[0:00] All right, good evening, everyone. We're going to go ahead and get started. We do have an announcement coming out of closed session.

[0:08] So the board took action and closed session by unanimous votes of all trustees present to authorize and direct the administration to share and post a classified negotiations update.

[0:19] addressing any misinformation in the community regarding the district's revised last

[0:23] best and final offer, including salary, grievance, and progressive discipline proposals

[0:28] presented to SCIU. In furtherance of this action and direction, I have asked Superintendent

[0:34] Barley to share the negotiations update tonight with copies now available for those

[0:38] in attendance, which will also be posted on the district's website with supplemental information.

[0:43] Let's see that there are members of SCIU in attendance this evening. This will be the only statement

[0:48] the board will make on the state of the negotiations tonight.

[0:52] We direct everyone to the copies provided and look forward to a resolution with S.C.I.U.

[0:56] as soon as possible.

[0:57] Mr. Superintendent.

[1:00] Thank you.

[1:02] At the behest of the board, I provide the following classified negotiations update on February

[1:07] 11th, 2026, the district presented S.C.I.U. a compensation proposal that includes a 9.67%

[1:14] increase in pay for the 25, 26, and for the 26, 27 school years.

[1:21] Four employee groups all have already reached agreement on this pay increase as of April 16,

[1:25] 20, 26, those employees are now being paid under those newly agreed to salary schedules.

[1:34] The other four employee groups receive their retro pay for the first year of the agreement

[1:37] in June.

[1:38] If an agreement is reached with SCIU, members can expect a retro paycheck in approximately

[1:43] 60 days.

[1:44] The district also proposed minor revisions to the grievance procedure to give busy, slight

[1:49] administrators additional time to investigate and respond to unit member grievances.

[1:55] This proposal also makes grievance timelines more consistent district wide.

[2:00] DTA and SCIU currently operate on two different timelines.

[2:04] The district's proposal would align the SCIU timeline with the existing timeline for DTA.

[2:09] Lastly, the district proposed minor revisions to the progressive discipline article to give busy

[2:15] sight administrators a digital time to monitor and ensure employee compliance with

[2:20] corrective interventions and to allow bypassing those intervention steps in situations involving

[2:25] serious misconduct. The district's proposal would include physical violence as a cause for discipline.

[2:32] physical violence is not currently included as a separate cause for discipline.

[2:38] For eight substantiated severe infractions, like physical violence, or being intoxicated

[2:43] at work, the proposal would allow the district to begin at a higher step and move more quickly

[2:48] through the discipline process.

[2:50] The district provided SCIU with five possible models, any of which would be acceptable to the

[2:55] district.

[2:56] These include models from four local districts that were included in the SCIU Compensation

[3:01] study, Travis, Thakavill, Winters, and Woodland, which all have similar language in their contracts.

[3:08] This proposal does not affect any other rights or protections provided to employees in the

[3:13] progressive discipline article.

[3:16] After meeting with SCIU on May 15, May 29, August 21, September 22, October 27, November 17,

[3:25] December 12th of 2025 and January 22nd February 11, March 10, March 16th and April 17th

[3:36] of 2026, as well as two side-bar discussions on March 24th and March 27th.

[3:43] Today, SCIU has not accepted the district's proposal.

[3:46] Accordingly, it was necessary for the district to declare in-pass to obtain the assistance

[3:50] of a state mediator to help the district and SCIU reach an agreement.

[3:54] The district began asking for assistance of a mediator on March 30, 2026.

[4:00] That mediation is scheduled for September 23rd and 24th of 2026, and we are hopeful

[4:06] that process will result in a new three-year contract.

[4:10] Mr. Ford President,

[4:13] thank you, Mr. Superintendent.

[4:15] There are no other announcements that have coming out of close session.

[4:18] So up next is we have the pledge of allegiance.

[4:19] If you are able, please stand.

[4:20] of

[4:29] the United States of America, and to the Green Audit for Rochist Dance Foundation, and

[4:35] another ballot in the end of this vote, which would continue in justice for all of them.

[4:42] All right, roll call.

[4:43] We have all board members present except for Trustee John.

[4:46] Gabby this evening, are there any board announcements tonight?

[4:55] Yeah, I just wanted to say that a great time at the Dixon High School, back to school.

[5:00] Good night. It's also people there who have a ball practice try to make it my way through. And that's for some help. If you guys see athletes out there right now, they're doing a lot of fundraisers, so it's try to make sure you support your local athletes, knocking on doors. Thanks. Thank you.

[5:16] Yes, I was able to attend the parent meeting and a tree month, and it was very well attended at least 20 or 30 people there,

[5:33] and they talked about their plans for the coming year.

[5:37] I also attended the back-to-school nights at Main Prairie and at Tremont, and then most exciting to me is the article that I saw in the paper that talks about this article actually rapes the 32 high schools in Solano County.

[6:05] For example, we have one high school in one alternative high school, but other other districts have three high schools, two high schools.

[6:16] So there are 32 in all, and we didn't make number one or two, but Dixon high school out of the 32 ranks seven.

[6:30] And I'm very, very happy about that, because we are just a small district and two out-rank

[6:44] schools from other districts. It gives me great pleasure.

[6:53] So I just wanted to give a quick shout out. There were a few schools I attended some

[6:57] that just school nights for, which were all great,

[7:01] had different showcases as part of them.

[7:03] So Dickson High School, John Knight, as well as Tremod,

[7:08] and at Tremod, I was able to also take a small tour

[7:11] of the library refresh that I know has been going on.

[7:16] So TPA, Admin, staff there.

[7:18] I know has been working really hard, and it shows.

[7:21] I have to say it looks amazing.

[7:23] These campuses looked so good.

[7:25] So congratulations to you.

[7:29] And I know we're going to spend some time on this here

[7:31] in just a moment, but just want to do a quick shout out

[7:33] on all the folks that participated

[7:34] with the back to school festival.

[7:37] It is our fourth annual event, the largest yet.

[7:40] We were able to receive over 1,500 backpacks,

[7:45] which I think is about 1,000 more than we received last year.

[7:49] We had more nonprofits and community organizations

[7:51] participate than ever before.

[7:53] I think this was the first year that every single PTO

[7:55] and school site participated simultaneously, which was beautiful.

[8:01] Yeah, I just, we're going to do some recognition at just a moment, but I just love seeing

[8:05] how big this event continues to grow and how much the community keeps wanting to step up

[8:12] and be a part of it.

[8:12] We keep joking that we might grow out of Party Plaza sooner than later, and I think that's

[8:17] a good problem to have given all the love and support that our community is giving.

[8:23] Okay, so moving on to the notice to the public, persons wishing to speak to agenda items may present their written request at this time.

[8:32] While the written request is optional, those making a written request will be recognized first.

[8:37] Persons wishing to introduce a subject not on the agenda may also present their request at this time.

[8:43] The board president will recognize you for the discussion at the appropriate time.

[8:48] Non-scheduled agenda items will be introduced under Section 9 on the agenda.

[8:52] Speakers may be limited to three minutes per topic at the discretion of the board president.

[8:58] All right, moving on to a recognition of guests and presentations.

[9:02] Let's go ahead and I'll hand it back over to our superintendent to start with the back-to-school festival.

[9:06] Great.

[9:07] I have the privilege of handing it over to Executive Director Fierrelli to talk about our back-to-school festival and the back-to-school celebrations.

[9:26] All right, well, as President Quay was just shared, we are so proud to have had such a successful

[9:32] back to school celebration. We had all six of our schools, our PTOs and many of our Dixon unified

[9:40] administration and many many community organizations, some of whom are present tonight, and we're very

[9:47] happy to recognize them. So I have the pleasure of acknowledging all six of our schools, the administrative

[9:54] and staff who were there setting up tables early and engaging with our...

[10:00] Students and handing out supplies and backpacks. If any of you are here, please please come up and accept our certificate of appreciation.

[10:09] As in one from the team.

[10:13] I know Angelina is Bob.

[10:17] All right.

[10:20] Mr. Lagolsky.

[10:22] We will call them separately.

[10:25] Thank you.

[10:25] And thank you both so much.

[10:27] Thank you.

[10:28] All right.

[10:29] We also want to acknowledge the amazing PTOs who were out there.

[10:34] We saw every PTO out there.

[10:36] So, if any of you are here this evening,

[10:38] I think I've seen several, please, please come up.

[10:41] So, you can be recognized.

[10:43] You made it a great day.

[10:56] Hello, John.

[10:57] PTO, thank you all so much.

[10:59] Great.

[11:01] Yes, let's get a picture at the end.

[11:04] Yes, for sure.

[11:06] Okay.

[11:08] And then several from our Dixon Unified team were there.

[11:13] Of course, our cabinet, our superintendent.

[11:15] We also want to acknowledge nutrition services

[11:19] were out there providing snacks and ice-pops

[11:24] to students and families.

[11:26] Maintenance and operations had a tremendous amount

[11:28] to do to support the effort.

