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Testing. Testing. +1, 23. Test. Test. +1, 23. Testing. Testing. One. Welcome. Time is now 10:07. The date is 10/14/2025. Welcome to the regular meeting of the Los Angeles Unified School District Board Of Education. I'm going to take the role. Miss Newbill? Present. Doctor. Rivas? Present. Mr. Melboin? Here. Miss Griego? Here. Miss Gomez? Here. Miss Ortiz Franklin? Present. Board of President Schmirulson? Present. And Student Board Member Yang? Here. Okay. Before we go into the Pledge of Allegiance, I have an announcement to make, about a technical sound issue we are having.
So you can hear perfectly in the boardroom, because we're all hearing me now. You can hear perfectly in English over our, what's called our Granicus stream, as well as our Zoom stream. But what is not being transmitted simultaneously is Spanish translation over what we call the Granicus stream. So if you'd like to and this is mostly for those who are at home right now and not necessarily those in the audience, though you may, hear from your friends who are watching. Hey, where's the translation? Please direct them to the Zoom link that's contained in the order of business, also known as the agenda. If they click on that Zoom link, they'll be able to experience So, Andres, I'm
we're getting translation on both now? Okay. Great. So you can it's all back working. I just found out this moment. It's almost as if we planned it this way. Okay. So thank you for your patience with us. We have a lot, a lot of moving pieces today. And now we'll go directly into the Pledge of Allegiance. I'd like to introduce the students from Elizabeth Learning Center's Arabic Dual Language Program in Karahi and teacher Reema McDashee. And for clarity, we're gonna have two videos basically in in serial fashion. One will be in English and the other one will be in Arabic.
So thank you. Good morning, girls. Stand up. Place your right hand over your heart And now as as our custom, we will
hear the land acknowledgment. We acknowledge that the Los Angeles Unified School District operates on land originally and still inhabited and cared for by the Gabrieleno and Fernandeno Tataviam 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 Cabraleno people as the original stewards of Los Angeles Basin and the nearby coastal lands and the Fernandeno Tavium 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 Henukvetan ancestors, Ahi Heron, elders, and Eyo Hinken, 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 acknowledgment demonstrates our ongoing efforts to build and sustain relationships with indigenous communities and contribute to healing and reconciliation. Okay. First, we have labor partners. Any labor partners present? UTLA, come on up. I know who you are. Can we limit it if we can to five minutes for a labor partner because we have a really long meeting. So do the best you can. Thank you. I will speak quickly. Give us one second. We're gonna I know you're a powerful speaker, but not that powerful. We're gonna make sure that we get that feedback taken care of.
So just one moment. K. Let's, give it a try in a gentle voice and see what happens. And we're trying to be gentle. It's not working. So one moment. I'm sorry. The delay in the hopes of crushing the hopes of educators' desire for representation with United Teachers Los Angeles. So earlier this year in March, UTLA and Alliance Gertz Merkin and Burton Tech reached a tentative agreement. Members celebrated. In June, when the tentative agreement went to their board for approval, they voted it
down with no explanation. Their chief negotiator only explained that they had financial uncertainties and that they wanted to wait a few months. In the last five years, Alliance has been amongst the most stable charter organizations in terms of enrollment. How is it that their enrollment is stable yet they're facing financial uncertainties? What are they doing with the money? We push for the agreement to be heard at their last school board meeting on
September 10. Again, it was voted down, no explanation. Then Alliance disbanded their bargaining team and canceled all negotiations. We reached out to get back to the bargaining table, and they've ignored us. All of this constitutes bad faith and we filed unfair labor practice charges. But this is what happens when the powerful feel emboldened to flout the law and ignore the rules that they don't like. We demand good faith negotiations or risk labor peace.
We hope that LAUSD and the Alliance Board take labor peace seriously. The educators deserve it. Students and families deserve it. It's time for them to come to the bargaining table in good faith and do the right thing. Thank you, board members. See? Only five seconds over. Excellent. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Additional labor partners? Anyone in the audience? Labor partners? Okay. Thank you very much. So we'll go on to our committee reports.
Okay. First in line is our charter school committee. That is for me. One second. Charter School Committee. The Charter School Committee, convened on September 18 and opened the new school year with a focus on transparency, accountability, and equitable oversight in charter renewal and co location processes. The Charter Renewal considerations for twenty five-twenty six. Miss Marta Wilmot, director of the charter schools division, presented an overview of the 72 charter renewals anticipated this cycle, 63 independent and nine affiliated.
The presentation outlined the renewal framework emphasizing academic performance, governance, and fiscal responsibility, and compliance with state and federal law. The key updates included the continued use of verified data for high and middle performing schools with clear attention to sub group performance and equity indicators. Expanded resident schools median or RSM transparency. Not providing petitioners with detailed school comparison lists earlier in the process. And aligning grade levels for fair analysis.
The add the addition of core growth data to supplement dashboard measures and strengthen renewal evaluations. The committee discussion centered on maintaining fairness and consistency across renewals while ensuring that the process remains transparent and data driven. Committee members also discussed interest in exploring contingency plans, should verify data provisions expire in 2026. The next Charter School Committee meeting will be held on Thursday, November 13.
Thank you very much Doctor. Rivas. Next we have the Greening Schools and Climate Resilience Committee. That is me as well. The Greening Schools and Climate Resilience Committee convened on September 24 and covered the following key presentations and discussions. Schoolyard Greening through Expanded Learning Opportunities Program, also known as ELLP or ELOP. Mr. Christos Crisilio, Eco Sustainability Officer, provided an update on the district's Expanded Learning Opportunities Program, which is converting more than 600,000 square feet of asphalt into green space and planting
over 800 trees across LAUSD campuses. These projects prioritize high need schools supporting student wellness and outdoor learning and sustainability education. The discussion emphasized ensuring long term maintenance capacity, community engagement and design transparency and communicating project progress. Staff also clarified that while ELOP funds are time limited, Measure US will serve as a primary source for future greening projects focusing on schools with less than 10% existing
green space. The second presentation was key considerations in synthetic turf fields. A panel of community experts, Lisa Hart from the LA Neighborhood Council Sustainability Alliance, Ms. Sharon Ergensma from San Fernando Valley Climate Reality Project, and Ms. Diane Wilke, MSN, Safe Health, from the Safe Healthy Playing Fields Inc. Led a comprehensive discussion on the health, safety, and environmental impacts of synthetic turf.
Key issue the key issues that were raised included health risks such as injuries, extreme heat exposure, and contact with toxic pollutants, environmental impacts including microplastic pollution, and permeable surfaces and contribution to the urban heat island effect. Policy implications including the need to revisit LAUSD's like for like replacement policy for synthetic turf and explore a potential moratorium on new turf installations. Committee members discussed pursuing a district wide assessment modeled after the city of Los Angeles
2025 RFP for a comprehensive study turf study and ensuring that bond funded projects align with student health, equity goals, and also considering labor concerns. The next Greening Schools and Climate Resiliency Committee meeting will be held on Wednesday, October 29. Thank you. Thank you very much. Special Ed Committee. On September 24, I chaired the first Special Education Committee of the school year. My goal for the committee is to ensure that we are providing feedback to the division of special education as they take steps in implementing the action items outlined in
the listen and learn campaign. At our first meeting, we highlighted the upcoming parent engagement opportunities in both virtual and in person, including the new series of Coffee with the Special Education Region teams that will be taking place this fall. Additionally, the team shared the series of training opportunities available for general ed teachers, core special education teachers, modified core special education teachers, and paraprofessionals. Thank you to doctor So to, Alicia Haas, and the entire special education division team
for their support with this presentation. As part of the presentation, we also broke down the roles of the special education regent teams. Some of them were able to join us at the meeting and introduce themselves publicly so that our families have a better understanding of who to go for support. Our next committee meeting is October 22 at 03:30PM. Thank you. Thank you. And our next committee report is children and families in early education committee. Thank you, mister Schmirelson. In September, we held the first meeting of the Children and Families in Early Education
Committee for this school year. We welcomed new and returning members to discuss career pathways, including entry points for our early childhood workforce, both our teachers and our classified staff, as well as career ladder programs within LAUSD and supports from institutions of higher education and the division of adult and career education. We also discussed enrollment resources, the ways that we are getting the word out about our amazing early childhood programs within LAUSD. And these are important topics as we focus on expanding access for our families most
in need as well as recruiting and retaining the workforce we need to deliver high quality supportive programs for our students. Our next meeting will be held later this month on October 30, and we will be discussing STEAM programming in early education as well as our expanded work with two year olds, and both the opportunities and challenges that that presents. And we hope that you will join us here in the boardroom or tune in online for that meeting. And thank you. Next report, Committee of the Whole. Committee of the Whole convene on October 7 under united under the powerful powerful theme,
dignity and justice for all, defending students, families, and schools. The meeting carried a deep sense of urgency and purpose. Across the nation, harmful policies and rhetoric continue to target immigrant and marginalized communities, undermining education, health, and safety. The message was clear. LAUSD will never stand idle. The district will defend its students and families with clarity, courage, and unity. We were honored to be joined by miss Angelica Salas, executive director of Chile, and consul Mexican consul general, Gonzales Gutierrez, who both reminded us that this work extends beyond
our schools. Together, we discussed how to deepen collaboration through legal protections, cultural exchanges, and civic education programs that strengthen belonging of our students and families. District leaders, including doctor Alfonso Webb and mister Antonio Placencia, provided updates on how our We Are One campaign is reinforcing sanctuary policies, building trust in families, and expanding trauma informed supports and outreach across schools. One of the most inspiring moments came from the students of Wilson High School's Sonia
Dores Unidos, who share their stories of resilience, leadership, and hope, proving that when schools provide safety and belonging, students thrive and lead with pride. Finally, miss Lydia Acosta Stevens, executive director of the multilingual multicultural education department, presented on strengthening support for multilingual learners through initiatives like. Her presentation underscored our commitment to ensure that language is never treated as a barrier, but rather celebrated as a strength.
And our next committee of the whole meeting will be held on Tuesday, November 4. Thank you. Thank you. Last but not least, school safety and climate committee. Thanks, mister Shmrelson. Our committee met on October 8. We welcomed returning and new members as well. The purpose of the committee is really to look at data around school culture and safety, and this time we looked at the tiered fidelity inventory, which is about positive behavior supports. We also talked a lot about beginning of school year, support including transportation for all, how many of our kids are taking advantage of that, which we're very excited about.
And we looked at data around around community based safety partnerships, which is, largely funded through our VSAP, partnership but not exclusively. We also like to elevate a school that's doing really well. Again, looking at data, and this time we had Panorama High School, sharing their safe passage program. And one of the best tips we got from them, we tried to amplify best practices, is morning group chats, not only with the Panorama High School staff, who are doing safe passages, but also with the neighboring middle and elementary schools. And so really being a community approach. Our next meeting is on November 20. We hope to see you there.
Thanks. And thank you very much, mister McLean. Okay. Now we're gonna go to setting the consent calendar. As I have said before, the consent calendar is a procedural mechanism that the board uses to operate efficiently. That means if they have already decided their votes, they can put the item onto a consent calendar and take all of those items in a single vote, and it saves a lot of time. So what I do now is I read through each of the, let's see, 39 tabs for business that are on the order of business, and then board members will either say out loud consent or discussion.
If they say consent, it means go on the consent calendar. If it's for discussion, it means they would like to discuss the item amongst the entire board. We have many public hearings for charter schools here today also. As in the past, if a board member has just a state a blanket statement they'd like to make but still put the item on consent, please feel free to make the blanket statement as we're going through the consent calendar, and it can go on consent if the board agrees to put it on consent. If it gets pulled for discussion, it just goes through the normal the normal way. This is we did this about last year at about this time.
Okay. So I'll read through it. Tab one, high school physical education exemption. Consent. I'll also repeat it so everybody in the audience can hear. I did have a question. Okay. So that goes on to discussion. Tab two, delegation of authority authorization for the early childhood education division to submit continued funding applications. Consent. Consent. Tab three, approval of the renaming of Daniel Pearl senior senior high journalism and communications magnet. Consent. Consent. Tab four, approval of procurement actions. Discussion. Discussion. Tab five, approval of facilities contracts actions. Consent. Discussion? Question. So it's mister Delvoyant.
Tab six, report of cash dispersements request to reissue expired warrants. Consent. Consent. Tab seven, donations of money to the district. I will comment. Okay. Discussion. Miss Greego. Tab eight, approval of routine routine personnel actions. Discussion. Tab nine, provisional internship permits. Consent. Tab 10, approval of the renewal petition for Alliance College Ready Middle Academy eight. Consent. Consent. Tab 11, approval of the renewal petition for Alliance College Ready Middle Academy 12. Consent. Tab 12, approval of the renewal petition for Alliance Corey Hunter Middle.
Consent. Consent. Tab 13, approval of the renewal petition for Allianz Leichman Levine Discussion. Discussion. Tab 14, approval of the renewal petition for Alliance Morgan McKinsey High. Discussion. Discussion. Tab 15, approval of the renewal petition for Alliance Pierra Barbaglia Shaheen Health Services Academy. Consent. Tab 16, approval of the renewal petition for Alliance Virgil Roberts Leadership Academy. Consent. Consent. Tab 17, approval of the renewal petition for Anemo Ellen Ochoa Charter Middle. Awesome. Consent. Tab 18, approval of the renewal petition for Central City Value.
Consent. Consent. Tab 19, approval of the renewal petition for Gabriela Charter. Discussion. Discussion. Tab 20, approval of the renewal petition for KIPP Academy of Opportunity. Consent. Tab 21, denial of the renewal petition for, learning by design, I believe, has to be a discussion item. Tab 22, approval of the renewal petition for Oscar de la Hoya Anemo Charter High. Consent. Tab 23, approval of the renewal petition for Palos Ninos Middle. Consent. Tab 24, approval of the renewal petition for Renaissance Arts Academy. Consent. Consent. Tab 25, approval of the renewal petition for Synergy Kinetic Academy.
Discussion. Discussion. Tab 26, approval of the renewal petition for Vaughan Next Century Learning Center. Consent. Consent. Tab 27, approval of the renewal petition for Vox Collegiate of Los Angeles. Discussion. Okay. Approval of the proposed material revision for Vox Collegiate of Los Angeles. Discussion. Was that miss Newbell? Yes. Thank you. Okay. And then, 11AM, we have a time certain for, mister Schmuralson's, so we'll put that on discussion. Tab 30, board member Schmirelson, 2025 is National Principal's Month.
Consent. So let's yeah. Let's talk cosponsors. So we have mister Melvoin. I think all of us. Well, everyone. Okay. Great. Yes. This is so much shorter. I'll just write the word unanimous. And then we have a twelve, PM time certain for miss Gomez and doctor Rivas' support for the Election Rigging Response Act. So we'll put that on discussion, miss Gomez. Or Okay. Cosponsor. Okay. The door will remain open for cosponsorship until until we vote. Temp thirty two, there is a 02:30PM time certain for, let's see.
No time certain. Yeah. Miss Ortiz Franklin, miss Newbill, and miss Griego's, resolution with survivors always. Discussion? Or Okay. Presentation. Perfect. Co sponsor. Okay. We have two items for initial announcement. The board doesn't take action on those, but they're located in the order of business if you want to review it prior to action at the next month's meeting. Resolutions requested by the superintendent, appointment of a member to the school construction bond oversight committee. Discussion for 35, mister Melboin. Tab 36, appointment of member to the school's construct construction bond citizens oversight committee. Consent. Consent.
Tab 37, report of correspondence. Consent. Tab 38, minutes for board approval. Consent. Consent. Okay. And tab 39 is a public hearing only. There's no action taken, but we will be taking, public comment on it. So I'm going to read through the consent calendar as it was just set. If I've made an error, please speak up. Or if you'd like to change something Nice and slow. Please let me know. Okay. Tab one is discussion. Tab two is consent. Tab three is consent. Tab four and five are discussion. Tab six is consent. Tab seven and eight is discussion.
Tab nine, ten, eleven, and twelve are consent. Tab thirteen and fourteen are discussion. Tab fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, and eighteen are consent. Tab 19 is discussion. Tab 20 is consent. Tab 21 is discussion. Tabs 22, 23, and 24 are consent. Tab 25 is discussion. Tab 26 is consent. Tabs 27, 28, and 29 are discussion. Tab 30 is consent. Tab 31 is discussion. Tab 32 is discussion. Tabs thirty three and thirty four are only for initial announcement.
There's no action taken. Tab 35 is discussion. Tabs 36, thirty seven, and thirty eight are consent, and tab 39 is not for action, but we will take public comment. Okay. So we have twenty one minutes before the time certain of 11AM. So now is a good time, I believe, to take public comment on the consent items. So what the board does right now is the items that are on consent, they take public comment for folks that are signed up on the consent calendar items. And then once they complete the public comment on that, they will vote on the
consent calendar. So here we go. Tab two, delegations of authority. We have, mister John Perrone calling in. Mister Perrone, if you're online, please press 6 to unmute yourself, and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Mister Perrone, I see you're with us. Please press 6 to unmute yourself, and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Hello? Hi. We can hear you. Please go ahead. Hi. Okay. Thanks. I happen to have just lost my Wi Fi, so it was a little bit hard to to follow. I'm not sure if I'm gonna be off topic or not, but what I wanted
to mention was that, given the fact that we don't have the board of education at the federal level, any consent for, funding, I believe we should accept it because we could always just not fund it. But with that, I'm just gonna let my time go to the next person and to the next item. Thank you because I have no Wi Fi. Thanks. Okay. That concludes the comments for tab two. To Tab three, we have one comment from Jimena Breton or Jimena Breton.
I apologize if I've, spoken. So this is for tab two, approval of renaming of a Daniel Pearl Senior High School. Not here? Okay. We'll go to tab six, report of cash disbursements. There's no public comment to that item. Let's see. Tab nine, provisional internship permits. Mister David Tokovsky. David Tokovsky, not here. K. Then we have, let's see. We go to tab 10, and I have a public statement to read about each
of these public hearings. So let me just get my paperwork in order, and I will read from that. Oh, here he comes. Mister Tukovsky, come on down. You'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Start slowly, with the usual microphone because I wanna make sure we're not getting feedback. So it's your it's your time to shine. Electronic feedback. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Give it a shot. Make sure we're doing Testing? Test? Oh, good call. Go go gently. Testing? Testing? How's that? Go for it. Testing. Okay. It it's moving without restarting.
If you give me one moment, I could restart that for you. Thank you. Okay. Go for it. Thank you very much. The provisional internship is a program that the district runs, very intelligently over the last decade or two and is very helpful. But it's also important to take a look at it because, again, you have in this case, not only a number of special ed shortage, which, you need in your special ed committee to be assessing why is there a continued shortage and what can we do at the bargaining table to enhance the number of special ed teachers and
what can we do to motivate some teachers like HR does do to get them to move into the special ed category. Additionally, there's some in here that's striking. Calculus and physics teachers. A shortage of calculus and physics teachers is really kind of a scary thought in terms of advancement and higher higher, college bound, learning. Tragic because we have Caltech within our jurisdiction where grad students are picking up loans and they're paying, for their education when they could be in our schools and helping.
UCLA, a massive number of engineering and science, grad students who if we've had the creativity and the thoughtfulness could be moved into these classrooms, young, diverse women, it'd be incredible to have that kind of intelligence in our classroom rather than online learning. Because as you know, the scores on the virtual academies under your leadership, under your jurisdiction, are abysmal. In fact, they're being looked at by public interest law firms, not to blame you.
It's almost to blame, as you as you often do, the the White House, which is chilling the number of families going into schools and going online, and therefore damaging their equal opportunity under the fourteenth amendment of the US Constitution and the California Constitution to get the kind of education. They are three standard deviations below the average within the district. Thank you very much. Thank you for your time. Okay. That concludes tab nine. So I'm gonna read the public statements for, tabs 10 through 27.
Some of them are on consent. Some of them are on discussion, but this public hearing statement is required to be read prior to action on the item. So before action is taken on the following reports, a board a public hearing must be held. This constitutes a public hearing on the following, Alliance College Ready Middle Academy eight, Alliance College Ready Middle Academy twelve, Alliance Corey Hunter Middle, Alliance Leichman Levine Family Foundation Environmental Senior High, Alliance Morgan McKenzie High, Alliance Pierre Shaheen Health Services Academy, Alliance Virgil Roberts
Leadership Academy, Anemo Ellen Ochoa Charter Middle, Central City Value, Gabriela Charter, KIPP Academy of Opportunity, Learning by Design, Oscar de la Hoya Animo Charter High, Pan Los Ninos Middle, Renaissance Arts Academy, Synergetic Kinetic Academy, Vaughn Next Century Learning Center, Vox Collegiate of Los Angeles. A maximum of 15 individuals who wish to address the board on each of these items will be heard. Those who wish to speak should sign up online. Folks have already signed up online. Speakers will be called by name.
So now I'll go through these items that are already set to appear on the consent calendar, which okay. So tab 10. So this is for Alliance College ready Middle Academy eight. We have 15 speakers slated to speak. Sir, could could you, remind me of your name? Jay Stewart. I'm sorry. I'm I apologize. My thing is Okay. Go for it. Yeah. Jay Stewart from Alliance. Okay. I just gotta find you on the, oh, are you the principal?
I'm actually at the home office. I'm here to, just cede our time on all the schools that are, that are on the consent agenda. Under all the Alliance schools? Okay. So they're they're all on consent. So the three there's three Alliance there's ten, eleven in tabs, ten, eleven, and 12. I'm just gonna read them into the record. Alliance Academy, Alliance College Ready Middle Eight Academy, Alliance College Ready Middle Academy twelve, and Alliance Corey Hunter middle are three on consent right now. Correct. And I have, tabs 15 and also let's see here.
Tab 16 are also on consent. Okay. That's correct. And those are all Alliance. Okay. And so your statement to me now is that those folks signed up to speak to those items are going to cede their time as a result of this item being on the consent calendar? Sir, thank you. Okay. Thank you. I'm gonna now do something that is a little bit annoying. I'm gonna read through the names. If there is someone here who is not associated with with, the school who still wish to speak on the item if they signed up, it's only right that they get to they get to speak to the item. So I'm gonna read through the names. And if I could usually what usually happens is I get a thumbs up from
the school, letting me know that they were with that particular school. Pablo v? Decline. Okay. Tiffany Wilson? Decline. Ruben Escalante? Declined, Justine Gonzalez. We'll say decline, David Locke, l a u c k, decline. Jas Stewart. Okay. That was mister Stewart. Thank you. Jalene Gomez, Yolanda Rodriguez Olivares, Maria Aguilera, Jessica Nicholas Torres, Sonia Inong, Youngmi Kim, Eileen
Rosas, David Tolkovsky. And then after mister Tokofsky is Sofia, Sosa. Coming down is Sofia with you, mister Jan Stewart? Okay. Thank you. You have two minutes to speak once you begin, sir. Thank you. Thank you very much. Speaking in support of the Alliance Charter. As you know, Alliance Charters were formed by, doctor Judy Burton who was one of the regional superintendents of this district. Judy Burton represented the East Valley, bilingual African American woman who had a great sense of this district and purpose. And because this district could not figure out, like many countries in the world, like
Spain, that they could have autonomous regions like Catalonia or the Basque Country or, Aragon and so on, The the the district forced her in some ways to go outside the district. She could have been and all of these alliance schools are grown because Judy Burton had a good sense of education instruction and instead a hostile environment took over and did not. In fact, all of Ms. Gones' area is all the beginning of the revolution or reform, it could have been
reform, inside the district. And yet, this board and leadership continues to to denigrate the idea of charters, to denigrate them as independent, but more importantly, to not build on the affiliated charter model which is statutorily exactly the same as an independent. So when you go after Gabriela's Charter School, why don't you offer what it would take for them to become affiliated? You don't even have a structure to offer people to be part of the district,
and so the enrollment continues to decline. A 100,000 students are in independent charters. And you close African American charters, Charters trying to do the innovative thing instead of figuring out incentives, whether it's transportation, professional development, to help them become part of the district and grow the enrollment, which is a goal of the board president and this board and the superintendent to grow the enrollment. Figure out ways to attract and make sure that you're doing better than the scores
of these independent charters. Thank you very much. Thank you for your time. Now on to tab 11, approval of the petition for Alliance. We're I'm gonna read through the list again and make sure that there's not anyone here who wish to speak who wasn't necessarily associated with Alliance. Dietrich Hall, Pablo v, Dahlia Vasquez, Tiffany Wilson, Crystal Sanchez, Mayra Sanchez, Ruben Escalante, Justine
Gonzalez, David Locke, Reyna Patricia, mister Stewart Dimitrio Gallardo, Felipe Galileo Najaro, Caleb Alvarez, and Martina, looks like Boots. So we'll go do the same thing for tab e tab 12. Okay. Doctor. Abeni Carr Johnson, Pablo V, Carmelia Cunningham, Tiffany Wilson, Carla Guerrero, Ruben Escalante, Justine Gonzalez,
Dora Villa. Miss Via, are you gonna speak? Okay. Okay. David Locke, mister Stewart, Cindy Amaya, Sophie Pacheco Alvisar, Jaslyn Rios, Ethan Haas, Ethan Haas. Daniel, Daniel Perez. Okay. So that is for tab 12. We'll go on to consent item for tab 15. Oh, that's also Alliance. Largely the same names, and I appreciate everyone, bearing with me.
Damien Fernandez, Pablo v, Daniel de la Cruz, Joshua Young Zheng, Ruben Escalante, Justine Justine Gonzalez, David Locke, mister Stewart, Chris Estrada, Maria Montez, Maria Suarez, Aileen, Angelina, Benjamin Cowen,
and mister David Tocovsky. David Tocovsky again speaking in favor of the renewal of the Alliance Charter Schools, which have been pushed and have become in part union schools, which the affiliated charters are all union schools. And by keeping and pushing schools out to the independent rather than finding ways in, you and many of you across the board are union supported leaders. And to perpetuate rather than encourage independent charters to find ways, incentives, whether it's transportation,
professional development to come in the district, you are hurting the enrollment and the budget of the the school district. Now that should be one of the items of the evaluation of a superintendent. If you, in the last year and a half, have been evaluating the superintendent, although you evaluate based on the contract, you don't evaluate and you didn't set goals inside the contract and the attachments to measure the thoughtfulness and give the superintendent authority to do something bold with respect to charters.
As you renew his contract today, which we don't have in public yet for some unknown reason on item eight, you ought to be setting goals with respect to increasing the enrollment in the district, and that would be in one part the, work with the charters in this district. In terms of facilities, of course, is another one. Those of you on the facilities committee, you know we have to reinvent our public property. And that's not just housing, it's senior citizens centers, it's a cultural affairs.
It's all of the things that the city of LA and the other cities are having trouble with their budgets. And yet we have massive property to reinvent our schools. Not to close schools like Pasadena did and Englewood did, but to reinvent. These properties were taken with public resources and public action of this board, and they ought to be public properties, and you ought to set that agenda with respect to the contract. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Now on to tab 16, which is also on Consent Alliance, Virgil Roberts Leadership Academy.
I'm gonna read through the names again. And these are, looks like, completely names that I've already called, but I'm gonna call them into the record just in case. Pablo v, Simone Dill, Kelly Brunning, Gerald Guzman, Tiffany Wilson, Dana Dietrich, Ruben Escalante, Toria Avila Toria Avila, Monte Glasser, Justine Gonzalez, David Locke, Brianna Robles, Mr.
Stewart, Emily Herrera, Jay Stinson. Okay. So that completes public comment for Tab 16. We now have comment for tab, 17. This is approval of petition for Anemo Ellen Ochoa Charter Middle School. And if you come up to the mic, please just tell me who you are so we can Good morning. Christina de Jesus. I'm the lead petitioner for Anemo Ellen Ochoa and for Oscar de la Jolla Anemo, and we'll be waiving our our time today. Okay. So this is for Anemo and Oscar. So that's seventeen and twenty two?
Correct. Okay. Thank you. I'm gonna read through the names just in case there isn't, someone on there, and then we have a time certain in just about three minutes that we're going to get to. Edmina Carabello. Wave. Maria Medo. Kamala Sanchez, Joyce Taylor. For those, who are just watching or listening, there's an audience that's looking at me that is acknowledging that that person is not going to speak. That's why you keep keep hearing me read names then moving on to the next. Angelique Flores, Christina Castro, Denise Delgado, Joshua Oropeza, Esmeralda Aguirre, Jimena Burton, Cynthia Ibarra, Chotel
Avelan, Christina de Jesus, Carla Estrada. Not our own Carla Estrada, but there there may be more than one. And, mister David Tolkovsky, I see you're out there. Come on up. You have two minutes to speak once you begin. I'm not speaking on behalf of deputy superintendent Carlo Estrada. But if she were up here, she would point out that this school is a California distinguished school. This is one of the middle schools that is labeled a school to watch.
Okay. It doesn't mean put a watch on it. It means look at what's happening there. What kind of change is happening at a middle school, which we know across this nation is a major challenge. Okay? And this is not in, Chatsworth. This is a different location with different socioeconomic status. It is not even Annandale, which has incredibly low performance and has less than a 140 students. This is a school that has held its population and grown its data. It is not ninth Street Elementary School, which is having tremendous problems in the, area
nearby. Let's look at what we can learn from charter schools. That's what Democrat senator Gary Hart and Democrat senator Tom Hayden put into the legislation. What can we innovate? What can we find that will help the general districts? That's a research and development, opportunity. That's a chance to focus as you develop your evaluation, which again is not in the public realm. Nobody has a copy of the superintendent's evaluation based upon the metrics that you agreed
to in the contract. You have the right to build four years, six years, and eight years with this superintendent, but you also have a responsibility as elected officials to put that information out into public discussion and say and teach the public why we're on the right track. And we are growing, but we're not with respect to the data that you selected when Kelly Gones was president to be in the contract. You need to present that and explain why the superintendent believes there's better data to
use than the data you agreed to four years ago. So as you approach this evaluation, let us know why you were in closed session so many times on the evaluation and what you found. Thank you very much. Thank you for your time. So it is now time for the time certain for board president Schmuelsson. Thank you very much, mister McLean. So tab 29, fellow board members and mister superintendent, staff, and members of the public, it's my pleasure to introduce a resolution that is the start of workplace readiness education
for LAUSD students. Scott, would you like me to continue since it's your resolution? Or there. So here's a this is a good a good teaching moment. So so when the board president brings a resolution to the board to avoid any impropriety or mister Schmerlson having outsized influence as the board president on the resolution he's presenting, the chair is relinquished to the vice president, who is doctor Rosia Rivas. So mister I mean, doctor Rivas, you take the chair. You are now sort of, like, the vice president, and then she acknowledges you to go ahead and introduce your resolution.
Fair enough. But we're not switching chairs. No. Oh, okay. Chairs. Very good. Thank you. I gotcha. Thank you. Yes. So our next item, tab 29, as mister Shmrelson mentioned, is a resolution of workplace readiness week in California high schools. May I have a motion to move? Move it. Oh, just a second. Okay. Very well. Okay, mister Schmuelsson. Would you like to present your I would like to present my resolution. Thank you very much. Fellow board members, mister superintendent, staff, and members of the public, It's my pleasure to
introduce a resolution that is the start of workplace readiness education for LAUSD students. Ready for the world is a quote that we keep using here at LAUSD, but really would mean nothing if it only taught students in academia and theory. These themes are essential for our students to think critically when they are in college or seeking a job. However, we wanna take a step further and ensure that our students are aware of their workplace rights. The data tends to show that the younger a person is, the higher the likelihood
that they face workplace discrimination or a lack of proper training. Our students are in the future of the workforce, the economy, the society, but we want them to be safe and sound when they leave our schools and take their place out there in the world. And that is why governor Newsom signed Assembly Bill 800 in 2023 to ensure workplace rights lessons are also taught in high school.
