[0:00] Okay, uh, good evening. I would like to call to order this regular meeting
[0:04] number 2 6 8 2 of the santa clara county board of education. Today
[0:08] is wednesday, april 22nd, and the team is 5:00 pm
[0:14] I am victoria ch, president of the santa clara county board of education. I will preside over
[0:18] this meeting a live stream of this evening's. Meeting is available at
[0:23] https slash slash tinyurl.com/scc
[0:27] board meeting on the webpage. Scroll to the bottom and choose live language support
[0:32] for tonight's meeting is available in spanish and vietnamese. For spanish support, please
[0:36] call 1 6 6 9 906 8 3 3. The
[0:40] meeting id is 7 2 7 3 3 4 8 1 0 pound.
[0:44] for vietnamese support, please call 1 6 6 9 906 8 3 3.
[0:49] the meeting id is 9 3 7 5 2 3 6 1 9 6 pound
[0:54] language assistance in a sl spanish and vietnamese is also available for those in attendance. Headsets
[0:58] for spanish and vietnamese may be picked up at the table in the back of the room. The a sl interpreters
[1:02] are at the front of the left side of the room as well as on the monitors. Persons wanting
[1:07] to make public comment can do so by completing a public comment card available at the back of the room.
[1:11] in the case of an emergency or the need to evacuate a room, please alert and follow an
[1:15] s-c-c-o-e staff member who is identified with a yellow badge. Our student board
[1:19] member participates via teleconference and they are automatically excused at 8:00 pm should our
[1:23] meeting extend beyond that time preferential voting
[1:29] by the student board members authorized by education code 1000 student board
[1:33] members may exercise preferential voting by stating their opinion and or
[1:37] position on an issue or an action item, which will be recorded in the minutes before the s-c-c-b-o-e
[1:42] votes on an item student board member andino is, uh, running
[1:46] a little late, so I will just ask, uh, the audience if you would like, if you would, um,
[1:51] uh, join me in the pledge of allegiance. Um, if you are stand, if
[1:55] you're able, please stand and please your right hand over your heart and then we will begin.
[2:01] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america america
[2:06] due to republic for which dance? One nation under god,
[2:10] indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
[2:16] thank you everybody. Um, I will also,
[2:21] oh, is he here? Oh, student and student
[2:25] board member andino. Are you here with us?
[2:33] our student sean, excuse me. I think you need to unmute the, the
[2:37] phone. Thank you. Student board member andino, are you here?
[2:43] present? Oh, wonderful. Thank you. Just in time for the land acknowledgement,
[2:48] can you please lead us into the land acknowledgement?
[2:54] let us take the time to honor the ancestors, caretakers of the land on which we
[2:58] stand. We are currently in the lonni territory. Santa
[3:02] clara county is homeland of the lonni people.
[3:07] today, indigenous people continue to protect the land.
[3:11] it is important to recognize the indigenous culture within our communities and
[3:15] remember that we all gather, live, learn, and work on the traditional lens of
[3:19] indigenous people.
[3:23] thank you. Student board member andino,
[3:27] can we? Yeah, I think they're
[3:32] closing the doors.
[3:36] are they gonna walk in? Staff? If
[3:40] I can ask you to close the door. Oh,
[3:45] I think they're coming in.
[3:51] alright, I will now conduct a roll call vote. I'm president sean and president, when I call your
[3:55] name, please respond accordingly. Vice president pfizer.
[4:00] here. Trustee berta. Present trustee laurie
[4:05] bin. Trustee pacheco. Present. Trustee rocha. Here. Trustee?
[4:09] she krishnan here. Thank you. Can we shut the
[4:13] door just 'cause we can't hear the meeting going on. Thank
[4:18] you. Alright. Uh,
[4:22] we will now move to the agenda. I'll entertain a motion to accept the agenda.
[4:26] so moved. Moved by trustee krishnan, seconded by trustee alberta.
[4:31] uh, board members please vote. And board docs. Thank you.
[4:39] I'll be a verbal eye. I haven't logged in. Uh, a verbal eye from vice president
[4:43] visor.
[4:58] and that motion carries with seven yeses. Thank you trustees.
[5:02] alright, we'll now move to our, uh, special recognitions. We have three special recognitions
[5:06] this evening. The first will be presented by trustee rocha. Our volunteer of
[5:11] the our volunteer of the year, uh, is caden and I would like
[5:15] to invite caden, trustee mo rocha and monica abba
[5:19] to the envi uh, environmental education liaison and recruiter. And marie
[5:23] bobbi, director of environmental education to the side podium, uh, trustee
[5:28] rocha. Will you do the honors? And then after the presentation board members, please join at the podium
[5:32] for photos.
[5:37] all right. So each year in recognition of public school volunteer
[5:41] week, which is april 20 20th to the 24th, santa clara
[5:46] county office of education takes the opportunity to celebrate the volunteer of the year. Scoe
[5:50] relies on volunteers to support the instruction of youth in the county. Specifically, we
[5:54] honor volunteers who have outstanding performance in carrying out duties, work efficiently
[5:59] with staff and students, show desire and ability to make a difference, demonstrate
[6:03] care and support for others, create and foster a positive school environment and
[6:07] motivate others. Tonight we are pleased to honor caden, also known by his nature name
[6:11] badger. Caden is a graduating senior at summit public schools to
[6:15] homa. He's being recognized for his dedication to helping youth succeeded at our walden
[6:19] west outdoor school and summer camp. Over three years, volunteers or
[6:24] cabin leaders are recruited at walden west to help oversee and care for the fifth and
[6:28] sixth grade students. Each cabin leader can have 20 or
[6:32] more campers that they are responsible for during the week. Walden west relies on volunteers
[6:36] to ensure a smooth and successful program. Caden is very easy to work
[6:40] with, is receptive to feedback focused on our camper safety re and is
[6:44] very reliable. And an all around great addition to our walden west community. Said monica
[6:49] abakan environmental education liaison and recruiter cadence. Time
[6:53] as a fifth grader, uh, camper inspired him to become a volunteer. He
[6:57] remembered three things from his time at walden west. He said he had amazing time. My friends
[7:02] also had an amazing time and my cabin leader was part of making the week. Awesome.
[7:06] a few years later as a sophomore, caden returned to walden west through his school's self-study
[7:10] opportunity. Since then, he's been a cabin leader nine times and a core crew volunteer
[7:14] twice. Caden credits these experiences with helping him grow his confidence,
[7:18] find his voice, and build his leadership skills. Caden said, I
[7:22] used to be extremely excessively self-conscious. Yet each week I came back
[7:26] to walden west. That old shell is shattered more and more and I instantly
[7:31] expunge any new thoughts of self-doubt. As a volunteer cadence said he has seen
[7:35] change in his empathy, public speaking and ability to adapt, which in turn has
[7:39] helped him ensure students have a memorable experience. At walden west, he recalls
[7:43] a student being homesick and saying they were scared that they wouldn't become independent during their
[7:48] stay. After a heart to heart talk, the student continued to do their best to achieve
[7:52] their goal. By the end of the week, he could not stop sobbing that he had to leave. Caden
[7:56] said he had gotten his lesson in independence and I was a part of it that stuck with me.
[8:00] and moments like that are why I keep returning outside of walden west. Caden volunteers
[8:04] for community cleanups at the japanese friendship garden in guadalupe park. He
[8:09] also sorts food at second harvest food bank. After graduation, caden plans to attend
[8:13] a four year university, berkeley or uc, santa cruz to major in linguistics.
[8:18] he hopes to aid in documenting and teaching endangered languages. Very interesting.
[8:22] we appreciate and commend caden for his hard work and his dedication to walden
[8:27] west and the sculley community. I'd like to congratulate caden. He will receive
[8:31] a frame certificate of recognition signed by the county superintendent of schools,
[8:35] dr. David toson sr. And president of the santa clara county board of education
[8:39] victoria hon caden, monica aon and marie lobi,
[8:43] director of environmental education. Or join us this evening. I'd like to invite them to say a few words.
[8:47] congratulations caden
[8:57] marie bobas. I'm director of uh, walden west, um, environmental ed.
[9:02] and instead of a speech I wrote a poem. So I have some folks here
[9:06] 'cause we're walden west. We can't do things normal, so gotta bring some
[9:10] joy here. So I wrote a poem called life of a volunteer at walden west,
[9:14] part one, science camp spirit beneath the redwoods, where
[9:19] the scents are sweet, the cabin leaders stand. They can't be beat armed with
[9:23] their cabin list and their can-do grin. Ready for science camp chaos. To finally
[9:27] begin, they're chasing down fifth graders who've lost the stray shoe
[9:32] explaining that no, you cannot eat banana slug
[9:36] goo. They're earning those community service hours in style
[9:40] for campfire songs and a weary bright smile.
[9:46] part two, the career path.
[9:51] it's valuable experience working with youth, which is
[9:55] code for patients of a saint, to tell you the truth. But look at our staff.
[9:59] many started out here volunteering their time for most of the year.
[10:04] they survived the wet socks and the bunk bed debates.
[10:08] and now their s-c-c-o-e employees isn't life great.
[10:12] they love the banana slug boogie and the all day hike lunch. So
[10:16] they joined the official employment based bunch.
[10:24] part three, the summit expeditions. Then we have summit to homa, our partners
[10:28] in crime who students arrive and have a sublime time through expeditions.
[10:33] they explore the environmental education career thinking, hey, I could guide
[10:37] kids throughout the year. They trade their laptops for a pair of hiking shoes with
[10:41] the magic of walden west. They have nothing to lose. Just look at our volunteer of the year.
[10:45] badger is the name. A summit to home. A legend now entering the
[10:49] hall of fame,
[10:54] part four happy trails. So cheers to the cabin
[10:58] leaders, the brave and the bold who handle the spiders
[11:02] and the shivering cold. You're the heart of the forest, the soul of the mess,
[11:07] the tired, smiling heroes of walden west.
[11:19] sorry, mine's not as cool or cute, but here I am.
[11:23] it's just, I'm I'm kind of cool. Uh, good evening dr. Tosin board
[11:27] and everyone intendance, um, especially caden's family. Uh, my name
[11:31] is monica abba and I am the volunteer liaison at walden west outdoor school.
[11:36] it is my absolute pleasure to be here to honor s sec coe's 25 26
[11:40] volunteer of the year. Caden hixson, caden or badger
[11:44] as he's known around camp, came to walden west during his sophomore year expeditions with summit
[11:48] oma high school, not knowing exactly what his week as a voluntary cabin leader
[11:53] would entail, but ready to tackle anything that came his way. Every
[11:57] time he returned to camp, he learned something new and showed immense growth as
[12:01] a leader and role model for our campers, our staff, and his peers.
[12:05] um, I reached out to our evening staff purple caterpillar, and I just wanna
[12:09] read what she wrote 'cause I you'll get it. Um,
[12:13] working with badger over three years has been amazing. He always prioritizes
[12:18] the campers no matter what and always prioritizes their safety.
[12:23] whenever badger comes to the hub, I know I am either going to get an extremely good question or really
[12:27] hard laugh. Badger is always willing to ask for support and
[12:31] no staff member has any problem helping him. He is always willing to jump
[12:36] in. He's an inherent problem solver and works his hardest to try and
[12:40] help as many people as he can. He's extremely kind and
[12:44] is always welcoming to new volunteers. He's been amazing to work with
[12:48] and I'm super sad that he will be leaving us soon. I do know that wherever he is
[12:52] going to end up, he's going to be an amazing, hardworking addition to that team.
[12:56] uh, badger. I wholeheartedly echo these sentiments and I cannot
[13:00] believe that the time has come for you to graduate. I really can't. I
[13:05] , oh badger. I am extremely proud of you and I have been honored
[13:09] to watch you grow, not only as a leader, but into an amazing human being. And I know that you
[13:13] will do great things wherever you go. Congratulations, this award is
[13:17] very well deserved. Thank you so much for being an incredible person and volunteer and a
[13:21] great asset to our community. I cannot wait to hear all about what you are up to next.
[13:26] please know that you will always have a home at walden west, and that we are always rooting for you.
[13:41] uh, I did not prepare a speech, I didn't, uh, realize that I should have.
[13:45] however, I would like to take this time to thank my family here, uh,
[13:49] especially gemma, for having to deal with, uh, me going
[13:53] away for five days all of a sudden in the middle of the school year. I know you don't
[13:58] like it, but maybe when you grow up you'll understand. Um, I would like
[14:02] to thank all the walden west staff, uh, for being so supportive throughout the years.
[14:07] um, and you've really made wal west a place where I can,
[14:11] uh, a place where I can feel safe and where I can feel like my
[14:15] skills or talents can be, um, can be appreciated.
[14:20] I, I would also like to, uh, say to any of you whether,
[14:24] uh, you yourself volunteer or you know, someone else who does keep
[14:29] encouraging them to volunteer. Keep volunteering yourself. If you have free time
[14:33] and you feel like giving back to your community, I'd say go volunteer. It's great.
[14:38] thank you.
[14:47] congratulations.
[15:04] too long.
[16:04] congratulations caden. Alright, um, our second recognition
[16:09] for this evening will be presented by trustee pacheco, our student of
[16:13] the year, uh, from alternative education is shamar shamar
[16:17] will be joining us by phone this evening and next time is principal maria yakob,
[16:21] tri pacheco. Will you begin with the honors? Um, and then we'll be followed by
[16:25] principal yakob afterwards, followed by shamar. Sure.
[16:30] thank you. Can you guys hear me okay? Um, welcome everybody,
[16:34] especially oak grove teachers. I see my sister's fourth grade teacher, mr.
[16:39] fam right there. Um, each year we take time
[16:43] to honor and celebrate students who excel often overcoming significant
[16:48] obstacles to reach their personal and academic goals.
[16:52] specifically, we honor students for their academic achieve improvement and achievements,
[16:57] leadership skills, good attendance, citizenship and character,
[17:01] community service, and perseverance in pursuing their studies and goals.
[17:06] tonight, we are pleased to honor a student who epitomizes
[17:10] all of these excellent qualities. Schu mar shamar
[17:15] recently graduated from osborne school. We are recognizing him for
[17:20] his academic achievement, leadership and strong character. Let's
[17:24] give him a round of applause.
[17:30] schu mar is a leader amongst his peers and has earned their respect
[17:34] and trust. So much so that they read speeches at his graduation,
[17:40] remarking on how he has had a positive impact on their lives.
[17:44] he is very empathetic. He is that person others can go to when they are
[17:48] having a bad day. Set. Michelle decaro, alternative education
[17:52] counselor. He always comes to class with a big smile and
[17:56] positive attitude. Schu moore has duly enrolled in community college
[18:00] while taking his regular high school classes. He has been taking part
[18:04] in a small business and entrepre entrepreneurship pa pathway in
[18:09] collaboration with san jose city college.
[18:13] his academic achievements also include earning the state seal of civic engagement,
[18:18] incredible. For his project on homelessness, he developed
[18:22] a proposal to help unhoused people have support in the community and
[18:26] access to different services such as housing, drug, alcohol, and mental
[18:30] health counseling and job development. This commitment to his community
[18:35] and active citizenship has influenced his decision to pursue political science
[18:39] in college. Said to karo. On behalf of the co county board of education,
[18:43] I'd like to congratulate schu mar. He'll receive a frame certificate
[18:48] of recognition signed by the county superintendent of schools and the president of the santa clara
[18:52] county board of education and an ipad to help him continue
[18:56] the path of academic excellence. Schu mar is joining us
[19:00] via teleconference this evening. The principal of schu school,
[19:04] maria yaku is also in attendance. I'd like to invite them to share
[19:08] a fewer marks starting with principal yaku. Congratulations, schu.
[19:23] good evening, president chon trustees and superintendent dr. Tosin.
[19:27] my name is maria yaku. I'm the principal of osborne school. It's a
[19:31] distinct privilege to be here tonight to celebrate our student of the year shamar.
[19:35] at osborne, we look for students who not only excel at
[19:39] academically, but also model a path forward for others. Shamar has
[19:43] done exactly that while completing his high school requirements. He went
[19:48] above and beyond by duly enrolling in college courses, proving
[19:52] that his focus remained firmly on his future. He is
[19:56] also a pioneer at our site, becoming one of the first students to earn the state seal of
[20:00] civic engagement. His project, developing programming to
[20:04] support unhoused members of our community demonstrated a deep level of empathy
[20:08] and a desire to give back to the world around him. One of shear's
[20:12] most vital contributions is his influence on his peers. In
[20:17] an environment where staying motivated can be a challenge, shamar often serves
[20:21] as a beacon for his peers. He doesn't just focus on his own success.
[20:25] he actively encourages those around him to stay in school, dream big
[20:29] and work through their personal obstacles. His peers have shared that
[20:33] shamar has, has helped him help them through difficult days and
[20:38] reminded them that their passions still matter. Shamar, your resilience
[20:42] and leadership have left a lasting mark on osborne school. We are
[20:46] all very proud of you. Congratulations. And now shamar
[20:51] is going to be sharing a few words about his journey.
[21:03] good evening everyone. I just want to say I appreciate y'all for, for
[21:08] no for nominating me for the, uh, student of the year. Uh,
[21:12] I want to give a special shout out to miss, miss michelle decaro and all the staff
[21:16] that helped me through, through this journey. Uh,
[21:20] I I want to thank everybody that that helped
[21:24] me, that helped me get through this and helped me get to this point in my life. Thank you.
[21:37] thank you. And then we'll make sure he gets those, um,
[21:44] recognitions and that ipad. All right. Thank you. We have one
[21:48] more recognition for this evening. Our final recognition is for the public affairs department,
[21:53] the pub, we can clap for them now.
[21:57] , the public affairs department was recognized by the california school
[22:01] public relations association, cal spra and the
[22:05] three, and with three communications awards, along with individual recognition for
[22:10] one of our teammates. Um, this honors this cal
[22:14] spra honors outstanding achievement in advancing strategic goals through
[22:18] effective communications and public relations. S-c-c-o-e
[22:22] received an award of excellence for its branded sponsorship outreach kit template,
[22:26] two awards of merits for its relaunched internship program and for child
[22:30] for a and for a childcare provider appreciation video.