[11:30] And then we also had our special education department out there.

[11:33] And so I'd like to invite Dr. Walker up.

[11:36] Thank you for being there.

[11:38] We appreciate you.

[11:43] Thank you for being here in the South America.

[11:46] All right.

[11:47] And.

[11:49] OK.

[11:50] And now for the many, many community organizations that were there.

[11:54] I want to be sure to name them all and several are here.

[11:57] And we just appreciate them so much.

[12:00] They've done a lot to partner with us over a long time,

[12:03] including the donation of so many backpacks for the festival.

[12:07] We are deeply appreciative of Dixon Library,

[12:09] and I believe their team is here tonight.

[12:11] Thank you so much for joining us.

[12:17] Thank you for your time.

[12:18] Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.

[12:21] We also have our partners at Catalyst after school program.

[12:24] We're out there.

[12:25] Thank you, Catalyst team after a long day.

[12:28] You all are here.

[12:30] Thank you, Catalyst.

[12:38] Yes, we are very, very pleased to have you there.

[12:43] Thank you.

[12:46] Our partners at Dixon Police Department, Sergeant Roverson and Browning, our SRO over there.

[12:54] So, Dixon PD, thank you for being out there.

[12:58] I don't know if I'd be willing to do that.

[13:04] Thank you.

[13:05] Thank you.

[13:06] Thank you.

[13:08] Thank you.

[13:09] Thank you, Brown.

[13:11] Oh, he's going to take your picture.

[13:15] Thank you so much.

[13:18] Wonderful.

[13:19] Thank you.

[13:20] Thank you.

[13:22] We had the Women's Improvement Club out there.

[13:26] So we have our own dual thing here.

[13:28] We have to acknowledge the wonderful work the women's improvement club does.

[13:45] And then of course our partners and friends at Lions Club.

[13:51] No.

[13:53] No.

[13:53] Kiwana's club.

[13:56] Yay.

[14:03] Thank you.

[14:06] And rotary club, of course, was out in force, as well as the Dixon Chamber.

[14:14] Thank

[14:23] you.

[14:25] All right.

[14:26] All right.

[14:27] We also had Solano Cares, the Teen Center, and Dixon Family Services and Attendance, with

[14:36] booths. If I'm missing anyone, please shout yours out. As well as Grocery Outlet, the Dixon

[14:42] Fire Department was there in AT&T. So it was a huge success and we look forward to it again next

[14:50] year already. And I also want to make sure I give a great thanks to you President Quivas who led a lot

[14:56] those efforts because it was a large success.

[15:00] Thank you for your leadership.

[15:04] Executive director, would you mind just going to be forward one slide here? President Quay,

[15:08] have mentioned this earlier in his board announcements.

[15:12] But as you can see there, from some of our service organizations, the district was able to

[15:16] distribute over one, well, collected over 1,500 backpacks to distribute to families.

[15:23] Many of those backpacks already filled with school supplies so that kids could start

[15:27] the school year fully equipped for school.

[15:30] This was the first year that we have not run out of backbacks.

[15:34] In years past, we have had about 500 backbacks to distribute the groups that participated

[15:39] that you just recognize together were able to collect three times that this year.

[15:45] So just an incredible feat and we were even able to have a few leftover and send some back

[15:50] to school sites.

[15:51] So as we have kids across the school year that have need,

[15:56] each school site is equipped to try to meet that need.

[15:59] So again, huge thank you to all of those different organizations

[16:01] for your contributions.

[16:11] Thank you so much.

[16:13] All right, moving on to back to school celebrations,

[16:16] Mr. Superintendent.

[16:18] Great, happy to do it.

[16:21] OK, this is going to be a little bit embarrassing,

[16:23] but it's becoming one of my favorite traditions.

[16:26] each year we have the back-to-school breakfast and I get to wear a hair net early in the morning while providing breakfast to staff.

[16:35] This year was especially exciting because our whole team across the district got to have the same breakfast that our kids get to have every morning.

[16:48] And so each staff member that came through the line got things like yogurt with granola,

[16:56] cinnamon swirl pancakes, breakfast burritos, breakfast sandwiches, fruit, yogurt parfait with

[17:05] strawberries on them.

[17:07] All things that our kids have the ability to eat now for breakfast in Dixie andified.

[17:11] a huge hat tip to all of the district office team members and school site administrators who

[17:18] served breakfast to the hundreds of staff members that we have across the district.

[17:25] This is a tradition on the Monday before the first day of school.

[17:29] It's a really joyful event.

[17:31] And it's just such a nice opportunity to be together with our amazing team members and

[17:37] just a small token of appreciation for everything that they do.

[17:42] So, thank you for everybody for that support and for our food services team for making that possible for us this year.

[17:56] And then, of course, a couple days after that, we had our first day of school.

[18:00] So, you can see that there. That's Wednesday. Each school had welcome signs out for kids.

[18:06] Everybody was excited to be back all of our staff.

[18:10] We're just so pleased to be greeting families again.

[18:14] It's a day full smiles from kids who are meeting their new teachers and their new classmates.

[18:20] It's a day of smiles from parents as they pull out of the parking lots at breakneck speed after dropping their kids back off with us after having them for the summer.

[18:30] But it's really one of my favorite days of the year and it's just such a joyful time across the entire district.

[18:35] So, and it doesn't happen overnight.

[18:38] Everybody works incredibly hard over the summer to make this possible,

[18:43] whether it's less than planning or helping to prepare our facilities

[18:47] to receive kids and students again on the first day of school.

[18:50] So, just many thanks to all of you involved who made the first day of school

[18:55] and the beginning of the school year possible.

[19:05] Okay, that covers our recognitions tonight.

[19:08] All right, thank you, sir.

[19:09] Next up we have correspondence, we have the Sloan County Office of Education review of the 2627 budget, Mr. Superintendent.

[19:16] Yeah, so this is our annual letter from the County Office of Education where they approve our LCAP.

[19:23] So we can close the book on last year's LCAP approved by the county and we'll begin the work of our next brand new LCAP.

[19:33] last year was the third year of the three year LCAP, and now pivot our attention to writing

[19:38] a brand new LCAP for the next three years, so a longer process this year as we develop

[19:43] entirely new goals for our LCAP.

[19:47] Thank you, sir.

[19:48] All right.

[19:48] Moving on to the consent agenda.

[19:50] Are there any comments or questions from the board regarding the consent agenda?

[19:55] Seeing none, any public comment?

[19:58] Seeing none closing public.

[20:03] Second,

[20:08] aye. Aye, aye. Aye, aye, aye, aye, aye. Aye, aye, aye, aye, aye, aye, aye, aye, aye, as well, not motion carries. There are no items move in the consent agenda. So we'll go ahead and move on to the stakeholder communications.

[20:17] An opportunity is provided for employee and parent association reports.

[20:21] Speakers may be limited to five minutes at the discretion of the Board President consistent with Board bylaws,

[20:51] I'm here today to speak on behalf of Dixon classified school employees, the people who show up every day to make sure our school's confunction.

[21:01] Okay, I'm going to move this, this is okay, sorry, it's my way, okay.

[21:07] We are the people in the front offices, welcoming families.

[21:11] We are the parent educators supporting children in the classroom, some of your children in

[21:16] the classroom.

[21:17] We are the custodians keeping schools clean and safe.

[21:22] We are the crossing guards and campus monitors getting your children safely across the street,

[21:27] making sure they are safe on campuses.

[21:28] We are the food service workers making sure your students have meals.

[21:34] We are the maintenance, tech department, and support staff who keep everything moving behind the scenes.

[21:40] Classified workers are the backbone of our schools.

[21:43] If we do not show up for work, the schools cannot open properly.

[21:50] We have many different job titles, but we have something important in common, our work matters.

[21:57] And right now, our contract remains unsettled.

[22:01] We are not asking for special treatment.

[22:04] We are asking to be heard, respected, and valued for the jobs that we do.

[22:10] Every single day for our students, for your students, for your grandchildren.

[22:18] When we talk about wages, benefits, working conditions, staffing, and job security, we are not

[22:24] just talking about numbers on a piece of paper.

[22:26] We are talking about whether experienced employees can afford to stay at Dixon Unified

[22:32] School District.

[22:33] We are talking about whether Dixon Schools can attract quality workers.

[22:40] We are talking about whether students can continue to receive the support they deserve.

[22:45] A strong school system depends on classified employees.

[22:49] Not contracted employees making twice our pay.

[22:53] Our schools are not fully staffed.

[22:56] Contractor workers are currently feeling classified positions today.

[23:01] We care about the students we support.

[23:04] We care about our co-workers.

[23:06] We care about our community.

[23:09] And the majority of the Dixon unified school district employees live here in town.

[23:15] That's exactly why we're standing together.

[23:18] Our message is simple.

[23:20] We deserve a fair contract.

[23:22] We deserve compensation that recognizes the work we perform.

[23:26] We deserve safe and reasonable working conditions.

