Good morning. Welcome everyone. The time is now 10:02 am
on june 23rd, 2026. Welcome
to the regular meeting of the los angeles unified school district board
of education. I'm going to take role, uh, ms. Newbell
present, uh, dr. Rivas. Okay. Present.
mr. Malvo. Here. Mr. Malvo is here. Uh, ms. Griego.
uh, ms. Ez. Ms. Ortiz franklin. Present board president molsen
present. Okay. We have quorum.
it's now time to move on to the pledge of allegiance brought to us via video
from board district two. So please cue the video
and it will be in spanish and english. So after the spanish version, please don't sit down right away.
okay.
right hand
I donations to the back
of the united states of america,
one nation invisible
with liberty and justice for all.
okay, now, if we could all settle in to observe the land acknowledgement.
we acknowledge that the los angeles unified school district
operates on land originally and still inhabited and cared for
by the gno and ferno tian peoples who have stewarded
this land for generations. We recognize these indigenous communities
ongoing presence and contributions, and honor their connection
to this region. We recognize gabrielino people as
the original stewards of los angeles basin and the nearby coastal
lands and the ferando tum as protectors of the northern valleys.
these lands have and continue to hold deep, cultural and
spiritual significance to their people, and have shaped the community we live in
today. We pay our respects to the hanuk
ancestors, a elders
and eo hin our relatives and relations
past, present, and emerging, and commit to supporting
indigenous communities through education, ensuring their voices
are heard and their legacies are respected.
we commit to deepening our understanding of the histories and
cultures of the native peoples of this land. This acknowledgement
demonstrates our ongoing efforts to build and sustain relationships with
indigenous communities and contribute to healing and reconciliation.
okay. Good morning everyone. Do we have any labor
partners who would wish to speak?
don't be shy. Come on down. We see, we see you. Come on down. You'll have, uh,
up to five minutes to speak once you begin.
alright. Thank you. Good morning, everybody. My name is julie van winkle. I'm
the a ft vice president for united teachers los angeles. And I
just have like a couple, couple different things that I just wanted to put on
people's radar. Um, first of all, we at utla are
concerned about the, um, the cuts that are being suggested for the peer
assistance and review par program. That's something that
was kind of a hard fought win in our contract many, many years ago.
um, we just had contract negotiations and the district didn't
bring it up to, to cut or change that program in any way. And we understand that
you all are making a lot of cuts, and that we're concerned about the
district's ability to be able to provide the same level of service
with, with all these cuts because that is a really important program to help
teachers, um, improve in their craft. Um, and to
get, you know, really helpful, um,
you know, peer help from colleagues instead of just, you know, kind of punitive
feedback from an administrator. So we are concerned about that.
um, we also, we, we agree with the spirit
of the screen time, um, reduction proposal that y'all will be voting on today,
but we are a little concerned about how exactly that's
gonna look. We're we're concerned that, you know, a lot of these standardized,
um, testing and data collection programs like iready and ixl,
um, are getting exempted from that screen time reduction. And
we're worried that kind of the burden of figuring out, you know, what is
exempted and what isn't and how this is gonna work, is gonna fall on the individual schools and
on the individual teachers. So we hope that as this rolls out,
that, you know, we'll continue having conversations and make sure that
we're not, you know, shortchanging changing a kid on being able to have like,
word processing skills, um, for the purpose of taking more
ixl assessments. So just, you know, hopefully that can be an ongoing conversation
as we move through this. Um, and then the last concern we had
was about the office of the inspector general. Um,
we were wondering why does the oig work plan repeatedly state
that oig is primarily focused on bond programs when the majority
of its funding is not from bond funds? Um,
you know, for, for audits, only one item out of the 21 items
listed on the audits is not bond related. And that's not even
for a contractor. We, we would like to see the oig focus
more on some of these private contracts. Um, you know, especially
technology contracts. We know we've had data breaches in the past, and we feel like the
oig is so focused on these bonds that
they're kind of maybe not having as much oversight
on some of these, um, some of these private contracts that you all know we are very concerned
about and continue to monitor. So hopefully, um, we can,
we can have more conversations about that. But that concludes my
talking points. Thank you. Thank you very much.
before we move on to, uh, hold on.
we have other labor partners. Come on down
morning. Maybe a new face, maybe not a new face.
my name's julie spry. I am with the los angeles school police management association.
hello, board president schuren, board members acting
superintendent h and our members of our community.
I have the honor of serving as the vice president of the los angeles school police management association.
I'm here today to express our serious concerns regarding
the proposed reductions to the los angeles school police department
under the physical stabilization plan, including
approximately $3.5 million in 2020
6 27 school year, and an additional 7 million
in 2020 7 28 school year.
these proposed reductions come after the department already absorbed
a 35% 25 million reduction in 2021.
our department has never fully recovered from these cuts.
we understand the district faced difficult financial challenges,
however, I respectfully ask the board to carefully consider
the long-term impact these reductions may have
on student safety, school climate, and ultimately,
student achievement. Student achievement
begins with student attendance, and stu and
attendance begins with students feeling safe. Research consistently
shows that school climate attendance and
perceptions of safety are closely connected to academic performance.
when students are worried about violence, threats
or emergencies on their campuses, or learning becomes secondary.
today's schools face increasingly complex threats.
our officers respond to shooting threats, swatting
incidents, weapon violations, violent assaults,
and other emergencies that unfortunately become part
of modern education.
lasd campuses have experienced repeated lockdowns and emergency
responses. Every one of those incidents inquire requires
an immediate, professional and coordinated
response. I firmly believe the dedication of our
officers have helped prevent incidents from becoming tragedies.
most recently, during concerns surrounding immigration enforcement
activity near our schools and graduation sites, district leadership
relied upon school police to help ensure
students and families could celebrate important milestones without fear
or intimidation. Those efforts were
about protecting access to education. Those efforts
were about protecting student achievement, and
the demand for these services continues to grow. Although the current
fiscal year has not yet ended during the 2020 5 26
school year, the los angeles school police department has already handled approximately
89,244 calls for
service. In addition, the department has responded
to 49 separate requests for on-campus
officer support involving 34 different schools across
los angeles unified. These numbers
demonstrate that the demand for school safety services is not
diminishing. The los angeles unified community
continues to rely on the los angeles school police department to protect
access to education and support
student achievement. Families have choices
and perceptions of campus safety can influence enrollment
decisions. Preserving confidence in the safety of our
schools is essential to maintaining the trust of current
and future l-a-u-s-d families. Unfortunately,
the proposed physical civilization plan moves in the opposite direction
at a time when safety challenges are increasing. Reducing
resources means reducing capacity. These reductions are not simply
numbers on a spreadsheet. They mean fewer opportunities
for proactive engagement with students. Re reduce support
for administrators during crisises and potentially longer
response times during emergencies. The most effective school
safe safety strategies are preventative, preventative, and not reactive.
once a crisis occurs, we cannot undo the trauma
experienced by students and staff. Every incident
preve prevented is instructional time preserved.
every emergency resolved quickly, helps preserve the safe
learning environment our students need to succeed academically.
the question before us is whether reducing the district's dedicated
school safety resources by millions of dollars
over the next two years will weaken our ability to
provide that safety. The members of the los angeles school police
management association stand ready to work
collaboratively with the district leadership
to identify efficiencies and support the district's financial
goals. But we respectfully urge this board
to evaluate alternatives
before reducing resources dedicated to the safety and wellbeing
of nearly half a million staff and students
entrusted to our care. School safety is
not optional.
budgets reflect priorities. And every
investment made in school safety is ultimately an
investment in student achievement
because supporting student achievement begins with protecting our
students. I appreciate your attention. Thank you very much.
thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Any other
labor partners? Gil, are you coming down? Okay.
alright.
yes, that, that was sergeant julie spry. Um, I joked she's gonna
make me follow that 'cause that that's very true. Statements actually that
she made. Um, for starters, I'm, my name's gil gammas. I'm the school police union
president of the officers association. And it's very nice when we see the,
the children, um, uh, do the pledge of allegiance
in class. And I believe it's a california educational code. It says, um, certain student,
all all schools need to, um, do the pledge of allegiance before
class. And if they don't do that, they need to do a, like exercise to promote
nationalism and, and things like this. Um,
I I would like to talk about bsap a a beautiful program,
and, but when we talk about bsap,
we're not talking about one singular issue.
it has different layers to it. And whereas
I support counselors for bsap teachers for
bsap, um, programs that help
young men and young women become, uh, better.
I do have to talk about the amount of money that comes out of bsap. It's about, it's
over $20 million that we call safe passage. These are
not district employees. So when we're talking about budgetary
issues, every bargaining unit should be a little
frustrated when we're, when, when all the unions are facing
cuts, um, at their members level, that we're going
to somehow finance non-district employees
for, to provide security on and around our campuses.
and without talking about specific incidents,
first of all, there are shooting and stabbing incidents on all of our campuses.
there's been cbs news programs, um, winning
emmy awards based on stabbings on campuses. This is, this is
a, a sad reality, but if I don't say this, then somebody's going to be talking about, um,
something at their child's funeral. We've, we've had
shootings across, uh, uh, right across from our schools, which resulted in
students that died. And we had a bsap security
person. I don't even want to taint the, the program with that name. We had a security,
uh, safe passage program that was funded from bsap. And the lady on camera
says, I'm not doing anything. Call the police. And one of our children got
killed. If our police officer would've been there, they, they would've seen the police car. The kids would've
ran, the kids would've done what kids do. But in the absence of police officers, not only do
we have vigilante justice like we've had on other campuses recently with parents have
to go stick up for their children, and parents have to go chase down subjects. We
have, we have this, these, these safe
passage programs, which are not experts. They are not experts because the strategy setter
comes here and they want to convince the board members to be job creators so they
can give district non-district employees, um, the
funding to the tune of $20 million, $20 million while
the other district employees are going to lose their jobs. Is, is it's,
it's nothing that the, that a school district should entertain. Having said that, by having
inferior safety, by having individuals that don't know anything about safety, you're pretending
you're pretending that you could provide safety for children. You're pretending.
and that's why we have incidents such as incidents that happen on and around our campus.
so I, I urge every
labor union to sit there and talk about this, this, um,
the security funding for the safe passage program, which are gonna save jobs for
people to the tune of $20 million. If we're
talking about resolutions and we understand that bsap is a program worth
saving, can we make a resolution that say, out of my
paycheck, I could, I could give $5 to the bsap fund. We have 70,000
employees. Could every, could, could every labor union
have something in their bylaws saying that we're going to give, um,
a certain amount of money to b sep on behalf of their members? There's other ways
to solve these issues, but to have a repeat of defund the school
police or have a repeat of defund anything. Not only is it politically, um,
suicidal, it doesn't help our children. We are pretending that we understand safety
by putting inferior people on and around our campuses. Meanwhile, we're trying
to get rid of, um, certified police officers that work for the l-a-u-s-d.
and, um, it's, it's, it's,
it's hard when I walk into this room and superintendent
ch 'cause you were in the seat superintendent, ch there was somebody on your staff here.
I responded to her school when there was a stabbing death on campus. And the, and I responded
to the hospital. And without naming names, I, I don't, I don't see
board members when there's shootings and stuff. I don't, I don't
see, I don't see you guys there. It doesn't mean that you don't care, but you don't, you don't
see this. Right? So, once
again, protect the children. Leave, leave the ideological
whatever, out of everything. Um, I, I, I, I
wish I was as eloquent and I had something put together like sergeant spry did. Um,
but thank you. Thank you, gil.
any other labor partners wish to speak?
okay. So before we get to, um,
board business, I just wanna let you know about what's happening so far.
uh, as of june 21st, 2026,
the warehouse fire at 1400 los paolos
street in boyle heights remains active, but contained
to the warehouse site, which continues to emit smoke
into the neighborhood and into the surrounding areas. So first,
I would like to thank the first responders who have been working all day and
all night to protect our entire los angeles community, including
the southeast cities and the unincorporated areas. While
all shelter in place, orders have been lifted, and, you know, that comes and goes.
the south coast air quality management district continues to
maintain a particle pollution advisory
due to ongoing smoke impacts, and pri primarily
within a two mile radius of the fire. So
out of abundance of caution, and to ensure the safety of students and
staff, four schools closest to the fire
were temporarily relocated due to their proximity to the
incident. And l-a-u-s-d is also coordinating
support for affected families through the l-a-u-s-d foundation
and community partners by providing air filters, masks,
relocation, compassion funds, and other community
resources. So for nearby schools, our staff is working to immediately
replace hvac filters, provide food for
students, and deploy buses to support student transportation.
so if you are in these affected areas, I would advise you to please reach
out to your local city or county representatives as they are
also deploying services, including masks and air filters.
and thank you, thank you, thank you to all district staff who are working
diligently to ensure the safety of our students. And thank you to all the community
partners for taking the time to care for our los angeles neighborhoods.
so please stay up to date on further school updates through the
l-a-u-s-d region east and maintenance and operation
channels. And thank you once again to all of our l-a-u-s-d employees. Thank you,
mr. Mclean. All right. It is now appropriate to
do the consent calendar. May have a move and a second for the consent calendar. Move it. Second.
I moved by board president schuren, seconded by mr. Melvoin.
as you know, the consent calendar is a procedural mechanism to
take a multiple items all at once. Um, I'll read through
the list of items and it will either put it on consent by saying it out
loud or discussion. So, tab one, approval of the 2026
through 20 20 30. Strategic plan question. Discussion,
sorry. Discussion.
uh, tab two, using technology with intention. Discussion, discussion.
and I'm going to recuse myself on that item. Okay. Tab three,
approval of procurement actions discussion. Okay. And I'm
gonna recuse myself on that item. Also. I have a recusal in there, I think.
yeah, when we get to that specific item, but not since this on discussion, we'll make those recusals
out loud again. Uh, tab four, adoption of the 2026 l-a-u-s-d,
local control and accountability plan. Discussion. Discussion.
uh, tab five, adoption of the a usd affiliated charter schools, 2026, local control
and accountability plans. Consent. Consent.
tab six, adoption of the proposed 26 27 budget. Discussion. Discussion
tab seven, uh, fiscal year 2027. Oig work plan. Consent
that hear consent. Okay, consent. Uh, question,
question, question on tab seven, question
. Alright, uh, let's see. Tab eight,
proclaiming june 27 26. 2026 as play day resolution, consent,
consent. Uh, tab nine, report of correspondence, consent.
uh, tab 10, adoption of the 26, 27 board meeting schedule. Discussion, discussion.
there's just one. Yeah. Comment. Why to discuss
calendars, I think. Alright, so we have, um,
tabs five, eight, and nine on consent.
alright. All right. Is that right? Everyone have that tabs five, eight, and nine on consent?
yes. Yes. All right. We'll take public comment on those items. Tab five, there is,
uh, one speaker mic. Michelle z, are you here?
michelle z, come on down. Michelle z. You'll have two minutes to speak once you begin to tab five.
adoption of the l-a-u-s-d affiliated charter school's. 2026 local control accountability
plans.
hi, good morning to the board members and also to all the school advocates
behind me. Uh, my name is michelle ek and I am a parent
at open magnet charter school, which is an affiliated charter
in the district. Um, I'm speaking today about the lcap and
dashboard local indicators for affiliated charters. So the
lcap is supposed to be the public accountability document, connecting goals, actions,
services, stakeholder engagement, and the resources needed to implement
them. That is why I am concerned about approving affiliated charter
lcaps. While the district is considering reductions to funding streams, schools
rely on for student facing services at open, affiliated
charter funding has historically supported flexible school site needs,
including instructional materials, counseling services, classified
support, and contract services that directly affect students.
these are not abstract accounting lines. They're part of how an affiliated
charter implements the services that families see in an lcap.
the board has already recognized that some program reductions require
a closer look when the impact on students is serious. I
am asking the board to apply that same standard here before
approving these lcaps. Please require a school by school impact schedule
for affiliated charters showing projected funding reductions, affected
program codes and the services, staffing or support at
risk. In my opinion, notifying schools at the tail
end of the school year, apparently through principals or site leadership,
rather than the wider school communities, is not sufficient community engagement
for fiscal year 2028. Funding changes of this size,
please do not approve affiliated charter lcaps as a compliance exercise
without disclosing whether schools still have the resources to implement them.
thank you. Thank you for your time. Alright, that
concludes public comment on tab five, on tab eight, consent item. There is no
public comment on tab nine, a report of correspondence. There
is one public comment from david toski, mr. David
toski. I see you're signed up to speak remotely. Uh, you are not signed in. Are you in the
room, mr. David? T not in the room. Okay. That
concludes our very brief consent calendar. Uh, public comment. So it's
now appropriate to vote on the consent calendar. So again, the board, you are
voting on tabs five, eight and nine on the consent
calendar. Uh, ms. Newbell? Yes. Dr. Rivas?
yes. Mr. Melvin? Yes. Uh, ms. Rego? Yes. Ms. Gomez?
yes. Ms. Ortiz franklin? Yes. Uh, board president schroen? Yes. All right.
that concludes the consent calendar. And now on to individual
items on the calendar. So the first tab is approval of the l-e-u-s-d
20 26, 20 30 strategic plan. I believe there is a presentation associated with
this. Yes, there is. Uh, good morning
board. Good morning, everyone. Uh, today we are pleased to present
the district's 20 26, 20 30 strategic plan
for your consideration and adoption. This plan
represents the culmination of extensive collaboration, engagement, and thoughtful
planning across our district community. Over a three month period,
the district conducted more than 70 engagement sessions and received
input from more than 6,400 participants, including students,
families, staff, labor partners, community organizations,
advisory groups, and educational partners. Their voices help
shape the priorities, goals, and direction reflected
in the plan before you today. The themes we heard consistently
were student learning and achievement, equity and access,
mental health and wellness, and communication and engagement.
those themes are reflected throughout the five pillars and district goals
that are before the board today. I also want to acknowledge
the board's significant engagement throughout this process. Staffed
work closely with the board through two strategic planning retreats, a
committee of the whole discussion and individual meetings with each board member.
the feedback received through those conversations was incorporated
into the strategic plan and helped strengthen the final product
before proceeding. Further, I would like to thank everyone who contributed to the development
of the strategic plan. Developing a plan of this scope requires tremendous
dedication, coordination, analysis, and
collaboration. And I'm sincerely grateful for everyone's hard work.
this plan builds upon the progress achieved under our 20 22 20 26
strategic plan, while sharpening our focus on the outcomes that matter most for
students. It builds on meaningful progress we have made over the last
four years while positioning us for the work ahead and
reaffirms our commitment to ensuring every student graduates ready for
the world and prepared to thrive in college, career and
life. One of the most important distinctions in this plan
is that it is intentionally strategic in nature.
it establishes our vision, mission, goals, priorities, and measures of success.
unlike prior efforts that combine strategic and operational work into a single
document, this plan focuses on setting direction and defining the
outcomes we seek to achieve. The operational planning that supports
implementation is occurring separately and is currently underway.
divisions and departments are developing aligned operational plans that will
translate this strategic vision into specific actions, timelines,
responsibilities, and milestones. Those plans are expected to be completed
by the end of this month, and we'll ensure alignment across the organization
as we begin the new school year. This plan is
also designed to be a living document. We anticipate data from the state
in october, which will allow us to set the baselines for our district
goals, measures of success and indicators. Before the end of the
calendar year. Staff will provide regular progress updates
to the board and will make adjustments as necessary to ensure
we remain focused on improving outcomes for students.
this plan reflects a deliberate shift from focusing primarily
on activities to focusing on outcomes. This
plan moves us from asking what activities did we complete
to asking what outcomes did our students achieve?
adoption of this strategic plan before the start of the 20 26, 27
school year will provide a shared vision and common direction for our schools,
offices and departments as we continue our work on behalf of
the students and families we serve. With that, I will turn
it over to carolyn spa gonzalez, our chief of staff, who will begin our presentation
today. Good morning, uh, board members, superintendent
cha. Um, I want to highlight just two things that mr. Chase said
that are very important. Number one, um, is that this is a shorter
document. It's quite a bit shorter. I think it's even less than half the, the length.
um, and the reason for that is, as mr. Chase said, this is about outcome.
it's truly a strategic plan and the true sense of the word. And so what that
means is the board vision, mission, core values, theory of change,
um, and goals. Then we added some of the measures of success that are driving
the departmental operations plan so that, that we could provide more color to you all
and to the, to the, um, to the community as well. So that's important
that this particularly in a time of limited resources, that
we have a focus on impact, um, and on outcome
and not on output. Um, the second thing is you will see a shift
in this plan as well, where we are focusing on customer service, for
lack of a better word. So we are really focused on the schools, the
families, and the students who are we serve. And you will see that also
throughout the document. So I wanted to highlight those two things. Uh,
one other thing about community engagement as board members, you know, we had individual
meetings in your board district for the landscape analysis as well, which
we'll talk about tomorrow. Um, some of the feedback that we got
during those sessions didn't fall into the landscape since that was only about
programs. But we did take all of that feedback and make sure that
we incorporate into the strategic plan. So you will also see, see, uh, some of that
in here. So with that, I'll hand it over to, uh, dr.
bill johnston to go through the presentation.
thank you, carolyn. Thank you. Superintendent cha. Greetings, board members.
uh, I'm william johnston, senior executive director of strategy. And it's my pleasure to introduce
our proposed strategic plan that aligns our community values to our
district goals and our strategic priorities for the next four years. The strategic plan
provides a clear vision of where we want to go and ensures accountability across
our organization. Uh, in today's
presentation, you will, um, you will hear about the strategic plan with a highlight on key
updates since the 2226 strategic plan that is, um,
currently about to sunset. And we will also discuss the measures of success
within the strategic plan. So
why have we updated the strategic plan? Well, first off, we want to build on the progress from
the 22 to 26 strategic plan, um, that, uh, superintendent champ
mentioned. Uh, we also, uh, felt this is an important time to respond to
community and board input, um, on, on the strategic plan that was,
and set our vision for the next four years ahead, um, and to continue prioritizing
student success and wellbeing, um, which is certainly in the last strategic plan.
but as noted with a, with a, a new found, a new emphasis
on a, a focus on outcomes and non output. Um, and then of course, to refine and
update our district goals. Uh, we were moving, um, from four goals
to five goals for this, uh, next strategic plan. Uh, and that was done with board
input. So before diving in, just a reminder,
um, and grounding of who we are as a district, um, in los angeles unified,
we have over 442,000 students. Um,
and, uh, with, you know, an extremely diverse, um, and multifaceted student
body, over 34,000 teachers and substitutes, and over 83,000 employees,
um, including administrators, um, thousands, you know, over over a thousand
schools and programs, um, over 300 magnet programs, over 200 dual
language programs, which on their own would, would, would constitute a very large school district on
their own. Um, and then over 160 languages spoken by our students.
so, you know, it is, it is of course, our a a part of our core values
to, to represent that, that diversity and, and move forward with an equity mindset
towards, uh, supporting all of these students and, and staff.
first, our, our vision, and, and this is, um, this was recently
slightly updated from the pri previous strategic plan, uh, with board input from
the board retreats that we have had a few months ago. Um, our vision of what we will
achieve in the future is that los angeles unified will graduate all students ready
for the world and prepare to thrive in college career and life. And then our mission
statement, uh, again, this is, uh, whereas the vision is our future, our future goal, our mission
is where, what is our present and, and why we exist. Um, we
exist to provide a rigorous, joyful, and culturally relevant education
that ensures students achieve academic success and social and emotional
wellbeing.
this strategic plan, like the previous, continues to be anchored in very
important core beliefs that guide how we serve our students, our families, and our districts. I
will not read all of these, um, word by word, um, but I do want to, uh, just
highlight that. Um, this is, and this is an important area where it very much
is a continuation of, of, of the work and the foundational, uh, basis
that we have moved forward since 2022. Um, and it's very
important that we, you know, continue to highlight equity and all that we do, and call out
these persistent opportunity gaps that disproportionately impact underserved communities in our
district. And, and undergirding all of this is atri striving for equity.
since all of these students deserve the most exemplary education that prepares all students
to achieve excellence, um, by coming through l-a-u-s-d,
this strategic plan represents, um, a theory of change,
uh, and a, a, a roadmap for how we get there. And, you know, in, in
a traditional theory of change, it's a, if, if x then y. And so here in,
in, in, in la unified, you know, if we align our resources
and continue to learn from our community as we are doing in this process, but not just in the
strategic plan, community engagement undergirds every, every process and every, every division's
activities that they do if we support our teachers, leaders, and staff
and proactively collect and analyze and share information. Um,
and then of course, aligning our actions, um, across the district. And that alignment
happens through the organizational structure of our five pillars. These five pillars
have continued from the previous strategic plan. These five pillars represent the
first five of the eight goals in the lcap. And that has, that has been
the case, and that will continue to be the case moving through into 2030. Um,
if we organize our activities in these ways with these investments and, and areas of
emphasis, we will achieve our five district goals and we will, um,
graduate our students ready for the world.
so a note on sort of the conceptual and and practical organization
of all of this. So the, the, the core beliefs you see on the left, um,
uh, as, as noted, this, this is the sort of, um, this is the, the philosophical,
um, and, and real, you know, spirit of, of what guides all
of our work. And then we start with the vision statement at the top. And so we get
more and more kind of concrete and more and more specific and,
and granular, if you will, as we move down this organizing framework. The vision, again,
sets, you know, what we will achieve the mission, why we exist, and what are we doing now
to achieve that vision, our district goals. Um, you know, what,
what are those goalposts that we are hoping to accomplish? The pillars and priorities
is where we will focus and how we will organize our activities. The measures of
success are the tangible and measurable, um, areas to,
to assess how will we know we are making progress as we go? And again, those
measures of success will be tracked continuously and will be reported annually,
not just waiting till 2030 to, to report on any of this information.
um, and then of course, departments themselves will have strategies and actions to achieve these
goals, and then milestones within those departmental activities. So
the first five boxes on this framework are, are
represented in the strategic plan that we're talking about today. Um, as superintendent
sha and carolyn mentioned, um, this is, again, setting our long-term direction,
defining the, the vision and mission and those measures of success. And then those last three
boxes. Um, and yes, there's that overlap. The measures of success does touch on
both areas will be of the division's operations plans where
we are turning strategy into action. Um, and one piece
on this, the operations plans, um, are going, are a part of, of the work we
do, certainly. And then when we have our annual reporting, and we're reporting will be, of
course, a reporting of our progress on our goals and a progress on our, on
our, um, measures of success there. And then we will have consideration and,
and, you know, important highlights and milestones achieved for some of these operation
plan details, um, organized by our five pillars. And that
will be a part of annual reporting we'll do every fall.
so a comparison of the previous strategic plan and this strategic plan. Um,
first off, and and you'll see this shortly, uh, we are moving from five district goal,
four district goals, excuse me, to five district goals with the addition of science as, as an
important goal. And then of course, refinement of all the other goals, um, therein, um,
going from 95 measures of success to 51 measures of success.
um, and, and again, that's just highlighting the, the, the prioritization and
focus, um, the focus, uh, approach that we've taken to this work.
moving away from de describing activities and, you know, work that
we've done to focusing on the impact and in particular the impact on
students. There are some metrics here where we're looking at the impact and how that, how that impacts our staff.
and yes, of course, how this impacts our families. Um, but students certainly are at
the center here. Um, and, uh, you know, nuts and bolts here.
uh, the, the strategic plan itself, the booklet, um, that would, that will
be produced, um, you know, upon approval, um, is significantly shorter at 32
pages.
and what is staying the same as mentioned? Um, the five pillars are
remaining the same from the pre previous strategic plan, academic excellence, joy and
wellness, engagement and collaboration, operational effectiveness, and investing
in staff. Annual reporting will continue, um, for all the measures within these,
uh, areas. And, uh, we will continue, of course, the commitment to student success
and equity in all that we do in, in the service of these pillars.
and so what is evolving in this strategic plan? Um, the strategic
foundations have, have been refined with board input in our, in our board
retreats and, and the committee of the whole, the mission statement. Our vision and our core
beliefs, um, have been refined. The activities included in the operations
plans will be, again, focused, uh, will be the work of the operations plans.
um, and the priorities themselves within the pillars have been refined, um,
and streamlined. We have refined the district goals, uh,
for english language arts. That was a goal before and is a goal now. We have updated
the, which grade levels are in included in that, in that goal, to, to
include not just third grade out out outcomes, but looking at third
through fifth through the elementary grades, if you will. And then sixth through eight and the middle school
grades. Um, separately for english language arts, which is similar to how we have done it for
math, um, we have added a new science goal, which we'll be looking at
our, our, um, student performance on the california science test. And we
have updated our college and career readiness goal and our social and emotional learning goals.
and then finally, there is a shift in performance culture, uh, moving away from
outputs to outcomes, and then streamlining, um, our efforts with a more focused
set of measures of success.
pause, um, from the content of the strategic plan to just call out
and, and, and share appreciation for the engagement that we have done over
this process. It has been a tremendous effort from our, from our various offices. I
want to give a special thank you to the strategic initiatives office and
the, um, and the s face team for all of the support with on these engagement
sessions. And then of course, board members and your staff and the support we had listening
sessions in each board members and board members themselves. And your teams have, have lent a
lot of time and attention and, and provided really helpful comments along this way. Um,
we have met, uh, of course with parents, students, staff, community partners,
our labor partners and district parent committees, including our pac, cac, and dlac,
um, specifically on the strategic plan. And in some cases, we were, we were discussing
the strategic plan alongside with the landscape analysis that, that we will be hearing
more about tomorrow.
all told, we had over 70 sessions with various
interest groups in the district with over 6,400 total participants, either in
those in-person sessions or virtual sessions, or participating in our thought exchange,
um, that we, we had in the district. And then, and then, um, and again, just want to appreciate
the, the, the, the board district listening sessions that we developed in coordination
with your offices.
and so what have we heard from these listening sessions? Um, superintendent
cha called out a few of these themes. I just wanna highlight them again. 'cause these were, these came up
again and again and again. And this will continue to be what we focus on and what
we report on annually with the strategic plan. So first, student learning and
academic achievement. There was a strong, um, interest from across the board,
uh, for, you know, for el strong academics, not just, um,
raising the floor, but raising the ceiling as well on student achievement across our
district. Um, looking at supporting students, uh, a range of students in a range
of schools. Um, not just with core curriculum in the classroom, but um,
with enrichment programs, um, and of various learning, um,
settings, and then equity and access. Uh, strong
advocacy for access to high quality programs, supports and services for all
students. Um, and then access to mental health and, and wellbeing.
um, a a common theme came up about, you know, increasing access or increasing,
if not the quantity of programs. The, the communication and
the accessibility and, and ease of, ease of access for these programs,
uh, for, for physical health, mental health, counseling services, student support
services. And then another piece that we heard around wellbeing, um, you know, but
it came up in a variety of settings is, you know, a, a range in learning environments, um,
and learning opportunities for students as a vehicle for student wellbeing.
and then finally, communication and, and engagement. And particularly from
families. We, uh, a common theme wa was the need for clearer and more consistent
and accessible communication and meaningful opportunities for families to engage
in the district. Um, and that has, uh, and these themes have come up and
are, are a bit an important part of the strategic plan you see before you, so
a little bit more on what we've heard from this. So, some student oriented themes that have come up from
this engagement, um, you see here, including increased services to in
high need areas for, um, students with, um, in special education, mental
health arts and afterschool programming. Um, expand access to arts. Again,
um, reducing screen time and focus on hands-on learning experiences. Strengthen
student wellbeing by fostering inclusive, safe and clean, welcoming learning environments
in terms of like the, the physical state of our schools, as well as the, you know, in the environments
that inspire learning in the classroom. And then improve campus conditions,
um, as well as increasing the capacity and high demand programs such as magnet
cte, dual enrollment enrichment, which we will hear more about tomorrow as well with the landscape analysis
and some operational and organizational themes that came up improving our hiring process
and timelines, provide focused, meaningful professional development and
ensure consistent and equitable funding across schools. Reduce
information overload and improve clarity of messaging. I myself am
a brand new parent with a student coming into la unified, and I'm already getting overwhelmed, uh, with the amount
of information coming at me. Um, so this one is already hitting close to home for me.
um, building authentic, ongoing partnerships with families and community organized
by involving stakeholders earlier in the planning and decision making process. This certainly comes up,
this comes up in various community engagement forums that we've had, not just for the strap plan, but
for the lcap and, and otherwise, uh, simplify enrollment and provide clear
pathways for families to access programs. Again, having just gone through the enrollment process, this
one hits very close to home. And
so now let's turn to the content of the strategic plan. And we're gonna start, and
this will always be the start. And then many ways this will be, this is the, the final say
in our strategic plan is our district goals. And we are very
grateful for the collaboration we've had with the board members on establishing these goals through,
through numerous conversations. Uh, we feel that these goals are,
are broader but not shallower. So, you know, the mile wide inch deep,
that's not the case here. This is, we have expanded our scope, but we are just as deep and just
as rigorous, and if anything, way, way, way more ambitious with these goals
than we have been with previous goals. So first, uh, you'll see that there are five
goals here, literacy, numeracy, science, college and career readiness, and social
emotional learning. Each of these goals will be reported out in multiple ways, looking
at multiple grade spans. And they will also be reported out by student groups similar to
how the previous strategic plan was reported. And then
the measurement of, of these goals. So for literacy, numeracy, and science, for
all of these goals, it's a similar, the, the goal is very similar using
the thresholds that the state sets for what is considered
on grade level performance for students' grades. Our goal is by 2030,
that on average students in the targeted grade spans will be, will
be performing at their grade level standard on average. Um,
in the ela assessment, the math assessment, and the california science
test for college and career readiness,
um, the, the goal has been revised to be not just about
college readiness, uh, is, which was again, getting
to 70% of our four year cohort graduates graduating
with, um, a c or better in all of the, the u-c-c-s-u-a to g courses.
that will still be reported. But in addition to that, we will be targeting a goal
of 85% of our, of our graduates graduating college and or
career ready. Um, and that that is encompassing, um, other career
oriented pathways, including cte pathway completion and jrc completion
as career readiness indicators that we will report in combination with
a to g completion, but also separately from a to g completion when we actually do the
reporting. And then finally, social and emotional learning as was discussed
at, at the, at the recent committee of the whole meeting. Um, we will be developing a new,
um, a new and refined report card, um, that, uh,
will be used across our grade spans with the goal that by 2030, the students will increase
their mastery of social and emotional competencies. And this will be, again, reported
multiple times a year, and it will be integrated into the general, you know, report
cards that, that, that teachers and schools will use, and that families will see
the pillars and priorities are presented here. And we will be going in turn
through these pillars and priorities and looking at and calling out some important measures of success
that will be, uh, that we will be measuring, um, as we go, um, through
the next four years.
and so why, why would we want to refine the measures of success? This
alignment strengthens, um, it, it strengthens
our focus on the district goals and then foc and, and then our, our focus
within these priority areas. The, um, the measures of success that you see
here, by and large are student outcomes, or again, our, our staff or family
outcomes. They're not, you know, checking a box or setting a milestone about, you know,
getting this much work done or having this many of a thing happen.
but the, the impact of, you know, how does this benefit our communities that we serve?
um, those, those important operational milestones are certainly important, but are,
are, again, the domain of the operations plans that, that we have discussed.
and then when, as to the greatest extent possible, we are targeting, these
are smart goals, not just smart, that they're intelligent, uh, but they are, you
know, this is an acronym for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and
time bound. So that this is, these are measures that are measurable
and that are measurable in the right amount of time that we are, um,
looking at here between now and 2030, um, that they are attainable,
um, and not just, you know, moonshots are great, but, you know, we need to have,
you know, you know, some level of attainability and realism with
the goals that we are setting, and then certainly relevant to our, the communities that we are serving.
and then, um, of course, the measures of success, excuse me, are,
are more focused, um, area whenever possible. And
so now we're going to look, um, within each priority area at what the measures
of success are. And I promise you, I will not read every single measure of success, um,
uh, that you see in all of these slides. They are. Um, but we will go through
and I want to call out some specific areas and then we will welcome conversation.
so first, under academic excellence, which is pillar one,
we have, there are three priority areas, high quality instruction,
eliminating opportunity gaps and college and career readiness.
and then within each of these priority areas, you will see numerous bullet
points that call out the measures of success. For each of those priorities.
these measures of success will be reported, will be reported annually
as data comes in. We will have our first report, uh, later
this fall, once we have data available from the state, and that will
be our baseline data. So the current 25, 26 school year, we would
say is, is our baseline year, if you will. It's year zero of this strategic plan
is setting the base, the, the, the starting point from which we will measure and,
and our progress annually, and establish our goals for 2030. And so that
first report will be coming as soon as the data is available to us for these measures.
um, and then I also wanna point out that these bullet points within each of these bullet
points, there will be several, in some cases, several numbers that will
actually be reported in our annual reports. For, for starters on the left column,
the very first one, grade level proficiency and literacy, numeracy and
science, that is one of the, that that is actually not just one of our district goals. That is the
first three of our district goals. And so we will have, you know, two numbers for
each of those elementary grades and middle school grades. And then that will also be reported
out by student groups. And this, of course, is an lcap metric. And so
whenever possible, we, we highlight where these measures of success overlap with our
lcap, and we, um, call out where these measures of success are
overlapping with our district goals. Um, another area that
I wanna focus on is the, um, just in
in the middle, there's some important areas where there's, um, new information from this. And so in the middle column
for eliminating opportunity gaps, you'll see the last three metrics there.
students with significant cognitive disabilities graduating with a high school diploma, underrepresented
students enrolled in advanced academic courses, and students, student participation
in gifted and talented programs and services. And so those are gonna be some areas that we
are developing a, a strong focus. Now this has been a strong focus in, in
data conversations with, with principals and with regions, um, already
and, and, you know, student access to advanced learning, and then the performance of students across
the, the achievement, the achievement area. And so, and another area relevant
to that is the last bullet point on the left under high quality instruction.
this is a new measure of success. Students across all achievement levels on average,
will show improved academic performance from prior year. So we're not just always
looking at the overall average performance of students. We wanna see our students
who were low, you know, who performed lower last year, improving, as
well as students who were performing higher last year. Are they continuing to improve to make sure that we are
encouraging development and growth, uh, for all of our students regardless of how they
performed in prior years. And then finally, uh, the right
column, college and career readiness. Um, this, this encompasses
our, our metrics around, um, how our students are graduating college and career ready.
there will be various indicators here for our graduating students that we will look at
a to g completion, cte pathways, jay zi, um, uh,
we will look at seal of biliteracy, um, outcomes for students. And these are all,
you know, traditional metrics that we report to the state, but these will be reported as a
part of our strategic plan moving forward. Um, we will also
include information around students enrollment and advanced placement, um, courses
in international baccalaureate and dual enrollment, as well as not just enrollment, but passage
rates for our advanced placement exams, which we saw recent. You know, we
were happy about recent improvements there, and we are going to set that as our baseline to see continued
improvement into 2030.
our second pillar is joy and wellness. Uh, and joy and wellness. We have three
priorities, welcoming learning environments, whole child wellbeing and outstanding
attendance. First, over on welcoming learning environments.
one new measure of success to call out is the reduction in the number of open maintenance
and operations service call requests at school sites. This one is, is a bit more operational,
we admit, than, than many of the other pieces here. But we do see this as an outcome in and of
itself. 'cause this is, this is the final product of a lot of efforts for
various offices, um, to, to, to get to sort
of, um, a finish line, if you will. Certainly is operational, but needs to be
important. This is, and this is reflective of what we heard from community engagement
extensively as well. So that's a part of why that one made. It still still is in here
in the strategic plan under whole child wellbeing. Um, this is,
um, there are going to be, you know, again, the reporting of the social emotional learning competencies,
which in the mean for now is gonna continue to be based on the school experience survey.
and then moving forward, it will, it will be shifting to the report cards as
well as, um, you know, some new internal developed diagnostics that will become a part of
a integrated system of measuring of our student social and emotional progress as they
go. Um, also we are looking at student participation in
academic enrichment programs and extracurricular activities such as robotics and
athletics. That will be, this is an example of a measure of success that will have
multiple sort of sub metrics that we will continue to track and annually report.
um, and then finally, student participation in visual and performing arts programs
offerings during the school day. Um, and this is an, this is something that we've heard in our
community engagement, obviously access to arts, but not access to arts in a superficial or leave it to
the domain of just an after school program. But arts integration throughout the, the school day
as a, as an emphasis for our division of instruction and as an emphasis for what we've heard
families want. And, and, and of course that is, you
know, while that may seem like an academic offering, we see this as, as being a part of whole child wellness,
um, for students access to a range in programs, um, for what inspires students to
come to school and, and engage with school, um, you know, in variety of ways similar with
athletics. And then finally, outstanding attendance. This one is largely unchanged
from the prior strategic plan. It's been well documented and well discussed about the,
the important, you know, attendance as an important leading indicator for various other
student outcomes. So not only are we looking at improving the rate of students
who have excellent attendance, but a decrease in the students who have chronic, who are chronically absent.
so movement, you know, you know, reducing the chronic absenteeism and
increasing, you know, those go hand in hand, but they do tell different stories, and so we wanna report them separately.
our third pillar is engagement and collaboration. And we heard from
families, uh, that they want to be involved in decision making, um, not in and
not in a superficial way. And so this will, this is something that we will be measuring and
continue to measure, uh, through the school experience survey about parents sense of be of,
of, of engagement at their schools. Um, but also we'll be looking at various
other indicators of family engagement, and not just the quantity of family engagement,
but the quality, the perceived quality of their engagement e efforts as well.
um, in the middle column leading for impact. This is, um, continuing
our work. You know, l-a-u-s-d has a lot of, we draw a lot of attention that gravitational,
um, power of our district, uh, using it to our advantage
to be a voice for equity, a voice for, for change at the
state level, at the regional level. And, um, you know, working with,
you know, collaboration, uh, collaborating and engaging with, with initiatives and other government
entities. And then, um, you know, our cont continue with our legislative advocacy in sacramento,
which has come up extensively recently. Um, and then of course, um,
effective partnerships, uh, with other various entities, not just effective in
terms of them serving us, but our ability to be a good partner with them is something that we will look
at. And then accessible information, um, you know, parents reporting
satisfaction with the district and school communication. Um, and this is, this is
very cross-cutting and a lot of these metrics are very cross-cutting. Notice we don't call out
a department by name in any of these measures of success 'cause it's not just many
of these. And this one in particular is not just owned by our student and family
and community engagement office that sells this way short. And so an activity like
this where we're seeing parents being satisfied with district and school communications, which
in this case is measured by our school experience survey, is the product of,
are dozens of offices, the schools, the regions, and, and how all the different
contact points with families. And so it's not a single work stream here, um,
but it's an important, again, the end product of a lot of effort and a lot of strategic,
you know, emphasis by various offices is how this bubbles up to be in the
strategic plan. Next,
operational effectiveness. So we're on number four, we got five total, so you guys are
doing great. Um, uh, first modernizing infrastructure.