[22:35] additionally, paige redmond communications and public relations specialist was named the
[22:39] cal spra rising star recognizing emerging leaders whose innovation
[22:44] and commitment strengthened connections with students, families, and communities. We
[22:48] would like the public affairs team to join us at the side podium for a photo so we can congratulate
[22:53] you all. And then I know I, uh, interrupted that applause. So we will also give
[22:57] you guys applause. Thank
[23:01] you. Trustees. If we could go to the, uh, side podium please.
[23:12] you're in the,
[23:53] we're only missing, right?
[24:00] I feel like .
[24:20] sorry about that. Okay.
[24:26] alright. Thank you. And again, congratulations
[24:30] to the public affairs team. All right, we are now going to move
[24:34] on with our agenda to the student board member report. Student board member andino, can you please
[24:39] share your report with us?
[24:43] hold on. I know.
[24:49] say something. Hello. Hello. We
[24:53] can hear you. Yes, we can hear you. Good evening. President john, superintendent
[24:57] dr. Tossing and steam board members outside county
[25:01] middle school students attended an animal assisted happiness farm
[25:05] at the farm. They show the students the barnyard animals and how to take care of them.
[25:10] it is really joyful in a therapeutic experience. Both students and staff
[25:14] enjoy their time at the farm. The high school students will also be going to the
[25:18] animal assisted happiness farm, and they are motivated to go
[25:23] as so no students have the opportunity to turn a barbershop. They will
[25:27] gain hands-on experience and gain hours towards their barber's license. And happy.
[25:31] this program is taking place as a no because a lot of kids talk about being
[25:36] barbers and give and this gives them the opportunity to real
[25:40] earn real life experience. And osborne students are getting ready
[25:44] to register for summer and far college courses. I'm one of the individuals
[25:49] who, who will be taking classes in the fall.
[25:53] I'm all set to take business classes. I chose to take business class because
[25:58] I, I wanna know how to operate my own company and manage my own money.
[26:02] next semester, the cohort will be starting at their third business class in the small
[26:07] business into entrepreneurship pathway. At
[26:11] this time, I want to take the time to honor my brother shamar ellis for getting student of
[26:15] the year. Since I've, since I've been here, he has overcome
[26:19] a lot of obstacles and never give, give up. He is a very
[26:23] resilient young man who also helped me in many ways
[26:27] in my educ my educational journey and teach me life skills. Thank
[26:32] you. Thank you. Student
[26:36] board member andino for your report.
[26:42] did you have something to add?
[26:48] no. Okay. Alright. Um, your perspective
[26:52] is important to our work and we always look forward to hearing from you at our meetings.
[26:57] all right. And we'll now move to agenda item four or public comment. We are now moving to
[27:01] item four. This portion of the meeting is for comments for items not on the agenda,
[27:05] but within the santa clara county board of education's jurisdiction, state
[27:09] law prohibits the board from discussing or acting on non agenda items. The board expects
[27:14] all participants to maintain respect and civility. Public speaker cards
[27:18] must now be submitted as no additional commenters can be added once public comment begins
[27:22] under government code section 5 4 9 5 7 0.95, the
[27:26] board strives to maintain orderly and civil meetings and prevent disruptions during
[27:30] public comment. We'll maintain a respectful and peaceful environment. Verbal
[27:35] abuse, threats or physical violence will not be tolerated and may result in removal. Please
[27:39] refrain from clapping, cheering, and snapping, booing or shouting to show support for a comment.
[27:43] you may use a universal sign of appreciation by waving your hands in the air like this.
[27:49] moderator, do we have any public comment? Yes. We have 39 cards.
[27:53] okay. Thank you. As public comment period is now commencing, we'll not be able
[27:57] to accept additional commenters. Uh, tiffany, can you please present the one minute
[28:01] timer? If language support is needed, time will double. A timer will be displayed
[28:05] and when the allotted time is up, the buzzer will sound, you'll be muted in your time to speak. When
[28:09] moderator, can you please begin public comment? Yes. Thank you. As
[28:13] you hear your name, please line up for public comment behind the podium located at the center of the
[28:18] room. As a reminder, one person at a time can be at the
[28:22] podium to present their comment. Unless language support is needed by an
[28:26] s-c-c-o-e interpreter or a sl interpreter, the timer
[28:30] will begin. Once you start speaking comments extending past the time allotted will
[28:34] be muted after time expires and you will be asked to leave the podium to
[28:38] prevent sound distortion. Please keep the microphone a short distance about a hands
[28:42] distance from your mouth. Our first 10 speakers are issa
[28:46] segun, tina chang, jeff mccannon,
[28:52] jeremy stret, alina charles
[28:57] zoo buie, ron lauder, todd
[29:01] martinez, alex valenzuela,
[29:06] and stephanie pone. Our first speaker
[29:10] is issa pu guen.
[29:26] hello everyone. My name is issa. I'm from the
[29:30] deaf program at oster elementary and I've
[29:34] been noticing things there at the school. So I'm
[29:38] gonna go back a little bit. There are four or five things that
[29:42] I wanted to tell you. The first is that the teacher, um,
[29:46] I that I see there, they're very frustrated and stressed. They don't have enough
[29:50] assistance. They're having to deal with students in a one-on-one setting.
[29:56] and I am also a para myself. I deal with students in a one-on-one
[30:00] setting and I'm wondering how are
[30:04] the students supposed to get what they need if paras are being laid off?
[30:12] how is the teacher supposed to work alone? I refuse
[30:16] to give up on these students despite being laid off.
[30:21] the students are young, they're in third grade, and they need
[30:25] a deaf leader. I myself am deaf.
[30:30] I have to continue to support these students. I care about
[30:34] what is best for these students. The fourth thing
[30:38] I wanna say is that I grew up in oster elementary,
[30:43] went to dartmouth and lee high school. Oster
[30:47] used to be such a beautiful and wonderful place and it's just not the same as it was.
[30:52] what is going on there? The kids deserve better.
[30:57] they need the help. They appreciate the help.
[31:01] again, I cannot wait.
[31:08] the next speaker is tina chang.
[31:15] good evening, um, trustees and dr. Tosin. My name is tina chang
[31:19] and I'm the parent of a deaf disabled child who attends oster and
[31:24] I'm active, um, in the selpa cic. Today I implore
[31:28] the lord to prioritize the most vulnerable children in our county.
[31:32] our children are not numbers. They have faces like evan's.
[31:36] in prioritizing kids like evan, I asked you to ensure that you support the
[31:40] teachers and service providers who make it possible for him to go to school and to get
[31:45] a quality accessible education. Our teachers are irreplaceable.
[31:49] I know that there are many families in our county who still struggle to get an accessible education
[31:53] and are forced to leave the county homeschool or battle for nps placements.
[31:57] the closure of special education classrooms and reduction of highly trained staff
[32:02] in our county will only push our struggling districts that are already closing schools to
[32:06] pay the high cost of sending students to np ss, which are more restrictive
[32:10] and less, um, opportunity for inclusion. Please consider the downstream
[32:14] effects of your budget decisions. The next speaker is jeff mccannon.
[32:21] good evening. The grant supporting wellness centers were built around providing
[32:25] direct mental health services to students through licensed professionals.
[32:30] mental health specialists are the staff who deliver that care, providing counseling,
[32:34] supporting high need students, and generating mecal revenue tied to
[32:38] those services. Yet those same positions are now being eliminated
[32:42] at the same time. The wellness center model, the coordinators and the billing
[32:47] infrastructure all remain in place. So this raises a serious concern.
[32:51] if the structure remains but the clinicians are gone, then the core service has effectively been
[32:55] removed. And more importantly, how does eliminating
[32:59] the very staff responsible for delivering grant funded mental health services align
[33:04] with the intent and requirements of those grants? Thank you.
[33:08] the next speaker is jeremy st. Strt. Good
[33:12] evening. Good evening. President and board members s-c-c-o-e rightly recognized
[33:17] the urgent mental health needs of our students and secured major grants to address them.
[33:22] with the 12 licensed mental health specialists last year, we delivered thousands
[33:26] of hours of direct therapeutic service to wellness centers, helping hundreds of students.
[33:31] more than half of those specialists and thus more than half of the direct therapeutic
[33:36] support have already been cut. This year we were on the cusp of making the model
[33:40] sustainable through medi-cal billing. Exactly the goal of these grants.
[33:44] instead, all remaining licensed specialist positions are being eliminated. Next
[33:48] year there will be zero direct therapeutic services by s-e-c-o-e clinicians.
[33:53] even though a large amount of direct service grant funds remain unused in
[33:57] holding accounts, I respectfully urge the board to restore the
[34:01] licensed mental health specialist positions as promised in the approved grants,
[34:05] or require a clear funded plan with mou so students do not lose these
[34:10] critical services. Thank you. The next is avelina charles.
[34:14] my name is avelina charles. I'm a clinical social worker and I have been with youth
[34:19] health and wellness since the beginning of the program. The reason why I took a position here
[34:23] was because the mission and values aligned with my mission and values. We serve high risk
[34:27] populations and I myself was a high risk population as a student.
[34:31] therefore, I'm very highly invested in this program. When it started, not only have
[34:35] the values changed, but there are two years left in the grant and our positions are
[34:39] being cut. Therefore, I urge you to consider how this
[34:43] is going to affect those high risk populations and the progress that we've already made and how much
[34:48] damage will be done by just removing these services. Thank you.
[34:53] the next speaker is zu. We,
[35:01] despite pretty words of reassurance that sustaining walden west is a priority, the actions
[35:05] of the county office remain at odds with their communications with the public and staff. Renovation at walden
[35:09] west was supposed to occur in 2015 and now more than 10 years later, it appears that few
[35:14] contingencies were planned to ensure us to move transition. Instead, the actions of
[35:18] the county office reflect poor planning and hasty decision making. As construction received the go
[35:22] ahead in january, layoffs were quickly sent before evaluating options to continue environmental education
[35:26] in our community. Despite this, we were told to continue registering families for the summer.
[35:30] the county office has reversed course and as such has canceled more than half of our planned programs before
[35:34] even securing a construction firm or considering starting on a date that would allow for camp to
[35:39] continue unencumbered, this move means that almost $500,000 worth of registrations
[35:43] now have to be refunded by our staff who must also apologize to our longtime returners. On behalf
[35:47] of the decision making of the county office, I implore you to to consider your decision before we move, lose
[35:51] more of the trust and respect of who we are improving our facilities for in the first place.
[35:55] thank you. The next speaker is ron lauder.
[36:02] this is ron, better known as spider. And I'm the morning program lead at
[36:06] walden west. First I wanna say it has been heartening to see the progress being made toward
[36:10] the goal of continuing to run program during construction next year. Unfortunately,
[36:14] it is coming at a great cost to some of our essential staff. I'm here
[36:19] specifically to speak for my friend and colleague, todd martinez, who was haphazardly
[36:23] notified via a slideshow presentation that his evening program lead position was
[36:27] set to be eliminated. This shows a complete lack of understanding of how our program
[36:31] runs for the safety and wellbeing of the students. While camp is in session,
[36:35] we have a 24 hour cycle of leadership, which consists of myself in the morning,
[36:40] todd in the afternoon, and an overnight supervisor. Removal of todd's
[36:44] position is completely unnecessary and shortsighted. It will lead to inconsistencies that
[36:48] will affect the overall program, fellow staff, and most importantly, the students.
[36:52] please advocate for the continuation of the evening program lead position at walden
[36:56] west. Thank you. The next speaker is todd martinez.
[37:03] good evening. My name is todd martinez. I've been a dedicated s-e-c-u-a employee for over
[37:07] 26 years. Walden west is my home, my community. I'm here because
[37:11] I was told my program lead position is being eliminated. The irony is almost hard to
[37:15] believe. Just days after being told my role was expendable, I received an invitation
[37:20] to a staff recognition ceremony for my 20 years of service. After almost
[37:24] three decades of loyalty, I feel betrayed. Leadership claims to
[37:28] be cutting costs, but their decisions are ineffective and out of touch. Our director
[37:32] is contracted for 261 days and supervisor for 221.
[37:36] while the frontline staff are reduced to 170, that is 91 days, three
[37:41] full months where leadership is paid their high salaries to work at an empty site without
[37:45] students. It is heartbreaking to see the program I love compromised by such poor
[37:49] decision making. You are cutting the front line to protect the overhead. Please prioritize
[37:54] the staff and the students who serve them. Uh, don't trade. 26 years
[37:58] of service for student safety and administrative overhead. Thank you. Before
[38:02] our next two speakers go, I'm gonna call the next batch of 10. So if you hear
[38:06] your name, please line up. Uh, dan robinson. Susan
[38:11] slop. Michelle oliver fabiola, bat
[38:16] dipali, parla car. Christian, christian,
[38:20] kristen, excuse me. Uh, hinden. Chris
[38:24] bel, dan capoli, renee,
[38:28] uh, louis and sarah steinbeck. Our next
[38:32] speaker is alec barrera. Valenzuela.
[38:37] good afternoon. Thank you for your time. My name is alex and I work in the transportation department here at
[38:41] s-c-c-o-e. Our job as school bus drivers isn't just driving a route. It's providing
[38:46] safe and reliable access to education for the most fragile students in all our santa clara
[38:50] county. Every day I transport students with special needs from home to school and back.
[38:54] some require bucket guards, vests or harnesses
[38:58] to stay secure while the bus is moving. I secure wheelchairs, monitor oxygen tanks
[39:03] and work alongside nurses and aides who provide medical care on board. Several
[39:07] students have medical time limits. They cannot be on the bus longer than 30 minutes due to their
[39:12] conditions. To serve the entire county, we have to be strategic. With routing, just
[39:16] getting one student to their school can take up to 40 minutes in morning traffic.
[39:20] if we lose six drivers, routes get longer and more combined, that will not help us get
[39:24] all students to school on time and safe with their medical conditions
[39:29] and time limits. Of course, my role requires specialized training and constant
[39:33] focus because the bus ride itself is part of their care plan. My job is to central
[39:37] to these families, to this county. The next speaker is stephanie poone.
[39:45] good evening. My name is stephanie poone and I'm a professional educator. I'm
[39:49] also a parent, a union member, a community member, and a constituent.
[39:54] I'm here to ask a question, what is your job? Because right now you
[39:59] are not supporting students, you're not supporting educators, and you're not bargaining in
[40:03] good faith. Do your job support students support
[40:07] educators, support families bargain in good faith? We cannot wait.
[40:16] the next speaker is dan robinson.
[40:21] good evening board members. My name is dan robinson. I'm speaking on behalf of ms.
[40:25] twe, which could not be, she could not be here today. She's a special education teacher
[40:29] with 28 years of service to our children. The decision to close ritter
[40:33] park elc was only communicated to staff on april 16th.
[40:37] given the significant impact on students, family and staff, it is important
[40:42] to ask whether this decision was made with thorough consideration, transparency,
[40:46] and appropriate checks and balances, or if it was made without fully prioritizing
[40:50] those most affected. Riter park elc opened just
[40:54] this year with resources already invested, including the construction of
[40:59] a bus stop to support student access. Closing the site by july 17th, 2026
[41:05] raises serious concerns about fiscal responsibility and long-term
[41:09] planning. How can this level of recent investment be reconciled with claims
[41:13] of insufficient budget to sustain school operations and retained staff? The
[41:18] situation calls for clear justification, accountability, and a more transparent explanation.
[41:22] the next speaker is susan slop.
[41:29] good evening. As a parent of a special needs child in santa clara county, I strongly,
[41:33] strongly support our county programs and the educators who work hard for our students every day.
[41:37] but from speaking with parents and teachers, one thing is very clear. There is no clear
[41:41] planner strategy coming from the santa clara county office of education. The
[41:46] recent issues with walden west county special education classrooms and incarcerated
[41:50] student programs, our clear examples of what happens when decisions are made
[41:54] has hastily and without proper planning or input from parents, staff in
[41:58] the community, these decisions impact the most vulnerable students.
[42:02] we need proactive leadership at sko that acknowledges problems and solves them. This
[42:07] is not how an organization that supports children should be run. Please
[42:11] fix the problems or they will get worse. We will continue to show up and advocate until
[42:15] the scoe administration leadership start putting students first. Thank you.
[42:19] the next speaker is michelle oliver.
[42:26] good evening dr. Tossin and trustees. I'm here again and
[42:30] I'm gonna ask for some self-reflection on your part.
[42:35] I wanna pose a scenario of my team and I showing up for an iep
[42:39] unprepared. We leave a family waiting 30
[42:43] to 60 minutes. When we start the meeting we're we didn't come with our
[42:47] assessments complete and we're not prepared to present
[42:52] services to the family. If this happened, I would be written
[42:56] up. A family would be complaining.
[43:00] we would be showing complete disrespect to this family and
[43:04] the student. So why is the negotiations committee allowed
[43:09] to show up in this way? Why have they been allowed to do
[43:13] this on numerous occasions? Dr. Toss and I have faith
[43:17] that you can rectify this. It needs to happen urgently.
[43:21] we need to be back at the table. Um, and we need
[43:26] you to make that happen. The next speaker is fabiola bata.
[43:35] hello, my name is avila vatas. Once, once here again. Um,
[43:40] this time is a different route. Um, was told some of our students are
[43:44] being degraded on their disability from severe to minor,
[43:48] from minor to light, pretty much normal kids.
[43:52] where does it say you guys have that option
[43:57] to choose our kids' disability. That way you put 'em in
[44:01] a regular school setting so it'd be cheaper for you guys.
[44:05] my kid brings money into the system. I know this is a business.
[44:10] he's just a number. They make it count.
[44:14] 'cause as the parents were getting frustrated person, you're
[44:18] gonna graduate and tell him that he can't go to to the age of 22 because he is already good enough.
[44:23] 'cause he can talk, he can walk miracle. 'cause you guys want that to happen.
[44:28] it's not gonna happen. Don't cut off the teachers.
[44:32] the aids the pass drivers. We need them. The next speaker
[44:36] is ali parla car.
[44:43] harvard business school. Research shows that organizations that invest in
[44:47] their people, no, don't just have short-term gains, but they perform better
[44:51] over time. This applies directly to s-e-c-o-e,
[44:55] but we don't need harvard business school to tell us this. We know this from
[45:00] our personal experience that the key for an institute to be considered
[45:04] a premium institute is how well they invest in the prosperity
[45:08] of their employees and how valued they make their employees feel.
[45:12] the teacher contract expired in june, 2025 and there has been little
[45:17] movement from s-c-c-o-e to make to work with union representatives.