[23:29] We deserve respect at the bargain table.

[23:33] And we deserve a contract that recognizes that classified employees

[23:37] are a central part of education, not and afterthought.

[23:43] We want to reach an agreement.

[23:46] But reaching an agreement requires both sides to listen,

[23:49] Negotiate in good faith and recognize the contributions, the people who keep Dixon school's

[23:57] running.

[23:58] Instead, we are being met with not interested at the negotiation table.

[24:04] Our work matters, our families matter, our students matter, your students matter, classified

[24:12] workers matter, and our voices matter.

[24:15] We will stand together, we will stay united, and we will keep fighting for a fair contract

[24:20] that the Dixon classified employees deserve.

[24:24] And it's always remember there's no class without the classified.

[24:27] Thank you.

[24:47] Good evening Mr. Quavus, members of the Board, Superintendent Barley, and all stakeholders.

[24:53] My name is Anthony Badrugas, I'm an English teacher at Dixon High, and a co-vice president

[24:58] at DTA, and I'm here tonight to speak.

[25:00] For the teachers union on some concerns, which have arisen over the first few weeks of the year.

[25:05] During our last round of negotiations, DTA agreed upon an increase in our secondary staffing ratio

[25:10] from 29 to 1 to 30 to 1 students to teachers. This agreement was a compromise to fund our newly

[25:17] approved salary schedule and to work toward a more competitive way to fix it. As a teacher and

[25:22] department chair at DHS, I can say first hand that the district and site level roll out of

[25:27] change has been deeply flawed and caused serious disruption.

[25:32] First scheduling choices have been made which combine cohorts of different subject levels

[25:37] into the same class periods.

[25:39] These include the combination of ceramics classes, child development, food science, multimedia,

[25:45] avid and PE classes, many of which have differing curricula which do not remotely overlap.

[25:52] These choices starve some wonderful programs of the focus and specialization that they need

[25:56] flourish and they overload teachers with a near-impossible task of teaching two classes

[26:02] effectively at the same exact time. No matter the quality of the teacher in the room,

[26:06] these double classes necessarily degrade the experiences of both student cohorts, by splitting

[26:13] teacher attention and standing in the way of cohesive classroom culture. These choices

[26:19] have especially impacted the courses on our campus that are not core classes and are often

[26:24] smaller and more specialized.

[26:26] These non-core pathways are often touted by our district and community as the jewels in our

[26:32] crown.

[26:33] The things that make us unique in which make our district desirable over a host of other options.

[26:40] Why then are we actively undermining the quality of these pathways?

[26:44] When it comes time for the students in these pathways to show their learning and prove it

[26:48] out in the real world, who will have failed them?

[26:52] We hold that they will have been failed by a system, which has counted them as numbers and dollar signs, before it counts them as individuals.

[27:00] Furthermore, class sizes across our campus have ballooned far beyond the one-persection implied by our staffing ratio change.

[27:09] Some effort has been made at the site level to rebalance these sizes over the first 10 days of school, but it has been abundantly clear that Master Scheduling was not done properly at our campus.

[27:19] I was a part of the Master Scheduling Team last year, and I can attest to that the process

[27:23] lacked guidance and operated under a district directive to pack classes as close to the maximum as possible.

[27:31] The plan was to pack them full, and to add more sections later.

[27:36] But it's clear to me that the second half of that step was not handled at all over the summer,

[27:41] and instead, blood into the actual start of the school year.

[27:44] This haphazard scheduling process left hundreds of students in awkward schedules that didn't match their requests and even resulted in the creation of new sections after school had already started just to release some pressure.

[27:57] Throughout this process, it has been abundantly clear that at the district planning levels students at GHS are being treated as numbers on a spreadsheet, not individual students with unique needs and agency.

[28:09] Another major concern I'd like to share tonight concerns elementary teachers, elementary teachers in our district have been true heroes as they take on curriculum after curriculum and new program after new program.

[28:22] For this reason, DTA is deeply frustrated by the recent changes to elementary teacher prep time.

[28:29] Due to yet another cut to be arts in Dixon, elementary teachers find themselves down in art teacher, which has resulted in a loss of a standard prep time.

[28:36] and the reworking of their entire schedule to maintain proper amounts of time.

[28:41] Though work has been done to give them time, multiple situations of already required or elementary

[28:46] colleagues to lose some of this owed prep time throughout the week, and teachers are left without

[28:51] what they were owed.

[28:53] It seems the stance has been taken to asking teachers to do more with less is a reasonable approach

[28:59] to planning at every level, and these choices will impact our students.

[29:03] teacher preparation creates the spaces that make our children flourish and our children deserve the best.

[29:10] As a final note, I remain deeply concerned by the change in access to mental health services from last year to this one.

[29:17] I know that the district employees mental health clinicians, but the choice to cut their number after last year's events,

[29:23] still makes me question our commitment to our students in Dixon.

[29:25] I know I don't need to remind you, but as far as mental health, the worst case scenario has already happened.

[29:32] Our Dixon student community has lost a member that will not return to us.

[29:37] A decrease in mental health services, following this,

[29:40] communicates a clear message that support can be removed if it's fair as expense to do so.

[29:46] The minds of our children are equal parts, beautiful, and fragile.

[29:51] We must care for them, and I urge all stakeholders to consider how support can be increased in all of the areas I mentioned tonight.

[29:59] Thank you.

[30:08] Thank you. Okay, we're going to move on to public comments. Persons wishing to introduce a topic within the subject matter jurisdiction of the district, not on the agenda, may do so at this time.

[30:19] By law subjects, not on the agenda cannot be acted upon by the Board, except to briefly respond, clarify, or refer to staff for review and presentation at a future meeting.

[30:28] Comments may be limited to three minutes per person to a maximum of 25 minutes per topic, unless extended by the board president.

[30:36] Comments are to be directed exclusively to the governing board and the governing board president shall determine who, if anyone, may respond to the comments or question of the speaker.

[30:46] Are there any public comment this evening?

[30:50] Yes, sir.

[31:03] School Board and Superintendent Barley, Dan Skuduro.

[31:08] How are you, Superintendent?

[31:09] I'm the 15th supervisor for the Education Team of SCIU Local 1021.

[31:15] I'm also currently the Chief Negotiator for the negotiations that are underway

[31:20] for which the school board in its, what do I say,

[31:32] campaign in the community. We will be responding to this in time. And I speak with a fair

[31:43] amount of experience.

[31:46] I have been doing this work for about 30 years. I have been doing

[31:51] this work in education for about over 60 years at this point with the CIO. I am well-known

[31:58] school districts up and down northern California, be it Sacramento Unified School District,

[32:05] be it Oakland Unified School District, most recently, and previously even at Dixon Unified

[32:12] School District where I came in and helped the parties reach a settlement when the parties

[32:20] were at an intractable position, and with who is the district council of Scott. So I'm known

[32:33] to Scott from a time previous. It was a short to the session, and we resolved matters.

[32:40] I am short about where we are, and I'm going to state it for what it is, because that's

[32:48] Now I know what needs to be done.

[32:50] I will say this that what I see the school district is that the situation that we are in

[32:57] is there are public officials who are acting in public interest as we understand it.

[33:08] Let me just try and illustrate it in one part.

[33:14] Negotiations are truly an opportunity for employees to try and better their lot.

[33:26] For employers to try and take away provisions of the contract that have been there historically,

[33:35] is understood to be in the wide world, a takeaway, or union musting, that is precisely

[33:47] what Dan Skridoro is attempting to do. And clearly, the bold president and those of you

[33:56] who are supporting them are intending here.

[34:05] It is in line with the anti-union animus

[34:10] that is dominant in the US of A.

[34:14] Thank you, sir.

[34:15] I will, I just wrap up.

[34:17] So I really ask you, we have made a fair offer.

[34:20] We are asking you to really rethink your position.

[34:25] We have made fair offers to settle the contract in which we will settle the wages for the first two years.

[34:32] Thank you, sir.

[34:33] And settle the contract as is.

[34:36] Thank you, sir.

[34:36] Thank you very much.

[34:39] Sir, I have another public comment.

[34:49] Seeing none, closing public comment.

[34:53] Sorry, public comments officially closed.

[34:56] So we're moving on to information.

[34:58] Okay.

[34:58] Let's take a look at that.

[35:00] I asked twice if there was any other public comment.

[35:06] Would you like to come up and take your three minutes, sir?

[35:09] All right, three minutes. Go for it.

[35:10] And I've actually get close to 15 minutes.

[35:13] By my accommodations, as I've let Sicily know what's going on. So you is not 15 minutes, it's five minutes, sir.

[35:21] Is it five minutes?

[35:23] You did use the military request in advance for that accommodation.

[35:27] You want to ask, is it six minutes or seven minutes?

[35:32] Do you want to ask, is it six minutes or seven minutes?

[35:34] You're not getting 15 minutes.

[35:36] Let me say what I'm going to say.