there are a couple of important areas here. Some of these might seem operational,
but again, this was an important part of what we heard of community engagement. And we do see this
again as, as an outcome for that is the product of various, you know,
operations efforts there. So increasing the number of centralized processes
that are digitized you know, uh, enrollment commun, you know, we're looking at, you know, this is,
this is in response also to a board resolution recently on digitization efforts. So that's, that
work is continuing increased facilities, capital projects completed on
time. Um, and then another one I'll call out is, you know, decreased di district wide
energy usage and our, and our increase of use of renewable energy.
next, sustainable budgeting. Um, that is certainly,
uh, an important consideration, uh, and, and guides every, every conversation
that we will be having in the short term and long term for our district.
um, and then, uh, finally, our having the district become
the district of choice for families in the region. Um, this is,
this is an area of emphasis, has been an area of emphasis, and we'll continue to be, you'll hear
more about this tomorrow with the landscape analysis. Um, and there's
a couple ways that we will look at this. One is increasing the count and percentage of
new student enrollment. So every year looking at, are we bringing in, you know, new
families, not just at the matriculating grades, you know, coming in at tk in kindergarten, but, you
know, looking at other grades as well. And then with a focus on, you know, important
transition periods here, you know, the sixth, you know, the fifth grade to sixth grade, the eighth grade
to ninth grade transition, both in terms of who are we bringing in more students, and
then are we stabilizing our retention rate of students? And so not losing, you
know, decreasing the amount of students we lose from fifth grade to sixth grade as an example.
and then finally, investing in staff is our fifth priority.
first, first, I'm sorry, our, our fifth pillar. And then the first priority within there,
strong and sustainable workforce. A couple measures of success to call out increasing
the retention rate of teachers across the district with a particular focus on schools and subjects
with higher turnover. And so this is where there we will, we will in particular
be focusing on hard to staff schools, hard to staff subjects, hard to staff grade
spans, um, for the district. And those will be reported separately in the, in the annual
reporting we will do for the measures of success. And then increasing our
stabilization rate of principals at our school sites. There's, you know, abundant research that
shows principal stability, um,
is, is essential for program implementation, fidelity of implementation, and
a host of other school climate indicators that, that, that are, um, important
for student success. Next priority is staff support
and development. Um, and just one area to call out here is,
uh, this is where we will really be focusing on professional development. Not just do we do a bunch of
professional development, but is that professional development, helpful, relevant,
um, high impact. Um, and then the, the, the, you know, how to what extent might it improve
our, our teacher's practice moving or our staff members' practices moving forward.
and then related to that, you know, support is the expectations there of
high performance standards for our staff. And so, you know, we're gonna be looking at,
um, staff perceptions of their school having high performance standards,
and then principal and teachers who, uh, who are reporting that they use data to inform their
instructional decisions at our school sites. And so, with all,
again, with all of these measures of success, any one of these bullets will, will be unfolding
into multiple metrics that will be reported annually, beginning this fall once we have all
of the baseline data available. Um, and then along that, along with the
baseline data that you will see this fall, we'll also be information on what, what does that mean in terms of what
the 2030 target would be for these various measures of success? But we can't set that
target without the baseline we that we are waiting on. And
so what does all of this mean for schools? Um, this, that, and the school
site is going to be an important focus for the work that we do and the, for the strategic
initiatives office, and this work begins just in a few weeks at the principal leadership institute.
there will be a mandatory session for all principals, um, at the pli this
year, um, where principals are, are going to be introduced to the new
strategic plan. Many of them will perhaps be very familiar with the previous strategic plan. Um,
but really, you know, leveling the, you know, level setting with all of our
principles on what the new goals are, um, and then how is this more
focused and, and how are we going to, again, better align across our systems.
the, um, and then with that training principles will be given a host of
resources for coffee with the principal at dex and ask, um, resources for
communicating with their communities and their families. And so what
this all means then for next steps, um, first, um, adoption of the
strategic plan. That is, that is part part of why we are here today to move forward. And I
do want to emphasize that we are not adopting a concrete set
in stone unchangeable strategic plan, this strategic plan
by, by definition and should be a living document that is
reported continuously and is refined to the extent necessary as
we go from year to year. This happened with the previous strategic plan as, as,
as, as progress was made and, and learning happened around various
measures of success and how we want to move forward. That will continue with this one.
moving into 2030. Next, communicate, uh, we will be, of
course, like, as I mentioned, communicating with principals beginning at the pli. We will be communicating
also with staff and families. Um, our strategic initiatives office has been working
with innovate public schools to develop a family guide that will be released this fall,
um, to help our families and communities understand, uh, the strategic plan and
how it affects them and their students, and how they can be involved. We are also looking into developing
not just the resources for principals to communicate, so it's not all on principals
to communicate to their families, but offering some centrally administered, uh, webinars and
engagement activities to help help our communities understand the
strategic plan and, um, and own it for, for themselves and their, and their, and their
and their communities. And then implement, implement. This is already happening, as I mentioned,
a lot of the strategic plan is, is a continuation of the, of the prior 22
to 26 strategic plan. We are actively working with offices on
refining measures and the, and the getting in the weeds on all of the business rules and
nuances of the measures of success and how we will be reporting those. And
then of course, the work itself on doing, um, doing what is being, uh, what
we're holding ourselves accountable to in the strategic plan. Um, and then
the monitoring. We will be monitoring annually, as I mentioned, this will mostly be in the fall, and that's
a function of when the data becomes available from the state. We have a good amount of preliminary
data, for example, for our english, math and science assessments. That data is still
not final. It will not be final until the fall from the state as, as is traditionally
the case. Um, and, and, and so on. Usually like the last,
the last data that we get in an annual cycle is, is usually the graduation metrics
because of summer school and, and everything. And then the state does its own cleanup.
so really it is in the fall that we get the final data to, to report out.
and then finally the monitoring of the operations plans that we will be receiving later this month,
um, and then, uh, reporting back. So, so with that, um,
I welcome discussion and questions. We have representatives from various offices
here to answer questions, um, as well. And, uh, as folks from our strategic initiatives
office. And I do just want to give a shout out to eric hanson, the executive director of our strategic
initiatives office and his team for their deep, you know,
working very hard and working very thoughtfully over the past several months, um,
on getting us to this point. So thank you eric, and team, and thank you board members
again for all of your collaboration along the way. Well, well done, well done,
dr. Johnson. We appreciate it very much. We're going to go to public comment first.
okay. Okay.
present. We have anna ortega. Are you here? Anna ortega, you
wanna come down to the mic, please? Cool. Thank you.
good morning. My name is anga and I am speaking on behalf
of expand la, and as a partner in the cell youth hub,
a regional collective of expanded learning providers, local governments and community
partners, working together to create safe and supportive spaces for young people across
southeast los angeles. Also lovingly known as I'm
encouraged to see that the strategic plan reflects a core belief that we share. Every
child deserves the opportunity to thrive. Expanded learning programs are essential
to making that vision a reality. They support the whole child by
providing safe spaces, trusted relationships, academic support,
enriching opportunities and connections to critical resources that strengthen student
wellbeing. But no single organization can do this work alone.
it takes a village. Collaboration is not just beneficial. It is
necessary. So when schools, community organizations, local governments
and expanded learning providers, uh, work together, students gain access to
a stronger, more coordinated network of support. And so the seattle
youth hub deeply, um, believes in the power of this cross sector
collaboration. And we already see it happening in the growing partnerships across our
region and in local efforts such as the city of cuda hayes collaborative, a growing
partnership between the city, the district, and community-based organizations. So we're
really excited for the continued, um, collaborations that will take place.
most importantly, though, we see it in our young people. As aela youth hub coordinator,
I have the privilege of working alongside the select youth executive board youth leaders who
are advocating for stronger partnerships, um, and youth hubs because they
know these systems of support matter for them, their peers, and future generations.
so as a proud lasc alumna, I encourage you to listen closely
to the youth speaking today, and their voices are essential to the strategic plan
and to building a future where every student has a support that they need to drive
thrive. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Uh, daniel sandoval,
daniel s come on up. And then after
mr. Sandoval is uriah blackwell, and then jesus rodriguez.
good morning, president board members and superintendent. My name is daniel sandoval
and I'm a senior in high school. I'm a leader of ella youth executive board,
and I'm here today in support of the lesd strategic plan and to share
how afterschool programs, mentors, and community partnerships have shaped my educational
journey. When I attended wano park middle school, I helped start a robotics team with
the support of one of my mentors. Through that experience, I discovered my interests in engineering
and developed skills that continue to shape my goals. Today. I
also participated in wolf car rangers and afterschool programs where I built friendships
and developed leadership skills and found supportive community. As I reviewed
this strategic plan, I was encouraged to see its focus on academic excellence, join
wellness and engagement in collaboration. I was also excited
to see the commitment to expand access to arts stem extracurricular
activities and afterschool programs. I was especially encouraged by the
plan to focus on student involvement in decision making and stronger community partnerships.
as a leader of the cilla youth executive board, I know firsthand the value
of youth boys. Since young people offer important perspectives
on the challenges we face and the opportunities to help us succeed. When students are
meaningful involved, we become more engaged in our school and communities.
I also encourage l-a-u-s-z to continue strengthening partnerships with community-based
organizations. Many opportunities that help me discover my interests,
develop my leadership skills, and connect with mentors, came through these partnerships.
I look forward to seeing l-a-u-s-z. Continue to invest in student voice
community partnerships and access opportunities that help student thrive.
thank you for your time and for con your consideration.
thank you for your time. Uh, the next speaker is
uriah blackwell. Uriah b right here.
all right, let's go on to jesus rodriguez, are you here? Jesus, come
on down. And then after mr. Rodriguez is shannon rivers,
come on down. You'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Good
afternoon. Board members. My name's jesus rodriguez, and I'm a member of the cell youth executive board
organizing around the cell youth hub. One of the goals we hear throughout the
district's strategic plan and lcap is preparing students to be ready for the real world.
for students like myself, after school programs have given us the opportunity to fully
develop young professional to develop as young professionals regardless of
our grades in a classroom. Being ready for the real world means means
having opportunities to explore careers, develop leadership skills, gain hands-on
experience, and connect classroom learning to future goals. I found my opportunity
with southeast community develop corporation, better known as sedc,
programs that support workforce development and career exploration and internships,
stem education, technical training, and work-based learning help students see a
pathway toward economic mobility and future success. Especially students who
are most at risk, who benefit from programs regardless of their grades. We
encourage the district to con, continue investigating opportunities that connect students
to careers, higher education, apprenticeships, internships and public service.
preparing students for the future requires more than academic achievement alone. It
requires exposure, experience, mentorship, and opportunity. We appreciate
the district's, uh, commitment to prepare students to be ready for the world and hope
these opportunities remain a priority. Thank you. Thank you for your time.
alright, the next in-person speaker is shannon rivers. Come on down, sir. You'll
have two minutes to speak once you begin.
good morning board members. Last week I was here and I spoke specifically
about the american indian and indigenous student comprehensive plan.
we found out that 20% of mm med's budget was cut,
and that means that the american indian indigenous student comprehensive plan, we
take a $2 million cut. Now, what, let me talk
specifically about the successes of the american indian indigenous student comprehensive
plan. We know that we distributed books and materials all throughout l-a-u-s-d
books that were authored by american indian and indigenous authors.
uh, the excitement that the teachers showed about teaching a new curriculum and developing
lesson plans with these books and materials,
and to teach about the true history of the americas. As we celebrate
this, as you celebrate the 250 years, we also
recognize that they have, we had a native brilliant ceremony where we recognize
the excellence of and successes of our american indian and
indigenous students. So why is multi-year funding important?
for context? A 2022 california department of education
report to the state legislative found that american indians and alaskan
natives held the lowest four year high school graduation rates
of any ethnic group, american indian indigenous students perform
two or three grades lower, uh, to their white peers,
uh, in reading and mathematics. So, as we talk
about the strategic plan, we need to recognize that native people,
american indian students, are still under counted. We still do
not have enough funding. And so we're concerned about where we're going with
the strategic plan, what it looks like for american indian students.
remember our history, remember that we are just as important and the
stories of american indian need to be told to our people in this
country. Thank you very much. Thank you for your time. Alright,
I'll call again on uriah blackwell. You're listed as being in person. Are you here?
and now we'll go to those listed as speaking, uh, remotely. Uh,
cassandra, someone listed just as cassandra, you're signed up online
to speak remotely. Are you in the room, cassandra? No. Alright.
cesar, you are online. Please press star six to unmute yourself. And you have two minutes
to speak once you begin cesar.
so you're with us cesar, uh,
and you're unmuted, so please go ahead. Okay. Uh, thank
you. Uh, good morning board members. Uh, my name is cj cruz.
I'm a member of the cillo youth hub, uh, youth executive board and former l-a-u-s-d
student. Um, the district's local control and accountability plan
focuses on improving student outcomes and preparing students for the future.
as a student, I know that some of the most important learning happens beyond the classroom.
I have had the opportunity to participate in stem programs, leadership development programs,
and the ymca youth and government mentoring, internships, and other
community-based programs. These experiences help me discover my interests, build
confidence, and develop the skills I use today. I honestly would not be standing
here talking, uh, sitting here, uh, speaking to you if it were not for
the programs. These pro uh, opportunities, these programs provided. I have
seen firsthand how these experiences increase student engagement,
strengthen connections for school, and create pathways for success. I have also
watched younger students step into the same opportunities falling behind us
and growing into leaders themselves. I know as you consider difficult
budget decisions, I encourage you to continue investing in programs that
expand opportunities for students, especially those who have historically faced barriers to
access. Through my experience on the ella youth executive board,
I have seen how important these programs are for young people who are still
discovering who they want to become. When we invest in youth, we invest in the
future of our communities. Thank you for your continued commitment to the students. Thank
you. Thank you for your time. The next remote speaker is adriana del
tore, adriana della tore, are you in the room? I
do not have you online at this time. Alright, the next speaker is
martha cox. I see you're in there. Please press star six to unmute yourself. And you have two minutes
to speak when you begin. Martha, mr. Ryan?
hello. Good morning. Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Please go ahead.
thank you. Good morning, superintendent and board members. My name is
martha cox. I'm a-s-p-s-a counselor, and I'm here to briefly
speak to item number four, the black student achievement plan.
I ask that the board approve the contract to align with the provisions of this
item. In addition, I asked for the board to please investigate the school-based
psac assignment procedures within the psa unit
and how seniority is used to assign psa counselors
into school-based positions. Due to my health, I must now
return to a school-based psa counselor position.
my seniority number is 52 out of over 800 psa
counselors. I was disheartened to learn that I would be relocated to
region south rather than continuing to work in region east.
as most of my 30 years within as an l-a-u-s-d
employee, I asked the board to please investigate this inequity
as I have served my community in multiple roles for 30 years.
not only have I advocated for family for decades, I was born and raised in los angeles,
and I'm a product of la unified schools. As has my son been,
it's essential that I remain in east region east due to my son being autistic
and needing assistance to navigate him onto a school, future school
campus. He is not an independent traveler. We both
have medical conditions in which I have fmla paperwork for on file,
and I ask that the district board please review
how a seniority is not being looked at when we're
being assigned to our regions.
it's inequitable. And I have been with the region again for well
over 20 of my 30 years, and I ask that the school board
please look into this so that I may maintain my position within
region east dean, that I am number 52 out of over 800
psa counselors. Thank you for your time. I have maintained a high caliber
of hardworking. All right. The next speaker is
lucia rojas. You're signed up to speak remotely, but I do not have you signed in?
are you in the room? Lucia did not in the room. So
that concludes public comment for tab one. It's now appropriate for a board discussion
board members who would like to go first.
okay, I'll go first. Thank you. Um,
slide 17, dr. Johnson,
under social emotional learning,
it says that students will increase their mastery of social
emotional learning competencies. So I'd like to know a couple of
things. What's the metric for that? How big of an increase
and how does a report card, how is that used to measure? Um,
good questions and, and, and, um, there's gonna be a couple things that happen here.
uh, so there's short term and a longer term. So in the short term, we will be continuing to
use the school experience survey to, to us that is administered in the spring
every year. Uh, the, the results from this past year will be released very shortly.
um, and that is based off of, again, student self reports
of their, of their, of, of their, you know, um, and these are, these
are self-report items around, you know, uh, self-efficacy, student social awareness. These
are, uh, common validated, uh, competencies that are used, um, kind of
industry standard that will then over the next year, during the 26 27
school year, we will be developing and piloting this, uh,
the new report card that will be differentiated by grade level. There will be a, there's gonna be a
tk specific one, an elementary specific one, and a secondary specific one
that will be used. Um, and that, uh, that is in the works.
um, and will be again, uh, developed and piloted this year with the full launch
slated for fall of 2027. And when that launch does happen, we will
continue the school experience survey for that first year to look at, you know, to, to, to look at validation
of, of the, the, the report card metric, um, with how students are
self-assessing, you know, so there's a teacher perspective and a student per perspective at least,
at least at first, um, to go from there. And so as far as,
um, set the goal setting from there that, you know, that that first year, that 27, 28
year will be really a baseline year. And we're gonna, you know, most likely look
at it a couple different ways, uh, once the report card is developed. One is
growth and development within a school year. So, you know, one, one benefit of the report cards versus
the survey is the report card is a multiple point in time during the school year. And
so looking at students' progress from the fall to the spring, but then we will also
wanna look at, you know, spring to spring. So this year's, you know,
final, um, um, performance for students compared to the subsequent year.
um, well, you answered all the questions. I appreciate that. Sure. Uh, another
one on slide 23 under district of choice,
it states that we plan to increase the number and percentage of new
student enrollments. And what are the specific metrics on this for? So,
so that is looking at, you know, at a given school year. And, and we, we do look at this already.
uh, you know, so, so, you know, at currently of our students, how
many of our students right now or, you know, in the fall weren't here last school year?
so what's our, what's our, you know, the, the number of new students that we have? And, you know, to
some extent we should always expect a lot of new students, especially in the entry grades. Um,
but looking at, are we bringing in new students, not just there, but
across the across grade spans. You know, we, we do see, for example, in ninth
grade, a lot of students come into the district. Many of them actually coming back into
the district. They may have been here in elementary grades, went somewhere else from middle school, and
then they're back with us in, in ninth grade. And so, looking to grow those numbers year over year, you
know, we don't want to say customers, but you know what I mean, it's, it's improving, you
know, growing the number of, of families that, that we are bringing. And then, and then once they're
here, making sure that we're offering a good enough service that they wanna stay.
and so that's the other number, the retention number from year over year. Okay. And last question
on 23 again, um, it mentions reducing
workers' compensation. So will there be a priority, for example,
in training or professional development to reduce, uh, workplace
injuries or incidents? And can you give us some kind of examples
of the training that you would like to see done? Um, I, and for that, it's
a good question. I, I, I don't know if we have colleagues from hr in the room that can speak to
that, but that's certainly something that, um, we can look to report, uh, to,
to get back to you on, on, on what those trainings would be. So it's, I'll be awaiting, okay, so simply saying we're
gonna do it isn't, I think what you're getting at is simply saying that we want this as a goal is not gonna be
sufficient. There needs to be scaffolding and support to ensure, ensure that actually happens. Okay. Thank
you very much. Board members, other questions? Ms. Tanya ortiz.
thank you. I, I was gonna suggest on the workers' comp that we, um, don't let people
get confused that it's not compensation for workers, but it is workers' comp
comp claims. Very good. Maybe we went like, some clarification. Very good clarification, yes.
um, on slide four, the data we're talking about, does that include early
ed adults, uh, school and, um, our independent charters, the 442,000
students, 83,000 employees? Good question. So that, that number is a little different than
fingertip facts, for example. And, and that's because it, we, we took affiliate, uh, independent
charters out of there. So it is, yes, it's, it's, it's our early ed. It's our
tk, it's our adult ed, but it's not our independent charters. That's sort of the, the math
that went behind those numbers there. Okay. That's helpful to, to just be on the same page about.
and then I know we asked this at the follow up, and we, uh, received the materials from amanda. Thank
you. But we didn't get clarity. When will we get the measures of success and the,
um, operational plans after october? So the, um,
so, so for the measures of success, we, we are almost
finished with what we're calling the technical appendix, where we spell out the, the specific
metrics that will go into that. Now, for a lot of those, we don't have the baseline data. Um,
and so we will be publishing that as soon as we get it, as it it,
our october is our target for the actual, having the actual baseline data.
um, the, and again, that's contingent on the state, the state's timeline for their
fall reporting out is moving up. They're, you know, they're, it used to be november,
december, and now, and then it was thanksgiving and now it's early november. So we're looking at october,
if not late september, for when we get those, you know, the four year cohort graduation and
a to g outcomes. And those are the, usually like the last, the last one there. So,
um, and we do wanna report those out. We, we will have metrics like the board will receive,
you know, information on our smarter balance preliminary results sooner than that, and other, other,
you know, important pieces will come out as as we go the, uh, and so then,
yeah, so I, I think october is gonna be what we can best promise. Okay. So I might just request whether
a committee of the whole or another board meeting where we can dive into those collectively in
a public space, whether it's september or october when we get the information. I'm seeing head nods.
um, okay. A couple of content things for me, um, but I'll keep it quick. On slide 22,
engagement and collaboration. Um, on the leading
for impact, uh, section, I wonder if we could add a measure, if
the team could consider about deepening our collaboration with, with effective
partners. We have a piece in here about measuring the effectiveness of our partners, but
then once we've done that, can we have some sort of vision or commitment to, um,
strengthening those relationships, you know, supporting their expansion, whatever that might be. So,
you know, for the team to think about. And then on the accessible information,
um, that feels limited. I don't know if we track like email open rates. To your
point, we send a lot of them, I don't know how many of them actually get open or any sort of
social media or text message engagement, but it seems to me that we could have other measures
that let us know whether information is, is being actually
received versus just being sent. Um, so that's something I would encourage the team to think
about. Okay. On operational effectiveness, this is probably my biggest priority on
slide 23 under sustainable budgeting. Can we add fair
or equitable budgeting? I know it's kind of buried in there, but we've talked a lot about equity
in our, our dollars. And so it'd be powerful to see it in the title. I
know fair is sometimes more palatable than equitable, so either of those. Um,
but I would also offer as a metric, uh, some sort of equitable distribution
of resources. Um, I think there is fair to use equitable,
'cause we've talked a lot about it. But again, if it's not in the metric, and especially if se
or bsap gets, you know, minimized over the next several years, like how can
we still maintain a commitment to that equitable distribution of dollars in investments?
um, okay. And then my last one on investing in staff, um, which is 24
under high performance standards. I would love to add the teaching and learning framework and
the school leadership framework. Those are really powerful tools that I know our schools use.
um, and it would be helpful to synthesize some of that information not as a compliance, you
know, or publicly, you know, producing evaluations of individuals.
um, but just some way to say the tools that we measure ourselves by are actually
ones that we look at and can elevate in a way that, um, gives them the, the respect that
I think they, they deserve. Um, so those are my, my big pieces for now. Thank you. Thank
you. Anyone else, mr. Melvoin?
um, well thank you, uh, for the team, uh, to the team for the work on this
strategic plan. You know, it was a real priority of mine in the first few years to get a
strategic plan. I know that was shared by my colleagues who were here at the time. The district had
been operating for, I think over a decade without a plan. Um, and so, you
know, just grateful for the work that it went into the first plan has as its sunsets.
I do think that a lot of the district success in terms of achievement, uh, early ed expansion,
um, some of the budgeting stuff we've discussed was, was because of that. I also think
that, you know, despite what could have been some periods in the last few years of instability,
that plan kept focus on the main thing. Um, and
when you're at schools and you see it there and people are speaking the language of the strategic plan, it really did.
um, you know, there's kudos to the principals,
teachers, school staff who are operating against it and working with a plan. Because I really think, again,
at a time when there could have been a lot of instability and even chaos, I might say
this district hasn't seen that. And I think it's in large part thanks to the plan and the planning process.
so I'm very excited for this next one. Um, and, and the improvements that will go into it.
um, you know, I, I think it being leaner is helpful when it comes to
communicability with the public. I also kinda, the other
side of that coin is just the need to create additional opportunities to
review the measures of success, technical appendix. I mean, I think that's where a lot of
the, the meat will be. Um, so I, I, uh, look forward to opportunities to
review that, not only on, on sel, which I, I still am also
confused about, but also the other goals. Um, and then also to reviewing the,
the operational plans, um, that will lay out the specific strategies. 'cause that's
ultimately how, how we'll get there. Um, so, uh,
so excited for that work. I guess my, just kind of piggybacking on mr. Ortiz franklin, I guess my kind
of two suggestions, um, if we
could incorporate, and I don't know, I could, you know, I'll, I'll share them kinda as
an amendment, but I know, like you said, this is iterative and I do think I wanna be clear with, with
the staff and the public that it's a living document to some extent, but we don't want, we're
not moving the goalposts, we're just maybe tweaking strategies and under how to get
to those goals. But I think when we say living document, we wanna make it clear that it's not like,
oh, we're gonna be recalibrating all the time. We like, are putting, um,
you know, flags down of where we think the district needs to go. Uh, and then
we will, we'll, we'll tweak as we're, uh, to kind of figure out the, like,
kind of the slope of how to get there on certain things. But, um, agreed. So on
slide 23 for operational effectiveness, um, I appreciate
that we're increasing facilities, capital projects completed on time. You know,
I just think it would be helpful at the, in the subhead, under modernizing infrastructure to
begin that, um, to begin that, uh,
sentence or with, um, efficiently build and maintain and resilient, just like get the word
efficiently in there, because that is both about cost and time.
um, so modernized infrastructure. So we would say efficiently build and maintain a resilient modern infrastructure
that supports innovative learning and long-term, um, uh, stability. So
I would encourage that or suggest that. And then the other one, just because it is been a, has been a priority
of this board under, uh, slide 22 leading for impact. Um,
I would love to add a measure of an additional measure of success that,
um, is about our utilization of school district property for things like housing and
community school parks and public benefit. And so I had a suggestion of has a, as
a fourth bullet that would be, um, increased opportunities to effectively utilize
district property to provide housing and other uses with community benefit
such as community school parks. Um, thank
you. I'll take that . So, but, uh, you know, just because the work we're working on it,
we in, um, so those would be my two suggestions if the team would incorporate them. And unless there
are objections from the board, but in general, again, just, uh, you know, excited for the
contin continuity of this process. Thanks, scott. Okay, ms. Ez.
um, thank you so much. Well, I'll start with appreciation, um, because this
is the second strategic plan that we're looking at, um, over, I mean,
since, since the pandemic. And I think that it's an important practice of effective
organizations and I just want to appreciate the team and undertaking this work.
um, and similar to mr. Melvin, you know, I was, I was there, helped lead the process
for, um, defining our original goals as a board, which
have helped create the foundation for this work. And, um, have seen,
uh, you know, a ton of progress in in our schools because of
this work. Of course, it's because of the work of educators in our classrooms, but really having
a north star as a district, um, not a million priorities, but
a set defined number of priorities, I believe has been really important to, um, organizational
coherence and actually being able to make progress on the measures that matter most for our
students and families. So, um, it, it might feel like a technical
conversation, but I think this is really important work that helps, um, guide the
work of our school district and the work in classrooms. Um, I have even seen like
bulletin boards in teachers classrooms displaying the pillars and which is exciting because
it means that it's being embraced and also that these pillars and priorities
authentically reflect, um, what our school communities feel
are important. Um, and I think some of the major additions that I'm kind
of noting well changes. One is narrowing the focus, which
I think is really important, focusing on outcomes and not just activities or strategies.
um, I also appreciate and uplifting of, uh, career pathways and
cte and access to cte. I think that's reflective of what we hear from high school
students in particular as well as their families. Um, continued focus on
socio-emotional learning. Granted, we have some work to do on the measurement front, but that's
because we are being thorough and thoughtful. I believe we could, we could be a little bit more
rote about it and we could solve the problem more easily. But I think that this district
is trying to chart a different course in terms of really authentically measuring
students' socio-emotional capacities. And, um, I've seen a ton more work in that
space in our schools because of the board uplifting this back in 2021,
um, as well as what was the other, and, and uplifting science, again,
these are the types of hands-on engaging learning experiences that our
students crave, um, that they derive joy from. And so I think it's
really important that we are uplifting this as part of the plan. Um, now to just some
feedback as well. I, I appreciate you noting that this is a living document and I will
be making sure that we have another conversation about that because I
think that this is really important and I want to ensure that the board has an opportunity to weigh in thoroughly
on it. Um, so just a couple of, uh, more technical notes for
me. So on college and career readiness, I wanted to just confirm, I think you said this bill,
but that we are going to be reporting out the career readiness data
separately by itself. Is that correct? Yeah, we will, we will be able to report
out, so the kind of the ingredient components of our, of our, what
is the district goal, you know, so there's the, the a to g obviously the college side, but
then the career readiness as well. Those can be the very easily reported out on their own,
so mm-hmm . You know, if, if it's, you know, if it's a venn diagram of, you know, students
who are, who have reached the milestones to be college ready and
those re reaching the milestone to be career ready and those who are both, um, you know, certainly
can be reported out as a part of our, our annual reporting. Okay. Great. And then, and then
along with that, other, other kind of graduation or cohort related outcomes, like
this is where we'll have the seal of biliteracy, for example, which is a part of the graduation
me metrics that we do. And that can be reported out, of course, um, in, in component
parts for certain student groups, um, as well. Okay. Yes, I would strongly encourage that. I
think we know that in having conversations about uplifting the career readiness part
of college and career readiness, that we have a lot of work to do when it comes to equitable
access to cte programs across our district at all of our secondary schools.
um, so I think it's really important to ensure that we're taking a look at that part of
the measure, um, specifically. Okay. Um, I also wanted to note just
in terms, again, looking at secondary, um, kind of measures,
um, I'm a, I'm a little concerned about us not getting a, a good
look at students, particular student groups, um, that
might not always be fully included in the graduation
at college and career ready metric or the a through g ontrack measures
specifically, you know, like our newcomer students who have an extended time to graduate
high school, our students with disabilities, including those who might do a
certificate of incomp completion rather than a regular high school diploma. And then our
students who graduate at lasd adult schools rather than, um, getting their
diploma from a comprehensive high school. So I would want
to ensure that we have some measure around like high school completion.
um, and of course, you know, our goal is for students to, to meet that college and
career readiness metric and to graduate within four years, but students are legally entitled
to more time. And I want to ensure that, um, if they are completing that we have a
sense of that and that, and that the schools that are serving more of our higher needs student
populations are getting credit for that to the extent that that's possible. Okay. Great.
I see nodding. So I'm gonna go onto the next one. Um, you
mentioned the seal of biliteracy, so that was one I was gonna raise as well. I think in the eliminating
opportunity gap section, um, we, we are taking a look at our english
language learners. Our district I think, is such a leader and looking at emergent bilinguals
from an asset mindset and not a deficit mindset. And so I think in
addition to looking at reclassification, we do want to specifically look at seals of biliteracy
attainment for our english language learners, because we do want to continue to
foster growth in their, in their native languages as well as in english.
um, and then with regards to students with disabilities in that same section, eliminating
opportunity gaps. I think we've heard a lot from families even last week at the cac
presentation around, it's not about quantity of minutes
included in general education programs, it's about the quality
and how are we better serving this important student group. And I
think it's tricky, I think from a metrics standpoint, but I feel that these measures
of ce success are not really getting at the quality question fully,
or are students getting the individualized support that they need to meet,
um, their unique needs as students with disabilities. So I think there might be some data
challenges here, but I would love if we could circle back on this particular topic
to see how, how could we measure the, the quality of the
inclusion that students are receiving or the extent to which they're receiving the individualized
services that they're entitled to. Um, and then on the
engagement and collaboration section, uh, the topic of communication, which I
know has been discussed a little bit already, is something that I've definitely heard a lot from families.
I think families feel strongly that they want not more, but
better communication from the school district. Um, and, and in particular
though, not only are we looking at multilingual communication, but multi multimodal
communication. So perhaps that's part of the operational plans. Um,
but I know the suggestions I get specifically are like, you know, videos, whatsapp,
um, and other ways that parents today receive and communicate
information and ensuring like that we're not just doing a check
the box, we're we're sending a flyer home, we're putting something in the parent portal,
but that we're actually being responsive to the ways that families prefer to communicate so they can,
so we can reach them with our communications. Um, even with the
parent portal. I, I mean, I think that, that it's, it's helpful.
I finally, after like three or four years in the district now, now do have my
parent portal account active, but I, I don't think that that necessarily
counts as foster and collaborate. Like that's kind of a baseline and we want to shoot for more than that. So
it is truly that authentic partnership and collaboration with families. Um,
okay. I almost, I'm almost done, I promise. Um, for leading with impact.
I know, um, ms or franklin offered some feedback on the initiatives that we're
collab collaborating with different partners on. I just wanna note that again, it's not just about
the number of initiatives. I'm not interested in more initiatives. I'm interested in meaningful
initiatives that yield unique benefits for students and families. So would love for that
to be incorporated. And then finally, um, in this section
around joy and wellness and whole child wellbeing,
you know, there is a mention of something that's really important in that we provide health,
nutrition, mental health services to our students, that our families want to see more of that,
but there aren't really any measures of health or nutrition or mental
health access. So I know that there might be challenges because some of
those are partner provided services, but I would love for us to explore how can we
strengthen our data here so we can get a sense of what is the student utilization
of these types of services and supports as well as families when their services offered for
families as well. Um, with that, I will, I will conclude. Thank you for listening
intently. Yeah. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Go ahead, rocio.
thank, so thank you. Thank you for your presentation. Uh,
I know it's, it's a lot of work that went into thank you carolyn and the team for
putting, you know, um, really enhancing, uh, strategic plan
and moving our, our our district and our schools students
and communities forward. So, um, you know, the
conceptual framework and the theory of action is very, you
know, thoroughly, um, um, described and
explained here and the goals and objectives. And, um, I agree that
with, um, my colleague, ms. Ortiz franklin, that, you know, seeing the
implementation plan or the, the, um,
the actual, you know, how this plan is gonna be executed is, is,
um, if not more important because, you know, that is what's gonna drive,
um, the success in the strategic plan for the next four years. So
definitely, um, the committee of the whole, we will set some time to,
um, to review the implementation plan and, you know, further ask
questions and understand, um, the different departments and, and
divisions that are really working together to, to make this happen. So
to make the, make sure that this roadmap is, um, is act actionable
and functional moving forward. So just a few questions. Um,
I know that you mentioned here the themes that you heard from the stakeholders,
from the various stakeholders, um, that were, um,
included in, um, in the strategic plan, but just wanted to understand a little
bit more specific examples. And I know that'll come in, hopefully
that'll come in the implementation plan, but just for now, um,
are there, can you share any specific examples on the feedback from
stakeholders, um, that actually changed this final strategic plan
based from the first one? What was the feedback that, you know,
um, that really said, oh, we must add, this wasn't in the first four
set of four years, but now we need to add this in here? Um, uh, I think eric hanson
will, will share a couple. One that's, that I know that comes to mind right away is, is, uh,
again, more emphasis on advanced learning opportunities, um, for students and access to those programs.
um, the last strategic plan wasn't devoid of that necessarily, but that was an area that
came up repeatedly, not just, uh, for the strategic plan engagement for the landscape analysis
engagement on what do families want from the program offerings we have across the district. And
so that is, that is called out very explicitly, um, as a, as a metric in,
in what we're doing here. So that's just one example. Um, and, and I think another emphasis
is the, the arts programs and not just, again, not just after school arts, but during
the school day arts. Um, and having that really be a part of this is a, this
is a foundational piece of our core curriculum and, and calling it out as such in the, in the, in the plan.
I'm gonna, eric, if you have others sure. And just one more example, um, just hearing
from families and, uh, and also staff, but families about
enrollment and ways to enroll, making it easier, making it
simpler. The systems are too complex. And, uh,
also hearing, uh, when we did the region, uh, focus groups, hearing from principals
about hiring and as a, you know, elementary principal and,
and, uh, previously when you're trying to hire a teacher in the summer, you wanna
open school with that teacher. And so working with hr, uh, great
teams, hr and pc, but you want to get that staff hired. Uh, 'cause you don't wanna lose
candidates. You could do an interview and, uh, you don't want, you know, your perspective teacher
to if it was faster or a different school to get hired. So you want to make sure
that those are efficient systems. So all of that information, uh, goes into
the, into the plan, but also sharing with departments about what we heard
in detail from our families, from community, from staff,
and as they work on operations plans and being mindful of this is what's
important to those that we serve. So that's just, uh, just one
other examples that bill already already shared. Yeah, no, thank you. Um, you hit,
um, the themes that I've heard time and time again, the
hiring process and also the arts. Um, uh, parents
really wanna see arts all, not all the time, but really integrated
into the lesson planning. And also teachers have also mentioned that we need
more support, not support and professional development, and really how
to integrate it into everything, you know, that they do. And, um, I
know that some are able to do it, you know, not better,
but in a more, um, efficient and effective
and, you know, and parents can see that. So that was actually one of the areas
I was gonna ask in the arts. 'cause I hear that time and time again. So, so
basically what you heard from the, from the feedback from staff,
students and parents that is gonna, that is informing the operational
imp implementation plans that hopefully you were gonna, okay. So working together and
how to make this happen. So that's great. So, um, just, you know, I'm sure there's
other more examples that you can provide. Just wanted to hear, um, a little bit about
that. So the priority strategies and measures
will, um, will incorporate the feedback. Correct.
awesome. Great. And, um, and continuing
with stakeholders, how will stakeholders remain involved during the execution phase,
um, of the strategic plan and also what opportunities will exist
for ongoing feedback and course correction, um, and shared
accountability as implementation moves forward? Good question. Um, so
as I mentioned, we're, you know, we have some initiation activities planned for, you know,
supporting principals now. And I think some of that work will be a, it'll be a combination of
our, of us continuing with principals to, to making sure principals
have the, the resources they need to, to speak to the strategic plan for them to know their data. We're
looking at whole child is the data system that principals mainly will be
relying on for, for data at their schools and, and working with, with, um,
our partners to make sure that the whole child, whole child has a, if you will, a
kind of a, a bespoke or customized, uh, strategic plan report that principals
have access to that they can use in their conversations with, with stakeholders or for their own internal
decision making. So that's, again, supporting principles along the way. So that's gonna be one avenue where
we foster engagement. I, I do, I do see, um, a work, so as
we do our community, as we do our, sorry, our annual reporting every year, having, having
feedback and, and one part of that is going to be not just, you know, the,
the, the kind of wrote, uh, you know, each metric, here's the number in
that, that, that plan, but we're going to have organized by pillar, what are some
key operational, um, highlights or milestones that have happened sort of
holistically within each pillar. That's gonna be a part of our annual reporting. And for that process there,
I, I certainly see a, a space where we can have community engagement for how we do that annual reporting,
um, obviously the strategic initiatives office led by eric, uh, uh,
as a part of the lcap process, there's a lot of community engagement there. So, so looking for synergy
with the lcap community engagement that we do, um, to inform the strategic plan, just
as a couple quick ideas. Okay, great. Thank you. Um,
let's see, my other questions. And what specific program project management tools
or dashboards will be used to make the, the, the strategic plan
more visual, measurable and actionable, uh, for the board staff
and for our stakeholders? Um, so as, as I just mentioned, whole child will be,
um, the main tool that is used at the school sites for principals. Um, when
we're looking at the strategic plan, we, you know, as, um, we currently have for the current strategic
plan on open data, which is publicly available to everyone, um,
all of the district goals and breakouts, um, by students are currently on open data
that will certainly continue. Many of the measures of success along with the lcap are
on open data and the open data dashboard that will continue. Um, and then for,
for the board and, and others. And then there will be the, you know, the, the, the annual
fall report that will be more of a, of a-a-p-d-f format,
if you will. Uh, you know, a detailed pdf that we can certainly, you know, have presentations
to, to share that as well. That will be, you know, I don't wanna call that a dashboard, but that will be a very data heavy
report that will then be mapped to other, other data platforms that we have.
so combination of internal ones for school sites where they can see their own.
um, and then some, you know, the, the public publicly available on open data will be the two main
ones. I think that will be, um, great to add
into the website for the strategic plan, uh, for, um,
for staff or principals and also for families, exactly what you said. You can,
you know, uh, follow the, the, the, I guess the
progress or the growth or, or here are ways that you can, you know,
um, inform your school on the strategic plan or how you can be involved,
I think. And then also incorporating, um, or bringing in our community
reps also to be able, I know there's a family guide that's gonna be,
um, developed with, um, is it innovate public schools? So
I know, you know, from at the last strategic plan, you know, the family guide was,
you know, very great in explaining and, and, uh, bringing the, our
families in incorporate the families feedback and also, um,
a connection to the strategic plan so they understand as they see, you know,
um, the poster boards on the strategic plan and explaining to them so
they have it more so it's more tangible for them, right? So incorporating
that information on the website and also bringing in our community reps and our,
our parent centers and connecting with families, I think would be really
great for them to not only understand, but also know where to go to, to,
you know, see how growth or how these goals and objectives are
being measured and where they can go and get some additional information. I think
that would be really, um, rocio, can we important, can we do a round two?
oh, I just started my questions. Um, okay. Wait,
hold on one second. Let me see. I have two more. Is that okay?
um, so just two more questions. How, how are the strategic plan goals
objectives aligned with the budget that we were going to vote on today?
and how will future budget decisions be evaluated to ensure continued
alignment with these priorities and measures of success? Right. So how are really, really
strategically aligned to the budget? Um, well, the
budget is not, it's not hardwired, you know, it's not, uh, like, you know, the
lcap and the, and the, and the budget have a more, you know, close attachment
of course. But remember the lcap, the first five goals in the lcap are the five pillars
in the strategic plan. And so the activities reflected here are,
are also reflective of the lcap and, and the, and the budget that you know, but, and
remember the lcap is just about local control funding, like just that portion. And so this is larger.
um, the, uh, the one piece is the budget, the, the budget transparency tool, which is again,
a publicly available resource that we have, you know, outlines for, for the, and this
will continue, um, with the new strategic plan. You know, some pieces have moved, some activities
that were sort of under pillar one, um, in the current strategic plan are gonna be in pillar
two that will be updated in the fiscal, I'm sorry, in the budget transparency tool
that we will have moving forward. And so I think that's gonna be the main vehicle where people can see
how our spending, you know, how, how are we spending our money related to pillar two activities,
pillar three activities, year over year, um, and so on. So I think that's probably the best,
the best resource there, other than of course, um, you know, the budget process
that we have, you know, that's attached to the lcap that we do too, which is aligned. Yeah, that would be
also great to add to the website. And I'll skip my last question, but the other comment I wanted to make
for, uh, page 20 on college and career readiness.
you know, if under the, the bullet points there, it would be
great to also add the number of students enrolled in peer partnership programs,
um, because I know, you know, we're expanding our partnerships
with our, um, construction and trades,
our locals. And, um, I know we're working, I know pia and, um,
is really working, you know, really hard and, and really creating, um,
for high school students to enroll in some of these pre-apprenticeship programs. But
I think that would be, um, a good metric to see, you know, how many
students are enrolled as we're expanding our partnerships. And also the number of
students with internships. I know that you said they're gonna be sub metrics, but, um,
if I, time and time again, I hear from a lot of our high school students,
you know, um, as I speak to them and also in, in our,
when I do school visits, but also in my student advisory council
internships, we want internships. And, and I know that we are definitely expanding
on that, but I think that would be, uh, another metric, um, to also,
um, kind of follow to see how many students are enrolling
or have access to internships and have internships. Okay. So I'll leave with that. Thanks.