[45:21] how is this fair to the teachers? But we, the teachers
[45:25] have continued to show up at work, serve our students, and carry the system
[45:29] forward. Employee prosperity, which is
[45:33] being fairly compensated and supported directly affects how people
[45:38] feel about coming to work every day. When educators feel valued,
[45:42] they bring energy, focus, and commitment. Before the next group, before the next speaker, I'll
[45:46] call the next batch of speakers. If you hear your name, please line
[45:50] up. Amy bennett, sandy fsi,
[45:55] bob pearl, uh, dang.
[46:00] huang
[46:05] missin, mendoza, aria,
[46:09] lila salinas grace penso perez.
[46:15] christine, he heley hedley. Debbie
[46:19] yon, please line up if you heard your name. Our next speaker
[46:23] is kristin hinden.
[46:30] I am here today as a former employee of the deaf and heart of hearing program where I worked for
[46:34] nine years. And during that time, I had the opportunity to meet so many
[46:38] incredible staff and other people throughout the organization. People
[46:42] whose work ethics and compassion made them friends to this day
[46:46] as well as mentors. And it's the children and families that kept me going to work each day.
[46:51] however, unfortunately, there's also many administration, administrators
[46:55] and people in power who forgot why they were here, who forgot the people
[46:59] they were supposed to be serving. And this is how I met reju, krisna
[47:04] krishna, ace president and that's who I stand with today.
[47:08] I was introduced to her because of administrator behavior. I always thought of her
[47:13] as a guardian angel, someone I couldn't always see, but she was always
[47:17] standing by me as well. As many of the people you see here today,
[47:21] her compassion, intelligent work ethic and commitment to advocate for her
[47:25] students and countless staff is unwavering. Her energy seems to have, have no limit.
[47:30] and the next speaker is chris bel.
[47:37] hi, I'm here to raise serious concerns about sco e's oversight of our county schools.
[47:42] california law specifically education code 4 2 6 3 oh through
[47:46] 4 2 6 5 2 requires that district expenditures
[47:50] be approved or ratified by the governing board. Morgan hill unified does not present
[47:55] warrant registers for board review, meaning millions of dollars of public funds are spent
[47:59] without public oversight. I raised this with the school district. No
[48:03] response. I raised it with in a zoom meeting, uh, with stephanie gomez
[48:07] on march 20th and was told she'd follow up in two weeks. No response despite
[48:12] multiple attempts. It's been over a month and I've heard nothing. Tiffany jones says,
[48:16] you're the team is handling it. Uh, won't let me talk to you. Uh, so the
[48:20] ques so, uh, at the same time, public records are showing that your office is
[48:24] allowing the district to edit o oversight letters, softening findings and weakening accountability.
[48:28] so the question is, who's the oversight body working for the district or the public?
[48:33] my request is simple, respond to legitimate concerns, enforce the law and maintain oversight.
[48:37] taxpayers deserve transparency. The next speaker is diane capi.
[48:53] good evening trustees. And dr. Tosin. My name is diane kae. My
[48:57] son colin is medically complex with vision impairment as one of the main disabilities
[49:01] affecting his education. He's currently in a scoi run special education
[49:06] program. He benefited from the early start and preschool vision programs, which I understand
[49:10] are no longer available. During the march 18th, 2026 board meeting,
[49:14] several public comments addressed the availability or lack of vision
[49:19] services across santa clara county. While colin currently receives support from
[49:23] a dedicated and a tent teacher of the visually impaired, he needs access
[49:27] to a comprehensive visiting program similar to the dhh program at oster,
[49:31] unfortunately no program exists in our region. We've been told s-c-c-o-e
[49:35] is a vendor and that districts must come together to create regional programs. However, the selpa
[49:40] local plan states that the executive se director is responsible for implementing
[49:44] regional services and identifying program needs. And this role is overseen by
[49:48] the county superintendent. So my question is, who is responsible for ensuring visually impaired
[49:52] students have access to an appropriate regional program? And what is done? Next speaker is renee lee
[49:57] liu.
[50:03] good evening. My name is renee liu. I'm an s-c-c-o-e
[50:08] employee and I'm also a parent of three children,
[50:12] um, in santa clara county. On march 19th, 2026,
[50:18] I received an email from one of my daughter's, um,
[50:22] school district superintendent joint negotiation
[50:27] update with district teachers association
[50:31] bargaining teams. And the teacher's union reached a tentative agreement
[50:35] on march 17th, 2026 on a new contract for
[50:39] the 26 27 school year. Major items include salary
[50:44] increase and restructured schedule, extra duty stipends, class
[50:48] size, and extended personal leave clarification.
[50:53] bargaining teams for both parties express their appreciation for the
[50:57] collaborative and problem solving approach to these negotiations, which enabled
[51:02] them to reach an agreement so early in the school year. The next speaker is sarah steinbach.
[51:09] hi, my name is sarah steinbach and I'm reading this for darlene poni.
[51:14] good evening. My name is darlene po. I'm a retired educator and
[51:18] I was a union member for over 23 years. I've spent my life in education
[51:23] and I've seen a lot over the years. I know how hard educators
[51:27] work and how much they care about their students. I
[51:31] truly believe s-c-c-o-e would bargain correctly and
[51:35] in good faith, it matters not just for the educators,
[51:39] but for the children they serve. At a time like this, we
[51:44] should be working together, not making things harder, prolonging
[51:48] this will only hurt everyone. Please do the right thing.
[51:53] settle this, support your educators and support your students.
[51:57] thank you. The next speaker is amy bennett.
[52:06] I was hired in 2003. I worked as a teacher in
[52:10] 2003, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17.
[52:28] and then had I had gap of two years and I came back as
[52:32] a teacher and worked 2019, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25,
[52:41] and 26. I was laid off because I didn't work
[52:45] here for two years in layoffs. The county went
[52:49] back seven years for teachers. If these seven years of
[52:53] teachers are gone, what about the next seven years and so on?
[52:57] this has been demoralizing and heartbreaking. My whole career ended
[53:01] abruptly. And I want the board to please put a face to my name.
[53:05] amy bennett. The next speaker is sandy fow.
[53:12] hi, I'm sandy. Um, I thought about I've been subbing, I subbed and then I
[53:16] was permanent. So I've been here since 1993, over 30 years of my life
[53:20] and my heart's breaking because morale is at all time low. In this
[53:24] organization, we seem to be getting further apart rather than
[53:28] working together and get getting closer. Um, I represent people
[53:33] in the office typically and I see patterns at the site. You know,
[53:37] patterns of complaints all coming from multiple complaints coming from the same area.
[53:42] um, I tell my kids and I tell the kids that I coach,
[53:46] use your voices when things are bad enough. You have to speak up and use your voice
[53:50] and we have some protection. We'll take care of you. Now when we have members
[53:55] doing that, I see layoffs happening in a way that I really think are retaliatory
[53:59] not only to members, but to leadership in the eyelid department.
[54:04] I'm concerned about that department. I don't believe that we have good
[54:08] leadership there and there's a lot of retaliation. I'd like you to look into
[54:12] it. The next speaker is bob pro.
[54:17] good evening board. This is bob perla. I have some questions that I'd like
[54:21] to ask you to reflect upon. Do you support the retaliation against
[54:26] employees who speak up for themselves? Do you support the intimidation
[54:30] of teachers who have the audacity to advocate for themselves
[54:34] and their students? Do you support union busting when
[54:38] employees say something that you don't like or you don't want to hear?
[54:43] that's what this superintendent is doing in your name.
[54:47] you need to take control of the situation and force a change. Of course,
[54:52] the road that this superintendent has you going down hurts teachers and
[54:56] support staff. And what's worse than that? It hurts students
[55:01] who are the most vulnerable ones in our community. If you don't right the
[55:05] ship while you still can, it tells voters exactly what you
[55:09] do and do not value. Turn this situation around
[55:13] bargaining, good faith and rescind the layoffs. The next
[55:17] speakers, d juan,
[55:23] good evening board members and dr. Tosen. My name is hong
[55:27] dng, one of the negotiation team. I would like to ask eoe to return
[55:31] to the bargaining table and to resume the faith negotiation for
[55:35] our contract. I have been worked with headstart over 25 years
[55:40] and never been faced significant stuffing step shortages
[55:44] like this. Current time many classroom ratio are two step with 20
[55:48] young student with high needs diapering, cell help skill, behavior limit
[55:53] language ability. These repo responsibility require time, attention,
[55:58] and staffing to ensure both and student success
[56:02] and stop wellbeing in. So please rescind the layoff. Has studies committed
[56:07] to committed to provide high quality early childhood education
[56:11] and cares for our student success? We need fair contract
[56:15] now and reflect the reality of outwork and support both
[56:20] staff and student alike. Thank you so much. The next speaker is ms. Rayan
[56:24] mendoza.
[56:32] uh, ms. Rayan mendoza on does not
[56:36] look like she's here onto the next speaker area.
[56:42] area, not here as well. Lila salinas.
[56:51] oh, oh, shoot. I kind of messed it up.
[56:56] uh, there we go. All right. My name is lila salinas.
[57:00] I'm an organizer with community service organization san jose, and
[57:05] I am here and will be here every single time to condemn these attacks
[57:09] on our students, educators, unions, and the political repression
[57:13] of ace president reju. We have no confidence in
[57:17] superintendent tosin, as he has shown a complete disregard
[57:22] for the needs of the people of santa clara county actively pushing
[57:26] for cuts to programs. For those most in need, you
[57:30] need to be held accountable. We can't wait.
[57:38] before the next speaker goes, I'll call the next batch of speakers. If you
[57:42] hear your name, please line up kelly shapiro
[57:47] area. Amen.
[57:51] heather, uh, burns. Cynthia puno,
[57:55] niku sni, luis velazquez,
[58:00] christina moore, dana wynn,
[58:06] and jack mcgovern. Our next speaker is grace pso
[58:10] perez evening. For
[58:15] 20 years, I have served this co uh, county in early childhood education,
[58:19] helping pioneer full inclusion at the preschool level. If our
[58:23] displacement is due to not being in integrated site,
[58:28] then why will you remove us from an integrated site with full inclusion
[58:32] in the first place? Now, reader park preschool is closing. We
[58:36] are being sent to the bid board with only one position available.
[58:41] I was only assured a position next year due to a posi procedural issue
[58:45] because I did not receive a pink slip within a required timeline.
[58:50] it is how 20 years of service is honored. I receive recognition from my years,
[58:54] yet I now face possibility of losing my position. That contradiction is
[58:58] unacceptable. If I am to be retained, place me where I will be effective
[59:02] in an early childhood where I can serve my purpose. Follow seniority. Please
[59:07] stop making decisions that put unnecessary strain on her mental and emotional wellbeing.
[59:11] if 28 and or 20 years of service, the next speakers, christina
[59:16] hedley. Hedley.
[59:20] good evening superintendent tosin and board of trustees.
[59:25] you've all spoken out and fought for causes that you believed in.
[59:30] um, one of you was even a union president for your district.
[59:35] what would it take for you to encourage your negotiators
[59:39] to negotiate our contract in good faith?
[59:43] what would it take for you to consider covering our healthcare again
[59:48] as well as the cost of living in silicon valley?
[59:52] it's not fair to make us worry about our jobs and wait and see what cost
[59:56] of living in healthcare would be covered. Please
[1:00:01] respect s-c-c-o-e staff. Our students depend on this.
[1:00:07] the next speaker is debbie yon.
[1:00:11] good evening. My name is debbie yon. I interviewed for my school nurse
[1:00:15] job in 2002. There was a mural on that wall
[1:00:20] on the other side, uh, at that time that,
[1:00:24] uh, stated coe's roots and contributions to the silicon valley.
[1:00:29] I met dedicated team members who were passionate experts, 30 year
[1:00:33] employees. The disability rights movement was founded here as technology
[1:00:38] blossomed in this diverse, fertile and energetic valley of
[1:00:42] hearts. Delight, coe supported families through the
[1:00:46] pandemic with technology, home-based instruction and food outreach.
[1:00:51] I am appalled at the board and the superintendent's app. Parent disregard for
[1:00:55] human capital of students, employees, and community.
[1:00:59] while the superintendent is an interloper. The board seeming
[1:01:03] dissociation from the culture and excellence of coe and the
[1:01:07] surrounding community is inexplainable and negligent.
[1:01:11] I appeal. The next speaker is kelly shapiro.
[1:01:18] good evening board. And, and dr. Tosin. First of all, let me introduce
[1:01:22] myself as kelly shepherd. Sorry, my handwriting can
[1:01:26] be a little sketchy. Um, I have
[1:01:31] come to talk tonight about the, that my observations
[1:01:37] indicate that there is, seems very clear that the closures of the special
[1:01:41] ed classrooms are in an effort to promote inclusion act
[1:01:45] strategies. Ie increase the percentage of disabled
[1:01:49] students in the districts. My observations are the districts
[1:01:54] are not ready to accept our students,
[1:01:58] nor have they ever been in the 19 years. I worked for san jose unified,
[1:02:03] backed up by my colleagues, by the other school nurses that I keep in touch with
[1:02:08] all around the county. They are not trained.
[1:02:12] can you please provide transparency regarding the timeline for complete integration
[1:02:16] to staff, parents, and especially the students for the launch? The next speaker is area.
[1:02:21] amen.
[1:02:29] second call for area. Amen. Uh, going on
[1:02:34] to the next speaker, heather burns.
[1:02:40] hi, I am heather burns and I'm a proud public school teacher and union members
[1:02:44] speaking in support of ace workers in our county schools. During negotiations,
[1:02:48] there's been no offer to address critical safety needs for our most vulnerable
[1:02:53] students. This is deeply concerning and quite frankly, heartbreaking.
[1:02:58] um, common sense measures like preventing unsupervised classrooms,
[1:03:02] ensuring safe learning environments, maintaining a da
[1:03:07] compliance and providing accessible alarm systems in the dhoh
[1:03:11] classes are not optional. They're essential. When
[1:03:15] these basic protections are missing, students can't fully access their education
[1:03:20] and staff are placed in unsafe and unsupported situations. It's
[1:03:25] scary. Scary. Okay. The county has a responsibility
[1:03:29] to ensure that every student can learn in a safe, inclusive, and well supported environment.
[1:03:33] and right now that responsibility's not being met, I urge you to take meaningful
[1:03:38] action for our students. The next speaker is cynthia peo.
[1:03:47] hello. Good evening. My name is . I'm speaking on behalf of
[1:03:51] cap catherine. In support
[1:03:55] of educators and support of bargaining in good faith.
[1:04:00] she works with some of the most vulner vulnerable kids. Students. Not
[1:04:04] everyone is willing or able to support. And still, she, she knows,
[1:04:08] she shows up them every single day. Aside
[1:04:13] from her sisters, her students are her life. She's first
[1:04:17] advocate for them and for the educators who serve them.
[1:04:21] so when educators speak, you should listen. When they ask
[1:04:25] for support, you should act when, when it's time to bargain. You
[1:04:29] must do it in good faith because supporting
[1:04:33] students mean supporting educators. And if you are not doing that,
[1:04:38] then you are not doing your job. Thank you. The next speaker
[1:04:42] is niku raja.
[1:04:49] hi, uh, I'm niku raje at walden west. I'm known as moose.
[1:04:53] um, I ask that you rescind all of these layoffs and
[1:04:57] stop doing more of them please. Um, these are permanent positions
[1:05:01] with over 26 years, um, of experience.
[1:05:05] you can't like solve that with money. Um, I am
[1:05:10] a, uh, substitute. I don't have that kind of experience.
[1:05:14] if I'm put in a position that requires experience, I cannot make sure those children are
[1:05:18] safe. In order to put children first, you need employees with experience.
[1:05:22] I've heard multiple people who have over 20 years of experience laid off
[1:05:26] like that. That's not okay. That doesn't put children first. That doesn't
[1:05:30] respect staff with experience that, that puts students in
[1:05:35] danger directly in danger. That's not okay.
[1:05:39] the next speaker is luis velasquez. Good evening board
[1:05:43] and superintendent. I am luis velasquez, president of the gro educators association.
[1:05:48] I'm here to represent, uh, and support the county educators and seiu local 5 2 1.
[1:05:53] uh, we can wait to fully staff schools. We can't wait for small, smaller
[1:05:57] class sizes and caseloads. We can't wait for stability and safety on
[1:06:01] our students. Our students deserve. We can't wait for competitive wages
[1:06:06] and benefits. We can't wait to recruit and retain quality educators. We
[1:06:10] can't wait for our reliable healthcare coverage. We can't wait for proper
[1:06:14] training equipment environments to support our students. We can't wait for
[1:06:18] safe learning environments. Maintaining a da compliance and providing acce accessible
[1:06:23] alarm systems. We can't wait for ensuring that iep services are in place before
[1:06:27] students start. We can't wait to support the whole child and actively include families.
[1:06:31] we can't wait for consistent and legally require 15 minute breaks.
[1:06:35] we can wait. The next speaker is christina moore.
[1:06:45] the curriculum and environments in our county classes are specially designed to meet
[1:06:49] individual student needs. It is irresponsible to place students with opposing needs
[1:06:53] in the same classrooms such as students with high medical support needs,
[1:06:58] with students with high behavior support needs. The program must fit
[1:07:02] the child. The approach of expecting students to fit the program ends up being
[1:07:06] ineffective, more costly and leads to safety concerns for staff and students.
[1:07:10] instead of using the false lack of funds narrative as an excuse for
[1:07:14] the bad practice of closing specialized classes. First, be transparent
[1:07:18] about the misuse of funds and then do better stop wasting
[1:07:23] time and energy on retaliatory actions and put that time and energy
[1:07:27] into creating partnerships with staff, parents, and families to strengthen and keep
[1:07:31] coe programs open. It is an, it is an egregious falsehood
[1:07:35] that our programs and services are not needed. Talk to parents and professionals
[1:07:39] throughout districts and you'll hear stories of students not being served
[1:07:43] or of students being inappropriately served and overwhelmed compared district next. The
[1:07:48] next speaker is diane wynn.