[35:38] One moment.

[35:39] I will let you speak when we're ready for you.

[35:42] I don't know.

[35:43] Mr. Capito's specific accommodations.

[35:46] Unfortunately, Mr. Bernhardt is not here today.

[35:49] We have provided accommodations to other members of the public, the number that sticks out in my

[35:55] memory is five, but I don't have information to confirm or not confirm Mr. Capito's statement.

[36:06] So without that information, we'll go ahead and accommodate the five minutes for you, sir.

[36:10] And you can begin.

[36:11] Where is the timer for me to see with who she's not here today?

[36:14] So we're all off of working off timers here on our end.

[36:17] We'll give you time, please.

[36:19] And let me know when I can start.

[36:22] Not that I don't trust anybody else in this room,

[36:25] but you guys?

[36:26] I got it.

[36:27] Hello, I'm Gary Dean Capito, Jr.

[36:30] That's my full name.

[36:32] I just felt like saying it, because we have so many doctors

[36:34] in this place that you can't throw a rocket any one of them.

[36:38] I am the Chief Shopster.

[36:39] I've been the Chief Shopster at Alfonon

[36:41] for almost 20 years in the school district.

[36:43] I've worked here for 23 years, and I'm now

[36:46] in the network engineer.

[36:47] I started as a computer tech, worked my way up to this position, and I'm 100% disabled combat veteran,

[36:54] which means I was fighting in wars where a lot of you weren't even out of school yet,

[36:59] because I am that much older than you. Some of you, yes, some of you know. Sorry about that,

[37:04] turned off again.

[37:11] I suffer from any mental and physical ailments because of my time in the service

[37:15] and time out of the service. If I was a student, Dr. Walker would have the largest IEP ever

[37:22] written about anybody in the school district.

[37:26] We have 160 employees at work here.

[37:32] More than 80 or 90 percent, I would even guess,

[37:35] are your constituents.

[37:37] We are the people that voted you in, or will vote you out.

[37:43] Thank you.

[37:45] I know I'm going to say things that the district keeps refusing to divulge

[37:49] in our negotiations, and when that's done,

[37:53] They'll make some comment preventing any rebuttal on my part.

[37:56] Several meetings were pushed back or changed because the district was not ready, including

[38:01] not lately that the June 15th meeting, the July meeting, to the August meetings because

[38:06] they couldn't attend.

[38:08] So our negotiation, our mediation, that they want to have so bad, is not worth their time

[38:14] to come back in four months.

[38:18] The district, sorry, discipline, they want to change, so they can fire anybody any time they feel like it because they can't follow five steps of progressive discipline.

[38:28] They can't follow it. They don't follow it. They're employees that walk around that they say, oh, we're going to write them up, but they don't ever get written up.

[38:37] That's on management's fault. That's not on our employees' fault. If they don't learn from their mistakes, it's because management's not teaching them that they're making them mistake.

[38:47] There you go.

[38:50] You guys did not bring up our compromises when it comes to discipline.

[38:54] We were allowing you guys to skip steps.

[38:56] All we asked for is a foot in the game.

[38:59] We said we wanted to have a committee of SCIU employees,

[39:06] and it could have been including teachers and made a reasonable

[39:08] accommodation for stuff going on.

[39:10] But the words that came out of that man's mouth was,

[39:13] we don't want you guys to have that power, we want it ourselves.

[39:21] We gave more than 15 proposals and not one was negotiated.

[39:26] We were met with not interested.

[39:29] Not interested.

[39:30] Didn't bring them back.

[39:32] Negotiations is not a demand because that's a whole different word.

[39:37] You can't sit there and make demands at us in an negotiation and not negotiate.

[39:44] I did want to point out the district here keeps refusing to meet with members, classified staff, teaching staff.

[39:56] You guys especially aren't meeting with us and talking with us.

[40:00] I've never seen hardly any of you around. I've seen you twice in the years you've been here in the district office, and I work there every day. I've seen you all the most, and I'm glad she's being at Main Prairie, which is great, because that school needs.

[40:14] She was?

[40:15] No, I'm saying that's a school, right? Yes.

[40:17] I know on campus meeting the people, talking to the people. In my office alone, we have almost 100 years of experience in this district.

[40:26] In this district, for three people, we've seen more people than you come and go than you

[40:33] guys have been hearing years and we've gotten through that and we know how this district

[40:38] needs to be run and nobody listens to us.

[40:44] All I have heard from this administration is that they want to work collaboratively and I'm

[40:50] going to end this on a note that there has been many meetings in the last couple weeks that

[40:55] have helped come to some agreements and changes that are going on.

[41:00] But keep forgetting that you can't make changes without negotiating.

[41:06] It's called the status code doctrine.

[41:08] It's federal and state law that mandates when an expired contract comes on, you're supposed

[41:13] to negotiate any changes.

[41:16] Not, oh, we're adding something you do your job duties.

[41:19] It's when you move from one duty or change it around.

[41:22] I'm almost done.

[41:23] We've got one more sentence.

[41:28] So I hope we can work more collaboratively on this.

[41:32] It really needs to happen and we really need to have a change.

[41:37] Thank you, sir.

[41:37] Thank you.

[41:47] Is there any more public comment?

[41:50] Yes, sir.

[41:54] President Quay was trustees, superintendent of Barley.

[41:58] My name is Phil Lockwood and I volunteered within the Dixon University of the

[42:02] District for the last 11 years.

[42:04] I've been on and off of these campuses multiple times.

[42:06] doing things like helping support the roadrunner vault, the Bulldog Vault, addiction, you know,

[42:12] getting food for families and meeting services and helping walk the district through some

[42:17] pretty tragic events that we faced over those years.

[42:20] And I have, every time, been met, I just want to encourage you guys to move forward in whatever

[42:25] way you can to support these people because I walk in and out of the offices, I meet people

[42:30] on these campuses, I see them working hard, I see them greeting kids, you know, and welcoming

[42:34] kids to school when kids are having a hard time. I know we're in some tight times when we're trying

[42:38] to get this budget balanced out again, but I would just say face this and move forward in this

[42:43] with a fervor that they deserve because of the work they do in the fact that they're the back

[42:47] bone in this district. They are, additionally. I watch, I walk on an office area and I watch the

[42:54] niece run on the office in there and if it wasn't for her stuff it'd be out of control. You know,

[42:57] it's these people doing it day after day after day and they deserve, you know, July,

[43:02] I see on campuses all the time, we run and each other a lot.

[43:07] But I just, I want to encourage that and, you know, I think most of you know, my wife was one of the mental health clinicians that was cut.

[43:14] And I just really encourage you at the same time to get the mental health back to where it needs to be because I work with Solana County off to education in a big way around mental health and doctor part and different.

[43:24] And we are seeing a wave of mental health issues moving forward because of COVID and other things.

[43:30] And to have the kids come to school and face the stress of these people trying to figure out what they're going to do, you know, on top of what's going on is felt all the way through it.

[43:40] So I just encourage you to move forward.

[43:42] And thank you guys for all you do.

[43:44] Thank you.

[43:49] I'm very into public comment

[43:54] seeing none.

[43:55] I am closing public comment.

[43:58] Moving on to the next section here under item A, Dr. Dan Skudera, our Assistant Superintendent of

[44:04] personnel with the approval of the submission of a bilingual waiver application to the California

[44:08] Commission on teacher credentialing Dr. Skudero.

[44:16] Did we, yeah, I apologize, can I pull that back?

[44:24] Okay,

[44:35] that sounds right.

[44:41] All right. So my apologies, we skipped over, I skipped over the

[44:45] and association reports.

[44:48] Now that we've already got down to sections, I'm going to have to ask for a motion from

[44:53] the board for us to go back to the stakeholder communications so that we can actually hear from

[44:58] our PTOs who are present tonight.

[44:59] So is there-

[45:00] I would move that we cycle back to stakeholder communications, item B, parent association, report.

[45:05] Thank you, is there a second? All right, all those in favour?

[45:09] As well, that motion carries my apologies to all the PTO reps that are here tonight.

[45:13] We're going to go ahead and open that up and invite you down here.

[45:16] No particular order, please.

[45:28] I almost got out of public speaking, but thanks so much.

[45:33] So, good evening President, Trustee's superintendent and members of the community, my name is Ashley Alvarez, and I'm honored to introduce myself as the President this year of the Tremont Parents Association.

[45:46] We've already had a very busy start of the school year. You saw some of our photos there in the presentations earlier.

[45:53] Over the summer, our campus improvement committee completed two refresh projects, both the marquee landscaping and the black top repainting and some is fresh art from a local artist who volunteered her time to do that.

[46:11] So if you don't already follow us on social media, please do because the pictures are amazing.

[46:16] We also welcome families back with our pioneer yard live signs, balloons on the first day of school,

[46:22] brew crew, for staff and families, participation in the TK and Kinder meet and greet.

[46:27] So we put that sign out front of school before the first day so that we could take some pictures before the tears started.