okay. Thank you, carla. Yes. Um,
much appreciation like everybody else to all the work that has gone
into this, uh, strategic plan. I do know that you, I can tell
from the work that you listened to us as well as the,
uh, folks, uh, the parents and the community members, um,
thank you as well for really trying to get that
sel goal. I know that, uh, that the sel
division, pbis practically, everyone is really trying hard to try
to make this happen. So I really want to show appreciation for that effort
and looking forward, hearing about it. Um, you know, a lot of my,
one of the things that I I, that really stuck with me is the
slide on what we heard. And I thank you for sharing that, because
I think it coincides with what a lot of us board members hear
from parents when we meet with them. And, um, but for me in
particular, the mental health and wellbeing is something that I've
heard, not only from parents, but also from students. And one of the things that students
talk about is that they don't know who is their psw. They don't,
especially the big schools, right? They don't know who they can go to if
they have, if they need some support. Um, and a few months
ago, I, we passed the resolution on wellness without silos, which
was trying to address that issue. One, there's different levels of support
that we can give students in regards to wellness and mental health and
wellbeing, and that this can come from many folks at
a school site. So I encourage you to go back and look at that reso,
because that talks about training for everyone, for all
staff, um, bringing all of these supports and having
committees that can look at all the different areas of wellness at
a school site, and just bringing cohesion to everything. So,
um, I, I encourage you to look at that to, to,
when you are thinking about the how, right? So you're not working in silo
with some of the policies that we've already passed, right? It can all come together.
um, the other thing I want to a address is the cleanliness. That's
a very big issue in our campuses. I've heard it not
only from our students, not only from parents, but from the school sites,
right? The, the staff really, you know, needing that. And I,
I wanna uplift that because that's a real concern. And then, uh,
in creating inclusive environments is very important. Um, so
the other thing is on slide 14, oh, that, I just spoke about that, but
I, I wanted to also share, like, for example, our a 3g counselors,
I worked at a school site that did not have a psw when I was there, but we
did have an a through g counselor who really did everything for these students.
and so there's just all these different, um, personnel
that we have at our schools that can play that role of being supportive, of being
inclusive, of being welcoming. And, um,
the other thing is, on slide 14, we als you also talked about
communi, uh, improving our communication and provide meaningful
opportunities to engage with community members. And again,
something I've heard, and I'm wondering, what are some examples, have
you thought about what are some ways that we're gonna make this happen
on the, on, on the communication side? Well, I, I know, I mean, one area
that is a, that is touching on other themes too is, is the, you
know, the enrollment process and communication for the enrollment process and where, and how families learn
about their options, where, and how they interface with the schools that their, you know, their options are
and revisiting the timelines. So that's, that's just one sort of specific example that gets into,
that's, that's getting into the enrollment processes as well. So that, that's, that's
one area. Eric, anything else come to mind? Okay. Also, just
going back to the development of the family guide, as we've had, have had engagement sessions,
uh, working, collaborating with innovate on the family guide and kind, what we've heard so
far from families is that the, the, the first family guide, very
helpful, very helpful for families to dialogue about
the strategic plan, what's in it, some metrics. Um,
but we heard it's a little bit long, a little bit lengthy. And so families do want
a more concise, uh, family guide and really some essential
questions that they can have either with their school principal or teacher. And
so, um, looking at as we develop that and then
roll it out for, as far as going back to engagement, making
sure that our schools are aware, our regions, our principals, directors, all of that,
but making sure that our, our school parent reps are,
are knowledgeable, the face region administrator are knowledgeable
and rolling it out to our parents and having those, uh, you know,
the meetings in the regions to make sure parents are aware of the family guide, understand
it. And then also the imp implementation is really at the school site. And so
providing those resources or principals when have coffee with the principal to share about the family guide,
but most importantly how it connects to their school site. Mm-hmm .
so going back to some of the resources we're developing, uh, for principals
and school sites is to connect the strategic plan to their
school site. So as a principal, knowing literacy, numeracy, how
that connects, but also through special programs I have with a school site,
um, that, and how that relates to the strategic plan and sharing that with parents.
so appreciate that, uh, connection between the parent rep and
their role. In fact, I was gonna suggest that making sure that they
also get trained and perhaps they can co-facilitate
with the principal, right? I mean, I think that, uh, bringing, making those
connections even amongst the staff, uh, can really help, uh, disseminate
information so that if the parent has a question, they know they can go to the parent rep.
they don't necessarily have to go to the principal to get that answered. And then
it's like they're, they're training each other, right? And then even parent leaders can come out of
that, who can train other parents. So, um, I like that idea. The
other thing is, I think that, I don't know if this was done with
the previous strategic plan, if everybody was aware of it. And what I mean
by everybody, I mean like cafeteria staff, after school
staff, custodial staff, like everyone. So I don't know if there is a plan
for how we share this with everyone, because it does impact all levels
of, of, and so of our workforce. And so, again, part of our engagement,
going back to the region focus groups, um, one theme we heard was
we want to see ourselves in the strategic plan. And again, it was, it was,
it's more concise, right? 32 pages of versus 65. And
as a, you know, busy school sites, so parent, the,
for principals develop, developing a tool that,
so they, when they meet with their instructional aides, when
they meet with their counseling team, their grade level chairs or their whole staff
or their, their, their maintenance staff, mm-hmm . All of these are meetings or principals
have every single month with their teams, but we have a resource where they can,
when they're meeting, they can say they can go as maintenance,
we can go right to the, um, to the pillar and see looking at,
uh, pillar two, the part about, um, uh, maintenance calls.
so tying that in. So, so schools, no matter what role you
have, you are supporting students and you can see where your work
matters in the strategic plan and how it relates to the kids you serve at that school site.
okay. Good. I'm glad that that's part of the plan. So you have that resource for principals to implement. Okay,
good. I would love, that's for, for me, that's very important. Um, the
other thing I was going to suggest is that I don't
know what our goal is for participation in any survey regarding, um,
like, uh, what is it, slide 22 when we're trying to, uh,
it's the pillar on collaboration. So, um,
I don't know, at least I didn't hear what we are going to
use as a measure and, um, for any of
these goals. And then also what our baseline is and what
we're gonna use as a baseline. So I'm, I'm making an assumption that it's gonna be the school experience
survey, but I'm wondering is that a correct assumption or should there, are
there other areas that we are gonna be using other, other tools that we're gonna be using? Yeah. And
can you just clarify, was there a particular item on this slide, or was it,
well, um, different ones have different sort of data sources. Oh, sorry. Okay. Um, so
for example, parents who feel welcome to participate, uh, volunteer
participation, families responding favor favorably around overall,
excuse me, overall customer service. Yeah. So the, the two, they feel
included in the decision making. So yeah, the two you mentioned are, are based off of
the school experience survey, um, as is there an, uh, a minimum
participation rate that we're looking for? Um, I think, I mean, obviously more
is, more is better. Our, our, our parent participation rates on the school experience
survey district-wide at least are the, are every year we've had the highest ever
that we've had, and they've continued to grow. So, um, you know, I think
as far as like holding, you know, if we're gonna be looking as the district at the district
level for reporting on this, it's going to, we're gonna be in really good shape. But now there we should,
you know, it's a good question around if we have certain schools where their parent participation is
25% or even lower, that'll,
that's, that's an interesting finding on its own for one. And then two,
we might want to think about, you know, how much do we caveat that at
the school level for, you know, and again, at the school level, it's gonna be, uh, you know, that's not gonna
be what we report necessarily school by school on this when we report out these metrics.
but principals will have that, that information is available publicly on the school experience survey dashboard
as well. But I think it's a fair question that we would always wanna caveat information at,
from a parent, the parent survey around this, um, I should mention the
staff survey and the student survey. We we're, we're in extreme, we're in very good shape on
response rates, um, for those. But when it's at, for the parent items, those are
the, those are generally a little bit lower, but much higher than national norms on,
you know, voluntary non incentivized surveys that we had that districts asked. And,
and, and board member, um, sorry, agree. I go over here, back here, back here. , um, one
thing, and come from above. Um, one thing in general,
um, so that was a specific answer, but in general, the technical appendix, which you will
get within the month, will have all of the measures of success, what tool will be
used, and then where we have it with the baseline will be, but when we get all of
the data, that's the october-ish date where we'll come back to the board, maybe
in a cow as, um, board member riva said, um, uh,
to, to, to present that, to talk about that to the board. So you'll get the, you'll get all of them within
the month. Okay. I appreciate, and this is my last thing. If
I think by school, by school, to me, I'm curious about, and especially if a school has
a very low, uh, participation rate, I definitely would want to
set a goal for that school, right? And find out what's going on. Why are
we not getting, uh, parent participation? So I'm wondering if we could also
add a layer of, um, if people do not participate in the survey as much
could at that school site, could we do a focus group?
and then if we don't, if we still do not reach the participation rate
that we want with a focus group, can we do empathy interviews?
like just give families as many opportunities and
many different ways of participating and, um, and train
our community reps to do that, train other folks at the school site who
can do that. Um, I find that there are families who,
with survey, I was one of those, I do not like surveys, but have
a conversation with me and I was fine. And I think that's another way
to build relationship with our families, for them to truly feel
that that was a meaningful engagement. We really care about what they wanna know about,
about what they're feeling, what they are thinking. So anyway, that's my
last thing. I'll stop there. Thank you. Okay.
patient, patient, miss new bill, .
oh, thank you. Uh, wanna definitely lead with gratitude in the work that's
done here. I think, um, as we know, it drives our district and
it drives where we're going. And, uh, I won't repeat a whole
lot of the instances just to mention it so that, you know, that
it was one of my concerns as well. Um, however we can
review the metrics so we all have a better understanding, um, is gonna be
helpful. And just how they tie into each other, because
as you say, they're coming from, um, they're, they're cross,
cross coming departments, and exactly how
that measurement is going to be, uh, perceived by our parents who are
not familiar with each department. And so I think it's gonna be helpful for
us to be able to explain that so that they get a better understanding, um,
to be able to interpret that information as it comes. Um,
the stability strong and, uh, sustainable workforce. I think as we mentioned,
uh, one said, uh, about our framework tools that we already use,
uh, and I know the work that we'll see from our landscape analysis will kind of
help us as well, uh, to see how we stabilize, especially
at the principals level at our schools. And I speak personally because I
know my schools have some turnover rates that are probably the highest within,
um, the unified school district with some schools of 2.5
of years. And so I would love to see how that metric works, and
if possible, uh, as carla was mentioning, school by school ways
that on the website, on a dashboard, that our principals
are able to pull out information to share with the community, their
community of how this is working. So they have eyes
on their space. Um, when we build, uh,
capacity, when we talk about engagement on, um,
those strong relationships, I think that's what builds the strong relationships, is when
that community can talk to their issues specifically.
they know their school, they understand their school, they understand the unified
district, but they understand their school. And if they're able to pull out those metrics to,
to address issues as they go, as they see the
increase, decrease, they'd be able to talk about it. If there's a way for, you know, our
principals and staff to understand it, but more importantly our parents
to understand it, uh, the
quality and implementation as mentioned in the effectiveness of our
partners. I think our partners are, and I don't wanna say our partners, because sometimes
we use that word interchangeably with other terms. And I think partners
are very special. They're, they're very unique to our work here
at the district and making sure that they're effective in what they
do and what they provide for us, and that it is a partnership.
so however we can highlight the quality of that
and the implementation of what they do for our schools, so that we can see that
in, in measure. How do we know that, um,
the, uh, we, we talk about our safety and, um, in
joy in wellness, and it's just, you know, broadly mentioned,
you know, how students feel safe at school, and I didn't see the
inve, the where teachers feel safe at school, if that's
just as well here in the student, uh, in the,
in the survey. Or is there other measures to be taken
into account on safety in our school sites? And would
that live in pillar five? Um, where,
um, we're taking into account istar data,
uh, school experience survey, is that those gonna be combined together? I'm not sure
if that is or not. And you can, you can lead me where that would go.
um, it most likely it will, it will, it will be here in welcoming learning environments
around staff perceptions of safety at their school, likely to be in more in the domain of operations
plans, but we can certainly consider, um, and, and talk to the teams on, on
bringing that into the strategic plan. It's an l cap metric. Um, oh,
is the staff perception of l cap metric? It is. So that investing staff? Yeah. And investing
in staff. Oh, I'm sorry. Thank you, eric.
um, wait, I'm sorry. Uh,
my, my apologies. So, yeah, so if you look at staff support and development staff reporting that the school's
supportive and inviting place to work, and then would sort of, that would probably be the, the, the,
the logical home for it. Sorry about that. Just so
I know, because I know many of our, uh, educators, they wanna make sure
that they're, they feel safe as well. And I know as we talk about
safety within our schools, that's a, a key component. Um,
however the website can be as user
friendly to, for folks to be able to go there to find
this the same way as we used, you mentioned the budget transparency tool,
the whole child. I mean, when you think about all the spaces in which to go
to narrow it as much as possible for us to be able, uh,
to capture what we need, um, you said open data, whole
child, uh, budget transparency tool. For any person
to be able to gather the information and follow this plan, it would be confusing.
so however we can minimize that and make it as
succinct for our families. And I always say, you know, we, we talk about it
at the third grade level for some of us, that's it. And for our
families, we need to be able to speak to that language. And I know in the district, we have the alphabet
soup, we got all these acronyms, we don't know what they mean, they
some mean different things. And so however we can make it
easiest for our families to follow. Um, and I think, uh,
kelly mentioned as a parent, I know parent portal, I'm figuring it out myself.
I have two children and I am, I'm getting there. I'm getting there. I'm
gonna be hopefully a pro soon, but however we can do it so our families
can, can, can follow along with our progress. Um,
the whole child, we talked about the report card and the shift, and will
we see that shift sooner than later? How will, how will we notify that shift?
the shift to the report card? Yes. Um, well, it'll be, you know, the, the, the report card
will be launched in, in, you know, fall of 2027. The work
has already begun with our division of instruction, working with, um, working with a
couple partners. We're, we're, we're talking with, with other, um, external experts, pro bono
support on developing, uh, what this report card would look like already
prototyping that. So there will be an engagement process, and that'll be a part of the piloting
along the way. That won't be a universal pilot, you know, that's, therefore it's not a pilot,
but it, so there will be engagement. I do, I do see benefit in perhaps conversation.
we can certainly look at conversations along the way on how the, um,
you know, so that folks are aware. So it doesn't just drop on everyone's lap in fall of 2027,
um, out of nowhere. Got it. Yeah. Uh, in academic excellence,
I didn't hear or mention anything about our apprenticeships or pre-apprenticeship,
if that lives somewhere in our college and career readiness.
um, it, it wasn't there. And I don't know if that's something that, a metric that we will be looking
at. Um, it is, uh, is something that we can consider
including as, you know, so again, baked into some of those college and career indicators,
like could possibly be, um, a sub indicator like we, you know, talked about cte
and, and, and so on, to the extent the data is, is available. Yep. That would be helpful.
'cause I know many of our families are looking towards pre apprenticeships and
obviously going towards that career pathway, um, within our
cte programs too. Okay. And
I think folks hit it all. Um,
I think that was it. Thank you. Thank you. Well, thank you very much.
I'm gonna have, uh, mr. Chase speak now, and then we're gonna start round two.
thank you. Board president. Uh, these were, marshall meant to be summative, but certainly welcome
additional feedback as part of a round two. Uh, really just wanted to, to thank the board
for the continuing thoughtful engagement. Uh, I've been obviously taking notes throughout.
I've asked the team to obviously take, uh, thorough notes as to the
feedback that we've received. Our commitment, of course is, and this is kind of the prevailing
theme that I heard throughout the discussion this morning, is around communication and engagement.
so our commitment to the board, obviously is to come back in october, if
not sooner. And there will be, obviously, engagement even before then around what
the measures of success look like and how those are informed by the feedback. Even some of the
feedback given today, we just wanna have the opportunity to engage with the, the, the
relevant divisions or shops to see how actionable some of those feedback points may be.
uh, and, and to really come back in october with something that reflects even the
feedback, uh, that was rendered today. The other side of the communications coin, though,
of course, is to the larger, larger community. Everything we've heard today from
making sure that community reps at schools are, are really
well equipped, not just to talk about the strategic plan as critical as that is, but just in general
to be able to relay critical information around the district. Uh, again,
I too have my fair share of parent portal horror stories that I can share, but
I'm a pretty adept user. Thank you very much. Um, I'll leave it at that.
uh, but we do need to look at how we refine those processes. You know, one thing, again, that we did,
uh, over the last couple months is around the communication
of parents. Uh, we as a district, if I'm being really candid,
we're, we're basically saturating our parents with messages almost on a weekly basis,
and a lot of them for very good opportunities, but it was just a lot.
and so one of the things that we've done is we've scaled that back. So now we send out a weekly newsletter
every wednesday at five. Every family gets one newsletter that has
all of those things that they used to get in a dozen or maybe more emails
over the course of the week. So we're very much committed to that communications
piece. Round two.
ross, do you have anything for round two? Round two,
or anyone else? I I do have one. Go ahead.
go ahead, rocio. Um, the one I didn't ask, um,
you probably already answered it, but I wasn't sure, I'll just ask it again. How does
the plan hold leadership accountable if these initiative benchmarks and the
outcomes are not met? And what reporting or intervention process
will be triggered if progress falls behind expectations?
I think you already answered part of that, but, um, yeah, I mean, the, uh,
the strategic plan is not necessarily an accountability, you know,
document on its own, but it, it is a, it is the way in which we hold ourselves accountable.
um, and I, I do think, you know, the reporting out, I mean, what gets measured gets
done or at least gets noticed if it's not done. And so I think in that there will be, you know, truth
and transparency. I don't, carolyn, were you gonna say something? Um, um, that's true. I would add, um,
hi. I would add that, um, with the superintendent, we have quarterly
meetings. We'll be looking at these so that we can very quickly get back on track if we're off
of track. So he will hold us accountable in those meetings as well.
and I know that in the pre and the first strategic plan, we were, uh,
at the end of each academic year, we were receiving sort of, um, sort of
progress or updates. So that was very useful. So expect, and that, and
that will continue as well. Okay. That was it. Just thanks, carla.
okay. Just two things. One, you mentioned something about middle school that we
were gonna be looking at. Let me look at which one. Um,
when we were looking at district of choice and we were going to
focus on middle schools, is that, is that correct? Uh, yeah. So, you
know, looking at retention rates of students that is there, there
we have the ability, and we have been doing this internally, and this can certainly be something that we
continue to do here. And this came up in landscape analysis. It's not, student retention is not a
uniform trend for every grade level. The very, you know, the matriculation points,
you know, again, by, you know, the, the, the transition points, sorry, from fifth to sixth
and so on is in particular, but it's not just there. But that is an, that is a
place where we can, we can look to tell that story with data
a little bit. And are we making headway on, you know, on, you know, reducing
the, the loss, you know, of students and increasing the, the gain
of students whenever possible. I think both of those sides of the story are important and trigger
different, different strategies in response. Yeah, and I, I appreciate that because
I do think that that is an, a grade level, an age group that we should
focus on. Um, it is the age when kids start to,
if there is any vaping, that's when it happens, whatever,
it's a, it's a very challenging transition for all, all kids, right?
so I would, I appreciate uplifting that. And I would
encourage us to look at some of our middle schools that have wait lists. I have some schools in my
district that actually have a, a middle school that has a wait list and,
um, look at, you know, what are their best practices, talk
to the parents there, why it is that they like that school. And then also talk
to parents of elementary school students and why they, they,
they are concerned about sending their child to one of our middle schools
in l-a-u-s-d so that we can, I, I, I do see that
there is a drop, you know, from, I think it's fifth to sixth,
and then we also get some more from eighth through ninth. So
I wanna investigate more about that. And this is an opportunity, and I think looking at schools that are,
that are doing well enrollment wise, let's find out
what it is that attracts parents to that school. What are the things that they're doing
or that they have, what opportunities are there that, uh, present that?
and then lastly, you mentioned webinars. And I understand the
reason for webinars, you have more capacity of folks, but, you
know, that's one complaint I get from parents is they don't like webinars. They don't feel like
it's engaging. They feel that it's done on purpose so that we don't get to hear what
they have to say. It's very controlled. And so
if we can do, if it's informational, like a one way,
I guess a webinar would be fine. But if you truly want discussion and
feedback, then I would encourage that we do zooms, even if the capacity is not
as high and it means that we have to do more zooms. I just think that's something
that we can do in terms of getting, yeah, getting families,
uh, to have that meaningful, meaningful engagement. And then lastly, we need to
build more capacity at our schools. So, uh, there
are, as we know, elementary schools may only have one administrator, right? And we're,
we're putting a lot on that principle to do around this strategic
plan. And so how can we build capacity at schools, maybe
creating teams, encouraging those teams to come to meetings together in the
same way that as face encourages principals and community reps
to come to a meeting together. Um, I know pli is encouraging
ilt teams to come together, but just as much as we can create
this team framework to be able to do this work, I think
that, um, just pushing that out
to our administrators, obviously they are the ones in charge, and it's not
that we're trying to take, you know, some of their responsibility or their power away,
but rather that we need to share this, this space in order to meet
our students' needs. Round two,
round two, round two, she let
just have one on the whole child wellbeing under there.
that tab was student participation in visual and performing arts programs
offering during the school day. Just wanna know how you capture that. This
is, and this is using, um, our, our, you know, our, our,
our data systems, our misis, you know, data systems. So this is looking at, you know, um,
participation in, in programs. It might be courses, it might be other pieces,
but this is, this is actually a pretty clean and easier, an easier one to measure
by you sort of looking at what, what offerings are like. Um, and as
far as, um, at the elementary level where it's not really your enrolling
in an art course per se, there are vehicles to know about, um, you kind of
exposure to certain programming opportunities that, that exist in the elementary classrooms.
I, I don't wanna, I don't want to get too in the weeds on it, 'cause I don't, I don't wanna misspeak on on those,
but that can be, that will certainly be spelled out as a part of the technical appendix on what we mean, like
what, what's included in not included in that metric. And that's, that's always a really
important, you know, way that we'll clarify a lot of these. Like, you know, who's, who's
included in this measurement, who's not, what's, what types of courses and programs are and are
not in there. And so that will be spelled out for you all as well. A little bit more than I, perhaps I can do
right, right here. But I can get back to you on that and appreciate you
giving the distinction between the secondary. So secondary would be more so
course offerings versus, 'cause here, it, it's
pretty clear student participation, visual from our program
offerings during the school day. So it's definitely just the courses.
and then there's, uh, support with itinerant teachers, which is again, a
trackable data that we have on itinerant art, you know, students exposure to,
to, to working with those types of staff members as well. Okay. And
that will be one that we revisit . Okay.
okay. Uh, before I get to mine, which is, uh, slide 24,
carla, I just wanna mention that there's nothing that strikes fear
in the hearts of men and women as middle school .
you have to know that. I think we all know that. I've always been a middle school teacher
and a middle school assistant principal and a middle school principal. And
I love middle school. I think it's the most important grade level for kids
to be successful in high school. And only certain people can teach middle school
and only certain administrators can be at middle school. It's a very, very tough
job. But if you love middle school kids, you'll do a great job. We all
know what I'm saying. Okay. It's tough. It's tough. Okay. Here's my
question, and you kind of brought this up sherette, because we are on the same wavelength all the time.
on slide 24, it says, increase
stabilization of principals at school sites. Well,
the association of california school administrators did a survey,
who is the most important? It was the elementary parents, by the way. Who was the most important
person, do you think, at the school? And I would bet money that
they would've said my child's teacher, number one. No,
it was the principal. So there's a stability in
having a principal remain at that school and doing a good job as
sherette. And I always talk about, um, some
principals wanna promote, and there's nothing wrong with wanting to promote. They want to be
a director or they wanna be a assistant superintendent or a superintendent. That's
fine, they should be allowed to do that. But if you're only moving
from your school because you wanna pay raise at a different level,
I say, let's pay those principals
a stipend so they stay at that school and keep it going
and make a successful life for all the kids and their parents too. At
school, especially at middle school, having stability is very, very important.
and I think that it's worth a look at to see
how salary can affect, uh, people remaining at that site
because they like it there, but they, they're encouraged to, to seek on for higher salary
rates. So that's what I wanted to say. So thank you very much,
gentlemen. Great job. Right now, mr. Mclean,
we, uh, on tab eight, we talked about play day
and promoting play equity. Oh yeah, I'm sorry. I'm
sorry. You are absolutely right. You need a motion? Got excited? Yes.
on tab one, we do need a motion. I moved by ms. Ez. Second, seconded
by board president schon. Uh, now voting on tab one, approval of
the l-a-u-s-d 26 through 2030 strategic plan. Ms. New bill? Yes.
dr. Rivas? Yes. Mr. Melvin? Yes. Ms. Rego? Yes. Ms. Ez?
yes. Ms. Ortiz franklin? Yes. Board president schuren? Yes. Alright.
it is adoptive now on tuesday. Okay. Now I'm all excited with play day. So we
did, um, it's fun. It's a, it's a fun resolution. It really is. We, um,
it's on, uh, consent, but I know that, um,
rocio has a statement and I have a statement too, so please go.
yes. Thank you. Thank you. Board, board president. Um,
so I am proud once again to present this resolution, proclaiming
june 27th, 2026 as play date throughout
the los angeles unified school district, and reaffirming our commitment to
advancing play equity for all students at
a time when the world is captivated by the excitement of the fifa
world cup. And looking ahead in the 2028 olympic and para,
uh, paralympic games. Here in la, we have a unique opportunity
to inspire the next generation of athletes, leaders,
and healthy young people. These global events remind us of
the power of sport to unite communities, build confidence,
and open doors to new possibilities. Yet
access to play sports and recreation remains deeply
unequal. According to the 2026 california play equity
report, 76% of youth are not meeting recommended
physical activity guidelines with participation rates lowest
among girls, latino youth and youth with disabilities.
too often, the students who stand to benefit from sports and
physical activity face the greatest barriers to participation, whether
due to cost, transportation, lack of facilities, or limited
access to ex inclusive programming. Play is not
simply recreation. It is a critical component of healthy child,
of a healthy child. Development research shows that sport and
physical activity improve mental and physical health, support academic
achievement, build confidence and self-esteem, strengthen
social connections, and help young people develop leadership and
teamwork skills. For girls in particular, access to sports can
be transformative. Participation in athletics is associated
with higher levels of confidence, stronger academic outcomes, and increased
leadership opportunities and lifelong health benefits. Yet
girls continue to participate in sports at lower rates than boys. If we are
serious about equity, we must be intent, intentional
about creating opportunities for all students to see themselves
on the field, on the court, on the track, and in every
space where they can learn, grow, and thrive. I would like to thank the
la 84 foundation, the play equity fund, and all of our
community partners working to ensure that every young person has access
to lifelong benefits, to sport, play and movement.
and also a special thank you to james lopez, director of advocacy,
play equity fund, and celeste soto, executive director of play work,
socal, sd nonprofit partner and play equity
coalition member. And thank you all for your work and all you do for our
students. And I'm so looking forward to this play date on
june 27th. Um, it's a lot of fun and it just brings me so much joy.
and I know my, um, my colleague, uh,
ndi has joined, uh, me and just in celebrating
just joy, fun and moving our bodies, especially
our, our young, our young, um, our young students and young children.
so with that, I, um, ask for my colleagues for your
support in this resolution. Thank you. Comments from anyone?
sherette, uh, I would love to co-sponsor and,
um, as a physical educator, knowing that, you know, the research
and education has shown just the cognitive science, that co
physical activity has improved brain health and boosting executive
functioning, and how we know that allowing our students to stay on
task. This also improves their grades, their ability
to socialize. And so, so many things are attributed to opportunities
as such. And so I'm excited to be a part of
play day again, uh, in the heart of bd one.
um, and so, uh, just wanting to say, obviously supporting this, but
just making sure that families get out an opportunity and as we continue to think about
physical fitness and how we can improve our physical fitness, um, across the board
for longevity of life, for increase to even meet what we've talking about
here with our strategic plan for our students and families to do well, uh,
wanted to say, uh, appreciate you bringing this resolution again forth, uh,
to our communities and our schools as we continue to highlight fitness, um,
as one of the things in play, um, important, especially on the
heels of, uh, fifa here and in 2028 when
the olympics come. So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you coach. New
bill, mr. Yeah, just briefly would also love to be a co-sponsor. I
have a feeling it'll pass unanimously, um, 'cause it already has. But, um,
uh, really supportive of this, uh, and, uh, grateful to the partners that you named the play
equity coalition, um, and, and supportive of this, uh, saw
it when I was a teacher. See it now as a board member. I think the conversation we're about to have in a few minutes
on our screen time policy and the cell phone ban I brought years ago all comes outta this desire to get kids
outside and to play not only for their physical, but also their mental health. So
thanks for bringing it. Um, and thanks to our partners who are helping with this effort.
okay. I have a statement also. So, while we always consider equity
and academics in facilities and other l-a-u-s-d
issues, we know we can always do more. And what
does the future look like for play equity? Is
it a recreational or sports league for our students with disabilities?
is it greater partnerships with a special olympics?
and I believe these are interesting conversations to begin, and we
have to get a clear idea of what can be achieved at l-a-u-s-d. So thank
you dr. Rivas, for this great resolution, and please add me as a co-sponsor.
thank you.
that's great. Uh, it's already been voted on, and now we have the co-sponsors in, in the comments.
it is now time to move on to tab. Oh,
we're gonna take a quick photo, just two minutes. That's all two minutes photo break.
so everyone stand up and catch a stretch
while the board is taking a photo.
okay. We have 1, 2, 3, 4 board members and a superintendent. So that's
a quorum plus one. Uh, we'll move on to tab two, using
technology with intention, establishing guidelines for student
screen time. I believe there's a presentation associated with this as well as public comment.
all right, so on tab two we have a presentation and then,
and then public comment. Okay. So, uh, but also, uh, board president
molsen is going to recuse himself. And mike,
thank you mr. Mcclain. Before we turn it over to dr. Baez and the team to present just very quick,
uh, remarks from me here, mainly just around gratitude, gratitude, of
course, for, for the board, their leadership and, and kind of putting the district, I think in
a very good way. Obviously at the forefront of this important work, uh, gratitude for folks
that have engaged with us at multiple levels. We've had a lot of really rich conversations
around this topic with a lot of different stakeholder groups, parents, of course,
employees and so on. And, and of course, gratitude to the team led by dr. Baez,
mr. Lay, uh, in, in bringing forth this work, I, I, I wanna mark,
and, and this kind of almost aligns with like what we were sharing about this strategic plan.
policies are not meant to, to live in amber and just be kind of frozen. You
know, once they're, they're developed, they're meant to be living documents. And so what you
see today is, is the first of potentially many iterations of this policy
as we go forward. Uh, I anticipate that we could have updates as soon as a
few months from now, depending on additional data, additional weigh-ins from,
from critical actors in this space. But I do think that what you'll see today
reflects a very, very thoughtful engagement on multiple levels
around this work and, and really positions, again, our students to have
what I think we've always wanted in this space. And it's about balance. It's never
been about none of this or all of that, or, you know, being in,
in one polarity as we talk about. It's really just about achieving that healthy balance
for our students of using technology in a thoughtful way that actually
increases, you know, critical thinking skills, but not overs saturating it.
so I appreciate the work that the team has done. I appreciate the engagement that everyone has,
has thoughtfully participated in. And with that, I'll turn it over to dr. Baas.
thank you very much, acting superintendent cha. Uh, good afternoon everyone. Good afternoon, board
of education and deputy superintendents. I'm here to present the guidelines for
students screen time policy based on the board resolution titled,
using technology with intention, establishing guidelines for student
screen time from the april 21st, 2026 board meeting.
um, so in this presentation, you will see the changes we have made to the draft
screen time policy since the may, 2026 committee, the whole, um,
and, uh, we've made changes up to this point. And I will share the update on engagement
and show how we've used the latest research, uh, to incorporate it into
this policy. So the guidelines for,
uh, student screen time policy include the district values, which consists of the
following. Instruction is first led by the teacher
and should not be replaced by technology. So that's at the very top of this. Uh,
graphic students thrive when learning experiences, foster engagement,
critical thinking, creativity and human interaction, and consistent
with guidance from the american academy of pediatrics and the us surgeon general.
the district prioritizes the quality, purpose, and impact of technology used
over the amount of time spent on a device emphasizing active
learning and connection rather than passive consumption.
students learn best when experiences reflect their age. Developmental readiness
and capacity for self-regulation and technology use should be
tailored to developmental needs, and that's what you're going to see in this policy. Um,
and then students deserve learning environments that minimize distractions and
maximize engagement. And district devices and systems prioritize curriculum
aligned educational resources. And so then
all of these fit into the screen time policy. And, uh, on
the other end, you'll see, uh, that students require a balance of direct instruction,
social interaction, and collaboration, physical activity, and hands-on learning.
we, we have really received a lot of input about that and ensuring that students have that
whole child approach to learning. Students have access to meaningful
opportunities with technology, including for assessments, differentiated
learning, instructional accommodations, assistive technology, digital
textbooks, ebooks, audiobooks and accessibility tools to help ensure
that all of our students access learning. And then lastly, effective
technology, I'm sorry, families are, are also essential partners. And the district
is committed to clear communication and shared responsibility in
supporting healthy technology use. And as, uh, acu superintendent ch mentioned
earlier, this is going to be, um, an iterative po process
and hearing from our parents and family will be critical as we update this policy. They've been instrumental
in giving us feedback across our district. And then lastly,
effective technology, uh, use requires ongoing reflection, evaluation,
and adaptation. So as the district rolls out the very first grade levels,
um, with early ed, kinder and first grade with zero minutes, at that point, we'll be able to come
back and see how things are going in preparation for the rollout of
the rest of the grade levels. The research and engagement
that informed this policy, uh, were led by the office of research and program and
evaluation, uh, and they conducted thorough research. And these are the five themes
that emerged from the literature review, limiting take
home devices prior to high school and preserve meaningful parent
choice design policies and, and
configure devices to maximize intentional education only use.
number three, ensuring technology is supplements rather than replaces
teacher-led instruction. And then
managing cumulative screen exposure across the school day and homework.
and then lastly, applying age appropriate guardrails and continuously evaluating
technology impacts. These were the trends that emerged in the literature review even
before the surgeon general came out with their, with the, um, suggested,
uh, minutes. Um, and so the recent surgeon general's advisory after
the committee of the whole meeting, uh, pointed to the new screen time for children under
18 months of age, um, and then one hour a day for students,
uh, one and a half to six years of age, and a maximum of two hours a day for
students ages six through 18. So with regards to community
engagement, the thought exchange was open for two weeks, and approximately
19,000 participants gave input. We engaged the elected parent
committees, labor groups, and conducted regional listening sessions.
um, and internally we engaged multilingual multicultural education department,
the special education department, eto and various other offices to
understand what kinds of differentiation the students would need and when students would need
technology. Um, and then the emerging themes were strong
support for zero minutes for early education through grade one.
we also heard from, uh, the, those that gave input that a balanced approach
to that prioritizes instructional value, uh, student
wellbeing and teacher led learning, and then the
importance of preserving teacher judgment regarding technology use.
and then, uh, lastly, there was expressed concerns for student focus, attention
mental health and wellbeing, um, and online safety and privacy. So those are
some trends that emerged as well. So we can see that there's a level of alignment between the
research and also what the input was provided and what we've been hearing from the field.
on may 19th, we provided the board a draft of the screen time, minutes per grade level
band. And after the surgeon general introduced the 120 minutes of screen time
per day for ages six and above, we used that as the base for
grades six through 12. But given that the research shows that less minutes
should be offered to the lower grades, um, in grades two through five, we
reduce the minutes in half to follow the research that recommends those,
those, um, decreases. So that was the methodology used, given
that at this point, after a lot of research that's been conducted, there's not been
an established minute grade by grade other than what the resolution called
for zero minutes in early ed through first grade. And then the surgeon general issued
the 120 minutes for ages six and above. But knowing that the literature
says less minutes for elementary as opposed to high school, we
cut it in half. So in absence of of defined minutes
in the research, this was our approach.
the key policy changes between the may 19 draft and the june 23rd
final version show that going from recommendations to maximum limits.
um, it also showed, um, so of course we, we received a lot of
feedback about the recommendations and knowing that the board introduced a resolution in april,
we turned it around in may. It was very much a draft, so we wanna emphasize it was a draft,
it was a recommendation. So now we're focusing on maximum limits.
and then going from general research references to evidence-based research from
the office of research and program evaluation. So in the policy you'll see
at the end of the policy, you'll see an appendix that shows what the research, um, consists
of, and then, um, broad
guidance to detailed implementation language and then identifying
specific student groups. And then lastly, from limited parent
rights language, uh, to expanded transparency and consent
provisions. And then this was what the language that we
re, uh, removed, and this is what we replaced it with. We removed non-instructional
use, shall be discouraged and replaced it with explicit,
uh, and then restricting of course, and blocking any, uh, providing any blocking requirements.
we removed broad instructional gaming exception language and replaced it with
educator directed and approved use exceptions. We removed general
professional judgment implementation language and replaced it with consistent
school-wide implementation expectations. And instead of separating
recommendations for grades six through eight and nine through 12, we provide a clear maximum
daily and weekly limits.
the areas of consistency from the may 19th to the june 23rd version are
that technology supports learning, teacher led instruction remain
central equity and accessibility remain priorities,
and students continue to have access to instructional technology.
the areas that were strengthened were stronger research foundation as shown in
the appendix, greater parent transparency, more
explicit protections for student wellbeing and clear expect expectations
for schools, and of course, expanded safeguards for advertising and
platform access. And then of course, better alignment. So in the document, you're going to see
a crosswalk between the resolution language and then the actual page number or
where, uh, what section you'll be able to find those changes.
this is the timeline for policy implementation. After the board approves
the policy, we will host drop-in sessions and, and our new chief academic officer,
ps komal, has already scheduled meetings with region superintendents starting tomorrow.
so we're going to begin those, um, sessions with region superintendents.
send out an informative to, um, our principals before they go on break, letting
them know about the new policy changes and that it goes into effect in august for early
ed through first grade. And then, um, when they come back, there'll be office hours. This will
be also be part of their faculty meeting for teachers and also part of
the, um, principal leadership institute. So july through
august, we're going to see professional development at the principal's leadership institute.
um, there'll be an opportunity for this information at the, um, bank
time tuesday, we'll provide a, a toolkit for communication so principals
are clear on what the policy in, uh, entails. And then going
into november, 2026, we're going to see an implementation in grades two through
five, ongoing professional development and technical support
and ongoing fair and, and family engagement by january 20, 26, 27.
pardon? We'll have an implementation in grades six through seven. Now at this
point, the resolution calls for us to provide them a number of minutes,
um, and that will, there'll be reports to parents and so on. The application
will need to go, um, through the procurement process, and we expect that it'll
be approved by the fall. And then we'll provide professional development to principals in the use
of that app so that principals are able to access the data and share it
with their families, and also make informed decisions, make any changes that are
required. As, as we see this yellow
arrow going across continued engagement for feedback, emerging
research and guidance will be, um, something that continues.
um, and I also wanna mention that as we are, um, looking at the minutes,
uh, in the previous slide, uh, one of the things I wanna note is
that this also includes homework. So the minutes that are listed here
include homework, um, for every single one of those grade levels bands.
and at this point, um, that concludes our presentation. Uh, we're open to questions.
I know we've received a lot of feedback. We've gone through a lot of briefing meetings, and, um,
um, we're looking forward to receiving your feedback to continue to
strengthen this policy as you move it forward after the approval. Thank
you. Thank you, dr. Baez. Now, um, we'll move to, um,
public comment and then we'll come back for questions for you from board members. All right, thank
you. We've got 10 folks signed up for public comment. I'll call on the folks listed as being here
in person first, and then we will call on those who are listed as
speaking remotely. Uh, luis lopez, are you here? Luis
lopez, come on up. You'll have two minutes to speak once you begin and after.
uh, mr. Lopez. Lopez is anya meen and
dr. Deanna stein.
good afternoon board members. My name is luis lopez and I'm with alliance for a better community.
I am here today to urge l-a-u-s-d to take an equity centered
approach as it considers, uh, student technology use and policies
surrounding student technology use. We agree that students
need balanced technology use and that technology should be used intentionally
in the classroom. However, we must be careful not
to adopt blanket restrictions that create new barriers for students,
particularly those from low income communities.
for many l-a-u-s-d families, school issue devices and digital
learning tools are not just supplemental resources. They are essential
resources. Reducing access without considering the realities many
families face could widen gaps between students who have technology and
internet access at home and those who do not. We had
a parent from elizabeth learning center and they shared that they support
students learning with technology because it is an important part of their future,
but she also believes, you know, there must be a balance as students also need that real
human connection. Again, our goal is not to
advocate for more screen time necessarily, but we are asking that the
implementation of this policy reflects the needs of all l-a-u-s-d
students. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Anya meen,
come on up, anya. And then after ms. Meen is dr.
deanna stein and then, uh, lila bock.
lila bock. Hi,
my name is anya meen and be, and on behalf of the entire schools beyond screens
membership, we wanna thank you for all of your efforts thus far to establish
a safe, intentional, and evidence-based technology policy for l-a-u-s-d.
we are pleased to see the significant updates that have been made between the draft policy presented
at the may committee of the whole and the policy being voted on today. However,
there are still three crucial issues we hope you will address through table amendments
to the policy today. First, we are alarmed to see that the limit for grades
two through five has actually increased from the draft policy to 60 minutes per day.
we strongly advocate for a return to the original proposed limits of 20 minutes
per day for grades two to three and 30 minutes per day for grades four to five.
we also suggest extending the total device ban to second grade as
numerous other districts have already done. Second, we are still extremely
concerned about the limits for grades six to 12 being organized in a way
that is impossible for teachers to enforce or monitor. We continue
to insist that weekly minutes organized by subject is the only realistic
approach for middle and high school. So teachers in different subject areas can plan their
screen use independently. And third, we are reiterating our urgent call
for an ai moratorium until the ad hoc committee submits its final
report. The existing ai policy is sorely outdated, leaving
students, teachers, and parents without essential guidance regarding the use of these rapidly changing
tools. Given the lack of clear benefits to generative ai in education
and the significant well-documented harms to children's cognitive and mental health,
a temporary ban is the only reasonable approach to keeping kids safe
while the ad hoc committee completes its work. And finally, on the subject
of mr. Carlo's resignation, schools beyond screens strongly endorses
making acting superintendent chase's position permanent. We believe
mr. Ch has demonstrated tremendous character, vision and transparency
while leading l-a-u-s-d through this difficult transition, and we look forward to continuing
to work with him on the implementation of this historic policy. Thank you so
much. Thank you for your time. Uh, dr. Deanna stein,
come on up. You'll have two minutes to speak once you begin.
hi, my name is dini echstein. I'm a clinical psychologist and
parent in l-a-u-s-d. First, I wanna thank you for voting yes on
the using technology with intention resolution and for taking a huge step in
giving children what they deserve, a safe and distraction free learning environment.
since I only have two minutes, I'd like to quickly propose some table amendments to
strengthen the policy. Part of my work with sbs is collecting teacher
and administrator feedback to help us understand how to improve educational
outcomes. Thankfully, this policy proposes much of what we suggested,
however, some of the vague language burden schools with a lack of clarity when it
comes to implementation. One area to amend is appendix
c, page 63, consider prohibiting
and or blocking the use of non-instructional gaming platforms like roblox
and fortnite. Did you know on roblox you can have an experience
as the school shooter at sandy hook elementary? You can hear the screams
of the kids as the shooter makes their way through the hallways and see the names of the children massacred
at the end. Roblox rated this experience eight and up.
do you still wanna just consider blocking the gaming platform or do you think we should
ban it? It's quite literally up to you. Many students are desperately
trying to focus and can't because I quote, all everyone is doing
in class is playing video games. Students deserve a safe and distraction-free
learning environment, and this policy can make that right ironclad.
please don't leave it up to schools whether they ban video games or how they
could block harmful content with a safe list of approved websites.
appendix b, page 59. Please amend words like consider
and could to should and block. This
is language that schools can clearly implement. Thank you for helping us protect
our kids' educational experience. Thank you for your time.
uh, lila bock, leila bock.
it goes in my brain one time and it sticks. I apologize.
hi. Yep. I'm leila bock. Um, I'm the founder of schools beyond screens,
and I just wanna say that the process of bringing this policy into existence has restored
my faith in democracy. . A year and a half ago, I began to sense there was
something deeply wrong about the level of big tech influence in my children's school.