So this resolution helps set the framework for LAUSD's approach to this matter by providing professional development for social studies teachers and the distribution of know your rights material from our partner at the UC Labor Center. And I would like to now invite our guest speakers to offer remarks in support of the resolution. And first, we have miss Saba Wahid, the director of the UCLA Labor Center. Miss Wahid. Good morning. So thank you so much to school board president and board members, especially Rebus and
Neupel for sponsoring this. So before I begin, I did wanna just, honor my former director, Kent Wong, who passed away last week. For many years, the Labor Center has been conducting research on the experiences of young workers and workers and learners. Our research has found that nearly two thirds of high school workers in California work in jobs like retail and restaurants, and these sectors are often some of the, sectors with the highest rates of wage theft and health and safety issues. In LAUSD, Black, Latinx, and immigrant youth make up the majority of the working student
population. So we were so happy when the AB 800 passed in 2023 to address the critical need to provide California public school learners with consistent and clear information about their workplace and labor rights. Out of this, the UCLA Labor Center Young Worker Initiative and the Young Workers Education Project with the California Federation of Teachers piloted an innovative AB 800 workplace readiness five day learning cycle with the support of LAUSD student, teachers.
We piloted the program in over 15 schools, reaching more than a thousand high school students. We found that when labor and workplace learning happens in students' government, US or world history classes, economics, or ethnic studies classrooms, students connect these lessons to their own experiences. It is also critical information for their families and for their communities. What I witnessed at Jefferson High School with mister Leung's economic class was powerful.
Students were animated, asking questions, talking about how they didn't know that they shouldn't be charged for uniforms at their jobs or that they had a right to a lunch break. I cannot overstate how important this learning is. When we described wage theft and violations to college freshmen at UCLA, it's disheartening how many have already experienced those issues. And what's become clear to us is that we have to get this information to our young workers earlier.
LAUSD has the opportunity to expand and lead this work through the historic rest through this historic resolution to ensure that our our schools are implementing AB 800 learning in a meaningful way. It is a model for the country. A strong implementation will make certain that our students are leaders in their workplaces and that they understand that dignity and respect at work are basic rights that all workers deserve. Thank you for your consideration. And thank you, miss Wahid.
Great information. Thank you so much. And next, we have miss Sherry Bell who is representing the Los Angeles Labor Commissioner's Office. Come on up, miss Bell. Thank you. Alright. Good morning, board members. Thank you for having me today. My name is Sherry Bell. I work as a deputy labor commissioner in our Los Angeles office. I'm a former LAUSD graduate and could have benefited greatly from AB, 800. Yes. So, this important resolution, AB 800, creates a much needed plan to ensure that our
public schools in Los Angeles, implement readiness, learning, and know your rights education in meaningful ways within high school classrooms. Reaching young student workers at this level about their labor rights is a strategic, and impactful approach, to develop an educated to develop an educated workforce and also future employers. Right? We wanna level the playing field all around. The Labor Commissioner Office, similarly believes that all public schools, students must learn their labor
and workplace rights. As I don't know, Los Angeles was once considered the wage theft capital of the nation, so it's all more important to have students, and future employers be aware of their rights at an early age. You'll be surprised how many adults don't know their workplace rights. I do outreach and education for the labor commissioner's office. So, we encourage the district to support its teachers to be trained and, with and resourced with quality materials to, that's focused on, informing, students that the of the rights
that they are afforded in the state of California. So many of our public schools in California are working. So many students are already working in, in California, in sectors like, retail and restaurants where, wage theft, incidences are extremely high. And, we know that other, they are not also privy to, workplace rights such as, overtime pay or meal breaks. And so this offers an opportunity for students to be empowered that, in their future work and also the work that they are performing, currently.
So, we we wanna thank we wanted you to, encourage your support, to ensure that LAUSD students are empowered to know their rights on the job and how to protect and enforce their rights, because you can't exercise your rights if you're not aware of your rights. So, so we encourage you at the Labor Commissioner's Office to, pass this timely resolution towards teaching students about their labor and workplace rights, working people's history, and dignity and respect they so much deserve on the workplace in the workplace.
Thank you. And thank you, miss Bell. You know, I'm glad you brought up the point about adults because just like, the financial, resolution, they teach our parents about their workers' rights too, and parents need to know that and it's coming from their own kids. And that's great news. So thank you so much, Bill. Thank you. Okay. And finally, we have a distinguished a very distinguished guest, state senator Maria Elena Durazo, who will be giving remarks to. Please come up, miss Durazo. Thank you very much.
Good morning. Thank you, president Schmeraldsson. Board members, superintendent, advocates, and members of the public. It's great to be here. I stand here as someone who has spent a lifetime fighting for workers' rights, and I can tell you the best time to learn about those rights is before you need them. AB 800 championed by assembly member Liz Ortega and signed into law in 2023 requires that high school students learn their workplace rights.
This law recognizes a fundamental truth. Young workers, especially black youth, Latino youth, and immigrant youth, are among the most vulnerable in our economy. They are more likely to face wage theft, harassment, discrimination, and unsafe conditions. Too often, they don't know where to turn. LAUSD serves over 400,000 students, many already working, many already working to support themselves and
their families. So this resolution isn't just about compliance, it's about leadership. It's about the LAUSD saying clearly, we will prepare our students to stand up for themselves in the workplace. This resolution ensures learning is integrated meaningfully into classroom instruction. While the law designates the week ending April 28 as workplace readiness week, this resolution wisely recognizes students need this education before the end of the school year and that
educators need proper training and resources. So many of our young people are feeling fear and uncertainty about the Trump administration raids that have been happening in our city, in our county, in our state in recent months. AB 800 is about achieving workplace justice. It connects them to resources available right now to support them if things go wrong at work. So much injustice happens in the workplace that impacts not just young people, that was
mentioned a little while ago, but their families, the entire communities, neighbors, other family members. When they face harassment, when someone is cheated out of wages, that's food off their family's table. When they face harassment, it affects their education, their mental health, their future. Rigorous implementation of a b 800 is the right start to fight these injustices and ensure that our students get the dignity and the respect that they deserve at work.
You know, just down the street is a high school named after a very prominent labor leader. We have other places, the Helen Bernstein High School, and that acknowledged that the LAUSD, the recognition that LAUSD gives to the labor movement. From them and others, we reimagined what the labor movement could be like, what our communities would be like if people had the right and organize as organizers to stand
up for their rights. So I urge you to pass this resolution. It's great to be here. I haven't been here in front of you all for several years, and I'm I'm very proud and excited that you all will be implementing this and, you know, to commit continue to commit to making workplace rights education a priority in every high school in your district. Our young people are counting on us. Thank you very much. Appreciate your time. And thank you, senator Durasno Duraso. I'm especially touched because your schedule is super, super busy, yet you made time for
us. So I really appreciate what you've done for us. Thank you so much, senator Duraso. Okay. So alright. Thank you. Those applause go to everyone because I wanna thank all of our speakers for their fantastic support of this critical data, and we will benefit from our students' knowledge. Their parents will benefit too from all this information and all through beyond their high school years too. So now I'd like to invite my first cosponsor, doctor Rocio Rivas, who has been
involved in the development of this resolution. Thank you so much, board president, Schmerleston. Thank you for bringing this forward. And I also wanna thank my colleague, miss Hendi Newbill, for co sponsoring this important resolution with, with us. Workplace readiness week is about ensuring that every young person in LAUSD enters the workforce with dignity, knowledge, and protection. Across California, youth between the ages of sixteen and twenty four make up 12% of
the workforce. The majority are young people of color, many earning low low wages while balancing school, family, and work responsibilities. Too often, these students step into jobs where they face unsafe conditions, unpaid wages, and even harassment. Since 2015, the number of child labor violations nationally has tripled. Young workers also experience higher injury rates as than adults and more and are more vulnerable to exploitation simply because they are unaware of their rights.
Let us be honest. Too many of our students are being exploited simply because they are unaware of their rights, and that is an injustice. This resolution ensures that our students won't enter the work flight workforce unprepared. By implementing assembly bill 800, LAUSD will provide every high school student with clear information about their rights, including protections in the child labor laws, wage and hourly rules in our rules, workers' compensation, and the right to organize.
The resolution directs a division of instruction to oversee AB 800 implementation across all high schools and provide professional development for counselors, CTE, and work experience educators and administrators who handle work permits. It also integrates worker rights resources into Schoology and learning management systems so that they're accessible to students and staff alike. Importantly, every secondary counseling office will display use UC Labor Center know your rights posters,
a simple but powerful message to students to students saying you have rights and your school stands with you. These are not symbolic steps. They're concrete protections. They mean that when the student gets their first job, oh, no, that a what a boss cannot do, which is threaten them, harass them, and steal their wages without consequence. They mean that when our educators talk about career readiness, they will also be teaching worker readiness, and which means empowerment, dignity, and safety.
Colleagues, this is more than a compliance. It is about the values that define us. It is about ensuring that our young people, especially those from working class and immigrant families, are never again left vulnerable to exploitation. It is about saying to every student, your education does not end when you step into the workplace. It follows you there. It's an act of equity and empowerment. Many of our students are the first in their families to work in this country, and they deserve to understand the laws that protect them.
Preparing students for college and career must also mean preparing them to navigate the world of work safely and confidently. Thank you again to my colleagues for leading on this resolution. Together, we are helping our students enter the workforce for not not only ready to succeed, but ready to stand up for themselves and for each other. Thank you. Thank you so much, doctor Rivas, for those great words. We appreciate it. And next, we have our board member, Newbill, who was also signed on to cosponsor this resolution. And would you please say a few words in support?
Thank you, and thank you again for the voices that we heard on behalf. As we know, this is very important, and often, we wanna always be able to kinda empathize with what's happened. And as mentioned, we wish this was around when many of us were working, because I started work at 14 and as a family, immigrant family, not knowing and not understanding what our rights were. And so for almost a decade and experienced some uncomfortable conversations while I was at
work. So had I known some things that we're going to be able to, teach our students moving forward, I think, some things would've worked out a little different for me. But wanting to just share just, you know, as this comes forth to LA Unified, some of the things that are really important, especially being able to provide professional development for college counselors, which I think is critical and for those that issue those work permits. And I think more than anything is being able to have the visual reminders that will be throughout our school sites that will remind our students that they do have
rights, that they know what their rights are, and that this will continue to empower our young workers to, prevent exploitation and to raise awareness along the side of promoting self advocacy. Because equipping our young people with the knowledge to stand up for themselves in their workplace is an you know, we can't put a price tag on that. And so I just appreciate the fact that this has come forth and to be a cosponsor of this resolution for our students and our families as we move forward.
So thank you for this opportunity as we continue to teach life skills for our families. Thank you. Thank you too for those great words for all of us. I appreciate that very much. So before we take a picture, I'm gonna ask our board members if they'd like to say a few words. I I love this. I just have a quick question. Does anybody else print those big posters and wanna donate them to us so we can put them in our schools really easily? It might be worth, you know, just looking in to see if anyone has already done that. And also, I think we should attach it to the work permit itself, the application or the school authorization letter so that each student has a physical copy in front
of them, not just on the wall. So just an idea. I'm really inspired by this. I'd love to be added as a cosponsor. Thank you. Will do. Thank you so much. Miss Gomez. Yes. I'm really excited about this resolution. Thank you, to all the board members who have brought it before us, and I'd also like to be added as a cosponsor. Wonderful. I have two quick questions because I know a lot of us, I think there's a lot of our families that work, and support their families even before they get a work permit, you know, in in more informal settings, like in street vending. And so I just wonder in terms of access at a even a younger age
than high school, whether they're whether in our implementation as a district, we might be able to share this information with our middle school, our middle schools as well. I don't know if the district staff, can can comment on whether or not that's possible. Not trying to amend the resolution, but I I hope that's something that we can account for because we know that is the reality for many of our families. Good morning. Yes. So absolutely, we could definitely provide an orientation, an advisory lesson, so that students know their rights, understanding that many of them are exposed to the workplace, at a at a much younger age, so we can definitely respond to that.
Okay, doctor Baez. Thank you so much. And one more just since you're here, it might not be yours to respond to. But I also wonder in terms of family workshops or family academy specifically dedicated to, workplace rights and labor rights more general. Is that something we're already providing, or is it something we could provide as part of our a b 800 implementation? That's definitely something that we can add to the supports, and we'll work with the with Antonio Placentia, and, we can definitely develop a module for our parents so that they can become familiar with their rights too. Fantastic. Okay. Well, what's the next step? Ideas, miss Gomez. Great ideas. Thank you.
Okay. Go ahead, please. Hi. Thank you so much, Scott and, Rocio and Trelette for bringing this forth. I was I was able to observe the work at Jefferson High School when I visited, and indeed, the students were very engaged and the teacher was very, in tuned with what was going on. I'm I'm very grateful for this. And I'm like, board member Kelly Gones, I also was wondering if we could bring this to other students who are in the lower grades. I taught, special education in the elementary school and the way that my students learned
about labor was through the history of the farm workers union. And third through fifth grade special day program students were learning about this and inspired and motivated about this history. And so I think in the time when young people are under attack, it is more of a reason for us to empower our students, not only for themselves, but also so they can support their families in knowing their rights and also just to grow more compassionate, empathetic students to understand the history, why it is that people go
on strike, why it is that people join labor unions, why it is that this is important for for all of us. And so I would hope that this kind of curriculum goes all the way down to elementary school. I'm not trying to amend it. I totally support this, but I like like, Kelly, I I really do see a need, throughout the grade levels. I also wanna acknowledge, like, folks here have brought up about our immigrant youth and our speakers also brought that up that as young as 14, like our very own
board member start to work or even younger in in in jobs that are not necessarily formal where they get a check, but they are exploited nonetheless. I've had students who told me they're going clean in the middle of the night, the taco trucks. Right? And they only get paid, like, $20 or something, for the night because they're young. So it's these things are very important even for young people, for our immigrant youth. Like the senator brought up, it's our students of color who are generally exploited.
And right now, immigrants, black, youth are are the ones who are, suffering from a lot of this exploitation. So, again, I wanna thank you, president Scott Smirelson for bringing this up, and I'm I'm fully in support of it. Thank you. Thank you. Great points also for, doctor Baez and for mister Placencia. Great points. Mister Melvoin. Thank you, mister Smirelson. I too would like to be added as a co sponsor. I really appreciate this resolution protecting our students. I love what the senator said about the best time to learn your rights is
before you need them. So thank you. I also appreciate mister Ortiz Franklin's suggestion around, getting someone else to print the posters. We should talk to Bob Smith. I'm gonna call him out at at the Painters and Allies Allied Trades d c thirty six. He's actually rec he's reached out, I know, to our office about, doing signs and banners for schools. So I would suggest whoever's implementing this resolution to reach out to Bob and the painters, as I think they'd be happy to help here. I also know that I have, and I believe the superintendent as well, have met with, members, staff from the Department of Labor, in a prior federal administration.
I don't know that we've engaged them recently, but around also enforcement around this and making sure that we are in partnership with other agencies and the US attorney's office here in LA when it comes to, exposing violations of of, of workers' rights, particularly for our youth. So thank you. I also just wanna acknowledge it seems like she was mostly just the videographer today, but we know that miss Nicole Fefferman, has been working on this a lot and has at least brought a lot of these, issues to my office and making sure that she's well connected within the district. So, Nicole, thank you for your work on this as well.
So appreciate that. Thank you, mister Melboin. And I guess the most important person on this day says you, Jerry Yang, you represent hundreds of thousands of students. That's because you have to wait for me to turn off. How about Okay. You do represent hundreds of thousands of students, and you are the guy you are the guy who really counts today on this board. Thank you. Go ahead, Jerry. Yeah. I just wanted to say workplace readiness is really important, and it's, you know, one of the keys to becoming college and career ready, which is what we strive for here in the district. And there's many students at my school and across the district that are always looking
to get ahead. Right? Just start making money while still in high school. And I can't imagine a better way to do it than promoting workplace readiness, especially for students in CTEs and that come from low income or disadvantaged households. This is the perfect way to to connect them with, industry professionals, develop their interests, and just give them the real world skills necessary to succeed in life. And I feel like as a personal model and then just in general, knowledge is power and teaching students their worker rights is critical to ensure they enter the workforce capable and aware.
So I'm in full support of this resolution for the resources it provides, students, and the awareness it brings, and I would love to be added as a cosponsor as well. You got it. And thank you so much for supporting all of our students. We appreciate that very much. Any other further comments? Miss Nudil, doctor Rivas? Okay. Thank you very much. So we're going to vote and then take a picture. Public comment. Both. The marketing people. Then the picture. So Sorry. Public comment. Sorry. Couple of folks signed up. The first of whom, I hesitate to read out loud, Frederick Engels.
I don't think he's here, but if someone happens to have that same name, Frederick Frederick's not here. Okay. Ina Kwaiiti, Ina Q, are you here? No. But we do have a concerned parent on the line. Concerned parent, please press 6 to unmute yourself, and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Concerned parent. Good morning, board members. Thank you for bringing this forward. It's important for young people to understand their rights, especially in workplace. I would like to, remind you that a vulnerable population includes students with disabilities.
As students are often forgotten in this board, you keep to you keep segregating and excluding students with disabilities as being in the proper in the, vulnerable population. I would like to for this to extend to also career centers, career training centers, and also those that are in the jobs programs and transition programs because that's also very important. And, many of some of you may know because, like I said, you keep ignoring students with disabilities.
Did you know that as of 2025, students with disabilities, they may not earn minimum wage, But California did, provide that support for people with disabilities, and now they are, able to obtain minimum wage. So I would also like to for you to consider employing people with disabilities specifically in your program. So thank you. I hope that you take this into consideration. Thank you for your time. That concludes public comment on the item, and now it's appropriate to take a vote.
Alright. Miss Newbill? Yes. Doctor Rivas? Yes. Mister Melboin? Miss Griego? Yes. Miss Gomez? Miss Ortiz Franklin? Yes. Board President Schmuerelson? Yes. And student board member Yang. Yes. Okay. It passes. I'll come back for those other two votes in a moment. I believe now it's Board members will go out for a quick picture. Okay? Thank you. Quick photo. I'm gonna collect, mister Melvoin's vote. Yes. It's a yes from mister Melvoin. Thank you. They're so good. Okay. We're gonna be, we're gonna be coming back to business. We've got, one, two, three, four.
If I have any other board members out in the ether, please, please make your way back. Okay. Welcome back. We have one, two, three, four, five board members. Miss Ortiz Franklin is about to join remotely from the building. She's not off-site. She'll be joining briefly from the building, and, we're just waiting on miss Gomez after that. Okay. We're gonna be getting back to business. So, after speaking briefly with counsel and the board president, we're gonna attempt to divide
the consent calendar into two parts. So follow follow along with me. What this would mean is we're going to the board is gonna vote on the consent item the consent calendar items on which they've already taken public comment so that those who have already given their public comment can go about their day and leave, and then the board will continue business on the consent calendar for the set for the remaining items. So to be clear, the board momentarily is going to vote on items two, three, six, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, fifteen, sixteen, and seventeen.
And then all the remaining consent items will be taken probably a little bit after 12:30, and we'll we'll we'll keep rolling on business from there. So to be clear, I will need a motion and a second to vote on what we'll call as consent calendar one. I'll move it. Second. One moved by mister Melboin. Did I hear a second from, doctor Vivas? Doctor Vivas. Okay. So here we go. I'm gonna record the votes. Let me just see if, and we do have miss Franklin joining us remotely on-site
momentarily, and I'll take the role on what we're gonna call consent one. So miss Newbill? Yes. Doctor Rivas? Yes. Mister Melgoin? Yes. Miss Griego? Yes. Miss Gomez will come back to, miss Ortiz Franklin? Yes. That's a yes. And, board president Schmirelson? Yes. That's a yes. And an advisory vote from board Student Board Member Yang? Yes. That's a yes. Okay. So I'll come back to miss Gomez. So for those who are participating remotely or here in the room, we have now dispatched with item tab two, tab three, tab six, tab nine, tab 10, tab 11,
tab 12, tab 15, tab 16, tab 17. And we also heard we already took a vote on tab 29. Miss Gonas, can I record your vote for what we're calling consent calendar one? Please go ahead. The boys indulgence, I'd like to, request, the temporary withdrawal of item 35. It's my own resolution. Correct. Okay. So, tab 35, appointment of member to the school construction bond citizen oversight committee, was not yet before the board, and so it can be withdrawn.
That was on the discussion calendar and not the consent calendar. So that has been, withdrawn. Could you share what's on consent calendar one? Yes. Yes. Consent one. I know you missed a pivotal moment. Yeah. Apparently. Okay. So tab two, three, six, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, fifteen, sixteen, and seventeen. This is so that the public speakers who've already given input can leave for the day. And how do you vote? Yes. Outstanding.
Thank you. So that's all the votes on that item. We have a 12:00 time certain. Okay. Yeah. Sure. We have a 12:00 time certain, but I believe we have time for one of the superintendent's, reports before the before 12:00. Okay. Good morning, everybody. Today, we have two different, superintendent reports. The very first one is a critically important one, and it reflects the, the recently released data specific to Smarter Balanced Assessment, not only for Los Angeles Unified as compared
to last year's performance, but also allowing us now the series of comparisons between Los Angeles Unified and the rest of the state of California. Not only in overall performance in reading, mathematics, science, but also, understanding how do we compare in terms of subgroup performance? How are, African American students, Latino students, English language learners, white Asian students, poor students in house foster compared to the rest of the state of California.
And what I can tell you is, the story across the board is a positive story for Los Angeles Unified. Don't get me wrong. There is still a lot of work to be done. We are not where we need to be. Our overall performance and the state's performance, are not where they need to be in terms of proficiency levels for all students in all subject areas that are tested. But considering the trials, tribulations, and challenges, and social gaps that many of our students face every single day, the progress made over time, particularly during this past year, is
admirable. Let us point out some of these, points. Number one, we are, in a very significant way, outpacing the state and other districts in California. In fact, we have posted double the rate of improvement compared to the statewide average. In fact, two times, the rate of improvement in reading and 2.4 times the rate of improvement in mathematics. All subgroups, all student subgroups are outpacing their peers statewide. What does that mean?
That means that black kids, Latino kids, white kids, Asian kids are actually performing at a higher level, not just improving faster, but in perform performing at a higher level than their counterparts across the state. We are a much larger district, and our student population is minority majority. A corollary question to this is, why isn't the state with a smaller percentage of minority students perform as well as we are? So kudos to our teachers, our leaders, our support staff, and certainly the vision and
dedication of this board. And last but not least, many student groups are actually outpacing their peers and have posted the highest ever performance levels in the history of our district. It is important to also recognize that these results are an unprecedented achievement. We have posted the highest ever achievement in English language arts, math, and science. We saw double digit improvement in distance from standard in English language arts and mathematics.
And our eleventh grade students, for the very first time, performed above standard on average, in English language arts. And one critical issue that's been the desire and the goal of this board, we finally we finally achieved, performance levels that not only met but significantly exceeded pre pandemic levels. All subject areas and all grade levels, both in terms of distance from standard as
well as the percentage of students meeting or exceeding standards, exceeded pre pandemic levels. Black, Latino, low income, as well as students with disabilities are, on average, performing better than they were pre pandemic. The state of California still has not gotten there. State of California cannot assert at this point that they have reached performance levels that existed before pre pandemic. One could ask, what has powered this breakthrough?
Well, good people doing good work in an unapologetic way. The creation of coherence across the board from curriculum to classroom, ensuring that every single student has access to high quality standards based instruction, before and after school, external learning opportunities, not only academic support, but also enrichment activities. The longest and most forceful dedicated summer school program anywhere in the country. Winter academies, Saturday academies.
But at the end of the day, it all boils down to the devotion, dedication, and expertise of really exemplary teachers and support staff, great leaders, and the necessary support systems to elevate every single child in our community to their full academic potential. So now that we have reached this point, where do we go from here? Look. It is very clear. Math remains a critical priority for us. We are not where we need to be.
Math as opposed to reading requires a foundational basis of understanding before you move on to the next level and then on to the next level. Any missing level puts our kids at a disadvantage. And so we are expanding coaching, creating early numeracy strategies, teacher collaboratives around conceptual understanding and problem solving. We're doubling down also on early literacy because reading by third grade must continue to be the important foundation for lifelong learning.
We know that third grade reading levels are the predictors of high school success and much more. We'll continue to use progress monitoring and informative assessments to, in a respectful way, make timely data informed decisions. Most importantly, we're committed to ensuring that every improvement is sustainable, Not just this year's story, but the start of a lasting trend. This is the second year of back to back improvements across the board.
No other district in a state can state that. Los Angeles Unified is in a special place, but we are not done. I want to once again extend my appreciation as your superintendent to our board and to our community, not without challenge and sometimes disagreement, But the proof is in the pudding. No one can deny where we are today. And for those who will say that, it's insufficient, we all agree. Nothing will ever be enough for our kids, but progress over time needs to be
recognized. Otherwise, we are insulting those who actually achieve these gains for our students. My very last point before I introduce today's speakers is this. We will never assess for the purpose of simply assessing. Assessment will not lead us to educational excellence. However, at the same time, not knowing where our kids are is a social injustice to them. We need to know where they are so that we can accelerate them, support them, so we can build the bridges over the gaps they live in often.
So members of the board, I am exceedingly proud of the announcements that were made, this past week. It was certainly unusual to see the governor of the state of California coming to our community three different times into our schools to speak about nothing other than student achievement. And to hear the government say that for the first time, Los Angeles Unified elevates the state of California was powerful. To then hear our state superintendent mention Los Angeles Unified and participate in speaking events
with us in our schools as the model district, to watch and be, be replicated across the state is a powerful statement that elevates and dignifies and honors the tremendous work done by educators and support staff across our district. So with that said, let me introduce, today's speakers. We have doctor Bill Johnston, doctor Francis Baez, mister Tony Aguilar, and doctor Robert Whitman.
As they come to the podium, I have to stress that the most forceful, explosive gains observed by our district were seen and accomplished by the lowest performing schools, the priority schools, the tier three schools that have historically lingered in the background of performance in our district. No longer. These are schools on a move whose performance improvement, has no parallel in our district
and across the state of California. Bill? Thank you, superintendent. Greetings board members. If we could turn on the slide presentation. My name is William Johnston. I'm the senior executive director of strategy here at Los Angeles Unified, and we will begin by looking over some of our most recent Smarter Balanced results. Many of these points were just, summarized by our superintendent, but just to reinforce a couple of the very important takeaways here. Many of our, we are, you know, outpacing the state and many other districts, in fact, double the rate of improvement, between LAUSD and the state.
Unprecedented achievement that since the, since the Smarter Balanced Assessment Program began just over ten years ago, these are the highest ever results for both ELA and math that we have ever seen in Los Angeles Unified. And in the history of the science assessment that began in 1819, this is also the la the highest performance rates we have seen ever for our students. We have also seen better, results this year than before the pandemic. And so not just reaching the pre pandemic levels, but exceeding it for, all of our, grade levels and all of our student groups, across all of our assessments.
And So certainly consistency, is paying off here. And so first, we will look at English Language Arts, overall for all of our tested grades in the top bar and then by each grade level that is tested on this assessment down below. So again, the Smarter Balanced assessment for ELA and math tests grades three through eight and eleventh grade. And you will see, the left hand side of the of the page is our distance from standard, which measures the amount of distance from, or in the case of our eleventh graders, above the the threshold and the scale score for the the determination
to say they're meeting grade level standards for that subject at that time. And so, in the distance from standard measure, we see that we have moved, over 10 points closer to standard overall for our students. And then for all grade levels, we are moving closer to standard as well. In particular, you'll see grades six, eight, and 11 all moving, the moving closer to standard, at the greatest degree. And, again, as I mentioned, our eleventh grade students are performing on average above standard for their grade level in English Language Arts. And then over on the right side is the percentage of students meeting or exceeding
standard. And that 46.46 number is the one that is important to remember, and this is where we really look to compare ourselves to the state and the data that was recently released. So that what that is saying there is 46.46 of our students on average are performing, are meeting their grade level standards or exceeding their grade level standards in English Language Arts. And then you see the grade levels below there. And then without going over every single number in this chart, you'll just see a lot of green arrows. And these green arrows are important. These signify either the amount of change or improvements that we have had since last
year's assessment, as well as the amount of change in progress we have seen since the 02/1819 school year, which is the the what we would consider our baseline or pre pandemic benchmark that we look to, look to meet and surpass. And you see here we are surpassing it across all grade levels in both subjects. And here is math. Similar story in math. I'll call out grades six and eleven as the high the grades where we saw saw the greatest degree of improvement from last year. But, again, all grade levels, both subjects, whether it's measuring it in terms of distance
from standard or the percentage of students meeting or exceeding our standards, we are we are higher than last year, and we are higher than eighteen, nineteen. And then finally, science. Science is is now considered an equal headliner with ELA and math. It is a part of the state accountability system. It is, it is an important test that we are, administering comprehensively across our district. Science is, is administered for fifth graders, eighth graders, and then once in high school. It's mostly eleventh graders that take it, but some tenth graders and some twelfth graders. So we we lump we for this display, we're we're putting tenth, eleventh, and twelfth
graders together. And you will see across all grade spans, that are being tested here, the improvement from last year and improvement since pre COVID when this assessment began. In particular, our high school students are moving closer to, at the greatest rate. And this is important to place in context of the recent national NAEP results that came out with, some pretty dour, science results nationwide. And here we are, showing our highest results ever since COVID in science for our high school students. Now we'll look at some results of the of Los Angeles Unified compared to the
state as a whole. Los Angeles is about one, it's about 10% of the statewide population, is a Los Angeles Unified student. And so you see here in in 02/1819 on the far left side, the gap in the percentage of students meeting and exceeding standard was about seven percentage points between us and the state. Fast forward to this year, it's down to 1.7 points. Also, you'll notice that our number in 2425, forty six point five, is higher than 44.1. We are above our pre pandemic benchmark.
The state cannot say the same thing as the superintendent mentioned. There's still work to do, but the gap is closing precipitously between us and the state when we look across all grades and all student groups. So that's English language arts. Here is math. And again, for math, pre COVID, our gap the gap between us and the state was was 6.2 percentage points. That gap is down to 0.5 percentage points between us and the state in 2425. And again, in math, we are above our pre pandemic benchmark. The state, not yet at its pre at its pre COVID benchmark.
And then finally, science results. And so you see here, 7.1 was the gap before COVID, up down to 5.4 percentage points, in the current year. So work to do still in science, but the gap is closing, and is consistent with everything that we have seen. I will now turn it over to doctor Baez to talk about some of our, K-twelve interventions. Thank you, doctor Johnson. Good morning, everybody. Board of education superintendent and deputy superintendents. Across the board literacy and numeracy and science, we attribute the student success of the Smarter Balanced Assessment to writing across all of the disciplines.
And this is a a domain that really helps students with identifying a claim, looking for the evidence, and justifying their reasoning, which is an important skill students need in the Smarter Balanced Assessment and, of course, in life. These strategies have been a multiyear focus. Math coaching was offered to educators in the middle grades. In addition, students in elementary and middle school grades received intervention through an interventionist. In science, science instruction focused on, science engineering practices and was extended, after school, through enrichment. Educators led through improvement science cycles making decisions based on data, looking at student work,
analyzing progress monitoring data. Teachers observe one another during lab days. They planned lessons and they used all of those artifacts to, progress monitor and see if the strategies that they were using were successful at the time and they were able to pivot and revise their strategies. The work ahead involves teaching to the level of the rigor of the standard and the depth and complexity of the standards. In kindergarten, through second grade, we focused on the science of reading and deepened language development through vocabulary and reading comprehension strategies.
We look forward to improving outcomes for students in grades k through two by deepening reading comprehension and use of academic discourse, course, and these will prepare students to reach third grade proficiency and students reading by nine. In order for teachers to support high levels of thinking moving forward in all grade levels, based on the text that we engage in in the summer, rigor by design not chance, these are the things that we're going to be seeing in the classroom, asking probing questions, building schema, strategically scaffolding learning, developing complex tasks, engaging in metacognition, and
reflection. In grades three through five, students compare text, draw conclusions, and engage in discussion. The next step is for students to apply academic vocabulary in their writing when comparing text to text, text to self, and text to the world. We will increase the cognitive demand of the test for students to apply critical thinking skills. In grades six through eight, we've deepened educator capacity in the science of reading, never done before, but now teachers have that specialized training to help students, reach proficiency. Students also deepened their research skills and translated their findings through writing.