[46:34] So that seemed to be a success.

[46:36] We had our Kinder orientation and the district's back to school festival.

[46:40] Our focus this year is really about creating a greater sense of community on campus and giving

[46:46] me families more opportunities to connect both with staff and each other.

[46:52] We're preparing for our first Pride Store in September and our fundraising committees

[46:57] already in full swing with our Apex fundraiser.

[47:00] It started on Tuesday.

[47:01] It runs for about two weeks and our fun run is on August 27th.

[47:06] So we've already committed a couple members to join and volunteer.

[47:12] So if you are up for it, you're welcome to join as well,

[47:16] marking shirts for the fund run.

[47:20] Our most recent membership meeting was also attended by Superintendent Barley,

[47:25] which we thank you for joining us and our families.

[47:28] We are grateful for the district's continued partnership on our campus and an increased

[47:33] present and present and support this year.

[47:37] And then finally I'd like to introduce, we have two new school board liaison, one is Ms. April

[47:42] here with me and Michelle and they will be helping to communicate with you all and with our

[47:48] board as well, what's been said in action taken at the board meeting.

[47:54] So thank you.

[47:57] Thank you.

[48:02] Thank you.

[48:03] Thank you.

[48:10] Yeah, and actually, I'll just speak on behalf of Tiffany.

[48:13] I know that she was here for Dixon High, PTO.

[48:18] They too have been really busy over the summer,

[48:20] beginning of school.

[48:22] They organized senior sunrise, light breakfast

[48:26] for all of the seniors, as they watched the sun come up.

[48:29] And they did want to think there were several community

[48:34] businesses that donated for that.

[48:35] That was amazing.

[48:37] in Grocery Outlet, Dutch Rose, Starbucks.

[48:40] The seniors definitely appreciated that.

[48:42] They also took part in the back to school night,

[48:45] and together they're booth for their intermediate kind

[48:48] of club fair during that back to school night.

[48:50] They are doing the brick fundraiser again at the high schools.

[48:54] So if anybody is interested in purchasing those bricks

[48:57] if they've done in the last couple of years,

[49:00] please go ahead and jump on to the Dixon High PTO

[49:04] socials. All of that information is there as well. Also, they have now updated the schedule

[49:11] in terms of meetings for Dickson High PTO. They would love for anyone to come out and participate.

[49:17] They are the first Monday of each month.

[49:23] Thank you for that. Any other PTOs tonight? My sincere apologies. That was an oversight on my

[49:30] Okay, we're going to move it back before we go into Dan's or Dr. Skudaro's piece because we technically haven't started that yet.

[49:40] I wanted to at least give a moment there was a couple of public comments particularly around mental health.

[49:48] I think there's an update that we should we'd love to share with you all.

[49:52] So Mr. Superintendent, if you wouldn't mind giving a little, maybe a little context first, you know, we as a board voted on approving

[50:00] A job description at the end of last school year in anticipation of the budget that we was coming

[50:05] our way. Maybe just give a little color on that. Maybe we're at today.

[50:08] That's correct. Yeah. So in the governor's may revise proposal, the governor proposed an additional

[50:16] $1 billion for the community schools program. We have two community schools in the district

[50:30] The district applied for all six of its schools in the first round of community schools funding,

[50:37] but we only received funding for two.

[50:41] The $1 billion that was set aside in the Governor's May revised proposal would allocate those dollars,

[50:50] not through a competitive process, but through a percentage of unduplicated student percentage,

[50:56] And it would fund schools essentially right down the list until it ran out of money and the CDE

[51:03] When this proposal came out calculated the unduplicated pupil percentage and I think 65%

[51:10] Was the number was the percentage at schools that they would be able to fund when we saw this proposal in the

[51:17] Governors may revise

[51:19] We created a job description

[51:21] so that if by our calculations

[51:25] We're able to bring on additional schools, and we believe it would be two school, two additional

[51:31] schools in Dixon Unified, that if that his proposal was passed, we'd be able to move quickly

[51:37] to bring on board community schools, mental health, clinician roles in the future.

[51:44] Loan behold, the governor's budget did pass, and we've been receiving communications from

[51:49] CDE over the last several months, articulating the timeline for notifying schools of their

[51:56] eligibility and award of these funds, and it sounds like November is the time in which

[52:01] schools will be notified. We anticipate that we will be receiving some of these funds,

[52:07] but we need to wait and see exactly how that plays out and how those awards shake out through

[52:15] California Department of Education.

[52:18] But if our predictions come true and in November, we're notified that we have two additional

[52:22] community schools in the district, we'll have a job description ready to hire as quickly

[52:28] as possible if that is the area in which these schools would like to spend their community

[52:33] schools funding.

[52:37] I hope that helps.

[52:38] That was a lot of it.

[52:39] That was a lot.

[52:40] I'm going to pause there.

[52:41] I normally don't open it up back up or back and forth, but I know it was a hot issue the last

[52:46] few months.

[52:47] And the board was really looking for ways to be innovative and finding additional resources.

[52:54] We found one.

[52:55] And now it's just a hurry up and wait.

[52:57] And we're hopeful that we'll get this in November.

[53:00] But any of the further clarity on that piece that we could provide at this juncture.

[53:07] Yeah, please.

[53:09] Yeah, that'd be great.

[53:09] Yeah, please.

[53:15] There we go.

[53:16] Hi, Becky Santini, fifth grade teacher at Tremont.

[53:18] Just a question about that, if there is funding available and the schools do decide to use that funding to pay for a mental health clinician, that's not ongoing funding is it, or is it just funding to pay for mental health condition for one year?

[53:34] Yeah, it would be ongoing funding, so it's a permanent allocation to make to make permanent the community schools funding.

[53:41] by nature, community schools require convening a committee

[53:46] at the school itself, and then that group develops a budget.

[53:52] So I think it would be premature for me to say,

[53:54] oh, I'm confident, you know, 100% that the schools

[53:57] that would be awarded these dollars would want to use it

[54:00] in that fashion.

[54:01] But I think it's the probability is probably pretty high

[54:05] that they would want to go in that direction,

[54:07] but we'd have to go through the process

[54:08] and receive that feedback from the school site.

[54:11] OK.

[54:11] Thank you.

[54:12] Mm-hmm.

[54:14] Any other questions?

[54:17] On that?

[54:18] OK.

[54:19] Thank you for doing that on the spot.

[54:21] Appreciate it.

[54:21] All right.

[54:22] Dr. Skudero.

[54:25] We have an item here.

[54:26] Approval of the submission of a bilingual waiver

[54:28] application to the California Commission on Teacher,

[54:32] Credentialing Dr. Skudero.

[54:35] This will be quick.

[54:36] We're requesting the approval to receive

[54:38] the submission of the bilingual waiver for application to the CCTC, the California Commission,

[54:44] and teacher credentialing for the identified candidates in this document and management recommends

[54:50] approval.

[54:52] Thank you, sir.

[54:53] Are there any comments or questions from the board?

[54:55] Seeing none, any comments or questions from the public?

[54:59] Seeing none.

[55:00] On closing public comment, is there a motion to approve this application, excuse me, let me get this right, for the approval of the submission of a bilingual waiver application.

[55:10] So move, sir, second.

[55:12] All those in favor.

[55:13] Aye.

[55:13] As well, not motion carries.

[55:15] Thank you, sir.

[55:17] All right, Ms. Furelli, we have a couple items here.

[55:19] We have our Executive Director of Education Services, Kristen Furelli.

[55:23] The first up is the approval of the Williams Quarterly Reports.

[55:26] Ms. Furelli.

[55:36] Thank you.

[55:38] As a reminder to the Board in the public and the community, the Williams Act as a California

[55:43] Law designed to ensure that schools always have qualified teachers, sufficient instructional

[55:49] materials, and sufficient school facilities, and requires districts to have a monitoring

[55:55] process and a process to have formal complaints that can come in.

[56:00] And we are required every quarter to document whether there are complaints that have come in

[56:05] any of those three things get it approved by the board and submitted to our county if that's the case.

[56:12] And so I wanted to present that for the most recent quarter that included April, May and June,

[56:19] we did not receive any Williams related complaints on any of those three.

[56:24] And asked the board to take action to approve that report so that we can then submit it to our county office.

[56:30] Thank you, any comments or questions from the board?

[56:33] Seeing none any comments or questions from the public.

[56:37] Seeing none, closing public comment.

[56:38] Is there a motion to approve the Williams Court report?

[56:42] I still have.

[56:42] Is there a second?

[56:43] I second.

[56:44] All those in favor?

[56:45] All right.

[56:46] As well in that motion carries.

[56:48] Next item up.

[56:49] Oh yeah.

[56:50] The mobile device policy implementation updates.

[56:53] We've all been waiting for.

[56:55] The fan favorites.

[56:56] This is really.

[56:56] Here we go.

[56:58] Well, I want to provide the update on the initial implementation

[57:02] of the newly adopted mobile device policy.