I gathered some allies and we came to you, our elected representatives to talk about how to fix
this problem. And through a lot of back and forth we've arrived at this document, which,
although far from perfect, is going to improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of students and
teachers throughout l-a-u-s-d. Not only that, but we're setting a new standard for the rest
of the country, from atlanta to dc to houston. They're all trying to do
what we're doing here today. Um, board member ortiz franklin, uh,
spoke when she spoke about the resolution back in april. She said, when we know better, we do better.
and I found that incredibly moving. 10 years ago, we bought the narrative
from the tech companies that the only way to prepare our students for the future was to
hand each of them a chromebook or an ipad. Now we know better and all of
us collectively are working to create a different kind of future for our kids.
so that's the good news. The bad news is that we're making the same mistakes
we made with the chromebooks right now, again, with ai once again, right
on queue, we have the tech companies threatening us that our students will be left behind
if we don't buy their products. But this time their threats ring hollow
because on the other side of the debate, we've got every scientist and doctor and education
expert who studied this technology telling us not only does it not benefit
the learning process, it's actively harmful to students cognition and
mental health. Even the pope agrees every day a new study
is published with dire warnings about how dangerous these tools are for children. Google
gemini, which is currently enabled on all district devices, has been deemed high
risk for kids by common sense media. We've basically got flashing
lights and sirens blaring at us not to put this technology in schools.
we cannot wait another decade while children are harmed. 1100 supporters
have already signed our petition in the last five days, demanding a temporary moratorium
on generative ai use and lusd until the ad hoc committee completes its recommendations,
we know better. Let's do better. Let's show america that democracy
is more powerful than the tech companies. Thank you for your time.
alright, the next speaker is john wooden. Come on up. John w
all right, I'm gonna see if mr. W is online with us
now. Uh, mire garcia, are you here? Mire,
come on up. You'll have two minutes to speak once you begin
translation headsets. Oh, okay. So, uh, the speaker's gonna speak
in spanish, so if you'd like to hear what she's saying in english, please put your hands up and we'll get you these
translation headsets so you can experience simultaneous trans
translation.
okay, thank you. Good
afternoon. My name is good afternoon, my member families.
my name is maria garcia and I am here as a mom and a grandma.
I'm here. I'm speaking now for my daughter and my granddaughters, but for other parents
and families that share the same concern
as any mother, any grandmother, I want the best for my daughters and my granddaughters.
I want them to grow up healthy and happy and ready to learn and
to have the same opportunities as other children. I understand the concern
about the too much time behind screens, but the students
need to explore, play, read, talk to their families, and spend
time away from screens. But I do ask you please to be
careful because sometimes a policy that has the intention of helping,
maybe it has consequences that can harm children, especially
for, uh, students and low income families. I am not
asking more time for screens. I am asking for a balance.
not all the time behind screens is the same. There's a difference between seeing, watching videos
and using a new learning tool. And it helps
that will help a student read to learn words and to practice
language or receiving additional support. In my home, we have a computer
that we share. Among many members of my family, many, uh,
families can buy additional devices, uh,
learning tools, tutoring, or other device or other tools
in schools where many children have access to these tools. And I want
for my children and my granddaughters and all children have the same opportunity
to learn just like the children that live in, uh, communities
with, uh, more resources. I don't want them to lose access
to tools that can help them read to learn and to be successful. So please
consider amendments before continuing forward. Please
create, uh, clear guidelines while grade level, separate the,
uh, creation time, uh, behind screens in learning tools, and listen to
families and educators as you implement this policy. As a mother
and grandmother, I want students to be, uh, protected from
too much time behind screens, but I also want them to have access to the tools they need to be able to learn
and prosper. Thank you. The next speaker is katie pace.
kdp katie pace are you're here. Come on up. You'll have two minutes to speak once you
begin.
good morning. I wanna thank you for listening to our pleas and the experts
and lowering the minute restrictions for our six to 12 grade levels. However, the
policy still has these minutes listed cumulatively, but as you said previously,
middle and high school is more nuanced than that. They have anywhere from four to eight classes
a day leaving not only a lot of room for error with the guidelines, but requiring additional
time from teachers to collaborate in minute distribution. We're asking that you please list the
minute restrictions by subject per week so that teachers can maintain their autonomy
guidelines, have a higher success rate, and screen time homework is more easily managed.
speaking of homework, the policies chart about use guidelines says that all grade
levels should default to no one-to-one take home devices. But
in the homework use guidelines, section five d, it says, schools and educators are
encouraged to provide only elementary and middle school students with offscreen homework options.
high school needs to be included in this as all students should have analog homework opportunities.
these students are still learning how to write by hand and to solve and organized math problems
on paper, and they need encouragement to do so. In addition, high schoolers need
to be added to the section that prohibits students from using their devices during passing periods, lunch and
snack times. This is a critical period of socialization for high school, vital
for healthy human development, and the time is instead often used for watching videos and
surfing the internet. I'm also asking that you please push the six to 12 implementation
date of all of this to august. It will not only cause more confusion and chaos starting in
january. Sorry, I lost my place. Um,
and teens will be spending five additional months with their, with their eyes and brains glued
to a screen. Lastly, this morning, the la times ran a story about a recent national
study that says nine out of 10 kids ages nine to 17 are using ai
and a quarter of them are using it for homework. Especially those who struggle with math skills or
writing essays. We cannot just expect kids not to use ai. These devices
are like candy and ai is just giving them their fixes faster. We have to be the
adults in the room, the ones that take it away from them. Please enact to complete
ai moratorium until you have an ad hoc committee, until you have ad hoc committee recommendations.
because right now none of this is proven safe, especially for children. And we
have no seat belts. Thank you. Thank you for your time.
alright, the next speaker is listed as calling in kate brody. Kate
brody, are you in the room? Um, kate is actually stuck in an airplane and asked if she
could donate her time to william gerard. She's unable to call in.
is william here? Come on up, william. Let's do it. Two minutes please.
hi, uh, my name is william gerard and I'm a member of schools beyond screens,
as well as an l-a-s-u-s-d parent. I I'm here today to oppose
the sudden increase in screen time, uh, limits for elementary, uh,
students in grades two through five. These limits were tripled for second and
third graders and doubled for fourth and fifth graders without any advanced notice
or opportunity for feedback. There is no pedagogical justification for
elementary students to spend an hour of their daily instructional time on a
screen. I'm strongly advocating for a return to the original proposed limits of
20 minutes per day for grades two to three and 30 minutes per day for
grades four to five. I'm also advocating for an extension of the one-to-one device
span to include second grade, which has already been done by several other districts, including
beverly hills. Second graders need to build foundational reading, writing,
and attention skills through research-backed multimodal instruction,
not gamified apps. Ample time exists in third grade to
practice for state assessments and become familiar with the digital tools necessary to complete these
tests. It is already standard practice for, uh, in l-a-u-s-d
for third graders to prepare for these assessments by taking practice tests. So having an
entire additional year of exposure to addictive devices is both
unnecessary and poses risks that can be easily be avoided. Um,
I also wanna call attention to the confusion around I-ready and ixl minutes being exempt
from the screen time policy. The only exemptions mentioned in the policy are for
district and state mandated assessments, not for practice minutes. And
it's essential that the district eliminate the confusion to prevent completely undermining the intent
of this policy. Since I-ready and ixl practice minutes are
the main culprits in excessive screen time, uh, that the board is trying to combat.
finally, it was recently communicated by the district that moving forward I-ready
practice minutes would only be used for students below grade level. This seems to
be a disaster for equity if only, if only underperforming students are forced
to use an inferior product with no research backed efficacy as a
remedial tool. One, which is also being sued for privacy violations of
student data. Thank you. Thank you for your time. The next speaker is
andy self. I see you're online with us. Please press star six to unmute yourself and you'll have two minutes
to speak once you begin. Andy self.
hi. Can you hear me? We sure can. Please go ahead. Thank
you. Thank you superintendent and board members. I appreciate the work that you
have done to, uh, create this policy for us. It's been
a long time coming and I really do appreciate it. Um, I'd like to speak
about equity and equitable enforcement across schools. In terms of this policy,
I'd like to highlight that the policy treats adolescents in grade six through 12
as adult adjacent. It's, uh, critical in grade six through 12 to continue
to support our kids during the most dynamic period of brain development
that is second only to infancy. They're wiring new neural connections between
brain regions that will shape their adult abilities. This
policy assumes that screen time can be measured and enforced consistently
across schools, in and classrooms. It cannot not all
students process information at the same speed, tolerate screen exposure the same way,
or have the same neurological medical and developmental needs. Students with
a dhd migraines, visual impairments, anxiety, autism,
or even 5 0 4 accommodations may need significantly more time
to complete the exact same digital assignment or needed on paper.
equal screen limits do not produce equal access to learning. My
daughter is twice exceptional with a 5 0 4 allowing paper-based work. She's
in middle school, seventh grade, yet she was still graded on I-ready practice
minutes in her algebra class. She could not tolerate additional screen time
after a full school day. The proposed solution by the school
was not to provide an equivalent off-screen alternative per her 5 0 4,
but to find another time during the day to put her in front of a screen
that is not accommodation. That or equity that is a relocation
of a barrier. I would urge the board to focus not only on limits,
but on consistent enforcement across schools classrooms,
meaningful off-screen alternatives and protections for students whose disabilities
medical conditions or learning differences make prolong screen exposure
a barrier to learning. Thank you very much. Thank
you for your time. The next remote speaker is amanda walsh baker. I see
you're online with us. Please press star six to unmute yourself and you'll have two minutes to
speak once you begin. Amanda walsh baker.
hi, this is amanda walsh baker. I would like to yield my time to amy
del who is there in person. Please come on down, ms. Del. Thank you.
uh, you'll have about two minutes to speak once you begin. Hi, welcome.
I mean, I'm used to being the librarian at school and saying, welcome to the library.
my name is ms. B, that's how you can remember me. So
I am very fortunate to be a library technician in one of our elementary schools.
I'm also a proud member of csea, anyone proud member
of schools beyond screens as well. So I'm here to
ask for a moratorium on ai. I believe we
should not dive into something unknown before we fund something
that is known. Parents and guardians are often surprised
that our district does not present any kind of a budget for library
books. We don't have any specific budget line for that. So what
does that have to do with edtech? Edtech contracts, when you look at them,
can amount to almost $2,000 per student. The american library
association recommends $10 per student per
year to create dynamic uptodate libraries.
that's all it would take. It's easy math. 10 times around 400,000
could solve an equity issue that we have in the district. We have the
devices, but we don't have physical books. The physical books are
what contribute the most to our literacy. My students love the library,
and we are fortunate that our library is in really great shape. The reason for
that, my principal would say is because I'm scrappy. There is not
a grant or a fundraiser that I don't love and chase like a dog with
a bone. We also are fortunate to be in a community where
our families can contribute. That is not equitable. That does
not pertain to most of the students in our district. Seeing that
inequity has been heartbreaking. I also, as a librarian,
have witnessed the dysregulation that comes with devices at school.
and so I would encourage more physical media for all of our schools and particularly
our libraries. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you for your time.
that concludes public comment for tab two.
thank you for all the public, uh, comments today. Um, so
now the floor is open for board members to, for questions.
mr. Vin, I see you. Great. Thank you dr. Rivas. Um, and thanks to
our, our speakers and advocates, um, uh, and thanks to the team,
I'm a lot of gratitude and then I'll get to some thoughts and, and a few amendments.
but, um, thanks to the team for the work on this policy. Uh, there
were a lot of turnarounds and that you really, um, as was said by some of our speakers engaged
with the board offices and with the community and with experts. So to dr. Baez, to
dr. Estrada, to superintendent sha, to um, to, uh,
to douglas and to dominic, uh, and to, um,
pia and to everyone. So just a lot of gratitude and of course to the advocates and the partners and
the parents, um, who, uh, help bring this to fruition.
um, when I, uh, you know,
was looking at the policy, um, in preparation for today and, and the iterations,
um, you know, I was struck as has been present. It's not perfect, but,
um, and I'll, I'll bring some amendments, but, uh, it's an incredibly
robust and groundbreaking document. Um, and as has been said
is going to be, um, I think the basis for reform throughout
the country, if not the world. And I remember when, you know, I first met with some
of the parents in the audience, and when my office was looking at this independently a few years ago,
we were looking for something like this to guide what we did in la we were
looking at districts, we were looking at independent schools, colleges, universities, and nothing was out there.
and we now have the surgeon general guidance that came after this resolution.
very much like how the surgeon general's warning on, uh, smartphone
use as an epidemic akin to smoking and tobacco use came, I
think the day that I, I brought that resolution on cell phone use. Um, and so it
made it much harder because there wasn't something to look at, um, and model. But it
is gonna be the basis. And we've already heard, I think as we mentioned at the committee of the whole,
from dozens of districts of all sizes who are trying to adopt this. And I think that will
continue. First the resolution, but now this is the meat of the policy. So, um, you know, just
want to acknowledge, uh, how groundbreaking this is. And, and with change, you know, change is hard.
change requires change management. Um, we're not, you know, these are iterative processes.
this isn't gonna be perfect in its first or even third draft form, but, but it's really
exciting and the team deserves a lot of credit. Um, there's more work
to be done coming outta the resolution. One of the things I do love in the policy, dr. Baez, is the crosswalk
from the resolution to the policy. I think all of our policies should have that.
for those who haven't seen, it was great. There's an appendix that says, here's what says, it
says in the resolution. Here's where you find that in the policy. So just a great practice for transparency's
sake. So really appreciate that. You know, there's the comprehensive itemized report of
contracts related to classroom technology that we still have to see the professional development
for teachers and admin updates, the responsible use policy, uh, and the
student and family consent form, the ad hoc ai committee that's been addressed that ms.
uh, ez and ms. Ortiz franklin and I will be on, um, the, uh,
I-ready findings. Um, and I think more differentiation between the assessment
tool and the mypath. Um, and so those discussions will come. Um,
I also am glad that since the committee of the whole, the team has headed the initial
policy and added restrictions around pe uh, the o uh, orpi
research, the, um, sections on advertising commercial content
and generative ai and llms, as well as more information on the parenting guardian
rights, including sections, um, clarifying opt-in and procedures.
and I do, because we heard from advocates before and today, we don't want to be clear that
for families, um, who have economic needs that require the district
to provide devices as we have for years and have been a, a leader in that,
his policy does allow that, um, and wanna make sure that we don't, aren't
creating barriers to student access to technology. And it also doesn't prohibit, um, parent
student use of that device, uh, for pursuing own, whether that's tutoring or
literacy tools. Um, it has guidelines that do include homework. Uh, and, and I'll
note too, that the surgeon general's guidelines are for the whole day, not just the school
day. And we know that students are going home to a lot of screen time. Um,
and, and I think there's an equity argument to be made about why these have to be tight, because we also know, and
this was true with cell phones, that, that a lot of parents who are working multiple jobs, those
are the students who are often on screens, um, when more affluent students and
families, you know, are at camps and enrichment. Um, and it, it was kind
of like when we brought the cell phone ban, a lot of these independent schools had in
the, um, in silicon valley and la had banned cell phones years ago because they knew
the harms. And similarly, so I, I think when we, when we think about,
uh, the equity piece, it's making sure that parents have access to devices, but
also that we're thinking about the whole day and understanding what happens when kids get home. Um,
uh, and, uh, so, so want to note that and appreciate the advocacy that that
has come to make sure that the pendulums doesn't swing too far in one direction. Um, I,
I do have some concerns regarding, um, the, uh, the guidelines,
uh, you know, as they've advanced or as they've evolved and screen, uh,
since the first draft. Um, and so I have a few amendments that relate
to, uh, to that. Um, and then also, uh, around,
uh, um, middle school based on subjects, um, which
is something I brought up at the cow. Um, and same with high school as well. Uh, so
I think, um, the easiest thing to do is maybe just read from
these amendments that I'd sent to the board secretary and have hard copies of for the board. Um,
and I will, I will pass out. Um,
thank you, mr. Mclean. Um, and,
uh, the, the amendment here too, for the is one page, but it, it, um, refers to
two pages in the policy. So on page seven, and I know there may be more conversation around the monitor
accountability and continuous improvement, um, section, but it
just adds the, um, it adds families to the feedback loop.
the policy said the first annual review of this policy shall include feedback from
educators regarding policy implementation. I think we just wanna include families as well.
um, and then I think the most, um, uh,
important amendments that I'd like to bring, um, and have shared, have shared with
the administrative team are, are around the, um, around
the limits. And so I would like to go back to kind of the original draft that
delineates grades two and three, separately and grades four and five. And
for grades two and three limits at, uh, zero to 20 minutes per day or
a hundred minutes per week. Homework included. Guidance will be provided for
grades four to five limits, zero to 30 minutes per day, or zero
to 150 minutes per week. Um, grades six through eight
limits, uh, zero to 60 minutes per subject per week,
um, homework included. And then grades nine to 12 limits of zero to 90
minutes per subject, uh, per week. Um, if that
is at least for, um, elementary school,
uh, goes back to kind of the, the first draft and, and with the caveat of homework and then
has some changes for secondary, uh, both limiting the time and then specifying
subjects. Um, I do think that is easier being a middle school teacher myself in
the past, it's harder for teacher in elementary school, one teacher who can decide
kind of what you're doing on tuesday and then what, what the balance is on homework and, and
in class instruction. Much harder for teachers and secondary to coordinate across,
you know, five or six subjects. So I think that makes more sense. So, um,
those are the amendments that I, I move. Um, if there's a second,
I would appreciate second. Oh, thank you both, second and third. Um,
and then I will pass the floor back to the chair, uh, to, um, continue the conversation
on other amendments. But those amendments I'm, I'm bringing in. Again, I just wanna thank everyone, um, more
work to be do, done, including with our ad hoc committee on ai. Uh, but incredibly exciting
work, uh, and proud to be a part of it. So thank you.
so it's dis yeah, they're gonna discuss the amendments they're
being posted online right now, and my staff are printing copies for folks in the audience right now.
I, I don't know if I should pose this as a friendly amendment to the, uh, one that's just been raised, but mine
was on, uh, section 12 on, uh, including families on the
data. Um, so passing that one around as well. And, and nick's
also mentions adding families. So mine is just a little bit more including students parents
on their perceptions of screen time. I think we talked about this when the reso came up.
um, whether it's through the school experience survey or some sort of structure
to hear from folks, uh, how as much, not enough. And I think we should be asking that
of families, uh, staff, but also the students themselves. Um, and from my
understanding, staff has looked at this and thought, you know, that might work. So I don't know if this is a, a friendly
amendment. I, I looks it to me. So I would accept it as friendly. Great. And then I'll just say for
the, um, the timing that you suggested, I think that, um,
aligns with, with my vision. I appreciate the team considering the surgeon
general's, um, guidance. And I think the biggest part of this,
uh, resolution was about limiting. And so the increase in minutes is,
is concerning. So I, I support, um, reducing it back to the original idea.
um, all the red line edits I think are, are going in the right direction. I have some other
questions, but I'll, I'll leave it there to just focus on your amendment.
just to clarify, nick, for the high school nine through 12,
um, so I was looking zero to 90 minutes per subject per
week. So if it's six periods, it would add up to five 40, which is
less than what is suggested right now. But some of our schools have eight periods
and some have seven periods, so that could potentially make it more
minutes. Right. Am I doing that so that
that's concerns me? The, the per subject concerns me because of that?
yeah. And I'm curious, I'm curious for dr. Bias's input on this too. I mean, I think it is
in high school, the policy also does contemplate as has been discussed here that certain classes
like computer science or graphic design or yearbook or I was the editor of
my high school newspaper when we did layout, like that's done on a computer. So, um, you know,
I think the, the, obviously the spirit of the resolution is to limit as much as possible.
I think the, um, for, for
ease of implementation with teachers, even in that eight period day, making sure
that they're thinking about their class and their screen time is gonna be easier than coordinating with
seven other teachers. Um, but I think this is where
that, that feedback loop would be helpful if those students are spending a lot more time on a device,
um, because they have more periods. It's a kind of an inadvertent loophole in the policy.
so I'm open, I'm, it's a good question. I don't know dr. Baez kind of, yeah, it,
it's a good question that you raise. However, when you have, for example, a block schedule and
classes are two hours long, um, so that would really help with saying we're
reducing the number of minutes, even though it's a two hour block of, um, schedule, we're
reducing it to 90 minutes instead of having 120, it's actually less. So I think maybe some
language there that, you know, um, that is like proportionate to the number of
periods per day so that people can see that it's really, um, just
depending on what their schedule is. So the language will probably need to
be written in such a way that says that's, that is personalized
per school schedule, um, but not to exceed a certain amount of minutes,
maybe a certain amount of minutes per week at that point then yeah. So it does not exceed
the weekly minutes. Yeah. Yeah. Wondering that might be an option. Can I just ask another
question, dr. Baez, in my same question. Um,
what was the feedback from educators around this, if, if there was any,
around what they felt would be more manageable in
terms of per subject or per week?
yep. So in terms for dating, so overall they felt that their,
they, the thought exchange here, um, those results were pretty much comparable to what
teachers said in terms of concerns for students' focus.
and they really wanted to have the teacher be the person making the
decision maker about how many minutes and what the type of engagement would be for the students.
for secondary, the secondary level. The question is how do you monitor
the, the screen time in period six for period one, period two,
the very thing that you're all raising right now is we don't have a mechanism for that, but your
language here would help us. Okay, say that this is the amount of minutes it'll help them monitor. That
was the biggest concern is there, there's not gonna be a way for them to monitor period by period.
alright, thank you. I'll pause for there
along the same lines. Um, in secondary, is it subject
or classes? So I know we're talking block schedule, we're talking,
um, uh, classes versus a subject that
may come under social studies. You may have, or math you may have a block,
you have, uh, intervention course as well as the other course.
that's still the math subject for the day, but they're two different classes.
so I'm not sure when we modify or look at this.
maybe that's to, to the author, the
subject versus the classes. Yeah. To, to
me it would be per course. Okay. So it, it's the courses of
the day. So it means if you have to, what we were mentioning, you have eight classes
a day or eight classes. 'cause most of the eight classes are block
schedules and not most, most schools aren't, period. And they're not. And so when it's block
schedule, remember that students don't meet with their teacher every day. Correct. So it's like maybe two
times a week. So just to acknowledge that a period or or subject
could take place in a period and period could be two hours long. We're not gonna have students sitting there
for 120 minutes because it's two hours long. So we wanna make sure that we
don't exceed a certain amount of minutes because I think the, the spirit of the resolution
here is, or the amendment is the 90 minutes per subject.
got it. And, and I guess the, the tool that we are going to present
is to supposed to help keep track of
the device that is used or how, how do you keep track?
the, the application that we will be procured will, the expectation is
that we'll be tracking the minutes on the screen and then we will be able to,
um, present or share that with, um, parents. Um, principals will see it,
teachers will see it, and we're able to track the minutes on the screen. Got
it. Any other yes, ms
ez? Yeah, it's a little, it's a little bit hard to follow, but, um, I,
I think, well, I will just appreciate the amendment. I do think also having been a secondary teacher that
doing it on a like class by class basis makes a ton of sense from
a teacher perspective. Um, I wasn't clear on the back
and forth with board member diego. If the idea was, then we'd also supplement this
with like, um, an upper limit on the weekly minutes. Is it like,
I'm looking at grades nine to 12, for example, zero to 90 minutes per subject per week
with no more than, I dunno, 450 minutes a week. Four
example. Is that yeah, I like what she was suggesting. I mean, the original
policy had, um, a recommendation of 91 80 minutes.
so 180 would be what, 900 minutes
a week? Which I think is high. I think her suggestion was if you have a six course, um,
schedule, you're at 540 minutes a weekly max. And so maybe you create a
buffer there for those and you, I mean, you get a little arbitrary, but you say something like 600
or, um, you know, but no greater than 600 or no greater than six 50.
so I, I would be open to an amendment along those lines for those
secondary schools that have, you know, an eight period
schedule. But I think that's what she was getting at.
if I can add, I, I think the tool that we have will help us gather that data and then
we can also share that with principals, right? So they can see, oh, on average my school
is, you know, approaching the 500, 600 minutes per week. Um, so that the
teachers don't have to coordinate with each other, but they can see it at the, the school aid level.
dr. Price is nodding, but maybe you wanna add something about that's okay. That's correct. Great.
and any other questions? Okay,
I was just gonna say board member griego, ms. Ez was asking for like, do, do you wanna make an amendment
a friendly amendment with the, a weekly limit, like 600
or something for, to address? 'cause you're right, the zero to 90 minutes per subject per week, if
you have a six subject period, it's 540 minutes.
yeah. Just as, but there was kind of an arbitrariness to, to that. Oh yeah, sure. I'll
make a friendly amendment to, um, to do it. Um, right
now it is in the policy, is it 600? I'm sorry, I gotta go back and look
at my, right now it's zero to nine. The amendment is zero to 90 minutes per subject per week, which
would be 500, you know, no, no greater than 540 minutes per
week. But that assumes a six six period period,
schedule six period. So if you wanted to add like a outer limit of saying, and shall
not, but shall not exceed 600, 600 kind of yeah, I will, I think,
I think that would be my amendment not to exceed 600 minutes per week.
okay. I will accept that as friendly. So thank you for that. Okay, cool.
wonderful. Glad we got through that seamlessly, so
to speak. So, yeah, so, uh, open for vote mr. Melean for
the amendment correct. So voting on the nick's amendment that
now contains board member ortiz's amendment, which now contains board member
rego's friendly amendment to the policy as contemplated
in the materials that we all received. Okay, so this is just for those,
the single amendment, uh, ms. Newbell?
yes. Dr. Rivas. Yes. Uh, mr. Melvoin? Yes. Uh, ms. Griego?
yes. Ms. Ez? Yes. Ms. Ortiz franklin?
yes. Okay. That's five eyes as to the amendment. And now the entire policy
can be contemplated. Sorry, I thought of an issue right as we were voting.
um, we didn't include an upper weekly limit for middle school, but we did for high school.
might it? Might that be something we wanna think about? Maybe I can suggest
that we would wanna do that as well. Um, yeah. And dr. Bra,
remind me, uh, do you have a sense of how
many schools are outside of a six period? Like what's the flexibility from, lemme
ask penn, do you have the number
middle? Yeah. Can you, well, given the existence of middle schools at
the eight period day, I think that makes sense. And so, um,
making an amendment. Yeah. Or if there are other, if folks have other amendments to the policy, maybe
we fold that one in. But the question is how many schools are
outside of the regular sixth period day? Or how many of 'em are block schedule? Oh yeah. Or
if specifically middle. But I think it makes sense regardless. I'm just curious. Um, uh, middle,
I have to check the last count was under the 30, but let me verify that right now for you. Um,
there were very few middle schools that were still following the alternative schedule. Still makes sense though,
I think.
well, yeah, that was just the superintendent was pointing out the proportionality for middle school would be about 400,
like a, maybe a barrier of 400, uh, upper limb to 400 minutes per week. But
yeah. And then we'll monitor it this fall and we'll come back and see where we are and if we need to go
up or down and sounds great. So
we don't wanna make a formal, um, amendment to that or just,
well, I think we should. I think we should. Um, I think it should be specified. So 400
minutes weekly. I'm more in the 360 realm of things, but
360. Okay, well I'll, I'll, I'll move 360 that we amend it to 360
minute weekly upper limit for grade six through eight. I'll second.
can I, can I just add, say, point something out though, that would be more than what
they are suggesting? 'cause no, you're looking at that second.
oh, ah, sorry. Take it back
very well. Okay. So just a clear statement of what's being proposed to the existing amendments
that mr. Melvin made is, uh, board member ez is suggesting upper limit of 360
minute limit to screen time for rate six through eight
per week, grades six through eight
per week. And that was moved by you, ms. Gomez, and seconded by mr. Malvo. Correct. Is
that right? That's correct. Thank you. Now we're gonna vote on this
additional amendment. All right. Ms. Newbell? Yes.
dr. Rivas? Yes. Mr. Melvin? Yes. Ms. Cgo? Yes. Ms. Ez?
yes. Uh, before we take the last one, any last minute ones to this?
kidding. Uh, ms. . Ms. Ortiz franklin? Yes. Okay. So
now we have fully amended policy for, for discussion and vote in front of the board.
anything else mr. Vin did you wanted to add or you're okay? So, um, yes, ms. Ortiz
franklin, can I ask, um, separately, so you said that we're gonna have professional development this summer on the policy.
I'm assuming it's not just on the screen time limits. Will there be some pd on
ai? I know that was also contemplated in the resolution. So a ai,
there was the professional development, there's been a professional development on ai every summer
and throughout the year for teachers. Um, and there will be, there'll continue to be a
reminder of our current, um, ai policy, digital citizenship, what's required to
engage our students 13 and above in ai. So that will be a reminder, but really digging
deep into the screen time and to, um, the shifts between what
digital tools were used before and where you could find those supplemental materials in the curriculum
for, for, um, lessons to be teacher led. Okay. So it sounds
like we'll be continuing with the a ipd. We've already been doing, not necessarily changing it quite
yet, maybe after the ad hoc committee has a chance to learn more and weigh in more.
I did just wanna ask, and maybe this is for doug on ai because it's come up several times.
um, gemini is in all of our google tools, and I know we had contemplated,
you know, what, we're turning on and off with google. Is there a way to turn off gemini
and can staff do it? Because I, I don't want it coming up on my emails either. Sometimes, uh,
for the google search, uh, browser, you cannot, this is not a feature,
um, google has right now. Um, other apps have a
feature we can turn off the ai features such as adobe and canva, right?
they that feature that they have an on and off option. Unfortunately
for google, uh, browsers and the chrome browser, you cannot
yet. So I don't know who needs to do this, but it's such a big contract. We have, it seems
to me we're a powerhouse and should be able to tell them if we're gonna keep, you know, using
you, which it feels some ways, like we have to, um, I dunno if that's something that the team wants
to contemplate in our next negotiations with them. Like if la unified is gonna purchase it, we
wanna have that, uh, ability. I would, I would echo that. And I would
say this came up with youtube too. I mean the, the two most, um, insidious
parts of youtube for me are the autoplay algorithm and then the ads. And google has so far refused
to, um, budge on that for districts. I think a lot of districts would be okay with
some instructional videos as part of these limits who are not for the ads
and the algorithm. And so I'd like to, you know, but I think that's great. We should definitely be using our
purchasing power as the second biggest issue in the country to force change with
google and the other tech companies.
anything else? No. Okay. Ms. Uh, hand new will just had
a few questions. Um, as we talk about implementing
and how are we planning to educate our families about the options
for offering, uh, consent, the opt in out,
opt in, opt out, uh, po of the policy?
good afternoon. Members of the board, uh, we are already collaborating with sase,
so part of our work will be to incorporate that in the family academy webinar.
but also we have our friday office hours where any parent can come
in and join, uh, ask questions around it. But more formally, we will be launching
a full fledge, uh, program where our professional learning and training support
will not just be for educators and administrators, but also for parents and families
specifically around screen time, but more so the broader issues that are gonna come out, uh, out
of the broader resolution issues. Got it. And
then what are are the mechanisms and the plan cadence
for gathering the community feedback?
I can speak to that. So, uh, to the screen time policy timeline that dr.
baez shared earlier. Uh, right away, our feedback gathering mechanism
will be on an ongoing basis, starting with right away tomorrow with
our region leadership as well as our administrators from different, uh,
offices. We already have our drop in sessions, including folding
that into our, uh, approach for parents and families and all the way
to the opening of schools, uh, what that would look like for, uh,
not during the, um, what we used to call the buyback
dates. We're launching, uh, summer pd, uh, through my
pln, but also toolkits for parents, uh, for principals to share with
parents and families via, uh, back to school night, as well as, uh, those
coffee with the principals. So we're already developing these materials that are public facing,
especially for parents and families, so that principals have these
templates that they can readily, uh, share with the community.
and then ongoing, of course, uh, as called for by the resolution and the policy
is an ongoing mechanism. We plan to continue using thought exchange
as a mechanism to gather at least, if not monthly, a quarterly, uh,
feedback, uh, gathering process. So you're saying monthly and
quarterly or if not monthly, uh, quarterly at least.
and then, um, some more specific questions to our,
um, reading difficulty screener, it will that be exempt
from the screen time policy? So the reading difficulty
screener is, um, is, is uh, administered by the teacher,
so the students are not on a screen. Okay. So that's, that wouldn't be affected, that
particular assessment wouldn't be affected by this. Got it. Um,
and are there exemptions for any of the remediation
or online tutoring platforms that students may need?
so when it comes to, um, the tutoring, our teachers will be the first, uh, tutors
for students after school. We're changing our model, so it's a teacher led tutoring model
and at schools where teachers are not available to conduct tutoring, at that point, we're going to
tap into our bench and really prioritize the tutoring, um, uh,
services that are led by, by, by tutors face-to-face versus online.
um, with regards to any other kind of differentiation and supports,
um, that is in our, um, in the policy, it indicates that there are some exceptions
to students who have an iep or any other kinds of, um,
re requirements where they, they need additional support. Um, those
students would be exempt from that and that would be written up in their iep
as well or how, how would, I can't speak to what, um,
but if it's in their iep, if it's currently in their iep, then of course that's something we're
going to, um, address right away. And I'm sure that, um, mr. Aguilar, others could come to speak
to what would happen at this point forward. But given that this policy will be adopted, the whole
system will have to prob will definitely move in the same direction in different
offices. Um, and
then there's a, uh, platform, the snowflake platform mentioned in the policy. Is that
a new tool or do we currently have access to it in our suite of,
uh, powerschool? I can speak that, uh, snowflake is a,
a cloud-based environment that we host our data and that is where we get a lot of
the data from for reporting for analytics and dashboard.
and so it's already something we've been using. Yes. And
last question is come to what we talked, what is the cadence for monitoring and reviewing
the policy as we have more data from the implementation
of the policy? So I know we talked about gathering
information monthly, quarterly, and then I know there's some timelines here.
and what would that cadence look like as, so initially as we're rolling out the,
um, zero minutes on screen time, uh, definitely just the observation
feedback from principals to teachers seeing, um, how the implementation
is going. The region office would need to implement, uh, observe as well and
monitor the implementation. Uh, and so at the initial stages will be about observation
feedback and ensuring that those, uh, screen time minutes are abide, we're
abiding by those screen time minutes. Then later when we implement the secondary, um,
is when we'll have the app and we'll have data and at that point the frequency will
increase. Um, so, um, initially it'll be observation and feedback because it's, it's going
to be zero screen time. So that's the way we plan to implement that right
away and monitor its use and be able to conduct that feedback loop.
got it. And then the last is our, um, our esports component. How is
that affected by this, uh, uh, this policy? So esports would be exempt. So anything
that is, uh, if it's a course that relies on certain types of online
platforms, like cte requires a certain kind of an architect,
um, program software, then that course would be exempt from those types
of minutes. Thank you. Wonderful. Yes, ms.
ez. Um, well I wanna thank and appreciate the team. Um, it's not
often that we get from resolution to policy in such a quick period of time, so I just want to
appreciate, uh, the rapid efforts that were made to implement this. And certainly there's a lot of urgency,
so I appreciate that we're meeting the moment. Um, and of course all the advocacy for from
families, I think that has been a huge driver in, in getting to this
significant change. Um, as we combat, you know, the increased
digitization of the world, you know, we are centering humans and human
experiences for our students and you know, as we were just talking about with our strategic plan,
you know, the experiences that bring joy, um, and hands-on learning. Um,
I did wanna lift up a couple of items that I think were raised in the comments and that also,
um, raised some questions for me. So just with regard to the gaming
platforms and roblox specifically, which, you know, as a parent is,
is not something my kids use, but that I have a lot of knowledge is like
a very harmful kind of platform. Can you share like, what are the
approved platforms currently and is roblox one of them? And then I think there's
also updated language on those gaming platforms. So maybe, um, dr.
baas or, or anyone on the team, I'll start what's different? Yeah, I'll start and then hand
it off to, to dominic. So, um, you'll see that in the, uh, appendix
c because we were crosswalk the resolution and the resolution calls
out those, those, uh, those, uh, roadblocks and,
and those additional tools. But we, the district doesn't have access to, students don't have access
to that. It's blocked. So, um, what the crosswalk says is these
are, this is what the resolution calls for and it says, we suggest that this
be blocked. And then the action, the policy section is in section seven,
we go to section seven, and that's where we're addressing that. So we don't call it out and
we don't, we, we, we blocked it. It's not available to students, but dominic, would
you like to share more? And that is a process that's
already in place. Uh, in fact, for all our esports programs,
all games that, uh, courses students need to use for
their esports courses, they have to go through an approval process. So between the
division of instruction and uh, information technology services, we have a team
of evaluators to again, evaluate the value
of these games. Similar to the or the pods process. Uh,
right now it's currently manual. We bring a team together. A lot of the work
is, uh, reviewing the games, uh, google docs and all of that. But
we're also do making an effort to embed the video game approval process
through the pods process so that it will be transparent for schools
and principals to know which games are actually approved to be used for the esports
programs. And definitely anything that has not gone through that or anything
that is not even educational, uh, but just video game in general, they're
automatically blocked. And, and so thank you so much for walking me through
that not a process that I was aware of before. Um, like if a parent were
interested in finding out what was that approved list, where where could one, is that publicly
available? If not, could it be, we can make a list of what's already approved. Uh,
and that's the reason why we are also transitioning this through the pods process because
then we can, uh, readily generate a list of, uh, approved, uh, to,
uh, games similar to the pods list. Okay. That's helpful.
um, and then I wanted to also follow up on the, the comments and questions
regarding iready and ixl and how those minutes are,
how do they, how do they align with the limits that are within the policy? Right, so the
policy doesn't call out iready or ixl, it says that the us
that the district and state assessments are exempt from those minutes because
a smarter balanced assessment that's a state adopted assessment is conducted online.
and so then those minutes would be exempted, of course, in the guidance we provided our
schools is we don't want students to take an exam on once,
uh, just on one time. They need to spread out the, the minutes over time. Um,
so that, um, that is what the language says that district
and state assessments are exempt from the screen time policy during that
period of time where we're doing the beginning, middle, and, uh, end of years
optional except for els for reclassification and during the, the state assessments.
okay. That, that's helpful to clarify. And then of course, you know, there is ongoing work
regarding this conversation around our utilization of technology to do
formative and interim assessments for students. So just, I will look forward to
that conversation with regard to iready and ensuring that we're striking the
appropriate balance and hearing the feedback from the fields I've been having like, informal
focus groups with teachers to hear. And I, and I think, you know, one of the things I've heard
in the primary grades is a concern that it's
kind of the worst of both worlds now with this change is that they will still be assessed utilizing
iready, but they won't get the practice time on I-ready. And so I think that that's,
and, and I also separately here on the secondary side, just a feeling that it's
not really developmentally appropriate for middle, middle school students and above.
so, um, a lot of work to continue to do on that front. So I look forward in the fall for more
information on that. Absolutely. And we are continuing to modify our,
our, um, policies as well, so they're developmentally age appropriate for students. So,
um, yes. We'll, we're happy to provide that update. Okay, great. I've got a lot of people who
are eager to talk about it. So, you know, you let you or someone let me know about how I can loop
them into a conversation process. Um, I also wanted to ask about,
I, I think I raised this during the committee of the whole presentation, but about the
procurement, um, components of this, the, um,
the, the class monitoring and classroom management tool just,
uh, is this a general fund obligation that we will have
annually, uh, funding still need to
be identified for the procurement of, uh, this tool as well as the laptop
carts? This is something that, uh, we provided in the impact statement,
but yes, this is a, an annual subscription that will be needed to
fund annually. And did we consider in the development of the policy whether
a, like a non-technological approach could be taken to monitor the
screen time limits? It'd be fully accurate. We have
to use a tool to, to not just run, it's on each student device,
right? And the student when they logged in, not, um, the total screen time usage
as well as, uh, the minutes they spend on each app, right? We talk about
iready and ixl, so all those will be captured. And also ability
to push those data out to the parent, to
the teacher, to the principal, as well as to the board members, uh, without
that being captured digitally or electronically is, it'll be very difficult,
if not impossible to report out. Got it. And, and certainly I
know we, we hear from, from families a strong desire for transparency,
and I want that too. I think just we are in a, a highly financially constrained
environment and any, any additional purchase that takes away from like core
classroom expenses, it will be a concern for me. So I hope that
as this is an ongoing process, we can look at the implementation
of this tool and see in the future when we have a really firm
grip on the implementation of this policy, whether it's necessary on an ongoing basis,
um, because I, I just, I have concerns about devoting our limited dollars to
something like that. So just putting out that out there. And then I think the final
question that I had, um, there was a, a concern raise around some of our neurodivergent
learners. And, um, I, I appreciate the, that the policy highlights,
you know, uh, students with disabilities where, you know, assistive technology is
required as part of an iep or for our multilingual learners who might
utilize technology for translation. Um, but it is also true that some
children with disabilities who, um, have executive functioning challenges, perhaps
that technology is not helpful, but could actually be more harmful than for
a neurotypical learner. So just curious about how those particular
needs are going to be addressed or considered as part of the policy. So in section
nine and, and just know that there are a lot of people who gave feedback into this policy,
and of course we connected with the special ed, uh, division, uh, and they
have, um, provided at section nine as the exclusionary clause for
the, um, the use of, of tech, uh, really for students who have
a 5 0 4 or an iep. So if the, if the, uh,
iep committee decides that that's something the student needs, they'll incorporate it, but
if not, they won't. So it's really based on what the iep indicates. So, um,
you know, of course we could definitely continue the discussion with the special ed team, but it's really just
based on what the iep decided for their child, which includes their parent.