[1:07:53] hello, I'm diana. I'm a parent. Dr. Tossin. I think
[1:07:57] you remember me. Former head start, pc rep. Um, same
[1:08:01] thing ms. Beiser. I think you remember me. I'm just here 'cause I'm in support
[1:08:05] of all the teachers and walden west. I didn't really realize what was going
[1:08:09] on with walden west, but, um, after hearing, um, you know
[1:08:13] what's going on, I just wanna say, I was born and raised here in san jose. I went to
[1:08:18] hillsdale, which is now jason m doll, um, stonegate silverdale,
[1:08:22] andrew hill. Um, I'm back in school for my nursing program and,
[1:08:26] you know, both my kids are in head start and it's really sad to see that
[1:08:30] walden west could be closing. I went to walden west. I loved it. Um,
[1:08:35] and to see that all these things are happening to it, um, I feel bad that
[1:08:39] my kids are not gonna get to experience that. Um, but I'm here in, in support
[1:08:43] to the teachers at head start. Um, ms. Hong, ms. Lan, everybody,
[1:08:48] um, they, they, they're my village. And I, I want you guys to bargain
[1:08:52] in good faith. And, and the last speaker is jack mcgovern.
[1:08:59] good evening board. My name is jack mcgovern. I'm the political director of the south bay labor
[1:09:03] council. Uh, I'm here on behalf of the labor council and our 100,000
[1:09:07] union members asking the board to support our teachers and union workers
[1:09:12] speaking here today. And all those who can't be here. The south bay labor council
[1:09:17] stands in support of ace, seiu, oak grove educators
[1:09:21] and everyone else here in demanding attentive and respectful leadership.
[1:09:25] and we stand in support of ace president reju krishna. The labor council
[1:09:30] supports the call for our superintendent and the board to step up and provide
[1:09:34] the leadership needed to support our workers to negotiate in good faith
[1:09:38] and to rescind the layoffs. Thank you. This concludes
[1:09:43] public comment. Um, president ch uh, for item six, we have
[1:09:47] two speaker cards. Thank you.
[1:09:51] alright, that concludes public comment. Our next agenda item is
[1:09:55] our bargaining unit reports. Please note that state law prohibits the santa clara county board of
[1:09:59] education from discussing or acting on non agenda items. A five minute timer
[1:10:03] will be presented and comments should not exceed past five minutes. Um,
[1:10:07] our seiu president sarah is already here, so thank you. Please state your name and
[1:10:11] title and present your comment. Uh, let's wait for the five minute timer though.
[1:10:18] alright. Thank you. Sarah genaro, seau, chapter president, representing over
[1:10:22] 1400 permanent and substitute classified staff and defender of public education.
[1:10:27] today we're gonna talk about s e's top five ways to build relationships and trust
[1:10:31] with our union. Number five, be transparent. Release the requested
[1:10:35] information to the bargaining units, including the march 15th leadership position. Layoff list
[1:10:39] management claims. The layoffs are equivalent to the bargaining units, but the limited data available
[1:10:43] from educational services does not support this. Provide the requested information
[1:10:48] regarding custodial positions and bus drivers who are impacted by the march 15th
[1:10:52] layoff notices and also has not been provided. What is the office trying to hide?
[1:10:57] number four, be accountable. Tonight's budget revisions includes a certificated retirement
[1:11:01] incentive, yet management already announced that they would not offer this to ace and has refused
[1:11:06] to provide one to seiu. Why were members told they needed to
[1:11:10] resign or be laid off and not to share that information with anyone yet their positions
[1:11:14] were not actually being eliminated. Stop the anti-union behavior,
[1:11:18] recognize seamless card count and cease violating our weingarten rights. Be fair and transparent
[1:11:22] with the reasonable accommodations, complaint, processes, and discipline. Number three,
[1:11:27] collaborate and partner with the bargaining units. Decisions continue to be made without
[1:11:31] input, including layoffs, benching, and budgets. Sciu was not invited
[1:11:35] to participate in the lobby day, which we understand the board members requested. Number
[1:11:39] two, reverse the layoffs. Eliminating paraeducators and associate teachers is
[1:11:44] insanely shortsighted, especially when considering the high rate of unfilled absences.
[1:11:48] additionally, part of the justification for keeping a special education principal while closing
[1:11:52] the 15 classes that they supervise and a site director who supervises the five classes
[1:11:57] that are being closed, is the staff absences and lack of subs that is near 20%
[1:12:01] unfilled. Instead, we should just retain the staff so that we can fill the
[1:12:05] positions. Laying off bus drivers that transport our most medically fragile
[1:12:09] or have the most support needs is unreasonable. Our drivers have shared that some students have
[1:12:13] a ride limit of 30 minutes due to their medical needs, and that students have accidentally or un intentionally
[1:12:18] disconnected vital pieces that help them to live. I shared those documents with you yesterday.
[1:12:22] others shared about students getting out of all of the safety devices, requiring
[1:12:26] them to pull over as soon as possible. Additionally, one bus driver or submitted
[1:12:31] their retirement paperwork after the march 15th notices, but business services said
[1:12:35] that this will not be filled. Thus, the department is actually reducing the number of positions by
[1:12:39] more than half. Our college liaisons are vital to the success of our alternative
[1:12:43] education program, not just in the quantity of services provided, but also in the
[1:12:47] quality as you've heard from both them and their students.
[1:12:52] and finally, number one, negotiate a fair contract for seiu and ace. We've been
[1:12:56] at the table for over a year just for a reopener, and our second reopener is starting already.
[1:13:01] ace's contract expired last summer. We've never had negotiations take this long and
[1:13:05] 0% raises while over a hundred million dollars sits unspent in the bank. Grant
[1:13:09] funding is rising and our students' needs are increases. Is is incredibly
[1:13:13] disrespectful to the people who are doing the work, providing fully funded
[1:13:18] healthcare and a cost of living increase commensurate to the state cola is fair and affordable.
[1:13:22] s-c-c-o-e must invest in students in our communities now, restore confidence in our
[1:13:26] fiscal processes and transparency, defend public education and stand against these decisions
[1:13:30] that are devastating to our students, staff and community. We can't wait.
[1:13:34] our students can't wait, and our community can't wait. Thank you.
[1:13:41] thank you. I would like, I would now like to invite the designee or president of
[1:13:45] the psychologist and social workers association, pswe forward.
[1:13:52] it does not look like a representative is here. So we will now move to, uh, the designee
[1:13:56] or president of the association of county educators ace forward. Please clearly state your name, title,
[1:14:01] and present your comment.
[1:14:11] krishna, ace, president, and a defender of public education. I stand here
[1:14:15] today with educators who continue showing up under strain, uncertainty, and disruption
[1:14:20] because that is what this profession requires and what our students depend on.
[1:14:24] we are here today to speak up for students who are losing stability for ace and
[1:14:29] seiu members who've been laid off. Teachers, counselors, mental health therapists,
[1:14:33] paraeducators walden best staff and management personnel impacted
[1:14:38] by these cuts. Each one of these roles represents children,
[1:14:42] students, a human, a need, a future. And right now, all those
[1:14:46] lives are being disrupted. Then there are contradictions that cannot be ignored.
[1:14:51] example, agenda item eight d $30,409
[1:14:55] in general funds was allocated to support an early retirement incentive
[1:14:59] for certificated employees. This funding was generated from salary savings
[1:15:04] incurred in the second interim. Yet when ace brought forward
[1:15:08] a structured early retirement incentive that could have saved jobs,
[1:15:13] coe withdrew the mou and claimed ace refused it. You cannot
[1:15:17] set aside funds for a solution on paper and then reject the very agreement
[1:15:21] that could have prevented layoffs. Closing programs after investing heavily
[1:15:26] to establish them is not planning. It's a failure of planning. Silence
[1:15:30] on agenda. Item five b reflects a lack of accountability.
[1:15:34] withdrawing the retirement. Mou that could have saved jobs is not good. Faith
[1:15:38] bargaining and bad faith is not right. Just not
[1:15:42] right. Lack of parent collaboration. So many more
[1:15:46] examples. These are not exceptions. That patterns of bad decision making,
[1:15:52] coe's, culture of inconsistencies, lack of accountability, complete disregard
[1:15:56] of labor partners and bad faith patterns must end today.
[1:16:00] we are demanding. Stop all layoffs, keep counselors
[1:16:04] in their positions. Invest a portion of the $109 million surplus
[1:16:09] directly into student programs. Preserve mental health and wellness service
[1:16:13] staff. Protect special ed and head start programs for our most vulnerable
[1:16:17] students. Be demand accountability for fiscal mismanagement and for
[1:16:21] your action plan. Dr. Tosin for the fiscal misdoings as brought forth in agenda
[1:16:26] item five b from november 19th, 2025.
[1:16:30] actually build in processes for transparency in budget decisions and governance.
[1:16:34] stop the scapegoating and stop this culture of retaliation and harassment.
[1:16:38] negotiate in good faith with ace. Ace has now entered fact
[1:16:42] finding. If no agreement is reached, we are prepared to
[1:16:47] take further action. Ace remains willing to negotiate in good faith,
[1:16:51] but we are also prepared to go on strike for our students, our staff,
[1:16:55] and the integrity of public education.
[1:17:00] recently I was trying to bring my critically son back home for urgent treatment.
[1:17:05] there was a narrow window when it was possible , I had every
[1:17:09] step. People who had the ability to help and make it happen
[1:17:13] did not look for solutions. Everybody offered a reason for why
[1:17:17] it can't happen. Everybody had an excuse. Every single person
[1:17:21] I talked to had an excuse. No one asked me one
[1:17:26] question that could have brought him back. How can we make this
[1:17:30] happen? I carried that question till his very last
[1:17:34] moment, even during his cremation. And I will carry that question
[1:17:38] till my last dying moment. And today I ask all of you here,
[1:17:44] why are you not thinking about the one way that you
[1:17:48] can stop these layoffs? That you can preserve these programs, that
[1:17:52] you can actually make things happen? Why are we so invested in telling
[1:17:57] everyone we cannot? We cannot. We cannot. No.
[1:18:01] please sit together, sit with us and think of that
[1:18:05] one reason, one way that you can make it happen. Because
[1:18:12] that one way can save a life. That one way
[1:18:17] can save a life. Today,
[1:18:21] board members and dr. Tosin, this is your
[1:18:25] responsibility to find solutions, to focus on how this
[1:18:29] can be done and not why it cannot be done. We've heard enough
[1:18:33] of why it cannot be done. Ask the question that matters.
[1:18:38] how do you stop these layoffs? How do you preserve these programs? And how
[1:18:42] do you negotiate with us in good faith? Find
[1:18:47] the one way we can and not cannot. Thank
[1:18:51] you.
[1:19:06] thank you. That does conclude our bargaining unit report and my condolences
[1:19:10] to you, reju and your family. We'll now
[1:19:14] proceed to our next agenda. Item item number six, our consent action items.
[1:19:19] moderator, we do have public comment on this item, is that correct? We do. We
[1:19:23] have two cards. Okay. Can we do public comment on this before we, um,
[1:19:28] uh, discuss and possibly pass? Uh, yes.
[1:19:33] our two speakers are, if you hear your name, please line up at the podium.
[1:19:38] michelle oliver and diane kae,
[1:19:42] if you're still in the room. Our next two speakers are michelle oliver
[1:19:47] and diane cap. Our first speaker is michelle oliver.
[1:19:53] as you move forward on these consent items, which are often just listed and
[1:19:57] voted on, um, I think we need to evaluate
[1:20:02] how genuine it would be for you to consent to
[1:20:06] recognizing teacher appreciation and recognizing national
[1:20:10] stress awareness. Right now, the amount of stress
[1:20:14] that your staff is going through is pretty significant.
[1:20:19] um, as teachers, we don't feel appreciated. I have been with the county since
[1:20:23] 1998 and apparently my position is not important enough
[1:20:28] or valued enough to be part of the retirement incentive list.
[1:20:32] but apparently some management positions are.
[1:20:39] what are you saying to us by consenting that these are important
[1:20:43] things, but the actions are not supporting that
[1:20:51] you need to show us more integrity. The next speaker is
[1:20:55] diane kae. Hello? Oh, sorry.
[1:20:59] hello trustees. And dr. Tosin. I just needed to take a minute,
[1:21:03] um, to collect myself after rudy, you spoke. Um,
[1:21:08] I just wanted to come up here to give a quick shout out to my son's,
[1:21:12] um, scoe school nurse suzanne williams. She has been collin's
[1:21:17] nurse since tk and he's
[1:21:21] now in fifth grade for medically complex students. As school nurse is an
[1:21:25] essential part of the iup team. Suzanne played a critical role in facilitating
[1:21:29] colin's transaction back to school after his third open heart surgery,
[1:21:34] as well as, um, other procedures and surgeries. Over the years,
[1:21:39] she's trained classroom staff on multiple procedures and consistently helped ensure that
[1:21:43] colin can safely attend school. She's currently helping not only my
[1:21:47] son, but my whole family as we navigating new diagnoses and determine how best to
[1:21:51] support him at school. Susanna has been incredibly important in many situations throughout the
[1:21:55] years that con that continuity of care has been essential and in building and
[1:21:59] maintaining trust. Conclude comments. Thank you. Uh, and, uh, president
[1:22:04] john, we do have one card for item seven a. Thank you.
[1:22:09] alright, um, we'll now I'll now entertain a motion to approve
[1:22:13] consent action items a through h move by
[1:22:18] move by trustee krisna, uh, move by trustee kernan second and
[1:22:22] by trustee pacheco
[1:22:30] board members, please vote on board docs.
[1:22:53] and that motion carries with six yeses and one not present at vote. We'll
[1:22:57] now move to agenda item seven or consent act or consent information items. This item
[1:23:01] is on the agenda for transparency. There. There's no presentation or action required
[1:23:05] unless there are any comments. Um, but we have one. So moderator,
[1:23:09] if you could do the public comment for item uh, seven. Thank you.
[1:23:14] our speaker is diane capi.
[1:23:27] good evening trustees. And dr. Tosin. My name is diane cap and my son colin
[1:23:31] tenson, s-c-c-o-e run, sai special education program.
[1:23:36] colin is one of 715 students currently enrolled in an
[1:23:40] soe special education program. Declining enrollment is often cited as
[1:23:44] a reason for class and staff reductions. However, I would like to point out a discrepancy between
[1:23:49] the special education enrollment figures presented on a slide during the budget study
[1:23:53] committee meeting on may 17th, 2023. And those shown
[1:23:57] on a slide during the march 19th, 2025 meeting. While the
[1:24:01] reported change in the number of classes alliance, the enrollment numbers themselves do not the
[1:24:06] march 19th, 2025 enrollment numbers look much more favorable for sco e.
[1:24:10] this inconsistency undermines trust and transparency. I respectfully
[1:24:14] ask for greater clarity regarding the reported decline in enrollment, not just as
[1:24:18] a broad statement of declining enrollment, but a more detailed breakdown of where students are
[1:24:22] going, especially since this decline is being used to justify class and staff reductions.
[1:24:27] one minute is not enough concludes comments.
[1:24:32] thank you. We'll now move to agenda item eight, or action president
[1:24:36] sean uhhuh , I, I recognize this as a, uh,
[1:24:40] consent information. Can we get clarification on the discrepancy?
[1:24:45] uh, sure. Dr. Tossin, do you know who can
[1:24:50] give us some information on that discrepancy or
[1:24:54] if there's, uh, at a later time as well if there's additional information? Yeah,
[1:24:58] I wouldn't be able to speak to that at this moment, so, okay. If you can get back to us,
[1:25:02] that would be appreciated. All right, thank you.
[1:25:06] okay, now we move, we will move to, uh, agenda item eight are action items.
[1:25:10] um, this action item eight, a discussion and approval of candidates for the region 20
[1:25:15] csb delegate assembly runoff election will be presented by dr. Tosin.
[1:25:20] thank you, president john. On march 4th, 2026, the board voted to select candidates
[1:25:25] for four seats on cs b's delegate assembly for region 20.
[1:25:29] following that action, the csba completed the count and certification
[1:25:33] of ballots for the 2026 delegate assembly election on march 25th, 2026,
[1:25:39] as a tie vote occurred for one seat in region 20 csba
[1:25:44] has initiated a runoff election. The runoff election is to fill one
[1:25:48] delegate assembly seat for region 20. The candidates advancing to the runoff
[1:25:52] election are elizabeth holiday campbell union high school
[1:25:57] district, uh, the second candidate, jody muirhead, santa clara unified
[1:26:01] school district, who is the incumbent. I will now conduct a roll
[1:26:05] call, vote for each of the candidates. As a reminder, board members may
[1:26:09] vote for one candidate only. When your name is called, please respond yes
[1:26:13] if you wish to cast a, cast a vote for that candidate or
[1:26:17] pass if you do not wish, wish to cast a vote.
[1:26:22] once the roll call has been completed for both candidates, the staff will tally the yes votes
[1:26:26] for each candidate. The candidate receiving the highest number of votes will be identified
[1:26:31] as the board selected nominee and submitted on the ballot on behalf of the board.
[1:26:35] are there any questions before we begin?
[1:26:39] trustee alberta? I just wanted a comment or clarification.
[1:26:44] 'cause I had heard that technically elizabeth halladay had won the,
[1:26:48] the vote, or not technically, but she had unofficially won the vote,
[1:26:52] but because of a discrepancy in the way that the votes were
[1:26:57] reported, that, uh, that it was not
[1:27:01] captured, uh, it was not finalized. So I just wanted my
[1:27:05] colleagues to have that same information. Okay.
[1:27:10] thank you. Trustee pacheco, could we find
[1:27:14] a way to get trustee rocha back?
[1:27:18] let me text them
[1:27:25] or no, that needs to be voted on too. It's already
[1:27:30] he heard you. All right. Uh, dr. Tossin, could
[1:27:34] you do the roll call? Vote please. Thank you. I'll begin the roll con
[1:27:38] roll call. Voting, uh, the first candidate, elizabeth halliday,
[1:27:43] uh, trustee berta aye. President
[1:27:47] sean aye. Trustee la
[1:27:52] aye. Trustee pacheco aye. Trustee
[1:27:56] rocha? Aye. Vice president spicer
[1:28:01] pass. Trustee shanan? Aye.
[1:28:06] I have seven ayes and one pass.
[1:28:12] I'm sorry. Six, six eyes and one pass. Can we skip the
[1:28:16] next one, dr. Toten? Oh, sorry, sorry, sorry. Yeah, we still, we'll still
[1:28:20] go through it. Yeah. The second candidate, jody muirhead,
[1:28:24] uh, trustee berta pass, president chon pass,
[1:28:28] trustee laurie pass, trustee pacheco,
[1:28:33] a trustee rocha pass, vice president spice
[1:28:38] pass. Trustee nan pass.