[57:05] So we are now in implementation phase,

[57:08] and our early work is intentionally focused

[57:11] on making sure expectations for all

[57:13] or clear, predictable, fair, and consistent.

[57:17] And the consistency matters, as this board knows,

[57:20] because ultimately this is not just about devices,

[57:22] that's about creating the conditions

[57:24] where our students can be more present and thrive.

[57:28] So just to reground us and where we were,

[57:31] There was significant work leading up to the board adopting the new mobile device policy at the

[57:36] June 18th meeting.

[57:38] The state established the requirement and locally we engage students, families and staff as well

[57:44] as the Wellness Committee before putting a proposed policy in front of the board in June.

[57:50] And then we know that adoption does not automatically produce implementation.

[57:55] So we've organized the work around implementing this at our school sites around three stages.

[57:59] First, clarity. Everyone has to know exactly what the policy means, specifically words like

[58:05] off and away, and from first bell to last bell. The second principle for us is consistency.

[58:12] Students need to experience the same response, regardless of the adult or the setting.

[58:19] And third, culture. All of that leads up to the fact where when expectations are clear and consistently

[58:25] reinforce over time, they just begin to become habits.

[58:31] So that's ultimately where we want to go.

[58:34] So I'll speak briefly to each of those.

[58:39] Once we've made the expectation clear,

[58:41] enough that a student can follow three on it.

[58:44] So how we made it clear.

[58:46] One of the easiest ways for a policy to feel unfair,

[58:49] we know, is for students to hear different interpretations

[58:52] from different adults.

[58:53] So before focusing on the consequences,

[58:55] We focus on the definitions, so we've been very explicit in working with our school staff, our administrators, about what devices are covered, what off means, what a way means, and what bell to bell means.

[59:12] For example, a way does not mean face down on the desk. It doesn't mean in a pocket. It means stored inside the students backpack, closed zipped up.

[59:22] Bell to Bell means from first Bell to last Bell,

[59:26] not just instructional time, it includes passing periods,

[59:29] et cetera.

[59:30] We've also clarified exemptions.

[59:32] The documented medical needs that are accommodated

[59:37] things accommodated in a student's IEP.

[59:40] And so the level of specificity that we spent time on with

[59:43] our staff may seem operation, but it's actually an equity issue

[59:47] in that we cannot expect consistent student behavior unless

[59:51] the adults are communicating one consistent expectation.

[59:56] So then, second,

[59:59] we have,

[1:00:00] We have to have a discipline system that is designed to be predictable, progressive, and corrective,

[1:00:06] not arbitrary, or based in emotions. So, the approach is in fact progressive. The purpose

[1:00:12] is behavior correction, and not simply punishment. So, teachers and staff have one specific

[1:00:19] role, and that role is to redirect, document, and refer. Administration, and only administration,

[1:00:28] and is whose handling confiscation, secure storage, return, and any escalation at that point.

[1:00:35] For example, if a student chooses not to follow policy, that role clarity is really important

[1:00:41] because it ensures that all students know and understand what happens next.

[1:00:46] So the progression itself moves from a reminder to administrative confiscation,

[1:00:58] then

[1:00:58] to a collaborative meeting and ultimately to a daily device check-in.

[1:01:04] So again, the point is predictability.

[1:01:06] We want a student to know this is the expectation.

[1:01:10] This is what happens when I don't meet it.

[1:01:12] And that response is going to be the same tomorrow

[1:01:14] in another part of campus or with another adult.

[1:01:21] This may be the most important of the implementation pieces

[1:01:24] because consistency is not something we can just announce

[1:01:27] so we have to build systems that produce it.

[1:01:30] So staff training information that's gone in front of staff has been focused on those shared definitions,

[1:01:36] the role clarity, the common responses across classrooms, common areas.

[1:01:42] And now we're working on ensuring it is consistently documented in our student information system.

[1:01:48] And then we've also approached implementation as a communication effort, not just a discipline effort.

[1:01:53] So, not only how our administrators training staff and putting it in front of staff but how

[1:01:59] is it being reinforced in classrooms, our families receiving it through multiple different

[1:02:04] channels through parents where reminders and updates from the school site.

[1:02:08] So the objective is just to eliminate surprises.

[1:02:11] A student shouldn't first learn about the expectation one of the devices being confiscated and

[1:02:16] a parent should not first learn about it when there being asked to pick up a device.

[1:02:25] And then ultimately one of the things we want to move to is building a culture that is true

[1:02:35] all across campus and we're in the early test of implementation with that.

[1:02:41] It's not the test for us is not how many phones are confiscated, how many devices are confiscated,

[1:02:47] although those things are important for us to be tracking now.

[1:02:49] It's whether students encounter the same expectation everywhere.

[1:02:56] So we're certainly not declaring victory based on the first 12 days of school.

[1:03:00] But what we're looking at right now are the conditions that tell us,

[1:03:05] can the policy become sustainable and can this become a habit over time?

[1:03:10] So first, our students beginning to encounter the same expectation everywhere.

[1:03:15] So we've been at sites, out at sites, myself, superintendent, barley, and then most importantly we've been collaborating regularly with our administrators, hate, like what are they hearing, what are they seeing, what's happening in classrooms and on campuses.

[1:03:31] What we are asking is through those three lenses, what evidence do you have that students understand the expectation that adults on campus are responding consistently and this is what we're hearing so far.

[1:03:44] We're hearing from specifically our secondary administrators that students are not pushing back.

[1:03:53] This is the language our secondary administrators have seen.

[1:03:56] I've seen it myself when myself in the superintendent and director of student services.

[1:04:01] Areas have been around at the campus as multiple times over the past several weeks specifically to look for how it's going.

[1:04:09] That certainly, there may have been a few instances and

[1:04:13] groans and grumbles, but every time a reminder is given

[1:04:17] for the most part, it's being followed.

[1:04:23] And that students are following through.

[1:04:25] And equally as important to us that administrators have the

[1:04:29] capacity to follow through, because this is predicated on the

[1:04:34] fact that a teacher reminds and then refers.

[1:04:37] So, oppressing an important question to us was, will the infractions be so much in the beginning

[1:04:44] that it simply won't be possible or sustainable for an administrator to get a call to go confiscate a phone, right?

[1:04:52] And that's not what we've been hearing.

[1:04:55] There have been systems that up both at Dixon High School, certainly at Maine Prayer.

[1:05:00] And at John Night Middle School, such that the administrator is able to go and confiscate that device where necessary.

[1:05:09] As of, gosh, as of Monday, we're seeing numbers from, you know, the middle school in the numbers of, you know, less than 20,

[1:05:19] over since the school of confiscation. So it was somewhere around between like 8 and 12, right?

[1:05:25] conversations of devices. So that's really exciting to hear for such a new policy.

[1:05:31] We are hearing that at the high school that the number of conversations coming out of classrooms

[1:05:39] are fewer than expected and are consistently being taken and that there's still some work to

[1:05:45] be done during passing periods in lunch because the numbers are so large and so the administration

[1:05:51] is working very collaboratively with the campus supervisors about where and how more supervising

[1:05:59] so that we can consistently follow up on those. I will say that what we are hearing from

[1:06:06] administrators at the high school and what we're seeing with our own eyes is that every time

[1:06:11] our reminder is given including a second administrator walking by going, hey that's your second

[1:06:16] reminder so I need to compensate students are following through like and and making

[1:06:22] the change. So those are some of the early indicators that students are no one

[1:06:29] is surprised although we did encounter a student who arrived late to our schools on

[1:06:35] day eight and told us it's actually my first day here it's my first day back so we

[1:06:42] said, oh gosh, that's right.

[1:06:44] You didn't know, but now you know.

[1:06:46] So now here's the reminder.

[1:06:49] So ultimately, where we are is that the established expectation

[1:06:56] is there.

[1:06:57] The work is now to ensure that students and staff

[1:07:02] can stay consistent over time and that we can begin to collect

[1:07:06] really usable data.

[1:07:08] It's hard to make big proclamations after two and a half

[1:07:12] weeks, right? The real work is in can we maintain this so that the expectation becomes ordinary,

[1:07:20] students know it, adults reinforce it, there's consistency, every step, and then less energy

[1:07:26] is even needing to be spent on this because it's predictable. So I'm happy to pause there

[1:07:32] and take any questions that you may have. Thank you. Any, you'll, okay, let's go. I'll

[1:07:40] today that I received my first email from one of my kids.

[1:07:45] We were resourceful because they couldn't use their phone.

[1:07:48] I was like, hey, that's it.

[1:07:50] That heck is this.

[1:07:51] So kids are resourceful.

[1:07:53] That was good, because that told me that he was falling the rules,

[1:07:56] right?

[1:07:56] I don't have to hear, you know, from others.

[1:07:59] But I will say, so initially when we rolled this out,

[1:08:02] the concern was how we're going to enforce it,

[1:08:04] we really didn't have that developed yet.

[1:08:05] Now we do, which is great.

