch of
second readings of board policies where
we already have had a chance to review
and discuss. This second reading is
where we approve the final language.
There's no need to redis 14 policies
that we've already weighed in on. One
thing that I want to emphasize is that
just because something's on the consent
agenda does not mean that it is not
important. For example, I will draw your
attention to item 11.24, which is our
approval of the school calendar for next
year. Something that many parents have
written to us asking about looking for
guidance planning their summers. Well,
we're about to make it official in the
next couple seconds. So, with that, uh,
I would love to ask a trustee to move
that we approve the consent items. I'll
move that we approve the consent agenda
as submitted.
>> Second. All those in favor? I. All
right.
Okay. And we are on to action items.
There's 25 items in the consent agenda.
Okay. An adoption of resolution number
15.
Thank you. We had a mid-year resignation
for a teacher at Kennedy. And so we were
very thankful that one of our teachers
of on special assignment who has taught
language arts for many years in the past
agreed to step in and yet we did need
the ed code waiver midyear which is
atypical but it was a unique situation.
So that's this item tonight.
>> Thanks for the explanation. That was
really the only question that I was
going to have is like isn't this a
little late in the year for us to be
approving these? But these are regular.
We're we're we're used to kind of doing
these.
Any other comments or discussion? No.
>> I'll move to approve.
>> I'll second. All those in favor? I.
>> Number two, declaration of need.
>> So, the declaration of need is an annual
request that comes to the board. um
essentially a compliance item, but it
gives the district authority and the
ability to
hire interns emergency credentials
should we need to. Typically reserved
for the summer when we are in a and all
districts are in a more desperate
situation. Teachers have by ed code
until June 30th to resign, which is very
late in the hiring season. We start in
January in the hiring season. So you can
imagine, just to give you some
perspective, this year out of our 412
teachers, we have 12 that fall into this
boat. Uh less than 3%.
Um one at Hoover, two at MIT, four at
Cloud, three at Northstar, one in
Garfield, two at Clifford. 11 of these
individuals have 2 to 5 years experience
because the state of California allows
for two years on an emergency credential
and three years on an intern. So you
could still have a teacher finishing
their credential in their fifth year of
being the teacher of record and that's
for all school districts in California
and then and then one person has one
year of experience already. We do in HR
work within the board policy 0415 uh
specifically the ARS direct our work and
each department if you you know have a
moment to look at we've been looking at
a lot of board policies but if you could
circle back with the equity one each
department wrote how they are actually
working within our equity board policy
and so for HR it's the district will
hire recruit support and develop staff
that are most qualified to help students
achieve standards exceed job level
performance outcomes and reflect the
community served. The most qualified
staff is assigned to serve students most
in need. Um there's five items, but
those are the two most relevant for this
particular topic. And so once again,
we're striving for experienced teachers
and HR will be discussing some of those
details and data uh with the board in
February. But specifically for the
declaration of need, we ask for it
before the hiring season starts so that
when we're streamlining our efforts and
we're looking at all of the teachers
assigned and placed, we focus on our
high priority schools first. We have a
rubric through the interview process
that actually focuses on years of
experience and then of course quality of
answers. And we have one point person
principal for 68, one for TK that
through five that recommend whether that
person should be um designated at a high
priority and non- high priority school
based on their answers and so forth. So
anyway, through this process um and our
continued efforts, we're still
streamlining for teachers to actually go
to our non- high priority schools that
have the least amount of experience for
various reasons. Um sometimes those
schools are even larger that have other
grade level support people. Of course
the mentorship program that the district
provides but um once again the
percentage is very low compared to the
412 teachers. So I just want to give
some context. Sometimes odd to see this
in January uh saying you're planning
this but in actuality it's more of an
insurance policy. So thank you. Any
questions?
I'm just curious
since this is an estimate if we need
more we're going to have to go back and
[laughter] kind of
>> you know this tends to be we start we
have all our staffing meetings so Anna
and I and Katherine Rivera and the
business office have been meeting with
every principal and thoroughly going
through their staff and estimations for
next year. We're looking at enrollment,
that was part of the discussion last
night, and looking at the teachers
assigned. And so through that, we
essentially look at what the openings
will be. And so it's an estimation. Um,
we haven't really had to go past this
per se in years past. I haven't had that
problem pop up, but I might circle back
with you in the future if it encroaches,
but that is certainly not the goal.
>> Other questions?