[1:28:42] I have seven passes for jody muirhead. Um,
[1:28:49] the, the selected, uh, representative is elizabeth holli. Elizabeth
[1:28:54] holiday, uh, staff will record the selection and submit the completed
[1:28:58] ballot reflecting the candidate selected. May I have a motion to approve
[1:29:02] the board selection of the candidate for csba delegate assembly runoff election
[1:29:06] for region 20? The candidate selected is motion
[1:29:11] is elizabeth holiday. I second moved by trustee
[1:29:15] laurie's second by, uh, vice president visor. I'm sorry, what? That's
[1:29:55] trustees. Please vote on board talks.
[1:30:07] and that motion carries with seven yeses. Thank you. All right. Uh, thank you and congratulations
[1:30:12] to the candidate selected by the board to represent region 20 at the csba delegate assembly. And
[1:30:16] thank you trustees for your participation. We'll now move to item item
[1:30:20] eight b presented by dr. Michelle johnson, director of charter schools.
[1:30:39] good evening trustees, president sean and dr.
[1:30:43] tosin. Um, people demographic balance
[1:30:48] has been a concern. The county board and santa clara county office
[1:30:52] of education for a long while, county staff has
[1:30:56] worked to collaborate with all s-c-c-b-o-e authorized charter schools and support
[1:31:00] their development and implementation of plans to increase their efforts
[1:31:04] and successes in enrolling a more diverse student population consistent with the
[1:31:08] letter and spirit of the charter schools act.
[1:31:13] as part of the s-c-c-o-e standard charter oversight and review process,
[1:31:17] csd staff compared the demographics for all s-c-c-b-o-e charter schools
[1:31:22] and compared it to the district or county demographic data for the
[1:31:26] district in which each school was located. Then csd staff
[1:31:31] compared those schools which had disproportionality amounts with the amount, with the enrollment
[1:31:35] demographics from the previous renewal period for any school whose
[1:31:39] charter is due to expire on june 30th, 2027. When
[1:31:43] comparing each charter school's enrollment data on the 2025
[1:31:47] da school california school's dashboard, in comparison with its
[1:31:52] previous renewal enrollment demographic data, three schools emerge
[1:31:56] disproportionate demographic data in indicates that
[1:32:00] discovery one, tahoma and rocket ship rising stars are
[1:32:04] not serving all pupils who wish to attend. The data indicates that the disproportionality
[1:32:09] per percentages of some student groups have decreased for some,
[1:32:13] but not enough. And for others it has grown. Underrepresented
[1:32:18] disproportionate student groups at discovery one in tahoma include english
[1:32:22] learners, hispanic and socioeconomically disadvantaged students.
[1:32:26] while the dis while at rising stars, the data indicates
[1:32:30] that socio economically disadvantaged students and students with disabilities
[1:32:35] are now disproportionate. Pursuant to education code 47 6 0 7
[1:32:40] e. The county board may non-renew a charter if it finds that the charter school
[1:32:45] is demonstrably unlikely to successfully implement the program due
[1:32:49] to substantial fiscal substantial governance factors, or
[1:32:53] is not serving all pupils who wish to attend education
[1:32:57] code 47 6 0 7 e also provides procedural steps
[1:33:01] for the county to follow in such cases, including providing at least
[1:33:05] 30 days notice to the charter school of the alleged violations and providing
[1:33:10] the charter school with a reasonable opportunity to cure those violations,
[1:33:14] including submission of a corrective action plan proposed by the charter
[1:33:18] school. By authorizing the issuance of these notices
[1:33:22] in advance of the receipts of discoveries to hoas
[1:33:27] and rising stars renewal charter petitions, each school will be
[1:33:31] provided additional time to cure these issues, including through a corrective
[1:33:35] action plan that could be incorporated into and or otherwise be addressed
[1:33:39] as part of their renewal charter petitions. Therefore, staff recommends
[1:33:43] that the county board take action to authorize and delegate authority to the county superintendent
[1:33:48] or designee the authority to issue the notices to discovery, one
[1:33:52] to homa and rising stars pursuant to education code 47 6 0 7
[1:33:57] e. And provide a reasonable opportunity to cure the matters raised in the notices.
[1:34:02] thank you. Thank
[1:34:06] you. Dr. Johnson. Uh, trustees or dr. Or dr. Tossin, are there any questions?
[1:34:12] trustee pacheco? Um, what's the
[1:34:16] threshold for when you de when you conclude,
[1:34:21] um, that a population is
[1:34:25] disproportionate? So it's at least a five plus or minus,
[1:34:33] and have these three schools,
[1:34:37] uh, demonstrated these same problems
[1:34:41] for a long time? So with regards to both discovery
[1:34:46] and to homa, during their prior renewal period
[1:34:50] when their terms were up for renewal, they were both notified that
[1:34:54] they were disproportionate in, in the same areas that they're currently disproportionate
[1:34:58] in. I see. So that's
[1:35:03] terrible. And also, yeah, so they have improved, but
[1:35:07] not enough, and that's why we're providing this notice again. Okay.
[1:35:12] well, it seems like it's a historic problem for those two. And then this
[1:35:16] for the third charter. Um, this is a new problem for them. This is a new problem
[1:35:20] for them. This is, they have not been in this position before.
[1:35:25] okay. And then so we'll, we are expected to see their renewal
[1:35:29] petitions for board action probably by 20 early
[1:35:34] 2027. Uh, we've been working with all of our charter
[1:35:38] schools, and you should see all of them
[1:35:43] begin early 20, early fall, mid-fall.
[1:35:48] so, um, all th uh, discovery
[1:35:52] one will bring their, actually, they'll be bringing theirs
[1:35:57] in december. The
[1:36:01] other two will have their, um, they will come in august.
[1:36:06] my last question is, how will we know if whatever plan, because it
[1:36:10] seems like they just, at least for the first two charters,
[1:36:14] all they have to do is just submit some type of plan that looks like they're
[1:36:18] gonna take some action. But how
[1:36:22] do we know that if their first plan wasn't effective enough to get them out
[1:36:26] of this hole, that this second plan is gonna be any different
[1:36:31] in terms of the accelerated improvement that we need?
[1:36:38] um, I think the fact that we are
[1:36:42] actually issuing a notice, which we did not do, um,
[1:36:46] five years ago, because the law was not that way.
[1:36:51] the law changed in 29, in 2020. And
[1:36:55] so we're now at this point where we're issuing
[1:36:59] a different, so they're actually having to update and create a plan, which they didn't
[1:37:03] have before. I see. So this, so we're not gonna be comparing it from one plan to the
[1:37:07] other, but it is a historic problem for them. It's a historic problem, but it's not a
[1:37:12] torical plan. Mm. Okay. Thank you.
[1:37:16] thank you. Trustee pacheco, any or trustee ?
[1:37:20] thank you. And thank you for those questions. I had some very similar, but I'll ask
[1:37:24] another path, which is around their engagement in this process, or
[1:37:28] I'm, I'm sure they're aware that this action is coming before the board tonight. They
[1:37:33] are. Okay. And as far as past practice, do they ever submit
[1:37:37] a letter in acknowledging the circumstances and or committing
[1:37:41] to work with staff? Um, you know, and obviously I would expect that during the renewal
[1:37:45] process, but even here I was a little surprised to not have been contacted or, and
[1:37:49] maybe I missed a, an email to me that I didn't see in terms of
[1:37:53] their interest in having a conversation, but not even a correspondence to
[1:37:57] us.
[1:38:02] while the, the school may be aware, um, that this letter's coming,
[1:38:07] the, this action tonight will, um, generate the letter that
[1:38:11] they would respond to, it would gotcha. Conceivably be a little bit premature
[1:38:15] for them to say, we just wanna let you know we're gonna work with
[1:38:19] you for a letter they hadn't received yet. Gotcha. So, but they're,
[1:38:23] they have, as I mentioned, they've already been informed of this action. They knew this was coming and
[1:38:27] okay. There's, you know, oftentimes they've got an opportunity for public comment too, to
[1:38:32] attend and talk about their acknowledgement and recognizing the issues to work through, or,
[1:38:36] anyway, that's why I was curious if they were engaged in this process, in past
[1:38:41] practices of how engaged they've been in when these decisions are made. And then,
[1:38:45] um, last question is related to, uh, our authorization.
[1:38:50] now that's part of our role. And that's, is that part of the new legislation
[1:38:54] you mentioned, or has that always been the role the board is authorizing the, um,
[1:38:59] the issuance? I'm
[1:39:03] not sure I understand the question. I think I do. It is,
[1:39:08] so our role is to authorize the issuance it says here in the right. Yes.
[1:39:12] okay. So let me ask you this question again. Is that always been our role or is
[1:39:16] that new legislation? That's part of the new legislation. Thank you.
[1:39:23] any other questions? Trustees?
[1:39:27] oh, trustee berta. In the development of the, um, the,
[1:39:31] the plans to address the discrepancies, is
[1:39:35] that something, um, the charter school department supports them with, or
[1:39:39] is it really up to each school to, to
[1:39:44] build that plan? So each charter school is responsible for creating
[1:39:48] their own plan. However, we have had conversations about
[1:39:52] their, a variety of different things that each school
[1:39:57] can do to improve their recruitment efforts. Um,
[1:40:01] some of those efforts include changing their enrollment
[1:40:05] preferences. Some of them include, um, specifically
[1:40:09] looking at the, the population that
[1:40:13] they might not have actually been out of alignment with before.
[1:40:18] and so the, because they, a charter school cannot
[1:40:23] specifically say, uh, I want to enroll special
[1:40:28] students with special needs. They can't specifically do that, but they can
[1:40:32] contact, um, other schools and let them know that we
[1:40:36] do serve all students. So it's, it's part of that, that
[1:40:40] advertising and notification and they need to create, create their
[1:40:45] plan to make sure that they are removing some of those barriers.
[1:40:50] for example, saying, oh no, we can't serve, no, we serve all students. They need to change
[1:40:54] some of their language. Is there a way for this board to know which
[1:40:59] recommendations they agreed with or
[1:41:03] which suggestions if they didn't go a particular route or if
[1:41:07] they decided to, um, I guess not focus
[1:41:11] on a specific concern? So with regards to each
[1:41:15] of these notices that we're sending out, we're giving them a list of different possible
[1:41:19] options and they get to pick and choose because it's not an exhaustive
[1:41:24] list, but as part of their renewal petition, that
[1:41:28] plan will be included. So you'll be able to see what their plans include.
[1:41:32] right. Okay. Thank you. I appreciate you bringing forward this item and
[1:41:36] the consistency and, and monitoring as well.
[1:41:40] thank you. Um, in terms of seeing that plan coming forward, is that at the re at
[1:41:45] the time of renewal or will we see it before then?
[1:41:49] the intent was for them to submit it with their renewal. Okay.
[1:41:53] if they want to submit it early, they can. Okay. Alright. Thank you.
[1:41:59] okay. Seeing no other questions, um, we do need to
[1:42:04] make a motion. So I'll entertain a motion to, for, to
[1:42:08] issue the notice of concern or reasonable opportunities. Let me finish
[1:42:12] the sentence to ki pursuant to education code 4 7 6 0 7
[1:42:18] e moved by trustee, seconded by trustee pacheco.
[1:42:31] trustees, please vote on board docs.
[1:42:38] I'm not sure if my, um, reply went. So verbal eye.
[1:42:43] okay. Thank you. Trustee laurie, verbal eye from trustee laurie,
[1:42:47] just in case. Thanks. Oh, it did go through. So, uh, we have seven eyes,
[1:42:52] um, on item eight b. Thank you. Thank you, dr. Johnson.
[1:42:57] okay. We are now moving to item item eight c, uh, which
[1:43:01] will be presented by dr. Matt wayne, assistant superintendent of educational services.
[1:43:05] nope, actually, dr. Lee instead .
[1:43:13] all right. Thank you.
[1:43:25] good evening, superintendent dr. Tosin, president sean, and,
[1:43:29] um, trustees. So my name is kristen lee, manager of planning
[1:43:33] and support in the early learning services department, and I'm representing
[1:43:38] the early learning services department. So this evening, the early
[1:43:42] learning services department is seeking approval from the governing body, um,
[1:43:46] on the recruitment plan set for the 26 27 program year.
[1:43:50] uh, to note, the policy council has approved this plan on
[1:43:54] april 14th. So
[1:43:59] we wanna first thank you for your questions, um, and review of the powerpoint. And
[1:44:03] so to optimize your time, um, I'll be focusing on the concrete shifts
[1:44:07] we're making in preparation for enrolling children in our zero to five
[1:44:12] services. So we recognize
[1:44:16] that the staff at the early learning services have worked extremely hard this
[1:44:20] year. Um, especially under challenging circumstances.
[1:44:24] we are still continuously placing our 150% effort in
[1:44:28] reaching full enrollment, but as of today, we have not yet been able to meet our
[1:44:32] funded enrollment levels in our head start program. Hence
[1:44:37] in our evaluation and with the recommendation from our consultants, um, the
[1:44:41] recruitment plan focuses on how we can make a more effective and coordinated
[1:44:45] approach to our recruitment. So
[1:44:49] again, our staff have been phenomenal and resilient,
[1:44:53] um, especially in our recruitment efforts. Um, we want to just add
[1:44:57] to it, um, and we wanna do this by looking at not just activity based work,
[1:45:02] but focusing on results driven systems. So
[1:45:06] some core changes that, um, we're making, for example, is to have
[1:45:10] a more targeted recruitment, focusing on the outcomes and finding
[1:45:14] different avenues to streamline processes.
[1:45:19] and with that, I'd like to focus on the three main areas for the 26 27
[1:45:23] recruitment, which are one, easier application process,
[1:45:27] two, stronger recruitment focus, and three, improved enrollment
[1:45:31] process. So eliminating
[1:45:36] barriers and using technology to aid in the ease for parents to access our
[1:45:40] services is an expectation of the office of head start. We have
[1:45:44] replaced our interest form with an online application for the 26 27,
[1:45:49] um, program year. This can be accessed via qr code or actually
[1:45:53] directly through our website. We do understand that not
[1:45:57] all families have a computer, um, especially to be able to access the application,
[1:46:02] so it is mobile friendly. We also understand that
[1:46:06] maybe not all of our families find technology to be the easiest
[1:46:10] to use. And so for those who find it a challenge, we also still provide
[1:46:14] paper applications for those families.
[1:46:20] so to build a stronger recruitment process or focus, we're taking
[1:46:24] on a two-tier model. So what we're doing is, is we're making
[1:46:28] a distinction of roles and modes for how recruitment is done. So
[1:46:32] one tier is the program wide recruitment level, and in
[1:46:36] this we believe that everyone is a voice for recruitment. And
[1:46:40] so coordinated by the se or enrollment supervisor. Events attended
[1:46:44] will target a comprehensive prenatal to five, um, demographic
[1:46:49] group. And we're focusing on high needs neighborhoods. Another
[1:46:53] tier, we'll focus on the recruitment that happens at
[1:46:57] the site or program level. So the site specific recruitment. So these,
[1:47:01] um, recruitment efforts focus on what works for the community.
[1:47:06] so depending on the location, we understand that certain recruitment efforts
[1:47:10] work better than others. So for example, at our san antonio
[1:47:14] site, our family advocate focuses on developing relationships,
[1:47:18] um, with different agency and organizations and family resource centers that are nearby,
[1:47:23] uh, to gain interest in our program. Whereas, for example, in our
[1:47:27] gil location, our family advocates have recruitment tables at a medical
[1:47:32] facility twice a month. Um, another great example is our edenvale
[1:47:36] site in which the family advocate canvases the neighborhood and has been a staple
[1:47:40] in the community.
[1:47:46] in addition, we're working on our advertising efforts, um, focusing
[1:47:50] on updating our flyers, our, um, supplies for recruitment, also
[1:47:54] looking at different advertisement spaces we can utilize and also re-looking
[1:47:58] at, um, our recruitment budget. We're also placing
[1:48:02] a focus on coordinating stronger partnerships and also looking at our
[1:48:07] greatest advocates, our families present and past to support us.
[1:48:12] so as stated, one of our greatest partners in recruitment is our
[1:48:17] families. Historically, our greatest recruitment effort has been word of mouth,
[1:48:21] and we'd like to revitalize that relationship with our families and our
[1:48:25] recruitment efforts. Also, we're looking at informal and formal
[1:48:29] partnerships we have in strengthening these partnerships while also
[1:48:33] looking for new relationships or partnerships we can build. So
[1:48:37] ways we're developing and improving, um, our partnerships is by
[1:48:41] creating mous for referrals to our program, creating a greater pool
[1:48:46] of networking for care for our families. And lastly, creating greater
[1:48:50] visibility and presence by attending events and networking with
[1:48:54] partners to exchange information. Last
[1:48:58] but not least, from an operational lens, we're focusing on our enrollment process.
[1:49:03] we've already cut our time between, um, a family being accepted
[1:49:07] into a program. And when we're able to schedule our intakes by half,
[1:49:12] we realize that on the ground and in the central office having a
[1:49:16] high warmth, high clarity approaches paramount not just with our
[1:49:20] families, but with our staff. Our greatest area of improvement is to
[1:49:24] focus on creating clear procedures for our staff so they have the tools ready at
[1:49:28] their fingertips. In doing so, we're working towards creating a more streamlined
[1:49:32] process. We've already reduced and combined forms for easier access
[1:49:36] and use, and we've, um, consistently trained our staff in
[1:49:40] all of the processes. Us is
[1:49:46] at the end of the day, we see that when we clarify roles, we're able to have
[1:49:50] greater coordination. What we hope this plan does
[1:49:54] for our families in 26 and 27 is to remove barriers in
[1:49:58] our enrollment process. In other words, we want to make life easier for
[1:50:02] our families, not harder.