In grades nine through 12, we used media literacy to analyze and evaluate multiple sources of information to promote critical thinking skills. And now moving on to math. In grades k through two, we build procedural fluency to ensure that students have the foundational knowledge to access higher level math skills. In grades three through five, students construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others. And this is a mathematical practice used in all grade levels and become deeper in these grade levels. In grades six through eight, students deepen their knowledge in applying real world problems and
high quality instructional materials and teacher coaching supported students in these grade levels. In grades nine through 12, we continue student engagement of real world application, but the difference in the eleventh grade was reviewing algebra one concepts students that had not seen since ninth and tenth grade so that they could be successful in the Smarter Balanced Assessment. If you recall, that was an area of stretch for us last year. In the area of science, our goal is to provide students with an understanding of science and engineering practices, disciplinary core ideas, cross cutting concepts with frame which frame learning
in the physical life and earth sciences and engineering. We saw students across all levels continue their learning after school through enrichment and through summer school. In grades k through two, students recognize patterns and conduct simple investigation. In grades three through five, students explain findings using evidence and models. And in grades six through eight, students analyze and interpret data and emphasize systems and models to understand complex scientific concepts and their connections. Lastly, in grades nine through 12, students promote scientific discourse and inquiry through evidence based
explanations and data analysis. In the year ahead, we will we will deepen our efforts so that all students reach science achievement. Now we'll pass the microphone over back to doctor Johnston. Thank you. We will now turn to, a deeper dive into some, specific student groups across the district, and I think this is where the data gets particularly interesting for us. And so here you will see our English language arts achievement broken out by a range of student groups in Los Angeles Unified. You'll see, you know, the dotted line over there on the left looking at the the that's the the gap during COVID.
But I think an important piece here without looking at the specific numbers, two things. One, all student groups are improving when we move over, across time here. Whether that's our higher, you know, typically traditionally higher performing student groups or student groups that are, aren't typically below the district average. But all student groups are, in fact, improving as we go and, and are, meeting or exceeding their pre pandemic levels. And so here's the English Language Arts. Here is are the results over time for, math achievement for student groups. And again, while there are certainly differences in achievement across these student groups, all student
groups are, showing improvement in math for multiple years in a row. And so there's there's, you know, there's not a particular particular student group that is driving these results. We are seeing this improvement across all of our students. And then finally, science achievement broken out by student groups as well over time. And now let's focus in on, one of the first student groups here that we're gonna target for our discussion today, which is our students with disabilities. Students with disabilities are are traditionally, we, you know, we we do see, relative to other student groups, a particular challenge in student achievement.
Nonetheless, in Los Angeles Unified, we do see consistent improvement over time, where art and whether it's looking at our own students looking back over history, we are, we are almost over four points above four percentage points above where we were pre pandemic. And the gap between us and and special education students or students with disabilities statewide has gone down from 4.5 points in 1819 to 0.9 points, this past year in English language arts. Looking at our students with disabilities in Los Angeles Unified compared to students with disabilities
statewide, in math, we see, the gap was 3.2 points pre COVID and is now 0.3 points in '24, '25. And so to discuss some of our strategies with the student population, I will introduce doctor Anthony Aguilar. Got that honorary degree. Good morning. So with students with disabilities, as everything you notice and see there, you heard from doctor Baez what is being done at the core. However, before that or once we get into that, how do we accelerate from the core and really kind of build out that playbook? So that progress is reflected along with the strong alignment between special education, the core
instructional supports, ensuring that our students with disabilities have access to high quality grade level content in general education settings, as well as targeted inventions, inclusive classrooms. As we know, the work we've been doing with inclusion is supporting the students with disabilities and increase the use of evidence based reading and math strategies have really driven these results. Thank you. We will now turn to our English learner population and here we are presenting results for our English learners which is inclusive of our reclassified English learners, which again is,
is, you know, an important piece of the goal and the trajectory for our English learner population. And we see here that the gap, in English language arts and achievement for English learners and reclassified students pre COVID was 5.6 percentage points and now it is 0.7 percentage points in 'twenty four-'twenty five with consistent years of improvement for our students. Next, in math, and this is the beginning of a trend that we will see in, in the rest of this, of this presentation. Pre COVID, our English learners, were trailing the state by five percentage points and now, compared to their peers statewide, we are outperforming our English learners statewide, by one percentage
point here in 2425. You see the red and blue lines intersecting there. And I will turn it back over to mister Aguilar. Thank you. I'd be remiss if I didn't, mention this. As you guys know, I have a very passionate executive director when it comes to MMED, and she really kind of embraces the fact that language development equals academic development and academic growth. So these gains reflect the strategic alignment of language development and content instruction through MMED, our MALT coaches that support our our schools and with intentional and focused professional development, it really has been the driver to get into these results results with our English
language learners. Thank you. We will now turn to foster, our foster population. And you will see, in this first chart, this is English language arts. Basically, our students, our foster students compared to foster students statewide were were performing at about the same rate. Pre COVID, we are now exceeding the statewide, rate by 1.4 percentage points in English language arts. And then in math, pre COVID, oh, actually, I'm sorry. In 2122, foster student data was not available by the state pre COVID. I apologize. This is, so we're looking back as far as 2122 for our foster population data.
So in 2122, we were outperforming the state by 2.5 percentage points. That gap has gone up to four percentage points for this year. And with that, I will turn it over to doctor Whitman. Thank you, doctor Johnston. As Bill mentioned, the district has outpaced the state, as it relates to ELA and math for foster youth. To accelerate growth, investments continue to be made in PSA counselors who provide case management to our foster youth, ensuring that they stay connected to their schools, linking them to appropriate services and resources, monitoring their academics as well as their achieve their attendance and
ensuring transportation as necessary, guiding post secondary and financial planning for those students who are transitioning to, from from high school, And then also, most importantly, being an advocate for our students. And so as a district, when we think about our black student achievement, and that group is also outpacing the state as well in both ELA and math for the two consecutive years. In ELA, black students move 13 points closer to standard with a 4% increase in percent in proficiency. A similar trend is seen in math, where students are moving, moved 11 points closer
to Stannis with the 4% increase in proficiency. But it's important to note that 40% of our BSAP group in one's two schools are priority schools. And so when we look at the data for those two those students, those black students in those schools, they moved 19 points closer to standard in ELA and 6%, increase in proficiency. And then for math, it was 17 points closer to standards with four percent increase increase in percent of proficiency. To accelerate growth, we have a ETO playbook.
And that playbook really entails capacity building of our teachers at our priority schools. And so, monthly, they engage in what we call unit planning in ELA, math, science, as well as social studies for our secondary teachers, where they are really deepening their understanding of the adopted curriculum but going deeper, as, doctor Baez mentioned, around higher order questionings, claims, evidence and reasonings, real, problem solving, right, both in ELA as well as in science. In addition to that, our teachers are also engaging in what we call lesson studies,
where they're actually teaching lessons or practicing teaching lessons within the classroom with their colleagues, which we feel is a very strong strategy. And probably, one of the most high leverage strategies that we have within our ETO Playbook is our impact review process. We engage in over, 230 impact reviews a year. Each of our 121, priority schools go through it in the fall, where we're actually looking at the the transfer of professional development to actual implementation within the classroom.
In addition to that, that process also entails providing differentiated support, to our teachers, our school leaders as necessary based off some of the findings that we've, we we observe during that process. We have about a 131 BSAP schools. And we have k 12 coordinators and directors who are boots on the ground at those schools, who are working alongside, the school leadership as well as the staff, to ensure that we're addressing the unique needs of our black students. They do classroom observations to observe evidence of culturally affirming, practices within the classroom.
But most importantly, they're making sure that black students are connected to enrichment as well as intervention opportunity as necessary. And then there are monthly data chats that take place, where we're looking at, black students' attendance. We're recognizing them for their outstanding, performance, whether it's, you know, academics, attendance, etcetera. And then we're also doing a really good job in terms of engaging our black families, particularly at our BSEP schools where we actually have black family committees. And so a lot of good work, a lot of intentional efforts, are being made,
with the investments that we've had, and we are making good on those on those investments. And so at this time, I'm gonna go ahead and open it up for questions. So it it's now 12:15. I think, board president said they're gonna take questions after the time certain that was supposed to be at noon for, miss Gomez's reso. So, we'll bring the deck back up after the completion of this resolution. Okay. Thank you so much, mister Schmirelson. I appreciate the opportunity to discuss an important proposition now on the ballot for California voters, and voting is already happening.
So it's really important that our communities know about this. This measure, prop 50, would allow California to adopt temporary congressional maps if states like Texas pursue extreme partisan gerrymandering. This is an unprecedented ballot measure because these are unprecedented times that we are living in, And this move couldn't be more important to protecting public education and the students and communities that we serve. This resolution is about protecting essential federal resources that make public education possible and standing up and standing with our communities whose voices are often ignored and our active targets
in this administration's efforts to deprive our most vulnerable communities of their constitutional rights and of essential resources, including their constitutional right to a public to a public education. So regardless of how you plan to vote, we encourage you to make a plan and make sure you go vote. As a school district, we also have a mission of ensuring our students who are approaching or who have reached voting age know about, their voting rights and to ensure that their voices and the voices of our families are heard. With that, I want to thank doctor Rivas for her partnership and co sponsorship throughout
this effort and urge my colleagues to vote yes on this important resolution so that we can join the broad coalition of labor unions, elected officials, and social justice organizations who are in support of proposition 50, to stand up to partisan gerrymandering and the Trump administration this November. I'll pass it over to doctor Ivas if she has introductory comments. Yes. Thank you, board member Gomez. I'm thrilled to I'm thrilled to co present this resolution today to stand against these continued attacks in our democracy. Actually, board member Gomez and I both submitted resolutions on this topic at the same
time. We were under the same wavelength here, and we worked together on this language because we believe democracy and public education are inseparable, and both are under attack. When one is weakened, the other falls with it. Proposition 50, the Election Rigging Response Act is about defending our fair representation when powerful interests are trying to silence communities like ours. Across this country, partisan politicians are redrawing congressional maps to erase the voices of working
families, communities of color, and young people. This is not politics as usual. This is a direct threat to democracy. And we're voting on this at a time when the federal government is shut down. Departments are being dismantled, and special education has already been gutted at the federal level. Special education, our most vulnerable students. It's just hard to believe. According according to the California Teachers Association, the Trump administration's proposed budget cuts would slash
1,430,000,000.00 from LAUSD, including 381,000,000 from student meals, 388,000,000 from low income supports, and 166,000,000 for students with disabilities. These are life sustaining programs. The difference between a child learning on a full stomach or going hungry, between receiving essential services or being left behind. This is not normal. These are unprecedented times. People's livelihoods and children's futures are being used as political bargaining chips.
If we don't protect fair representation, our schools and our communities will continue to pay the price. Gerrymandering isn't just about elections. It's about who holds power over our students' education, their safety, and their future. Board member Gomez and I stand united in saying enough. Proposition 50 is how we defend democracy, fair maps, and the constitutional right to public education that serves all children, not this not just the privileged few.
And to every eligible student and family, make a plan to vote on 11/04/2025 because protecting democracy representative, Adriana Salazar, from Teamsters Local five seventy two who, represents members at our school sites, our SAAs, our plant managers, our cafeteria managers, our bus driver supervisors
to speak and support as labor is an essential part of this partnership. Thank you. Thank you so much. I have to wear reading glasses now. Proposition 50. Proposition 50 is a definite shift in the way democrat Democrats are approaching power. It's time for us to stop playing by the polite rules of society that we continue to use over and over again, and for us to start playing by the rules that we see on the other side. It is time for us to stand up for the rights of our students and of our community. And that's exactly what Proposition 50 does.
But this should not be a Democrat versus Republican vote. This vote should actually be considered an anti bullying vote, because that's exactly what it is. It is Californians saying no to the bullies in power in Washington. It's Californians saying we know exactly what happened here on June 6. And just because our streets no longer have reserved armed guards walking them anymore does not mean that this isn't still going on in other states. It's just moved. We need to ensure that every student in California is able to go to school
without fear. They should not fear being arrested at school. They should not fear whether they will be deported. They should not fear that mom or dad or abuela or whoever it is that is their caregiver will not be there at the end of their day to make sure that they're fed, that they're clothed, that they're put to bed. Students in California should never ever fear that when they come home, there will be no one there to receive them. And that's what proposition 50 does. It takes away that fear.
It gives us back that power to say not in California, not in this state. We hear the slogans don't mess with Texas a lot, but I think this is the first time we can say you've woken the sleeping bear. We are done hibernating, and California is pushing back. So I would encourage every single one of you to join us. Join labor, join community activists, join us on Saturday, here in front of Beaudry. There'll be a no kings, yes on proposition fifty rally, and it'll start right here because right here is where the work starts.
Right here is where we start protecting students. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. Mister Schmuelsson, if it's okay with you, could we please hear from our public comment speakers before we do board discussion? Absolutely. Thank you. Hey. I'll call on the folks who are listing themselves as being in person. Olivier Perez. This is for for for Election Rigging Response Act. Thank you. The speaker 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. Okay. They need to be attentive to and to have an effective representation in the federal
government knowing that people with special needs, that there are programs to receive their services. Good morning. Can you hear me? Yes. Please go ahead. Good morning. My name is Sam Sukhitan. I'm calling in from the working families party. We have endorsed Prop 50, and, I'm calling, one, to thank board members, Gomez and, Rivas, for their foresight on this question, Particularly here in California with ongoing, kind of struggles over state investment, we recognize that federal support, federal intervention, federal leadership has been
crucial. And we are living in a moment when the federal government has abdicated its responsibility, at best and is targeting our students as part of, political projects that are beyond our understanding at worst. Consequently, I ask for your I vote, for, an an endorsement of prop 50. And speaking specifically as somebody who lives near Hobart Elementary in Koreatown where, you know, working class parents from multiple countries, multiple cultures, multiple languages are on patrol, where young
people thrive, not just on campus, but in a a walkable, diverse, and safe community that maintaining California's vision and maintaining California's leadership in a fair congress is integral, not just to the preservation of this broad district as a whole, but to the active life and health of my neighbors, my classmates, and the parents young parents who are
sending their their kids to schools like Hobart Elementary near me. With that in mind, I really appreciate your time and your consideration on this. I know you have an enormous agenda. Really looking forward to seeing some of you on Saturday. And, speaking also as somebody who works in the community college system, I'm I'm an organizer with AFT fifteen twenty one. Again, very, very grateful that you're supporting a motion that's been endorsed by the California Federation of Teachers and the California Teachers Association. Teachers, students, administrators, board trustees, we should all be speaking with one voice on this question, and I'm very glad that we're taking steps towards that.
Again, thank you for your time. Thank you for your time. Devin O'Ceri. Please press 6 to unmute yourself, and you have two minutes to speak once you begin. Devin O. Alright. Can you hear me? Yes. We can. Please go ahead. You'll have two minutes to speak. Alright. Thank you so much. Let me open up my heartfelt thank you, board member Kelly Gones and doctor Rosio Rivas, for this resolution and pushing to be on the right side of history. My name is Devon Oseri. On behalf of the Los Angeles County Federation Of Labor and the 300 labor unions and our 800,000 members across Los Angeles, we ask you to join us in supporting
the Election Rigging Response Act. All the teachers, classified support staff, that work for the district need direction. We need guidance. We ask you, the beacon, to our students and community to take a stand today. We need all the support we can get. We urge you to support this resolution and join the fight against the blatant election rigging next year by this administration. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your time. The next speaker is Walter Garcia. Walter Garcia, please press 6 to unmute yourself, and you have two minutes to speak once you begin.
Walter Garcia. Hello. Can you hear me? Yes. We can. Please go ahead. Fantastic. Good afternoon. My name is Walter Garcia. I'm from Pacoima, which is located in the Northeast San Fernando Valley. I serve as vice president of the Pacoima Neighborhood Council and political director of the San Fernando Valley Young Democrats. I'm speaking in my personal capacity. I also I wanna thank my school board member, Calle Gones, for introducing this important resolution. These are extraordinarily dark times. I believe that with all my heart. And Proposition 50 is California's response to the election rigging that happened in Texas at
president Trump's request, of course. But since then, the rigging hasn't stopped. It's only gotten worse. We've seen other states like Missouri also move towards giving Republicans more seats in Congress. And just yesterday let me repeat that and let that sink in. Just yesterday, North Carolina Republican legislative leaders announced that they too want to withdraw their state's congressional map even though Republicans in that state won 10 of the state's 14 congressional seats in 2024.
That isn't enough. 10 out of 14 still isn't enough. Democracy is under attack. Right now, voting yes on proposition 50 is the least we could do. I hope you'll support board members going through this resolution. Trump is acting like a petulant child. He is not afraid to cheat, and we, Democrats, Republicans, and Independents, cannot let him get away with it. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Next speaker is Marco Santana. Marco Santana, please press star six to unmute yourself, and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin.
Marco Santana. Santana. Hey, everyone. My name is Marco Santana. I am a resident of Van Nuys, but I'm also calling on behalf of the Democratic Party of the San Fernando Valley who's endorsed prop 50. I just wanna say that I care deeply about my representation as a first generation Latino, family that worked hard to get here to have a better life for us. In addition to that, especially for the families that are most impacted by this administration's targeted attacks on my community, the San Fernando Valley continues to be the number one area for Trump's terror, with with IACUC being mobilized.
And so I wanna thank board member Kelly Gomez for bringing forward this important resolution. I do think it takes an all hands on deck approach, and our schools are being, attacked as has been said, you know, the defunding of of several systems, especially the special education system recently. You know, I wanna emphasize profit is a temporary, domestically led measure that allows the state to use legislative legislatively drawn congressional maps for the 2026, 2028, twenty thirty elections, and to counter the continued work gerrymandering that we're seeing across the state as Walter
just pointed out. So, again, I was born and raised in Van Nuys, one of the communities most heavily impacted our families and Within this community deserve better. LAUSD serves as a diverse multilingual student body and has a responsibility to support policy that protect equitable political representation. The students and families at that night deserve to be fairly represented because their voice matters locally and at the national level. So I urge you all to vote yes on prop 15 on this resolution. Thank you for your time. The next caller is Maria Luisa Palma. Miss Palma, if you're online, please press 6 to unmute yourself, and you'll have two
minutes to speak once you begin. Maria Luisa Palma. Hello. My name is Maria Luisa Palma, and I'm speaking today as an individual, as a resident of Los Angeles and a taxpayer. Unfortunately, information at this district, information which is clear, transparent, understandable is lacking. And it is disheartening that here we have yet another missed opportunity to inform the public on impartial facts on this proposition. Board members, I will read to you education code seven zero five four, which states no school district funds, services, supplies, or equipment shall be used for the purpose of
urging the support or defeat of any ballot measure or candidate, including but not limited to any candidate for election to the governing board of the district. Nothing in this section shall prohibit the use of any of the public resources described in this subdivision to provide information to the public about the possible effects of any bond issue or other ballot measure if both of the following conditions are met. The informational activities are otherwise authorized by the constitution or laws of the state, or if the information provided constitute a fair and impartial presentation of relevant facts to aid
the electorate in reaching an informed judgment regarding the bond issue or valid measure. That is sorely lacking here today. Your statements in the resolution are explicitly partisan. So I ask you to cite the law if you believe there is a law that exempts you from this law. I have cited. What you are doing today is silencing dissent, discouraging voting, silencing free speech. Don't you want to foster civic discourse? Isn't this one of the underpinnings of democracy? Don't you support that? I request that you abstain on this vote.
Respect the diversity of thought, the diversity of political persuasion in the citizens, the voting public, the taxpayers, and every resident of this city. Please let us know if you are above the law or if you don't have to meet this law. Either way, it's a bad look. Thank you for your time. Shirley Gruber. You're listed as speaking remotely. Shirley Gruber. I don't have you signed in. Are you here? Okay. Come on up. You'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. She'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 a translation headset.
I think most of them have already been passed out. Okay. Proposition 50. So I'm glad to be here. My name is Shirley Scruber, and I'm a mother of a student with disabilities. For a lot of families. Special education. I'd like to express my worry for proposition 50 because it looks like a political, issue, specifically its effects, could come to our classrooms and affect directly the students that are the most vulnerable, including those with special education needs.
If this legislature is allowed, is permitted to redraw the districts without the supervision of an independent supervisor, we have the risk of have of losing just representation and the equilibrium and the balance that we have for the families with special needs, which is already limited for these families. This measure could also reduce the representation for communities that struggle day and day for services, support, and programs, specialized programs.
The need for a transparent structure can also translate into less attention to schools that have students with disabilities. This attention, I bring it to the board. So that way, together with the families that those of us with children with special needs are able to confront this. So that way we don't disproportionate the families that are disproportionate the most disproportionate and most impacted so that way we can vote responsibly. Thank you. Good morning to everyone. I'd like to make the comment that my daughter was gonna give.
She's Jacqueline Hernandez. I'm Jacqueline Casas. She's not here, so I'm gonna make the comment for her. And for me, it's very important that mister Alberto Calbara Carbano could hear us as a community of mothers with children with disabilities that you all have seen us continuously be present here with you all, trying to work all the necessities that our children have. And you with mister Scott who's heard me make these comments referring to what my child has lived. And, well, I would just like to make the comment in regards to proposition 50
about if we need maps that will maintain our communities united. When they are dividing us in different districts, our voices get weaker. The families, the Latin families, immigrant families, when with special needs, we deserve to be heard in congress. Point number two in regards to the funds for education, for special education, those federal funds for special education come from the congress. If we lose representation, we lose the money to for services, for IEPs, for our
children. And in this case, I am referring to the IEP of my son who depends on therapies that are paid by federal funds. Point number three in regards to the programs, the essential programs that are public schools that depend on federal funds to be able to support students with disabilities and students of low income homes. Without good representation, they cut all our support. We are already seeing a lot of cuts. We cannot lose anymore in regards to civil rights and protection, and congress defends the
lay the laws as well as ideas. If we do not have representatives that will defend us, will defend our rights, our rights will be weaker. And our children, they need laws that protect them and not erase them. To begin on tab 31. Good afternoon. We appreciate and support this item, the Election Rigging Response Act. The dehumanizing attacks sponsored by the Trump administration have been devastating, and by the looks
of it, will only get worse. We had military industries of LA this summer. Chicago, Memphis, and Portland are now under attack. This must stop and stop now. We have an opportunity in our twenty twenty six elections to cripple the unilateral authority that Trump enjoys right now if we all vote to approve prop 50. Trump is losing his popularity quickly and is terrified of losing his advantage in congress. Consequently, he's doing everything he can to consolidate political power across the country.
Texas has withdrawn their congressional maps and other states are attempting to do the same to more easily elect friendly Republicans to congress in the twenty twenty six elections. In California, we have got to fight back. Proposition 50 is an emergency ballot measure that would allow the legislature to temporarily temporarily draw new congressional maps in California to even the playing field. If this power grab goes unchecked, we will only see more drastic cuts to public
education, to health care and other critical services, and a further erosion of our basic civil and human rights. Today, we ask for a unanimous vote by this board to approve this resolution and urge all voters to approve Prop 50. In solidarity, thank you for your time. Thank you for your time. Before we get into board discussion, we need to take the vote on the waiver of board rule 72. So can I move in a second on that? I'll move it. That moved by miss Griego, seconded by miss Newbill. Miss Newbill?
Yes. Doctor Rivas? Yes. Missus Millwine? Yes. Missus Griego? Yes. Miss Gomez? Yes. Mister Ortiz Franklin? Yes. Board president Schmerlson? Yes. Student member Yang? Yes. Okay. And now I'm moving a second for the underlying rezo for discussion? Move it. Moved by, miss Konas. Second. Seconded by board president Schmuroson. And I'll open it up if any other board members would like to comment on this for a moment. Thank you. So I I certainly do understand proposition fifty's place in the current time, and that's why it's necessary for it to pass. Lately, it feels like the nation has been met with an unprecedented amount of broken
systems in governance and injustice. And while I wish there was more bipartisanship, that is clearly not going to happen anytime soon. Instead, we've resorted to withdrawing redrawing districts to help maintain some semblance of democratically selected governance. I have always advocated for cooperation across the aisle. However, I cannot stand by and do nothing as others try to consolidate power for themselves and to oppress the rights to represent the public.
So, miss Gomez, if you would please add me as a cosponsor, and let's get prop 50 over the finish line. Thank you. Alright. Thank you. I'm gonna be glad, gladly supporting this resolution. I think it's clear that the attacks have been placed on our most vulnerable students. And in fact, our students with disabilities are in great attack under great attack by the current federal government. And that is one reason why I'm highly supportive of this resolution. We've seen it.
They're already freezing funds. They are threatening to freeze funds. They just got eliminated. The Department of, of education and special education in particular. So this is very important. I think it's important that the public understands that the maps that are being proposed are temporary. They're not forever. And then that this proposition is unique and different because it's going to the voters to make this decision, and that is critical for folks to understand. And I know that some of our schools are are, voting, places.
And so I think it it would be great if we could have a list of the schools that are voting centers. I know for me, it brought me great joy when I was able to bring my students who were ready to vote, to take them to our very own auditorium to go vote. And so it'd be great for all of our staff and, our employees to know where these voting places are as well as our families. So thank you, Kelly for bringing this forth. Thank you, doctor Rivas, for supporting this as well and bringing this to us.
Agree. And if I didn't add myself as a cosponsor, please do. You know, I think we often teach our students to be solutions oriented to, when there's a challenge, you know, come up with something that will help make it better. And we put the onus on the next generation. Well, for those of us 18 and up and who have the privilege of being eligible to vote, this is our opportunity to show our young people what it looks like in action. This is about being creative and finding solutions that our community so desperately needs. And so I'm so proud that this board is standing up as we have for other propositions in the past. Prop 28, prop 15, things we thought would be good for our community.
And so I'll be glad to pass my vote before November 4. Everyone out there, you know, you should have already received it in your mail. And for all of our high school students who will be eligible, I'm very excited. It's a chance to put into practice a resolution we recently passed around high school students having more access to voting, or pre registering to vote if you haven't yet. But thank you so much for bringing this, and I really do hope that most Californians will join us so that we can, do what we can in the national landscape because we know our Angelenos desperately deserve it. Student board member Yang.
Yeah. I think first of all, it's very important to acknowledge that there's a constituency of students for and against Prop 50. I was just having conversations with students yesterday about the precedent that prop 50 sets regarding gerrymandering and want to emphasize that this is not and should not be the norm, but in this moment, it's necessary to preserve the democracy that we have. And no matter your views on this ballot measure, it's undeniable that now more than ever, we need to encourage students to be more involved with the democratic process and make informed decisions. Moments like this when Prop 50 comes to the to the voters are historic, and
it's so important for students to know what's happening. And regardless of stance, this is an important civics lesson, on why voting is so important and just in general being aware of national circumstances. For the students out there, this is something to remember and monitor to keep an eye out as we can to keep an eye out for as we continue down this road of experimentation in American democracy. So on behalf of the students and in the interest of democracy, I support this resolution and the message of solidarity that it sends. Thank you, Jerry. Yeah. Miss Newbill. Yes.
So appreciative of this, and thank you guys for bringing this forward, especially at a time like this. And what other place than here in the Board of Education that we are educating and continue to bring light and voice to what's, appropriate and to continue to advocate, as mentioned before, the resolution that just passed about our high school students, which I'm very proud to see and know that as Jerry has gone around schools and been able to register many of our students, to be able to practice this come November.
But this is more than just, you know, I think for us to educate on the fact that there's a term being used here, gerrymandering, and we've known over the years, this term has always been flipped and changed and rearranged. And for many people of color, to be able to see this term, you often can be ostracized, right, and not wanting to engage. But I want to share that this is an opportunity for us to engage and to be able to dig deeper and to understand exactly what we have before us and an opportunity to exercise democracy.
As we see in many states, that is not the case. Some states, we can just do things how we want to do things. You don't get to vote. And so because we are educating our families and our students that democracy is real and that California stands for that and that the board of education is being a part of that to be able to share the truth of that. And we've seen that in more ways than one. We've seen that in the fourteenth amendment where the term race has often come up and has been flipped on its other side to say race should not be used.
And so here we, again, to educate and to continue to bring forth terms that often can, at first glance, have you shy away. But I too wanna be added as a cosponsor cosponsor, and I appreciate the opportunity for us to continue to educate our children and to continue to educate our families on what is necessary to be able to be in support of things that help us to open our lens and to be able to dig deeper and to be
able to make a stance where we see things are going arise. So thank you for this opportunity. Appreciate it, and I too will be supported. Thank you, Shirelette. Anyone else? Okay. Kelly, back to you. Appreciate the board member, Ortiz Franklin, raised that the board has in the past taken positions on different ballot measures as a governing body. And, of course, as the resolution notes, our efforts at schools are around exercising our right to vote, not around taking a particular position, because I think we're all in
support of our students who are voters having that opportunity to cast their ballot no matter no matter where they cast it. And thank you so much, board member Griego, for also raising the real impacts that are at stake for our most vulnerable students. There was also an effort to withhold our funding for our multilingual learners and our immigrant students, as well as proposed significant cuts to IDEA, which supports our students with disabilities, and title one, which supports our low income students. So there are very real consequences for public education in addition to all of the
dehumanization, the kidnappings, the direct attacks on our immigrant communities. So thank you all for for crystalizing that. Thank you. Thank you so much, miss Gomez. Okay. Mister McLean? We will vote, miss Newbill. Yes. Doctor Rivas. Yes. Mister Melboin. Yes. Miss Griego. Yes. Miss Gomez. Yes. Miss Ortiz Franklin. Yes. Board of president Schmirulson. Yes. Student board member Yang. Yes. Alright. Seven. Alright. I believe where we left left off was the presentation for the SBA results, and there was a q and a moment. So if my friends at ITS could queue up the slide deck in case there
are questions about specific slides for the SBAC presentation, and then the board will reorient themselves to ask questions about the presentation that we took just prior to this, resolution. Okay. I guess I'll start it off. I have some comments and then some questions. So I want to mention that the progress we see in our schools, does not happen by chance. So I wanna start off with saying these words. It is it is made possible by our students and the people who care for
them every day. And when we had our press conference last week on Thursday, every single one of us acknowledged all of the support that our students receive inside inside the classrooms and in their schools. Because of our educators, our speech pathologists, our coordinators, coaches, and nurses, students are guided, cared for, and inspired to reach their potential. Because of our all of our classified employees, and I'll name a few because there's
so many here in this document, I have all of our classified employees, and there are a lot. There are but I will mention, but I want to make sure that they're named and recognized. Our classified employees, including custodians, plant managers, food service workers and managers, bus drivers, heavy bus drivers, library aids, SAAs, our teacher assistants or special education assistants, our technicians, campus aids, instructional aids, parent and community representatives, after school staff, building engineers, and building and
grounds workers, our school climate advocates, every single one of them, a part of that village. And the ones that really are there for our students to make sure that our schools are clean, safe, and welcoming spaces, that they have the transportation, and that they have all of the supplies that they need to make sure that they're ready for their academic achievement. And we know our student success is due to many of our district leaders, our principals, our assistant principals, all of the administrators, our school operations.
Every school has a support, and the leadership and those that make sure their schools are safe and welcoming. And also that they're supporting our families and their families can count on them. Now I wanna with that said, I want to acknowledge a significant progress reflected in the results we just saw, especially the double digit growth in distance from standard across subjects. It's clear that our students and our educators and everyone that surrounds them are working very hard to make real gains. At the same time, this is also an opportunity to look closely at where acceleration
has not yet reached all students, all student groups equitably. So just a few questions now. While overall gains are impressive, how much of the growth is concentrated among students who were already near the standard, and how much reflects a true acceleration for students furthest from it? Thank you for the question. And I will turn to the student group slide that we were looked at before to to get at at the beginning of this conversation around around this question. Let me, come back here.