Thank you for bringing this forward so
clearly. I mean it's it's clearly just a
compliance item but that explanation
that context was super helpful to sort
of like remind we see it every year but
it reminds us about the context of it
and what it's setting up. So I
appreciate that.
Someone like to move we approve
>> a second. All those in favor I thank you
so much money.
All right. Next up, reports. Who wants
to go first?
>> I don't have anything to report.
>> Thank you for going first. [laughter]
Anything else to report?
>> Uh, I can go through. Um, attended the
Sanontto County School Board Association
meeting. It was focused on CTE largely
on high school to be frank. Um, but
pretty interesting stuff. One of the
things that they noted um was when it
becomes a pri when it's a priority
within school districts they do see a
correlation between um effective CTE
programs and attendance. Um certainly
makes sense in high school. Just thought
it was interesting. Um and I know that
there are certain things that we do
scattered throughout the district or at
least I know at Hoover there's a field
trip with the unions which um is related
um but it was interesting meeting. Uh we
had our policy committee meeting um
which again you guys will continue to
see the fruits of. Um I visited Orion
this morning which is really really
interesting. This is the first time that
I've been able to have a formal visit.
Um so it was great to speak with Winnie
and really understand um the complexity
of the program programs at Orion and and
all the work that goes into it and some
of the different aspects of it. But um
yeah, I thought it was uh super
interesting. And actually one thing that
I didn't know that I'm sure many maybe
everyone else knows is uh manner
immersion for example, we we do in fact
measure proficiency of manner and so
it's it's a goal and we do it. So it's
great um uh good for me to know. I'm
sure all the other parents already know
that but uh it was great one one
interesting learning experience for me.
um separately attended the super uh
attendant advisory meeting which was
focused on the next day's um strategic
resource alignment. Um I thought there
was good questions and um conversation
there. We heard the same thing at the
the study session as well.
>> Thank you Jennifer. Um yeah, we have
policy committee and then we had health
and wellness committee meeting with
patunia and I think I mentioned it there
but having the the kids there is is a
really nice um part of the meeting and
she keeps that very on schedule. Um but
some one of the partners did bring up
that I guess Sano County was encouraging
more independent study for students who
are concerned about immigration issues.
Have we seen an influx or
requests or anything like that?
>> No, we haven't had any.
>> I also attended the superintendent
advisory committee, David, and you know,
we talked about last night's um
>> sweet. Uh I had a visit with Lupe at
Hoover that was pretty awesome. Um lot
of neat findings from that. There's a
real demand for a second TK classroom.
Uh their parents being turned away. That
said, TK is still woefully underutilized
by the Hooverbound population. A lot of
kids do TK at Hoover and then end up
going elsewhere. I didn't realize that.
Of the 55 kindergarteners at Hoover,
only about a dozen were in TK prior. Um
so the vast majority of metriculating
kindergarteners did not go to TK and
basically none of them had any TK
elsewhere. Um, and there's a huge
difference between the classroom
readiness of the students who went
through TK and those that didn't. Um,
most parents don't really realize that
TK is an option. There's a lot we could
do to improve outreach to parents way
before their kids are entering
kindergarten to help them with their
kids. I found out that a lot of the kids
that do attend uh TK at Hoover that end
up going to Hoover have an older
sibling. And so like that's how the
parents become aware of TK as an
offering. But a lot of parents aren't
even starting to engage with the school
district until like just a couple months
before their kid is ready for
kindergarten. So they don't realize
there's earlier offerings. Uh we
imagined a digital welcome basket and
even a short podcast or Tik Tok clips
aimed at young parents about options
that they could consume in bite ch
bite-sized chunks while commuting. Um
it's really clear that has been
effective for uh that them to go and
invest in the community to be able to
better speak up and advocate for their
kids as we heard last night. Like that
was just fantastic, right? To have
people show up like that. We talked
about a culture of same side of the
table feedback and inquiry cycles. It
can be scary for teachers to get
constructive feedback from their boss
just as it can be scary for principles
and staff to get constructive feedback
from the board. So there are some
interesting analoges there. Uh, we can
make it less scary by being transparent
and approachable and making clear that
the whole thing is a team sport. That
getting feedback doesn't mean you're
doing a bad job. Even Olympians have
coaches. I was psyched to hear one of
her math teachers is running a peer
tutoring pilot. I would love to see more
peer tutoring throughout the district.