[1:50:06] similarly, um, what this means for our enrollment
[1:50:10] is to streamline our processes to making, supporting full enrollment that much
[1:50:15] closer and attainable. So no plan
[1:50:19] is without tweaks. This
[1:50:23] recruitment plan is embedded on the cqi process, or cqi is
[1:50:27] continuous quality improvement cycle. And so in this, we're
[1:50:31] going to continue to collect data and we're going to analyze it, make
[1:50:35] strategic decisions, and then implement those strategic decisions and then start
[1:50:40] it all over again. So to conclude,
[1:50:44] we would like to focus on the outcomes we're hoping to achieve. Our goals
[1:50:49] are to be close as possible to funded levels across all of our sites
[1:50:53] to reduce time from application to enrollment, increase applications,
[1:50:58] um, from our targeted outreach, and then lastly, build stronger relationships
[1:51:02] or partnerships, which will generate greater visibility and
[1:51:07] consistent referrals.
[1:51:11] questions. Should
[1:51:15] I krishnan? Thank you so much. Um,
[1:51:21] so I wanted to know if you can speak more to inclusion, um, for
[1:51:25] students with disabilities and how that's being intentionally planned in this enrollment
[1:51:30] strategy. So, so according to the head start program performance, there
[1:51:34] is a number, right? So you have to have a minimum of 10% of children
[1:51:38] with special needs. So we do not dissuade families, um, at all.
[1:51:43] uh, that's one all of our fa um, all of our classrooms, we don't
[1:51:47] restrict them and say, okay, well if you have an iep, you can't come in.
[1:51:52] um, in addition, we do have a partnership with allen rock union school district
[1:51:56] in which we work with lyndale elementary school. So for those children in their special
[1:52:01] ed program, um, in their early learning program who qualify for head start
[1:52:05] state, they're actually able to come into our classrooms and participate
[1:52:09] in our program as well.
[1:52:14] are we reaching that 10%? Yes. We're actually
[1:52:19] usually much higher than the 10.
[1:52:25] any other questions, trustees?
[1:52:29] okay. Trustee , thank you.
[1:52:33] uh, thank you for the presentation in your work. I have a question regarding the partnership
[1:52:37] slide. Mm-hmm . And the ones that you listed here, are those existing partnerships
[1:52:41] or new partnerships we're exploring? So most of them are already preexisting.
[1:52:46] the ones that we're explore exploring are things like, um, the probation department
[1:52:51] and gu uh, amigos, the guadalupe. Um, so those are
[1:52:55] some of the ones that we've currently started to establish a more formalized relationship
[1:52:59] with. And what we're trying to do is take
[1:53:03] some of these partnerships we do have that might be more informal, and we want
[1:53:07] to make them formalized so that there's a clear process for referrals
[1:53:11] rather than just kind of waiting with bated breath, hoping someone's coming in.
[1:53:17] I see. Okay. And then, um, health and nutrition partners,
[1:53:21] can you elaborate on that one? Is that such as non-profit,
[1:53:26] um, medical facilities or what? Sure.
[1:53:30] so we actually partner with valley med down in gilroy, and they're the ones
[1:53:34] that allow us to park our recruitment tables out there twice a month. Okay. Um,
[1:53:38] we also partner with santa clara county public health and san benito public health.
[1:53:42] um, for example, our santa clara county public health sits on our health
[1:53:47] advisory committee. They also provide a lot of workshops and training.
[1:53:51] um, one of the great things that they've done is provide us with workshops and training
[1:53:55] for our staff for oral health. They also come to our local parent meetings
[1:54:00] and they do presentations there. So for example, one of our biggest goals
[1:54:04] in head start is the successful transition right from preschool to kindergarten.
[1:54:08] so they actually speak on the kinder oral health assessment that's necessary
[1:54:13] for children to transition into kinder. So we do have that type of partnership
[1:54:17] as well. And thank you, and this is very helpful and very
[1:54:21] much appreciated and great work. Um, can you expand a bit on the educational side?
[1:54:25] sure. Schools, um, preschools, what type of,
[1:54:31] so we actually, um, have a great relationship with parents helping parents.
[1:54:35] so a lot of the times our families with special needs, they,
[1:54:40] um, they need services and resources. And so our,
[1:54:44] we actually partnership with them to be able to have them come into our local parent
[1:54:48] meetings and they actually provide information on the resources that they provide,
[1:54:53] such as parent support groups, as well as some of the legal services that they
[1:54:57] provide. Um, a great example actually in our april parent meeting
[1:55:01] at our santee site, parents helping parents came and they provided, um,
[1:55:05] information on the services they provide as well as local events,
[1:55:09] um, that parents can participate in, um, to be able to help their children and
[1:55:14] for parents to be able to engage their children in their developmental process.
[1:55:19] okay. Thank you. Mm-hmm . Very much appreciate it. Thank you trustee
[1:55:23] for your questions. Any other questions? Trustees? Um,
[1:55:27] I have mm-hmm . Question for, from my earlier question because, um,
[1:55:33] I know that there was, um, we have had inclusion
[1:55:38] programs at chandler trip and other sites, and so
[1:55:42] have we have the inclusion levels gone down.
[1:55:47] so the model that we take is that every child
[1:55:52] is eligible for a program who fits the qualifications. An iep
[1:55:56] is not a barrier. So in so long as we're able to provide the, um,
[1:56:00] the child with the adequate resources, they're included in our
[1:56:04] program. Um, so in that sense, the concept of inclusion
[1:56:08] is never, um, has never disappeared. So we have a lot of
[1:56:13] families and we have, um, a lot of partnerships. So for example, we have a partnership with rebecca's
[1:56:17] children's services that do come in, do continuous observations on
[1:56:22] families. Um, our family advocates are highly trained on being able to
[1:56:26] provide support and referrals and to be able to help families walk through.
[1:56:30] a lot of the times our, uh, preschool students and our infant toddler,
[1:56:35] this is their first experience. So typically they don't necessarily come in
[1:56:39] with an iep. So we want to make sure that those families are ready and
[1:56:43] we find ourselves to be the primary kind of first
[1:56:47] kind of stop, um, in being able to help families be able to get the resources
[1:56:52] and time for them to enter kindergarten. So that's one way we also,
[1:56:56] um, create a more inclusive space for them.
[1:57:03] thank you. Any other questions? Trustees?
[1:57:08] okay. Seeing none, I'll entertain a motion to approve the student enrollment recruitment plan
[1:57:12] for head start and early head start and early head start childcare partnership. So
[1:57:17] move second. I'm gonna,
[1:57:21] I did heard it, heard it from trustee rocha as well, so I'm gonna take that from trustee
[1:57:25] roach, then seconded by vice president's advisor. Sorry, trustee. She
[1:57:37] trustees please vote on board docs. And we lost trustee laurie. He's why we're
[1:57:41] trying to get her back on
[1:57:48] president sean. I thought she had said she was going to retire as
[1:57:52] in perhaps discontinue,
[1:57:56] or is she trying to reconnect trustee laurie. Oh, okay.
[1:58:07] and that motion carries with seven yeses. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[1:58:12] okay. We are moving on to our, uh, last action item, action item eight
[1:58:16] d, uh, which will be presented by stephanie gomez, assistant superintendent of
[1:58:21] business services. Okay.
[1:58:25] um, good evening, president sean, dr. Tosin and trustees. Uh, this
[1:58:29] evening we'll be giving, uh, a summary of our budget visions for the month of march.
[1:58:34] uh, we had about approximately 456,000 in restricted revenues
[1:58:38] that we allocated for the educator app, apprenticeship pathways, and
[1:58:42] wraparound services for early childhood education participants. Uh, we
[1:58:46] also had approximately 581,000 in fund balance.
[1:58:50] I wanted to highlight a couple of these items. Uh, one of the items was, uh, in our fund
[1:58:54] balance, and this was related to our solar project. We were required to fully
[1:58:59] complete the solar project by march, 2026. And as part of that project,
[1:59:03] when we came forward a couple years back to receive approval to go get the
[1:59:07] escrow for the project, we had also set aside funding from our restricted
[1:59:12] redevelopment agency funds to help support the project. Uh, so we did
[1:59:16] allocate 531,000 to finalize that project.
[1:59:20] and the second item that I wanted to highlight was there was, uh, one time general funding
[1:59:24] in the amount of 30,409 that we were able to generate from salary savings
[1:59:28] as a second interim, uh, for a retirement incentive. Uh,
[1:59:32] that item is here. Uh, it is my understanding though, that we will not be moving forward.
[1:59:36] so you'll see that reversal in the april budget revision. I wanna
[1:59:40] highlight that when you see it come forward again. And then lastly, we
[1:59:45] received approximately 2.8 million in allocations and apportionments. These are funds
[1:59:49] that we get, like, uh, csi funds that we get apportionments from the state.
[1:59:53] and so some of that funding is to support and expand programs and school improvement
[1:59:57] community schools, student enrichment, and early childhood special education.
[2:00:02] that concludes the update, and I'm happy to answer any questions.
[2:00:07] are there any resy, berta? Yes. Can you clarify a
[2:00:11] little bit further on the, the retirement incentive piece? Why was that
[2:00:16] not changed if it's going to be reversed next month?
[2:00:20] so the timing of when we did the budget report, um,
[2:00:24] the intention was to move forward. And so the timing from when this got processed and put into
[2:00:28] our financial system, there was, roger can speak more to it, but for
[2:00:32] the finance piece, if we don't move forward, we would allocate it to put it back in our fund balance
[2:00:37] in the month of april because the books were closed for march and we had already allocated
[2:00:41] it for the month of march. Um, if there's specific questions related
[2:00:45] to that, roger can answer that, but I wanted to give a heads up that it will be coming next
[2:00:49] month as a reversal to put the money back into general fund.
[2:00:55] okay. Is there any chance of, of figuring that out in the meantime, since you're
[2:01:00] asking us to approve it as is tonight, which is it including, uh,
[2:01:04] that allocated amount? So I guess my question is, is there still an opportunity to
[2:01:08] include that or to actually follow through with the, the retirement
[2:01:13] incentive, or is it going to be brought back with certainty? Uh, in terms
[2:01:17] of that reversal? It was rejected twice by ace.
[2:01:22] um, with the caveats that we had put around it, we, um, specified a
[2:01:26] exact dollar amount, $25,000 for sort of, for the first 25 people
[2:01:31] who, um, had hard to fill positions. And
[2:01:35] we had a set amount of money because it was coming from the general fund.
[2:01:39] um, the ace rejected that and offered
[2:01:44] revisions. We countered with our original proposal and they
[2:01:48] rejected that as well. So we withdrew the offer. And timing
[2:01:52] wise, now it's a month later and so the incentive
[2:01:56] to notify us in advance has lost, um, sort of steam
[2:02:00] because it's now pretty late in the year.
[2:02:07] hi, if you record your name and reason for calling, I'll see if this person is available.
[2:02:12] okay. I, I guess I'm a little still a little confused because I believe we
[2:02:17] had gotten some, some back and forth information on this. And so
[2:02:22] the withdrawal of the proposal, can you explain why
[2:02:26] that occurred? We were not coming to an agreement on
[2:02:30] what the terms of the incentive would be.
[2:02:36] okay. Uh, dr. Tes,
[2:02:41] oh, sorry. Not dr. Hold on. Um, trustee board, are you done with your questions?
[2:02:46] yeah, for the, for the time being. I, I, I guess I'll just state that I don't
[2:02:50] quite understand the, um,
[2:02:55] the lack of movement on that to, given the importance of that.
[2:03:00] um, and it's difficult for me to sit here and approve these budget
[2:03:04] revisions knowing that it's gonna come back to reverse this and knowing that there wasn't,
[2:03:08] uh, an agreement that was able to be, uh, reached.
[2:03:12] so just state that
[2:03:16] I thank you. Uh, trustee boarda. Trustee krishan. Yeah. And sorry to, I
[2:03:20] got to excited president trump. But, um, did, uh,
[2:03:25] did you mention the, uh, retirement incentives were for hard to
[2:03:29] fill positions? Yes. So why are we incentivizing retirement for
[2:03:33] hard to fill positions? We're not cent incentivizing retirement. We're incentivizing
[2:03:37] notification that they're going to retire. Why pacific?
[2:03:42] oh, oh, because they're hard to fill. They're hard to fill. We want to have a head start on
[2:03:46] filling them because those are critical positions for, for children in classrooms for difficult
[2:03:50] positions. Can can I ask a follow up on
[2:03:54] why it would not be done on, um, educators more based on seniority as
[2:03:58] they're, you know, uh, the burdens obviously are
[2:04:02] much more so is there a reason that it was just done in
[2:04:06] that manner? Based on what we experienced last year, uh, and
[2:04:11] the conversations that we've had informally, we recognize that, um, having
[2:04:15] an early notice of a retirement might be allow us to rescind a layoff
[2:04:19] for a very hard to fill position rather than a general early, uh,
[2:04:23] retirement, uh, notification. Uh, so for example, last year with
[2:04:27] the vi classrooms, um, we had a layoff.
[2:04:31] um, there was, I believe, and I may be wrong with a program, but there was a subsequent
[2:04:36] retirement and then we lost the opportunity to rescind the
[2:04:40] layoff because that staff member had, um, gained employment elsewhere.
[2:04:45] and so knowing, uh, that a hard to fill position, uh, if a
[2:04:49] teacher who's not, um, being impacted by layoffs, um,
[2:04:53] notifies, uh, the office early of their intention to retire,
[2:04:58] then we could rescind a layoff for someone with less seniority.
[2:05:02] um, there's no, uh, for a, a staff member who's retiring,
[2:05:06] um, they may wait until june 30th. Um, if we know that early on, we
[2:05:10] might be able to say, okay, um, mr. Giz is retiring. Um,
[2:05:15] we know we have a vacancy for a teacher in this specific program.
[2:05:19] we can rescind the layoff, um, that we issue to david because we
[2:05:23] know we're going to have a vacancy. And so if there
[2:05:27] was a broad, um, early notification in, uh,
[2:05:31] incentive, um, a teacher, for example, an alternative
[2:05:36] ed might notify us that they're retiring, um, early on, but that doesn't allow
[2:05:40] us to rescind the layoff, um, in special ed. Uh, and
[2:05:44] so these were targeted incent targeted incentives, um, to try and
[2:05:48] rescind layoffs earlier rather than later. Um, expanding it
[2:05:52] to the, um, full certificated staff, um,
[2:05:58] minimizes the potential reward and benefit of the early notification
[2:06:02] if we're not able to rescind layoffs.
[2:06:06] okay. Any other questions about that
[2:06:10] trustee ship? Actually, that one, and I'm trying to understand again, it's probably on
[2:06:14] me. Um, but when I see the 30,000 and it's spelled
[2:06:18] out here, how that's being utilized, thank you for that. So is that just
[2:06:22] for one position or is it a total of 30,000 for
[2:06:27] a number of positions? It was originally, so the, it's $25,000
[2:06:31] was set aside from the general fund, $1,000 for the first 25 people who
[2:06:35] okay. Notified us. So then that was we. And then the additional cost, yeah, the
[2:06:39] statutory benefits on money. And how does that divvied up? Uh, that's,
[2:06:44] that's, uh, the statutory retired benefits are like state disability
[2:06:48] unemployment insurance. Okay. And then that's paid as a whole in one. Okay, got it. So it was,
[2:06:53] and that amount was arrived at, have we done this in the past?
[2:06:57] 'cause I'm trying to understand the 1000, I couldn't speak to that perhaps. Uh,
[2:07:01] ms. Gomez had, I know that a few years back we tried this incentive and
[2:07:05] we didn't get a good turnout. There's a lot of eligibility requirements. People have to be
[2:07:09] eligible through their respective retirement systems. And so when we did this a few years back,
[2:07:13] I think we got like two people and it was a thousand dollars. It was like seven plus years ago.
[2:07:18] so we've tried it again to see if this would help with the budgeting and the positioning for
[2:07:22] next year. Okay. I would, I would say also, sir, that
[2:07:26] it's, um, rather common in school districts to do this.
[2:07:30] in fact, some collective bargaining agreements have it as part of an annual
[2:07:34] piece to, um, usually they do it like in december or january to,
[2:07:38] uh, incentivize people to tell us in advance that they're gonna retire. So it's not
[2:07:42] an unusual action. Yeah, actually I guess it's a little different focus for teachers. It's, you know, these are
[2:07:46] just standard teaching jobs and that's not a, I'm not saying it's not a hard to fill position, but these are
[2:07:51] specific for hard to fill positions. And then I'm looking at the thousand and I'm not gonna minimize a
[2:07:55] thousand dollars, but that just seems like a small amount.
[2:07:59] um, the idea is not to say, not to convince somebody to retire, it's
[2:08:03] just to convince 'em to notify us early. Yeah. So then that's the difference between the two examples that
[2:08:07] you gave me. 'cause the other one, in some cases, oftentimes to encourage retirement. So
[2:08:11] yes, that would be like significant amount of money, like 20% of your salary. That's
[2:08:16] why I was trying to reconcile the two and what the whole purpose was. Thank you sir. Uhhuh ,
[2:08:21] I, I do appreciate that clarification too, that it's a notif no,
[2:08:25] uh, incentive for notifying about retirement, not incentivizing
[2:08:30] retirement. So thank you. And this is an area where I, I want
[2:08:34] to be explicit and continue to reinforce that we are not a school district.
[2:08:38] um, the special ed programs are a contracted service. We do not
[2:08:42] have the authority to add costs to the contract for retirement incentives,
[2:08:47] which is why we had to move dollars out of the general fund for this incentive.
[2:08:52] um, all of our programs, again, are in different cost centers as well. And so
[2:08:56] the limited resources that we have, um, that we have some savings,
[2:09:00] um, from unfilled positions in the general fund. Um, we wanted to have a
[2:09:04] targeted, um, early notification incentive and our special ed program.
[2:09:09] um, because trying to, uh, recruit I'll say
[2:09:13] a-a-a-a-d-h-h teacher is not, uh,
[2:09:18] is, is far more difficult than trying to recruit someone who,
[2:09:22] uh, has a pe credential, um, or a multiple subject credential
[2:09:26] like in our alternative ed program.
[2:09:33] okay. Any other questions? Trustees?
[2:09:38] I did have one question about the solar, um, project. I
[2:09:42] will say it's great to see it finally starting to come through. 'cause I was on the board when that first
[2:09:46] came out and it seemed so far away back then. So it's
[2:09:50] great to actually see that come through. Um, do we, like, just in general,
[2:09:54] um, I was wondering like what the cost savings was in terms of
[2:09:59] our pg and e 'cause I do hear that come up a lot as a rising cost. So are
[2:10:03] we, um, you know, what, what, what kind of cost savings are we gonna see?