[1:08:07] administrators, is that just like is there outline is just the principles? Is there a kind of a larger group that we're considering the administrators?

[1:08:15] The desire so by definition it would be the principles and assistant principles.

[1:08:20] The desire is our wonderful, you know, TPMs and campus monitors.

[1:08:25] The desire is to have them escort the student to the administrator.

[1:08:30] We simply don't want to put our staff in positions where they have to, although they're certainly capable of and have in the past, where they have to be responsible for a phone and then they're moving somewhere else and they get questioned or it gets lost.

[1:08:45] We don't want them to have to get in a power struggle.

[1:08:47] We've trained administrators specifically on what to do if a student refuses to give up a device.

[1:08:53] Here's exactly what education code in the law says you can and can't do and here's the procedure.

[1:08:57] So, we don't want any of our staff to be in that position, so the guidelines were that, of course, you may need your campus supervisors to support, please have them go escort the student rather than escort the phone.

[1:09:12] It's important to us that the student has the face to face with the administrator that is part of the piece so they can reinforce.

[1:09:20] Okay, you've given it to me now, you'll get it back at the end of the day.

[1:09:23] If this happens again, and you're in front of me and I take it, that means that we need to escalate this too.

[1:09:30] You may not have it after that.

[1:09:32] And actually, that's my second question.

[1:09:34] It's going to be training and you're already answered that they did receive training, so which is awesome.

[1:09:38] And I think the check-ins are a big part of that, right?

[1:09:40] What we don't do is just train and then walk away.

[1:09:43] So we've been striving to really lean in with our administrators to understand where are the infractions coming from.

[1:09:50] There may be newer teachers who need more support or when do we need to reiterate this and get this in front of folks again?

[1:09:57] What do you need? We've been trying to do that

[1:10:00] So, it doesn't come in hot at the beginning and then just fade away and put our hands up.

[1:10:07] Thank you. Any other questions from the board?

[1:10:10] No, I actually think you covered them. The same ones that we asked of you the last time we talked about this.

[1:10:17] You came up with the policy and then just informed us about how the training was going and then feedback in the first couple weeks,

[1:10:23] which I grew with you it's so early and then there's just so much going on and especially

[1:10:28] at our secondary schools there's just so many kids.

[1:10:32] I think to monitor, I think I have heard that there is some usage kind of during passing period

[1:10:39] and I know that that's being enforced, I've also heard that and I've received the voice

[1:10:44] to text so all the phones in the bag they're like talking and so you can get the text out

[1:10:52] So I'm like, well, great, you didn't touch your phone, that's amazing, it's in your bag, but it's on.

[1:10:57] So, I did here, and maybe this is, you know, junior senior, so upper class mentor went on at the high school.

[1:11:03] The feedback, there were some kids over and they were talking about it.

[1:11:06] And they were actually saying that it's so nice to not have their phone.

[1:11:12] I mean, they were like, oh, we totally forgot that we left it in the car.

[1:11:16] Like, one of them was like, oh, I forgot, I left it in the car that day.

[1:11:18] And I was like, oh, that's amazing that they're saying that.

[1:11:22] I haven't heard that from the younger ones,

[1:11:24] but at least from the older ones,

[1:11:25] that was the first kind of feedback

[1:11:26] that took me by surprise.

[1:11:28] I actually, thank you for sharing that.

[1:11:31] We did hear that from two administrators

[1:11:34] when we asked them most recently on Wednesday.

[1:11:37] Like, what's the vibe?

[1:11:38] How's it going?

[1:11:40] What feedback are you hearing from students

[1:11:41] and two of our secondary administrators said

[1:11:43] that they had heard that from a number of students?

[1:11:45] And in one case, one of our secondary administrators shared an instance where they did have to go into a classroom and, you know, confiscate a device and the student was a little less apt and was kind of publicly questioning the principal and the peers sort of put a little pressure on their peer and said come on like we don't that's the that's what we do now just give it, you know, give it to them like that's what we have to do it's okay, like really it's starting to become something that peer.

[1:12:15] And at least in that case, we're holding each other accountable too.

[1:12:19] That's great.

[1:12:20] It's one of the things when I'm on school campuses.

[1:12:22] I've been checking in with kids on to and just asking them how it's going.

[1:12:26] And kids are, they're great.

[1:12:28] They'll be so honest with you about how it's going.

[1:12:32] And so I've heard some things like, you know, I didn't like it at first,

[1:12:36] but now it's okay and I'm getting used to it.

[1:12:39] But even like some really exciting feedback from kids along the lines of,

[1:12:43] I'm actually talking with kids at lunch now, but we're having great lunch conversations with each other, we're sharing stories, and so it's great to see that social interaction kind of slowly returning to kids as we step through this process.

[1:12:59] Every month there's a 8 a.m. meeting at the county office of education with all the superintendents in the county.

[1:13:06] And it was this morning, and everybody's back in school now, and everybody in the county is implementing the phone free schools act, which went into effect on June 30th, right?

[1:13:18] So we're all kind of going through this together, and the experiences that I was hearing from the other superintendents in the county was very similar.

[1:13:25] Lots of worry in the run up to the implementation, and then the implementation over the first few days and the realization that for the most part kids are pretty compliant,

[1:13:34] And they're doing the things that we're asking them of, and it's really just about consistency and enforcement and making sure that we're setting our teams up for success.

[1:13:45] Some things that they're thinking about that we hadn't considered yet is one superintendent was talking about getting like board games to put out at lunch period, right?

[1:13:54] And some things to keep kids busy who have for years kind of just been glued to their screens during passing periods or lunch periods.

[1:14:02] And it's trying to think about how we can help to facilitate this

[1:14:06] re-socialization in the phone-free schools act world.

[1:14:10] That's awesome.

[1:14:13] All right.

[1:14:13] More to come.

[1:14:14] More to come.

[1:14:15] Are there any public comment on this item?

[1:14:17] Yes, sir.

[1:14:22] It's me again.

[1:14:23] And I just want to do, yeah, this policy is amazing.

[1:14:27] What I've observed over in just the implementation of it's been great.

[1:14:31] What I've observed over prayer, it's the only school I've been on since school started to see

[1:14:35] this fallacy in place. But I was there today and watched the young woman come up and talk

[1:14:40] to one of the teachers with a whole written list of stuff actually on a piece of paper

[1:14:43] that she wanted to share with them about ideas about the school and how to improve things.

[1:14:47] On Tuesday, I was over there and sat and had lunch and it was interesting to see all the kids

[1:14:51] talking to each other, you know, and not having their phones on and facing it down.

[1:14:55] I think as we talk about the mental health aspect of things, this is a huge step.

[1:15:03] So I just, you know, the roll out of this has been fantastic. All the feedback I've heard have talked to people from different schools. And just over Perry, with the administration and teacher setting the example of not getting their phones out either, you know, and it's that top down we're going to do it too. And I love the fact that our kids are learning that they can survive with other phones. You know, and I think it's a massive step.

[1:15:28] You know, district wide for us to be able to look at the kids and what they're going to be able to learn and and I think we're going to see comments since increase in those kinds of things as well.

[1:15:40] So thank you guys for sticking to this policy. I know it was, you know, tough implementation but yeah, great job on it.

[1:15:48] All right. Any other public comment? All right. I'm a close public comment. This was just an information item.

[1:15:54] Thank you, Ms. Fairley. We appreciate you. All right, bringing it on home is Joanna

[1:16:00] Holdar, Chief Business Official with the 2026-27-45-day budget revision, Ms. Holdar.

[1:16:07] Good evening, Superintendent Barley, Trustees, staff and guests. Tonight I have for you the 45-day

[1:16:14] budget revision. Just as a reminder, this is where we are. We adopted our budget in June,

[1:16:21] are the state adopted the budget in July.

[1:16:24] There were a number of proposals in the state budget

[1:16:27] that we did incorporate into the budget in June,

[1:16:30] but there was an item that we left out and waited

[1:16:34] to make sure that it would be included.

[1:16:36] And so that was what we'll talk about tonight.

[1:16:39] And we'll walk you through what changes we've made to the budget.

[1:16:43] It's pretty straightforward.

[1:16:44] Essentially, we're going to see an increase in revenue,

[1:16:47] one time, money of about 2.56 million.

[1:16:50] And this is specifically for the Student Support and Professional Development Disquestionary Block Grant,

[1:16:57] affectionately referred to as the Spudbug.

[1:17:01] So, that grant did come through into the budget and we're expecting about 2.56 million.

[1:17:06] In the 45-day revised, we also are expecting an increase in expenditures.

[1:17:10] What that is, is just assuming we're going to spend about 426,000 of that 2.56 million.

[1:17:17] That one-time funding needs to be spent within six years.

[1:17:22] So at this time, we've just divided that award over six years

[1:17:26] and incorporated 426 of that into the budget.

[1:17:30] So that's what you're seeing here in this slide.