It's highly effective, highly proven,
lowcost intervention. You heard me talk
about that a little earlier, too. Uh, we
talked a little bit about the huge
negative impact that we've been seeing
screens have on on the youth. Um,
separately from that, I attended the
juvenile justice prevention and action
conference in Sonteo last week. Um,
overall, I think the good news is that
we're ahead of many districts when it
comes to restorative justice best
practices to minimize expulsions. It's
also important that we aren't kidding
ourselves with the data and just
bottling up problems in the classroom.
Um, I learned that private prisons use
third grade literacy rates as a primary
long-term metric to look for where to
build. Uh so that's where they should
expect to find incarcerated populations.
So that that should be yet another fire
under our butts to drive towards
literacy for all of our students by end
of third grade. Uh we've been making
great progress on that front and I would
love to see that continue. I also there
got to meet Redwood City's police chief
uh Christina Bell. Uh I think it could
be a great partnership. Uh she offered
to help us run bianual tabletop
exercises to roleplay potential big five
disaster scenarios at our school sites
uh which could help with disaster
readiness. Um, that's actually a
potential uh policy thing that we could
say that like running tabletop exercises
once every other year uh would be a good
idea for school sites. It's not a
current policy that we that we have as
far as I know.
>> So, she is staffed now to do things like
that because they did do them previously
to uh co
we used to have the exercises where the
you would do your uh where it would be
shelter in place and they would come
around and make sure is that something
similar that they're thinking of doing?
>> Yeah. And so be like one to two hours
once every other year for a school site.
And so the idea is just like to make
sure that we've run through that so that
we're we're at the ready for something.
And this is where like you know first
aid CPR AED training is good for two
years because you need to refresh it
>> because when we a couple years ago maybe
you do not remember but uh at Hoover on
the first Friday of the first week of
school we had that shooting at the
Hoover Park.
>> I remember that. and okay, so all that
practice that the kids did prior really
played off. So they used to help us with
that, but then there was a a there's
been a lull because
this was before she started though. Um
maybe she's fully staffed now and they
can come out and start doing that with
schools.
>> Yeah, we should we should reach out and
see if we can she'll be at our um two by
two.
>> Yeah.
>> So we should ask her. Could I suggest
this is we actually policy committee
talked a little bit about it and it
revealed to me that I frankly don't I
think I would benefit from having a
better understanding of what the current
practices are and just have a dialogue.
So before before making policy changes I
wonder if it would be good to just like
invite
>> her and other law enforcement personnel
to just talk through and tell us how
things work and so we better understand
it. That sounds like a great idea.
>> Yeah. Yeah, exactly.
>> Yep.
[laughter]
>> Totally. Um, she also helped me uh
understand how to route concerns about
like safe routes to school projects uh
to the right people in the county or or
elsewhere. Um, so starting to exercise
some of those pathways. Cool.
Dr. Baker
uh made our rounds with and Wendy was
with me. We were at MIT, Hoover, Taft,
and Roosevelt
starting. We started last week and then
this week we also did some uh with these
same schools. And we're getting into the
direction of next year already and
planning as Wendy point pointed out
earlier. um looking at enrollment and
some of our sites
the enrollment is quite low. And so as
you see us move forward with
reductions and so forth and
the enrollment um as we look at it from
last week a week ago Monday
the kindergarten enrollment is low for
next year.
So, it's just um a matter of people not
coming to
California or the United States because
of the political realm that we're in at
this point in time. Others leaving and
going back to their country voluntarily
uh because they feel uncomfortable being
here and seeing on social media and on
news what is taking place in other
states.
So
it's at this point in time it is low. It
is low and so that's why we are going in
this direction of of reduction. Even
though as I said last night everybody
will still have a position there are
less students coming into the district.
Next up we have our quarterly Williams
report. And this is where people can
formally lodge complaints against a
district alleging violations of federal
or state law using a uniform complaint
procedure. We're required by law to
report out how many of these complaints
we've received even if the number is
zero.
Rick, is this on you? No. Okay. All
right. It's just it is what it is. There
[laughter] there are zero formal
complaints made against the district.
Duly noted. Okay. Uh correspondence.
anything to report?
>> I think there was correspondence uh
related um advocacy from an Orion
teacher just on the budget situation,
but I think the content of it was shared
uh during the budget session.
>> Yep. Excellent. Any other
correspondents?
All right. Other business suggested
items for future agendas.
Uh, so aside from the one I guess we
just talked about the safety thing, one
one thing that was I was thinking of um
and Wendy jog or Wendy slash the one of
the policies just um brought back to
mind was I I have a personal pet peeve
of some of the state mandate the the
format of certain uh statemandated
documents. So I'll no reason to hide the
ball. think of things like the LCAP,
Sips and Sarkcs, which
>> are just my perspective. They're very
very long and
probably not designed at this point to
meet the needs of the original purpose.