[2:10:07] and then, you know, I am sure we've talked about it before too, and how many years
[2:10:11] will we see like a good return on that? So the performer
[2:10:15] that we presented earlier on, I think it was gonna be over a period, we would see it, it has to start
[2:10:19] generating solar. And then we got in, in a good time with solar credits when they were a little bit higher.
[2:10:24] so I would say we were told in the next, you know, two to three years we would start seeing more of
[2:10:28] that solar generation, but the whole project would pay itself back. And then some, I think that we
[2:10:32] projected over like 19, 20 years. Um, and with the rising cost of
[2:10:36] pg ei think it was 17% when we brought this forward two years ago, we will
[2:10:40] see those long-term costs and benefits. The whole reason why we went for this project was when
[2:10:44] we were looking at, um, costing out what that would look like long-term we're,
[2:10:49] we don't get any growth in funding to match that. So it'd be unsustainable.
[2:10:53] so I would say within the next like 19 years, we would pay it back and then sum and bring some
[2:10:57] revenue savings there. Oh, that's great. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Thank
[2:11:01] you. All right. Seeing no other questions, um, I'll entertain
[2:11:05] a motion to approve the budget revisions.
[2:11:11] I so move, move by vice president visor.
[2:11:16] seconded by trustee shahan,
[2:11:42] president sean, excuse the interruption. We have a comment for
[2:11:46] item nine c. Just fyi. Okay, thank you. Um, and
[2:11:50] that motion carries with five yeses, one no and one abstention.
[2:11:55] okay. Um, moving on to item nine. We'll go
[2:11:59] with our first item. The first information item is dis disposition of
[2:12:04] surplus items from january 20th, 2026 to march, 2026.
[2:12:08] there are no presentations for this item, but trustees, are there any questions?
[2:12:16] okay, seeing none, I'll move to the next information item, which is employing compensation
[2:12:20] increase, which exceeds the ec 1 3 0 2 a limit. This
[2:12:25] information I item will be presented by roger dei, interim assistant
[2:12:29] superintendent of human resources. Good evening, superintendent
[2:12:33] and trustees. You have before you under education code 1302 a an item
[2:12:38] for discussion. One employee received a promotion which created an increase in
[2:12:42] their salary of over $10,000. The employee was promoted
[2:12:46] from one leadership position to the other. And to clarify, a promotion
[2:12:50] means that the employee went through an interview process, was selected for the
[2:12:54] position, not designated or appointed for the promotion.
[2:12:59] are there any questions? I do
[2:13:03] have a question. So in the second scenario, would that also require this public notification
[2:13:07] as well? Yes, absolutely. Okay.
[2:13:11] any other questions? Thank you trustees. And thank you. Interim assistant
[2:13:16] superintendent zi. Um, okay. Moving on to item nine
[2:13:20] c in accordance with the brown act. Items mentioned under this item are being suggested. So they may
[2:13:24] be considered an export for follow up according to our board bylaws topic raised under this item
[2:13:29] or not agenda or board discussion, but rather to create space for trustees to
[2:13:33] mention topics for review or, uh, for consideration as future agenda items. Um,
[2:13:37] but trustees, before we go to our discussion, we'll go ahead and take public comment on this item. Moderator,
[2:13:41] if you can call the public commenter up. We have one public comment from christine moore.
[2:13:47] when you get to the podium, please clear, restate your name and provide your public
[2:13:51] comment.
[2:13:55] I'm reading this on behalf of kpia mendoza, who would like to request a future
[2:13:59] agenda item regarding mental health and wellness services.
[2:14:04] my name is kipps mendoza and I serve as the counselor for opportunity youth academy.
[2:14:08] I'm here to raise concern about a layoff decision that creates an avoidable risk
[2:14:12] to both academic and wellness services for students. My role as
[2:14:16] an academic counselor includes time sensitive responsibilities, such
[2:14:20] as state reporting transcript evaluation and graduation tracking
[2:14:25] functions that require specific training and cannot be quickly transferred without risk
[2:14:29] to compliance and student outcomes at the same time, this decision removes
[2:14:33] a mental health therapist from their role as a wellness specialist disrupting
[2:14:37] critical mental health support that students rely on daily. This is not just
[2:14:41] a staffing change, it creates two gaps instead of preserving two essential services.
[2:14:46] maintaining both roles is not about preference, it is about protecting students,
[2:14:51] ensuring con continuity and avoiding preventable disruption. I
[2:14:55] respectfully urge the board this concludes public comment.
[2:14:59] thank you. Um, trustees, are there any items within the board's jurisdiction you
[2:15:03] would like to mention at this time for our future agenda items?
[2:15:08] trustee berta. Thank you, president sean. Um, I just wanted
[2:15:13] to, uh, ensure, and I appreciate trustee nan for, uh, raising the
[2:15:17] item, but, um, regarding the mental health and wellness center updates, I'm just wanting
[2:15:21] to make sure that we, um, if possible also receive information
[2:15:25] regarding the grants that the county office has received and how,
[2:15:29] uh, how that works in terms of the different types of, um,
[2:15:34] supports that are offered, not just through the wellness centers, but that could be one component.
[2:15:38] so it's just expanding on it, the request a little bit further. Thank
[2:15:42] you trustee bert. Thank you, trustee. Oh,
[2:15:47] just wanna make sure I understand. Are you looking for information related to all of our mental health related
[2:15:52] grants? The mental health related grants, the personnel that support
[2:15:56] that, um, and, and what the process has has gone as those grants have been
[2:16:00] implemented, which, uh, some grants are ending
[2:16:04] some grants. I don't know if there's new grants that are starting, but just so that the,
[2:16:09] so that the board, but also the community understands, um, you
[2:16:13] know, since as, at least since I can remember in terms of, uh, there
[2:16:17] were some grants that kind of, uh, started around covid and,
[2:16:21] and some were supporting those efforts, uh, returning to in-person.
[2:16:25] I'm just trying to get a better sense of where we are in the, in the recent history
[2:16:30] of the work the county office has done with, uh, with mental
[2:16:34] health. Some of that's specific to wellness centers, but I think there's additional components
[2:16:38] as outlined in the grants. May I ask a clarifying
[2:16:43] question to her? Um, are you also asking, there are new, there's a new grant
[2:16:47] that we've gotten from mental health and, and whether it can help, help backfill some
[2:16:51] of the stuff that's happening? Is that what you're asking? I'm just curious. Not necessarily.
[2:16:55] okay. It was more just to understand where things, what grants exist
[2:16:59] right now, which ones have ended, which ones are starting, and what the focus areas
[2:17:04] of those are when it comes to specific positions or wellness centers.
[2:17:10] so grants that fund positions in, well, wellness centers
[2:17:16] on the topic of mental health, but yes. Okay. So mental health grants that
[2:17:20] fund positions in wellness centers, not specific
[2:17:24] to wellness centers, specific to mental health.
[2:17:28] so more broad, more broad. I imagine some,
[2:17:33] most positions do specifically support that.
[2:17:39] so for example, we have the, um, c-y-b-h-I grant that
[2:17:43] is a significant grant. Um, it is not a grant where we're providing
[2:17:47] direct services, but it is mental health. Uh, so I'm not,
[2:17:52] I guess I'm, that's what I'm trying to reconcile. It's a mental health grant. Um,
[2:17:56] it's connected to wellness centers and that there can be reimbursements,
[2:18:01] um, that's part of that grant. Um, but I'm not sure what
[2:18:05] question is being answered or being asked about that grant. So more information
[2:18:09] about right. If that's one of the efforts. And I know we spent a lot of time discussing this at
[2:18:14] jac, um, and at our advocacy day. So that's why I am, I'm also, um,
[2:18:18] wanting for that information to be amplified when it comes to the efforts
[2:18:22] that the county office has made in the recent history, but
[2:18:26] also what grants are still in place to move forward.
[2:18:32] and I'm happy to provide additional context
[2:18:36] as needed. Dr. Toss? Yeah, go ahead. Hey, have we,
[2:18:40] um, launched major mental health programs outside of the wellness centers
[2:18:45] since in the past few years? I know we
[2:18:49] are engaged in a number of, uh, grants related to mental health, but I wouldn't
[2:18:54] have the exact number. Uh, and some of them are, again, statewide technical
[2:18:58] assistance. Um, and, and others are capacity
[2:19:02] building. So we, we can provide a list of, uh, those grants.
[2:19:07] okay. Thank you. Thank you trustees. Are there any other
[2:19:11] agenda items you would like for discussion?
[2:19:16] okay. Seeing none, we'll move on to, um, agenda item 10. Our board committee reports.
[2:19:21] as this time, we'll hear committee reports from our committees that I've met since our last meeting.
[2:19:25] four committees have met. Those are our head start policy council. Jac, our
[2:19:29] s-c-c-s-b-a and silicon valley reads. Um,
[2:19:34] let's go ahead and go with a head start policy council first, uh, vice president advisor.
[2:19:39] I was in dc and they had it in person, so I did not make it to head
[2:19:43] start, uh, policy council. So I am sorry for that,
[2:19:47] but as I understand, the enrollment plan was approved by
[2:19:51] them from kristen lee's presentation. Oh, yeah, that is true. Well,
[2:19:55] thank you. And, um, very cool to hear that that has now moved in person.
[2:20:00] okay. From, uh, ja, who, I'm not sure who
[2:20:04] chairs that committee. Is that president? Uh, trustee berta. Thank you.
[2:20:09] yes. Uh, I'll share. We had our advocacy da yesterday in sacramento,
[2:20:13] and I really wanna thank all the staff that put together a really incredible
[2:20:17] program. The format was a little different this year, and I think it allowed us to
[2:20:22] be really efficient with our meetings and, um, we're able to meet with
[2:20:27] a number of legislators and their staff, and we learned
[2:20:31] certainly the importance of the staff as well. And, um, it was great
[2:20:35] to elevate a lot of the priorities that we were talking about, not just in our retreat, but
[2:20:39] also in our jlc subcommittee. Um, and was
[2:20:43] joined by vice president spicer, uh, trustee pacheco, dr. Tosin, and
[2:20:48] a number of our govern, uh, government relations support team as well.
[2:20:53] and then today we also took a look at preliminary list of bills,
[2:20:57] um, that we are considering position taking positions on. And
[2:21:01] those will be revisited at our next jac meeting in two
[2:21:06] weeks. Awesome. Thank you. Um, trustee
[2:21:10] berta, and thank you to our trustees and staff who, who attended the advocacy day. It's
[2:21:14] important to work. Um, I'm sorry, I could not attend, but it is good to see
[2:21:18] us doing our work at the capitol. Um, moving on to santa clara
[2:21:22] county school boards association. Trustee laurie, are you able to give that report?
[2:21:27] yes. Uh, so I attended the s-c-c-s-b-a lunch and learn zoom meeting
[2:21:32] with the valley transportation authorities director, sam sergeant on wednesday,
[2:21:36] april 8th, director sergeant discussed their partnerships with school
[2:21:40] districts in our county. More than 20 school districts have partnerships with vta
[2:21:44] to encourage santa clara county students to learn and experience the
[2:21:48] benefits of public transportation through their various programs. He discussed
[2:21:52] the upcoming five county regional transportation sales tax revenue measure,
[2:21:57] and how these potential revenues can be prioritized to deliver a better
[2:22:01] traffic experience, including safety and security enhancements. Something
[2:22:06] that's very important, uh, to our students and families. Uh, they're looking
[2:22:10] for input such as on fair programs for students and would
[2:22:14] welcome our feedback and, um, a partnership. Um, thank
[2:22:18] you. Thank you trustee laurie. And lastly,
[2:22:22] we have silicon valley reads, uh, trustee, and I know this is the
[2:22:26] report that everyone's been waiting for, for silicon valley
[2:22:30] reads. We met on april 2nd, and dr.
[2:22:35] tosin came and welcomed the group and,
[2:22:39] um, I believe celebrating what was your first full season
[2:22:43] of silicon valley reads. And also, debbie gargiulo, uh,
[2:22:48] represents us really well on that committee. And silicon
[2:22:52] valley, by the way, after my report, I'm gonna turn to you, dr. Tossin,
[2:22:57] putting you on the spot to give your thoughts. Um, it was a major
[2:23:01] year. Silicon valley reads hosted over 250 events and has
[2:23:05] already reached more than 11,000 participants with final numbers
[2:23:09] still being tallied. And many partnerships occurred this
[2:23:14] year, including collaborations with stanford, santa clara university,
[2:23:18] juvenile hall community organizations like magical bridge
[2:23:22] and animal assisted happiness, and local
[2:23:27] institutions like walden west. And on the funding side,
[2:23:32] there have been a lot of contributions from partners. And so
[2:23:36] looking ahead, we are thinking about next year's theme,
[2:23:40] and there's really an interest on wellness, health, and longevity.
[2:23:46] um, also there was a notable conversation about
[2:23:50] how to better engage adolescent boys and young men. And, um,
[2:23:55] I think that's really important. So there'll be a next step for
[2:23:59] summer to identify strong book options. And I think
[2:24:03] we're meeting, uh, again in a few months. Was that it, debbie?
[2:24:08] okay. So dr. Tosin gave a lot of great words about silicon
[2:24:12] valley reads and supporting silicon valley reads. Um, and
[2:24:17] I know you've been working a lot with reed myers, who's our executive director, so
[2:24:21] I'm gonna turn to you to share your thoughts. Uh,
[2:24:26] as I shared with the, uh, the committee, just a phenomenal experience being part of, uh,
[2:24:31] sv res, um, the collaboration, the work, the impact. I had an opportunity,
[2:24:35] um, to engage in some in-person events, but also welcome authors
[2:24:40] with students. Um, it was very inspiring to see the culture of literacy
[2:24:44] across the county and the, um, excitement of the kids and
[2:24:48] the authors in being responsive, um, to their questions and sharing their
[2:24:52] stories. Um, and, you know, building on the success of
[2:24:56] sv res, we also want to, we're engaging in conversations around how we might,
[2:25:00] um, build, um, on sv res and connect it to other,
[2:25:05] uh, literacy, uh, related initiatives because it is a sprint,
[2:25:09] um, for sv res in terms of planning. Uh, and then once it launches,
[2:25:13] um, with the kickoff event, everything happens very quickly. Uh, and so
[2:25:17] we're, uh, thinking through and looking at the resources that we have across,
[2:25:22] um, the, the partners to see how we might extend that into a much,
[2:25:26] um, more, uh, robust, um, and continuous, um,
[2:25:31] literacy initiative. Thank you.
[2:25:35] thank you. Thank you both for that report. Um,
[2:25:40] all right, that takes it for our county board, um, committee reports.
[2:25:44] we'll now move to item 11, our county board of education. Um, member reports
[2:25:48] in compliance with the brown act county board member reports must be limited to activities
[2:25:53] directly related to our duties as trustees on the santa clara county board of education. Would any trustees
[2:25:57] like to report on activities to their official responsibility within the board's jurisdiction,
[2:26:02] trustee sh krisna and, and john, I'd like to report. Okay. Uh,
[2:26:06] we'll go trustee sh krisna and trustee pacheco, and then trustee laurie. Thank
[2:26:10] you. I just wanted to wish everyone a happy earth day and you know,
[2:26:14] I'm out here in this office, I go get coffee and
[2:26:18] I, everyone, I meet everyone. And so, um,
[2:26:23] you know, I sometimes hear about what people are doing. I
[2:26:27] don't intrude, but, um, I got to hear that. Our environmental
[2:26:32] services department, they're working with, I believe camba union high school
[2:26:36] district on a climate action plan. So happy earth
[2:26:40] day. That is so cool. And, um, that was something dr.
[2:26:44] tossin a few years ago, we passed a resolution that was even named in
[2:26:48] it, and we talked about it and of the, one of the many things they're doing.
[2:26:54] and I just thought, that's so cool. So let's keep doing that. And happy
[2:26:58] earth day. Mm-hmm . Thank you, trustee kerstein. Trustee pacheco,
[2:27:04] I just wanted to quickly report and thank, uh, report on and thank
[2:27:08] the county office of education and the staff for
[2:27:12] arranging for trustee, uh, vice president spicer and myself to,
[2:27:16] um, advocate for not just our county students, but all of california
[2:27:21] students and public schools, um, at the capitol, especially during times as tough as
[2:27:26] now where things can feel a little, you know, stalemated.
[2:27:30] and so we advocated for, um, special education. Um,
[2:27:35] we advocated for, um, additional funding
[2:27:40] as well as credentials, uh, for our technical students. Uh,
[2:27:45] uh, and then we also did a lot of,
[2:27:49] um, relationship building with our congress people. And so that was really important
[2:27:53] as well as our colleagues from all across the state in the area. And so, and then lastly,
[2:27:57] I wanted to thank again, trustee, uh, berta,
[2:28:01] and then vice president, um, spicer for, um,
[2:28:05] being there with us for the advocacy day, um, led by our
[2:28:10] staff that was really effective. We're building great relationships and, um,
[2:28:14] this is gonna help us, um, on a really large scale as
[2:28:18] long as we continue to keep up the energy over the years. So that's all I wanted to
[2:28:22] say. Thanks. Thank you, trustee pacheco. Trustee
[2:28:26] laurie. I actually just wanted to thank, uh, dr.
[2:28:31] tosin and staff for the excellent resolutions on recognizing april as
[2:28:35] national stress awareness month this month, and national child abuse prevention
[2:28:39] month during the last board meeting that I had suggested, um, helping advance
[2:28:43] awareness and action. These are very important issues that they can have long-term
[2:28:48] impacts on the wellbeing of our students and families. Our schools
[2:28:52] can play a critical role in creating a safe and supporting environment where students can feel comfortable
[2:28:57] sharing concerns and accessing the help they need. So I really appreciate
[2:29:01] the work, um, on the resolutions. Uh, thank you. Thank you. Trustee laurie? Trustee
[2:29:05] , did you have something to add? I just forgot to mention also, happy earth day.
[2:29:10] um, wanted to reflect on the environmental services department, but also
[2:29:14] just wanna show my support for walden west on happy earth day.