and if their parent doesn't want the tech, then it wouldn't be an iep. Okay.
yes. I, well, maybe, um, maybe it's a slightly more proactive approach where we're
kind of acknowledging that for some students, technology can, um, can cause more, more
harm than for others, and that we might want to think about even lower limits for that particular
student dependent on their unique needs. Um, I think that that is all
for me for now. Thank you, ms. Gral.
thank you. Yes. I wanna echo the gratitude for getting this policy,
um, drafted so quickly, and also for the presentation
at the cal where you got to hear some feedback from folks and ms. Gona
ans asked some of the questions that I had. I'm just wondering,
um, regarding some of these, you said all these gaming, uh,
platforms are blocked, right? So if some somebody wants to use it, they have to go
through a process and it would have to, and then it's vetted, right?
the, the, okay, so just that, and then regarding the
cost, I mean, my calculation looks like the initial cost will be $5.2 million,
um, and then there's gonna be a $50,000 annual
ongoing cost. Is that correct? And can you share,
um, what this will cover? Yeah, let me, let me break down the
cost for you for the software component, uh, to, to
track the, um, the enhanced filtering on the student device,
the analytics, as well as ability for teachers to override
some blocks and as well as to address special student needs as iep in section 5 0 4.
uh, that software is, we're still going to procurement. There's probably, uh, about a
million dollar a year for that. Uh, there will be some, uh, cloud
storage costs, uh, to, to provide the analytics, right? That's
about, uh, $300,000. The, but the majority of the cost
is, um, this is like probably the, the most expensive, uh,
scenario is like if every classroom from k to five
requires a laptop cart, right? I do not have enough inventory for that.
um, I'm about, uh, 3000 laptop
cart short, and each one roughly, depending on the model, is about
$1,300 each, right? That's the worst, most expensive, uh,
scenario. Now we're looking at and, and again, we're gonna survey the
school in the fall, what model they want, whether they, they remain one-on-one, a laptop
card model, or uh, a lab model, right?
um, and we're looking at also, like for k and one,
they do not need a a card, uh, in each classroom.
they could share it maybe one per school, you know, one
for all k classes and one for all first grade. So
once that survey and this analysis come in, the cost will go down and
I will have a better realistic number, uh, what I need for the laptop cards.
alright. And, um, can I, sure.
one thing that has not yet been fleshed out, um, fleshed out because
we don't know yet, but there, there will be cost savings when it comes to purchasing fewer devices,
particularly pre-k to first, and then also the licenses for some
of the software that will, will be less utilized. And so it's harder to
quantify, but in addition to what douglas was saying around kind of iterating on
laptop carts, you know, we do assume when we're not doing one-to-one as a default, we'll be purchasing
fewer devices and then we'll be purchasing fewer licenses on the software. And
so, uh, uh, the team can track that cost savings that would be helpful for the board as well. And,
and that is already taking place as we're looking at out year procurement,
um, use like the device refresh program that contemplating contemplated
implementing that from kinder or tk through sixth grade
or fifth grade at elementary schools. There we're having to
reevaluate, you know, do we need to refresh in particular grade levels and repurpose
some of those dollars for either implementation here for carts or, you know,
repurposing those dollars for other use. Thank you. Um,
and I also wanna acknowledge the concerns from some of the folks who came and
spoke today about equity and access. And that
for some of our families, this may be the only opportunity they have to
use any technology. And, um, and also
for parents, I, I know that, um, for some
parents they use that in order to be able to participate any, any
school function, right? That, um, any meetings that we have, we
have a lot of webinars, we have a lot of zoom meetings for parents. And so this is
a device. So can you, um, explain to me what we're
gonna do to be able to support those families who,
who may need this? So in our rup, the option for parents
to opt in a take home device, we did not take that out. It's still there.
even with the screen time policy and the, uh, limits and restrictions.
a family, a parent can still opt in to take a device home. Is that
also true for tk to first grade families? All grades? Yes. Okay, great.
so families will still continue to have access. Wonderful. And,
um, and then regarding the rolling out at school sites, um,
you mentioned there's gonna be a lot of, uh, you know, you're gonna bring it up at the
pli and, but how are we going to engage the actual school sites?
and then this is a two-parter, and then for those, uh, teachers
in the, uh, tk to one who may need to
provide intervention to our students who are not, who are
currently using, um, the device to do
I-ready minutes during the week, what are we going, how are we gonna support those
teachers to be able to, to have materials for their, for
their little ones? Sure. Mm-hmm . So the first part of your question about the school site engagement, that will
begin, um, before the principals go on vacation. So their last day is
the 29th. Tomorrow we'll begin with the region superintendents and directors, and then
we'll move on to our principals and we'll inform the principals about the
policy and then, uh, the implementation of the, uh, early
ed through first grade. Uh, and then at that time, we'll give them the office hours
and the, the various sessions when they come back. Um, and the,
the first week they come back is when we have pli. So at that point, we'll be able to engage them and then prepare
them for engaging teachers. Um, so it's going to be something that
progressively will increase more engagement throughout the, the school site as, as
teachers and employees come back, because they're all going, teachers are on vacation. So as soon as
they come back, we'll begin to engage them. Um, when it comes to, um, the intervention,
we're also providing our, our early ed through first grade teachers, um,
with a, a, a chart that says if you use a particular digital
tool for numeracy or, or math, um, this is where you
can find the intervention or the supplemental lesson for that particular standard
in this curriculum. Um, and so we'll do the same for literacy and we'll do the
same for science. So whatever the school was using for that particular subject area
to close, um, achievement gaps or to bring students up to grade level, we're going
to show them where that exists in addition to schedules, because we
also want to ensure that by doing this, we know that teachers may not have the minutes
in the day to see the students every single day for that tier two and three, but
we'll give them the schedules. Um, and our hope is that the schedules will help them to see
where they can fit in that additional scoop, the second scoop, and the third scoop
for the students who are not at grade level. All right. Thank you so much. And
then just one last question are, is there going to be a refresh
of any laptops at the, for the high schoolers? Um, because
one, and it has nothing to do with the policy per se, but one of the
things I've heard from, uh, educators is that some of our
students, like in general, you know, average student may not have
the, the tools, the laptop tool that is
equipped for them to use for their classes. And yet other, other
classes like students in say, an I eep class or a magnet program,
they might have better equipment. And so I wonder if that's,
that reminds me of equity, right? Like, do we have the same type
of, of tools for, um, all of our students?
so the tech refresh, um, program project is still in progress. It's
still going on. Um, it will end in june of 2027.
so the team is in a process of not just refreshing student devices,
but also devices in the, uh, school front office as well.
alright, thank you so much.
it's my turn now. Um, so I'm overall going,
I mean, they were all great questions. Some questions that already that I have, have already been asked.
and, um, thank you for thoroughly asking, um, answering
them. So I'm gonna, um, just provide my overall, um,
analysis of, of, um, the screen time policy
and some unintended consequences. Um, and then just some questions. So
bear with me and then if you wanna chime in as, as, as I'm, uh, reading
some of the consequences and potential, um, solutions.
so overall, the policy is very detailed. Um, and following
the latest and limited research, which is still growing and evolving,
it moves beyond general statements about responsible technology use
and attempts to establish enforceable limits, parental rights and instructional
guard rules, which is exactly what the resolution called for. However, there
are some implementation measurement and equity issues that remain unresolved,
unresolved that have been, um, mentioned here. So if implemented
well, this policy could become, and I think it is gonna become
a national model for shifting schools away from excessive passive
device centered instruction and back toward teacher led relationship
based learning. Uh, its strongest elements are the focus on educational
purpose, active learning, parent, uh, transparency
and restrictions on non-instructional technology use. The greatest
risks, um, are the specific time limits, um, which have
already been addressed by the amendments here, um, that,
um, clearly established, uh, research basis, which
lack, uh, clearly established research, research basis enforcement may
be difficult at scale. And I know that's still gonna be, we are gonna be
tweaking that as, as of in the fall. And the implementation could create some
significant operational burdens and possibly some unintended inequities.
um, before adoption, district leadership here should provide
a detailed implementation and measurement plan showing exactly how screen time
will be tracked, how compliance will, will be evaluated,
and how student outcomes will be monitored. So
with that said, I'll just go straight into the possible unintended consequences.
so reduced educational innovation, um, because of this,
and hopefully you'll provide some guidelines for teachers. Um, teachers
may avoid multimedia projects, digital storytelling,
coding activities or collaborative online work. Uh,
so that's something to, to, you know, uh, provide some guidelines. And then because screen
time minutes become a scarce resource, right,
the, the, the, the minutes will, may impede
some of these activities, which are, you know, um, I know
that students definitely, um, love them. I have a magnet,
monte vista, and they, the students, you know, work a lot on,
um, creating films. And I know dr. Estrada was there and they were
great. So the students were really working on the devices. So I hope that could, you
know, consider that and maybe being exempt from this because these are really
great projects that also families enjoy. Um,
so also more instructional time spent tracking compliance.
uh, schools may end up focusing on counting minutes, documenting usage,
auditing classrooms instead of evaluating learning outcomes. So hopefully,
you know, take that into consideration as we're, um, looking at
tracking the minutes, um, on a day-to-day basis. And also
weekly, it could potentially increase workload for teachers.
uh, teachers may need to redesign lessons, create paper alternatives,
duplicate digital and analog assignments, or coordinate
screen time usage across, um, the school. So those
are some unintended consequences. Um, this is a substantial change management
effort, right? So it's gonna, it's gonna take some time right to, for our
teachers and our, our students to also, you know, sort of adjust to these changes.
uh, parent opt-in fragmentation. Uh, a classroom could contain
students who take devices home, do not take devices home,
have ai permissions, do not have ai permissions,
have different application permissions. So this may create some
instructional complexity, not only within the classroom or within the school. So
how do we manage that and how does the principal manage that? So, um,
also adding to the workload of, of our, um,
our principals and some teachers. So with that said,
I'll just go onto some questions. Um, so the first one,
what outcomes will determine whether the limits that have now
been amended are successful? Is there any, um,
what are indicators that you would use to say, you know? Yeah,
so I think the, the resolution calls for spec specific minutes by grade level
and grade span. So once we have the app that demonstrates the minutes,
I believe we've achieved the goal, because I think that's the goal is to decrease the amount of minutes.
so I think we would use that as a way to measure if it's been successful.
I think the board expects us to follow the minutes. So I believe that's what it would, that's how
we would measure that. And in terms of measurement and accountability, what
percentage compliance is expected? How, how do you expect
that that has not been established? It's definitely something we could discuss
about how we, I mean, we, we hope that the, the goal is for a hundred percent implementation
and we're going to go full force to ensure that there's a hundred percent implementation. So given
the schools the tools that they need. So we're starting with, with, um, early
ed through first week with zero minutes in, uh, august, so that it gives us enough time
to prepare everybody. Um, so that's, that's what our goal is, a hundred percent and
we'll support everyone to get there. And what happens if schools or a classroom
exceeds limits? They've gone over the established limits? Yeah, so
at that point, a principal can just, um, have a conversation with the teacher about what they
could do to decrease the minutes so that we're within the guidelines.
so if, if, uh, say a school goes over the limits,
so that means that next week they would do less or how, or, or they
would have to provide some guidelines into like, okay, where was it that
you exceeded the limits and how do we make sure it doesn't repeat right, exactly. So
we don't, um, subtract the minutes for the next week, and we don't, we just, uh, help
the teacher to stay within those limits. That would be the, the goal. And in
terms of academic impact, what indicators will trigger, um, a
revision of this policy? I think that, um, and I think the,
uh, board has also mentioned this is we're going through the feedback loop.
um, it was mentioned here that we should have questions in the school experience survey. They
talk about if they feel that they're using the, um, if there's too much time, not enough
time on screen, we're gonna look at, uh, feedback from the school community,
but we're also gonna look at achievement data and looking at achievement data to see how
students were performing before the policy. And then, um,
and then after the policy around the same time, august to august,
september to september before the policy, after the policy, are we seeing that
students are performing at the same rate? Or are we seeing that there's a change and report
to the board and hear what the board will do as a result of that.
and in terms of equity, how will im impact be monitored across
english learners, um, students with disabilities,
gifted students and low income students. How will you monitor the
impact of this limited, uh, use of, you know, screen time or technology,
um, on those specific students? Yep. So, um, the same way. So,
uh, looking at achievement data. So if we see that a student is not performing at grade
level, um, and the, the teacher uses a lot of their own assessment,
not just the, the, uh, adopted assessment, but through teacher monitoring
observation, and teacher would need to group would need to group the
students, um, and conduct that additional tier two support
in the classroom, and then after school tutoring so that the student is receiving
that one-to-one support or small group in five to six, number of ratio
of five to one. Um, and if we're seeing the students not progressing,
then at that point revisit that, uh, plan with the
family, of course, uh, to see what additional measures could be made so that
the student doesn't decline, but continues to accelerate in their learning.
um, in terms of technology readiness, how will students develop digital skills
under reduced green exposure? So I think at the last, how
we indicated that we're in the process of establishing grade level expectations to what
students need to know and be able to do with technology. Uh, and so we're
just going to need to work within the, the minutes that have been, um,
approved by the board, uh, to provide them those, those lessons so that students are
ready, um, to compete with, with the world when it comes to technology.
so you'll be establishing, um, competencies that
students need to demonstrate either by each grade level, or would it be like, say
for instance, um, fifth grade and then eighth grade and 12th grade, or is
it gonna be by each grade level? The goal is by grade level. By grade level, mm-hmm .
um, and how will the district evaluate college and workforce readiness?
readiness impacts? Yeah, so with college and workforce readiness,
as was mentioned earlier, it's part of our strategic plan and the measures are there and there's
an operational plan. And so our operational plan, um, includes,
um, our current, our current structure for work, work readiness. Uh,
when we think about our dream it achieve it initiative that ensures that our
students have access to dual enrollment, that they have access to, um, career
technical education programs, that's how we ensure that our students have the career readiness
skills. Uh, and some courses may or may not include tech, uh,
or earlier I mentioned there's an architecture class that does require that architect,
um, program that's online. So certain courses that students take for that,
for their program will, may or may not require technology. So that will
really establish the performance of the students in those areas
based on what the strategic plan calls for.
and I had another question I'm looking for in terms of
the cards.
yeah. So, um, we were mentioned, um, in
terms of the, the carts, will schools receive funding to acquire,
um, lap, um, laptop carts, or is that gonna be centrally funded
and provided computer lab access or monitoring systems? Or what is
the cost of the schools? Or is it all gonna be centralized costs? I think that
discussion is to be had with, with budget, how we're gonna fund, fund this resolution.
yeah. And when will that discussion be taking place?
before december, before the first interim, or before the schools get their budget or
by fall? Like, um, it would be good to have a timeline
part. We anticipate it'll be a, a fall discussion, especially as we head into
school budget development and making determinations on what will be a born class
by a school versus what will be centrally covered. So overall,
you know, the, the, as long as we can
limit our, the burden on principals and teachers and
parents as well, it would, you know, I think that would help,
um, the implementation and, you know, the process that it will take
to adjust to this new policy. But overall, you know,
I commend you for, you know, creating this. It's very thorough. There's
still areas that needs to be tweaked and that's, you know, to be expected, particularly if
this is po, this is the first policy in, in our nation in regards
to screen time and technology use. And like I said, um, I'm
already being, um, asked or from other school board members,
um, you know, not only in cali but also, you know, throughout our state.
I was like, give us more. So I did share, um, the presentation
at the committee of the whole and the resolution. So for
sure all eyes are on us and, and this policy. So I commend you for that. So thank
you so much for all your work. And with that, um, unless
there are any other questions or discussions, oh, go ahead, ms. New hand bill.
just, um, she made a a point about the
minutes exceeding and this being
in the classroom, but if it exceeds at the parent's
expense, how does that get recorded? Or
if a parent exceeds the time that they're supposed to have,
that's yet to be determined because, um, we need to figure out how we're
gonna monitor the entire day, right? Because we're including homework. But the
way that we intend to, um, provide guidance to our
teachers would be that, um, we look at the homework policy,
uh, and reduce the number of assignments that are issued that
would be required screen time. Um, aside from that,
we're open to ideas of how to monitor that part of the screen
time at home. Yes. Okay. And then with the, um,
obviously the screen time when
we're talking instruction, and I, I want to keep us, 'cause I keep thinking screen time,
like we're sitting here, um, trying to monitor
our students. Obviously we don't want them playing games and we know that, but this is instructional time
with the instruction. Our families going
to be educated on what this instruction looks like, because for many of
our families, that is, that is new. So what will we be doing
to help our families understand instruction versus screen time? Because when
you say screen time, like, I mean, our kids are not addicted to, you know, I-ready,
they're not, you know, they're not just like addicted to the I-ready, right? That's not
it. Alright, we're talking about gaming, but instructional time
for our families. How do we help them understand that? Yep. And I'll bring up, um, dominic
who I think had already talked about how we're engaging with pac and our parents about that. Yes.
so part of that work will be to, uh, develop within those
workshops, trainings and toolkits, uh, give parents actual scenarios.
same way that we do with teachers for our pd is to really give
them concrete examples of what is your child actually doing, especially when
outside of the instructional, uh, setting at home is,
if this is instructional, we'll be able to provide them, uh, sort of
like two different scenarios and they'll be able to kind of see and decide for themselves
what are those, uh, active screen time use that are instructional
in nature or homework related versus recreational. And that's also
the reason why we're harping on the educational use. Uh, within l-a-u-s-d.
previously, the version of the policy was educational versus non-educational
use. We're just focusing on educational use. And that's gonna be consistent across
the board with whatever toolkit and resources and materials we're providing.
and even the research, 'cause of the research, is it delineated that way where
screen time is dealing between instruction and recreation?
is the research given to us? There are some of that, but it's more around passive and, uh,
active. And when you look at the definition, or at least the examples
of active consumption of, uh, technology or just using screen
actively, it really speaks to the, the rigor and the cognitive demand.
when students are using the technology, is it to the level of like
a bloom's taxonomy level for, or the okay level forward, they're
actually creating something and not just, again, scrolling through. And so instructionally,
there's already a huge alignment that we can use as a foundation to
really, um, bring to life and to, uh, exemplify
to parents and families just by connecting it back to the,
uh, instructional frameworks that are happening in the classroom.
thank you. That's it. One quick question in regards to the toolkits, and I forgot,
I know you, um, you mentioned that the toolkits, the principal, the principals
will be able to, um, have, you know, something
to share with parents at, you know, back to school night or open house
and, um, coffee with the principal. But it would also be great to
also, you know, connect with principals after they've implemented them. 'cause I could
imagine, you know, questions from parents came up or
students, and then I think that would continue to inform the policy,
particularly, um, when it comes to, you know, the implementation
or, or parents, right? I'm sure they're gonna have questions. The principal's like, that's a good question.
let me come back. So I think it would be helpful to have that open,
um, dialogue, particularly, you know, when during, um, principals
meetings to have some time to say, okay, how is this policy
going? Are you receiving questions so they can, you know, continue, you know, we get
the information from school sites, um, to improve
and this the policy. Okay. Awesome. Thank you. Wonderful.
okay, I think we are ready to vote. Mr. Mclean.
we are, I'm looking at the materials and I failed to collect
a motion and a second for the main item, move item moved by ms. Ez,
seconded by dr. Rivas. And then I actually just
need to pull up some language, uh, for, uh, the
specific disqualifying language for, um, board members molson. So I'm gonna read
it out loud. The recusal language for board member sheen, who's been outside for
the entirety of this discussion, out of an abundance of caution and following the
procedures of section 1 8 7 0 7 of the california code of regulations
board president molson is and has publicly recused himself from discussing or
taking action on tab two, division of instruction, using technology with intention,
establishing guidelines for student screen time due to his ownership of stock
and google inc. Okay, that's outta the way. Motion and seconds
have been made. Uh, now calling the vote. Uh, ms. Newbell? Yes.
dr. Rivas? Yes. Mr. Melvin? Yes. Ms. Griego?
yes. Ms. Ez? Yes. Ms. Ortiz franklin? Yes. Okay. That's six
ayes. All right.
uh, moving on to tab .
oh, no, let's slap that. Uh,
moving on to tab three. Um, approval of
procurement actions. Um, may I have a motion and a second?
moved. Moved by dr. Reba.
anybody wanna second? Second. Seconded by me. Seconded by, uh,
mr. Uh, melvoin. Um, I will note for the audience and
our friends at home, items, uh, s and t have been
withdrawn, items s and t. And for those who are following
along, approval of procurement action contains a number of different
items within it, all listed by alphabet, starting with a, and sometimes going all
the way through zz. But today, items s and t
have been, uh, withdrawn in their entirety.
mr. Mclean, the agenda we have or the, uh, matrix we have says
tnu? That's correct. I, I just sent a clarifying email, uh, prior to
my announcement and, um, to make sure that, uh, everyone understood that there is no u on
the, on the posted materials that the public has, which is the same as the board has,
and s and ts as in sam and t as in toy,
have been removed for, for withdrawn, for, for vote. And then,
uh, mi, mr. Melvoin, you have a recusal for item p
only. So if item p is going to be discussed, mr. Melvoin will take off.
um, if it is not going to be discussed, he may remain seated. Uh, there,
so, um, after having been moved and seconded, it's now appropriate for board discussion.
hey, who would like to go first? Go ahead, mr. Mal point.
sure. Thank you. And thanks for noting I'll, I'll recuse from item p and if discussable
we'll leave the room. Um, I've a few questions and comments on, on four of
the sub items. The first is item e, um,
which is the contract capacity increases. And, um,
this is one, and I, I, I appreciate the team was proactive in saying that there have been, um,
systems put in place to prevent this from happening in the future. But we've had a lot of
conversations as a board recently about contracts and capacity versus expenditures
and putting safeguards in place to make sure that those capacity, those
contract capacities are not exceeded. And, and this item is before us because they were
exceeded. So mr. Friedman, can you just explain, have services already provi been
provided? Um, you know, what happens if the item fails, and just how do we make sure that
this doesn't happen in the future as such that folks go above the, the board approved limits?
yep. Good, good afternoon. Uh, so in july of
2024, the district implemented a new procurement system. So that's
sap ariba. And prior to that, the district ran a, a system
also owned by sap, but it was independent of ariba. Uh,
and at that time, we implemented in waves or phases where,
uh, first central office, then two regions, then two other
regions of the course about six months. And during that time, we ran
two concurrent systems at the same time. So you could place a purchase order
in the old system as well as purchase order in the new system. And so as a result
of that, uh, the data transition, um, and maybe to go backwards,
anytime that, um, we run an implementation, uh, you have an option
of running a big bang, meaning you, you do the entire implementation all at one time, or
you run two concurrent systems. Um, the decision was made a number of years back to
run two concurrent systems. Um, and as a result of that, uh, data that
transitioned over, um, didn't come over in a manner that, uh, was consumable
and appropriate for us to run a procurement system. Uh,
when we identified it in about august of 25, uh, we
then ran a full contract audit of all 3000 plus contracts
in the district. Um, and as we found contracts or
benches, um, in a couple of these situations, we closed off
those contracts from being purchased or, or any purchases made against those contracts.
um, and so the, the mitigating factors that we addressed
was, uh, entering a, a custom development within the new
system, that hard codes a max or a cap on contracts
specific to what the board authorizes, as well as adding a secondary
approval within our division to make sure that all the data within a
contract prior to being published for consumption in the district has a second set
of eyes on it. So it's a two factor along with training and other things.
got it. And I, I think, you know, just for the public, I mean the, so the
increases are 2.6 million for services rendered that schools used.
um, but what if typical gone through a process to get those contract
capacity, capacity increased by the board prior to this happening?
so I understand there's some change management and it seems like that's been taken care of, but wanted
to flag that because it was, um, you know, anomalous and also I
not a great practice, which I think you agree. Um, and that's why it's being fixed. The
other one just for, for you, 'cause it's more about the procurement, I believe is item n.
um, if I'm right, uh, yes, item n
you know, I don't remember in my time on the board seeing a second best bidder,
like a bidder came in second place win. Um, and I think it, it just,
you know, again, without knowing more, and I know you're gonna share some more, it, it kind of, um,
cast some doubts on the credibility of the process. If you're like, you're doing an rfp and then we're not going
with the first place winner because we actually like the second place winner better. And so can you just explain
how, like, how that is possible in the law and in our policy? Why does
it happen? Does it happen often? And, um, you know, 'cause that one was like the first
one where not a great practice to go above board authorized limits. This one
also seems odd. Uh, so in my time
we actually went back to look, um, there's been at least one scenario where we've awarded to
a second highest scoring proposer. Uh, the reality is that the
district reserves the right to, uh, award based on,
uh, non negotiations. So price terms or any requirements
of the district, um, example would be, um, specifically on our benches
where we might have 20 firms that have been awarded an agreement under
that bench. But some of them don't actually agree to all the district's terms specific
to insurance or otherwise. Um, in this scenario, we gave an opportunity for
the highest scoring proposer to meet us where we needed to be from a budgetary standpoint,
understanding that there's roughly a $1.5 million transition
cost that you wouldn't see in the contract. So that's district budget requirements
as far as training, um, it implementation project management, we gave
that opportunity for, for them to actually meet us where we needed to be.
and they did not do. So can you explain though why you would do an rfp for a certain
budgetary amount and then someone would win and then you'd say, actually it's not
that amount. And, and I see the rationale for why you wouldn't bake those into the,
the procurement process. 'cause then you're kind of, um, favoring incumbents. 'cause there
will be some change management, but it, it seems odd to say like you've won, but actually you
have to come down below. So help me explain, understand, just to confirm,
when, when we run an rfp, we don't run it based on a, a budgetary
amount, um, specifically on, on rfps as opposed to an
ifp, which is a low cost bid. Um, these are based on proposals that
may, they may, uh, bid a million dollars, they may bid $20 million.
and so all of that is contemplated as part of the discussion. And, and again, the negotiations
as we get on into the procurement, the first place winner based on the kind
of confluence of best value, we still wanted them to meet a cost. We gave them the opportunity,
they couldn't and so we went with the second place. Correct. Yeah,
it's still, um, I gotta think about that one. It's still, thanks for the understanding
and the fact that it's a rarity, but it is just a weird, you know, and again, as there's more scrutiny now
on contracts and procurement process, it's, it's odd and it's something that maybe
we will agendize at a procurement and facilities and procurement meeting
in the fall to just kind of understand these processes to build some, some confidence
in them. Um, so thank you. My other, um, I have, um,
two other items I just wanted to ask about. One is, I think I, the first
one is item, um, I, and this may be as for
the superintendent or for deputy superintendent salcito, you know, this is our metro,
um, metro contract that I know has changed as a result of the f sb. And
I, I understand why I voted for that particular amendment, but I do, um,
wanna start by saying I want all students to have metro cards. I know students on my youth advisory council have them,
like, you know, our adult students have them. And, uh, as metro
continues to expand the, um, d-line expansion and others like,
and public transportation is a way in la to get to this, the city's infrastructure. Like we want
our students to be able to access them. So I want to just be clear on what's happening. Is it that
the contract amount is extended for one year while we figure out next steps related to the fsp
and like we're gonna work with metro? 'cause I agree with the conversation last week that like we should have metro,
um, and the city and the county do this as a service to our students and the past we've
paid for it. But I also wanna understand, are we paying a fixed rate or
is it per usage? And just like how, so I, so I guess for our deputy superintendent,
for those of us, which I think is all of us who are interested in making sure students have free metro
cards, where do things stand now as we think about cost savings in the fsb? Yeah, our,
our expected path forward is to maintain the same
level of procured services for the 26 27 year. Meaning
we pay $7 per student per year. Meaning
that any child, any student in the district from kinder
through adult school can register and receive a metro
go pass. The district covers that cost at $7 per
participant. Um, what we have seen is
we have about 35 to 40,000 registrants, meaning
we're paying $7 per student, but only
35 to 40,000 are taking advantage of it. And so
the question is, do we go back and reevaluate, uh, per usage,
per registration cost versus paying for every single student
in the district? And I think that's the broader conversation and um,
that's the conversation that we'll be having with metro. Um, and so what makes
sense given with constrained resources, uh, directive as part of the
fsp, um, and how we might renegotiate utilization in the
district? I, I will say this, there also needs to be greater promotion
of the program and awareness of the program. And, and through the student advisory council,
our attendance student advisory council, it was one of the recommendations that the students
want to do kind of a peer-to-peer, um, kind of advocacy and promotional
effort around what's available to them. And so that is something that we will leverage
for this coming year so that we can get a better sense of what is the true registration
level look like. And then based off of that, establishing a baseline to
kind of renegotiate out your contracts around this. Yeah, I mean that makes
sense. And also, I mean, nearly 37,000 student riders for I think over 6 million
rides, which is not nothing. Um, I guess is there a reason, what's the benefit
to metro in, in a, like why aren't we, why aren't
we, why have we not always been paying just per student activation?
like what do they gain from charging us? I mean money, but like what's the like,
you know, is that, was that part of the, the leverage to get down to $7
that we had to do it? Historically, we used to actually only pay
for foster and homeless youth, and on average we would pay about $82
a month, um, for a metro pass for those students. You know, our
partnership with metro has been a very positive one over the years, and
we were able to negotiate a broader access across the district for our
students. Um, but you know, we're learning in terms of participation and thinking
about what would be the appropriate structure. And I think the appropriate structure is utilization and
registration and active go pass account, um,
being something that's available, um, as an accounted for.
and so that'll be part of the conversation as we move forward. Um, in terms of the benefit
metro's investment is if you can develop the early writer, they
become a life, yeah. Long writer of, of metro and
utilizing our, our network in la which we know, you know, we have
to build that culture and our, our students are part of that future. Um,
yes, and I, I remember being at the metro hearings with some of my colleagues on the board as we advocated
for this partnership. I think it's just either they should be willing to switch to a
activation or we should get a fixed number, you know, for the $7
rate we should get 400,000 passes and like
come september if students haven't utilized, we should think about family members for students or educ
educate, like, you know, the fact that we've just had hundreds of thousands of dollars
or hundreds of thousands of unused activation
capacity for metro seems like it's a loss for us. But also to your point about building ridership
a loss for, for metro. So, you know, I I'll just say on this one,
you know, there's also, I know the board, you know, metro is
composed of folks from the city council, from the board of supervisors, from the cities within the county.
I think we all have relationships there. So to the extent that we can help advocate with our colleagues
in other areas of, of local government, please, please let us know because this
is one, you know, it's, and everyone's benefit to increase this partnership,
um, or to continue the partnership and increase ridership. Um, my last just,
it's not even a question, it's just a comment on item li just wanna know 'cause we are
talking a lot as a district about, um, contracts and contracted
services and, and what are contracts and like our, you know, our biggest contract
today item l $350 million, you know, we talk
for, um, uh, dairy, uh, for the most part. Um,
and well bread produce dairy products. So I just want to note too, like we talk
about non-labor expenses and where we can cut, um, and we've been talking about contracted
services with people and those are important conversations to have. But one of the points I've been
making is that a lot of these that look at as the district contracting out are for things like,
in this case, fresh produce, dairy products, bread, $350 million.
but of course we want our students to be able to eat. And so just wanna note that, uh, given
it's a big one and it's for one of those contracted, um, non-labor expenses.
so, uh, thanks mr. Charleson. Who
is next? Go ahead rocio.
I have a question on item p. .
oh, that was you. My bad. I forgot
that was you. Bye .
okay, he's out. Um, so this platform collects a significant
amount of visitor student operational data. Uh, can
staff discuss the privacy and cybersecurity protections that will govern the system
in particular? Uh, who owns the data? What limitations exist on
data retention and use, and what oversight mechanisms are in
place to ensure student and family information remains protected?
thank you for the question. So this is like cloud-based, uh, solution. So
that data is, uh, is uh, is hosted in the cloud and the aws
environment. Uh, we own the data. Uh, there's something we own
and this is a data we use for analytics. Uh, we're using it right now, um,
as a pilot with, with some of the beyond the be programs. And it's a huge success.
so they could actually see in real time what program is successful, who's
participating and and whatnot. Um, we had the contract with the vendor
ensures that, uh, our data is being protected. Uh, should we,
uh, say no longer doing business, the vendor, there is a clause in the contract that
they will destroy the data, uh, in their environment. Um,
uh, but what, we'll, what we'll have a set of data here in our own environment.
and what, um, what guarantees, uh,
have you seen that, how it's protected or how they're protecting it? Are
you able to to see that? Um, well the, the whole application have gone through
our, uh, internal its security review to make sure,
uh, the way they store the data, the data, uh, is encrypted
at rest and also encrypted in transit, meaning when it's going back and forth in, in
transit. Um, so those, those we, it goes through our
security review and um, and a lot of cases, uh, the
vendor provides a sort of a third party, uh, cybersecurity
check that their application went through. And are there
any, um, in the contract with kokomo is, is there a stipulation
that indicates if
under what circumstances will the contract be terminated if any
of these, um, you know, privacy or cybersecurity is
breached? Is is there something stipulated in the contract that says, okay,
if this happens then we're gonna terminate the contract? Yes. Like all contractors clause
for, um, termination for cause and termination for convenience. Yes.
wonderful. That's all for me on that one. Thanks.
go ahead carla. Yes, I have a follow up question regarding
item e and the situation that you were describing to nick about
the fact that the contract, the one, the the one who had the highest
rating, um, we're not meeting us at the, at
the, at the budget level that we were, um, that we had, right,
for, for that contract. In that situation could,
if they are the highest rated company and you think
or the team, the, the raiders believe that they are the best ones
for, for what we need, could you have come back to the board, share
that information with us and we could have decided, you know what, it's worth the investment
increasing this, uh, budget amount
and you know, that conversation could have happened?
um, so I think you're referring to item ni would not item n yeah, you're right, you're right.
it is item n uh, the power school one. The, the, the
conversations I think may be independent, um, in regards to budget authority
and allocation of budget versus, uh, a contractual
rfps discussion. Um, and so I think if, if that
sponsoring department, um, thought that they could
get budget authority to actually implement it and had the resources
and the ability to do so, then they, they would've gone back and done that
and then we could have moved forward with the rfp. So you,
but I, I guess what I'm trying to say is that those conversations are independent from one another. They're not,
um, in the sense of, hey, here's a an rfp board, we'd like you to, to
authorize more budget authority. I think that that rfp in itself is independent
of that discussion. Okay. But I mean, I guess the concern is
that you went, what I heard was that a decision was made to go
with the second place per group because they already met us to
where we were budgetary wise. Correct. And so my
question is, could the team have chosen to go with,
I mean if the, if the decision was made because they did not believe
that they had the budgetary authority to go with
first place, where if it's not, where
does that conversation happen where they can think about going with first place or
that that would be the sponsoring department that would go back and, and say,
can we get budget authority and the resources to be able to do this?
um, and that would be kind of their discretion decision alongside budget and the finance team.
and now what budget, I'll, I'll step in here 'cause I, I think the important thing that
matt is distinguishing is that you have an evaluation team that is scoring
and selecting a particular vendor as part of the procurement process. And
so when the board actually weighs in is now
it is before you, um, how that process and, and the consideration
of budgets that around how a decision was made. And so it is
before you today for that purpose, how the scoring
team makes that decision is something that we protect as part of the
procurement process. And you generally don't want board intervention in
the middle of something like that. It is now when you actually have from,
from a board perspective, would weigh in and make a decision
on whether this is a appropriate course forward. Got it. Alright. So this is the moment
where we would say, you know, we don't,
we don't approve of this or, okay. Got it. Thank you. Oh,
hold on. I have another, not for you though. I think it's for mr.
cizneros regarding item r.
thank you. Okay. So can you, um, share,
um, about this item, how
the implementation of this has improved outcomes for our students?
yes. So joel cisneros, executive director for student mental health and wellness
services. So this item in front of you is our electronic health record.
uh, I know it's listed as continuum cloud, but it's also known as well agent.
so this is the, essentially the electronic platform
where our staff document all their services so it improves
outcomes because that's where we are able to track effectiveness and impact.
and essentially that's where we can report a help to lcap and other various
measures. And has this, it's, it's
the, um, the platform where is it only psw or also
psas enter enter minutes. We have some psas from student support programs,
um, that use that platform. And then addition to that are also our
student family resource navigators. Oh, okay. And has this impacted
the workload for, uh, the folks who use this platform or
providers? No, it, it's, it's part of their responsibility of documenting services
and the absence of that, they would have to use paper and pencil. Oh, okay. And
then, um, how long have we been doing this for? How long, uh,
this contract? Um, so what, what's in front of you is re to renew the
four remaining options. Uh, but this contract or this
vendor has been with us for about almost 10 years. Well, well, agent yes. But
for the, for the pr we use this, the, this one is
being funded by the children and youth behavioral health initiative grant, right?
correct. So how long have we been, uh, using it, using that grant?
uh, this is the first year, so oh, this is the first year? Yeah. So this current year
we were able to use and leverage those dollars through the c-y-b-h-I
grant. And do we have an idea of how much we've received
from, or have we not received any, any reimbursements yet? Yes, we've been
able to submit some reimbursements, uh, year to date we're about close to $400,000
of reimbursement in less than a year of build. So, sorry, I should correct myself
of build. Um, and we've received close to 200,000.
and this is in less than a year? Correct. Okay. And then where is this
money housed right now? It sits in, uh, student mental health and
wellness services and it's, uh, being earmarked, whether it be to
reinvest to, uh, determine the needs of the programs and the department.
um, do we expect this amount of reimbursement to grow
over time or do we, what is our expectation of how much we should
be seeing? Yeah, absolutely. I think that's a good question because as, as you
mentioned, this is part of the first year that we've rolled it out. Uh, there's still a lot of operational
pieces that we're, we're developing, but yes, our goal is to increase
this significantly. And then these funds would be considered discretionary funds
for that department, correct. Or that division? Correct. Alright. Okay. Thank you.
yeah, thank you. Who else has a question?
okay, I would like to go back to the, um, metro cards
again.
okay. Okay. Thank you. So tell
me how the students actually receive in their hand
their, uh, tap card. How do they receive it? Thank you for the
question. Uh, in terms of the cards at, at each school, each
region is allotted a certain amount of cards. We distribute 'em, uh, throughout
the region and we provide them with codes. Uh, the kids are able
to request a card at one of their pop-up events that we've
had, or either at the school administration, uh, offices,
uh, they can actually request a card and at that point they can activate the
card within 30 days. And after, if they don't activate it within the 30
days, they then have to get a new, a new registration activation code.
okay. And my, the question is, because I was at a school where it was
being distributed. Okay. And one of the questions I think was how
do parents, well, how do you communicate that it's going out, how do we do that?
and so what we've done, uh, for the past three years, we've provided an email
to go out to all of the students, uh, through their, uh, email accounts,
and students were able to activate their, uh, card. If
they had a previous card, they were able to activate it, uh, through registering
online and didn't have to come into the office or didn't have to request anything. So
we gave them their actual activation codes through those emails. So we
distributed 400, we worked with its, distributed it in, uh,
july, and they would receive it by no later than the fourth. This
past year, we were able to get it out and make sure that there
was no gap in services, um, between, uh, the summer session.
so june 30th is when it expired. So let me tell you what I saw with
my own eyes. At a middle school, the teacher came down with
his class and they were giving out the cards, and the kid said,
I don't want it. And I said, what do you mean you don't
want it? I don't want it. Well, does your mom
or dad know that you're entitled to a tap card? And
you said, I don't want it. You're not, you're not the adult in the house.
so that's why I think we're missing the parent part of telling the parents,
your child's gonna be given a free tap card, right? No.
well, it doesn't make sense. I just couldn't beli. Well, it was middle school, so I couldn't believe it.
it was middle school and I just couldn't believe that the kids were saying that I don't want the card.
maybe they're all millionaire children, I don't know. But they didn't want the card, so I, we,
we need let the parents know. Okay, thank you. And what, what we've done also, just
to add to it, okay. We've, we've put out a lot of communications. We work with our comms team
to post out the, on the slider. Um, we had a video that was created by
students to, uh, show how easy it is to use their tap cards,
whether it's for the weekends, for cultural events exactly. Or
for any other events, museums, or whatever the case may be. And as well as using it for
school. And then also we sent out messages for parents, um, through their,
so we, we, we've done a lot of outreach, so, okay. Um, we will do,
we'll continue to do that, but believe it or not, there are students who do say, I don't, I don't want it.
so thank you. Thank you. Unfortunately. Okay. Unfortunately is right. Thank you.
anyone else? Go ahead, kelly. Thank you.
um, a couple items that have already been discussed, but um, on item,
sorry, the renumbering of these is getting me really confused. The firefighter
joint apprenticeship committee, um, item
maybe g, maybe fh
is there anyone who can speak on that one? Hi.
um, a really easy one was just curious about if there's an opportunity
to connect the apprenticeship to our fire academies, um, that are operating
district wide. Um, my belief is yes,
but we can come back with a formal answer for you. Okay. I look forward to the formal answer.
I sounds good. And then on the
translation bench,
oh, dr. Soto's coming down. Okay, perfect.
give him some travel time.
bye.
hi, dr. Soto. Hi, good afternoon. My specific question on
the bench, I I, and I think others have raised, you know, the idea of bringing
more translation in-house. One other item that was raised by the cac at their presentation
last week was remote, um, translation versus in-person translation.
can you share whether, uh, these contracted vendors provide
remote only or do they also provide in-person translation? Yes, so
they actually provide both ways. Uh, depending on the request that's made.
uh, if we're able, if the vendor's able to come and participate in the ieb in person,
they will depending, again, also on the language that's being requested. If there's
a limited amount of translators for certain language, then they'll request to be able to
zoom in or, uh, be, participate virtually in the iep. Okay.
yeah. And if there's any way, I mean, my continued belief is yes, if we can
grow our own translation unit, that's the best possible option, but if
not, um, having them come in person as much as possible is responsive to
what, what was raised by the cac members. Absolutely. Okay, great. Thank you. Sorry to make you
walk all this way for that single question. Um, and then on
the, uh, item l the driftwood, dairy,
et cetera, um, food product
contracts, I dunno if mr. Singh is here.
hi. Um, was just wondering, uh, if you can share
anything about the alignment of these contracts with our good food purchasing policy?
uh, specific to that, I, I would probably have to get back to you in, in
speaking with manishh. Um, I can talk to the framework of the agreement and
pricing and all that sort of stuff, if that's helpful. But, um, specific to good food
policy, that'd be something else. Uh, got it. Yeah, it would be great. You know, that's a, a policy
priority and a partnership that the district has to ensure that, you know, both our workforce and
our environment is all taken care of when it comes to the purchasing of our food products. So
yeah, if you could get back to me, that would be great. And I
think those are all of my questions. Thank you, mr. Schroen.
anyone else? Okay, mr. Cle.
all right. There's also a recusal from ms. Ez on item r.
so whatever vote she records will not, uh, go towards item
r. And the same will apply for mr. Melvoin as to, uh, item p. So
whatever your vote is, mr. Mal wayne, it won't apply to, to that particular, um,
item within tab three. Alright. Uh, moved by dr. Rivas,
seconded by mr. Melvoin, the vote on tab three, procurement. Ms. Newbell?
yes, dr. Rivas? I'm abstaining
on item c and I am a no
on item n and p. So that's an abstention
on item c, a, no on item
n, n as
in no. And, uh,
and p. Alright.
and yes, on the balance? Yes, correct. Okay. Uh,
mr. Melvoin, I'm a no on e as in
emily, , earth, um, and n as in nick,
um, a recusal on p and a? Yes. On the balance. Uh,
could you repeat that? No. On e, yes. No. On e and n. Recusal.
on p, yes, on the balance. Thank you.
uh, ms. Rego? Um, no. On e, on
n as in no. And p as in paul? No. On
e and, and p, is that correct?
yes. Thank you. Uh, ms. Conez, um,
I'm going to abstain on item c and then refusal
on r.
okay. Uh, ms. Ortiz. Franklin, I'm just a yes. .
okay. Just a yes. And board president. Schuren.