And so, as far as, you know, what if we were to see a disproportionate amount of improvement such as for example, if all of this if if this improvement were just among the highest performing students or just among the lowest perform we would see we would see very divergent lines across this plot a plot like this, for example. We do not see that. We see for the past two years and then for many of these groups, we see really since '21, '22 a consistent trajectory of improvement. And so it is important to note that, again, this is this is just based
on, various student demographic groups, not based on prior achievement necessarily. So another way that we can look at this and and that is that is available to us is, you know, based on where you were prior year, which performance band, for example, were you in, did that did that improvement happen. And we have we don't have a plot for that, but we have absolutely seen that students across the the distribution are improving. Now one thing we are keeping tabs on very closely is that, you know, while we're looking to accelerate and close close gaps and so on, that we are not, short, you know, giving short shrift to any students at the higher end of the
the distribution, that we are still accelerating our our advanced learners, at all grade levels, regardless of of what type of school that they're at, whether that's a tier one, two, or three school. And so that's certainly something that we keep eyes on. And so I will just answer to say the improvements are being seen consistently across student demographic groups and across, student prior you know, based on prior performance. But that with that in mind, that's not we're not just sitting on our laurels necessarily to say, you know, if the bottom is moving up, that's that's a win. It has to be across the board, and we don't wanna see, you know, regression
to the mean, among the highest performing students as well. So that's absolutely a part of the conversation for us. The next question, can staff disaggregate the growth by school type or region to identify whether improvements are equitably distributed, particularly among schools serving the highest concentrations of, students living in poverty and multilingual learners? Yeah. So this data is currently, available publicly in a few places. And staff are available, of course, and then the public in general can view this data from the state's website, the CAASPP results website, which is, all of the data
in this in this slide deck are based off of that publicly available resource. And, so and it's by school level, it's by student group, and by grade level. You can disaggregate it to a very, very granular level. As long as it's not like two students in a, you know, third grade, you know, Latino students, you know, you know, and this one year, for example. And so if it's fewer than 10 students, it will be suppressed. So the data is available at on the CAST website. It's also available in our open data platform, and that can be broken out by, again, by school level and by student group level.
And so that's for the public. And in addition to those, our staff can see this in our whole child platform as well as, executive leaders can see this in, the executive dashboard that can be broken out by student group and by by school. So there's various resources where this is available, whether it's for the public or for our internal staff. And if there's any questions about that, folks are always encouraged to reach out to myself or to our Office of Data and Accountability for a walk through on how to do any of that. Maybe next time on your presentation, maybe at the last slide, add a link so that people know that Thank you. Yeah. Good afternoon. That is, where we can they can find further information.
Sure. I'll do. What is what specific instructional shifts or interventions correlate more strongly with the double digit DFS gains, and how are these practices being scaled to lower performing sites? Thank you for that question. So, the strategies that we've implemented, so we don't have the effect size for all of them, but we do know that the research tells us that the highest effect size that makes a difference is teacher collective teacher efficacy. And so we've emphasized a lot of professional development, and so we feel that the
professional development has had a big impact, teacher capacity, teacher ability to, come together, observe one another, plan lessons together. Doctor Whitman mentioned the unit launches that happens. That is one of the the factors that really supports our teachers because they're looking at student performance, grouping them, the intentional groupings really help, the, assignments and tasks and activities that happen during small group instruction, during whole group instruction from the teacher. That is where we feel we have the highest, leverage there because research tells us
that that has the highest effect size. We also know that tutoring has a high effect size and that last time that, we shared some updates to you for you and to the board about tutoring, our interventions have had, a significant improve, effect. Our, winter academy, our summer school, our enrichment programs, each one of them has an effect size and together, you know, comprise the whole, strategy that we've been able to implement across the board. So you saw earlier in our slides that we looked at the, plan, do, study,
act cycle. That supports teacher efficacy, leader efficacy. You also saw that there's progress monitoring. So we need teachers need the tools to to be able to see how students are progressing and make shifts that are required, throughout the year to ensure that they're meeting the student needs. So, earlier in the slides that shared the, they had introduced the instructional FOSCI, These were the ones that really were the ones we focused on and had the highest leverage, but this the effect size will vary for each of them.
But we know the highest one is collective teacher efficacy. Thank you for that very comprehensive answer. I appreciate that. That was great. Finally, for students who did not show growth despite multiple supports, what diagnostic steps, and then you may have mentioned some right now, are being taken to identify root causes and how are we addressing systemic barriers such as staffing, inclusion models, or access to high quality instructional materials? Yes. So, we have been, administering progress monitoring. So we've looked at the end of year Smarter Balanced assessment results in addition to
the progress monitoring. So we've looked at, the diagnostic beginning of the year data. We're already seeing where our students need support. They need support in vocabulary and comprehension. In the earlier grades, it's with building that foundational, reading skill. And so we are identifying the skills and the strategies and providing those student students what they need. In terms of the systemic barriers, that's the the superintendent's vision and mission has been interrupting those systemic barriers. So at our high need schools, that has been a priority in terms of priority
staffing, priority professional development. The students get everything that they need first because there's gaps that needs to be closed. And so, in terms of systemic barriers at this time, we're always challenging ourselves to look at what they are, but we're also always meeting those challenges and and, beating them and so ensuring that our students have what they need. If I may also add, I would like, if if we could have, please, doctor Whitman come speak a little bit. I'll give you a few minutes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think you wanted to. To your point, we still have a lot of work to do with our English learners and students with disabilities.
You saw the opportunity gap is still there. We know we need to close that. So as we're rising all boats, we also recognize there's still a large degree of acceleration. So I'd love for him to talk more about the language studio as an example of how it's helping leverage our curriculum in CKLA, but targeting those language academic language needs of our English learners. If you don't mind, please. Yes. And so, particularly with our priority schools, there's a big focus that that teachers stay inside the curriculum. And so leveraging Language Studio really helps them to, provide the small group instruction, for
our English learners during that, thirty to forty five minute, EOD time, designated EOD time, where it's a continuation of the knowledge, sections of the k CTLA core curriculum and making sure that, they are able to, you know, make adjustments based on what the needs are, particularly around the claims, whether it's reading, writing, listening, or speaking, to ensure that we're addressing those components. But we're pulling out the strategies that are already embedded within the curriculum and being able to tailor that support, for those students who need that that additional language, sport
support. And we're providing what we call job embedded professional development, where we're able to, meet teachers during the school day so that we can provide that professional that that support to them. We just had, Saturday professional development where we had a a a a good number of teachers that showed up. Sometimes we have what was for 200 teachers that come on a Saturday. But, you know, we know that that's not always available. Saturdays is not always available for for our teachers. And so we are we're always looking at opportunities in in which we can make sure that they get the support that they need.
And what we're seeing is less variability across schools, across classrooms as it relates to implementation of our, our district adopted curriculum. You know, because the capacity of our teachers, particularly in our priority schools, is increasing. Not only just our teachers, but the leaders as well because they also, learn long alongside our teachers. Francis talked about, you know, the collective teacher efficacy, particularly within priority schools. We, leverage what we call instructional leadership teams. If you go to any priority school and you ask them about their instructional leadership
team, they can go on for a long, time talking about it. In addition to that, the the common planning periods, so that teachers can come together during the school day. So, at the elementary level, it looks like a cycle motor time, where all grade levels at least have, anywhere between an hour or an hour and ten minutes of planning time, where they can come together, to plan around a particular focus. It may be around the, plan, do, study, SAC cycle. It could be around designated EOD instruction, right, or mailed instruction for our standard English
learners. But they would have come together consistently to build to deepen their capacity. And then also have, set goals around, you know, what it is that that around the area of or problem or practice that they're trying to solve. And so, lots of good things happening there. And you talked about, strategic you know, Francis mentioned strategic staffing, particularly with our priority schools. We have a a a fill rate of almost a 100 within our priority schools. It's not quite there. It's like 99.5%. Right? And so we have very few or if no teacher vacancies.
And and this leveraging all of the investments that we've made through VSAP to ensure that those most vulnerable schools have PSA counselors, PSWs, school climate advocates, parent reps, academic counselors. In some cases, depending on the the VSAP school, they may have two. And so there's a lot of resources or inputs that have been provided to schools. Our focus to make sure that we're executing and we're making good on all the investments that the district has made for those schools. And and the and the data is indicating that we are, in in fact, making
progress and making good on those investments. Great. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. Thank you for mentioning your PSAs, and it reminded me in our PSWs that I did not include them in that long list of those. They're very, very essential PSAs and PSWs. And lastly, for students with disabilities, we've seen encouraging improvement among our students with disabilities, students with special needs. But this remains one of our most persistent achievement gaps. And I'd like to understand how we're deepening acceleration of this, very important group beyond
compliance and into instructional transformation. So, two questions. How is the district distinguishing between compliance driven supports and true instructional acceleration for students with disabilities, students with special needs. So I'll definitely start with compliance. So the way we look at compliance is the guardrails to ensure that whatever's happening inside those lanes is gonna be done timely and it's gonna be done to benefit the students that they need. So those IEP timelines, assessment timelines are very important for us to make sure that we can get students the supports that they need. And so far as accelerating those efforts, so now that we have everybody in the
guardrails and what what's happening inside the the lanes, It's really about looking at instructional grouping, looking at professional development, going back to teacher efficacy. What are we doing to build the capacity of our special ed teachers alongside their peers in their general education classrooms? Least restrictive environment. So that's a big push and has been a big push for us and we're seeing the gains of that. The closer our students are with their gen ed peers, the more and more we start seeing an increase of their performance, which is ultimately what we want. Nonetheless, we're always gonna do what's, drop what's dry what's driven by the student need
in the IEP. So what an IEP team decision makes, makes a placement offer or decision that comes to the agreement of least restrictive environment in a gen ed setting, we will continue with that pathway. And my last question, are we tracking longitudinally, whether early interventions like ELAP literacy programs, lead to sustained gains in middle and high school? Yeah. So we're always looking at cohort data and seeing, how students are performing one year to the next and seeing the supports that have been provided. So we are able to see over time how they're how they're performing, and we
make shifts according to that. Every single strategy that we're using is not being, analyzed in the way that you're describing it, but we are looking at cohort data. We do have a strategy that's a multiyear strategy that we've been repeating year after year, which is providing intervention to our highest needs students, the students that are below grade level, do looking at progress monitoring data. So the strategy we're using continues to be perfected, but it's a multiyear process. So it's the same one we've been using. And we look at cohort data over time to ensure that our students are making improvements.
Very much. And, and and then just one question for students with disabilities. How are we making sure that the barriers also for students with disabilities and needs, particularly staffing, are are corrected and not being an obstacle for their continued achievement? So I maintain a pretty, close relationship with our chief HR to make sure that we're looking at those staffing needs. So recruitment efforts are going on, not just in, what we have in teachers, but even in paraprofessionals is we wanna make sure that each of those classrooms have the
actual support set that they need. So it's an ongoing collaboration with HR to ensure that we're getting them closer to, filling our our sped teachers' vacancies. And BIIs and and Yes. So with special education paraprofessionals, that's another driver too, and that's working with PCs. So making sure we're out there and how how are we going to recruit. I think we've made some significant gains, with our fill rate with our, paraprofessionals, but we also wanna make sure that we're when it comes to BIIs that we're actually going back to what is what the student really needs, and making sure that those
conversations that are held at the IEP team are looking at that need. Is it truly a BI, or is it additional support that's happening with the baseline, paraprofessional? Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Doctor Rivas, as of last Friday, we only had five special ed teacher classroom teacher vacancies district wide. Thank you for that update. Any other board members who have any question? Miss Griegel, go ahead. Yes. I have a few questions and then a comment. Regarding science at the elementary school level, how much time do students receive? How much instructional time do they receive in science?
So, we ask that our teachers deliver science instruction on a daily basis. The reality of that may vary, depending teacher to teacher, classroom to classroom. We know that the there's mandated times that we do request teachers to teach, for example, physical education or, English language development. We have, language arts and and math and so on. So, it's it's something that we ask our teachers to do every day. It's something we need to get better at ensuring that students get science every day, so that's why there's such a big emphasis on the enrichment piece.
We do integrate science into the core curriculum as well in language arts. So, they also get science in the, core knowledge language arts and, materials. So there's no specific time mandated for science instruction at the elementaries? The teachers are asked to build it into their own schedule and so there may be some variability in terms of the minutes that are taught, and during the instruct during the day, but it's something that teachers are asked to include into their daily schedule. Is there no mandate because there is no state mandate or because we, the district, have don't have a mandate as to the number of minutes?
We have recommended minutes of thirty to forty five minutes to teach science, to engage those in science. It could be more. And so based on that, every teacher will vary it. In some schools, maybe they'll begin with math first and then language arts. Maybe a teacher will include it at the end of the day or just it will just vary according to teachers. Okay. I I bring I bring this up because our scores are pretty low Yes. In science. And I know that when I taught elementary school, there was no time for science. I mean, it was luck that we had science.
And I've heard from educators who teach in the lower grades, particularly kinder and first where they don't they don't have the time to teach science because of all the other mandates that we have around, reading. Right? ELA. And then even math is also one that is squeezed into the day. So I'm just wondering if there's any way that we can track how many minutes kids, actually do receive, science instruction. What are some of the barriers to be able to meet that need so that
we can start improving? Because, of course, if we're not doing it at elementary, it it goes all the way up to, you know, high school. We can see it from the data. So I agree. Board member Grego, this is Carla. I I would also add to that. I think now that we've seen that our efforts are producing some degree results. We know what elements such as enrichment has been working for us. We've also seen at the secondary level, it's much easier, to your point, to track because of the courses that are required, from at middle school level and high school level.
Where we are seeing an opportunity to revamp is in those early grades. I think the biggest thing that we've seen as a strategy, I've seen across multiple systems, and I think it's something for us to be very clear on, is we have curriculum, but how do you create units of study? And I think that's one of the opportunities is units of study that allow you to integrate science into a variety of subject matter. And And I think we've got some real great tools to be able to show and model for other teachers, from other teachers, quite frankly, how they are able to
integrate explicitly science, not just for an engagement strategy, which is unfortunately what we see in those early grades, but aligned to the science standards. And so that is something that we're in conversations right now. I think there'll be an opportunity to your point to do some more modeling of how you do that, understanding your curriculum. Yes. Absolutely. I look forward to observing that when I visit schools as well and hearing the feedback from educators about how that is happening. I have some questions regarding the data on students with disabilities.
I would love to see the results for students who are in the special day program, you know, core curriculum, and students who are in the inclusion program. Do we have that? We do not have that in today's presentation. That is certainly trackable and, you know, whether it's based off of a particular school or campus of enrollment or a a program or course even at that level of detail that we can disaggregate results that way for you. Yes. Please. But not today. Yes. Thank you. And then I would like to know what strategies we are using to support students
in the inclusion program, particularly at the, middle school and high school level. One of the feedbacks I've received from educators is that in the inclusion program, generally, is a student from special day program who may be functioning, maybe two to three grades below grade level, and then they enter a gen ed classroom that is at the core curriculum grade level. So let's just say math. Right? So a student is taking algebra one. They came from the SDC environment, and now they're in an inclusion program.
How are we supporting those students in an algebra class when they are, testing at second, third grade level in algebra? So when we the student of which kind of you're, describing right now, that is something that the IEP team has made a decision to support the kid the student to be able to go into algebra one, for example. With the within that same IEP, we actually are able to also provide the additional supports that the student would need to be successful in there, which also could mean co planning with the teacher.
So the teacher in the SDP program would actually know what's happening, almost do kind of a pre teach with the paraprofessional who they send into the classroom to better support that. So in that very unique situation, those are kind of, scripted and written into the IEP and then supported by the practitioner in the classroom and in the, gen ed classroom as well. Well, that sounds great. However, the reality is that I've what I've heard from folks and it's not very unique. It's actually very common. What I've heard is that, one, there is no opportunity for co planning.
Teachers, gen ed and special ed teachers do not have that opportunity because, one, there are too many classes for a special ed teacher to go to. The scheduling piece is very challenging. So that is not happening. When a special day program a student who comes from a special day program into the gen ed, is there sometimes. The support is not there. The TA is not able to be there for whatever reason. So I'm asking, what are other things that we can do? Because that sounds great, but I know that's not happening. So what are some other ways that we can support our students?
Great question. And the reason I call it unique is because what you described right now was a student who was not functioning close to that level that wanted to be included into that, algebra class. What I think you you're asking about is more of the students who are capable of actually going into a general ed setting and performing in a general ed setting. But that's not happening. That's my point. Is that I know that ideally, that's what we want. Right? We want students who can actually be able to to integrate into that curriculum and function in that level, but that's not the reality. The the reality is that there are students who are two or more grades below
the grade level who are going into the inclusion program. So what are we doing to support our gen ed teachers and our special ed teachers and our students in this that's the reality. Okay. Definitely hear you now, but there's definitely professional development that we have been doing. As you know, we actually had a micro credentialing for our gen ed teachers to support our special education to, students in their classrooms. Also, the ongoing professional development for our special education teachers ensuring that there's an opportunity to co plan with their gen ed peers of those students that are going into their classrooms. And then lastly, one of the things that we're also noticing is how are we
programming these students? Because I think I'm hearing more so of the secondary need is making sure that the programming, we're able to offer those supports. So I think what you're getting at is some of those kids that are programmed might not be able to come in with those same supports such as a paraprofessional or an aide, and that's actually I could definitely see a problem there. So we're gonna be offering additional support at our secondary level. How do we program kids to ensure that we're scaffolding the supports to follow the students and the need? Yes. Thank you. And, I'd love to hear more in the future about the professional development that our teachers are gonna get.
And I'm looking forward to seeing that data, from, special day program students as well as, students in the inclusion program. Now regarding the English language learners, I see here that the data that you're presenting us includes English language learners who are in the ELD well, and I don't know if we still call it ELD. We do call it ELD program and the RFEPs. Right? The reclassified students. So that's what we're seeing here. One, why did you choose to do that? And then two, can we get the data for English language learners?
And I would be very curious to hear the to see the data from English language learners levels one to three, and then four and five, and then long term English language learners, and then the reclassified. Yes. So two two parts there. First on what is what is available. Certainly, the data is is is publicly available and we can we can provide it for you in a digestible manner that can show English learners, which excludes reclassified, including re recently reclassified English learners that are pulled out.
Basically, the way the state reports it is, were you an English learner on the day you took the test, Even if you reclassified the day before. And then, obviously, the reclassified RPEP group on their own. And then what we're showing here is the combination of the two. On the state's reporting platform, they're called Ever ELs. You know, were you ever an English learner? And so current versus as as well as reclassified English learners. And we we chose we opted to show this group today for this presentation because we feel like it tells a more complete story of of our English learner population, across the spectrum of where they are in their trajectory.
We know that last year in particular, we had a very high level of reclassification, about double what it was the prior year. And in doing so, the, the students who took the the the students who were classified as English learners who took the test last year on test day was a was a fundamentally different group of students than English learners from two years ago. And so the trajectories we felt like were a little skewed and didn't reflect, you know, the good news of us reclassifying so many students to the English learner group this past year was a particularly small group. And so here we're we opted to for for just, for parsimony and and simplicity
in this in this way today, show just the the combined group of EL and RFEP combined. And that's and that's publicly available. EL on their own is also publicly available, and we can provide it for you. RFEP on their own is publicly available and we can provide it for you. And then the second part of your question, can you can you trace back to that? Yeah. What are we doing to let me see here. No. That was pretty much it, I think. I asked you why and if you could provide that. Yes. I do think it's very important that at these meetings where the public is here
and they're televised that the public sees all of the data. Because this looks amazing, but I'm left wondering how are are ELs doing? And, because these are, you know, populations that we wanna track, we wanna make sure that we're giving them all the support that they need. And so to me, for the public, for us to have that information now, not that I have to go and dig, not that the public has to go and dig for it, it's very important. So I I ask that you please, when you do your next report on whatever
other thing that you please share that information. I don't think I saw this before today's meeting. Otherwise, I would have brought it up in a briefing if we did so I didn't have to ask here. But I don't think I saw this report prior to today. So, the other thing I wanted to, point out let me see here. Assessments. So I I heard the superintendent say we don't assess for the sake of assessments. There's a purpose for this. And so, I know that district wide, we have assessments.
Right? It's I Ready And then the state mandated assessments of ESPA. Are there other assessments that kids take and why? Well, I'll I'll quickly summarize the the mandated state assessments, and then I could hand it over to Doctor. Baez if there's other district specific ones. So on the state side, there is a there's so the Smarter Balanced ELA and Math, is one. That and again, that's grades three through eight and eleven. And then, the science assessment, which is grades five, eight, and then once in high school. And then there's also the the ELPAC assessment for English learners to assess their English
language proficiency. And that is done, you know, if you are if, you know, there's an initial ELPAC at the point of enrollment and to determine, you know, your ELD level. And then you will take the summative ELPAC until you are reclassified. And so that's another mandated state assessment that our English learners do take. We also have the fitnessgram, is, you know, the physical fitness test that is a part of the mandated state system. And then I should also mention that for the ELA, math, and science, there is also the alternate, assessments for students on alternate curriculum with with, you know, our students some of our students with disabilities also take that.
So that's sort of the package of mandated state reporting. They're all I will mention too the, for Smarter Balanced, there's what are called IABs or FIBs, interim assessment blocks, that are that are interim assessments, almost if you will, like practice tests for Smarter Balanced, those are those are available to our to our schools. They are not mandated, that our teachers take those, but they many schools do still use those IAB, along the way, to sort of do an early check with or
if if you will, a practice assessment, but they're not mandated by district policy. It's an it's just an option for us. And then as far as other other district assessments including I Ready, I'll let doctor Baez speak to that. Yes. So, as you know, the reading difficulty risk screener is a, a, screener that we need to administer to kinders or second grade students, and that is done through the DIBELS, the dynamic indicator basic early literacy skills. That's what's upcoming, and that will begin in November. We also administer the I Ready in reading and math, and that is done, for
the beginning of the year and middle of the year and optional at the end of the year, except for our English learners who need it as a criteria for reclassification. Okay. Now for, the BSAP program and, the work that we're doing with our black students, I, you know, I think that I always want to look at more than just the testing. Right? And more than just the destruction as a reason for why we have made some improvements. And I think priority schools are an example of that.
Some of our priority schools are both VSAP schools and community schools. They get a lot of support. And I think that I wanna attribute all of those investments and all that support, that holistic support that we give to these schools for their rise in in the test scores. I think they are an example of what we need to do in order to support our students academically. Priority schools, as well as our BSAP schools, they get a PSW, they get an
RJ coordinator, they get specialized field trips that have proven to be very successful in really inspiring our students, right, to to see themselves at universities. They have, culturally relevant curriculum, very focused and specialized in counselors that work with our black students. And I think that is very important and I wanna remind us that these things matter in supporting our students. These things matter for our students with disabilities, for our immigrant students, for our black
students and for our LGBTQ plus students. And so as we are making projections for the next year, as we are thinking about investments for the next year, I want us to always keep that in mind that student success is not just instruction. Student success is And and you all are an example of that. So I want to ask, I only have praise for BSAP schools. I really do. Thank you. I really do. And, I think it's one of the best things that we've made investments in.
And, but I wanna ask you, doctor Whitman, are there extra tests at priority schools? Extra assessments? Do our priority schools also have opportunities to teach, say, science and or because one of the things I've heard is that there is a lot of professional development and a lot of times that our that our teachers are pulled from their classroom and keeping them away from the instruction. So please tell me Yes.
What is that? So I'm gonna respond to, what you mentioned earlier with regards to the additional investments made in schools. When we start off our impact review, we remind our principals, as well as their instructional leadership, about the investments that have been made in these schools. And one of the things that we're trying to solve is to make sure that we're closing gaps around implementation. Like, we wanna execute on a high level. And then going back to, science in priority schools, since we started this work in ETO, that has been a tremendous focus, of our work is making sure that our
our kids have access to labs. If you go into all of our priority schools, they have STEAM labs. They also in some cases, in many of them, they have, STEAM fabrication labs, which is a little bit more comprehensive. There's been a significant amount of investments from, the division of instructions, made to the schools. We've in addition to the PD, they'll be providing ELA and math, social studies. There's a significant amount of PD provided to, to science as well. And one of our goals and is part of our our one of our strategic
efforts within ETO is to elevate science instruction within our priority schools. For good reason, over the last, you know, number of years or what have you, there's been a a tremendous amount of focus on ELA and math for good reason. Because when we look at the data, we see our kids aren't where they're supposed to be. But at the same time, if we're really preparing our students to be ready for the world, and to be able to, you know, navigate, in a society that we don't know what the jobs are gonna look like. We have to be able to provide them with those opportunities to, engage in in
science and and and and and tap their critical thinking skills. And so, yes, we are elevating science and we're providing professional development, as well as the resources that they've been provided provided. We're making sure that they're they're executing. They're making good on those resources. And so when you go into a priority school, you can ask, can I see your STEAM lab? Right? And you would be see the lab and you also see evidence that it's that it's being it's up it's being operable. And so that that yes. Absolutely. Thank you, doctor Whitman. I really appreciate your work and the work of your office as well as our
BSAP, teams. I really appreciate it. And I just hope that as we are moving forward, that we continue to see the growth of our students holistically, supporting them in their arts education, supporting them in their mental health well-being, in their social emotional well-being, learning how to get along and and, and communicate with one another through, supporting, doctor Rivas mentioned all the staff that do this work on a daily basis and I wanna, reiterate that.
Our school climate advocates, our RJ our restorative justice coordinators, our psychiatric social workers, our PSAs that work with foster youth. Like, they are very critical. They are the connection to the students' source of family. And so we must continue. I'm saying this to our to our board our board here that we must keep all of those things in mind as we move forward and, and think about funding because these gains came as a result of all that extra funding we got.
Right? So there's a correlation between the two of them. Thank you. We have a a good team of dedicated and passionate folks. Thank you. Thank you very much. Miss Tanya Ortiz Franklin. Okay. Try to keep it, keep us no. No. No. It's okay. We got a long meeting today. I wanted to uplift our budget transparency resolution. I wanna thank it's, you know, separate team, but they're working on that, doing really well. And October is the time to connect our academic programs and our investments. And so I wanna invite the team to consider potentially at our CAL or whenever
the board is next discussing, like, how are we taking what you shared about what's working, connecting that to our budget so that when we make discussion or we make decisions about our fiscal stabilization plan before budget development come November, we need those connections. Right? And I I realize it's hard because there's so many strategies that move the needle for kids, and yet this board is going to have to decide which strategies to maintain and which strategies to scale back on. And so I just wanna remind the team of that resolution because this is the time that we need to make those two connections. So I wanna put that out there.
I wanna ask about cohort data because that will also really help us. Do we have that yet? I know schools look at it closely. And if not yet public, when can the board look at cohort data? Yes. And so, cohort data, again, tracking this is sort of a longitudinal view, of looking at the same children over time to see, you know, their movement. Are they moving closer to standard, from year from year to year? And that is that is that is becoming much more of a normalized data analysis process for our internal teams, and as well as well as in the field. This is this is being embedded into various other data and reporting systems.
And so the answer is yes. It is available. Yes. It is a part of our of our toolkit now of of how we analyze data, and it and it we can make that available to you. And and we and there's also some disaggregation that we can do. So cohort analysis based on, this was to doctor Rivas' question, you know, how does the cohort trend look longitudinally for students who were historically higher performing or lower performing as their regression to the mean and and so on. And and and again using the this is where not just looking at percent meets exceeds, but looking at distance from standard. You know, are you moving closer to standard, wherever that standard is for your grade
level at that subject? And again, that's becoming much more of a normalized process and that data is available for us to share, with with with the board, when once we have the right chance to do so. Yeah. I would love for that chance to happen soon. Okay. And then connected to that, I had shared in some of our internal conversations the TNTP opportunity makers that a lot of our schools are looking at, including some of our charter partners. We wanna elevate the opportunity makers of our own schools, and I think cohort data is crucial to that. And so not just from a few years back, but even from this year, like, who can we celebrate that is, you know, closing gaps within three years for kids,
and what are they doing? And so, you know, you've highlighted district wide, but I'd love to see it on a school by school or even grade level by grade level. And one of my questions is, because this comes up in my school visits, for example, is illustrative math one of the things that is closing the gap and making more opportunity makers, including for elementary school? And are we gonna be moving away from something like Eureka? And I don't know if DOI has made that decision or if the board does or you know, but that's something I'm thinking about, because we wanna be putting in front of kids the right things that are gonna move the needle for them, using some of that, you know, cohort analysis and then also, like, what the team is
really seeing that's working. Mhmm. Yeah. So just I'll I'll I'll I'll I'll I'll pivot to Doctor. Baez in a moment. But just on the Opportunity Maker piece, so that that report from the TNTP that that was looking at schools that that moved students by, I think, one and a third grade level equivalence in a year, so the idea is that in three years you're you're fully caught up, is was was was using national data from pre COVID. And so we we have been we're looking to to do our own analysis that replicates that methodology, using our own internal data for with the most current year.
And so there's, there's some back of the envelope math that's happening, but we're we're in the middle of actually doing this analysis. And and again, the point is where which are the schools that on average are moving students from one year to the next more than just one grade level forward. Right? They're they're they're moving them, you know, the the the the cut point for that article was, one and a third school years in a year. And and so that's a that's a helpful metric and guidepost for us to use to to sort of spot these outliers. That is based on, cohort analysis of of tracking the same students over time.
So that's in process, to identify some of some of the schools that are that are particularly strong at that. And I I think it would certainly be reasonable to overlay that with schools that are implementing Eureka versus I'm but I'll let doctor Baez perhaps speak to that. So with regards to illustrative math, is the majority of our middle schools are using illustrative math and a lot of our elementary schools are using Eureka and some are using illustrative math. And we did see that, using illustrative math along with coaching has really made a difference, in math achievement of students. And the illustrative math was used as a pilot actually a few years ago, and
it we we expanded it because we were sight seeing the benefits of it. We have not been in a in a math adoption cycle until recently. So the reason why we we looked at these curricula outside of a math adoption cycle was because the one we were using were not as highly rated on EdReports, and so illustrative math, has demonstrated to show to make the difference for students. Now we are going to be entering a math adoption cycle, and teachers will be part of the selection process. So that cycle will that, timeline will be about a year. So it'll take about a year for us to to engage all of the stakeholders
in the new math adoption, and then we will come to the board for a recommendation. I appreciate that. I know a lot of our elementary schools were, you know, either this year or last year also adopting CKLA for the first time, And so it's hard to do two curriculum adoptions in the same year. We wouldn't wanna stress out our teachers such that we're not making progress. So I appreciate that. And, you know, something else I've been hearing a lot about from the field is lesson labs. So not just the sit and get PDs where the adults are all together, but where the adults are actually teaching together with students and, several teachers taking a piece of that overall lesson. And I've just heard really good things about it happening so far, and so I
hope that's a practice that we're growing, potentially capturing on video so we can, you know, stretch these good practices again, again, and and our resources, honestly, because, again, this board is gonna have to make some some tough decisions about resources. The last thing I'll say because I know my colleagues also have some thoughts is, I'm also looking forward to a through g c or better when we get that data, which I hope is coming soon, as well as our SEL goal. And I know and so these are the big board four goals, you know, math, numeracy, literacy, a through g, and SEL. And originally on the SEL goal, we had talked about a rubric. And I know this isn't about that exactly, so I just wanna put it out
there that the board is still very focused on those big four goals, and would love to come back to that, you know, as we, have the data available. But I will pause there. Thanks. Thank you very much. Gomez? Well, thank you so much to the team for presenting and, for the comprehensive information that you've given us. I recognize that the there's been a lot of questions asked, so I will do my best to be brief. I think first headline that I want to note is that this, marks a moment of tremendous improvement in the school district that I am incredibly proud of the fact
that because of the hard work of so many of our staff on the ground at school sites, we have now exceeded pre pandemic levels and and math and ELA. And this this is something that is very impactful to the lives of our students. It means that they are on track, to graduate high school ready for college and career and for the promise that we know they all have. This has real impacts on the lives of our kids. And so I I just want to thank you all and thank the extended team at our school sites for everything that they've done to enable this to happen. And we know, as my colleagues have noted, it's not just about the academic support.