>> Yep. And so I I wonder if there is a
point where we could talk about not like
just separately can I know I think we
already do this for the LCAP for example
like we turn it into a document or some
version of it that's like for lay person
here's actually what our priorities are
period uh I I would love it if we could
also do that for things like the sarkc
and for the sips even it's just like a
one pager on top of like here's the
quick very
quick summary of what you might want to
know if I were a parent looking and
trying to understand what a school does,
what like here's the quick information.
>> So, an executive summary
>> like in plain English and plain Spanish,
>> right?
>> Yeah.
>> Um
>> my my naive question is like can AI help
with this?
>> I I I don't Yeah, I don't know. But I
think um I think Wendy brought up a good
question which is like this sounds
hopefully it sounds good in practice.
There's probably also questions of like
okay what what do we actually think are
the key pieces of information? So I I
open a question for for others to opine
on on whether or not that's something to
talk about. Um but I I I just don't I
don't love having documents that no one
actually reads. Yeah.
>> Um because like we could we can do
better than
>> um but I know that it is a result of
>> it's a mandate mandated mandate. We have
no choice with that one. But I can
understand the executive summary. Yes.
Exactly.
>> And working on an executive summary and
just have that
>> for our community. And if you want the
true document, here it is.
>> That's very
>> Yeah. Anyway, so
>> it's kind of like how Apple has in the
app store the nutrition label for the
privacy policy and then there's like
the, you know, 40page privacy policy
that the developer has, but like the the
high level like what what are you really
trying to do here? Yeah.
>> Anyway, so I don't know if there's like
a session.
>> Yeah. I don't want to dive into
discussion on it, but like there's
usually a smaller presentation that goes
along with these docs too. So it seems
like that's kind of serves the purpose
of an executive as well, but
>> yeah. Well, I guess in my in my thinking
we have a website that's like schools
click on this and it's like ah now I
know what Orion does which maybe I could
have uh learned about before but I don't
know just something to talk through not
a
>> I think it's a study study session just
to understand what we no actions to be
taken but just like for us to talk
through what that could look like. Um,
so I'll just leave that as a potential
>> Well, let me It could either be a study
session or it could just be a small
committee with a couple board members,
myself and some other staff members on
it also. And then we bring it back.
>> Yeah.
>> I I don't have strong preferences.
>> Okay.
>> Yeah.
>> Okay. Talk to you.
>> All right. I will converse with Dr.
Baker on that. Um, any other
things people want to make? Okay. All
right. Uh, reflection time. How did
today go? This was my [laughter] my
first meeting trying to captain. Thumbs
up, thumbs down, feedback. What went
well? What didn't go well?
Good. Good job. Um, but no, I thought I
thought it generally I thought it was
really helpful. I think we're everyone's
getting into the hang of the
presentation format and all the other
pieces. I I do think that we're having
richer discussions um which is really
really helpful or I shouldn't say I
think we're having it more efficiently
um which is great. Uh the pledge of
allegiance piece really interesting. Uh
I like the participation. I I had to
find where the flag [laughter] was. I'm
still getting used to it. Uh yeah.
>> Yeah, I that was I thought that there
was helpful things there. Thank you.
>> Other feedback, inputs.
>> Um I thought you did a good job. Um I
appreciate the thoroughess of how you're
explaining to the public um some of the
items that obviously I think we think
that they know. And so I appreciate
that.
Yeah, I agree there. There was good
discussion on the topics. I do think
that there were times where we were
veering off topic a bit. Um, so for
example, we had a presentation that was
about um instructional strategies and
that kind of stuff, but it kind of like
at points was veering into a whole
literacy strategy. And I'm not sure that
that's really where the presentation was
supposed to be geared. So feel like
maybe we should be mind mindful of of
staying on the topic that's being
presented in front of us and what the
experts are that are in front of us and
and you know and keeping that discussion
there both in terms of respecting their
time and not putting them on the spot
but also just like to keep the overall
time for the presentations um
concerning.
Appreciate that feedback.
All right. So, next up we have the
meeting calendar.
And so, it's looking like next week we
have a closed session starting at 5:45
and our regular meeting starting at 7
p.m. Um, any other notable changes to
the calendar?
>> No new changes.
>> Great. Okay. And with that, that takes
us to adjournment.
I move that we adjourn.
>> Second.
>> All those in favor? I