I'm just a yes, also . Okay.
um, I need to go through and see what, um,
impact this has on particular items.
there were three nos on ends, uh, so it passes
and, uh, recusal on pa, no on
p and a second no on p. So four
affirmative votes for that also. Okay.
um, and if anyone has anything different than what I'm saying, please
say it out loud. Uh, we have two abstentions for item c. So it's
five affirmative, five affirmative votes for that.
okay. That concludes tab three.
lemme check for public comment and what, uh, our next direction will be. I
for the record and out of an abundance of caution, as to tab three, procurement actions.
item r. Uh, with respect to, uh, board member ez,
she recused herself out of an abundance of caution again, uh,
because a campaign donation in excess of $500 was made by
an entity associated with that item. So that's why she didn't vote on it. And now that's
on the record. Uh, now we go to tab four. Is that right? Public comment. Alright.
public comment for tab four
coming right up.
all right, I'll call on the folks who are listed as being, uh, in person, and then we
will call on the folks listed, uh, as remote speakers. Deanna
guillen, are you here, ms. Guillen? There's
a lot of movement. I'm looking for ms. Guillen. I don't see her. I'm gonna see
if ms. Guinn is with us online. On note,
uh, ms. Guillen may show up. Let's
see. The next in person is monica ola. Monica, are you here?
monica ola. Monica arla. Also not
here right now. I'll check online. And the next speaker for tab four
is abigail de la torre. I see you're online. Please press star six to unmute
yourself and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Abigail de la torre.
good afternoon, members of the board. My name is abigail de la tore. I'm a recent
graduate and a taxpayer. Today I'm speaking on the lcap process and how was
reportedly run without transparency and through intimidation. According to the student whistle
blowing, instead of receiving full transparency, full knowledge, and full independence,
student representatives were lied to about the lcap process by senior
l-a-u-s-c officials, antonio placencia and eric l edward at the office of family
and community engagement. This has been confirmed in a whistleblower
memo, distributed district-wide and intermediate agencies. It is also my understanding that
similar allegations have already been made by parents, specifically that antonio placencia
and eric l edward have intimidated and lied to parents. Now it's happening to students
who ask simple questions about the lcap. It's because these student representatives
push back and are independent. We are outraged that this is happening to our representatives.
the board of education should be aware of this, which is our purpose here today.
you should instruct antonio placencia and eric edward to never lie again and to apologize
for their improper and, and potentially illegal conduct. With the lcap process,
we, they obstructed the oversight of billions in taxpayer funds in the lcap process.
this is incredibly inequitable, was lacentia and edward's comments being opposed to equitable
information, but it is also a blended violation of lad's and california's
principles. Thank you. Thank you for your time.
I see maria daisy ortiz is out there. Please, uh, come on up. You'll have two minutes to
speak once you begin. Ms. Ortiz is gonna speak in spanish, so if you'd like to hear what she's
saying in english, please put your hands up and we'll get you these translation headsets. So
we'll just take a few moments to do that, please.
our last regular board meeting. So I just wanna appreciate our folks in translations
who, uh, not only make sure this meeting can be transmitted
in a, in a couple of different languages, including a sl, but also
get in a lot of steps passing these translation headsets out. And it's
typically flawless. We think we
have just a couple more in the back. I wasn't kidding about the steps. I see
bert, he's fast. He's fast, he's fast.
okay, when I started.
good afternoon everyone. My name is maria and I am very happy that more
people are opening their eyes, especially because all
of you know is no connection with the parents in
the school. Although it is a part to help the students
in the whole school, it doesn't exist. So
the means for the vehicle for this to be information, to be fluid.
on the contrary, many parents don't even know what lup is and what it is
for. So in reality, we, we are being treated
like third class citizens. Aside from being taxpayers,
aside from being leader parents in the community,
we are not being listened to. Our recommendations
aren't being listened to second place. Uh, there isn't a way in
which to measure the lcap only using
the smart balance. I don't feel like it is something
the smarter balance is many times taking in april. And then
by june the school year is closed. So we are with delayed data. Another
item, academic excellence. Academic
excellence means that no more children will be graduating with
d or with remi ated materials
because there's going to be a lot of failure with students that are graduating without being at their reading
level because you want to look nice. 85%, but
competitive is 35%. Another item,
the way in which parents are being involved, you have to create those vehicles
of information. Mr. Carvallo knew that
there had to be a ba pa base so
that this information can be fluid in the district in a way in which
we can measure effective parent involvement, not through a survey
in which the language of that survey doesn't represent
the participation of the parents. It has to be better. And lastly, just the
way you have translation here and you clap for the translation department, that's
the way there should be in schools. The school site doesn't have representation because many
schools do not reserve or there isn't enough interpreters that can
get to the schools to interpret that is a deficiency that it should
be fixed. And another one no one spoke about is security
because you don't care about security of our children. How will
you guarantee everything that you have put on that l cap when there is
reduction in the funds? I want answers because seeing you
here concretely, thank you for your time. Makes me sick. Thank you.
alright, I have, I have, uh, alex
halo, uh, signed up to speak remotely. Are you in the room? I don't have you signed in, in front of me,
so not here. Isabella teez is on the line. Please press star six
to unmute yourself and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Isabella teez.
hello? Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Please go ahead.
okay. My name's isabella teez. I recently graduated at the independent
leadership and public service virtual academy graduation ceremony for just our school
board member. Franklin, thank you for pushing that for that opportunity. I'm
here today to speak on the lcap and how the process, the process was
reportedly swayed by high ranking lasd officials. This has been
tamed the lcap comment. It's unfortunate that my
peers and I have to come here so often to report these things as students. We are
represented, represented by advocates on the student advisory council.
I was incredibly surprised and upset when I learned that our advocates were misled by
lesc officials during the lcap process, specifically antonio
placencia and el eric l edward lied to students and tainted
the lcap recommendations. You've heard prior. Lesd in the office
of student and family engagement claimed to be for student voice inclusion and
transparency, eric l edward, and antonio placencia taking advantage
of students, cosing them, intimidating them, lying to them, and then refusing
to answer questions lies in the face of this exact
message. The board should be made aware of the improper
and illegal conduct l word and placencia, as should all the students
involved in this programming. The lack of transparency, the corruption,
and the intimidation totally exploded in the face of engagement. Office. Lu
and elridge should now be held accountable to the public for misinforming,
our lcap representative on taxpayer firm. Bye.
thank you for your time. All right, the next speaker is,
uh, leah driscoll. Leah driscal, are you here? You're signed up to speak
remotely, but are you in the room? Not here. Your
and I have concerned parent on the line concerned parent. Please press star six to
unmute yourself and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Concerned parent.
good afternoon. Board members. So as I'm reading the materials,
there is a description of what the lcap is, what
it's supposed to do, and what the expected outcomes are. However,
the materials don't express how the district is going to do this.
throughout many of the presentations today, there's been a lot of comments about
how input was collected through focus groups, different,
um, committees, but oftentimes these committees leave
a lot of parents out. It seems that a lot of the committees, a
lot of the community based organizations are very aligned,
which is very interesting because there are 500,000
students in your district. However, it seems that the concerns
of just a, a portion of that are being
reflected in your policy. So I wanna speak to the
parent engagement specifically. Thank you board members for
pointing that out because this is something that happens a lot.
I believe it was a board member nobel that mentioned that
in secondary schools, parents sort of just start opting
out of their students' lives. That's not something that the parents are
doing. It's something that it seems to be intentional from the district.
it doesn't matter that students are growing and they're, they're able to start
making decisions on their own. They aren't minors and it's the parents that
are responsible for their educational rights. So I want to encourage
the district to start campaigning
more of that family partnership in your schools because what
you have been doing for the last couple of years have seemed to be driving
a division between parents and students. Yes, we are living
in different times, but at the end of the day, it is the parents that are responsible
for the students and no community organization or your
organization specifically are going to, um,
deter pa, should be deterring parents from being involved in active
members and their families education. Thank you. Thank
you for your time. That concludes public comment on tab four.
um, it is now appropriate for the board to discuss, but before they do may have a motion and
a second to bring it to the table, move it. Oh, oh boy. Second
moved by board president schon seconded by board member ez.
so of course, just just want to, you know, refresh the, the board's memory, our
audience's memory, that of course we had a robust presentation around the l cap last week. Lcap budget,
fsp, all of those pieces kind of interweave with each other. And of course the team
stands ready to answer any questions that the board may have.
further questions from anyone? Go ahead, mr. Melvin. Sure.
thank you. Just two questions. Um, one is, given
the similarity in this year's lcap versus last year's, how
will we ensure that this upcoming lcap is aligned with a new strategic plan
that was adopted today? Yeah,
uh, eric ward, lcap administrator. In terms of the, the lcap alignment
to the strategic plan, the goals will remain the same. So in terms of goals
one through five, academic excellence, two, investing in staff,
that will be the same, uh, as the strategic plan moving forward. I think the
changes that you're gonna see as we move into, uh, not the el kafr
next year, 26, 27, but it's really 27, 28 around
targets and updating actions and really ensuring that the
work done in developing the strategic plan and measures success where they are
applicable can connect to the lcap around the state funded actions.
so specifically the goals will remain the same. Uh, the actions, uh,
might fluctuate going into 27 28, uh, but the metrics
were applicable, we'll say the same, but then the targets will play out
to 2030. Got it. Yep. Thank you. And I guess my second
question, comment, kind of caveat, word of caution of the above, but the
lcap um, explains our strategies to support all students within the
flexibility of lcff, but in particular to demonstrate how we're using supplemental and
concentration dollars to support high needs students and to hold the district accountable for
equitable strategies. And in the last few years, our primary strategy for supporting
high needs students, or at least maybe the greatest of a few has been
se um, which has continued, uh,
continues to be reflected in this year's actions and expenditures. But as we enter a
phase of our budgeting, um, with more limited spending and enter a new lcap
cycle next year, I'm hoping the team can come back to the board before next
june with its best thinking for how we continue to demonstrate support
for low income el foster youth with our supplemental and concentration dollars
in a meaningful and targeted way, as we see, at least in the current iteration of the fsp,
that those s do dollars are going away. Um, 'cause I worry that even,
even norm based investments with like an equity lens, um, may not help
us accomplish the goals in the way that c did. Um, and so I
see that mr. Brava, carini is here too, but, um, just wanna make sure
if you wanna speak to it now, but I, I just, I think more in the fall, like it just, it's
a, a flag that I have, I know others have too, and I wanna make sure we're being explicit and
upfront about it. So thank you. Understood.
anyone else further comments? No. Okay,
go ahead ms. Tanya ortiz. Franklin. So I'll just build out a little bit off of what, um,
mr. Voy mentioned. Can you, can the team explain, and I'm not sure if this is um, simon or
the lcap team, but, um, you know, when lcff was
first passed and we had all this additional targeted student funding, also known as
supplemental and concentration from the state, it was about a billion dollars. And so advocates were
encouraging the district to put all of that through an equitable formula. And so c started
really small, it got bigger, last year was the biggest at 700 million, not quite a billion,
but why can we not put all of the supplemental and concentration funds
through the c formula?
it is possible, but we would have to eliminate every other
current use of supplemental concentration grant funds. And
they are significant. Um, many of those
funds are used for things that we are contractually obligated to provide as part of our union
contracts. And so, um, there are some constraints even on
being able to cut things that are currently being funded programs. Uh, it's
not unlimited, the ability to cut those and, um, they're being used for,
uh, many things that are, uh, you know, very
important to student learning. Uh, very important to meeting the needs of our unduplicated
students. Um, but that's why when cni was increased
to $700 million, it was actually possible only due
to the availability of covid relief funds. Uh, those covid relief
funds, um, were used to fund it at $700 million
for two years. Um, the district was in a position
to keep it at $700 million for a little bit longer.
um, but now as you know, based on the fiscal stabilization plan and the projected,
the very significant projected negative ending balances that we're facing, um,
we can't sustain sending nor many other very important programs at
at previous levels. Do we have a percentage of how much of
our, um, lcff budget is, uh, determined by collective
bargaining agreements? So it was
typically about a third of the positions that
are provided. Uh, and I think in the 26 27 budget,
it's getting even closer to 40%, if I'm not mistaken, even like 38%.
those are just the positions, uh, that are defined
in terms of the ratios by which they're allocated. Obviously labor agreements
include other costs like salary increases that are just part of the cost of a
position. That's part of why a position will be more expensive or cost more
from one year to the next. But just the positions alone, classroom teachers is
the biggest example are, uh, at least for next year's budget, well over a
third of general fund unrestricted. Okay. And I imagine we might ask more budget questions
in the budget item. So lemme just ask on the lcap, uh, or lcf f1
more question. The, um, school experience survey is used for
a couple of metrics and I know we're making some revisions. Can you just tell us about what
to expect for next year's school experience survey
in terms of changing up some of the metrics? I probably wanna hand it over to bill on this
one. I think you were probably going where I was going.
um, hello. So, so certainly our accounting for any, any school experience
survey, current survey items that are in the lcap or are in the, the, the
former or soon to be current, uh, new strategic plan. Those will certainly
be kept, uh, for lack of disruption and we, you know, we certainly account
for that along the way. Um, for the school experience survey. Then moving
forward, uh, the, uh, there's going to, there's gonna be a,
a version that's essentially the core body of the survey that are gonna be non-negotiables
that from year to year and, and anything on the lcap will be a part of that core part of the
survey. And then other items that might come and go with a new policy where we need a one year temperature
gauge or something, we might do that for the survey, but lcap items are gonna be be in
there through and through. And what's the timing for the survey next year? Uh, the survey will be in,
it'll be administered in early spring or around february is when we open up the window and it's done
by spring break the same as this year? Yeah. Okay. Alright. Thank you. Mm-hmm .
anyone else? Mr. Mclean?
alright. The vote on tab four. Ms. New bill? Yes,
that's a yes. Uh, dr. Reba? Uh, mr. Melvin? Yes. Uh, ms.
crego. Ms. Ez? Yes. Ms. Ortiz franklin? Yes. Board
president schuren? Yes. Alright, that's five eyes. So it passes.
we'll come back to the, to dr. Rivas and ms. Griego
in a moment. So now onto tab
six, adoption of the proposed 26 27
budget.
move it right. Thank you. Second, moved by ms. Ez,
seconded by board president schon. There are 12
spots of public comment for this. I'll call the folks who are in person first
and then we'll call on those who are listed as being remote. This appears to be mostly
in person folks. So on tab six, uh,
delana walker, are you here? Yes. Come
on up, ms. Walker. You have two minutes to speak once you begin. And after
ms. Walker is emma hernandez, then kim
richards and then julie brooks. The two minutes is yours.
good afternoon board members. My name is delana walker. I work at the los
angeles conservation corps. We've partnered with l-a-u-s-d for over 40
years and now serve 6,000 students
across 2222 schools in high need communities. I urge
you to protect and fully fund high school expanded learning programs.
we keep students engaged on track and from hanging out in the streets.
in the 20 24 20 25 school year participants
attended about 18.5 more days of school,
earn credit at a much higher rate, and performed
better in core subjects.
we also provide college and career readiness, mentoring and essential
life skills, while also reducing screen time through meaningful
activities and relationships. We support l-a-u-s-d
vision for student success and urge the board to act now
if cbo programs close every single high school
after school program in l-a-u-s-d closes,
establish rates that reflect true cost of delivering programs,
brain master contracts current fully reinstate our
elop funding and the community-based organization serving
l-a-u-s-d highest need students can continue to do
this great work. We are com a committed partner
and we look forward to continuing this work. Thank you.
thank you for your time. All right,
emma hernandez, come on up. Ms. Hernandez, you'll have two minutes
to speak once you begin. And after ms. Hernandez, it is kim richards,
sorry. Good afternoon, president
board members and acting superintendent. My name is emma hernandez and
I serve as ceo of the southeast community development corporation. Each year
our organizations serve hundreds of students through afterschool and summer programs at support
youth and families throughout southeast los angeles. I'm also
a proud l-a-u-s-g graduate who has returned to serve the community that helped shape
my future. I appreciate the work that has gone into
developing the budget of the district's continued commitment to student success and educational
equity. Today I urge the board to protect
and sustain investments in afterschool and expanded learning programs and
to ensure that funding levels reflect the true cost of providing these services.
earlier today, you heard directly from southeast la
students about the impact that afterschool programs have had on their lives.
their stories demonstrate that these programs do far more than just provide afterschool
activities. They create safe spaces, connect students with trusted
mentors, provide academic and enrichment opportunities, and help young
people build confidence, leadership skills, and a vision for their future.
many of these programs have served l-a-u-s-d students and families for decades. They've
built trusted relationships and a deep understanding of community needs that cannot
be replicated overnight. However, sustaining these programs require funding
that keeps pace with the actual cost of staffing, training, facilities,
transportation supplies, and program operations. The question
is not whether these programs work. The students who spoke today have already answered that
question. The question is whether we will continue investing at a level that
allows these programs to remain strong and accessible for future generations of
students. As you adopt this budget, I respectfully ask that you support funding strategies
that fully sustain high quality after school and expanded learning programs
for the students and families who depend on them. Thank you for your leadership and commitment
to l-a-u-s-d students. Thank you for your time.
alright, kim richards, come on down. You have two
minutes to speak once you begin, then it's julie brooks. Uh, channing
martinez and geo gomez. Hi, good afternoon.
my name is kim richards and I represent a collective of boys and
girls clubs throughout l los angeles that have served los angeles unified school
district for decades. L-a-u-s-d receives more than 500 million through
elop aces and 21st century designated for
expanded learning. While ais in 21st century may be, uh, receiving
reductions. Keep in mind that these grants were awarded years
ago when enrollment was much higher. In fact, between 2013 and
2023, enrollment has gone down by nearly 35%
reduction in aces in 21st century learning funding are driven by
enrollment, not performance. Elop is an apportionment
and it has not been reduced. In fact, the state has increased funding for,
um, to expand access in rural and smaller districts.
any reported reductions are a result of sun setting carry over
funds. The change in funding, um, that the cbos receive
is because the district chooses to reallocate elop dollars
to pay for items previously covered by either the general fund or other
funds. Unlike other grants, cbos can't reduce the
spots that, um, are in their program or wait list, um, wait list
families or operate below staffing ratios. Unlike other grants,
when we get a funding reduction, so do the outcomes that we are expected to
deliver. However, now we are being asked to do more with
less. This poses an ethical, uh, concern. When
cbos are expected to absorb ongoing district imposed deficits.
it undermines the intent of a fully funded public system and places
the district's operating deficit on the back of the communities. We serve
those that are already un resourced. Uh, the
contract structure needs to be, uh, revised. We are asking the board today to direct
for a contract rebuild and to designate adequate elop
funding before this budget passes. Thank you. Thank you for your time.
and, uh, I'm just gonna say very quickly for our friends and operations, they're just gently ushering
folks into seats. We thank you. We don't want you, uh, in the hallways for any other
reason than safety. So if they're ushering into you, into seats, I, I intrigued
you. Please just grab a seat and enjoy, enjoy the show and come out and
come out of the the aisles. Uh, the next speaker is julie brooks. Come on
down ms. Brooks, you'll have two minutes to speak when she begin.
thank you. Good afternoon. I am julie brooks, ceo of woodcraft rangers. We
currently operate programs at 54 schools, serving thousands of lusd students each
day. The proposed cbos cbo rates are barely half the cost of
operations. The district funding. The district has found funding for the past
four years, but are suddenly reverting back to rates from 2009. Only
cbos can determine our costs. We must be at the table to create a funding model and contract
that meets current realities. Fully funding cbos requires only
10% of the pool of funding, but cbos can deliver a third,
do deliver a third of the legally required work and provide service to
all high school programs throughout the district. Replacing cbo sites internally
would cost millions, tens of millions more. I also wanna clear up
some misconceptions. Aces in 21st century alone cannot fund operations.
the cde explicitly intends that eop be blended and braided with aces
in 21st century for one comprehensive program, $15
and 63 cents is the minimum amount to fund base operations for
cbos. District run sites already rate funding at a cost much higher
enhancement funds don't fix the contract. Cbos cannot
operate on a da reimbursement. We staff to ratio per
eops universal access requirements. We need cohort billing
to ensure that, uh, we cover costs. The state gives the district
full grants and retired in a da reimbursement model. In 2008,
the district can give cbos 15% indirect allocation. The
district takes 15% from all elop funds and 15% from aces in 21st
century at its own sites. And 6.1% at cbo run sites
leaving cbos with only 8.9% indirect total. This
is a relic and has no, because eop has no indirect ceiling.
cbos do not have to fundraise a match for aces in 21st century funding. It's
not a cash match. Perspe statute bring us to the table to fix the
contract and ensure sustainability for programs for all students. Thank you. Thank
you for your time. Next
speaker is mr. Channing martinez. Channing martinez. I see you're out there. And then
it's gio gomez, then annette toscano. Come on up, sir. You'll have two minutes to speak
once you begin. Uh, channing
martinez center. Um, I don't
know what mr. Gomez's and the school police obsession is with naming
in particular the strategy center in their public comment to the school
board. But since we're talking about budget and making hard
decisions and as the school police and their management association said
school safety, which I agree is not optional, let's
talk about what school safety is and how the budget should reflect actual
safety, which spoiler alert does not include the repression
squad that we all know as the school police. Did you
know that the district spent nearly $350 million
on school police since 2019? Many
of you have said we have to make tough decisions. And
you went, you even went on to say, we told you when we first
considered these equity programs, that this is done with one-time funds. And
that later there may be cuts, but almost, but you
almost move to cut the black student achievement program by 80%. Meanwhile,
leaving in place the budget of the very military force that works to enforce
elements of educational genocide against black students. The school
police. We worked with you to find ways to save the program, but you're
still considering, uh, cutting c by 80%
completely eliminated, eliminating the whole category in the third year of
the fiscal stabilization plan. So now it's our turn
to tell you, we told you so. We told you to eliminate
the genocide squad and warn that keeping that funding reflects
budget priorities, the criminalization and brutalization of black and latinx students.
and now we're warning you again today, um, that
you know, as the head of the union used the same tactics as the president has used
naming specific groups with the intention of a borderline threat.
at what point did does the district reflect on why they
continue to spend money on a force for violence? Do imagine
what it means to save more than $220 million over the next three
years by not funding the school police and actually fundings. Thank you for your
time. The next speaker is gio gomez
geo gomez, and then annette toscano. And after ms. Toscano
is carol opine and then jeannie marroquin.
good afternoon board members. My name is giovanni gomez and I'm going into my senior year of
high school. I have attended l-a-u-s-d schools and I have siblings who are also in l-a-u-s-d
students. Currently I am also a c youth executive board member
of expand la's southeast la youth hub. When I was in third grade,
my mom learned about a robotics program at southeast community development corporation, also
known scdc in bell. Growing up, I was a very active kid with a lot of
energy and my mom knew I needed to find something that would end up funneling that energy
in a positive way, which is how I ended up in scdc. The robotics program
at scdc introduced me to mentors, community leaders, and positive role models.
it helped me discover a passion for robotics that I may never have found in during the regular
school day. I learned problem solving, teamwork, collaboration,
critical skin, critical thinkings, and public speaking skills. Today,
those skills have helped me become a leader. As a member of the cell youth executive board,
I have presented to perform multiple south el southeast la city councils and
I've advocated for issues that matter to young people in my community. My after afterschool
robotics program became my safe space and the place that supported me to be the best version of
myself. Every day, students are looking for safe spaces like the one
I found and like the afterschool programs presented today, they're looking for
mentors who care about them. They're looking for programs that push them to think outside the box.
they're looking for enrichment opportunities that will help them leaders
to help them be leaders in their communities. As the district makes difficult
budget decisions, I ask that you continue investing in programs that expand opportunities
for students. We urge that l-a-u-s-d leaders to ensure that
elop funding continues to support community-based organizations
that have been serving students in all the ways I've described and more when students
have access to meaningful opportunities beyond the classroom, we are better
prepared for car college careers and life. Thank you for your time.
thank you for your time. Annette toscano, annette
t come on up. We have two minutes to speak when she begin.
good afternoon board members. I yield my time to ms. Michelle broad. Next.
good afternoon board members. My name is michelle brona and I serve as the ceo of
la's best, a unique public private partnership among the city of los
angeles, the los angeles unified school district, um, and la's
best, which is an independent nonprofit organization. More than 35 years
ago, under the leadership of mari tom bradley la's best was created to operate
afterschool programs on l-a-u-s-d campuses. Over the decades, we
have supported the growth and evolution of expanded learning through a partner, through
partnership development, policy advocacy, marketing and communications,
program evaluation, fundraising, and the creation of specialized programming
content that enriches the lives of students. Unlike most community-based
organizations, la's best has always functioned as an integral
part of the district's expanded learning infrastructure. Our work is
embedded across 201 schools and leverages a unique fundraising model
that brings private investment directly to l-a-u-s-d programs.
we were built with the district before the district created beyond the bell
department, not simply contracted by it. I'm here today because what
is being proposed reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of how this
nationally recognized ecosystem works. To borrow
a familiar expression, we are at risk of losing the forest
for the trees. La's best is not part of
the community-based organization master of contract. We operate under a separate
mou that has long recognized the dis distinct distinct nature
of this partnership. Yet what is being proposed would effectively treat
la's best as a vendor. It includes spending restrictions,
fundraising restrictions, and reimbursement language that would prevent us from functioning
as the organization we were created to be. And we are currently contracted
to be and have successfully been for more than three decades.
since I have three seconds left, I strongly recommend that you support,
uh, the reorganization of our contracts and support the continued
investment that you've made in expanded learning over for over 30 years. Thank you.
thank you for your time. Carol
opine. Carol c coming up after carol is
jeanie marroquin carol and
then jeanie.
hello board members. I'll be yielding my time to chanel della genia. Can
can you just gimme your name real quick? My name is carol. Perfect. Thank you.
pull the mic down a little bit. Yeah. Okay.
am I good to start? Okay. Good afternoon. My name is al
genia. I am a junior in carson high school and I come from the boys and girls club of carson.
boys and girls club supports its students in various ways, such as providing
a safe space for students who wait for hours for a ride to go home after school.
a quiet space for extra tutoring or space to relax and socialize.
beyond this boys and girls clubs acts as another source of education and
opportunity. It encourages its members to partake in programs such as basketball,
life and workforce readiness and clubs like keystone club or debate
club. The program life and work readiness force helps student secure
paid internship and certification such as food handler certificate and a
workplace soft skill certificate for free. The club's, keystone
club and debate club help foster students' leadership ability and public
speaking ability respectively. All of this heavily encourages
students to be better prepared for the workforce. Along with all these opportunities
is the chance to travel. Boys and girls club has traveled to ucla
and po college to broaden its students' awareness of which colleges
are available to them post high school. They have also gotten the opportunity to
travel to sacramento and dc to advocate to state senators
and congressmen about the club's funding mental health and for the
specific education that schools do not provide. In conclusion, boys and
girls clubs preside safe spaces for various extracurricular activities
and extra and extraordinary opportunities that benefits
its students beyond high school. The club is not just an after school program, but
it's access to opportunities beyond after school helping
pave the way to my success. Thank you for your consideration to increase the
funding for boys and girls clubs. Thank you so much. Appreciate your
time. Next speaker is jenny jeannie marroquin.
jeannie are you here? Jeannie m
good afternoon board members. I will be yielding my time to will and you're a genie.
okay, great. Thank you. Hi, I'm will seymour.
I'm here with the laer afterschool programs. We serve. So, uh,
thousands of youth, uh, middle school and high school students in l-a-u-s-d.
our organization was founded 32 years ago by former board member
jackie goldberg, sharon stricker and volunteers like myself.
we built laer to serve and provide l-a-u-s-d students. Every
middle school, every high school program we, we, we run every
teaching artist, every tutor, former student and coach. We employ
every dollar we raise and community partnership we build
exists because of our commitment to l-a-u-s-d students.
with the current allocation of expanded learning dollars, we are facing
a massive financial challenge. We have an outdated funding
model, a very low student reimbursement rate, and we have an
outdated contract. All the while student participation in our programs
are growing at record levels and so has the food and
security. Thousands of 10 to 18-year-old l-a-u-s-d
students depend on us for safety, food and our crucial programming like
driver ed, totally unaffordable without laer and
actually saved my life to get out of the town that I grew up in. And here's the thing, with all the grants
that we've been awarded, nearly $570 million
flow into l-a-u-s-d, these dollars can be
blended together and fully fund all of the community based
organizations. So I'm pleased asking you to fully fund our
programs with the resources that we've already been awarded and commit
to rebuilding our contract. We have been built
by the community for the community from hollywood high school all the
way to irving middle school. And we've given everything to this work and we're
a crucial component to this wonderful strategic plan that was presented
today. We are your partners. Thank you so much
for your time. Thank you for your time.
alright, moving to remote callers. Diana de la torre.
I see you're on the line. Please press star six to unmute yourself and you'll have two minutes
to speak once you begin.
good afternoon. Acting superintendent shade and members of the board. My name is diana
de la tore. I'm director of collective action at gpsn. And before that,
I taught at augustus hawkins high school and king drew magnet. I speak today on
behalf of over 80 non-profits in our collective action group organizations
united around one mission catalyzing excellence in la public schools so
every student can thrive this morning. More than 30 of those groups joined
gpsn in sending you a letter about the fsp and proposed budget calling
on you to demonstrate that fiscal constraints and equity commitments are
not mutually exclusive. L-a-u-s-d has both the opportunity
and the obligation to make funding decisions that center its most vulnerable students.
we recognize the weight of the decisions and we wanna be direct. The board has taken meaningful
steps forward. The board adopted amendment establishing a funding floor for bsap,
a commitment to restore it. If state revenue allowed an explicit
prioritization of highest need schools for any restoration dollars reflects
value. This community has been advocating for the district to uphold
despite the progress declining enrollment and state funding that has not kept up pace with
the true cost of providing students a high quality education have created
structural constraints that will not resolve quickly. Communities need a durable,
transparent framework that governs how equity is protected across every
budget cycle to come. We are asking the district for three things. First,
publish school site impact data communities deserve to know if schools are
experiencing disproportionate impact and absorbing a concentration of cuts
above the district average. Next, define and codify a multi-year
restoration framework for c and bsap. We ask the district to
commit publicly to a multi-year trajectory that build c towards its full funding
level with highest needs schools prioritized at each stage.
lastly, establish a standing engagement process. Sustained community engagement
is the only way the district can build legitimacy. It will need to make difficult
choices with community trust intact. The fiscal pressures this district faces
are not temporary. The framework for navigating them equitably must not
be either. We remain committed partners in this work. Thank you. Thank you for
your time. The next speaker is maria luisa palmer. You're signed up to speak
remotely, but I do not have you online in front of me. Maria luisa palmer, are
you in the room ms. Palmer? Not in the room. Let's
see who's next. Uh, dayan. I see you are online. Please
press star six to unmute yourself. And you have two minutes to speak once you begin dayan.
hello, my name is dave sun with catalyst, california and equity
alliance for la's kids. We urge l-a-u-s-d to restore and
protect sunny's full 700 million funding in the fiscal year 27
budget and future iterations of the fiscal stabilization plan
in the newly proposed strategic plan, l-a-u-s-c claims that
they are committed to disrupting the generational and systemic
effects of discrimination and racism in our schools, and that they'll
strategically allocate resources in the name of equity. This
is diametrically opposed to the district's choice to zero out any
in two years. Feni is a community driven equity framework
that actively seeks to repair a generational harm that black and brown
students experience throughout the district's history. By codifying an equity-based funding
approach that leverages a holistic understanding of student needs through community
indicators of asthma rates and gun violence, which we know are
systemic factors that impact some of our students daily. For students,
ene means the psw who offers mental support as they deal with trauma,
the field trip to experience and explore new career fields. The campus aide
who provides a safe space and a time in the world feels everything but
further betting sunny deals. A racially ine equitably low
to our students in sunny highest needs schools, there are 1.5 times
as many black students and 1.4 times as many latinx students
compared to lowest needs schools and nearly four times as many english learners.
we recognize your decision to preserve bsap in response to the community, and
we call on the district to exercise this same boldness for an integral
landmark equity tool and investment that is sunny, restore, sunny,
protect, sunny. This is the equity that our communities are demanding.
thank you. Thank you for your time. That concludes public comment for tab
six.
it's already been moved in. Uh, before
we turn it over again to to board discussion again, uh, just
last week we had a very robust presentation from the team around budget,
fsp, lcap, again, all of which speak to each other. So, uh, team stands
ready to answer questions. Uh, but before we dive into
that, just wanted to speak directly to some of the advocacy that we've received today and actually for,
for a number of weeks now. Uh, and of course had, uh, multiple opportunities to engage
with board members around this same topic. So in, in working with
staff as part of the proposed budget, uh, for this coming year that the board will now
take up, um, we're looking at shifting some of the,
uh, what folks may know is the elop enhancement dollars for, for our,
uh, partner providers. And, and by the way, you truly are partners. And I say this is a
former principal who had la's best when I was an elementary principal. I've
had lots of experience with woodcraft rangers and so on. Uh, currently the
the enhancement dollars, uh, were slated to be about 25,000 per
site, uh, working with the team and still working within the elop universe. And of
course, uh, pending board approval, uh, we're looking at setting the, the minimum
baseline allocation at, uh, no less than about $44,000
per site. Uh, there's also going to be an element, uh, essentially of
a per pupil element, or excuse me, an enrollment element, which could,
uh, raise that allocation to about as high as about $80,000.
um, we also commit to a longer conversation around what it looks like to
fund these programs, uh, more sustainably,
although I want to acknowledge that there is always a larger picture, right? There's a larger budgetary
reality, there's commitments made to other parties that we always have to be
mindful and cognizant of. None of these things work in, in silos or should work in silos.
but I did wanna let folks know that, uh, the advocacy was certainly received
and of course there was a lot of engagement with, uh, board offices around this. I wanted
to tee that up for consideration by our board members. Uh, with that, I'll
turn it over to staff for any questions that, uh, board members may have.
go ahead, ms. Ortiz. Franklin. Thank you. And I really appreciate that mr.
shade. I know we've been talking about this for quite some time. Really wanna appreciate our partners. And what
I'm hearing from you, and I wanna make sure we're starting from this point, is a commitment to collaborate
on some of the structural challenges that we've heard for months, um, because it sounds
like it's been an ongoing, um, kind of bandaid with these
enhancement dollars when really, uh, what I'm hearing from the community is
a request to, um, fix the way that we fund the programs through
potentially a cohort model, but really listening to those who are serving, asking
them about their costs rather than assuming a reimbursement rate is enough because
the cde said it was enough, but really oh, okay. . Um,
so maybe first I'll, I'll I'll ask, you know, what do you imagine that
collaboration looking like and when could we expect some revised,
um, structural changes? So
you, you summarized it very succinctly. So yes, there would be an engagement process.
it would be myself, members of my team, beyond the bell staff. It would be of course representatives
from our pro, uh, partner providers. My anticipated timeline
would be that most of that engagement would happen in the very late summer, early fall, once
we're back in session come august 12th. And then that would be able to inform
our practice for the 27 28 school year, what I just
proposed in my opening would, for lack of a better term, get us through 26, 27.
okay. So, um, part of what's been challenging about understanding this is like the different set
of math facts. So from the partners, thank you so much for doing a lot of the heavy
lifting. I've understood, um, broadly what the elop funding
is, how many students they serve, and what their sort of fair share would be be and
also what their costs are to operate their programs. From the district's perspective, I've
gotten the per pupil reimbursement rate that doesn't necessarily match up
to the cost of, uh, the enrollment, um, because it's an a da
reimbursement. Um, so, so one challenge is like, let's get on the same page about what
numbers we're using and maybe that's something we could even do this summer. Um, so that
we're operating from the, the same, uh, numbers and cents. Fundamentally,
we were funding about $15 per student and next year we're offering
about $8 per student. With this 40 k up to 80
k um, rate per school, does that get us to $15
per student or do we have a, a comparison? Uh,
no, I don't believe it gets to $15. We'd have to
d what does it get? I don't know. We'd have to figure it, figure that out. Uh, certainly we're
committed to doing that math, comparing
our numbers. Um, obviously ultimately what we care most about is, is
the benefit to our students, their access to important programs. So
it's not so much about fairness per se, as much as
excellent programming for our kids. Yeah. And um, and certainly our,
our our district costs are, are increasing, um, certainly
fos. So for the programs that are provided by beyond the bell, um, certainly
the costs are gonna continue to increase. Uh, the recent seiu agreement
did have an increase in hours and also health benefits as well as significant salary increases.
and so those cost increases will also need to
be absorbed into elop. They will, all things being equal necessitate further reductions
beyond what has already been reduced to very important programs. Uh, the
elop budget for next year included substantial reductions across the board on in,
in many, many areas. Um, obviously one of them is, is the, the
rates provided to our, our contracted providers, but very painful
reductions throughout the program. Um, and as I mentioned,
uh, further reductions likely necessary in the future, but we're still committed to working
in partnership with these contracted providers to
work on, you know, structural, structural changes beyond what,
what's already being proposed as an increase, uh, for next school year, but something that's more
durable, uh, long term, but again, within those
financial constraints that, that we are, are, are coping with. Yeah, no, I
I appreciate that we we're all understanding that the constraints that wonder, another way to think about it is,
um, we have cut what I understand, there's like a $25 million
gap from the 25 26 to the 26, 27 school year for our providers.
and the last I heard it might be an, you know, you're, you're closing that by maybe half
with this additional enhancement. So still maybe what would've been
full is still a gap of like $12 million that we can't
find the funding for, or we need to reduce because we don't have the carryover that we had had
previously. And so I think, you know, there's some of that, that understanding there. Um,
but ultimately, I, I think what I would like to walk away today with is
a lot of confidence that the partners who have provided such amazing services
to our students don't leave. And that we don't penalize them for
anything that we are, um, treating beyond the bell differently. And you said, you know, cost
of labor is going up. Of course, they're also competing with that, right? If they wanna fund their
folks, they have to give them a competitive salary.
so I feel like we, we've heard from staff, we've heard from partners, but I don't know if, if today we're gonna
get to the, the meeting of the minds such that we don't lose our partners come this
fall. When does the contract end? Or what is the timing
for, um, being ready to go for the, the start of the school year?
uh, we can have dr. Baez confirm, but this starts for the 26 27
school year. That's what the original, the enhancement dollars were for
were to be provided for the 26 27 school year.
so july one. Yeah. Yeah. So this is a really late conversation
for us. You know, our schools are getting their budgets in november, december,
and then here we are in june for our, our partner decision. And it's hard to say in
a week they might be gone. Like, what, what do we need to do today? Is to make sure that
in a week we were not gone. Um, I'll pause to hear from my colleagues about, you
know, what you've heard and what you might, um, you know, ask of staff to see if, if
this is, uh, the solution that, um, is, is gonna make sure that we don't lose our
partners. That's what I'm most concerned about. Tanya, let me ask you a question. From this
part of money, um, field trips to
museums and concerts and things, they're also part of that same lump sum of money that
is being paid to the providers as far as you know? Yeah, so I think the last we saw on
the elop and the team can correct us was about 65,000 under the cap. Sorry,
65 million under the cap field trips under el
p, uh, not from the cap. This was the non cap field trips. We had repurposed those
dollars was part of some of this, uh, reallocation of elop dollars
to fund this. So dr. Ba can share marcus, not the, what I'm hearing from dr. Mill
is how much under, under elop are we fund spending on field trips.
but we had two buckets. We had cap dollars and we had non
cap field trips. And what are those two? So the first one was the non
cap field trips was 5.5. And I wanna say for the cap
it was 45 million. So the, it's 65 for next
school year. 65. Yeah. So it's five. So for the non cap field trips, which
can be for any type of afterschool field trip, not restricted
to cultural arts passport, uh, criteria like arts, um,
it was 5.5 million. The budget in el from, funded from eop for the cap
cultural arts passport field trip for next year is the $65 million figure. Did
that stay the same? The prior year was last school
year, or the current school year technically was $76 million
was the cap field trip allocation. So it went from $76 million
to 65 million. So that's an example of one of the programs I mentioned that was reduced year over
year. The non cap field trips was
almost $20 million in the current year, reduced down to 5.5.
um, in order to fund the augmentation that acting superintendent ch mentioned that
that allocation would be zero. And so there would be no funds allocated to schools
for the non cultural arts passport field trips. Um, out
of elop, we have other funding for out of eop. Yeah, that's exactly right. So
tanya, let me just try to explain what I'm trying to get to. There's
nothing better than the kids going to a, to the pantages and seeing a live performance.