So the academic supports are critical and essential. It's also around expanded mental health support. It's around this board's intentional efforts to include social and emotional learning in school. So we are taking care of our children's holistic needs, on a daily basis rather than it be treating rather than treating it as something that's supplementary. It's about purchasing high quality instructional materials. I appreciate board member Ortiz Franklin's, discussions around illustrative math. I I think there's a lot of different materials that we purchased in the last few years, that have finally brought us up to the standards.
There's also been science adoptions, right, to help us reach those next generation science standards. It's essential that we provide those tools to our students and to our teachers. I am going to ask just a couple of questions, though I wanna second the request for more. You know, the board always wants more information, which I think is a good thing. We are interested in and invested in the success of our students. So just a few pieces I wanted to pick up that I don't think have already been mentioned. One, I really appreciate the student group analysis. I think it's essential that we're not just looking at students as a whole overall, but we are also looking at our high needs students groups, including our multilingual learners,
our students with disabilities, our foster youth, etcetera. These analyses are based on meets or exceeds, and the board's goals, as you know, are focused on distance from standard. Could we get, student group analysis that are based on distance from standard rather than just meets or exceeds? Yes. Yes. That's possible. These we focused here on the meets, exceeds because this is the way the state displays the data on its public dashboard, which is what we're sort of Yeah. That that's the, you know, hence the announcements that we had last week and so on. That data though on the back end does include sort of the scale score averages
by grade level. And so we are able to calculate, like, the DFS for our, you know, Latino students versus statewide Latino students and so on. So that is absolutely possible. We do have that just for the just so we're not, you know, just for so this slide wasn't this deck wasn't a 100 slides long. We did not include that here. But, yeah, it's not you not making it a 100 slides long. Thank you. I I will look out for that. And then on the subject of our multilingual learners, appreciate board member Grigo's questions to clarify which reclassified students were included in that slide. I would, to go to the other end of the spectrum, I would actually love
to see our data on our ever English learners, because, you know, we know by definition, being part of the English learner student group, there is a a criteria that includes not yet being proficient, in English language arts. And so there's this catch 22. You know, you attain proficiency, and then you exit the subgroup. And so it it causes some challenges in being able to monitor that continual progress over time. So I would love to see more. In addition to seeing the stand alone English learner subgroup, I would love to see how our students perform once they've reclassified and that overall picture of how our multilingual
learner students are doing. Noted. Okay. Alright. Great. So I'll take that as a yes. You will work on that as well. Thank you. And then and then just to clarify, that is what this that is what we're showing here. This on this slide and the next slide, these are English learners as well as reclassified English learners. In other words, Ever ELs are are the group that Is it is it just the students, like, who have reclassified, like, per federal, per federal law? Like, we can include certain reclassified English learners. Is it only those, or is it the full population of reclassified students?
Full population. I mean, if you were so whether not just a recently reclassified student, but, you know, the way that the state defines it for the reporting that we're using for this for today's presentation is were you ever in the course of your k 12 education career and in classified as an English learner, you were considered a part of that Ever EL group. Okay. Helpful clarification. Thank you. One other piece that I don't think we've discussed too much, but which has happened in this time period is our full universal TK implementation. And I just wanna highlight that having access to high quality early education absolutely sets
our students up for academic success in future years. I don't know if there are ways to tease out what impacts that has had, the expansion of universal TK within LUSD, and how that translates to greater achievement in reading and math, greater school attendance, etcetera. But I think that's an important piece to untangle as well, because that's a critical foundation for our students. Not sure if you have data or information on on that connection. Well, I know that, it'll be a year or two before we can really look at the the benefit of that in terms of Smarter Balanced since the testing begins in third grade.
But, you know, we do now have I Ready data for our earliest learners. And so there is a, you know, a possibility to look at I Ready results for our earliest learners broken out by those who were part of TK, those who were part of TK and early ed, those who were part of neither, those who were part of both or one or the other and so on. So that is possible for some of those, non, you know, non state assessments that we can do, and it's part of some of the tracking we we can do. But as far as Smarter Balanced, we're still a year or two away from them. Yeah. I think those, I Ready analyses would be really helpful, just to be able to
elucidate what what we know already, conversationally is is an impact that happens in our learning programs. And board member Gomez, this is Carla. There is, some initial analysis that we've been doing to just see the students who've been participating in our TK program. And what we've seen actually are the students who participated in early childhood programs as well as so our EECs, as well as our TK program, we are seeing that they are coming in with those kinder ready literacy and math skills at a stronger rate than some other student groups.
So we are looking at that, but to his point, you know, still a little time. We wanna create a little longer on ramping, but we are monitoring that as well. That's great to hear. And to our families, we have spaces in our early education centers. Please come and enroll your children. They are free, and they provide excellent programs for our students. And then just one last piece. I wanted to touch on family engagement. I think that a lot of the supports that are highlighted here are really, growing staff capacity and providing more supports as well as intervention opportunities for students. What is the role of engaging with our families, and accelerating learning for our students?
That's an area of focus this year just to deepen our family engagement and just working with, with mister Placencia, but also with the regions who also play play a very critical role in in, the success of our students. Just engaging our community reps and understanding, and the the strategy and, working closely with the coordinator and having parent workshops and parent meetings at the school site so that they're familiar with the strategies that we're using, for example, in the science of reading,
and also, for example, our graduation, our graduation playbook. We have materials that are translated, in multiple languages, for example, in for graduation, and for a through g, requirements. And so we are wanting to deep we're going to deepen that homeschool connection, through our curriculum and just looking to see what whatever the students are learning during the day, how that then carries on after school. We are making those connections with the after school programs at the school sites and beyond the bell. So whatever is being taught during the day, we should be able to provide some enrichment after school, but then also deepening that at the home at the at the
home. And that's that's an area for us that we're gonna be deepening. Great. I look forward to learning more about that and also how can we leverage technology and our ongoing communications with families as ways to provide information and empowerment as well. Well, thank you all so much. Thank you to all of our 70,000 staff at school sites who are making this happen every day, and thank you superintendent for your leadership as well. Oh, are we ready for our part two, mental health, or not yet? We're We're skipping. Okay. Okay. Go ahead. Go ahead, Charlotte.
I'm sorry. Two, wanna say thank you. Appreciate the presentation because, obviously, we are grateful to see us being spotlighted as doing great things, statewide. And so it does, bring us joy to be able to know that the hard work has paid off. And as mentioned, the list of folks that contributed to this, we cannot say thank you enough and, obviously, to your leadership to continue to inspire the work that's being done. So I wanted to put that in the forefront. And as this presentation and I know we didn't need 50, you know, slides, but
also as we talk about what do we contribute this growth to, and I think it was mentioned, also making sure that we do highlight that, you know, it's the whole child. Obviously, we talk about the literacy numeracy science, but then also to include what is it that we're doing in our communities? What is it that we're doing to make sure that these results, happen so that it does give us a whole glimpse of what's happening? I know we're looking at the data, obviously, but that also is inclusive of what we're doing and not limited to. So wanted to and I'm be really brief because a lot of the questions were
already asked. And I just wanted to highlight that, you know, as we talk about teacher efficacy, I wanted to just hear as far as at the elementary level, we mentioned about the minutes and then, the number of time spent teaching math. I wanted to highlight that only because I know in the field, we're talking to educators at the elementary school level, and we often hear, I'm not the math person. I'm not the math person. And so with professional development, what are we doing to target that population of educators
that say, I am not the math person? Thank you for that question. So we've been doing a lot of, professional development on shifting the math mindset and growth mindset of teachers so that they then, instill that math mindset for students. And so in classrooms, you should be able to see growth mindset, statements around the classroom or and also some growth mindset strategies before we get into the math lesson, and really wanna promote that it's it's okay as as students are creating their math
pathways and solutions during a math lesson and going through the productive struggle, justifying their responses to one another, that it's okay that not to be correct, that we wanna critique each other's work, and that there's multiple ways to solve a problem. And so that is part of the professional development, and so that is what we're doing at this time to ensure that our students that our teachers feel like they are mathematicians. It is something that is a stigma. It's not something that's unique to LA Unified. It's something that is at the national level. LA Unified is part of a a community of practice called the National Math Improvement
Project with other large urban districts, and we're all tackling the same issue. We're all mathematicians. This board is every single board member here is a mathematician. We all need to see ourselves as mathematicians, so that we're able to build that culture of throughout the district. And it's something that's been happening for the past few years, And so it's part of an induction as well. So part of a my p we have a myPLN module that the first two modules are about that, the math mindset and building mathematicians, in our classroom. And so we do that piece. In terms of math minutes, it's about forty five to sixty minutes a day that
we're asking our teachers to engage in math lessons. Got it. Thank you. And then, appreciate about the STEAM labs. I will definitely ask those questions when I go to those school sites, to add on. And then we talked about the cohort analysis when we do receive that information just so that we can be more educated on what's happening in those school sites so we know you know, as mentioned, we have to obviously vote on things. So wanting to know what would that look like and what is the time frame to get that information. Understood.
So, this is again about, like, the the doing our own replication of the opportunity makers methodology, with, some level of cohort analysis broken up by school, to you all soon. We, I I don't wanna I I can't give an exact ETA. We're we're again, this was we're replicating a report that used old data on a national sample, so we're doing our best, approximation, in house using just our own data. And so, that's the math is still happening and then the meek and meaning of that math result is is the next step.
So we'll we'll get on that and then provide that for you. Got it. And a lot was already said. Distance from standard, that information. Some of the good practices, obviously, we can learn from that. Analysis. Teacher efficacy. And then the cultural relevant, I know mentioned in some of the adoption of the curriculum, is there some different curriculum that we're using culturally relevant in those schools as mentioned in the VSAP schools and our community schools that are different from the two that we are currently using now With respect to with respect to mathematics.
With respect to math, the these are the main programs that we're using. It's Eureka. It's Illustrative Math and a few numb a few of them in college preparatory math called CPM. Those are the math lessons. The math lessons do incorporate culturally relevant and sustaining pedagogy, and we also provide professional development to teachers to understand when to incorporate additional CLRP. We encourage our teachers to incorporate CLRP in their lessons to meet the needs of the students in front of them, and so that is also part of it. The the unit openers that, are in the lesson and the the videos, incorporate diverse
students, and diverse settings so that the problems that students are solving, word problems, for example, are they're they're, they're relevant to the students and their lived experiences so that they're able to engage in a more meaningful way. That's it. Thanks. Doctor Melgoin. Thank you all, and appreciate the comprehensive presentation and, of course, the promising results with all the caveats that were mentioned by the superintendent and you all and my colleagues in the work to do. And so just, also in the interest of time, just a few quick questions. I guess one, Bill, for you on data.
In addition to the cohort data, which miss Ortiz Franklin and others has asked about, I'm also curious, and I know miss Grego left the room, but her comments about special ed made me think it would be helpful to have the disaggregated data by disability type. I think putting it in just the disabilities, it kinda masks a lot of those differences. And so if that's something that we could request for the board and the public, that kind of same, historical growth and just current historical achievement, I should say, and achievement now by disability type. So is that something we could have?
Yes. We can work on that. Great. And then the other thing too, which was alluded to, I believe, is school type, priority school, BSAP school, community school, affiliated charter, independent charter magnet. That's just helpful as we're having conversations with CEPO or and kind of mapping attendance and then declining enrollment environment and all that. Yes. Great. Thank you. And then, doctor Baez, for tutoring, and I know it's mentioned as one of our strategies both in this presentation and in our public statements at the press. I still can you help us understand how are we using this data to identify
students in need of tutoring and then seeing if it's working? So and then the more specific, the better in terms of, like, okay. So there is a student at x elementary school who are now using this data. How are we identifying tutoring, making sure they're receiving it, and then tracking that outcome? Sure. So we are using Smarter Balanced assessment results for the students who've taken this. But, for example, in kinder through second grade, we're using the beginning of the year, data. So, in May, when our schools, met with all of the providers and decided on which provider was best for their school, at that time, they were also looking at
data to see the number of students that were going to need tutoring, so understand that this was the the capacity that was gonna be needed by the provider. So if we have, say, 60 students that need support in language arts and 60 students that need support in math, we looked at the data at the end of the year to project for the fall, and we also used beginning of the year data. We also used Smarter Balanced assessment data. So there we were triangulating the data to see, what is the, what is the information that schools have to group students, and then we would assign those students, to
the to the tutoring provider. And so that's we use more than just the Smarter Balanced assessment to determine which students need to receive tutoring in those different areas in language arts and in math. And then we track, we progress monitor because the goal is to exit them out of that tutoring. And so we look at progress monitoring data, both the progress monitoring that the provider administers and also progress monitoring, and their performance in their in I Ready. And and at that point, we exit them out to begin a different cohort of students, so we're always progress monitoring.
What we have seen is that, in the with the students who have participated in tutoring, we've seen an improvement a greater improvement than the comparison group. And those that do not participate in tutoring, we're able to see greater improvement, when they participate in tutoring. And then in terms of that outcome data, are we collecting at the school site level, or how is that then being shared? That is at the school site level, and it's also, at the, at the central level. And we meet with the providers regularly to monitor that data to ensure that the
that students are, making those improvements. We share the information, of course, with the teacher, and the teacher has that information. And that's how we're able to assist to, determine the effectiveness of the tutoring that's taking place. So we do we all see the data together. There's currently, research underway to look at how tutoring has been implemented in our system these past few years. We have, an outcomes data report that we recently created and shared with this board that demonstrates the that tutoring is really making a difference for all of our students.
And that sorry. That just shared one quick question for you. I know there's some program evaluation that we had discussed, and where what's the update on that? That that's currently underway, and I'll have, doctor Johnson speak more to that. Yes. So, there is so, as doctor Baez mentioned, during a previous board meeting, we we did present a preliminary sort of analysis of student outcomes, based on participation in tutoring programs last year. So that was sort of seen as kind of step one of the analysis of of tutoring. Step two that is that is happening right now is, through our internal office, the Strategic Data and Evaluation Branch.
Our staff is doing a a a deeper, more nuanced analysis of the tutoring, tutoring outcomes using a more robust method of an apples to apples comparison with a with a with a with a match a matched comparison group of students who did not participate in tutoring. And then the third step is to bring in external experts, national experts on tutoring, research, and that that process is in process and with the the university IRB in institutional review board that that is sort of the gatekeeper for, university folks to initiate
a research process. So we're a little bit at the mercy of of university lawyers to get that external piece happening, but it is in process. And meanwhile, we're moving forward with our own internal analysis, with our researchers doing that, that matched comparison, of tutoring analysis, which we'll have done, the probably, we're looking at spring twenty twenty six for that report to be available. Okay. My last question on the for doctor Byers and maybe for the superintendent is just the do we have, data yet on the alignment between these results and iReady and as our progress monitoring tool? And are we calibrating, that data?
I'll I'll I'll start. So so we've done a preliminary first pass, and and and what one thing that we're looking at when we look at alignment between I Ready and Smarter Balanced, I Ready tells us a couple of things. It's obviously, we can look at the scores on I Ready and see how they correlate with scores on Smarter Balanced. But another thing that I Ready tells us is that I Ready provides a projection on what what it thinks based on your I Ready performance, how it thinks you will do on Smarter Balanced come spring. And and we've done that analysis, that piece already, which is which shows a a great deal of correspondence, within one performance band for about nine about ninety five percent
of our students were were accurately predicted with, you know, plus or minus one performance span on how they would actually do on Smarter Balanced. So it's very strong, again, a a strong, you know, kind of, validity, if you will, of of the I Ready program and its alignment with our summative system. And so there's some there's some other subsequent analysis that we're in the process of. But I can just tell you at first, that first kinda crosstab of the two of predict you know, predicted versus actual, the correspondence is very, very high this year as it was last year. And I would dare say that I mean, that is a powerful recognition because it
it provides you an insight into the future. But the true power of, of curriculum associates, platform is actually the ability to, in real time, recalibrate and pivot based on emerging data. For example, we just concluded, data dialogues, with with the priority schools based on beginning of year, assessment. That tells us allows us to see by school, down to a classroom, down to a student, exactly where they are. Are they performing, at expectation?
Or are they one, two, or more than two grades below grade level performance, allowing us to disaggregate the attention resource, in a very, very specific and deliberate way. So it is cool for those of us who love data to be able to early on anticipate and have eyes into the future on a basis of the predictability and alignment between iReady data and Smarter Balanced. But the real benefit of of this tool is to really empower teachers and principals and support staff with the tools they need to, in real time, address, the gaps
that we detect across all bands of student performance. Thank you, Bill, and thank you, superintendent and doctor Baez. Anyone else? Clarify? Go ahead. Can you clarify? You mentioned, CPM. How when did we adopt that with the district? That was probably about ten years ago. That was one of the original, math adoptions, at this in this district. So you heard me say illustrative math and Eureka, those were actually adopted outside of an of a of an adoption cycle. Because at the time, the the materials that we're using were not as highly rated
on ed reports, so we brought in these new materials. CPM, we have about two or three middle schools that are using that at this time. Okay. Just wanted to know the time frame because I know you mentioned a a math adoption and just being able to look at more recent, obviously, studies. And we will have that information as well. That's correct. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Mister McLean. Okay. We're now going to reengage the items that were placed in the consent calendar that we had broken into two parts. We are on tab 18. That is approval of the renewal petition for central city value.
We have 15 public speakers. The item is on consent. What had happened in the prior consent items is folks who decided to waive their time since the item was placed on consent, presumably for approval. Yes. I'm speaking on behalf of Central City. We're waiving. Okay. So I'm again, I'm just gonna read through the names, make sure we didn't miss anybody, and then we will move on after that. So if, Lorraine Riley, waving. Okay. Astrid Ramirez Orozco waving. Jessica Contos waving.
Angelica Saccor Waiving, Joaquin Arroyo. Waiving, Gloria Morales. Waiving, Janelle Sagrero. Waving Miguel Flores, waving, David Doyle, waving Barbet, Lomenoc, Waiving Sandra Seguenza. Waiving Anna Chavez.
Edith Hernandez. Edith Hernandez. Nora Zelaya. Okay. And Theresa Sebastian. Okay. So we will go on to tab 20 for public comment. Tab 20, approval of the renewal petition for KIPP Academy of Opportunity. I'll read out the names and if folks wish to share, they can share. If they wish to waive, they can waive knowing that this item is moving on to the is already on the consent calendar. Alejandro Macias? I'm sorry. Okay. I have him on '20, so I'll just say decline.
Okay. Lebois Gladden? Is that waving? Okay. Leslie Arden? Waving? Okay. Craig Mitchell? Waving. Thank you, sir. I see you. Leslie Arden? On there twice for some reason. My apologies. Prisma Alvarez? Waving. Thank you. Christopher Copeland? Waving. Thank you, sir. John Coleman? Good afternoon. Good afternoon, superintendent Carvallo, and board members. I would like to thank you guys, for your consent recommendation, for renewal and just, reaffirm, our commitment, to following through on our improvement plan this upcoming year, and beyond.
And I will further waive any other comments by our, team members at this point. Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. Elvia Hernandez, wave. Okay. Darletta Mitchell Sherman. Wave. Julian Roberts. Thank you. Wave. Gabriela Flores Romero. Wave. Thank you. Kathy White. Wave. Thank you. I see you. Florida de Maria Espinosa. Probably a wave. She thank you. Appreciate it. Ladenny Mendez Cruz. Wave. Thank you. Okay. So that concludes tab 20. We're going to move on to tab 22.
I know I was told earlier that these folks wave, but I just out of an abundance of caution and I'm gonna make sure that that remains the case. So this is for approval of the renewal petition for Oscar de la Hoya Anemo Charter High. Aileen Mendez. Thank you. Daniel Corza. Thank you. Joseph Dominguez. Thank you, Daisy Meza. Thank you. Oh, there you are. I see you. Hi. Vanessa Dominguez. Thank you, Lourdes Gomez, Adrian Martinez, Liliana Calleja, Maria Navarrete, Donna Flores, Christina De Jesus,
Sarah Sanchez, Janeth Johnson, Maria Castillo, and David Tocovsky. I think I saw you out there, sir. Mister David Tocovsky. Okay. Perhaps okay. So moving on to tab 23. This is approval of the renewal petition for Parlos Ninos Middle. I'll call the names of the folks who are listed as being here in person. Oh, there he is.
Come on up. You have tab 22, sir. This is approval for petition of Oscar de la Hoya Animo. This is the first round with Oscar de la Hoya or second round? Okay. I want to support the renewal, and I want to applaud the board for a very thorough discussion both on science data, RFEP data, all, all of the celebration as well as the I Ready effect on its improvement in terms of test data. It may not necessarily contribute to critical thinking and the kind of but that was brought up by board members as well.
And the most important line, of course, was the superintendent. He said, there's a lot of work to do. We're nowhere near where we should be. And I know there's state positive messages and all of that stuff, but I'm the kind of person who says, let's motivate the organization to move faster and further than it has. And I think that's the message the superintendent was giving us. It is not necessarily the discussion that we were having because, one, we didn't discuss once at all the four goals you set in the, contract.
Now, again, those may not be the best goals, but you did sign an agreement, a public document to that extent. So at some point, you should address that. When it comes to the glass half full or the glass half empty, you need to take a look at schools where there are 75% of the kids, Latino kids, who are performing at the twenty fifth or lower level. Schools like Budlong, Martin Luther King, Marguerite, Poindexter, John Mack, John Laity, Harrison, Tenth Street, I mentioned Ninth Street, Hart, Canoga Park. These are schools where 75% Latino are at the 25% level.
And many of them are priority schools. There was no overt data on the priority schools. Getting all those extra resources and maybe, like, Crenshaw moving, but many who are not moving in a significant way. Similarly, with African American schools that get all the heat money and etcetera, this is a question that mister Melvoin has raised. How do we disaggregate all of the inputs to look at the output? Thank you very much. Thank you for your time. On to tab 23, approval of the renewal petition for Para Los Ninos.
Let's see. I will call names, and if folks aren't here to speak, up to minutes to speak once again. Alberto Cruz. Are you coming up to give us a little statement? Yeah, please. Please. Thank you. Superintendent Carballo, board members, Drew Ferretti, president and CEO of Carlos Ninos. Just thank you for the recommendation, and the move towards approval. Okay. Great. I'm I'm waving and on behalf of everybody else, waving. Okay. Great. I'll read through the names, and we'll make sure they're waived because there's a couple of people on here that I wanna make sure don't get you lighted.
Alberto Cruz. Alright. Andre Sanchez. Wave. Okay. Samantha Cervantes. Tamara Tamara Menendez. Katie Clark. Ariana Moreno. Diane Rangel, Stan Stanley Amhan, Justine Gonzalez, Yelitza Aguila, Catherine Nelson, Tam Menendez, and Keith Delaquila. Wave. Okay. And then I have mister David Dokovsky here.
Waves. I feel like surfing. Didn't finish my I first of all, I I support this, renewal. As you know, it's in the same building as Ninth Street. And somebody ought to assess whether or not in this climate where there may not be encouragement to the superintendent to look at creativity. But if you have a school that is scoring well and being renewed for five years in the same building that the school, Ninth Street is doing so poorly, that maybe there's a way to move that school to, a if the demographic supported to a k eight or a t k eight.
The budget. There is significant growth in the budget in the state of California. I know your eyes are on the cuts from Washington DC, which did not turn out to be cuts because 10 Republican senators sent a letter to the president and said, we will lose the midterm elections if you cut education. And so that is only 7% of our revenue. 93% of the money comes from Sacramento. Gavin Newsom has held back $2,000,000,000 that CTA is working and others working to release, hopefully, in January. That's $200,000,000 for this district. The tax revenues in the boom of the last eight months of the economy and
the AI stocks, the the, office of the ledge analyst is predicting $10,000,000,000 for 2526. That's this school year. That's 4,000,000,000 for education under Prop 98. That's 400,000,000 on top of the 200,000,000. And the alleged analyst, when it comes out November 15 before your fiscal stabilization gets revised, is saying there's 10,000,000,000 more for 2627. Now I may be wrong. I may not have I sent the document to many of you, but 10,000,000,000 means
4,000,000,000 for prop 98, which is about 400,000,000. So $204,104 100, that's a billion dollars to l LA Unified for 2425, and '26. That's a lot of revenue, and you need a discussion at Committee of the Whole's on that kind of revenue. Thank you very much. Thank you for your time. Moving on to tab, 24, approval of the renewal petition for Renaissance Arts Academy. We have public speakers signed up. I will read the names, and if they would like to speak, please come on up. You'll have two minutes to speak. If you'd like to waive your time, please let me know.
This is for, a petition for Renaissance Arts Academy, which is on the consent calendar. Gerald, Nikkado, Nikk Dao. It's spelled strangely. Not here. Scarlett Miller, Javier Gonzalez, Ruby Miller, George Maleck George Maleck, Alberto Hernandez, Winwin, Mario Garcia, Marco Rivera, Kristen Farley, Sarah Sanchez, Justine Gonzalez, Max Payne, Ryan Alcid, and Amanda Moore.
Okay. So that concludes public comment for consent item 24. We'll move on to consent item 26, approval of the renewal petition for Vaughan Next Century Learning Center. I will go ahead and read through the names. If you're here, come on down and speak. If you'd like to wave, let me know. If I hear silence in the audience, I will assume that is a declination. Okay. So tab 26. Sadie Edmond, Fidel Ramirez, Yvette Garcia, Luis Garbajo, Anna Martinez, Heather Yoshioka, miss Castro, Hazel
Tercedo, Yolanda Griffin. Wave. Thank you. Jonathan Chen Chen. Alright. Claudia Flores. Alright. Justine Gonzalez. Gabriel Yellow Yellow. Griselda Ortiz and Cesar Perez. Okay. That concludes comment for Tab 26. We move on to Tab 30. That is Board President Schmerleston's resolution that is on consent. We have some public speakers. And again, did you plan on making comments?
Yes. Okay. So the chair goes back over to doctor Rivas while for president Schmirelson makes some comments. Very well. Now this brings us to item 30. Can may I have the a motion to move? I'll move it. And I'll second. So, yes, mister Schmerson, if you wanna present your resolution, go right ahead. So, fellow board members, it's my pleasure to introduce this resolution that commemorates October 2025
as National Principals Month. Principles and assistant principals do far more than administrative work. Yes. They are responsible for ensuring their staff have the resources that they need to work, responding to parenting inquiries, and ensuring that all benefit from a positive school culture. Additionally, they are also leaders in their respective communities. They make our schools the central point in the neighborhoods where they are located. Principles know that a school cannot be a silo.
Instead, they bring together diverse, members of the community knowing that partnerships are crucial for success. Of course, I'd like to mention the strong partnerships we have with our labor partners at the Association of Administrators of Los Angeles, AALA, and the Association of California School Administrators, Region sixteen, ACSA. We are seeing success in our academy, in our academics, and our principals have a critical role in solidifying that success. For this reason and for many more, I introduce this resolution and call upon your
support to recognize the dedication of all of our principals and assistant principals. And now I would like to open up for comments from my fellow board members if you'd like to say a few words in support of this resolution. Okay. Well, thank you, board, president Schmrauser for bringing this resolution forward. I would definitely would love to cosponsor, so please add me. Thank you. And, just a few words, concerning our our principles. You know, today, we rise or this resolution rises to honor the backbone of our
schools, the soul of our schools, our principals. This resolution proclaiming October 2025 as national principals month is more than a recognition. It is a deep expression of gratitude for those who carry the weight, the complexity, and the hope of our educational mission every single day. Principles, as you all know, are the first to arrive and the last to leave. They are the calm in the moments of crisis, the advocates when a student is struggling, and the mentors who keep teachers inspired.
They lead not just with strategy, but with corazon, with heart. Every campus has its own rhythm, its own community, its own set of challenges, and our principals stand at the center of it all, bringing in bringing everyone together. They are the instructional leaders, the counselors, the community builders, and problem solvers, the accountants, the budget managers. They hold the dreams of our students and families in their hands and transform those dreams into opportunity. They do it all. When emergency strike, they are there.
When families need comfort or guidance, they are there. And when students achieve what once seemed impossible, they are there celebrating quietly, proudly, because that is what leadership looks like. And that is a type of leadership we need right now more so than ever. This resolution reminds us that leadership is not about position. It's about purpose. And that is something I've always said. This is about purpose. And our principals embody that purpose every day in every classroom and in every corner
of this district. We also recognize the organization that stand besides them, the Association of California School Administrators, region sixteen, and the associate administrators of Los Angeles Teamsters, local twenty ten. Partners in advocacy and growth who fight to ensure that those who lead our schools are supported, respected, and valued. As we celebrate National Principals Month, let's remember that our schools do not thrive by chance. They thrive because of leadership, because of compassion, because of people who believe that every
child deserves a safe, welcoming, and excellent education and who make that belief real day after day. So today and every day, we say, Thank you so much to our principals for their courage, their service, and their unwavering dedication. They are the backbone of our district and the champions of our students. They make change in our city, and they leave a legacy behind. Every single time a student culminate
Or graduates. Let us pass this resolution with pride, gratitude, and deep respect for those who make Los Angeles Unified not just a system of schools, but community hope and love. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Other comments? Any other board members? I'd just love to be added as a cosponsor. Thank you for always bringing us, mister Scharrelski. Thank you. Thank you. I'd love to also be added as a cosponsor. Pleasure. And I will just echo everything that everyone has shared in that. I am working in partnership with the principals in my district to work on how
can we, as a system, ensure that they can continue to focus on instructional leadership and relationships with staff, students, and families as the primary part of their job. There is a lot of a lot a lot of work on the plates of our principals, and we we need to make sure that we're taking care of them so that they can take care of our school communities. So true. Thank you so much. Yes. I would like to also be a cosponsor. I worked with let's see. One, two, three, four, five, six, eight principals in my career. I started with Sheridan Lathie who's, our school John Lathie is named after her husband,
and I ended with Nurnissa Kerban at Macalester High School. And, yes, I wanna echo that as we honor and we celebrate our principles, we do think about, in with a clear vision of the work that they do. Everything begins and ends with a principal. I am, amazed at how much is put on them at the school site. And so as we are honoring them, I want us to also work hard to to make their working conditions, appropriate and dignified as they deserve because they certainly do
a lot to keep our students safe, to support our staff, to, build partnerships, to bring more resources to the schools, and to open the doors to families and community members so that, the community is supported at the school site. So, honoring the principals, I'm grateful for their work, and especially when they are collaborative and they work with their staff, all of their staff, and labor partners at their school site. So thank you.
Thank you. Very kind words. Anyone else? Okay. Mister Melboin. Well, I just I think I already added myself. I think there's unanimity on cosponsorship, but I just wanna echo, the words of my colleagues. It is, you know, principals, I think, for most board members are the the main point of contact with the school. Obviously parents and teachers and plant managers and but but principals are our go to and I think, what they're doing and the emails I get from them in all hours of the evening and the emails I'm cc'd or BCC'd on where they're responding to constituents of theirs in such kind compassionate ways. And yet, you know, as miss Griego and others were saying, just the adding to
their plate without subtracting it. I know that I think in region the regions I work with, we had a few principals self demote last year just as a result of the workload and maybe wanted to spend more time either on instruction or in the classroom. And some I hear from principals all the time, I wanna spend more time as the instructional leader of my school, and I know that the district's doing a lot of work, trying to create opportunities for that in partnership and, tours of practice. But, the more that we can think about ways we can remove things from their plate, that is one of the reasons I brought, resolutions around digitization and automation and
stuff just to, like, make this easier for them, but but just wanna acknowledge all their work and, appreciate the efforts that that are, being undertaken to let them really focus on why they're in that role, which is supporting their students and the instructional program at the school and not all the other paperwork that they are usually forced to deal with. So, huge kudos to them. Thank you, mister Schmerlson, for bringing this resolution, and I'll turn it over to board member Yang. Yes. First of all, I wanted to thank board president Schmerlson for bringing this resolution in front of us. You know, as a lifelong LAUSD student, I'm grateful for the leadership at every school
that I've attended. I actually recently reunited with my elementary school principal, miss Melvin, who now works in the office of transitional programs, and I still remember the way she led the school and was able to very effectively an environment of fun and learnings that just goes to show, you know, how impactful principals truly are in in the educational journey. And the work of a principal often goes unnoticed to students. They work tirelessly behind the scenes to make sure that the student experience is the best it can be, and the work of a principal is one of teaching, working,
learning, and counseling students all in one while knowing how to have fun. I also wanna give a massive shout out to my high school principal, mister Rosales, for all his leadership and guidance. Student leadership is so strong at North Hollywood High School because of him, and the teachers there taught me all the leadership, public speaking, and analytical skills that I have today. I know there are many, many other students out there who have been equally, if not more, positively impacted by their principals, And I can speak for all of the students when I say that we are so so grateful for our principals and for their underappreciated work.