[1:17:33] What I'll add at the end there is the impact to the budget

[1:17:37] is an increase in our ending fund balance of 2.08 million.

[1:17:41] Again, one-time funding.

[1:17:42] And this here is a chart that is also sharing what we just talked about, the increase in revenue

[1:17:49] of about 2.5 and increase in expenditures of 484 and ultimately an increase in our ending

[1:17:57] fund balance of about 2.8 or 2.1, excuse me, I have read that one.

[1:18:03] And that's it.

[1:18:04] I will leave it there for questions.

[1:18:07] That was the big thing to incorporate.

[1:18:08] In the budget, as just as a reminder, there were a number of items that we included, which included the increase in the special education base rate, fully funding the learning recovery emergency block grant.

[1:18:22] Those were included in the state budget and included in the June adopted budget, so we didn't need to include that in the 45 day revised.

[1:18:29] It also included the additional 1.44 percent in the increase in coal specifically designed to help

[1:18:36] districts pay for the pregnancy leave that was approved.

[1:18:39] All of those had already been included.

[1:18:41] So, the 45-day revises focused on the discretionary background.

[1:18:47] Open to questions.

[1:18:48] Thank you.

[1:18:48] Any comments or questions from the board?

[1:18:54] I should just say one more thing that I just realized.

[1:18:56] I think it's important to note out loud.

[1:18:58] So, sorry about that.

[1:18:59] President Quivas.

[1:19:00] I do want to note the net increase decrease to the budget, so we originally were planning

[1:19:08] to over-expend the budget by about 700,000, but because of the one-time funding, we're

[1:19:12] now looking at a positive of 1.3 million, so I just wanted to call that out important to

[1:19:16] say that.

[1:19:18] That was easy.

[1:19:20] I know that should have been the highlight, sorry about that.

[1:19:23] That was literally what I was going to say, and then you just, you just took it.

[1:19:25] I took your funder.

[1:19:26] I just, we have to call it out, man, because I think it was like three years ago.

[1:19:30] We were projecting like a six and a half million dollar deficit just to see us in the positive.

[1:19:37] I mean, I believe if I'm not mistaken, when we started doing this process like two years ago,

[1:19:41] we were projecting to have a positive budget for at least like a two or three year out period

[1:19:46] the fact that we could have.

[1:19:47] I don't think we had a projection of a positive, it was, it was continued over spending

[1:19:52] a little multi-year.

[1:19:53] But then to finally say that this year, we are officially officially in the green, that's

[1:19:59] Amazing.

[1:20:00] I just want to pause it for it. That's a good place for the district to be, and we want to hope to maintain that.

[1:20:06] Well, I think the exciting part about this too, just knowing who's in the room, is like, this gives us latitude now to start thinking about how we maintain competitiveness in our district.

[1:20:15] It's not even a question, right? I mean, it was always part of the process. It was always part of the plan, but now to be able to see the numbers there, and hopefully that sticks.

[1:20:25] We're not going to be pitching pennies, if you will, to try to figure out how we moved

[1:20:29] dollars, we've had to do for the last two to three years.

[1:20:32] It's just great.

[1:20:34] Thank you for all the hard work and your team.

[1:20:35] I know this was not an easy endeavor, but it's been a hell of a journey.

[1:20:39] Yes, and I do want to commend really the district leadership and we all work together to make

[1:20:46] sure that we were aligning the budget around the priorities and had to make some difficult

[1:20:50] decisions and the board had to approve difficult decisions, so it's not to say that this

[1:20:55] didn't come easy for sure. It certainly was a very intentional in how we got here.

[1:21:03] So, glad to meet you.

[1:21:03] So, James on you then, right? So we're celebrating you.

[1:21:05] Sure.

[1:21:06] Thank you.

[1:21:06] We've got a little money now.

[1:21:08] All right.

[1:21:09] Any public comment on the budget item?

[1:21:14] Seeing none.

[1:21:15] All right.

[1:21:16] Closing public comment.

[1:21:17] Thank you so much, Mr. Hallow, we appreciate you.

[1:21:21] All right.

[1:21:24] I'm going to pause Mr. Ernest.

[1:21:26] I see you're not expecting to speak tonight.

[1:21:31] I don't believe you.

[1:21:33] All right.

[1:21:34] I saw your name.

[1:21:34] I saw a lot of story on here.

[1:21:35] Oh, I hope that wasn't in this.

[1:21:38] Uh, agenda items for future meetings.

[1:21:39] A couple items.

[1:21:40] Dick's a Montessori with Mr. Ernest in the room tonight.

[1:21:43] We're going to be talking about a couple things.

[1:21:45] One is the chartered renewal public hearing.

[1:21:47] That'll be happening in October,

[1:21:49] just around the corner really, and then the consideration of Charter Renewal petition in November.

[1:21:55] Are there any other agenda items that we should be flagging at this stage?

[1:21:59] So those are the two.

[1:22:01] The Dix of Montessori Charter Renewal, those two items are the ones that will be kind of out of our ordinary scope of practice,

[1:22:09] because there were no only comes up at the end of their Charter Term, which could be 35 or 7.

[1:22:15] And then they'll be pursuing a seven year charter term, so we might not see an agenda item like this again for another seven years after that.

[1:22:23] In September, we'll have instructional materials and attendance update,

[1:22:28] CASP and I ready results on audited actuals and early literacy implementation update and a developer fee report as well.

[1:22:40] have all of those items on a cycle, which you're all

[1:22:43] probably familiar with by now, but we wanted to call

[1:22:45] out the two Dixon Montessori ones,

[1:22:48] because they're a little unusual for a regularly

[1:22:50] scheduled programming.

[1:22:53] Yeah, cover.

[1:22:54] Is there any way, and I don't know, obviously,

[1:22:57] we're still drafting the agenda, but we will be,

[1:23:00] it looks like at Tremont, right?

[1:23:03] Is there any way to maybe move some of those to the next meeting

[1:23:09] that we have here and leave some room free for the actual discussion at Tremont.

[1:23:14] I know that was one of the discussion items that we've had in the past is that some of

[1:23:19] those kind of calm, away meetings, but some of our away meetings within the district are

[1:23:24] just really impacted for time.

[1:23:27] The short answer, yes, long answer, there are some that have a deadline that we have to

[1:23:33] do.

[1:23:34] So, for example, the un-honoured and actuals has a due date of September 15th, so we'll have to tackle that one.

[1:23:40] But if the board is okay getting a belated, early literacy update, or a belated attendance update, we can easily move that to the next meeting.

[1:23:48] Well, I just, since the continues are here, and this was one of the reasons why we actually...

[1:23:53] Yeah, I'm pointing at you, brother. Yes. Well, just because you said it at every meeting, it made sense. And we were trying something different.

[1:23:59] that had been tried in a while, and it was, you know, you know, trial and error.

[1:24:03] I think the concept in theory was great in practice, made it just really challenging,

[1:24:08] particularly in negotiations here.

[1:24:12] So this time around, we're pulling it way back.

[1:24:15] Only doing, I think, two or three schools this year, then trying to intentionally,

[1:24:19] like, to the regionous point, is move the media items to, when we're back in the chambers,

[1:24:24] so that we're not stuck in up the time that should be used on highlighting the schools.

[1:24:29] Again, I don't think any of us anticipated those opinions to go for hours, but they did.

[1:24:34] So this time, we'll just do a better job of it, and to your point, I know we had already

[1:24:40] approved the calendar out for this year, but I know you and I've talked about this in our

[1:24:46] one on ones, but I'm sure the board would be okay with this.

[1:24:50] If there's ever a time where we feel like we need to call a special meeting, I would much

[1:24:54] rather do that and get a majority of our board there

[1:24:58] than trying to cram it into one of them.

[1:25:03] We have to cram that in before you know it's not a clock at night and we're getting to the budget. So it was a rough one. But I enjoyed it. It was fun. So while the good news is that we'll have a couple of meetings to take a look at the agenda before we're at Tremont. So when we meet to review the agenda, let's look at it through that lens. Sounds great.

[1:25:23] Okay, upcoming events, September 7th is a non school day, it's Labor Day, September 10th is our next board meeting.

[1:25:32] It'll be at Trima Elementary School, October 12th is also a non school day.

[1:25:37] I believe that is, what do you want?

[1:25:38] Oh, these are indigenous people's day, indigenous people got it.

[1:25:42] Thank you.

[1:25:46] October 15th, the board meeting at Gretchen Higgins Elementary School.

[1:25:50] I'm sure there's going to be a fall festival or carnival or something like it's done in there at some point.

[1:25:55] We'll keep y'all opposed, not opposed.

[1:25:58] What's what I'm looking for, appraised.

[1:26:00] A prize.

[1:26:02] Thank you all.

[1:26:03] Have a great night.

[1:26:04] Be kind to each other.

[1:26:06] This meeting is adjourned.

[1:26:07] Thank you.

[1:26:09] What time is it you guys?

Dixon USD Board Meeting

Agenda

Transcript