I mean, it's, it's just marvelous for the kids to see that. But when I have to
think about my priorities, is it more important
to me that they have this good after school or before school
program and have to sacrifice some of these field trips, which I
think are just fantastic. It's a matter of balancing what's, what's more important.
and to me what's more important is to have a, a robust
after school program. That's my opinion.
you anyone else, nick?
yeah, I appreciate mr. Smi on that articulation. 'cause that's the balance we're all working on. And and I
share your perspective on that. Ms. Ortiz, franklin, I, I think, asked some of the questions
and articulated the appreciation we have, um,
for our partners, um, very well. So I just want
to add one, one, thank you for your partnership and your advocacy. It's,
you know, I think from the perspective of folks who are at our schools quite often, like the board members,
it's, we don't even see you as partners. We see you as embedded. Like, I don't think I've ever been to bancroft and not seen
will seymour at the school. Um, uh, same with hollywood
and others. And so I, it's, um, and I think partnership is not only about funding
adequately, but really about bringing you all into the conversation to help us
navigate challenges, which you're well aware of. And what I have found, and I know, uh, superintendent,
you've committed to this ongoing dialogue, but that like, there's not an unreasonableness
around trying to, to be competitive with other districts to
try to be competitive with the district's own salaries. Um, and to find a path that makes sense,
whether that's per pupil or some cohort based model, like a norming of sorts. And so
I, I think it, it's not just about the funding, but I want to use this opportunity the day to say, and I've, I've
spoken to district staff about this. It's about the difference between sending
a, um, a letter that goes through the general counsel's office versus picking up the phone
and saying, well, you've been at the school for longer than I have. Let's try to figure this out together.
and I really, really hope that this administration can, can commit to that
level of collaboration. Um, so
I, I want to be clear about that. Um, and the after school and before school, I
mean, many students spend up to a third of their time at a school before or after
school. Um, and, uh, I'm glad that we're, I brought a resolution a few years
ago to kind of bring some coherence, but I really appreciate, um, the, the way that this
advocacy coalition and expand la has had us, uh, think about this
as, as core, not extra as in the kind of 180, you know, the, um,
180 school days and instructional minutes, but not, but not extra when it comes to what's
making, uh, you know, kids come to school and, and stay in school. Um, I guess my
clarifying question, superintendent, is, does the change that you articulated,
which I agree, kind of gets us there, it's a commitment to do more. Um, I, I think
in my back of the envelope, tanya gets us to like 11 or $12,
you know, as opposed to that 15. Um, but someone and
the team can, can do the work there. Does that require an amendment or because the allocations are part
of the board book and not the budget financial pages, just, is your commitment public here
enough? Or do we have to kind of bring an amendment of sorts?
no board action is needed as far as I'm aware. Um, we
will move forward with making this change, the increase to the enhancement
allocation as described by acting superintendent sha. And, uh, I don't, I don't believe any,
any board action is necessary. Great. Well, I, I, um,
then I kind of appreciate that as, uh, you know, at least kind an opening salvo in
terms of this iterative process to get, to get with our afterschool partners where we can.
I'll say too that the elop, you know, I was looking in the last week, and I really appreciate the iterative
process we've had internally with the team and some of those things. I mean, greening
projects are helpful because our students before and after school are using them,
but are not core. I mean, a lot of districts are using elop to fund core after
school programs fully. We are, you know, to the, to the articulation and the balance that mr.
sen was talking about. We're not doing that. I don't know that I fully agree with that strategy. I think
we, like, it would be one of those like kind of fill what's most important first, like fully
fund our after school partners and programs and then add on top.
um, and I can see the app being a change. We evolve to, but I, I do
realize that we support a lot of different things. I also will note that there is contingencies built in the
tutoring budget. Tutoring is something I've been really, um, focused on is important. But I
could also see, you know, as we've been working, uh, with the orientation towards solutions,
that is, that is an area, um, where I think there, there could be some funding that falls
out that we could put towards after school providers. The only other thing I'll say, just because this is on the
budget, not just the lop, is I, I do want to thank the team for the, um,
the iterative process with the board and with the public on getting to this budget. Um, there's a lot of
important mission aligned spending here, uh, investments in our employees, our english
learners and high needs students, um, in the coming year, tutoring and expanded learning as we're
discussing. There's also things I know my colleagues and I don't love, you know, around cuts and changes that
we've had to implement terrain in costs. Um, you know, I don't support our, our current
fsp in its form and, and voted against that last week, um, because of my concerns
about the financial footing of the district going forward. But I also, you know, was
supportive of the initial fsp. And I think it's obviously not a
coincidence that our ab 12 hundreds we're making a $3 billion investment, and then we have to find a way to balance
$3 billion. And I think these are the choices the, the board has been engaged
in. I also just want to acknowledge that this is probably one of the more confusing and
challenging budgets to understand in my tenure, which is ironic because like the, the
data transparency work and the conversations we've been having as a board have been much more robust.
but just the, the nature of, um, the labor contracts
and the state budget cycle and the fsp and, and kind of our understanding that
this budget will change as we get more allocation. So it's, it's for those, you
know, who are trying to piece this together, how does this fit with the fsp and why are
some labor costs included in this, but not all of them. Like it is. I just
want to acknowledge that it's complicated, not not through the fault of, of your, the cfo
or the team, um, but just given the nature of it. So, um, want to own that.
and I know that in a month or two we'll see revised budget that will fully reflects those
increased labor costs, um, and incorporates what I hope is, you know, better news
from the state. So, uh, you know, that being said, I, I, I plan to support the budget today.
I appreciate the, the move towards some partial progress for our afterschool providers. Um,
and thank the team for, you know, answering our, um, you know, I was gonna
say dozens, probably hundreds of questions, uh, and being so responsive. So thanks to kurt and you
simonon and the team who would like to go next.
rocio. And then she,
no, I just wanna, um, also add on, on my comments
on, um, our afterschool providers and our partners. Um, I'm
grateful to our acting superintendent, um, because, you
know, I was also reiterating the importance of our partners and
afterschool programs. Me as a mom, um, my son definitely
has been, um, benefiting from, um, educa. Is it educa?
yes, yes. Or educa, sorry. Um, and, um,
you know, I've seen the difference, um, from a previous, uh, afterschool
provider to now to our high school students. And, you know, I personally,
I've seen exactly all of the activities and, um,
interaction and, and outreach particularly for high school students. 'cause a lot of 'em then they leave
after school and then, you know, uh, we want them to be able to be,
um, participating and enjoying, um, activities that are
not only very social, but also academic. So, you know, very
grateful to. And then continuing to improve on the relationship and have communication
and also to, um, before, you know, certain decisions,
um, that affect our, our, you know, after
school partners or any partners. It would be great to confer with the, with the board. It
is like, I do appreciate particularly, um, with pia, you know, she
would meet and say, hey, these are the things that we're, things have changing. What do you think? And that
gives us an opportunity to provide feedback, um, and input prior
to the changes being made. And I think, um, equally so with any
changes that have to do with our external partners in after school, you know, let us
know what the changes are rather than after. Because then, you know, we're
meeting, we are hearing one narrative, and then we're hearing another, and we wanna be able to come
together, um, uh, towards, um, a solution. So I'm grateful that moving
forward, um, there would be a better planning, communication and,
and partnership. So I do appreciate that. And I know that, um, tanya
franklin also came, you know, let me know what the plans was like. I totally agree. We really
need to address, um, these issues. So thank you for, you
know, and I know that el l funding is, you know, um, we're trying to stretch
it and as much as possible, but I think when it comes to afterschool,
particularly when the la city's budget on, uh, rec and parks
is so minimal, um, the least that we can do as a school
district is provide that for our students. Having, uh, with our great partners
that have been with us for years and years and really don't want to,
um, affect the relationship that we have with our partners. So thank you for that.
thanks. Thank you. Sherette. Yes. Um, I wanna say
thank you for coming with solutions to this, um, action.
uh, andreas ch because I know our partners have been
asking, and I think one of the things that has elevated is obviously
common understanding of what's going on, because it seemed like there was
two different, two different blueprints, two different languages being spoken, and they weren't meeting in
the middle. And, um, for us to, as board members, to have that education
as well, so that we are knowledgeable as we speak on behalf of those
that we are the voice of. So I appreciate that. And just coming with,
um, for all our partners that are here, that are providing
a part of our ecosystem for our families, I think more than anything, um,
I'm in a community with a lot of families who, uh, just
lean on their partnership an after school or before school, otherwise
they can't do what they do as family, as parents for their children.
um, so, uh, just appreciate
that, appreciate us being able to, to save publicly now that we
will come up with those definitions that are common that we understand.
and, um, as mentioned, there are areas that we looked at, um,
even today brought up in other parts of our meeting about where
there could be funding to help us, um, kind of close this gap
when we talk about tutoring. I know we mentioned in another portion
of our meeting that online tutoring was going to be changing. So it's
going to change this, um, budget. And wanted to ask simon
as we talk about, um, it is, it can be confusing.
I appreciate you nick bringing that up, because every time I look at a document
and you're trying to put 'em comparatively together, it confuses
you. And you probably just throw it down because it doesn't make sense when we talk about
our students. The, the numbers don't translate in every
report. Um, and just even we looked at lcap, there was
a different number. We looked at our, um, strategic plan,
our educating students was a different number. When we are providing this,
can we put an asterisk as to what this is? Because when we're seeing
a district profile, when we're looking at numbers and they're
not consistent throughout it, definitely for the average person
to understand what we're doing. So however we can make that
seamless, and whether it's, I don't care color coded, I don't know what we do,
but we need to do something so that when we're reading through our different reports,
that we understand how this translates into the next one. So that we
all have the same understanding. To the point even being made today about how
our partners are coming in the room saying, we can't do this. And we're saying, yes,
you can, but how do we meet in the middle so that we have the same understanding
with that. Um, uh, I think,
I think that was it that I had thank you more. Sorry, go ahead. Rocia. You know
that we, there's a new governor coming into town and to the state,
and I think we really, uh, we can come together as a coalition to go
to state as and let the, a new governor know that this funding,
eal funding has been so beneficial for our students and before and after
school to continue because we don't know, right? With this, the priorities
of, of, you know, new governor would have. And then, you know, just
reiterating the importance and how beneficial this funding has been.
um, not only for us, for the district, but also for our partners. So I think it'd be a
good, you know, coming together to advocate for continued
elop funding. So, okay, this side, who
would like to go first? Okay, carla? Yeah, I have some
questions about just in general about cap and then the, um,
the other areas in elop. Um, so
cap went from six 76 million
to 65 million. And then the other, the
non cap field trips went from 19 million to about
5 million, right? So I'm just wondering what data was used to
make that decision? And if it was usage or if it
was expenditures, do we know why, why people are not
able to, particularly the non cap, it seems like that's an
area that was not expended. So wanna know.
so rick, with respect to non cap, what we found are some of the challenges is,
uh, because these trips have to be, uh, beyond the instructional day and on
saturdays, some of the factors could be that maybe there's not staff available
to, um, to, uh, coordinate these trips or to, uh,
uh, be on the bus with the students. It, it might be that maybe, um,
securing a location, the coordination, 'cause they're coordinating all of
the cap trips that it may be that by the time they get to the non cap there's other challenges or
maybe all the buses have been scheduled and secured. Um, so there's
a number of, of factors that could contribute to not being able to, and the decision
was really based on the spend. And so even though we provided support
to the schools, we're monitoring the spend, uh, the rate of spend throughout the year,
um, we provide them some support to, to see what we can do to help them. Um, so at
the end of the year when we found that there was this, this, um, balance left and
that's how we decided to cut in that area. Alright. Um,
and then what about, um, in
the cap, have we found any, any sort,
'cause it's, as of may, there were only 37 million spent.
so what are the concerns there? What are some issues there that's
making it hard to spend that money? Similar, similar restrictions.
so, uh, it has to be after school or, or on the saturday. And,
um, specifically has to be used for
access to arts. Uh, where president schon gave an example
of like a show at the pantages, things like that. So we
only reduced cap though by about 11 million right. Versus
the other one by a lot more. So I'm just wondering why,
why we made that decision of only going down 11 million. Could we go farther
down and use some of those funds for the, the
afterschool programs? Wondering about that cap
cap was reduced to 65 million to be more in line with what we
expect to be expended once we finalize the current school year.
um, and, um, so that, that's why it was reduced
to that, to that figure. Okay. And then this
is more of a concern because foster youth programs was, um,
budgeted for 499,000, but only 16,000
had, has been spent. And so that sounds like a very
high need program. It's a program that serves very high need. So what
are the issues there? Only 3% of it had been spent. Does anybody know?
I don't expect you to answer all the questions want, but if anybody can respond to those
questions, uh, we can certainly follow up, uh, with,
hey, I would like a more specific, I would like to spend all of that because it seems this is a
high need group and, um, we need to investigate why it is that we're not using
all of these funds. What are the barriers? What
are wisely? Yes, we need to make, well, yeah, we wanna spend it wisely, but
we wanna make sure that these funds go to the students that need it the most and
what are, what's happening there. Um, and you know, just echo
the same concerns about the afterschool programs. Um,
they're, they're essential for our students. It's part of our strategic plan.
we want enrichment opportunities, we want, um, internships. Some
of these programs provide internships and, uh, work experience.
it just expands their breadth of experience. And for some of our kids,
that's the only place they're gonna get it. And so it's not only just,
you know, like the interest, but also an equity issue, right? And we are
a title one district. We have to fill that gap. So thank
you andres, for proposing to, to, um, move some funds
around to, uh, to address some of this. But I would
like to know how far are we from meeting the,
the, that from closing that gap that we have right now? And it's,
I'm not comfortable not knowing.
yeah. Do you need to close the gap for our providers? Yeah. From the per pupil
spending, that I don't think we have the answer yet, do we?
I understand enforcement. Yeah. Yeah. I've been trying to piece together some of the, the parts here.
so it's, it sounds to me that, um, the, the gap is really
about the 25 million that we reduced. Yes. 24 million overall mm-hmm . And
so maybe the team does agree with that. So I, you know, I wanted to hear where the full
board was on this, and it sounds like there is real desire to support our partners if we
can find it. Um, I know it's difficult to find, but under
elop, we do have these really big categories that we often budget for and don't always
find, don't always fulfill the, um, actual expenditures throughout
the course of the year. So I wanna make a motion at some point if today is, if
this is the right moment, mr. Smls, um, appreciating the $12 million,
it sounds like five and a half would come from non cap and wherever the
other 19.5 could come from greening cap funding,
intercession, uh, there's a few other options there. You know, I, I wanna leave
the expertise to the leadership. I don't want the board to get too much into the weeds here, but,
and I know it will be hard, very, very hard. Um, but I, I believe
in this district and I believe that, um, mr. S framed it really well, right? If
this board wants to keep the partners who are serving 100,000
of our students every day after school, then let's find the additional $12 million
they need to close the hole. So I'm gonna,
so I just sent a budget amendment. It's very, very simple. Mr. Mclean has it, if he
can circulate and print it, but it, it's literally just says 25 million
to afterschool partners with the five and a half you all already found. And then the additional
19.5 flexible from any of the, the pots. And, and I'll
just add it a as we do that work, and you define kind of those,
um, buckets of reallocation, is that
there's an understanding that there's implications on the trade offs, right? And so
if you reduce greening, it means either descoping canceling, planned
greening projects, um, in order to repurpose some of those dollars.
if we're talking about immediate cap dollars that are already allocated to schools that
were part of their budget development, it may be pulling that back or
reassessing midyear to say, okay, there may be underspend here and pulling
back dollars in order to reallocate. And I, I just, we go
in, I wanna make sure folks go in with the understanding is that we're gonna look at every
option, but there may be other implications and
other conversations that make results out of this. And so just sharing that, I wanna
make sure that you all have awareness on what the implications are.
I appreciate that. And that's hard to, to tell a school, you know, we allocated some dollars to
you for funding. I'll tell you, the majority of my schools would be like, it's fine. I don't even have the actual
plan for my field trips yet. So I'd rather keep my afterschool partner.
I think particularly when, like I said, schools got their budgets back in november.
we told labor partners there were gonna be layoffs in february, and here we are one week before
the start of the new fiscal year for our partners. I'd really love to keep them at the same funding they've
been expecting. So I did make a, a motion. I, I do need a second to, to
entertain it, and I think mr. Mclean has sent it around. Thank you, dr. Rivas ,
and we'll invite others to weigh in.
she waiting for the language, but, um,
okay.
did you wanna read the amendment? So while we wait for the copy, I don't
know if you have already. Sure, yeah, sure. Yeah. Very, very simple. Amend the
26 27 les due it by restoring 25 million to the afterschool
providers from elop funding, including 5.5 million from non cap field trips. That's
what the team already found. And 19.5 million from any combination
of cap greening, intercession and or high dosage tutoring. And I, maybe my,
the board wants to weigh in on exactly how, um, but I tend to trust the team to figure out
exactly how ette, go ahead. Yeah, so I mean, obviously
when we look at spaces of underspent, I think that's where that initial dollars
come from, right? Because if we're not spending it, then it can be reallocated
somewhere else. And I think to the point made here, um, making
sure we close that gap and finding it within the areas
that we, I mean we discussed, like I mentioned with the tutoring, I'm thinking those are some areas
that's gonna be underspent throughout, and I think the school sites would understand that
if we're giving it in this format. So I appreciate the,
the motion. Kelly? Hi. Yes, sorry,
I, I haven't weighed in on all of this and I, and I think will I, what I will say is, I think it we're
in a challenging moment and, and I appreciate, um, the other board members
weighing in on, obviously we, we have to make prioritizations, and I do think
the afterschool partners provide essential services for our students and for
our families, for our working families. Like this is a lifeline, both the afterschool
programs that we provide, but also our partner programs. And I know, um, those that
exist in my district, you know, have, have a good reputation and families are really reliant
upon, um, upon these programs. We also know that
extended learning programs are not just about care, but it's also about safety, wellbeing,
um, access to enriching experiences for our students. So, um, I just wanna
validate all of that. Um, the, I guess the one thing I will note just as part
of the board's conversation is, um, you know, we, we are
also looking at like, how can we help restore really important programs
like bsap and c that maybe also include
these types of components. And, um, ensuring that eligible
expenses are funded through restricted programs is a part of
that equation. So, um, I just, I think it's important to make sure we are, we're
also seeing the fuller picture because these are the same students. The students who
whose schools receive funds through c or through bsap may also be
the ones that are provided afterschool programs through these partners. Um,
and there are impacts from whatever decision one might make.
so, um, not, I don't, I have to read the amendment. I haven't
read the amendment yet, but, um, I just want to ensure that
we're thinking about those things as we are making these kinds of decisions, um,
and considering where those impacts will be. Um, as far
as the greening item as well, I mean, I think my understanding is that those are for projects that
were already approved. No, there's no new projects that are being approved and, and funded through,
through this allocation. Um, so again, like
the pro this approach works if there is a real opportunity
to do, to make some savings in some other areas, and I, I don't,
I don't wanna set us up for failure in terms of like, is there actual dollars that
could be repurposed here? So anyone
else? Can I clarify who moved and seconded the amendment?
it was, thank you.
ready to vote? Maybe I can provide some, just some clarification.
I think it was said before, but, um, the allocation that was proposed
by the acting superintendent costs $12 million.
of that $12 million, we've only identified five and a half of the
12. Uh, we have not, I, we're committing to the $12 million because
of all of the, for the reasons stated by board members, by our,
by our valued partners because of the importance of those programs. But we are
short six and a half million dollars of the $12 million that's
already being proposed. Um, and then I, you know,
19 and a half short of the amendment before you today,
um, just wanted to make that clear. I'm not advocating one way or the other,
but just to, to make clear that we have not identified the funding for what was
already proposed by, by the acting superintendent.
and, and while the greening projects that were mentioned are, you're right, that what's budgeted
for the eop budget next year, our
e our greening projects that were previously proposed and approved, freeing
up those funds to repeat what deputy superintendent ceto said
would necessitate the, the descoping or cancellation of those projects. It's
possible, but, um, it's not, uh, uh, it's
not the case that we would be not approving future projects. It
would be canceling existing projects. I guess my preference would be that it comes from
cap, um, given that that's such a large budget, and there might be
some other intricacies that the team might need to figure out, which is why I didn't wanna specify like exclusively
from cap. But to mr. Rimson's point, if we're trying to decide the highest quality
experiences for expanded learning, then I, this board sounds like we're leaning into
the daily experiences and not just the one time, as much as I love one time field trips,
I proposed that when we got all this covid money, I was like, let's send kids on field trips with the one time dollars,
and instead we committed to personnel that we are now having to, um, figure out. So,
um, that's why, you know, leaving the flexibility open, I recognize that $19.5 million
is not easy. It's not hiding in the couch cushions. Um, and I, I
am hearing from the partners that if we don't do that for next week, because
literally july one is next week, um, that they will not be able to sustain the programming at
our schools. And given the late timing of this, I think from my perspective,
we owe it to sustain the work for next school year and to do exactly what the
superintendent said this summer and fall, sit down and fix the structural issues so that
we don't do these band-aids last minute, but it just feels so late to me that it,
it would feel like pulling the rug out from under partners who we have built such great relationships
with. And I don't want, um, people to feel like they, uh, can't be here in la
unified. We, we hear that too often from people who say, it's too hard to work in la unified. We don't
wanna lose the great people who already are working with us.
go ahead, kelly, um, to mr. Bravo
creamy, um, to understand, uh, like our own costs for
afterschool programs. Um, we recently unanimously approved a new agreement
with sciu, which includes, as you said, expanded hours and also
increased salary for our beyond the bell workers. How
is that reflected in, in this? How, or is it a, is it reflected
in this budget? It's not, it's not. It's not. Okay. So that's, that's kind of kind, what,
what would you anticipate that might mean in terms of additional costs for our own afterschool
programs, it's tens of millions of dollars. Um, it's gonna depend on
the employees, the, the eligible. So it's, it's an increase in hours.
the substantial increase in cost is the salary increase, which is over a three year period, 24%.
but specifically for beyond the bell increasing their hours from three and a quarter hours per
day to four hours per day, that 15 minutes of additional wages
is not the big cost increase. It's that they now become eligible for health
benefits. Uh, health benefits are provided, um,
at, at four hours per day for classified employees. And there's some more details
and nuance specifically to, to when they become eligible,
when beyond the bell workers specifically become eligible. But, uh, there, that's a
considerable cost that will need to be absorbed ultimately and,
um, and will necessitate reductions. And so the reductions
to absorb those costs have not been identified. I mentioned
last week that there were significant impacts to our other operating funds and
to restricted general fund. We focused most of our attention on general
fund unrestricted to typically in our presentations. But given the scale of
the, the cost of these recent agreements,
we showed last week the impact on the ending balances for child development,
which were projected to go negative, a cafeteria fund, which was projected to go negative
and, and general fund restricted, which was not projected to go negative. But general fund restricted is
a combination of many, many different grants. And the assumption is
that all of these programs will self balance. That's
the kind of inside baseball term we use. But what it means is that they'll live within the revenues
that they receive. And so the cost increases to title one
must be ref accommodated within the allocation. The revenues we get from title one,
same with elop, same with these other operating funds, cafeteria child development, adult
ed. So our general fund, unrestricted multi-year projection
does not assume any contribution from unrestricted to those other
restricted programs implicitly, it assumes that they will self balance, that
they'll cut the necessary things to absorb those costs.
arguably, that's the, that's not a conservative approach. The more conservative approach would've
been to assume that those restricted programs will not be able to
absorb these costs, and that it will instead come from general fund unrestricted. What that would've meant is
a substantially larger fiscal stabilization plan much bigger than the $3.6 billion,
which is already obviously of, of a very deep concern
from a financial and programmatic standpoint. And so, uh, sorry
for the long response to your question, but the, the shorter response is those increased
costs are not reflected yet, and the cuts necessary to
absorb them have not been identified yet. And in terms of when, um, because sometimes
we approve salary increases that are in the future, but when
it comes to the seiu agreement, my understanding is that that's a
contract that expired a couple of years ago. That's right. At this point. So I would
imagine then, uh, that those retroactive
wages we're going to fill those fairly immediately. That's right. Since
the board just approved to those contracts. So it's not, it's not as though maybe we have a year before
those fully, um, are implemented. Um, we we're going to fill them sooner.
that's exactly right. The seiu agreement is actually for the 24 25
school year, 25, 26 school year and 26 27 school year.
and so every cost associated
with the salary increases that are in the past, which is all of 24, 25, and, and
really all of 25, 26 are going to, um,
be incurred moving forward. Mm-hmm . And so it's exactly as,
as you described. Okay. Maybe as a fall from this conversation, we can get
a little bit more like a, a ballpark estimate of the impact on a
lop for, um, increase, uh, labor costs
associated with the seiu agreement for, for beyond the bell. I just think that
as we're taking a multi-year look at our budget as is required,
um, we need to understand like what the specific impacts, because we might, maybe it's the case that
we could find some funding for this year through,
but in terms of the broader problem that ms. Ortiz franklin is raising around
the structural issues, um, with maybe how our partner programs are funded,
that's going to be an additional significant consideration and
a significant amount of money that, that we're going to need to provide for our employees.
that's right. Can I, I just clarify
when you say the sciu labor costs aren't reflected, they are in the fsp,
the impact on general fund. So on all funds, they are on all funds. They are
in terms of the myp impact, but we have not identified the necessary reductions to prevent
some of those programs. Like the one that we talked a bit last week on, we
talked a bit about were cafeteria and child development. Um, they're
projected to, to go negative. And so we have not identified the necessary
reductions and that that's true of some of the other smaller grants as well. But that's the discreet
like line item. I mean the, the, the nut that we have to cover for the sau
contract is not like, that's what I was talking about with some of the confusion. Some of it's not in here,
but it's contemplating the fsp, I mean, so to scones question, like if we
reallocate the another 19 point a half million within the llp,
the lop, that does not significantly change the challenge we have with s like
the fsp already contemplates those rising costs. No, the fsp
only a addresses the impact to general fund unrestricted
specifically. And so the multi-year projection for general fund unrestricted
only includes the costs against general fund unrestricted.
and so the fsp, that's $3.6 billion shortfall at by the, the 20
end of the 28 29 school year. And that's why all the reductions in the fiscal stabilization plan
are also to general fund unrestricted. And so to the extent that there's a
reduction, uh, that is not general fund unrestricted, that doesn't
address our shortfall in general fund unrestricted. And so,
uh, we still have a lot of work to do to reflect and absorb the impact
of these reduction, uh, of the cost increases across other funds.
and so to answer to, to address specifically your question, if we were to identify
reductions to provide 19.5 million additional
funding to providers instead of the, uh, what was proposed earlier,
uh, those are reductions that otherwise could have gone to offset these increasing costs as
part of the seio agreement that won't be available. We'll have to cut other stuff.
so each year in the budget, we, we, we try to anticipate
in these programs, salary increases, right? We know we're in the middle of negotiations.
we know that we're gonna have cost increases. And it's what's called, this is another
kind of inside baseball term. We call it a potential funding variance. And it's what schools are familiar with
'cause they see it in their budgets. Um,
there is a little bit set aside for these cost increases, but when the salary increases
are so significant, they're far exceed whatever buffer
we might have set aside. So if we set aside 5% and the salary
increases 12% in that one 12 month period,
that buffer is less than half of the cost of the salary increase.
um, and to board member go's point, when we're settling an agreement
a couple years after the expiration, then you're seeing a huge sum of,
of costs happening all at the same time. And so I'm,
I'm just sharing this information because it's relevant to one, it's important
for the, for the, for the board and public to be aware of it, but I think it's relevant for the
decision at hand.
okay. Everyone, are we ready to vote? Any more comments?
okay. I had one a question, but it was not on, on, um, it had
to do, I don't know if it was already asked.
second. Um, you know, the board
made a significant commitment, uh, approved of the 10 million to support
implementation of the american indian indigenous student comprehensive plan.
um, yet the budget before us reflects an 8 million
allocation. So can staff clarify whether the district is maintaining
the full approved investment or whether funding and or why funding has
been reduced and if funding has changed? When did that occur?
what was the rationale, the impact, if any, uh, will it
have on the implementation of the plan of services of students moving forward?
dr. Rivas, we have, uh, lydia osa stevens coming and, uh, mr. Tony aguilar
to share more. Uh, but, uh, this was part of last year's
central office reductions that we also had to make. Uh,
and so they can share a little bit more, uh, on what that is
impacting. Go ahead, lydia. And, and tony,
thank you. Yes. This is part of, um, the reductions overall that were
taken by, uh, departments across the district. So that impact
is down to $8 million will be the amount for the 26 27 school
year. Um, if you can see a highlight of it
is that the investments we made the last two years really have placed
a really strong foundation in the work and investments in classrooms.
we worked really diligently to make sure we had the literature
by the authors, authentic authors, so that all classrooms and classroom
libraries had sets of this authentic literature to
continue the work that we're doing. Today, I've got about 800 people
being trained on that lesson development piece all day long
to ensure we continue to support that. We've also invested
in key development with teachers, that cadre of
teachers is growing to continue to, uh, spread the knowledge at their schools.
and the lesson development, another investment that we've made is with key partners
like the tavian and, um, our cielo group
and discussions with in in california, native ways of knowing.
so those relationships are strong and we've been working together.
and, um, we will continue the concerted efforts to ensure
to grow, including identification of students that we've been
doubling with that piece. So there were huge investments made in misys
identification, getting mailers out, putting these items in our enrollment
package. So those were like one-time costs that we won't have to repeat.
I'm not sure if that's helpful or if you have another question. So the 2 million was based
on staff. The reduction in staff was the 2 million that it's the 2 million
overall of the 10 million. So we've been able to hold
on to some of the staff to ensure that all these program implementations
that we've been doing are maintained and continue the supports for students at
schools and the high interest we have with teachers, um,
implementing the content, clrp, all of those different pieces.
I have. Anything else, mr. Gui? The reminder that this is as a result of the general fund.
so the commitment that was made by the board, that $10 million was from the general fund unrestricted.
hence, when we were looking at those reductions, that's where we were. All of our divisions were looking at those
kind of budget line items. Thank you.
okay. Ready to vote. Mr. Mclean? Sorry, we're voting on the amendment
first, right? Got a couple things. Yes, we got the amendment first. Oh, I'm, and the
underlying, I'm sorry. Voting on the budget. So, um, oh no, not yet. And maybe
I'll just say before we vote on the amendment, um, if the amendment doesn't
pass and partners do walk, then staff will have to be prepared to
staff up beyond the bell, right? And potentially pay then for more for our
seiu positions at the school sites where our partners might leave. So it could be
more costly. Just a consideration
for my colleagues. Any other questions before we do the amendment?
everybody clear on the amendment? We're gonna vote on the amendment. Okay.
all right. Voting on the amendment. Uh, ms. Newbell? Yes.
dr. Rivas? Yes. Mr. Melvin? Yes. Ms. Rego,
you know, I'm gonna abstain because I think that I don't have all the information
and I am concerned about not having,
how pulling the monies from other buckets in elop is
going to affect other areas of that we've already made commitments to
ab so I'm gonna abstain from that. Abstention. Uh, ms. Ez, I'll abstain for the same reasons.
abstention, uh, ms. Ortiz franklin? Yes. That's a yes. And board president sch
yes. So that's 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 yeses for the amendment.
and, uh, two abstentions
board. The board is discussing the underlying now amended
budget.
just one last comment on my indigenous question. Um, just,
you know, they don't, you don't have to come forward. It's just, I just wanna thank you for the work,
um, uh, on, on making sure that our american indian
indigenous student, you know, comprehensive plan and the funds were, were you,
uh, were utilized, um, not only for long term, short term and
long term and that we being used effectively, efficiently, but just wanna make sure
that we continue on working on identifying our,
um, american indian and indigenous students. 'cause we need to
make sure that we're counting them and we know exactly the needs and connecting
with them. So I think that is, um, an area that still needs to, to,
that we need to work on. So, thanks. That's all. There's an ongoing commitment, dr. Rivas.
you're absolutely right.
okay. I'd like to make a comment if I may. I haven't spoken yet. So,
um, I just want the auditorium to know that
I do support heat and bsap ever
since it was at its inception. And that's thanks to dr. George
mckenna. Uh, his great ideas. And I've seen the great
progress that our students have made. Um,
and that's why I supported ms. G's, um,
suggestion that we borrow from the, uh, opep
to fund bsap after I was, uh,
assured that it would not be illegal and that
our retired employees would not suffer because of that. So I
was okay with that. Supporting bsap.
now we have the central office budget cuts
and they were also very necessary because without that, our fiscal
stabilization plan would not work. And the county of
los angeles board of education would not accept our
budget. And I do appreciate that all the cuts
were made were trying to be made away from the schools. That is really important and we
all know that. But, you know, the cuts to
central office also affect our schools. And many,
many services at central office supplies to our schools is being cut
and having to decide where to cut is very sad. Very, very
sad. Central office people are our people too. We all work for the board
of education, l-a-u-s-d. So many
of these cuts unfairly target our school police.
school police are tasked with protecting our district
assets and even more important, protecting the safety
of our students and our staff and I have worked for
the district and in schools, in schools longer than anybody sitting
here, including the superintendent longer than. And I have seen and
experienced and witnessed the great work and the
assistance from school police all the time.
now I know there are members of the board who simply do not appreciate school police.
and I see how that is reflected in the many resolutions.
and following the resolutions, the amendments to the
resolutions that seem to always target school police,
they're always mentioned to be cut, always mentioned to be cut by name.
so the last amendment called for additional cuts
to central office and included school police. And regretfully,
I had to vote yes. Not that I wanna cut school police, but
I understand that we are in a very difficult situation and we have to make
cuts in order to make our fiscal stabilization plan work.
so, mr. Ch, I just wanna make sure that any
reductions that we continue to make to school police
would not affect the actual officers who are protecting us.
but other assets, aspects of the school police
department that make it furnished.
thank you. Board president. So there, there were a few items that were called out last week as,
as we discussed, the fiscal stabilization plan. And there's three parts that would,
uh, potentially impact school police. One is, uh, just a
general central office reduction. Again, we had already put a $50 million
reduction for central office for 27 28, which would include,
uh, school police taking a reduction there. There was an additional, uh, by amendment,
there was an additional 20 million of central office reduction that was added. So a total
of 70 million. And again, school police would be impacted there.
um, there were two other reductions specific to school police, uh,
uh, inserted via amendment. Uh, one was for the coming
year, uh, three and a half million dollars reduction. And for the
following year, a $7 million reduction. Uh, in looking at those
reductions and in looking at what's available, what we can do based
on staff analysis is look at that three and a half million dollars reduction
that could be done without directly impacting
personnel within school police. I cannot say the same for
any of the other reductions, but specific to the three and a half million, yes.
okay. Thank you. Other comments? Anyone else? Other comments,
sherette? Yeah, well I appreciate you bringing that up. Um, 'cause obviously we were,
I'm gonna say we, I was put in a predicament as well because I do believe in our safety
officers as well in our school sites. And yet, and often
we have put one against the other. It was even mentioned here in
public comment, and it is not synonymous, nor is
it, um, in a tangent
to our program that we have titled
black student achievement program. And that by no means
do one trump the other, or one is better than the other
or however we want to frame it. However, I know our school sites
and many of our families have come to this
board and have made mention to their need for
our school officers to be present near their school sites. And so I
appreciate you bringing the comment publicly so that we could have that conversation.
um, because it is true and our officers do more than we
can imagine, um, as we continue to lose revenue at
our school sites. And so just for public record, we are losing
items at our school site because we don't have oversight of some of the property
that our school resource officers tend
to respond to. And so anything 50 grand plus
our officers are not responding to our school sites and yet we are losing
revenue that way as well because of loss of property. And so, um,
wanting to always mention, um, the facts so that we are still on the
same page, uh, to that point. And it is
unfortunate. And I do, uh, definitely say that our schools
and the voices of, as we mentioned in this board, about 5,000
continue to wanna support our resource safety.
so thank you for that. Thank you. Any other comments before
we vote on the budget? On the budget? Oh, okay.
okay. Go ahead carla.
simon, I remember I had that question about the increase in costs
for the pay as you go. I I, can you explain to me why
it went up? From my calculations, it looks like it went up. Okay, let
me explain it. Every year we budget pay as
you go to pay for our benefits. The benefits for our retirees,
right? Our current retirees. Yes. And it's always in the budget. It's never
taken out. And in the june 12th book
board book you, um, there was a page that showed,
um, how much we have been budgeting for pay as
you go since 2021. And then what I
noticed is that between 24 25
and then 25 26, the rate or the percentage
that it went up by was like 26% versus previous years,
it went up 2% or 4% was the highest. And
then once we established that, that 26.2
level, the next few years that are in the board book, in the fiscal,
uh, pages, it goes up by like nine or 10% each year.
so can you explain to me why? Yeah. So
now, now, now that I, and thank you for sharing the, the page
number that you were referencing and, and the board material date, I think, uh, that's
very helpful. We're gonna have to follow up with you. Um, when I quickly looked at it,
uh, there's a difference between past years, which are actual expenditures
and forward-looking, which is what's budgeted. I can speak to how we budget
for this. I mentioned a little bit last week, but it's
all based on the health benefit agreement. So we make estimates before
the budget is developed for the following school year of
how many people are going to be actually retired and drawing benefits during that
school year. Um, as well as what the cost of the premiums will
be. That way we can build it into the budget and it's built into the budget
at the individual position level. So when you look at an actual position in the budget, you'll see the
salary, you'll see the cost attributable to their active employee
benefits, but also a a a a share that's basically kind of spread across
all positions related to those that are already retired. Mm-hmm . And
the reason for that is that we collect kind of the fair share cost
from all funds, right? So that general fund unrestricted isn't bearing the
full cost of retiree health benefits 'cause employees who've earned
them have come from the bond program, from title I, from the cafeteria pro program,
et cetera. And so that's how we ensure that every fund is paying its fair share
and that the general fund understood it is not overburdened for those costs.
and so every, so that we budget, let's say it's like 5,000 per
position attributable to the amount for those that are already retired,
but then a position is either filled or not filled. That actually determines how much we collect
through that kind of payroll process to then put into the health and welfare fund.
but what is put in the health and welfare fund is defined by the health benefit
agreement. There's no, uh, discretion
regardless of whether a position is filled or not filled, regardless of whether we estimated
correctly by contract, we have to put a certain amount
for every person that's actually retired and drawing benefits.
and so if our estimates are off,
we either are gonna be underfunding the health and welfare fund
or overfunding the health and welfare fund. Um, now
typically our estimates have been pretty solid. Like we have a pretty good understanding based
on several years of data on, on where things are land. But, but what's
budgeted for next year is based on our estimate for how
many people are gonna be retired and what we're required by contract
in the health benefit agreement to put into the health and welfare fund for every
person who's retired. And so the total that you see in that table is like, I think
it was about $330 million. Mm-hmm . Is just that, that kind of math. It's
kind of the, the amount we're required by contract to put in for every retired
person against the number of people that we think are gonna be retired. And that's kind
of the grand total. So we can look a little bit more into why
the, the past years where they were actual expenditures as opposed to something that's
forward looking, what, what other factors might have contributed to it. But,
but generally speaking, the costs are always just the number of people drawing
benefits and the cost per the labor,
but the, the health benefit agreement that we're required to put to put in. Alright. Yeah, if
you can get me that info, that would be sure. Really helpful. And then when
will we know what the actual is for 25, 26? When do
we get that information? So the first update will be at, in september when we have an audited
actuals. Those numbers are almost final, final. And then
the audit is typically presented to the board in, in january. And so january
is when kind of, we'll be officially closing the books on this
school year 25, 26. Okay. And then what happens if we do find that we
over budget by a lot? What happens to that? So per the health benefit
agreement, if we've contribute, if there are more contributions
than costs within the agreement, uh, the reserve
amount up to $125 million, um,
stays in the reserve. Okay. Um, and
half of it could go to pay for the next agreement, but the
other half is retained by, by the health benefit committee to
pay for, uh, potential increases to benefit levels and things like that.
okay. So it stays in the reserve within the health and welfare up to, within the health and
welfare fund? Yeah. In, in that reserve. That's exactly, I'm sorry. Clarify. That's right. That's clarifying. No, no, that's right. Yeah,
up until up to 125 million. Okay. Correct. Got it. Thank you.
sure. The other thing is on page, um, two nine
of the budget book,
there is, um, an increase, let me see, two nine. Yeah.
there is a, um, an increase of over 50 million for utilities
and sustainability. Can you explain why do you have
that in full by chance? You said page 29, no,
two roman numeral two, number nine,
two roman numeral two dash nine.
see on line 29, number 29, it says utilities in
the districtwide operations. So I'm just wondering why the
increase, there's no fte changes, so why that $50 million
increase?
uh, I'm gonna have to follow up, uh, on that. Curious about that.
also, on page two eight, in the
tk instruction number four, it says contracted
services, it went up to 14.5 million. It went up by 14.5 million.
and can somebody speak to what those contracted
services are under instruction? I'm sorry, can you point me to the
page number again, please? Sure. Um, roman numeral two dash eight
and it's line four contracted services.
I'll, I'll have to follow up with you. Um, this is all operating funds. So
this is not just general funds. This includes all of the different operating funds.
um, and you are asking about the contracted
services, contracted services on page two dash eight, item number four, and
it's under take 12 instruction. So that's what I'm curious, like why, what, what
does that entail? Yeah, I'm sorry. I don't have the, the detail on, on every,
um, okay. Item within this document. But we can certainly
follow up, uh, with an answer to each of those questions. Okay.
and then just, not necessarily about the budget book, but just how we
allocate funds. And, um, I just recently learned
that bsap funds, 25 million of them were
allocated in january of this year. So it made it very difficult
to spend that money. And maybe pedro can, is he here? I don't know. Where, where
is he? He's, he's back there. Oh, there you are. Um, can you share with
me why those funds went out so late to the school sites? $25 million
were sent in january that at a school site, that's
difficult to spend. So what happened, I
would have to look into the release. It may have been that this was the additional
supplemental allocation that was approved in the june budget when we went
from 1 25 to one 50, it probably, or 1 75 uhhuh . Um, and there
was a determination to release the initial dollars look at spend because
that, what we had seen in the prior year is that there was underspend. So
as schools were spending down, we released a second tranche. Um, so
to make sure that, you know, they were first spending down their initial
allocation, it's just very difficult for school sites
to spend their money when we do that. And I know we have that awareness because
we have talked about it. And so we have to figure out a way that
if we already know that the money is going to go to that particular
office or that particular school site for x amount
for x program or services, it makes it better.
I mean, I, it makes it easier for a school to be able to plan
if the money's already there, not that they get it at the, you know, in january it's
nearly impossible if it, if you're gonna hire somebody, you can't hire somebody in january.
so it's, we have to change that practice because what, who winds
up hurting is our, our students at the school sites, right? They're the ones
who, so what can we do to fix that? And carla, that's what goes
on in at our schools all the time. Yes. Money has come in and then you
can't buy anymore because time has passed. So we can, as,
as mr. Salcito mentioned, we can certainly follow up after we research the
specific timing that, that you're referring to. But it is often the practice
that when the allocations are provided throughout the year
as spending gets up to limits, um,
we certainly don't wanna prevent programs in schools from being able to implement their programs. But
I do need to be transparent that moving forward, under the current
financial circumstances, there will almost certainly be more procedures
and practices put into place that make it harder for people to spend money.
um, we will be doing things that will create friction
in, in, in the system to generate $200 million of non-contract
reductions. We will be implementing not just identifying specific contracts
and specific budgets to reduce, but, but review processes that do
make things slower. There's an impact to that. Now, we always do everything we
can so that those processes do not impact
our schools. Um, we do our best to give a little bit more,
um, flexibility in terms of the timing and processes, but,
but there are still things that, that will be necessary, uh,
that are, like I said, gonna create some friction. And so I certainly, um, you
know, we want to try to strike the balance between, um, implementing programs
with fidelity and quickly and giving some deference to program
staff. But when districts are facing the size of the financial
challenge that, that, that we're facing, um, some
of those pro procedures and processes that get put in place
to address them can, can have some,
some consequences. And so I just wanted to, while I, your point is well taken,
I do want to, I don't wanna be disingenuous and say that, that it's going to
only get smoother and better. And in fact, it's likely to be the opposite.