Thank you. I I would like to be added as a cosponsor. Thank you, Jerry. Thank you so much. Miss Charlotte. Yes. And, president Smurfs, and I wanna say thank you as always highlighting and uplifting our leaders at our campus and bringing this forth as mentioned. And being able to work at a school site, I wanna highlight our secondary and our high school principals ultimately because they do wear various hats. And when you're at a high school where you have all these responsibilities that go way beyond the hour, we wanna say thank you and that to your recognition.
And not to exclude our elementary, because we know that the workload has changed, and I've been asking over some time just to even see what that looks like over the years because we know it's changed and being able to have worked with over a dozen and probably, I don't know, 20 or something assistant principals. But, it is such an honor to be able to to honor you on this month and that this is being brought forward because it all begins and ends with
our principals and their leadership. And you are more titles than and wear more hats than any other person and any other responsibility, in our school system. And so, I appreciate this opportunity to be able to recognize those and also wanna be a cosponsor. Thank you, Shorlette. And, Shorlette, you mentioned, something that really resonated with me because you're a high school person. And all of those assistant principals who are at all those games along with the principal and all those award nights and all those other things, it's amazing.
And before I go to public comment, ACSA, the, Association of California School Administrators, did a blind survey to people in the state of California. And even in elementary school, the question was, who is the most important person, in your opinion, at your school? Well, I would have bet money that in elementary school, they would say it's my teacher because, you know, parents are so dependent on their elementary school teacher. But the answer was no. It was their principal. That was the number one. I was very, very surprised, and I'm very happy also.
So thank you so much. And mister McLean will go on to public comment. Okay. We have nine folks signed up for public comment. This is for tab 30 to remind folks about as, designating October 2025 as National Principles Month. Jennifer Gonzales. Are you here to speak about National Principles Month? No? Thomas, Perella, Angel Rosas, Angel Rosas, Lucia Nunez, Perla Altamirano. Let's see. Tessa Jamieson.
You're signed up to speak remotely, but I do not have you signed in. Diego Barrera, Louisiana Hernandez, and Brian Chacon. Okay. These folks are not here. We have three minutes to work through a couple more consent items, before time's certain that we have already run behind on by a little bit. But I have some attested approval. All right. So that was tab 30. We're going to move on to tab 36, appointment of member to the school construction
bond oversight committee. There's no public comment on that. Tab 37, report of correspondence. There's no public comment on that. And moving to tab 38, minutes for board approval. We have, I think Robert Rogi or Robert Rogg. Oh. I'll put it on his For Tab 38, minutes for board approval. Okay. Not here. And Melania White is listed as speaking remotely, but that person is not signed in. So that concludes, it looks like, consent calendar two. Let me review my records to make sure they're on track.
Okay. So that is true. So now it's appropriate for the vote on consent two. And I'm just gonna read off the items that are gonna be voted on in the second consent calendar. Tabs eighteen, twenty, 22, 23, 24, 26, thirty, thirty six, 37, and 38. K. Hope that comports with everybody's records. And I will take the vote on consent too. Miss Newbill? Yes. Doctor Rivas? Yes. Mister Melvoin? Yes. Miss Griego? Yes. Miss Gomez? Yes.
Miss Ortiz Franklin? Yes. Board president Schmuroson? Yes. Student board member Yang? Yes. Okay. That concludes all the consent items. Yeah. I'm just okay. And, miss Cones, let's lodge your vote for tab 21. Yes. Please. Thank you. There's a yes for miss Gomez on tab 21. Thank you, miss Gomez. Alright. Now we're gonna move on to the time certain for miss Tanya Ortiz Franklin, and we're going to queue up the video for that.
And here it comes. Thank you. I wanna, move our item, domestic violence awareness month, and we will introduce with a short video. October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and this year I've been inspired by fellow survivors to write a resolution that brings education and empowerment to our students, staff, and families. Around the boardroom today and in images on this video, you'll see our students from Fremont High School participating in the Clothesline Project, a visual display of personalized t shirts
that honor survivors, breaks the silence of domestic violence, and stands up for healthy relationships. In California, nearly half of all women and over thirty percent of men experience intimate partner violence, including physical, sexual, emotional, financial, and digital abuse. And in a district as large as ours, this means tens of thousands of employees and hundreds of thousands of students and families being impacted by something we're often too afraid or ashamed to talk about or too confused or controlled to acknowledge, but not
anymore. Today and from now on, we are with survivors always. October is annually recognized as National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. And however, efforts have been made to end generational silence. 80% of our parents still believe that teen dating violence is not an issue. However, teens who experience dating abuse are at risk for long term consequences, including addiction, eating disorder, teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, violent behavior, and thoughts of suicide, including half
of our young people who experience rape, physical, or sexual abuse attempting suicide. That's why today, Los Angeles Unified brings this resolution to build capacity of communities of schools to intervene, to interrupt, and to transform our systems of culture through educational programs, healing, and practicing transformative justice as keys to addressing domestic and dating violence. And so today, we stand with survivors always.
October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month in which we take time to honor survivors, raise awareness, and recommit ourselves to ending all forms of violence in our homes, relationships, and communities. In Los Angeles Unified, we know that when students feel safe physically, emotionally, and mentally, they can truly thrive and reach their full potential. One in three teens experiences dating violence, and too many children carry the burden of trauma caused by domestic violence. These harms affect people of all backgrounds and identities, and we recognize the disproportionate impact
on our LGBTQIA plus immigrant, black, native, and Latin communities. As a cosponsor of the with survivors always domestic and dating violence prevention and awareness and support resolution, I want to affirm the importance of continued professional development for our counselors, psychiatric social workers, nurses, and psychologists so they can better support students and families impacted by violence. My mother came to this country as an immigrant with hopes and dreams only to
experience domestic violence at the hands of her husband, my father. Thankfully, she was able to escape with my sister and I, and we're doing much better now. But domestic violence is something that has impacted my family. It's personal to me, and I know it has impacted so many more people throughout The United States and the world across history. Something that I hope this resolution will accomplish is to make students and other individuals feel more welcome to get help and a helping hand, and to know that there are support systems in place for them, and to know that they do not have
to live in fear and constant pain and struggle, and rather know that they have a path towards a life of joy and happiness. One of the ways that domestic and dating violence can stop is with educating our LAUSD youth, families, educators, and school communities on what a healthy relationship is and how to identify abuse. That is why this dating and domestic violence resolution is so important because educating our LAUSD community and offering valuable resources will help to end the cycle of abuse, not
only for the victims, but can also help abusers realize what they're doing so they can get the help they need to treat the cause or the trauma that they've experienced that made them behave in that way in the first place. Thank you so much for your support in this initiative and recognizing October as domestic violence awareness month. Together, we can make great change and make our school communities a safer place to be. Thank you for your support of the LAUSD domestic and dating violence resolution. The recognition of domestic violence awareness month officially at LAUSD is not only a positive
step forward in the direction of justice for individuals and families who have experienced relationship violence, but it is also an essential movement towards the prevention of domestic and dating violence for our future generations. Students, staff, and families deserve to have tools for prevention and protection at their fingertips, and I hope that with this resolution, these skills will be accessible for everyone. This resolution broadens the network of support and care, and I hope we can continue to craft resolutions like this that protect our community. Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for supporting the Los Angeles Unified School District resolution declaring October 2025 as
Domestic Violence Awareness Month. This initiative is critical for fostering safe environments for all students, staff, and families. I hope this awareness month will lead to a greater understanding of domestic violence signs, encouraging open conversations, and reducing stigma. Together, we can strengthen our support networks and create a community that prioritize healthy relationships and well-being for everyone. Thank you for your commitment to this important issue. This moment is personal for me.
I survived years of coercive control, manipulation, and silence. I watched systems fail me and my children. But today, the Los Angeles Unified School District said, with survivors, always. This resolution means that students, parents and educators will finally be taught how to recognize the signs. To stop abuse before it destroys another family. Radical self worth is what gave me the courage to speak out when it wasn't
safe to do so. It's the spiritual armor that turns pain into policy and silence into systemic change. This is more than awareness. It's awakening, and we're just getting started. Thank you. And I wanna thank the survivors in particular who came on the video with me, and my co sponsors as well. So, with that, I'm moving the item. I would invite a second. Second. Have some public comment speakers as well, mister McLean. Sorry. I'm pulling I'm pulling them up right now. We'll do the in person first. Yes. Okay. I apologize for the delay.
Okay. Let's see. Lucia Panchi, Lucia p? Alicia Baltazar. Come on up. You'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. So I wanna start by thanking you guys for hearing this resolution. Like she said, my name is Alicia Baltazar, and I reside in Wilmington. I was 13 years old when I met my abuser. We were in the eighth grade. He was also 13 years old. This is a subject that is really hard for me to get up here and talk about. Like many, like myself, this is a subject that none of us wanna admit that we are victims to. None of us wanna come up here and talk about this kind of thing. For myself, just thinking about being here today has given me a lot of anxiety,
has kept me from sleeping right this week because I'm reliving a lot of the trauma and things that are happening. But it's even more important that people like me are here because it's so important that we speak up because for so long, we were silent. For so many years, we abused each other, and we really didn't know what we were doing was abuse. We really didn't know how much we were hurting each other and how much it would go on to hurt our children. A resolution like this doesn't just impact this generation. It'll impact generations for years and years and years to come. And to be honest, when this all started, there was nobody I could turn to
to say this is happening. Is this how it should look? Is this how I should feel? There was nobody at school to talk to about this. And if I did open up to someone, it was because they were somebody who was in my same situation, other teenage girls who were going through the same thing. That makes it safe to talk about. But with this resolution, this allows people to open up to talk about what's happening, counselors to be trained when a kid like me comes to them and says this is what's happening. They'll know how to help me. They'll know where to send me, and I won't have to spend so many years going through this abuse. I I've I've shared with you guys so many times, and right now, I just
wanna reach out to anybody in that audience that is currently in a domestic violent relationship. Please get help because sometimes the person you hurt is not just yourself. This is also Infancy Loss Awareness Month, and I just wanna remind people that sometimes it's not our life that we lose, but it's that the life that's how that who's trying to come through our body. So please, again, if you're in a domestic violent relationship, get help, and please pass the solutions so people have a place to go. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Yvette Jackson. Good afternoon, superintendent and board members.
My name is Eva Jackson. I am a parent leader. However, on today, I stand as a proud godmother and guardian of a seventh grader at Bethune Middle School. I have a question. What happens when you're called to serve a special needs child who also is dealing with grief? The grief of watching his mother take his her last breath seven days before he starts the first day of middle school, a child who experiences a display of domestic violence while placing his mother, my best friend, into the hearse at the funeral service.
Well, now that I have your attention, I'm glad that you asked me. I prayed for a resolution like this. A resolution that would not only educate but motivate. We know that domestic violence is not always visible, but acknowledging that there is a problem is the first step to healing. We talk about joy and wellness all the time, but this is a prime example of that. You see me standing here today, but look at somebody and say, she doesn't look like what she's been through.
I thank you in advance for approving this resolution. This is just the beginning to healing a generation of survivors of domestic violence. Thank you for your time and your attention towards this resolution. My name is Eva Jackson, and I was made for this. Diana Grant. Come on down. Diana Grant. Good afternoon, esteemed board members. My name is Diana Grant, and I serve as the senior program manager of survivor services for the Community Investment for Families department with the City of Los Angeles.
On behalf of our general manager, we thank board member Tanya Ortiz Franklin for her leadership in introducing the resolution in honor of Domestic Violence Awareness Month with survivors always. We hope the LAUC board will approve this resolution and affirm their commitment to violence prevention, harm reduction, whole child well-being, employee wellness, systems change, and restorative justice at schools and in the community. Our department has the privilege of overseeing the city's portfolio programs that support survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking.
We are truly grateful to work in partnership with LAUSC on collectively responding to the needs of survivors and especially strengthening targeted violence prevention that will positively impact children and youth and will work to reduce the one in seven children nationally that experience abuse or neglect and the one in twelve youth that experience teen dating violence. Working with youth and children, excuse me, is key to ultimately ending domestic and intimate partner violence. We stand in solidarity with you. Thank you so much. Thank you for your time.
Jamal Corner. Jamal Corner. Doctor Angela Parker. Doctor Angela Parker. Good afternoon. My name is doctor Angela Parker, and I am the director of community engagement in education for Genesee Center. I wanna thank the board for taking the time to pass this resolution and censoring domestic violence as an issue in school. People tend to think of domestic violence as a siloed issue, as something that just happens in the home or personal family business. But I think as everyone here can agree, what happens in the home bleeds out
into the community and particularly into our school communities. Violence is happening on our school campuses. Youth are being bullied, and kids are being sexually, physically, digitally abused by partners that are sitting right next to them in their classrooms. And I think that, one of the things that I always applaud teachers and, educators for is really reaching out to students about this issue, but they cannot do this
alone. So by opening up campuses and allowing organizations like Genesee Center to come in, it really allows schools to become safe spaces. So I hope this resolution will continue to make schools places that are fighting free zones, where educators around domestic violence continues to not only be possible, but mandatory as reading, writing, and arithmetic. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Melinda Lewis, are you here?
Come on up. Thank you. Hello. I'm Melinda Rochelle Lewis. I work with Positive Results Center as the director of reproductive justice and maternal care. Reproductive justice isn't just about reproduction. It's about the the justice to to be well and to be healthy throughout life. And to educate young people on violence, specifically domestic violence, it gives us the tools, the language to know what's right and wrong. Domestic violence isn't just physical abuse. And our children need to know that.
They need to learn what spiritual abuse is, what digital abuse is, what financial abuse looks like. So, thank you for passing this resolution so that our children will learn, so our children will be well, so our children will be healthy. Thank you. Let's see. We have Thakur Singh online. Mister Singh, please press 6 to unmute yourself, and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Thakur Singh. Hi. Good afternoon. Happy Tuesday. I am Thakur Singh. I'm a student at the Leadership and Public Service Virtual Academy. Forgive me if you hear any background noise.
I'm at an airport in Maine, but I still find this resolution so incredibly important to talk about despite being on the other side of the country. So as I mentioned in the video played earlier, my mother is a survivor of domestic violence. It's something personal to me, and I know it's impacted so many more people, unfortunately, throughout history. And I know that it it even impacts so many students. So it is essential to address the issue, and I think the resolution does a great job, at informing people about the issue, at, lending a helping hand, for, victims
of domestic violence. I think that's very important. So I'd like to indicate my support as a student, and thank, Tanya Ortiz, board member Tanya Ortiz Franklin for authoring this resolution. And I believe that it will make a positive impact, and it will educate people, and it will create more survivors and hopefully, continue toward the path of, ending domestic violence. Thank you. Thank you for your time. We have Jeremiah Lipsey signed up to speak remotely, but I do not have you
signed in. Jeremiah, are Dremia. Are you here? I have you signed up to speak remotely, but I do not have you signed in. Are you in the room, Dremia? No. Okay. So that concludes public comment. We still need to do the waiver of board rule 72. So let's do that also, before we enter board discussion. Alright. Moved, for the rule 72 waiver, moved by board president Schmuroson, seconded by, mister Melboin. Miss Newbill? Yes. Doctor Rivas?
Yes? Yes. Mister Melboin? Yes. Miss Griego? Yes. Miss Gomez? Yes. Miss Ortiz Franklin? Yes. Board president Schmuroson? Yes. Student board member Ye? Yes. Okay. It's been moved, and it's on the table for discussion. Colleagues. Mister Schmoor oh, go ahead. I usually go first, but thank you. I appreciate that. You know, I I was very, very touched by the speakers, especially you, miss Baltazar, very, very touched. And also by you, miss Jackson, very, very touched. And I just this is one of the reason that I'm always supporting our PSWs and our PSAs and our counselors because it's very, very important that they be available
at the schools to help. But you know who else is available at the schools? I say the same thing all the time, and I know some people are tired of me saying this all the time. But everybody at school is there to help the kids. Doesn't matter who you are. You could be at work in the cafeteria. You could be the custodian. You could be the noon aid. You could be the campus aid. You could always talk to one of those people, always, and they will refer you to one of the counselors of the school. You may have a better relationship with a custodian than you do with your own
teacher. Who knows? But there's always people there to help you. I just wanted to say that. And I wanna remind people that our schools are safe havens, and it will continue to be a safe haven for all, especially for survivors of domestic violence. And what makes our schools so important is beyond the academic components. It's a place to receive support and resources for what's going on in our students and our staff's lives. Safety is a top priority, and we want survivors of domestic violence to come and
seek help with confidence, knowing we are one school community, and we stand with you. If you are currently experiencing domestic violence or are unsure if you are, please reach out to your school counselor. If you're a student or to a staff member, you should reach out to your supervisor. Your safety is our top priority. And please add me as a cosponsor. Thank you. Thank you. And, I don't wanna follow the, articulate the commentary from our our speakers.
And, again, I just wanna thank you for your courage in being here and helping us pass this resolution. I appreciate my colleagues for bringing it. I would love to be added as a cosponsor. And I would also like to just thank miss Ortiz Franklin and, and, miss Henry Newbell and miss Griego for, the creativity that went into this as well. I think that, you know, we think of domestic violence as domestic, as in things that are happening at home as distinct from school. But as was so articulated through this resolution and through our speakers, our students are the children of survivors. They are survivors themselves.
And we also have students who, unfortunately are who are on a path to potentially become abusers. And I think the more that we can air this and talk about the impact and the resources for survivors, and for all students. We also know that folks, and students who are in homes where there's domestic violence are more likely to perpetrate themselves. And so just the the, creativity is probably not the right word, but the inclusion and compassion to think about the world, you know, as mister Schmelelson was saying too, as we're all in the business of supporting our students, the way that schools can
be and the school system will be a part of the solution here. So thank you. Proud to be a cosponsor and support this and, efforts going forward. Yes. I also, wanna thank board member Ortiz Franklin and your cosponsors for bringing this resolution forward. It's a powerful resolution. It's a resolution as we've heard. It's long, long overdue. And it sends a clear message that we stand with survivors always and that educating our students, particularly our teenagers, is extremely important. It's not only important for, the ones who are being abused, but also the abusers
because they don't realize that what they're doing is emulating. They're probably emulating something that they know at home, or they don't know that what they're doing is violence. It's just something that they're doing. I say this because time and time again, I hear, particularly of young girls, saying that their boyfriends are controlling them. So violence is about control. They're controlling who they can talk to. They control their social media. They control their every movement. And the girls are afraid of doing anything because they don't know who to talk
to. They don't know who to go to. And I know these these young men don't realize what they're doing as well. And so for them to also be educated and for them to be conscious of of what they're doing and rectify, themselves and change, And, it's powerful for them as well. So, domestic and dating violence impacts every part of a student's life as was mentioned as was mentioned spiritually, cognitively, physically, in all in all sense of the word.
So safety and learning cannot exist where fear lives. This resolution expands prevention through every school's safe modules, family academy sessions, and professional development that help staff recognize and respond to abuse with care and accountability. And I'm honored to join as a cosponsor, if you would have me as a cosponsor. This is a kind of systemic and compassionate action that builds schools rooted in safety, healing, and dignity for all. And to every survivor in our schools, young and also adults in our schools, in
our workplaces, in our communities, you are seen, you are valued, and you are not alone. And I'm very grateful that this district will will demonstrate that in our schools. Thank you so much. Go ahead, miss Gomez. Yes. Thank you so much. Well, I I want to appreciate board member Ortiz Franklin, board member Newbill, and board member Griego for bringing this critical resolution forward and for your courage and conviction and lifting up these issues as well as those of our speakers who, so powerfully shared their experiences and why this resolution is so necessary, for for our children and our
adults in our system. I really appreciate that this resolution takes a comprehensive approach looking at the impacts of both our students, our families, and our employees. We know that our employees too, are impacted by domestic and intimate partner violence, and it's essential that they also have access to resources and supports, so that they don't have to suffer in silence. By deepening instruction on unhealthy relationships, we're interrupting the cycle of violence, and we're giving our students tools and empowerment, to see more healthy relationships in the future.
This is really so fundamental to creating a culture of true safety and support on our campuses and beyond, and I'm so grateful to you all for bringing this and to for standing with survivors. I'd love to be added as a cosponsor as well. Jerry, go ahead. Yeah. I think the public comment speakers said it really accurately, and I I wanna, first of all, thank each and every one of them for sharing their experiences and insights. Domestic and dating violence are things that nobody should go through, and they raise concerns not just of physical health, but of mental and emotional well-being as well. As a student, it's not something that we talk about very often, but I've noticed
that, you know, media and and students are starting to do a better job of highlighting toxic relationships and and, like, red flags, so to speak. So, I think continuing to acknowledge this problem, elevate it, and providing students with the safe spaces to open up is exactly what we need in order to address this issue. Schools are spaces where students are supposed to feel comfortable, safe, and nurtured, and this resolution builds the necessary community to ensure that. I would love to cosponsor, and I also wanna reiterate what board president Schmarlson said. To the students out there who might be going through this kind of thing, there
are numerous trusted adults on your school campuses who you can talk to for support. Thank you, Jerry. Mister Carvalho. Thank you very much. I'd just like to, echo the sentiments expressed by both, community members and the board itself. I wanna thank, board member Tanya Ortiz Franklin, for drafting this important resolution, that quite frankly breaks through the silence and elevates, one suffering to the surface of humanity. Many in our community, many in our schools, teachers, support staff, students alike, have been
victims of this type of abuse. No one should suffer in silence. No one should suffer, period. Healing begins with truth. Healing begins with awareness. But beyond truth and awareness, prevention through powerful education is the key. So thank you very much. Thank you. Well, it looks like everyone has spoken either in person or on video, so I guess it's time for a vote. Okay. Taking the vote on tab 32. Miss Newbill? Yes. Doctor Rivas? Yes. Mister Melvoin? Yes. Miss Griego? Yes. Gomez? Yes. Miss Ortiz Franklin?
Yes. Board President Schmirulson? Yes. Student board member Yang? Yes. Animus. We'd love to take a picture down down below. And following the photo and prior to probably about a 04:00 general public comment period, we're gonna go to tab, thirteen and then tab 14. So the next item is approval of the renewal petition for Alliance, Lightman Levine and then approval of the renewal petitions for Alliance, Morgan MacKenzie. That's tabs thirteen and fourteen.
I've received some direction we're gonna do. We're gonna actually gonna take a few items very quickly because, we'd like to get business done here. Tab one, high school physical education exemption. There is one item for discussion and one person who has public comment. So Darletta Mitchell Sherman, are you here? Darletta Mitchell Sherman? Darletta, can you put your hand up if you're here? Darletta Mitchell Sherman? Okay. Not here. So, Ms. Newbill, I believe you had some questions about Tab one. I have a statement to read it back. Okay. So we're on tab one, miss Newbelle. So I just had a question.
I'm not sure who can answer this. I'll confirm yeah. Doctor Baez is here. Okay. So the only question I had was, regarding to the fitness gram requirement. Does it just go away, or do if they don't meet the requirement for the exemption, it's not granted? What's happening now with because the fitness gram, it's here but not here. So can you explain where we are with the fitness program? The fitness program requires weight for to take the weight of the students, and we're not able to do that.
So we're not using the fitness program. Students would need to take physical education in grades eleventh and twelfth, but parents or or caretakers can have the students exempt from that, if they've taken it in ninth and tenth grade. Got it. And so Fitnessgram, now that we're not using it, is there something that we're looking to put in instead in in lieu of weight or BMI? I'll have Brenda Pensamino to come up and respond to the specific question there. Thank you for your question, board member. We're still waiting on the state of California to give us more information since it
was their decision to remove that, that piece from that, fitness, grant. Got it. Okay. Thank you. Some clarification. Any further questions on tab one? Okay. Let's vote. May I move in a second for tab one? Move it. Second. Alright. Move by mister Schmerlson, seconded by miss Gunas. Miss Newbill? Yes. Doctor Rivas? Yes. Mister Melboin? Yes. Miss Griego? Yes. Miss Gomez? Yes. Mister Ortiz Franklin? Yes. Mister Schmirelson? Yes. Student board member Yang? Yes. Okay. Now on to tab so that concludes, tab one. Now on to Tab eight, approval of routine personnel actions.
That's correct. We are we are going out of order. So we went from one to the number eight, and then we will probably go to the number, 13 after that. We wanna get to the audience waiting so patiently, so we're trying to get you as soon as we can. Okay. I have a statement for tab eight. So, an important item today on today's agenda is routine personnel actions. And one of these routine, but actually not routine, items is superintendent Carvallo's contract amendment
and renewal. Because of that, I'd like to lay out some of the process before we hear the terms, take public comment, and vote. As you may recall, on September 17, the board unanimously unanimously voted to, reappoint mister Carvallo as superintendent after his current contract expires. The board action was for the reappointment of mister Carvallo to continue as our superintendent, but not for the approval of specific contract terms. Today, the board is voting on two things, an amendment to mister Carvallo's current contract
and the specific terms of the renewal contract. And while his current contract does not expire until February 2026, we are taking action today because his current contract requires the board to provide ninety days notice if this contract is not going to be renewed. Based on that timeline and accounting for potential ongoing deliberations, the board moved to bring continuity and to resolve by initially acting in September and approving the contract today.
Significantly, under contract renewal, the superintendent will continue to receive the same salary and benefits as his current contract and the original contract from 2022. Because mister Carballo's current contract does not expire until February 2026, we must amend his current existing contract to bridge the gap from October 2025 to February 2026. And this amendment is necessary to give the superintendent the same provisions as his new
contract while he serves the remaining months of his current contract. Now, mister McLean, if you would, please provide the summary of the financial terms of both contracts. Okay. Just before I do that, can I have a move and a second to bring this to the table? I'll move it. I'll second. Moved by Ms. Gones, seconded by miss Griego. I'm sorry. Franklin. I'm, like sorry. Someone to my left? I can't do that. I have to okay. Make that change here. Okay. Presented to the board for approval as part of the routine agenda item is the new 2026 employment agreement for superintendent Carvalho and the amendment of the current employment agreement
for superintendent Carvalho. Government code section 54,953 requires the board, prior to taking final action, to provide an oral summary of a recommendation for final action on the salaries, salary schedules, or compensation paid in the form of fringe benefits of a local agency executive during the open meeting in which the final action is to be taken. Pursuant to Government Code Section 54,953, subdivision c three, we report the following summary of the new employment agreement starting on 02/14/2026, and ending on 02/13/2030, regarding compensation and fringe
benefits. One, annual base salary of $440,000 for the four year term of the contract. Two, vacation and illness pay as well as health benefits per district policy. Three, district vehicle, driver, and cell phone. Four, district credit card for district related expenses per district policy and reimbursement for district related expenses. Five, access to district tax deferred four zero three b, four five seven b, and one two five plans. And district will contribute 50,000 annually to the four zero three b and four five
seven b accounts selected by mister Carvalho for equivalent value. Six, pursuant to government code section 53,260, an amount equal to his monthly base salary multiplied by the number of months left on the unexpired term not to exceed twelve months in the event the agreement is terminated prior to its expiration without cause. Seven, life insurance with a policy benefit of 1,500,000.0. Eight, salary and benefits for a period of six months if unable to perform his
duties due to disability and individual disability insurance that provides the maximum income replacement for which he is eligible in the event of illness or accident, rendering him unable to perform his duties. Nine, payment of any salary owed to surviving spouse or relative in the event of death. As for the amended employ employment employment agreement, we report the following summary regarding compensation and fringe benefits. One, in the event mister Carvallo is terminated for no cause before the expiration of
his current contract, he will receive twelve months base salary. Two, all other compensation and fringe benefits remain the same. So before the board takes action, I will take speakers to this item. The speakers are listed under tab eight. In person, William Cuck. William C, are you here? Some some yeah. Some of these folks may have been listed erroneously or listed themselves erroneously as wanting to speak when they meant for a charter item. Keith Del Aquila, Julie Trileti, Margaret Wilkie, Yolanda Gonzalez, and Theresa Thane.
Okay. Those folks aren't here. There's also three four spots that also weren't taken for public comment. It's now appropriate for the board to discuss. Go ahead, miss Griego. Yes. So I'll be supporting this employment agreement, but I wanna also elevate the concerns raised by community members in regards to the lack of community engagement. And so I want folks to know that I want us board members to work toward a process that is more transparent from the beginning and that it's also inclusive
of community voice. I think we heard it today from a couple of folks and we heard it in the past. I think at the Cal, there were some concerns. And so I want us to work toward a process that, is more transparent and more inclusive. I also want to acknowledge our labor partners who have raised concerns that we've agreed to, the superintendent's contract without settling their contracts. And I just want them to know that I hear you, and I think, we are working hard to make that happen for
Our labor partners as we value your contracts as much as we value the superintendents. Thank you. Thank you, Carla. Any other comments? Gomez? Yeah. I I just wanted to, echo on the on the contracts piece. I know we're all looking forward to ensuring that there's stability for our entire workforce soon. And I think moving forward, we have great opportunities to create community engagement and, transparency opportunities as we look at the expiration of our board goals. There we will have to set a new set of board goals, and that is
directly tied. We as a board, when we hired superintendent Carvalho, we're very intentional and clear that the board goals were an essential requirement of whomever we chose as a new leader. And we did intentional and extensive community engagement, even having, like, canvassers and organizers at school sites to get feedback from our communities. So I think there's lots of opportunities as we look forward to the strategic plan and this new set of board goals to really make sure that connection is clear between, our decisions in terms of leadership and what we're expecting in terms of systemic
improvements for our students and families. Thank you, Kelly. Anyone else? Doctor Rivas? Thank you for, the comments made by my colleagues. And, as you all know, we are facing unprecedented times in terms of, the federal administration and what our communities are facing. And, and I, you know, I support this contract, obviously, with my vote. And, and it's times like this that local leadership and stability matter more than ever. And with that said, we've heard the comments, and sentiments of our community and our
labor partners about, our evaluation process, transparency, and just and community engagement. So these issues surfaced and throughout a lot of communities. And this is the work that the district practices in all facets of our schools, through labor negotiations and through what takes place in our classrooms. And as many know, my door is always open to speak to whoever, wants to hear as to why, I make certain decisions.
And I have made myself available to anyone who who, who reaches out to me or my staff. So community engagement and and accountability are responsibilities that myself and that we all here take very seriously as a board. Every voice is respected. Every labor partner is respected, and every concern is heard. And every decision reflects the best interest of our students and also for myself and and I will venture to say some my colleagues as well. Also, our labor partners, our employees that we held in high regard and and that
we recognize their hard work. And, as I mentioned earlier, mentioned all the employees that are so essential in our schools. And at this moment, our duty is to provide stability for students, our staff, our district, and for our city, and to maintain trust in our public schools and to keep working together towards the same goal, that every student thrives in every classroom and that every employee is respected with dignity. Thank you.
Thank you, doctor Rivas. Anyone else? Miss Chorlette? Thank you. I'm obviously getting an opportunity to be able to share as it was pulled for discussion. And as mentioned, we always want to elevate our workforce, and this is a unusual time as mentioned, but that ultimately unusual for this board in a couple of decades because I don't think we've been in this space, to be able to renew a contract, for a superintendent. So, this is unprecedented times.