[2:29:19] thank you. Dress han, vice president spice. Um,
[2:29:23] yeah, I really enjoyed my trip to dc and, and it was amazing
[2:29:28] to see, you know, not only the contingent from santa clara county, our
[2:29:32] sister county, san mateo county was well represented in,
[2:29:36] in all. I I was actually in three, um, meetings with,
[2:29:40] uh, congress, uh, people or, or their staff. And we,
[2:29:45] we presented well and we got the point across for our, our students
[2:29:49] and our, our districts and the county. So I, I really appreciated
[2:29:53] that trip. It's always worth, uh, the time. Um,
[2:29:57] even with the climate that we're dealing with. Um,
[2:30:02] I also, uh, went on a tour of the north county, uh, she family
[2:30:06] shelter, uh, which is in sunnyvale that is, um, run by the bill
[2:30:10] wilson center. They just over just did a renovation
[2:30:14] of the center to make it, uh, even better, uh, for
[2:30:19] families. They're in this transitional stage of, uh, lack of housing.
[2:30:24] um, so, and it, I'm, I did it as part of the, uh, success
[2:30:28] unhoused, uh, group of the santa clara county school boards association.
[2:30:33] uh, 'cause we're really looking to make sure everywhere that families are,
[2:30:37] uh, there is a, uh, standard of care. Um, and
[2:30:41] so it was good to see how they were doing. Um, and
[2:30:46] I, um, went to a, uh, gala for the mountain
[2:30:50] view educational foundation, um, to raise money for mountain view
[2:30:54] westman, um, and also, uh, youth community services,
[2:30:59] uh, impact exhibit in palo alto. Um, so it was,
[2:31:03] um, all these students from palo alto, los altos mountain
[2:31:07] view, um, that are doing community service
[2:31:11] and actually coming up with their own, um, projects
[2:31:15] related to community service, not necessarily their own nonprofit,
[2:31:19] but projects. Um, and it was really good to see kids coming up with
[2:31:23] great ways to help their community. And that's it. Thank you.
[2:31:28] thank you. Vice president, advisor, trustees. Any other comments?
[2:31:34] okay, thank you. We will now move to our superintendent's report, dr.
[2:31:38] tosin. Good evening everyone. I wanted to share, uh, one of the
[2:31:42] highlights or a number of highlights over the, since the last board meeting, uh, one
[2:31:46] specifically, I, I met with andre, who's a student, uh, and trustee
[2:31:50] nan and, uh, michael valez, our emergent, uh, emergency preparedness, uh,
[2:31:55] school safety and security administrator. Uh, andjay had an interest
[2:31:59] in, uh, natural disaster preparedness and wanted to have a conversation.
[2:32:03] uh, and I entered the call, uh, and mike, if you could put your hand up in the back,
[2:32:07] uh, entered the call wondering, okay, I don't know what I have to offer this conversation.
[2:32:12] um, and the moment and jbn asking questions.
[2:32:17] and he and michael began engaging in conversation. It was
[2:32:21] fascinating to see their energies, um, align and their shared
[2:32:25] interests and commitment to being prepared, um, for, uh, natural
[2:32:29] disasters. And as a student, uh, his, uh, andre's depth of knowledge,
[2:32:34] um, around different topics. And so I just wanted to highlight that, um, that
[2:32:38] experience and, uh, watching two folks, as the kids say, kind of
[2:32:42] nerd out, um, on emergency preparedness and the support,
[2:32:47] uh, that, uh, michael valez, um, provided, um,
[2:32:51] to the students and even the offer to continue the conversation and follow up. So I wanted
[2:32:55] to highlight that. Um, the team has been focused on
[2:32:59] a number of, um, items that are going on. I wanted to, uh, provide
[2:33:04] some additional context, um, regarding, uh, walden west. Um, this was a,
[2:33:09] uh, a future agenda item. Uh, and there were comments tonight
[2:33:13] about, uh, the closure of the summer program. Um, before I
[2:33:17] touch on the summer program, uh, it's, it's been released publicly. We were making
[2:33:21] progress on the education program for the school year. We have commitments,
[2:33:25] uh, from a number of schools. While mous have not been signed yet,
[2:33:30] uh, a number of partners have provided firm commitments of
[2:33:34] their intention to participate. Um, we are finalizing,
[2:33:38] uh, the lease, uh, and still continuing to have the conversations,
[2:33:42] uh, related to staff. Uh, the alternate campsite, um,
[2:33:47] um, per their lease offers some, uh, services and
[2:33:51] positions that, um, for example, food services, we wouldn't have access to
[2:33:55] the kitchen. Um, and it's their contract. And so that will result in
[2:33:59] a layoff of our staff, um, because we wouldn't have, um, work necessarily
[2:34:03] because via west provides that service. And so that's one example
[2:34:07] of, uh, some of the complexities, um, as we're transitioning from walden west,
[2:34:11] where we had complete control to, uh, a lease site where they have requirements,
[2:34:17] um, and in some areas provide their own staff. Um, specifically related
[2:34:21] to the summer camp, um, in january, staff were given the,
[2:34:25] the approval to begin recruiting. At the same time we received the notice
[2:34:29] of the permits. Um, the intention was to
[2:34:34] continue to gather information, um, with the hope that we'd be able to have
[2:34:38] limited disruption, uh, during the summer. Uh, as information
[2:34:42] evolves, um, some possibilities, um, are taken
[2:34:46] off the table, uh, specifically in july. And to give you some context,
[2:34:50] uh, of the july program, the cost for families,
[2:34:55] um, with full service and access to walden west is $725
[2:35:00] this year, uh, because of the construction, we would not be able to have access to the
[2:35:04] full facility, which includes the lodge, uh, in several buildings and
[2:35:08] the pool. Uh, and so we would be losing using a
[2:35:13] portion of the camp. And during, uh, summer camp, I'll remind
[2:35:17] everyone, there's a group of, uh, campers who make a large portion of
[2:35:21] the camp called wild things. These are kindergarten to first grade
[2:35:25] students. The idea of having kindergarten and first grade
[2:35:30] students on an active major construction site where
[2:35:34] the utilities may be on or off. Um, we don't have any,
[2:35:38] uh, control over that because the construction firm, um, will be
[2:35:43] managing that. The construction firm that will not, that has not been selected yet, and also has
[2:35:47] insurance requirements related to, uh, construction sites.
[2:35:51] uh, additionally, uh, not having access to utilities, we
[2:35:55] would have to use, uh, porta-potties essentially, um, for
[2:35:59] all of the campers. Um, and additional details that we would have
[2:36:03] to structure for this temporary, uh, one month opportunity, uh,
[2:36:07] that seemed, uh, insurmountable and not, uh, the best investment of
[2:36:12] resources and at a, fundamentally without the ability
[2:36:16] to know for certain that we would be able to keep staff and students safe,
[2:36:20] um, during active construction. Um, the solar project, um, that
[2:36:24] we had going on here at riter park, um, there were choices, uh,
[2:36:29] the team made at the time to have some work done on the weekends to avoid,
[2:36:33] um, disrupting, uh, the office, um, that added cost
[2:36:37] to the project. Uh, and so that is something that we've done in the past. When we can accommodate
[2:36:42] that for this project. With the timelines that we have for the permits,
[2:36:46] we need to demonstrate, um, I forget the exact language, but significant,
[2:36:52] um, progress on the construction, uh,
[2:36:56] before january 2nd. We need to give the construction
[2:37:00] firm the greatest opportunity to take advantage of, um,
[2:37:05] construction friendly weather, uh, in the window between july and
[2:37:09] early fall. Um, because once it becomes wet, uh, the heavy machinery
[2:37:13] may not, may become inoperable. Um, and we do not want to have a restart
[2:37:17] related to our permits because we've not made enough progress, um,
[2:37:22] on the project. Um, by next year in january, our, our
[2:37:26] primary goal and as demonstrated by the 10 plus million dollars investment
[2:37:31] is to reopen the camp. Um, to have walden west
[2:37:35] continue to be the, uh, special, uh, unique opportunity it is for
[2:37:39] students in our community, um, and beyond. In order to make that happen, we
[2:37:43] unfortunately have to make decisions in the moment that allow us to meet
[2:37:47] those goals and maintain the integrity of the program, uh,
[2:37:52] and safety of students. Um, we considered if we
[2:37:56] decided to try and go away with a, um, a, a
[2:38:00] revised program, uh, during the construction, um, we might also
[2:38:04] lose parents as well who are expecting the, uh, pro full program only
[2:38:08] to find out that the majority of the camp is unavailable. Um, and we're using porta-potties,
[2:38:13] so, uh, could not move forward with clarity at this point and a hundred
[2:38:17] percent certainty that we would, again, safety quality of program, as
[2:38:21] well as all of the components that need to be coordinated in july, um, to start
[2:38:26] the construction project as well as, uh, transition to
[2:38:30] via west. Uh, and so all of these things are happening concurrently.
[2:38:35] uh, and so that's why, uh, the, the decisions were made that we could not operate,
[2:38:40] uh, the summer program. And we were canceling and are canceling some of the leases
[2:38:44] of walden west in august, um, from outside, uh, groups that
[2:38:48] wanted to use the camp. Uh, this information, uh, actually I'm
[2:38:52] sharing a little bit more detail, but there is a, a press release, uh, on the website,
[2:38:56] um, that articulates all of those major points as well.
[2:39:02] what good trustee
[2:39:06] berta, um, thank you for sharing the information with
[2:39:10] the board and also the public in terms of the updates. Um, and I
[2:39:14] appreciate the responses to the questions that I had also sent ahead of the meeting regarding
[2:39:19] walden west. Um, can you talk a little bit more clarification? 'cause I
[2:39:23] think we, we've, we're hearing some different numbers on the
[2:39:27] impact of our summer programming and, um,
[2:39:32] what the financial impact will be of, of, uh, canceling
[2:39:37] the contracts for the summer programming. I, I don't
[2:39:41] have that information specifically, uh, in front of me now, but, uh, the,
[2:39:45] some of the conversation looks at the revenue that would be generated without considering the expense.
[2:39:50] we obviously have fixed costs in terms of the staff and the resources to run the
[2:39:54] program. Um, what is not included, um, in the previous plans were
[2:39:58] if we needed to, um, have, um, porta potty service,
[2:40:02] how that adds to the cost if we needed to bring in other components,
[2:40:07] um, whether it be shade structures, um, because this camp happens in july, and
[2:40:11] so peak of summer, um, heat, uh, heat related, um,
[2:40:16] illnesses and injuries are, are a concern as well. Those aren't
[2:40:20] included in that, um, proposal as well. Uh, and so while there was
[2:40:24] rev potential revenue on the books, um, there would be additional costs
[2:40:29] associated with operating in the summer camp, um, that we can't fully
[2:40:33] calculate, um, because we don't have the construction firm identified yet to
[2:40:37] understand how they might be phasing. Uh, and so rather than waiting until,
[2:40:42] um, early june to make the determination and leave families and
[2:40:46] staff scrambling, um, we've made the, the hard decision
[2:40:50] now, um, because while there's revenue coming in, the cost to provide that program
[2:40:54] may have exceeded the revenue. And we are managing and monitoring,
[2:40:59] uh, the general fund contribution, uh, for walden west, um, because
[2:41:03] we are increasing that next year to maintain the, um, outdoor education
[2:41:07] program. Yeah, if you could follow up with that information in
[2:41:11] terms of, because I know, I believe some of the information was 70,000
[2:41:15] was the cost of the, at least the july programming, but then another figure
[2:41:19] that was just thrown out was 500,000. And that's obviously a, a big
[2:41:24] difference in terms of cost, so it would be helpful to have the
[2:41:28] clarification. Uh, I, I can't speak to those numbers. Uh, and I, and I
[2:41:32] recognize the optimism and, and hope of the team, but revenue's
[2:41:36] only one side of the equation bringing in $500,000. Um,
[2:41:41] for an activity that costs $700,000, it's not advisable.
[2:41:45] and so we have not been able to calculate the full cost of the summer program,
[2:41:49] um, because we don't have all of the information to be able to determine what other,
[2:41:54] um, added, uh, components would need to be there. So there's not a comparison.
[2:41:58] um, the leases of the facility in july, uh, there may have been potential
[2:42:02] contracts of up to $70,000, but again, the
[2:42:06] facility is not, um, usable and all of the revenue projections were
[2:42:10] based on full access to the camp and the experience that
[2:42:14] folks have already always had. I, I suspect if we communicated
[2:42:19] the, what the strip down program would be, um,
[2:42:23] families might make different options and we would see a decline in enrollment for
[2:42:27] those summer components. So at this point, um, we have
[2:42:31] some of the projected, um, revenue, um, based
[2:42:35] on who is, uh, signed up for camp. Um, but we don't have a cost
[2:42:40] proposal, um, for the modified camp because the decision is made not to operate
[2:42:44] it. So I wouldn't be able to say what the potential loss is. And when you
[2:42:48] say the decision's been made to not operate it, that is on the,
[2:42:53] the belief that we will begin, or the intent that we will begin
[2:42:57] construction july one that is based
[2:43:01] on the commitment to ensure that the camp is fully accessible by the construction firm
[2:43:06] at the beginning of july. And you had also stated that the
[2:43:10] construction firm hasn't been identified yet. So do you have an idea of
[2:43:14] when that's, that process, uh, will commence? We have to,
[2:43:18] the process has already begun. We have to go through a, uh, request for proposals,
[2:43:22] and I believe it is early june, uh, may 7th,
[2:43:26] we will have the vendor identified, uh, and then that's going through contracting, and then they'll
[2:43:31] develop their plans. Okay. I, I'm just a little concerned
[2:43:35] because that seems like a very fast turnaround to make it from
[2:43:40] the day that the vendors identified to beginning construction on july one.
[2:43:45] um, it just seems like a very quick turnaround
[2:43:49] and I would hate to lose programming if, if there's not
[2:43:53] full feasibility of actually beginning construction july one. I'm just,
[2:43:58] I'm just wondering about whether that's that, you know, fully appreciate the
[2:44:02] enthusiasm to begin as soon as possible and demonstrate the, the commitment to
[2:44:07] construction. Um, I just also think it's important to be realistic about
[2:44:12] how quickly these things can begin, especially in the, in the scheme and in
[2:44:16] consideration of the other, uh, of the revenue potential if the camp were to
[2:44:20] stay open during the summer and for the construction to begin after that
[2:44:24] period, to also allow for the construction company to have some additional time
[2:44:29] to prepare for those efforts. Yeah. Uh, the timeline
[2:44:33] is reflected in the rfp and again, uh, the, the firm will have access to
[2:44:37] the camp. And our intention with the camp is, uh, again,
[2:44:42] this is a major project with very firm timelines that we're investing
[2:44:46] $10 million in. And so the potential revenue associated with
[2:44:50] a, uh, a, a one month summer program that would be difficult,
[2:44:54] um, to operate under the conditions. Um, that's
[2:44:58] why we're taking it off the table. The timeline is quick. Um,
[2:45:03] county offices are not like school districts. We have to take a two step
[2:45:07] project, or I'm sorry, a two step process for major
[2:45:11] construction projects. Um, school districts are able to, I believe, develop their plans,
[2:45:16] um, and begin the construction component at the same time when they're having
[2:45:20] their permits approved, county offices are required to have a plan
[2:45:25] approved, have the permits, and then begin the next phase. And so we
[2:45:29] are, um, at the, um, at the
[2:45:33] will of, uh, the statutes, um, related to, uh, county office
[2:45:38] construction, uh, the timeline of our permits and many things outside of
[2:45:42] our control. And again, our, our goal is to reopen the camp, uh, for,
[2:45:46] for everyone as soon as possible. Um, but trying to
[2:45:51] plan for a concurrent, um, major construction
[2:45:55] pro pro project and five to seven year olds
[2:45:59] and elementary students on the same site is, is not
[2:46:04] advisable. Uh, and I'm sure our insurance, um, would caution us against
[2:46:08] that as well. I understand. And, and, uh, agree
[2:46:12] with the support for, um, keeping our students safe. I think that's, that's
[2:46:17] also where a lot of my questions are coming from is just in the interest of not just
[2:46:21] the, you know, the bottom line or the dollars, but, um, the students and families
[2:46:25] that we made the commitment to when we offered, uh, when, when, when,
[2:46:29] you know, they had intended to, uh, be a part of the, the summer programming.
[2:46:33] so that's, uh, so students, I'm also thinking about thank you for answering the
[2:46:37] questions. That was that it for your report. Okay.
[2:46:42] alright, thank you. We are now moving to agenda item 13, our closed session.
[2:46:46] the board is about to enter into closed session. Closed session involves confidential information
[2:46:51] for families and district representatives attending inter district appeals this evening. Here's
[2:46:55] what to expect when your name is called both the parent or guardian and the district representative
[2:47:00] will enter into closed session. Each party will have five minutes to present their perspective
[2:47:04] to the santa clara county board of education. If interpretation is needed,
[2:47:08] an extra five minutes will be provided. After both sides speak, each
[2:47:13] will have two minutes to respond to another board. Members may ask questions
[2:47:17] and then when the hearing ends, the board will deliberate in private. Once a decision is made, both parties
[2:47:21] will be invited back to hear the decision. The closed session agenda item
[2:47:25] includes two items in our district attendance appeal filed on behalf of student resident
[2:47:30] district, a rock union school district, desired district, moreland school district, and
[2:47:34] b conference with legal counsel, real estate government code 5 4 9 5 6
[2:47:38] 0.8. The board will enter to closed session. We'll return an approximately
[2:47:42] one hour on or after, uh, 8:45 pm thank you.
[2:47:47] okay, , we are ready to resume the to open session.
[2:47:51] the time is now 8:55 pm upon completion of agenda item
[2:47:56] 13 a. A motion was made by trustee bura and seconded by trustee shian
[2:48:00] on two, approve the appeal, um,
[2:48:04] upon completion of agenda item 13 b. There is no reportable actions.
[2:48:08] the santa clara, the next santa clara county board of education regular meeting is scheduled for
[2:48:12] may 6th at 5:00 pm may I have a motion to adjourn? Move by, uh, trustee
[2:48:17] pacheco. I'll second trustees. Please
[2:48:21] vote on board docs or let me know if you have a verbal, verbal verbal eye from trustee
[2:48:25] krishnam. Verbal eye from trustee pacheco. A verbal eye from myself,
[2:48:30] verbal eye, a verbal eye from trustee rosha and trustee berta, vice president
[2:48:34] visor. I just voted in board. Docs voted in board docs. She is
[2:48:38] efficient. Yeah. , I'm making up for
[2:48:42] nine. And that motion carries. We are adjourned at 8:55 pm thank
[2:48:46] you.