I understand and I foresee a lot of friction, but if the money has already been budgeted
and then we're not allocating it until later in the year, we're almost setting them up
not to spend it. And that's not the plan. Right? There's gonna be
cuts and we know that there's gonna be cuts, and we know that it's gonna be tighter and there's gonna
be more restrictions on how do you spend the money. But in terms of once
the bud the money has been budgeted for that particular program
at school sites, they should receive the money in enough time to
be able to use it other, otherwise, it's disingenuous of us to say
we're allocating funds, but then we do it in such a way that it makes it impossible for
them to spend it. And with our new policies of sweeping back
funds that are not spent, they're never gonna spend it. Right. So
I just, I, I hear what you're saying about how things are gonna get tougher, and
I, I think everybody expects that, but I also want us to be,
uh, mindful and uh, and set up processes that
will allow our students to receive the services that
we have decided are going to be going to their sites for a particular thing.
and it's not new. This is not a new thing. Like scott said, this is an
ongoing issue, but especially now as we are cutting and people
are depending highly on every single dollar that they get,
it is more important for us to, to stick to processes
that alleviate that, that, um, issue of not
spending the money. Same thing with sunny funds. That's a lot of the issues that happen with sunny
is some schools would get their allocations later. So that's it for right now.
thank you. Thank you, carla. Thank you. Now are we ready
to vote? One more? Kelly, go ahead. Uh, apologies.
not to belabor the conversation, just wanted to raise, I know, you know, there's an ongoing
conversation about our equitable funding streams and, and this is going to be a continued
conversation as we see what new state revenue we hopefully, um, receive, um,
when the state budget is finalized. Um, but I, I think there were a couple of important points
raised around, um, as we look at, uh, concerns
about preserving those equitable funding streams, how do we plan for the future? Um,
a couple suggestions that were raised by partners around looking at school site
impact data. So as we look at reductions over the next several years, how can we lift up
what are the on the ground impacts that schools will see? And how does that differ
depending on the, the needs, uh, of the community and their semi ranking,
um, developing a multi-year restoration framework.
um, and you know, we, we made commitments last week as part of
the fsp, but what does that specifically look like? What are the, the
triggers for restoration of those funds? Um, any criteria
that we would want to make explicit as well as a standing process
to be able to engage with community partners around, um, these essential
funding streams that were, were really one and developed in partnership with
community-based organizations, with students, with families, et cetera. Um, so
I, I guess it's more of a question for superintendent cha, whether you, um, are there
commitments or responses that we can make around those specific ideas?
sure. I, I, I mean, I think in very broad strokes, that's the commitment that we made last week.
as, as you referenced, uh, uh, I don't have any concerns with
drilling down to a specific process for restoration. Obviously it
would be very, very, very contingency based. Uh, the, the largest, if
not the sole contingency being additional revenue coming in. Additional revenue
can take any number of forms. It can be additional dollars from the state. It can be underspends
in certain categories that are then reallocated that would establish our
baseline. Once we have that, then yes, we can engage in a process, obviously under
board direction around how those dollars would be spent in prioritizing
semi restoration. Bsap is already essentially restored for the next
three year cycle. So it's really about addressing se uh,
as we cited last week or as we committed to last week, we
would begin with the high highest with those two quintiles. And then
assuming that there were dollars beyond that, which is
aspirational, then we would try to solve for the three remaining quintiles.
yeah. And I would assume, you know, we're going to go in order based on, based on ranking. You know, even
if we got to just the highest need of the moderate tier, for example, like that
would, that would be the right approach to take, um, given limited funds.
great. Well, I hope maybe more specifics can be offered when we revisit the fsp
come the fall and, and that also a clear, there's a clear process
for community to articulate their, their ideas and, and priorities.
um, and then the one other piece I was gonna mention is just also to the extent that,
well, I guess somewhat contrary to the conversation we just had, but to the extent that highest
needs schools and communities can be prioritized when it comes to restricted funding sources.
I'll note for example, our title one threshold that's listed in the budget documents
is 45%. So 45% of students, um, being
eligible for free and reduced price lunch. When you think about the needs in los angeles and
the concentrations of poverty that we have in so many of our communities, that that
is not, you know, near the highest of need. And that's probably not even the average
level of poverty at our schools. So we, we need to think about
in an environment of constrained resources, how do we concentrate those dollars in the communities that
most need them? Understanding that our general fund, uh, revenue
is, is limited. It's not enough for, for the needs we know that our students have. So
hopefully more specifics on that front can be brought in september as well.
absolutely. Okay. I think we're now ready to vote on our proposed budget,
mr. Mclean. All right. Tab six. Uh, after having
been amended, taking the vote, uh, ms. Newbell?
yes. Dr. Rivas? Yes. Mr. Melvin? Yes. Ms. Griego?
yes. Uh, ms. Gomez? Yes. Ms. Ortiz franklin? Yes. Board
president schon? Yes. That's seven. Aye.
all right. We're gonna move to tab seven quickly and then general public comment right
after that. Uh, tab seven is the fiscal year 2027
oig work plan. May I have a motion and a second move it. I second
moved by board president molson, seconded by mr. Mein. I believe there's a
question on the item and I have general public co a public comment on it actually. So let
me, uh, let me get to the public comment as folks shuffle out.
mr. Toski, I believe come on down and we'll wait for the comment until folks are
a little bit quieter, but come on up. You left two minutes to speak to tab seven.
you have a presentation? No, there's no presentation today, but the materials
are available online for you.
just one second, folks are shuffling out pretty please.
okay, mr. Koski, I think, uh, I think we're set. The two minutes is yours. Thank you for
your patience. Thank you for the opportunity to speak to mr. President, mr. Superintendent
and board and public. Uh, first of all, I'm here on the annual work plan
of the office of the inspector general as a former board member of 12 years, and
the author of the motion that became the piece of the institution of the inspector
general's office. I'm here to remind you that the item
before you has signatures on it that should not
be on it. This office is a direct report to the board
of education. If you read that report and the public looks at it, it says
it's presented by, reviewed by. This is the
inspector general's area and the
board. And so I wanna welcome our new inspector general if he hasn't earlier today
been introduced. I also wanna say board,
you lost the last inspector general. She's now the deputy mayor of safety in
the city of la for whatever reasons that were never publicly made
out there. But let me say, one of the issues sue
always talked about was there's not enough general fund money in there.
and you need as a board, as you do the budget and adjust
it to put more general fund. Otherwise, you're predominantly auditing
only facilities bond money. For example, elop, $2 billion
has been spent on elop. Are you gonna wait until the state hoover
commission or somebody audits that you're spending elop? People
are getting pcard in the tens of millions and spending last minute.
when you finally get a list, you are gonna be very upset. And let me say
congratulations to ms. Franklin for, for finding budget dust.
as marguerite lamont used to call it, $11 million. There's $500 million
in elop. In addition, prop 49 has a after school program,
160 million. The federal government gives you 2 million, 200 million. That's
$900 million for after school. Meanwhile,
this audit plan gives us hamilton high thank you harbor freight
tools, developer fees, the downtown law group. There is
so much money that the return on the investment of your inspector general
can give you. Thank you very much. Thank you for your time.
so I believe that no questions right, ms.
new bill. Okay. Let me just say since I'm
sorry. You do, go ahead. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It was just clarification because
I wanted to know because we were adopting the work plan
and the inspector general
just got here. So wanting to know could it be adjusted or
amended after its adoption? That was the question that I had
you answer. Yes.
and that's all. And welcome to our anything's possible. Right.
okay. I wanna say welcome yes. As well. Yes, mr. Hoffman,
you're, I know you're gonna meet with every one of us individually, but let me give you
from the board of education a welcome to the board of education. And I hope you had a fun
day here today. Thank you very much.
any further questions on tab seven? It's been moved and seconded.
uh, ms. Newbell? Yes. Dr. Rivas? Yes. Mr. Malvo?
yes. Ms. Crego? Yes. Uh, ms. Ez? Yes. Uh, ms. Ortiz
franklin, uh, board president schroon? Yes. All right. That's six ayes. I need to collect votes
on a prior item. Tab four. Um, dr. Reva,
this is the local control and accountability plan. Yes. And, uh, same
for you. Um, ms. Greggo, how do you vote? Yes, thank you. Um,
okay. And we'll come back to tab seven for, uh, ms. Ortiz
franklin. And we have some very patient folks who've been with us most of the day
for the, uh, general public comment. And then after general public comment, we
have mr. Mel's adoption of the 26 27. He has
a question. Yes, that's right. Okay. You got it. Okay. So, uh,
general public comment. We have 20 folks signed up. I'll call on those who,
uh, have listed themselves as being here in person. And then
we will call on those who are, uh, remote. Let's see. Mao trejo, are you
here? I think I saw mr. Trejo.
come on up. Mr. Trejo. You have two minutes to speak once you begin. Then christopher covington,
uh, then adrian and then marvia more.
I suspect some seating of time is coming.
I'm mealing my time to your end. Thank you. Come on up, sir. You'll have two minutes to speak once
you begin. Hello. Good afternoon. My name is iran lopez.
I'm gonna be a upcoming senior at man uca community school.
I'm here to talk about how you guys have all this. Uh, you guys are keep
cutting bsap. You guys are keep cutting budgets. And that's
affecting my school, especially my school. It's a community school. It's a school from sixth
grade to 12th grade. My school. You, uh, right now we're seeing
an event. Uh, we don't have enough computers because
the computers that we have at our school, they're being taken for I-ready
testing. So the classrooms that don't do I-ready like
math, ap african american studies don't have computers.
why? Because we are having to put them in the rooms where, um,
they're having to do I-ready and all this testing instead
of spending all that money. And I-ready. You guys should put that
money back in. Bap. Put that money back in our schools.
my school in ap african american studies. We didn't
even do some of the work. Why? Because we didn't have chromebooks.
and 'cause the school is, we're
a sixth grade and 12th grade school, so we don't have enough money for
all the students. So we don't have chromebooks and we don't
do the work. So like please put the money where it belongs.
cut school police, put the money in our schools please.
and thank you. Have a great, thank you very much.
I'm gonna take the last 20 seconds. Um, I just wanna take some time to
commend you all board for passing the fiscal stabilization plan that protected
bsap. I did wanna speak directly to ms. New bill, um, today
as well and acknowledge the decision that was made, um, as the only black board
member to continue to support bsap. I do also wanna express my disappointment
with melvoin and ms. Ortiz franklin for their lack of support for black
students. And like finding time today to save afterschool programs. Afterschool
programs are important, and I think at the same time as people that have,
um, advocated for bsap to not have voted on that fiscal stabilization plan
was truly a shameful. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Trejo.
christopher covington, come on up please. Hi. Thank you. I yield
my time to chloe. Okay, chloe.
hi, good evening. I'm chloe clarkton. As soon be senior at
san pedro high school. Um, I came here to say why the multimillion
dollar funding for l-e-s-p-d should be redirected towards bsap.
bsap has a number of beneficial factors for students. First, they fund
school counselors, which regulate students classes and keep them on track for graduation.
they offer support by acting as a guardian, making sure that students are completing
their a through g requirements while instilling the importance of having good grades. With
the help of bsap, students are able to manage their courses and work knowing they have a group
of people that are working in their favor to support them. On the other hand, police
officers sole purpose is to maintain the authority to
maintain order as an authority figure, um,
which cuts off any possible connection with the students. They're meaning to protect
even when something does happen and the police are called, they often come after the
situation was already resolved. I personally witnessed this in a high school in gardena because
I was waiting for my mom to come pick me up. And this lady, she came to
file a complaint to the school, but she ended up fighting the, the daughters that
the girls that beat up her daughter. So they called the police on them and
they came like 20 minutes later after everything already happened. And the staff members
at the school had to get the lady off the girls 'cause she was beating them up.
so, along with that, um,
on top of their tardiness, police officers do not listen to the needs of the students while
bsap hosts surveys for african american students to give them feedback on how they can be represented
better in schools, police officers maintain their distance with students and only
interact if they're perceived as a threat or causing disruption. I know it's not their job to
like, take into the consideration like the needs of the students, but
it would make them less of a, of a scary authority figure and more like
a criticizing or reconstructing caregiver
and comparing the positive. Oh, well have a nice day. Thank you.
thank you for your time. Adrian,
are you out there? Adrian? Coming up. You'll have two minutes to speak once you begin.
good afternoon. My name is, can I,
we have a speaker in spanish, so if you'd like to hear what she's saying in english, please put on these translation
headsets and you can experience, uh, simultaneous translation.
okay. Ade, my name is pa leon
and I'm a mother and also presenting middle
school. My name is eight, the northridge middle
school.
it also states that the board itself says that, uh, attendance must benefit the
district through achieve through achievement of the following outcomes. Attendance should lead
directly to the professional or technical growth of the individual, uh,
and to improve the dis uh, of the district programs. Um, attendance is important
to the interest and welfare of the district, and attendance should lead to directly to
the improvement of efficiency and operations of the district.
um, the principal at norridge middle school has been frequently absent, uh,
in part to attend axa conferences. This includes spending $2,700
for axa leadership summit in san diego. Uh, this vacation,
or sorry, uh, conference lasted four days.
um, it also includes axa legislative, uh, action trips as
well as attendance to axa leadership assemblies. And our concern
is that these trips do not meet the stated goals of l-a-u-s-d as outlined by
the school board. Um, as parents were concerned that the use of funds,
lack of explanation, and the number of absences, um, uh, also,
um, we're deeply concerned that the public money is being used for her
personal benefit, especially in a time of budget cuts like we've been discussing
today. The only thing we're asking
district, especially with these expenditures, like all expenditures, assure that
everyone follows the policies of the district. And that mr. Scott
take seriously these concerns that we have. 'cause we feel disappointed because
we'd already had these problems and nor did before and they didn't do anything about in respects
to this. Thank you very much. Thank you for your time. Qua moore.
and then after mr. Moore is eric white and then ian
kirksey. I'll be yielding my time to crystal and frank. Alright, come on up.
you have two minutes to speak once you begin.
good afternoon, superintendent and board members. My name is crystal corona and
I am here today not as a high school student anymore, but as a college freshman
and a proud member of students deserve fighting for all students to have a brighter, better, and
safer future. My past four years at school have shown shown me that school police
do nothing but intimidate and criminalize students rather than giving them the support, attention
and opportunities that they need. The $75 million that go into
school police should be going into education and the wellbeing of our students because
we quite literally are the future. We are demanding that lod
fully funds programs like bsap, lgbtq plus supports and dream centers
instead of spending that money on the necessary programs like school police because we, you are
encountering for the negative impact school police has done to students. Instead
of helping students feel like a sense of safety and support, they're creating
a-p-t-s-d response. Lus d's main focus should be
encouraging students to feel engaged, supported, and safe. Thank you,
crystal. Hi, my name is frank sli. I'm a recent graduate
from diego rivera learning complex, and I would like to highlight
the importance of, since you won't use your money in order to help fund
programs, um, at least do background checks on the teachers that
you actually are hiring. Because I felt like as a student that grew up
in south central and also graduated from there, I realized that they didn't care about
whether I graduated or not. They cared about, they cared about, they cared about the paycheck that
they got. At the end of the day, they didn't care about the individual that was actually coming from,
um, a broken home from an environment where nobody believed in them.
so I feel like it's more important to actually know who you're hiring better than
the, the, I guess their credentials. But yeah, thank
you. Thank you. Thank you for your time.
eric white and then ian kirksey. I think I saw both of those gentlemen.
there you are, sir, come on up. You'll have two minutes to speak once you begin.
good afternoon. I'm gonna yield my time to elena price.
all right. Come on up. Thank you.
I could start. Okay. Good afternoon. Board members.
can you adjust the mic? Just there's no nerves. There you go. We just wanna be able to hear you.
good afternoon board members. My name is elena price. I'm a parent
in la unified and apparently they reclaim our school's. La
I want to thank this board for protecting bsap funding, but our work is not done.
programs that support black students and families cannot continue to be treated
as optional. Bsap provides resources, advocacy,
and support that many of our students will not otherwise receive.
I also want to speak about the importance of safe passage in other school
climate programs. Students cannot learn if they do not feel safe getting to school,
leaving school or being on campus. Investing in prevention, relationships
and community support is a much better investment than cutting programs
that help keep students connected and get engaged.
finally, I want to acknowledge mrs. Cohen at martin luther king,
jr. Elementary. Mrs. Cohen has been a consistent support
for students, families, and the school community staff who build trust with
families and serve as a bridge between schools and communities are
valuable. And I hope the district continues to recognize and keep her at mlk school.
as the district faces budget challenges and leadership changes,
I ask that you continue to center students, families, and equity in your decisions.
protect bsap, protect safe passage, protect the people and programs
that help our children succeed. Thank you. Thank you for your time.
ian kirksey, come on up. Ian kirksey.
hey y'all, this is ian kirkey. I'm gonna get my time to sade, but as always defund the school police and
fully fund b seven.
good afternoon superintendent and members of the board. My name is sade lopez, a writing
a rising senior at nar on high school. We are standing at a
critical crossroads for the future of equity in l-a-u-s-d. Today we are here
to deliver a, a clear unwavering demand, fully fund,
expand and protect the black student achievement plan. Bsap is
not just a line item on a spreadsheet. It is one of the most vital equity
investments this district has ever made. It provides real resources
to black students who have been historically underserved and over criminalized.
when we talk about bsap, we are talking about human beings. We are talking about our counselors,
our ps, ws, and our school climate advocates. These are the leaders
who create true safety, safety rooted in care, trust and mental health
support, not handcuffs. If this board cuts bsap, you aren't
just cutting positions, you are abandoning our students. Furthermore, we
must double down on the community-based safety and safe passage programs.
our students have told us directly they feel safer seeing trusted community
members, guiding them to school, then they do seeing a police cruiser at the
time when authoritarianism is rising nationally and immigrant
communities are facing constant threats. L-a-u-s-d must stand as a
sanctuary of support. It is shameful that this district still spends $75 million
on school police. While we have to fight for the basic wellbeing of our youth,
we demand that l-a-u-s-d fully defund the school police and reallocate those millions
where they belong. We say today, no more cuts to bsap, no cuts
to dream centers, no cuts to our pws climate advocates or campus
aides. Invest in the whole child, choose care over criminalization.
fully fund our future. Thank you.
thank you for your time. Joseph williams. I think I saw you sir. Come on
up. You'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Hello mr. Williams.
and then after mr. Williams is ursing and then paola de leon on,
um,
roger that come on up. You'll have two minutes to speak once you begin.
good evening board members. My name is jay santini.
I do not have a speech made today, but I'm gonna speak from my heart. My, I am
a parent slash leader of student deserve, member of blm los angeles.
my child mckenna laws goes to el camino novo elementary. Uh,
first off, I want to thank you for doing, um, some cuts
to defunding the police. You know, we do and that's what I wanna speak on
today. Very quickly, um, as you already
know, you guys know me. I have said some curse words,
which I apologize. I'm just very passionate about these kids and about change
and you know, I've had a hard life growing up. Just like all of us have a story.
I just wanna say, can we please continue to defund the school police so our
children don't be targeted. Don't feel like a criminal. You know, you don't know what
they go through behind closed doors, just like us human beings. And all
they're trying to do is get a better education to better their lives. You know, we
live in a tough world, but it doesn't have to continue being tough. And it starts with you. Like
I always say, and I've said this many a times before, that god puts you where
he put you for a reason. Right? And I don't wanna keep on saying that
till my face turned blue. You know, I know we have our, you guys run a
business and it's like, okay, next person, next person. I'm ready to go home. Right? But
you know, just it starts with you to where when you go home, let yourself and
god knows that you did something. You know what I mean? And I do thank you for
the victories that we have coming so far. And I know the fight is still not done.
you know, there's a million things you guys can do. There's a million things we can do.
you know, heck what these kids can do. But they're here for a reason. And all
of us are tired of being tired, right? We all have trauma,
we all have pain, but we want to see our promised land. We want
to see difference. We want to see action and consistency. And it starts
with you. And I just still, once again, thank you for the victories. We have
come so far 'cause we come a long
and, um, I know it's not done. So thank you and god bless.
thank you for your time. Uh, ur singh, are you here?
there you are. After mr. Singh or uh, pa de leon and then
raya blakely.
good evening. Members of the board. You're probably like, why is this kid still here?
I thought he graduated. I thought we got rid of him. I did graduate about 11 years ago, or
11 days ago. Um, but unfortunately I have to return
this time as a whistleblower. Um, as a member of this,
uh, year's superintendent student advisory council, I learned some very concerning information.
I learned that students were misled, obstructed, and lied to by antonio
placencia, dr. Eric el edward and ms. Rashir.
I independently conducted outreach to attorneys auditors, lako.
they all contradicted what these individuals said and confirmed that they lied about the
lcap to students. I had asked them follow up questions and
emails. They refused to respond except l word. L edward did incriminate himself in one
email. And I've saved that email. How is this equitable to lie to students?
it's untransparent and it's really simple questions like, what does this red
highlight mean on this? Pdf ward didn't respond. Placencia didn't respond
to this simple question. I did ask placencia
in person last time I saw him, and he responded in a very aggressive tone.
and it was just very traumatizing to see that side of him that we aren't used to.
um, and of course we are familiar with parents coming here saying that they've experienced
similar intimidation lies and now it's happening to students.
and I also learned that placencia during the most recent student board member election
pressured two students to change their speeches. That's highly inappropriate. He
pressured them because he thought, he said that you wouldn't like their speeches because they were talking about
corruption. And albert told me the same thing about, um,
about the lcap. He said that you would not like some of our recommendations as reason
for removing them. And placent and edward did direct me to dr. Murphy
in the back. And dr. Murphy let me know that they're the experts on this, yet they still
refuse to respond. And I have reached out to janet carter.
she's, I still haven't heard back yet either. So we, I ask that you please
make them, make them answer these questions publicly. Make make it
transparent. And I hope that you investigate this because this is corruption and
this is fraud, what they did. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Uh, pa
de leon, paola. Paola,
are you here? Last call for
paola. All right, how about araya blakely?
hi, I am aray, I'm yielding to janae. Hello janae. I'm
aray today , um, you guys already
know who I am. I'm janae tyler. I am the parent and family organizer for
students deserve parent and family center director at
hamilton high school. And I have to start off by saying thank
you. I have to say thank you and I'm not gonna cry, I promise I
have to say thank you to she and her bd one staff.
I have to say thank you to superintendent shade,
pedro sto, kristen murphy, for
all the work that you guys have done alongside my community
to help keep me in my position, serving my families at
hamilton high school. I'm not gonna stand here in front of my
community and not thank these parents and students and staff members
that sent in over 200 emails on my behalf. It's
humbling and I'm more than grateful and I thank you guys for that.
but you guys know that if I'm standing here, I'm not gonna just use my, I'm not gonna just
use my time to show my gratitude. I could stand here and do
that forever, but I also have to continue to stand here and fight for our babies.
and I just wanna thank you first of all for the amendments that you guys did
make to the budget. I'm thankful for carla. I'm thankful for
kelly for having you guys take a deeper dive into areas
that could, that we can cut from that doesn't come
on the backs of our black and brown students. Our most vulnerable students,
people probably tired of hearing me say it, but I wanna remind you guys that in 2011
the federal government mandated l-a-u-s-d to create
programming to address the far below basic that our students were
and said that it was so egregious that it seemed intentional.
so I just want you guys to remember that we serve our students
as a data-driven district. The data shows that bsap is working,
the data shows that c is working. And yes, I am
grateful that these cuts to central office also are cuts to school
police. Thank you for your time. Our children deserve care, not cops.
thank you. Right. The next speaker is marshe
doss. Marshe. Are you here?
uh, let's see. After ms. Doss is, uh, jessica santiago
and then fara d
hi. I yield my time to jonah. Line up jonah, you have two minutes to
speak. Alright, thank you. Good evening to the school board. My name is
jonah daniels. I'm an up and coming 10th grade at laces. The same
one who was here last week. Fine. For you not to defund bsap.
now I'm back. For you to fully fund bsap and defund school police
as it is heavily important to school campuses and culture for black people overall,
you expanded it with greatly benefit sta students and staff members
as bsap is one of the most important quality investments
that lsc has done as a support. In addition for a place of culture
and learning for both black and non-black students show its equality.
bsap in itself gives black students true resources and support that staff
members and teachers can't give. If you cut bsap, that's taking away
culture in a safe place. That which would lead to you cutting
other culture organizations that don't, doesn't fit your standards.
if you could fund school police, you can most definitely fund bsap as
a student of laces, I've seen bsap do more than I've ever
seen school police do something besides just standing around on
campus. I've had times where I'm passing by my main building
and I would see school police either outside on their phone or on
some cases inside on their phone, not on lookout. Is that truly
something you want to fund? Bsap serves all students while school police
serves no one but their selves. Defund school, police and fund
bsap. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Uh,
jessica santiago. Hello.
I will be yielding my time to diana marlene. Alright, come on
up. You have two minutes to speak. Hello, members of the l-a-u-s-d school board.
my name is marlene and I recently graduated from high school. Throughout my time as
a student, I was involved in leadership and advocacy efforts that supported the
lgbtq plus communities. I am here today to respectfully urge the
l-a-u-s-d school board to collaborate with stakeholders to establish an lgbtq
plus steering committee to help supporters support teachers, students, and
families across the entire lasd district. As a student and advocate,
I saw first town how important supportive spaces are for lgbtq
plus students and allies. These spaces provided young people with a sense of belonging,
support, and community. However, I also witnessed that access
to resource is not always equal at every school. While some campuses do have
some strong programs and support systems, others have limited resources available to
students who need it the most. Creating an lgbtq plus steering committee would
help ensure that grant funds are used strategically, transparently, and equ
by including educators and community members. The steering committee could better
identify the needs of schools across the district and ensure resources
reach the students and programs they're intended to support. It would also
strengthen accountability and given give those directly impacted by these initiatives.
a voice in the decision making process. I respectfully asked the lasd school board
to create an lgbtq plus steering committee that has decisions making
powers to help guide the allocation of funding and ensure resources are used in
a way that best supports the lgbtq plus students throughout u-l-a-s-d. Thank
you. Hello, my name is diana and
I'm here respectfully to urge the members of the le zoo board to
work with stakeholders to create steering committee responsible for guiding how
lgbtq plus grants grant funds are allocated.
um, as a pride club leader, I,
I want these funds to be granted to our clubs
so we could get to resources that
we need. Uh, thank you. Thank you for your time.
alright, farah d are you here? Come on up.
and then alma de jesus. And then, uh, vicente
rubio.
hello, uh, my name is farah dodi and I am the president of pflag
los angeles. Pflag is a 50-year-old organization dedicated to
the support, education and advocacy for the lgbtq plus
community and the parents, friends and family who love them.
I am here to urge the board to implement an lgbtq plus steering committee to
maintain a consistent dialogue regarding the rollout of lgbtq plus programming and
funding allocation. As a parent and an ally, I
know firsthand that the well-planned implement implementation of funds
can increase student outcomes immeasurably. And this steering committee
will help to ensure that. And I'm now going to see the rest of my time to essence
phillips. Hello, members of the
l-a-u-s-d school board. My name is essence phillips. I attend
east los angeles community college and work at the los angeles lgbt
center. As a peer advocate supporting lgbtqia plus youth
across the l-a-u-s-d, I urge the board to pass a
resolution, establishing an lgbtqia plus steering committee
to help guide the allocation of grant funds across the district. Growing
up in south central la I witnessed how uneven access to support
affects students many lgbtqia plus youth face financial
barriers, cultural stigma, religious pressures,
and a lack of support or access to it. When people who share
our lived experiences understand our community and recognize
the stu the students, what students face are shaping decisions,
students needs are more likely to be understood and addressed.
while l-a-u-s-d staff work hard to serve a diverse district,
a dedicated steering committee can provide that focus, insight,
and ensure these funds reach the students who need them most. Thank you for
your time and commitment to creating safe and inclusive schools for all students.
thank you for your time.
all right, alma de jesus. Alma, are you here?
hello? Board members. I yield my time to yoanna.
come on up johanna. Yeah.
good afternoon. Board members and acting superintendent chair.
my name is joanna lawrence and I'm a parent of a student
currently enrolled in enrolled in district five. I'm
also the vice chair of the school site, council of the school
and I'm a proud member of reclaim our school's la
ladies and gentlemen, today is not the first day I will walk through the doors
of this building. I am a parent
and I am, it is my responsibility to come in here to encourage you
this board, to consider that the funding provided
to school police should be in efforts of providing goods, stewardship
and leadership for our students.
I am from belize recently, naturalized citizen.
the schools where we have, we don't have school, police home.
there is no need for school police. It
is essential that we remember that the behavior of
our leadership represents how our students will behave
in the future. It is also
very essential that the people in position like yourselves
encourage parents to make impacts in our
students as well. I am a single parent and I have a son
who is now 15 years old. Times have changed
to the point of instead of us learning from our many mistakes,
we keep holding on to what has staggered our forward and
progressive movement to prosperity. I wish you could
see the item I currently hold in my hand. Like
many keepsakes we would have. This item came with my son
who before acquiring this object kept saying he did not
see how much going to college will benefit him.
this is proof that with his tour of a-h-b-c-u college of
howard and morgan university in april of this year through
the bsap program. Thank you very much for your time. He came home
saying that he wants to go to college because he had the opportunity.
great. I am urging you all. Thank you for your time please
with your decision this week, last week, madam new bill and
of course with you madame greggo and everybody else on this board. Thank you for keeping
this program alive and like my son and a lot of little brown boys out there,
we do need this. Well thank you so much for your time. Appreciate it. Yes, thank you. Alright,
vicente, are you here? Vicente, come on down, vicente
and then elena. Price.
good afternoon. My name is vicente rubio and I'm an incoming junior at san pedro
high school and a youth leader of students deserve. As a lifelong l-a-o-s-d
student, I know how important it is for us students to feel safe in and around our
schools. And we are proud to say that we have worked to get l-a-u-s-d
to fund more community-based safety programs at like safe passage.
students have already reported that they feel more comfortable with a community member
who is invested in these students more than a-l-a-s-p-d
cop who will only criminalize our students. And this
issue is very important to me as I see around our schools,
especially when considering just last year, my grandparents were driving me and my
brother by banning high school and we witnessed a fight between two students where
the other was threatened with a gun. One of the students who was
threatened with a gun shouted and I quote, I don't bang like that.
and they, that may have saved his life. We students need
safer areas around our schools.
so please continue and recognize your power to protect
our students and from the rise of white supremacy across
america and the dangers that are that we face every day.
I also wanna take some time to recall that senny was given a major
cut and needs to be given proper funding for our schools
and for our students. Thank you for your time.
for your time. Elena price. Elena, are you
here? Elena? Price. All right.
is that that someone leaving? Sorry. Okay, so we
have uh, remote speakers. The first remote speaker is jamila. I see you're on the line. Please
press star six to unmute yourself, jamila, and you'll have two minutes to speak once
you begin. Jamila.
hello? Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Please go ahead. Alright, dear members
of the school, but my name is jamila f and I'm here as a student and community
advocate. Today we are aware that jesus, um, a and marie
continue to work on, on the taxpayer's d these individuals aided
and and I the of a student and pled for it. They
were permit by anglo works for
virtual academy. Now the lesd think it could hide ang
clearly, at least you that wrong. Natasha ster works for d two.
she said that rape was not a concern if it was 20 years ago. Argue you that these words
reflect on your reput reputation as a spokeperson for the
district. Her words are your words. Why the fast action against c
torez and not here. If jeffrey epstein were an employee
failure state, would you give him a type risk like you did? Um, and buck
the right, the right course of action would be to place all three of these individuals
on I on an immediate suspicion without pay. We know, we know that
these have happened. We know that this has not happened, then fire them or have them
resign. Don't expect for this to be covered up again. The national media
is already aware of it. We will continue to speak here no matter how long it takes. And to
jesus and maria timore and lat book are fired. If it takes a
year, two or five, so be it. We'll be here. I assuming that the takes,
I recommend the luc takes the right approach and places them on immediate suspicion and then fire
immediate suspicion and then fires them. Currently these people still work for
the district. Thank you. Thank you for your time. The next speaker
is christopher estella. Christopher, I see you're on the line. Please press star six to unmute
yourself and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Christopher,
uh, hello? Can you hear me? Yes, we can maybe just speak up a little bit. You sound
a little muffled. Oh, okay. Thank
you for clarifying. Um,
right. Good morning a or good afternoon everyone. I should say. My name
is christopher stella torres. I am a rising virtual academy senior. Hello. Usd
is already under investigation by the department of education for allegedly
covering up the sexual abuses of students. This is exactly what
maria meyer did. What it was their reward. I asked, they
were promoted on your dime just a few years ago. And also on your dime you paid
a settlement of $6.5 million. Then there is latasha
buck. While latasha buck has a lavish salary on tax paper dollars.
she had said that the rape of students is okay if it was 20 years
ago. As parents, I ask, how do you feel? Do you feel no disgust,
no anger. As you prepare to head on summer recess,
you should think about it. What if this was your son or daughter who was molested
by their teacher? And what if they were taken into a room by his and maria sotomeyer
and held hostage for hours to avoid making accusations? And what if
natasha buck later said that your child's rape was not a concern since it was 20
years ago? Come on, we all know that this would,
or that you would have that person fired and jailed immediately. Why is
it different for other kids? The community does not understand the holdup.
it is. It union rules maybe with termination, but frankly, I don't see or
comprehend why you cannot take, uh, safety individuals on immediate suspension
pending further investigation. If you don't take action that, uh, displays into
the department of justice investigation perfectly consider what message you want
to send to families and students by letting these child's predators named
slo and maria sotomeyer along with their supporters such as natasha buck on your
payroll. Thank you and goodbye. Thank you for your time.
um, mariana calderon, I see you're on the line. Please press star six to unmute
yourself and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Mariana calderon.
hello? Can you hear me? Yes, perfectly. Thank you. Okay,
um, I will start. Hi everyone. My name is mariana calderon. I am currently
a pedro high school and for the asking
help unnecessary at our schools, I have brought a problem to you, but I
have also brought solutions. Yes, I have seen yet I have seen no change. I
understand it takes time to take action, but time is something we're running low on.
there is currently more plastic in the ocean than there are fish when measured by weight. Something
truly depressing. Depressing. Yet relevant to this meeting, our schools,
as I have stated again and again, offer plastic straws along with you with our
plastic utensils during lunch. They are extremely unnecessary. They aren't even
straws. They're stirs and the drinks that are provided with them don't require
a straw because they are packaged in cartons completely. Stopping the
distribution. Distribution of these items would not only benefit the
environment we go to in school, but it would also represent less spending for you as
a district. This conversation belongs in students that serve because of the environmental
racism that we see, that we see neighborhoods
with families of higher incomes and white demographics like beverly hills or orange
county have significantly less trash on the streets compared to other cities like
compton or south central. This problem is definitely caused by the negligence
and arrogance of those in power like the governor and mayor. But I ask, I
insist that you help us take action. Because l-a-u-s-d enrolls over 400,000
students annually, millions of individual plastic straws are distributed each year through
district breakfast carts and cafeteria meals. And completely stopping their distribution
would significantly help us even only a little in keeping our communities and
learning environments clean and healthy. This is a decision that can affect the lives
of generations that follow and rest on your hands. Please help us live in a
world as clean as the one you grew up in. Thank you for your time. Thank
you for your time. The next speaker is brianna. I see you're on the line. Please press star six to unmute
yourself and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Brianna.
hi, can you hear me? Yes, we can. Please go ahead.
okay, wonderful. Thank you dear members of the board. My name is brianna hernandez.
in addition to uplifting the concerns of my peers about predators like jesus, maria
and natasha buck, who defendant a code and minimize the damage of rape caused to victims
while still working for ali ud. I'm here to today to share something that
I have never shared before. This school year, I was one of 11 candidates for the position of student
board member. I'm here to tell you for the first time today that mr. Antonio placencia
pressured and intimidated me to revise my speech for student board member because he felt that you might
oppose some of my comments, which focus on corruption. Pcia shared with
me that he had done the same to another student as well. Now that recent events are coming to light
with news of mixed intimidation of other students, I feel the need to bring this
to your attention. Pio removes my voice to coercion. It was only after
I sent an email with my mom that I was given permission to record again. If I had not
fought for myself. Vicente was silenced. Me as a student's. Conduct
here made me doubt my abilities and my voice. Mr. Is the
director for an office that ishold student voice and inclusion. His conduct in
cases like these clearly paints a pic, a different picture. Cia's
conduct also opposes student equity, especially for minority students like myself who
crushed the strength of their own voice. Again, I'm brianna hernandez. I'm a
student whistleblower speaking here today to share my experience with antonio precia. In
affirmation of what other students have shared regarding his intimidation tactics,
we expect a rapid response to percentage violations of student rights and the law. We also
expect a rapid response on natasha and maria
and pleading to covering up rape. And despite buck stating that rape is not a concern,
this was 20 years ago, they continue to remain upheld by you. They
have not been placed on any visible leave. They've yet to be fired. We don't care how long the process takes
to fire them. We only care that you just do it. We'll keep speaking the entire
year until you fire them. Thank you. Thank you for your time.
uh, let's see. I'll call again on, uh, paola de leon. Are you here? Paola,
paula? Still not here. And elena? Price still not here. Okay. That
concludes general public comment. Uh, the board will now move on
to, um, actually for tab seven. Um,
ms. Ortiz franklin, can I collect your vote on tab seven? Uh, yes. That is a yes. On
tab seven. Yes. Okay. Thank you.
all right. So now moving to the final, uh, piece of business
is the adoption of the 2027 calendar. I'll move it
moved by, move by mr. Mel. Seconded by, sorry.
uh, dr. Reva, uh, before, there's
no public comment on this before discussion begins, I just wanna make a comment about,
uh, the december 22nd date. I have received a lot of
feedback.
okay. Can you, can you go tell my staff in, in the, in the booth back there and, and
we'll, we will sort it out. Um, I'm not sure where, where
you signed up if my operations friends could maybe guide them,
guide them back there. We'll, we'll take this item and then if possible, we'll return to those folks who've
been waiting. The, the december 22nd date, I, I
am hearing is not a good time also, that had been set aside as a regular
charter items only meeting. And I'm told right now there's only two charters that will be around
at that time for action. So, um,
I, if it's still my calendar, I would just take the 22nd of december right off of there.
um, but that's up to the board. We put those items
on the 15th. You, we would take them at the, at the meeting one day or one week
prior or, or later, depending on however chartered division. Yeah. Yeah, I had pulled
it, the two dates I wanted to flag were the december 22nd one as fridays,
obviously, christmas the 25th. And then also we have a cow, it looks like
scheduled for november 24th, which is the tuesday of thanksgiving week
when schools are out of session. And also, I just assume staff or board members
may have commitments. So my suggestion would be to see about moving or pulling that
one. And then I would accept your suggestion of just getting rid of the 22nd
meeting. Okay. Just the december 22nd meeting. Does anyone have an objection to
me modifying the calendar to remove the 22nd of december? All right, so I'm
gonna take that off entirely. Um, and then as to the
november date, does everyone understand what, um, mr. Mel, mr.
melvin is saying? It's, it's right in the middle of the thanksgiving break period.
um, and it's a committee of the whole, uh, staff might
be challenged on that date in addition to board members. That's november.
um, and we can, we can search for another cow date and add it at another time
or, um, but if I can get some feedback from the board about removing
it. Does anyone object? Object to that. Object to
moving it. Okay. We should keep it, but move it maybe the week prior on like a thursday
or, okay. Keep a cow. So
what I'm hearing is keep the cow so the number of cows stays the same,
but not on that date. Okay. So, um,
alright. That will be the, that's the amended calendar. Oh, and
sorry, maybe not the thursday of the week prior. 'cause we have a regular and a close that tuesday, wednesday, so
maybe the week prior, but another time in, in november. Okay.
so I'll bring that change to the board, uh, likely in august or september.
'cause I would need to nail down the dates. And the reason the calendar's very impacted there is because there's
holidays book ending everywhere at that time. Um, and
I just wanna, yeah, sorry. I I also just wanna flag the board retreats really appreciate you for
putting those in. Um, you all know that, uh, dr. Rivas and I are on the board rules
ad hoc committee where we've been thinking about governance and kind of roles and responsibility. And
we'll do some of that. But also I wanna invite, um, you all to think about what other
learnings might we need, maybe around labor or budget or, um,
uh, additional governance or general counsel issues that we might wanna, um,
service either publicly or, um, just, you know, for us to be learning about. So
think about how we wanna get better as a board. You're
welcome. I mean, just for putting it on there.
I mean, that's, that's, yeah. Yeah. Um, all right. Any other,
let's wait to see what pieces of input.
okay. So, um, can I, uh, take the vote on this, uh, amended calendar?
yeah. Uh, ms. Newville? Yes. Dr. Rivas? Yes. Mr. Melvoin?
yes. Ms. Rego? Yes. Ms. Ez? Uh, ms. Ortiz
franklin? Yes. Board president schon? Yes. Okay. That wraps up that item. And for the two individuals
who, who, um, look, sounds like there was a bit of a mistake, but you can each have two minutes
each for general public comment. Um, so would you like to come up and do
that now?
please come on up. You'll have two minutes to speak once you begin, give us your name and then, uh,
you'll have two minutes worth of comment.
good evening, super. Superintendent and board members. My name is maria gonzalez.
I'm here from gardena elementary. I'm a parent. Uh, we have put
together a few concerned parents that need answers on the funding for lcr
set guard. Uh, gardena elementary. Elementary,
please stand. Thank.
we're worried about the academic development of our children
that require of these resources and demand
full transparency on how the funds have been used and allocated
by our principal, ms. Cynthia diaz. We also urge for
the community representative, ms. Tamara ra, to remain at our school
as she's being retaliated against because she had,
she and the member, the members of elac have inquired on the llcr
said in intervention spending. That is all.
thank you.
thank you for your time. And, uh, ms. Vega, come on up. You'll have two minutes to speak once
you begin. When I started, um,
good afternoon. Members of the board, the reason I'm here is because I'm
here representing the parent center from gardena elementary school,
along with my other colleagues for the injustices that are being committed against our representative
for our committee representative ms. Tamra or who is being removed
and moved to another school, uh, without any prior notification,
not even by part of the district, nor by ms. Diaz, who is the principal
at our school. And also I am president of elect.
and our priority has always been the wellbeing of our children and
for the staff at school. And we've always recommended
for ms. Tamra ora because she's been 14 years at gardena
school and she's done a good job so much for our children, for the school,
for the community, and if they do this in justice, everything that's happening with her.
and we've come to ask for help, how you all can poss help
us. So that way she's able to retake her place at our school, her work,
because they've also removed the hours, which also seems unfair because it's been more
than what she deserves. And also, from another part, we also
have the program, the lecture program, that's mr. Gallegos
who's here right now. That for us, is also a priority for the education
of our children, of which has not been heard. Because the program
is based in three years, we need one more year to be able to fulfill in the principle.
cynthia diaz says that the budget is not enough for the next year,
and they're going to remove it. This lecture program, I'm looking for
fairness and justice and for you all to help us in every possible way. And thank you very much
for your attention. Thank you for your time.
that officially concludes the general public comment portion of the meeting, and
there is no more business for action. Are there any objections to
adjournment? No
timing. The meeting is adjourned. The time is now 6 0 4.