This is haven't happened in, as mentioned, probably since the early two thousands that this even would come forth. But, because it is brand new, I think it uncovers a lot of new ways in which to express and to be able to be transparent and to be able to share the sentiments of our communities, to know that we are listening, that we hear you, that as we continue to move forward in the work that we have to do for our students and families, that we continue to do it together and
with leadership that is courageous and bold. And I appreciate the opportunity to be a part of this movement as, this is unusual. This is new. This is different. And so I say that as well to elevate our labor partners as mentioned before because it is important to know that you are not an afterthought. That is a lot of consideration and thought going into the process for those contracts as well. So very important and just wanted to highlight as we are given an opportunity to
bring voice to this. This is this is new for LAUSD in a couple of decades. This hasn't happened. So thank you for being a part of this experience too. What else? I see miss Ortiz Franklin has her hand up. She's remote but here on on-site. So please go ahead, miss Ortiz Franklin. Thanks. Yeah. I'll just remind, you know, the public that we did a really robust community engagement process when searching for the superintendent. And so I know it's been several years, but we did, spend a lot of time surveying and having, you know, focus groups and and various, questions arose then about
what you were looking for in a superintendent. And, you know, as with then, you know, today, I will be proud to vote again. We have the right superintendent meeting the desires of our community. And I was confident back then that Alberto was gonna do that job, and I'm still confident going forward. And so I appreciate the feedback directly to me for all board district seven residents, you know, staff, families. We have lots of listening sessions and town halls, and I invite you to continue to share your feedback with me so that I can directly, engage the superintendent in your voice regularly because that is our privilege and our responsibility as your elected officials
to amplify your voice in our regular check ins with our superintendent, not just at his annual evaluation or his four year contractual conversation. And so I just wanna continue to, invite people to share your opinions with your elected officials because that is our privilege. So thank you. Thank you, Tanya. Mister Malfoy? I don't wanna be left out. I I just appreciate, you know, I know we're doing this in between with without the ceremony that maybe it requires. And I know when the board unanimously extended the contract, it was closed session, so we were all able to, say our words of gratitude and also share.
But the public wasn't here. They were here virtually. And I know we have a lot to get to. But, I appreciate, miss Griego, your comments and, I always strive for more transparency as a board and as a district and as individual board members. And I think, yes, trying to close-up our labor contracts, is critical for the stability of our schools and of our workforce. I will say though, you know, as miss Wendy Newbill did, superintendent Carvalho is already the longest serving superintendent this district has had in twenty years. And it was funny just talking to board member Yang.
It was like, does the district not usually renew superintendents? And it's like, well, we haven't had the opportunity really. And part of that was that I think the district was adrift. There was not a strategic plan. There were not board goals. And we've done a lot, since bringing in the superintendent to kind of set that course. And I think in this the SBAC discussion where you heard a lot of this is great, but we are on the course but have work to do. And that stability, whether it's at the school site with our teachers or principals or at the superintendent level is so critical, when we think of institutional, success.
And so as we think about the opportunity to, to move into this next phase with the continued finishing at the strategic plan, and, then work you know, moving on to the next one and also the opportunity, you know, and just so so folks are aware, in state law, the longest you can do a superintendent contract is four years. And so when if you're asked, you know, folks are saying, I've had my constituents say why why isn't it a longer contract? And, that is that is one of the answers at least.
So the fact that, you know, in the last twenty years, the superintendent has already been here longer than than his predecessors and the opportunity to double that tenure. I know that when we brought in the superintendent from Miami, he had served there at the helm for thirteen, nearly fourteen years. And that was the vision I had when I voted for his initial contract was how great if we could keep the main thing the main thing and focus on instruction and not leadership change. I also I know at the beginning of the school year meetings were out, And I've always said to principals, you know, here's to a precedented school year.
And I don't know in the last few years that we've had one, whether it's the, COVID or wildfires or the Trump administration. But I do feel, as we started this school year with kind of record high, fill rates for our employees and just kind of sometimes at one point even asking, like, are the phones working? Because we're not getting as many concerns as we usually do. That we are at a place systemically with so much work to do, but, where it feels like, the main bones of this school district are operating, well, and that
we're able to kind of elevate, the work that needs to happen in our classrooms, and with our our students, which is most important. Wendy Newbel mentioned it, to acknowledge that. Thank the superintendent for your service. Thank this board, despite our disagreements, which may be on display even in the next hour or two. I think this board, is really united around a vision of student excellence for all kids, and it's, this process has been the smoothest in my eight years. So just wanted to acknowledge that and turn it back to Thank you, mister Melboin. I too want to mention that, oh, Jerry.
Go ahead. I'm sorry. Go ahead. You go. Yeah. I would I just wanted to say I wasn't in the closed session, so obviously I didn't express my gratitude. But, you know, superintendent Carvalho has really been amazing in engaging with the students in the district and making sure they've all they all feel heard. I see him at the superintendent's student advisory council where he answers any and all questions they have and is really just down to earth and talks to the students as if they are equals, which I really appreciate because that means, you know, there's genuine discourse going on. And and these students have all different interests, And the superintendent just really knows so
much and is always, willing to engage in that discussion and and and enlighten the students. So, I'm just really, really thankful, and I look forward to what the next couple of years will bring. Thank you, Jerry. And I'll finish off. I just want to remind the public that they always say that, New York is the largest school district in The United States, and that's true. But we are the largest district with an elected board of education. So Chicago and New York, the mayor chooses the board members.
Here in Los Angeles, in California, we are elected by our constituents in our board district, and that's very important. And people have told me, you know, Scott, the most important job you have as school board member is the hiring and the firing of the superintendent. Well, I don't agree with that. I think my most important job is to make sure the kids get an excellent education, parents are respected, and good salaries are given to all of our employees. But I do need to say that we, seven board members, we choose the superintendent.
We are in closed session. We hear what's going on, and we know what's going on. People in the public sometimes don't hear everything and don't know everything, but we do know. We're in the background. We're hearing. And it is the board of education that chooses the superintendent, and you elected us because you trust us, and I trust you too. Thank you. Okay. Time for a time for a vote. Miss Newbill? Yes. Doctor Rivas? Yes. Mister Melboin? Yes. Miss Griego? Yes. Miss Gomez? Yes. Miss Ortiz Franklin? Yes. Board president Schmirulson?
Yes. Student board member Yang? Yes. Okay. Item eight passes. The employment contracts will be available upon request and finalization of the contract. And, I'm gonna give mister superintendent a chance to speak. Very briefly, number one, let me express my gratitude, to you, the board, for this contract extension. As you know, it's not something that I asked for. It's something that is within your power and in your hands to decide, and I certainly appreciate it. I've said it before. I continue to say this is the honor of my life.
I think we've done powerful transformational work, but we are nowhere near where we need to be as a school district. By comparison to others, we are progressing faster. We're moving the needle in a more aggressive way. But we have far too many kids who are lingering below the surface. We have communities who are living in fear. We have parents who dread the walk to school, never knowing what could happen. We have workforce members facing uncertainty. My commitment to you is I will do my very best in the at the
highest levels of ethical comportment to elevate our students, to elevate our workforce, to dignify this board and honor this community that has, in such an aggressive way, welcomed me. Los Angeles is home. Los Angeles is home to me and to my family, and I appreciate your vote of confidence. I said it when you announced after closed session, that I would reject, I would not consider or accept any salary increase or any additional compensation or benefits.
Thank you for honoring that. I will go beyond that at this point now that you have voted. This is a contract that exceeds the four years because it carries an additional four months. My commitment to this community and to this honorable board and to the children and the students we serve and their families is one where I commit to you as I serve to the very last day of my contract that is being reaffirmed today. I am committing $110,000 of benefits and salary back to the district.
It is important to recognize that one is worth what one is worth. But this is the glory of my lifetime. As a poor immigrant kid who was once homeless, my gratitude for what you've just done and the opportunity you've given me to prove that East Coast and West Coast alike, kids have the same number of chromosomes. They are innately gifted, and it is up to us to elevate their potential. That to me is my badge of honor. I honor you. I honor your our kids.
I honor our families, and I look forward to continue to work every single day to live up to your goals, to the needs of our community, and honestly, to the greater goodness of our nation, which is built one kid at a time in classrooms across America. I will further specify my commitment, when the contract is made public. Thank you very much. Okay. We're going to take at least Tab 13, approval of the renewal petition for Alliance Leichtman Levine Family Foundation Environmental Science High.
May I have a motion and a second to hear this? Move it. Moved by Board President Schawelson. Seconded by Ms. Newbill. Okay. So this is Tab 14 I'm sorry, Tab 13. You're welcome. We have, 15 speakers here for this item, so, we'll take the speakers listed as being in person. Pablo Villasencio. Come on down. You have two minutes to speak once you begin. Which one? Oh, I'm sorry. Is there a present is there a presentation associated? My apologies. Okay. So this is for tab 13. And, let's see.
Yes. We have a presentation. Do we have your chart? Oh, we got everything up. Got everything we're gonna do to go. Goodness. Alright. Please go ahead. Alright. Good afternoon, board chair Schmrolson, and, to superintendent Carvallo and board members. Thank you for this opportunity to share the exciting news about Alliance Lightman Levine and the successes of our school community. My name is Tiffany Wilson, and I'm the chief operating officer at Alliance. I'm excited to be with you today. You can go to the next slide. As our CEO, Pablo Villavicencio, will share in just a few minutes, our network of
25 schools represents an incredibly diverse population. Our scholars face challenges caused by the opportunity gaps in many LA neighborhoods, from low family incomes to low economic investments. However, these challenges do not define who our scholars are or our belief in their brilliance. You can go to the next slide. Oh, is there a clicker? Thank you. Well, I guess I can go to the next slide. Alright. Here we go. At a lightman at Alliance Lightman Levine specifically, 90% of our scholars are Latine and
black, which is 29%, percentage points higher than the state. 88.6% of our scholars are socioeconomically disadvantaged, which is over 20 percentage points higher than the state. And our students with disability populations are also higher than LAUSD and the state. So our scholars are living testaments to perseverance and possibility. But because of our belief in the brilliance of our scholars, Alliance Light and Levine is raising the bar for neighborhood schools and helping to elevate what's possible in public
education across California. Our scholars are more proficient than their neighborhood schools, LAUSD, and the state in ELA and in math. And that's not only for all of our scholars, but even within our, numerically significant subgroups. In short, our scholars are some of the best prepared students in the neighborhood and in the state to graduate from high school and succeed in college. In, the Charter Schools Division review of our petition, they named that the the review
that led to a positive recommendation for Alliance Light and Levine. The CSD noted several successes, and here's one quote that they noted. Overall, for ELA, math, the LP indicator, and the college and career indicator, the charter school's dashboard performance was higher than the state in ELA, in math, and on the English learner progress indicator, and the college career indicator. The charter school provided information to demonstrate strong post secondary outcomes relative to similar peers.
Most powerfully, our Levine parents and scholars believe in and need our schools. Guadalupe Gonzalez is one such parent of two of our Levine alumni. And this is a quote that she she gave us, and she said, what I love the most about Alliance Light and Levine are the teachers. They always wanted parents involved in their children's education. I sent my two kids to great universities in UC Davis and Middlebury College because of Alliance. Their futures are much brighter because of it. And that really does speak to what we try to do for our scholars, and
our families at, Alliance Lake Medellin. So to close, we do have speakers lined up to speak, but we are also happy to answer any questions from the board member, prior to the speakers and or, in place of the speakers if that would be helpful. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Alright. There there are speakers. I don't know if they're gonna We're happy to defer, but we would open for questions if that was something that would be preferred as well. Give me one second to confer with counsel. Thanks. So just so I have it clear, you're saying board can go ahead and ask you questions directly, and then you want your speakers, all 15 of whom will will
waive their time? We'd love to have them speak, but if there's questions the board would like to ask So we'll do the speakers. That's what I Go for it. Is what I'm hearing. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Pablo v, come on up. You have two minutes to speak once you begin. Good afternoon, board president Strum Wilson, LAUSD board members, and superintendent Cavallo. As some of you may know, my name is Pablo Cesar Villasencio, and I'm the proud CEO of Alliance College Ready Public Schools. As noted, our schools are really of the community by the community, serving 12,000 scholars, 98% who identify as Latine or black and African American.
92% of them are qualify for free and reduced lunch. Fourteen percent of our scholar population are scholars with disabilities, and 17% are multilingual learners. We represent the communities that we serve. And as always, at Alliance, we wanna center our kids above all else. So I wanna give us some additional context of who our scholars are because you saw some really impressive results of Levine given their ELA and math proficiency. The majority of our scholars come to Lyon School middle schools three years behind grade
level. Despite that, our schools graduated scholars at a rate of ninety six percent last year with ninety two percent of those successfully completing a through g requirements, significantly higher than the state and then LAUSD. Ninety seven percent of our scholars are accepted into college. Eighty five percent of our scholars are first generation, and they're on track to graduate college at 3.5 times the national average. For the past few years, we've been consistent academic growth at every single grade level across every demographic group. And the longer our scholars are with us and they are in our high schools,
the better they outperform the state. Similarly, we're doing work on chronic absenteeism, reducing it to 17% last year. And our we are deeply invested in our educators. I know something that this board cares about. We have results of 86% retention and our schools are fully staffed. We are a leader in compensation, and more than 85% of our educators would recommend Alliance to one of their own family members. I ask you to take this all into consideration because of our commitment to equity and quality, and thank you for the renewal of the five schools, and we look
forward to the renewal of these two schools. Thank you for your time. Veronica Gonzalez. Good afternoon. Almost evening. Good evening. Board members, board president, board members, and superintendent, Gar Balakol. My name is Veronica Gonzalez. I'm a proud dual enrollment coordinator and college counselor of Alliance Likman Levine. Nineteen years ago, I left working at UCLA Outreach, EAOP, and decided to become the first college counselor of Alliance College Ready Schools. Fifteen years ago, I joined Alliance like Levine because I truly believe in its mission
of educational equity. And I stayed there because I've witnessed the incredible impact our schools have on students and families in all the communities we service. Every day, I see young people of diverse backgrounds walk into our building full of potential and hope, walk out believing in themselves. They learn that college is a choice they get to make, not a privilege that is given or decided for them. Over the years, I've had the privilege of seeing former students return as teachers, counselors,
administrators, community leaders, therapists, nurses, doctors, and other careers, giving back to the very neighborhoods that they raise them. This is the true power of an Alliance education. At Lightman Levine, we have some incredible teachers and staff members that go beyond to service our students. We build confidence, heal trauma, and stand alongside our families, whether through after school tutoring programs, college counseling, therapy, and home visits.
And at the same time, our teachers do a lot of one on one check ins with their students. In addition, we've extend this expanded access to rigorous opportunities with AP and college courses. Most recently, we've built a dual enrollment program that allows students to complete their CalGETC or pursue career pathways in health and digital media. Today, more than half of our students are enrolled in at least one college class, a number that continues to grow because of our belief in them and their support and the support we provide. Thank you for your time.
Thank you for your time. Taline Darcjan. Esteemed board members, it is my pleasure to return and speak before you again. My name is Talin Darakchyan, and I have the honor of serving as a co principal of Alliance Like Myndal Levine Family Foundation High School. More happens when a school community believes deeply in every student's potential no matter their background or circumstance. At Lichtman Levine, we serve over 380 scholars from across Northeast Los Angeles. Nearly 90% qualify for free or reduced lunch. Many are the first in their families to pursue higher education, and over 30% fall
into our special education or multilingual learner subgroups. One of the things I'm most proud of is how our community uplifts those diverse learners Through co teaching, intentional intervention, and a culture of unwavering belief, our students with disabilities grew more than a 100 points in ELA and math on the 2025 CAASPP, and our multilingual learners showed similar gains. These results reflect more than academic growth. They show what's possible when students feel known and cared for. College access is another cornerstone of our work.
Every ninth grader begins dual enrollment. And by graduation, our students have earned college credits with a ninety five percent pass rate. We continue to see strong graduation and UCCSU eligibility rates, proof that our vision is translating into real opportunity for the families we serve. Beyond data are the individual success stories. The introverted ninth grader who blossomed to take a lead role in the school play his senior year and is now doorming as a sophomore at UC Riverside. The first generation college student who went on to pursue a career in counseling became
a college counselor for Alliance and was recognized as a staff of the year by the network. The family who transferred their student midway through tenth grade because they wanted a smaller school where their child would be seen and seeing that student thrive on our school fencing team. A yes vote for renewal is a vote for a school that delivers results with compassion, purpose, and consistency. It's a vote for the families who trust our school. Thank you for your time and believing in what's possible for the students of Northeast Los Angeles. Thank you for your time. Vanessa Albaran. Good afternoon, board members, president, and superintendent Carvallo.
My name is Vanessa Alvaran, and I am proud to be a both alumna of Alliance and currently community schools coordinator at Alliance Lakeman Levine. I was just born and raised one block away from our Levine campus in Glass Hill Park. Growing up, my family faced the same challenges and barriers our scholars experience today, immigration status, financial insecurity, limited health care access, and the challenges of being raised by a single parent and a system that wasn't built for us. But Alliance changed everything for me. Through the care, belief, and support of my school community, I became in the first of my family to graduate from college, earning my bachelor's in rehabilitation services from Cal
State LA and later my master's in school counseling from USC. That's the power of this school. Today, I have the privilege of giving back to the same neighborhood that raised me. At Lake Milvieen, we not just meet the academic needs of our students, but the whole child. From school supplies, food distribution, to mental health support, and college exposure, to family partnerships, to cultural celebrations like Dia de los Muertos, Black History Month, Armenian Heritage Month, our school is not just of a place of belonging. It's of identity and pride. For me and for so many others, like Melvivian isn't just a school.
It's a lifeline. It's a family, and it deserves to be renewed. Thank you, and I urge you to favor our school. Thank you. Thank you for your time. The next speaker is Tiffany Wilson. And after miss Wilson is Ruben Escalante. Okay. Thank you, miss Wilson. Ruben Escalante? All right. Thank you. Hugo Hernandez. Thank you very much. Let me begin by thanking every one of you for your public service. My name is Hugo Hernandez. Doctor. Rivas, I'm one of your constituents. And both my kids have spoken in front of you. You might remember one of them, Daniel Hernandez, who opened up in Mandarin.
He learned Mandarin at, City Terrace Elementary and then he went to, El Sereno Middle School. And then after that, he went to Lake Monlevigne. I both my kids graduated from Lake Monlevigne. And I want to echo, the board president's focus on the three areas that he mentioned. First of all, he supports, schools where kids get excellent educations. Alliance and public pre public education is responsible for the bright future that my, my
kids, both of them, have in front of them. It is in fact, thanks to Alliance, that my kids grad are imposed to graduate from college debt free. Not just because they got them ready for that, but also because miss Gonzales, who you spoke you heard from earlier today, looked for programs that would ensure that my kids graduated debt free. As far as parents are a place where parents are respected, this school fits the
bill. I want you to know that there are parents such as myself who are vocal advocates, who are aware, who are active, and who not only come and hear and speak in front of you, but also we hold people accountable. And we're building capacity in those parents. I don't want you to think of our parents as going with the flow necessarily all the time. We hold people accountable. So this school fits the bill. And finally, I know that I can speak, for how happy our teachers are.
So thank you so much. I've I ask you to vote yes for this excellent school. Thank you. Thank you for your time. And then Justine Gonzalez and then David Locke. Good afternoon. I'm yielding my time to Diego Barreras. Thank you. Good afternoon, members of the board. My name is Diego Barreras, and I am a proud student in Alliance Lake Mendelian High School in Northeast Los Angeles. I have been in charter school education for the entirety of my academic career, and I can proudly proclaim that I wouldn't have done anything differently. Never once have I doubted my school's ability to support my academic and personal needs.
The teachers at Levine have supported me through every challenge and accomplishment. My counselors have pushed me to excel to my highest potential, and our administration are some of the kindest, most reliable people you will ever meet. I don't just feel like another statistic at Levine. I feel like part of a family. Levine is a tight knit community. We are one that embodies the idea of inclusion. And although high, our test scores aren't the only things that define us. Levine is an outlet for many to find their voice, to express themselves, and to feel confident at. Throughout these past four years, I have been fortunate enough to attend a school that
meets me where I'm at. Levine has taught me that myself and people who look like me belong in higher education. Levine has shown me that my dreams are not dreams, but rather achievable aspirations. Our school is composed of predominantly Hispanic low income families. In a moment so pivotal in our nation's history, where education is under attack, show these students that their education is not just important, but necessary. Not renewing our charter wouldn't just mean closing our gates. It would put hardworking individuals out of a job. It would displace hundreds of students, separate friendships, and put another problem on the plate
of an already vulnerable population. You and I both know that education is power, so help LaVine educate the next generation of leaders who will surely leave their names in history books. Please vote to renew LaVine's charter, a school that has allowed many to be the first, but most certainly not the last. Thank you. Thank you for your time. David Locke. Okay. Thank you, sir. Mister Stewart, I think I still see you out there. Come on up, Jeff Stewart. You have two minutes to speak once you begin. To yield my time as well. Okay. Thank you, sir. Mister Stewart is, yielded his time.
David Tarkovsky, are you here? David t okay. Stephanie Medel Medel? Stephanie, m, e d e l. Damien Sutton. Come on up, mister Sutton. You'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Hello? Cool. Good afternoon, board pres sorry. Good afternoon, board, president, board members, and superintendent Carvalho. My name is Damien Sutton. I'm a special education coordinator at Alliance Lakeland Levine High School. This is my fifth year working on this role at this campus, and I stay here because of the school's unwavering dedication to equity and inclusion.
During my time here, I've seen students that were previously placed in highly restrictive learning environments such as SDC graduate and move on to schools such as Cal Poly Pomona, CSULA, and Pepperdine. I am constantly amazed by the advocacy on the part of both faculty and staff for diverse learners. This comes from the incredible work that the school has done to make it known that empowerment is not just a word for some, but for all. At Levine, we have developed partnerships with families and made a learning community that is proudly inclusive. What others in this country see as a dangerous word, we at Levine hold true
to the idea that inclusivity enriches the world. As such is the case, we will continue to do everything in our power to build our on our many successes and continue to cultivate a safe learning space for all. With this in mind, I humbly request that this board continues to vote in favor for renewing Alliance Like Namibeen's, charter. It has become a home for many, including myself. And, I wanna thank you for your time. I yield the rest of it. Thank you for your time. Emmanuel Reyes. And then after mister Reyes is Mayra Hernandez.
Good afternoon, board president, board members, and superintendent. I'm a proud scholar of Alliance College Ready Levine Leichman Levine, and my name is Emmanuel Reyes. I was always really confused about my future, and I didn't know what was gonna be the best thing for me. And I wasn't really interested in school ever. I always slacked off, and I didn't know the place I was meant to be in. But once I got into Leisman Levine, I felt different. My teachers and all the staff, they saw the best version of me I could
be, and they started pushing me and try and making me be the best person I could be. Their support helped me so much, and I'm now doing things that I never thought I'd be able to do. I'm an ASB, and I have built up the courage to be try to be a secretary. And it's something I'd never thought I would be, also in debate, speaking with so many people around me. And it's just something that all the teachers have been like, hey. Like, they've supported me throughout all this time, and I'm so grateful to every single one of them. And I'm I don't think I'd be in the place I am right now if
it weren't for all those teachers. I'm I genuinely believe that this school has given me so many opportunities and so many things to help me improve, and I want I beg you to please renew this school because this school has helped so many people, not only me, but so many of my peers. I know so many of us that come from different places and we're all reunite we're all united here. All of my peers are also know that. We're also grateful for all of the opportunities every single teacher has given us. This school is really a second home to me as well.
I mean, all the teachers believe in me and push me to do better, and I feel safe here. I feel safe to express my ideas, so I please beg you to renew Alliance Heights with Levine. It changed who I am, and it I know it will change so many more. Thank you so much. Thank you for your time. Myra Hernandez. Good afternoon, board president, board members, and superintendent Caravalho. My name is Myra Hernandez, and I stand before you today as a senior at Alliance College Ready Lakeman Levine. Before I arrived at Alliance, the path to college was a concept, not a plan.
As a first generation student, I faced a common challenge. The guidance that some of my friends received at home simply didn't exist for me. The idea of navigating applications, financial aid, and so much more felt daunting. And Alliance Levine didn't just give me resources, but helped me utilize them. I've attended eight schools throughout my life, public and charter. And I can tell you unequivocally that Alliance Levine has been the most transformative and educational experience. It's where potential is seen and acted upon. This school has opened so many doors for me that I didn't think existed.
Because of the mentorship here, I serve as ASB president. I play three varsity sports, and I am deeply involved in both my local and school community. This is a kind of intentional investment that changes lives. Apart from academics, Alliance has a strong community support. As a school that is predominantly Hispanic, we've been facing a lot of political challenges. During times of crisis affecting our immigrant families, the school staff has been patient, supportive, and responsive. Your decision today isn't about paperwork or budgets. It's about acknowledging the tangible helps and opportunity this school creates every single day.
Please vote yes to renew Alliance College Ready like Milovian High School. Thank you for believing in us. Thank you for your time. That concludes public comment on tab 13. Now this is pulled for discussion. Are there any board members ready to discuss? Yes. I have a few questions of, the Alliance. The Alliance, CEO and regarding, should I just go ahead? I guess I should just go ahead. Just the the Charter school.
Charter school division, and can I ask the CEO question? Can I or not? Yes? Alright. If you can just come up. I'm just wondering, has your enrollment been stable the last five years? No. The in the Northeast Of Los Angeles at Levine, the enrollment has not been stable. We've seen a decline across all our Northeast schools. Some of you may remember that I contacted you regarding having to close the school, Tenenbaum. And so as a result of it, both Leighton Levine and Tenenbaum have experienced, demographic shifts that have resulted in lower enrollment. And as a whole, alliance, all of the alliances in general As a whole, over
the course of the last, five to seven years, we've actually had to close schools. We make the decision and hard decisions to close schools when enrollment doesn't seem like we would be able to turn around because of demographic changes. So for example, when I entered the organization in twenty, seventeen, twenty eighteen, our enrollment was over 13,000. We now currently stand at over 12,000 as a result. So we've actually as a result of the closures of the schools, we remain steady in our enrollment. But it's as a result of other schools across the network, especially in South LA
where we have schools that are much more overenroll, I'm sorry, have waitlist. Not overenrolled, but have waitlist. And so, that is not true across all our schools and is not true for enlightenment living. And financially, as a whole, are you in a stable situation or are you, having some uncertainties? We are as stable as all of you have noted in your own public board meetings regarding the uncertainty of what's happening within the federal government with enrollment. And given that we serve a population of immigrants, many who have undocumented status or
mixed status at home, that we are unsure of what it is. We are very prudent financial, administrators of public funds. But the reality is is that for any educational system within k to 12 or not to say that they're stable would be to not acknowledge all that's happening. Okay. And, some of your speakers, I appreciate their words and their their appreciation for their educators or teachers. Yep. Several people I share that appreciation. Talked about how their teachers, got them where they are.
You know, they love their teachers. And yet, I my understanding is that at one of the Alliance Schools, there was a tentative agreement reached by the teachers, represented by UTLA and Alliance, but then the board, voted it down and said they would not, vote agree with it because of financial uncertainties. Do can you share more about that decision? So, we're speaking out about Lightman Levine. Lightman Levine is a school that card checked and has asked to be represented by UTLA.
We're engaging in bargaining as soon as we receive their sunshine, and we will continue in good faith to bargain with Lymond Levine. So I think I understand. I'm just I'm In regards to in regards to, Burton Tech and Gertzmerken, which are the other two schools that were mentioned before, there was a tentative agreement bought before the board. The board made the decision with their legal counsel not to ratify at the time and to go back into bargaining. And so we are still bargaining just as all of as we're required to and also as we have set the expectation to come to an agreement.
But the reality is is that the contract that was presented to the board, who are the ultimate ratifiers and deciders, it was made a decision to go back to the bargaining table as a result of concerns, including the one you mentioned, financial insecurity, and wanting to have more clarity given the uncertainty that we're experiencing? Yeah. So I am concerned about that practice because if there is no financial uncertainty, then why not, you know, honor a tentative agreement that was reached? And I am concerned because you're right.
You are up for negotiations in December. And so I wanna make sure labor peace is very important to any institution, as you know, with us. Right? And so and part of that respect of the educators is honoring what they want. And if this is what they're asking for, that they wanna be represented by a union, I would hope that the organization honors that and comes and negotiates something that is fair to both the organization and to the employees. Because in my opinion, as a former educator and a union member, that's how you
show respect, right, with the agreement. So that's what I'm I'm hoping for that that, that Levine like, Lykman Levine will enter into negotiations. And I and I hope that parents, like the gentleman who spoke here earlier, who said they love their teachers and teachers love being there, and that parents are very supportive. And I believe that because I've met with a lot of charter school parents who are very dedicated to their charter and appreciate and value the education they get there. So I would hope that they support their educators and their teachers as they enter
bargaining sessions in December. I'm gonna align it with you. Thank you. Doctor Rivas? My questions are on the same line on for, item the next item, the the the other charter Alliance Charter in Board District 2. So I I echo the same sentiments as, board member Griego. As we heard here earlier from a UTLA representative, you know, spend Alliance has spent hundreds of dollars to deny educator representation. I'm just, you know, quoting what she said.
Ordering, responding to not responding to UTLA to negotiate or enter good faith, delaying bargaining even after Supreme Court ordered, Alliance to comply, and mentioning that you had financial uncertainties. And I have the same questions, but you answered that. So I will, move on to the rest. And, so, yeah, my concerns is making sure that Alliance, the board the board of directors, are will bargain in good faith.
And, not too long ago, a couple years ago, I went before the board of directors, and I heard teachers begging, asking to please recognize them, that they wanted to, you know, be, part of a union. And, they were pleading. And, you know, no teacher should have to plead to be recognized as a union. And to know that now it still continues, that is my concern. And, just wanna make sure that I will be voting for for both alliance, but
these are the concerns. And I I myself would definitely would will be following, the proceedings as they move forward, because they need the teachers need to be recognized, and you need to make sure you're bargaining in good faith. As you all heard, we're also doing that too. We wanna make sure the Alliance is also doing that. I I wanna state, we I hope the number it's not like a number we're just bolstering. Like, we deeply respect our belief.
I've been represented teacher. I have been a principal. I have been both in district. The majority of my career was in district, and I'm now in a charter. And so I hold the fundamental, beliefs that are underpinning the question. And I can say with confidence that I do believe that the board is trying to act in good faith and that the board negotiations, it really is a matter between UTLA and the board. And, of course, represented teachers are happy in good faith. And these processes, you all know, are long, having been on both sides of the table. And so they're negotiating and we will continue to negotiate.
For Lightman Levine and Morgan McKenzie, we will gladly enter into negotiations once the sunshine sunshine proposals are presented in December, and we will engage just as we'd have with Burton Tech and Gritzkermarket. Right now, it's a moment in time with those two school communities. The board is the ultimate decider of our ratification of the contract and have their own legal representation that's here if you have any questions. But I will communicate that directly to the board members, what's been shared here by both you and by a board member, Gregor. Please, as a CEO, we hope that you will share that I will definitively share that and will do so with say my power acknowledging that the board decision ultimately
lies with the board of the governing board of Alliance. Thank you. I have a question other than, union organization, and that is with your fiscal operations. So your fiscal operations are considered developing due to expenditures on meal related purchases, team building activities, and staff appreciation, as well as cash handling practices. And the school updated its protocols and will continue to be monitored, but this is
taxpayer money. Can you explain? Tell me why you're developing. I will allow, our chief financial officer to speak actually about philanthropic money and the use of philanthropic money to support our educators and to celebrate our educators. Hi. Thanks very much for the question. I'm David Locke. I'm the CFO at Alliance. And just to echo, what Pablo mentioned, we feel like the the notice we received is an unfortunate misunderstanding and mischaracterization of our use of philanthropic dollars for staff appreciation, team developments, and those types of expenditures. We believe very deeply, in appreciating and developing our educators, and we use philanthropic dollars,
to do that, very similar to what many districts, and other operations do. We believe that these expenditures and these investments, in our educators and in our staff, ultimately lead to the types of satisfaction and retention which have been mentioned this evening and therefore serve a direct, purpose in, providing for the types of academic, and social emotional outcomes for scholars that you've heard in the public comment today. K. The school reported a significant loss of over $16,000,000 that included a decline in grants
and contributions, including a one time $16,000,000 gift. Can you talk about that? Sure. In 2023, Alliance received a $16,000,000 unrestricted gift, from an individual, philanthropist. That obviously is not recurring as much as we would like to receive a $16,000,000 gift every year. It was one time in nature. So as a result of that, in the following year, the comparative financials would clearly see, a decline in grants and contributions, and so that's probably what you're referring to.
K. An expenditure of 1,500,000.0 in costs associated with a new, HR information system. That's correct. So, similar to many growing and evolving organizations, we had a number of disparate systems that were used to, implement things like payroll, hiring, staffing. And so we, underwent, an exhaustive review and, RFP process to determine a new HRIS, which we ultimately purchased and implemented. To do that, there were a number of one time costs, in order to bring
all of our systems together and integrate the new, HRIS, which is Workday, into all of into all of our systems. So I would imagine similar things may have happened at LAUSD over the course of the years as you bring in new systems, but we did have one time costs that were required to put that system in place. K. A a $3,200,000 in non reoccurring non recurring loss for the sale of property from a closed school. That's correct. So in the 2021, we closed Alliance Alice Baxter High School.
The board is likely familiar with that. We, upon the closure of that school, we still owned the school building. We took that building to market. Real estate conditions are not what we would have hoped they would have been, and ultimately upon the sale of that property, a loss was recorded as a result. K. Could, LAUSD, Vision come up. I have a question for you. So, according to records your records, the school is experiencing some financial issues that require oversight. Therefore, I'd like to know why have they received a five year renewal?
Why a five year renewal? That's a lot of time for a school has to be monitored. Go ahead. Good afternoon, board members and, superintendent sitting there interim. Hello? It's recommended for a five year term because it's a middle performing school. So for a middle performing school, it's either a five year term or a non renewal. So that is why the recommendation is for five year. That's per the law. Well, I don't think I like that law too much because what about the fiscal problems? You can be going bankrupt, but if you're a middle performing, you're gonna get renewed
for five years? No. Who said no? No. Oh, well, well, tell me. Well, in this particular case, we are monitoring the school, as stated in the materials as to these financial these fiscal issues. And so there is a mechanism within the term, that you can do a revocation if it's really serious. There's certain steps in that process. It's it's not it's rarely used but it doesn't There is a mechanism in the law that you could potentially move for a revocation during during a charter term.
But at this time, we are it's five years per the law. I hear the law. I hear what you're saying. I'm just very, very uncomfortable with five years, for this school. Okay. Thank you. Go ahead. The middle performing, is that only looking at academic scores, or does it look at all the criteria? That's a good question. The middle performing is identified by the state. The state assigns that category based on their academic performance on the dashboard. So that middle performing criteria is strictly based on the academics and the the state
assigns that category. And it's five years and there's no three year, two year, nothing? That's correct. Three years. And how are we going to come back? Are we how are we monitoring them between now and the five years fiscally? What can you describe the process for that? Well, I can say one mechanism. We have our annual over a site visit. This is for all schools and through that process, we evaluate the school in four different areas in governance, academics, operation, and fiscal. It's a lengthy process that we basically submit, questions to the school about different areas
of of their governance or their academics or their fiscal. They respond. Then we meet together on the day of the oversight visit and discuss and do classroom visits. So that's and then an annual oversight report is issued to the school. That's one way. And then there's ongoing monitoring throughout the school year with submission of different documents, in different areas. So we'd have our which we call our three sixty five oversight, which is, like, the the oversight occurs all year long. And then we have our annual oversight visit that usually occurs in in and around
spring, but we do prepare for about a month or two earlier earlier than that. And it's at that point in the spring if you see any issues with their governance, fiscal, any of that. Is that when you you can still make a recommendation for can you take back the renewal at that point or you do what do we do if we start to see a trend where it's not moving forward? So, essentially, one mechanism if there was an issue at the oversight, it could result in any lower score on that on that area on their oversight report.
So we do issue a score of one, two, three, four, in the four different areas. So that's one way. Another, mechanism, if we identify an issue that's, something that's of concern or potentially we identify it as something that's, against their petition or against the law, we do have what's called tiered intervention. And that's where we, can issue a notice to cure, a notice, a notice of concern, get a response back, evaluate it, and then continue to monitor.
So those are the mechanisms throughout, throughout the term that we use because it's very important because at the renewal time, we evaluate that school over the course of the entire term. And so we will look at all if there was any oversight scores that were, you know, a two or a one. We look at if any notices were issued and make sure those issues are resolved. And so those review of all that information we do at the renewal time. So it's very important.
And so we do that analysis of all of that. We take all of that into consideration, essentially, when we come with the recommendation. Got it. Thank you. Well, Carla, that renewal time is five years. Correct? The renewal time is five years for us, middle performing schools. So next year, when you renew them and everything is great, except they've made no changes to the fiscal betterment, what happens then? I think we'll have to assess at that time, what happens then. We will have some additional Alliance schools coming for renewal next year.
We have a big group of schools coming for renewal next year. And so we'll see during that renewal cycle where the school is at as far as these issues and make a recommendation based on all the information we have at that time. Are we talking about this school or new No. Not this school. I'm talking about this school. Oh, this school this school will be renewed for they have a five year term and we'll do our oversight during that term, through the during the five years. And after the first year of renewing and you find that fiscal has not made any betterment? We'll continue to monitor, and it may result in in impact their oversight score and
or, issue a tiered intervention. If it's significant enough, there is that I said for the revocation piece that you can move towards revocation of a charter dura term if it's significant enough. And there's certain processes in place to do that. But we we will but typically speaking, we monitor through our oversight process and our tier intervention, and charter schools, are usually able to meet what we request as far as, as far as the, interventions we requested.
Okay. Thank you. Go ahead, Tanya. I hope some of these questions will be helpful for future, because I just wanna say kudos. This school doesn't have any benchmarks, and that's not true for all that are being recommended for five year renewal terms for, today's agenda. So, I also just wanna say kudos for taking a really brave decision that I would encourage our board to really think about. You know, it's on our fiscal stabilization plan, so we equally are in, like, a tricky situation with money. And you all have actually closed a school with community conversation over years of discussion, and we have it on a plan and have made no movement towards actually doing
that for next year or the year after. And so, you know, I would hope that we honestly take some opportunities to learn from folks who have done some of these, really brave decisions, because I fear that we're not gonna do it. And then our fiscal stabilization plan is not gonna be 1,600,000,000.0, but might be 2,000,000,000 or 2.6 or 3,000,000,000. Right? We we also have a lot to do around our own financial challenges. And so I think on the bargaining and on the fiscal concerns, sounds like you all are in a very similar situation that we are. And then so I just wanna, you know, express some empathy for you all. And on this school, this item and the next one in particular, it's very easy
to me to see why CSD is recommending a five year renewal. Charlotte? I appreciate you bringing that up, Tanya. I was gonna ask, I know it's not this school, but you mentioned that a school was closed. And what was the actually determining factor for that? Is it anything similar to what we are experiencing right now with this school as far as the similar financial? Was it, I mean, a middle school, performing school? Anything similar to where you can kinda foreshadow to kinda see Sure. As you made your decision?
Sure. So I I wanna clarify one thing before I jump into that question, which is the the loss on real estate, the investment in the HRIS, those types of things, they are not specific, to Lake Milim Dean or, in fact, any one Alliance site. The the Baxter sale, the loss on that building, was at the network level. So those investments, while to the benefit of the schools, are not are not occurring, with school funds. With respect to the to the two sites that were closed in the 2021, we were in a position where those schools had had, long term enrollment challenges.
They were in a place where, the revenues generated, by the number of of scholars attending were insufficient to provide, for the quality education that we believe that those communities deserved. We had conversations with communities, with staff, to assess our options, to think through, how best to address. We make, investments in those sites that are struggling, but ultimately, we reached, a point where we did not feel like it was in the best income of that community and the scholars and families that we were serving to continue to operate that site. And one of the big drivers, of course, is enrollment.
And so when we hit a threshold below a certain enrollment cap, we begin to have those conversations with the community and we try to figure out what is the way to cause the least harm to kids and to adults. So, like, for example, Tenenbaum, we offered all Tenenbaum staff to move to the Lightman Levine's, site and then offered a pathway towards that to ensure that we're really trying to merge the two school communities and not do, to limit the harm as much as possible. And so but that did as, board member Ortiz Franklin no mentioned, it takes multiple
multiple years of having those conversations to be able to achieve that. Thank you. Else? Okay. Alright. Here's the vote on tab 13, miss Newbill. Yes. Doctor Rivas. Yes. Mister Melboin? Yes. Miss Griego? Yes. Miss Gomez? Miss Ortiz Franklin? Yes. Board president Schmirelson? Before I vote, let me just tell you that I think the state is doing a disservice by making five or nothing. That's really bad, but it's not their fault. It's not their fault. It's our fault in the state, so I'll vote yes. Okay. That's six yeses.
Oh, student board member Yang? Yes. That's good. Since the same folks, I think, are involved in the next item this is a renewal petition for Alliance Morgan Mackenzie High does the board have further comment on, on tab 14? No. I I asked my questions. They were the same as the previous ones. So Okay. Same comments. Okay. So there's no further discussion on tab 14. We do have a public comment associated with tab 14. Do you wish to be heard on the public comment? We have our voice. Okay. Okay. So, I'm gonna read the names real fast to make sure we didn't miss anybody
who signed up to give an alternate viewpoint, and then, oh, yeah. We can move. I'll move it. Moved by mister Malvoine and a second by I'll move it. Second by miss Newbel. Thank you. Appreciate it. Alright. An Angie Sepulveda So to, Joe Glasser, Jorge Reyes, Pablo v. I see you out there. Araceli Casperez, Emily Alvarado, Tiffany Wilson, Ruben Escalante, Justine Gonzalez, David Locke.
I see you. Rosa Mendez, mister Stewart. I see her out there. Ariel Sierra, Remedio Carascos, and Mariana Martinez. Okay. We have a motion and a second, voting on tab 14 approval of the renewal petition of Alliance. Morgan McKenzie. Oh, yes. I asked that. Okay. This is the same as for the other school. Again, having a cash flow problem, having to be monitored by the, charter school division.
Again, it's five or nothing for this one too, and I think that's very unfair. But thank you for letting me speak. K. Time for vote on tab 14. Miss Newbill? Yes. Doctor Rivas? Yes. Mister Melboy? Yes. Miss Griego? Yes. Miss Gones? And miss Ortiz Franklin? Yes. Board president Schmirelson? Yes. Yes. Yes. And student board member Yang? Yes. Okay. That's, six yeses. As folks make their way out from those two tabs, if you're still here, we have general public comment was supposed to start at 03:30. Here it is, 04:25 p.
M. We can take general public comment or continue with business items. Okay. So that was thirteen and fourteen are done. We're going to move to Tab 19. All right. I believe there's a presentation for Tab 19. Come on up for the presentation. You can advance your slides on the button on the podium. Was Rhonda Baldenegro here to make the presentation? Outside of the Ah, okay. Yes, we're going to do public comment. Okay. So we're gonna begin shortly on the the Gabriela folks. Make your way down. Find a place to sit. There's some seats upstairs.
If you know you're gonna be making public comment and you signed up for this item, please stay down here, and don't seat yourselves upstairs. Okay. We're gonna move forward with this item, number 19. Come on up. Your presentation is ready. We have two minutes for this portion, and then we'll go into the public comment and then discussion. Yeah. Let's go for it. Good afternoon, board members and superintendent Carvallo. My name is Rhonda Baldenegro, and I've had the privilege of serving as the executive director at Gabriela Charter Schools for just over two years.
I'm proud to lead this organization and to see our students learn, grow, and thrive each day in such a joyful school. First, we want to thank you for your staff's recommendation for renewal, which we're honored to receive after more than a decade of strong performance and mostly accomplished ratings in our annual oversight reports. Second, it's important to note that while we did have a cost dispute with the district, we worked closely with district staff to reach settlement terms. We've made a significant payment and placed additional funds in escrow as a gesture of
good faith. I'm grateful we've reached an agreement and can now move forward together for students. Our facilities partnership began over fifteen years ago when then local superintendent Richard Alonzo invited Gabriela to bring our dance program to EchoPark. Since then, we've become part of LA Unified's fabric, a small school where students learn, dance, and succeed every day. Our alumni have gone on to high schools, colleges, and careers as educators, performers, and civic leaders, carrying the passion and joy they first discovered at Gabriela, with many of
them coming back to work or volunteer at our school. We have a twenty year track record of strong results. Like many schools, we faced post pandemic shifts, new staff, students, and learning gaps, and we're meeting those challenges head on. In the past six months, we've adopted a new ELA curriculum, invested in coaching and deep professional development for our instructional team, and refined supports for our English learners and students with disabilities. At our core, Gabriela is an LA Unified story, invited for the strength of our
program, embraced by EchoPark families for two decades, and committed to helping every student grow. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Okay. Now, we've got 15 folks signed up for public comment. Patricia Gonzales, come on up. We'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Good afternoon, members of the board and superintendent of, mister Carvallo. My name is Patricia Gonzales, and I am the proud mom of two students at Gabriela Charter School. In just two years, Gabriela has become more than a school for us.
It's become a family. After the pandemic, many of us realized something deeply important, that emotions play a fundamental part in learning. When our older son, Miguel, first came to Gabriela, he was very shy. He was falling behind and losing his confidence in learning. But here, surrounded by teachers who believe in him, with programs that have sparked his curiosity like robotics, dance, and rock band, Miguel has found his true passions. He is now more engaged, motivated, and excited about learning.
Our younger son, Leon, had a gentle start thanks to his loving kinder teacher who led with love, supporting him both socially and academically. He is now a confident reader, a dancer, and a good friend. He walks happily into school every day, and that joy is priceless. We are now living in a world that feels divided and uncertain, but our school is reminding our children that courage, kindness, and creative thinking can build a better future.
Gabriela isn't just teaching academics. It's shaping compassionate, confident human beings. After twenty years, Gabriela is still a true asset to Los Angeles, and I respectfully ask for your continued support of our school. Thank you. Thank you very much. John Ciafoni. On behalf of John Chiafone, the science teacher at Loake Academy, I'm here today to speak about our school's urgent need for more space, specifically the space to build a dedicated science lab. Right now, we don't have one, which means students miss out on many hands on
experiences that make science come alive. Imagine trying to learn to cook without a kitchen. That's how our students feel. They often ask, when are we getting a real science lab? And why don't we have a real science lab? We do our best to create lab style lessons in a classroom, but true science takes space and time to test, observe, and explore safely. On behalf of our students and staff, I ask that you cancel the Gabriela contract and provide Logan the space to create a true science lab so every student can experience authentic hands on science learning.
Chris Higgleston, Logan Athletics. We are not meeting standards. Instructional minutes are lost every day due to the constraints put upon Logan by being a collocated school. Every day when I tell the students PE is over, they respond with, that's it, before the long march back to a sad excuse for a changing room. We don't have a locker room. We don't have a gym. We don't have a weight room. On inclement weather days like today, we have nowhere to put kids, so we have to march them up to a classroom, and they sit for an additional period. And this is just PE.
Our middle school lacks the space to offer any electives and classes. We are failing to give Logan students the holistic education given to so many other LAUSD students. All of this because of some unicorn of a contract that says Gabriela is entitled to x number of spaces or rooms and space for thirty years. There's nothing Logan or LAUSD can do about it. Instead of me having to ask DonorsChoose for gym mats so my students don't have to sit on the ground outside the cafeteria, we should be getting the space we deserve to hold proper classes.
The nearly million dollars they owed would have gone a long way, but we never saw a dime. And, yes, they say, we just paid you back. We're sorry. But in education, we all know the difference between being sorry and being sorry you got caught. Give Logan back our canvas. Thank you, sir. Next is Lydia Lopez. Okay. Hi. Good afternoon, superintendent Carvalho and members of the LAUSD board. My My name is Lydia Lopez, and I'm a proud alumni of Gabriela Charter School. I'm here today to strongly support the renewal of Gabriela Charter School. The education I received at Gabriela laid the foundation for everything that came after.
As a first generation college student, my parents didn't know all the options available to me available to me for high school, and I never imagined some of those opportunities were even possible. Thankfully, miss Solague, my sixth grade teacher who is here with us today, saw my potential and cared deeply about my future. She encouraged me to apply to private high schools, options that I had never even considered. That guidance opened the doors I never thought I could reach and eventually led me to pursue my bachelor's degree out of state in achievement that once felt impossible. The rigorous academic preparation I received at Gabriella combined with the encouragement and high expectations
of its teachers and staff gave me the confidence to aim high. It helped me earn a master's degree from Columbia University and shaped the path I am on today. Gabriela also nurtured my creativity and confidence towards dance program. Dance taught me discipline, expression, and courage. That confidence I built in the dance studio translated directly into the confidence in the classroom, empowering me to ask questions, take the risk, and believe in its abilities. Beyond personal growth, the dance program also created a strong sense of community. The end of year recital was something our families and students look forward to every
year. It brought us together to celebrate our hard work, creativity, and shared pride of being part of Gabriela. Beyond academics, Gabriela inspired a genuine love for learning and a sense of purpose. It inspired me to pursue a career in education with the hope of giving back and creating the same transformative experiences for future generations that I was so lucky to have. Gabriella Charter School is not just a school. It's a vital community institution that equips students with the skills, values, and confidence they need to strive. I respectfully urge you to renew Gabriela Charter School so it can continue its essential
work of preparing future learners and inspiring lifelong learning. Thank you so much for your time and consideration. Thank you for your time. Antavious Ellison. Come on, Daniel. Two minutes to speak. Why don't you begin? Good afternoon, members of the board and superintendent Carballo. My name is Antavious Ellison. I am the assistant director of dance education at Gabriela Charter School located in Echo Park, a community that is rich in artistry and cultural influence. At Gabriela Charter School, dance and arts are the universal language that brings together our students, staff, and families, which transcends our language barriers and our diverse cultures.
GCS one is a rare gem, being one of the only dance based charter schools in our country, and it is this unique gem that was built in the spirit of Gabriela, the daughter of founder Liza whose passion for dance inspires everything that we do. It is that same spirit that runs deep into each and every one of our students as well as the arts teachers that serve them. For many of our students in our community, Gabriela Charter School is the first and only town where they had opportunities to explore dance and the arts. One student in particular who was in that picture in which we've seen recently has
been with our school since kindergarten all the way through eighth grade. This student has experienced a lot of traumatic upbringings within his life, and this has been an opportunity in which he has used art to allow his own transformative healing. And not only that, it was remarkable is the fact that his behavior and his sense of purpose has also improved because of that. This is a testament of what dance has done for this student as well as many other young boys of color, navigating the realities of growing up in communities that often lack access to resources and safe space for expression.
Dance has become their anchor, and more importantly, it has become their healing. And so with that, I've had students parents have mentioned to me that my student has made a huge turnaround from the last year, and not only his attitude, but his confidence as well. I know that this experience has been inspiring for him at a pivotal point in his life. Thank you again and your team at GCS for making a difference one dance step at a time. This is a testament to GCS' role in our community. It has given our students agency to reimagine a future filled with infinite possibilities. And it is especially during these times where artistic expression is needed more now than
ever for our youth. Thank you so much. Thank you for your time. Stephanie Piazza. Good afternoon. I yield my time to Fernando. Good afternoon, LAUSD board members. My name is Fernando Maylon, and it's an honor to speak about Gabriela Charter School, a place that has meant so much to me. I started my journey as an instructional aide, worked my way up into the classroom to become a seventh grade math and science teacher. And now I'm currently a resource specialist teacher, providing our students the tools and strategies necessary to succeed in the classroom and beyond.
For more than ten years, I've had the privilege of watching this school this school change lives every single day. Our mission has always been clear, to use the power of dance and education to inspire, empower students to reach their fullest potential, not just in the classroom, but in life. At Gabriela Charter School, we believe that every child deserves the opportunity to discover their voice, their confidence, and their purpose. Through this unique dance school, our students learn more than movement. They learn discipline, teamwork, perseverance, and self expression.
Those same lessons translate into every part of their academic journey. They learn the success isn't about perfection, it's about persistence and passion. I've seen students who once struggled to believe in themselves, step onto the stage, and shine with pride. I've seen shy uncertain children grow into confident young leaders who take the same confidence into high school, college, and beyond. Many of our alumni returned to tell us how Gabriela gave them not just an education, but a foundation for life. A belief that they can achieve anything through hard work and heart.
The impact of this school is not measured by only test scores or performances. It's measured by the countless lives our school has touched with every with our very special and small community. I'm proud to have spent over a decade being part of this incredible community, one that truly changes lives through dance, education, and love. Thank you guys for your time. Thank you for your time. Liza Versovici, Liza b. And then after Liza is Fernando Magallon. Hi. Good evening, board members. I'm ceding my time to GCS alumna, Leila Singh. Good afternoon.
My name is Leila Kuroda Tsang, and I'm here today to express my full support for the renewal of Gabriela Charter School. As a proud alumni of GCS, I can confidently say that this school has shaped my education, taught me to appreciate and respect minorities, transform my life in ways that I will carry with me forever. During the nine years I've spent at Gabriela, I've grown not only as a student, but as an artist and an individual. This school's focus on the arts, especially in dance, gave me the opportunity to discover my passion at a very young age. With the guidance of incredible teachers and mentors, they taught me the power of discipline,
embracing different cultures with creative freedom, the resilience needed to overcome challenges all while maintaining a deep connection towards the arts. Bringing this foundation with me through my journey, I've trained and performed with companies such as American Ballet Theater, Alvin Ailey, and have had the privilege of attending institutions such as Los Angeles County High School for the Arts and University of the Arts London. Today, I'm continuing my dance career as an artist, choreographer, and educator whilst also pursuing real estate to grow my portfolio, all thanks to the confidence and support I've gained
from the community at GCS. Gabriela Charter School is more than just a school. It is a safe space where students have a place to grow, express themselves, and discover their passion. This impact the impact the school has had on me is something I would like to share and pass on to younger future generations as students can also have the same life changing experiences that I did. Thank you so much for your time and support of Gabriella Charter School. Thank you for your time. Fernando? Oh, you just spoke. That's great. Yeah. So I yield my time to Angelica. Oh, is it Angelica Solis? Okay. Good afternoon, board members.
My name is Angelica Solis. I have the honor of serving at Gabriela Charter Schools. I'm also a proud parent of two Gabriela students. My daughter, Camila, is in fourth grade. My son, Samuel, is in second grade. When I first joined the board, I was drawn to Gabriela's vision of of a school where joy, creativity, rigorous academics, and family engagement work hand in hand to help every child thrive. Years later, when it came time to choose a school for my own children, there was no question where I wanted them to be. I had seen firsthand the strength of the governance, the dedication of our educators, and
the intentional culture that honors the whole child. As a parent, I've experienced what that looks like up close. Gabriela has been a place where my children are not only learning, but where they're seen, supported, and celebrated. When my son began receiving services through his individual education plan, including speech therapy and social emotional support, I witnessed the school's deep commitment to ensuring that every student has what they need to succeed. In fact, nearly a quarter of Gabriela's students have IEPs.
And the school has exceeded its I Ready growth goals in both English language arts and math for these students. But what's just as powerful is that starting in fourth grade, students are invited to have a voice in their own IEPs to understand their goals and advocate for themselves. That's empowerment in action. Gabriela represents what's possible when equity, excellence, and joy live together in a public schools. It's a model that not only changes outcome, but it changes lives. I'm a proud member of the Gabriela School Board, and I'm proud to send my
children to this school. It's a community that embodies everything that I believe in public education should be, joyful, rigorous, and deeply caring. Thank you for considering the renewal of Gabriela. Thank you for your time. Leah Millman. Leah. Good afternoon. My name is Leah Millman. I'm a dual language teacher and former community school coordinator at Logan Academy. In my thirty years as an educator, I have never worked with a staff more deeply rooted in the community they serve. Because of that deep connection, we feel the inequities on our campus more than ever.
As a co located school, we face daily obstacles that make it harder to provide the equitable learning environment our students deserve. This strikes at the heart of the community schools model where equity is supposed to be the foundation. When we wrote our community schools application, we committed to listening to our interest holders. Our community needs access to arts enrichment, science, sports, technology, and electives, but we don't have the space. This is not what equity looks like, and it's not just a logistical problem.
It's a systemic one. Colocation is not an effective way to manage space. It is an actively harmful practice that forces schools to compete for the very resources students need to thrive. Please vote no on renewing Gabriela's contract. Our students deserve the full promise of a community school, not a compromised one. Thank you. I yield the rest of my time. Good afternoon. My name is Cheryl Ortega. I'm a UTLA board member, and I'm a twenty year former teacher at Logan.
I was here in this room fifteen years ago and ten years ago to make the same complaints that I'm here to make today. They have not been resolved. When Gabriela arrived, they appropriated our auditorium. They filled it with multiple desks, chairs, lamps, flags, flowers, plants, all kinds of things. But due to Logan parent protests, those things were removed quickly. The colocation plan resulted, among other things, in a speech pathologist giving classes to children in a closet. A small closet with no windows was the speech lab.
May I continue? Well, there was only forty seconds left on the initial speaker's time when you when you began. Well, I'm I I will just say it's not about complaining about Gabriela doing an excellent job. It's that Logan is prevented from doing the same excellent job because the space isn't there to provide the, the, the the the place for it. Thank you for your time. Suleima Martinez. I'm gonna split my time with, with the okay. Okay. Hold on. I'm a proud parent of two children at Logan. I'm concerned for their education.
For the past few years, my then middle school daughter was not able to have a healthy middle school experience. The stress from not having PE changing rooms, locker rooms, a gym, and having limited space had an effect on her and her classmates. There's no rooms that can be used for activities outside of the already used classrooms. I am also a proud parent volunteer and many parents and the coordinator have created a strong community. And being that we are a title one and community school, there's so much that we can offer the community and our children, like computer lab, science lab, dance room,
art room, a health center, not a health cart, but there's not enough rooms to build something that we can only dream of. And that dream can come true if you all revoke Gabriela's contract and or have them abide by Prop 39. Established in the eighteen hundreds, Logan has a rich history in the community. And last week, mister Carvalho acknowledged those Logan's academic improvement at a press conference. Gabriela has thirty year contract like no other in LAUSD, Had over $900,000 in debt over many years, robbing LAUSD students and Logan community, and raises serious financial financial concerns.
Thank you. Okay. So I have, some Please use the mic. You have the time. You have the time. I'm too oh. Don't you go ahead. Just speak. You got about forty five seconds. No rush. Just it's okay. Thank you so much for, giving me the time. I would like to talk a little bit about the church use, agreement that for the past five years haven't been, negotiated because Gabriela has refused to work with our principal. She they just did it, this year, but because they have to renew and they
they wanna look good. They they gave a 100, $800,000, check, and they, work with the principal to with the to to to write the the new share agreement, but because they needed to renew, not because they they really want it from their heart. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Go renew the contract. Roxana Eagleston Rangel. We have some envelopes. I'll come get the envelopes. Come on down, miss Eagleston Rangel.
You have two minutes to speak. Why don't you begin? Hello. Members of the LAUSD Board of Education, my name is Roxanna Eggleston Rangel, and I've been part of the Gabriela Charter School community for since 02/2015. When my daughter Mia was ready for kindergarten, we were searching for a different option than our local school, but we couldn't afford a private education. That's when we discovered GCS. And I have to say that that changed everything for us. Mia attended GCS from kindergarten all the way through eighth grade. Today, she's a thriving sophomore at LAUSD John Marshall High School.
She's enrolled in honors AP classes. She swims for play LA and for the Marshall team. She volunteers to support women in need. GCS gave her not only the academic from the foundation for that, but also the confidence to succeed. I also have a son, David. David, he started transitional kindergarten at GCS while Mia was in eighth grade. Around that time, he was also diagnosed with autism and faced significant challenges with emotional regulation. Mornings were incredible.
They were very difficult, filled with tears and resistance, But with the consistent and also the compassionate support of his teachers and the entire GCS community, David has made remarkable progress. Today, he looks forward to going to school. He has friendships. He finds joy in learning and he's also dancing alongside his peers. I'm deeply grateful for GCS for walking with our family every step of the way. It truly takes a village to raise a child. And for us, for my family, that village is Gabriela Charter School.
Thank you for your time, your service, and also for your continued support, for schools like Gabriela Charter that believe in every child's schools like Gabriela Charter that believe in every child's potential. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Mijo Morai. And then after Mijo is Chiomara Quaresma. Okay. Oh, she she's gonna go first library, whereas the other school has two or three
different rooms in their own. So please don't sign your real art contract because every school needs a dignified space for the students. Thank you. Grader who's in the dual language program at Logan Academy. I chose Logan because it's a small, safe environment for my daughter with autism, and it was one of the only two dual language programs in Regent East for grades t k through eighth grade. Little did I know that Gabriela Charter School was co located here. Because of the lack of space, Logan only has one special special day class for
students in grades three through five. These are con there are concerns that it may not even exist next year since the district is moving towards full include inclusion. Full inclusion does not work for all students, and parents have the right to choose which schools that the variety of programs that work for their unique child. What disturbs me the most, however, is that I recently found out that Gabriela Charter in EchoPark owed LASD nearly a million dollars in facilities charges for the use of our campus. While they have recently paid back most of what they owed, what is concerning is the lack of oversight that this board had over the significant debt spanning over several
years. How did this happen? It is because Gabriela charters the only school that has a special thirty year contract with the district that allows them to not adhere to prop 39. Not only is this unfair, but it circumfests their financial obligations to the district, which naturally affects our students. Therefore Thank you. Gabrielle's contract must be revoked. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your time. Okay. Next speaker is Xiomara Juarezma. Hi. Ziomar is a parent at Trinity Elementary School. She had to leave to, go pick up her babies.
So I'm speaking on her behalf. She left her comment, and she's been organizing parents over at Trinity who also shares campus with, Gabriela. So, Trinity is experiencing a loss of space and opportunity due to the colocation. Trinity has lost critical classroom space, including kindergarten, first grade, and, special education. Meanwhile, Gabriela Charter has expanded to a full k through 12.
They've experienced the rosin of school identity. We're losing our school culture, our history, and our role as a cornerstone in South Central. We have ongoing safety concerns. They're, not abiding by their shared use agreement. They're dropping off middle school students during the middle of class time, which has been disruptive. There's no communication or accountability between the Gabriela staff and Trinity staff. There's been a high impact on morale, with educators and with, students.
So, our ask is especially to board members to consider, counseling the colocation at Trinity, and each of you guys, have received a copy of the petition. Xiomara has gotten over a 140 parents calling on them to restore, their k through 12 and special education classes back at Trent B. And I'll share it with you. Thank you for your Good afternoon, members and superintendent. I'm here basically just to support basically what everybody else said about Gabriela. We're not here to criticize, just like miss Ortega said.
We're not here to criticize their skills and what they do. But we are here to ask for our space back for Logan because our students are being underserviced for lack of space. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your time. And then we've got Leila Tsang. Leila T. Come on down. You have two minutes to speak once you begin. I yield no time to Liza. Good evening, board members. I'm Liza Bercovici. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak tonight. As some of you know, Gabriela Charter School, sorry, was founded in memory of my
daughter, Gabriella, who I lost who passed away at the age of 13, twenty six years ago. Gabri loved to dance. And in her memory, we first started a dance program for children who couldn't otherwise afford the cost of dance classes. That program continues to thrive twenty six years later and to serve hundreds of Los Angeles children. The wonderful families that I met as part of the dance program persuaded me that
we should open a charter school based on the same principles that animated our dance program, quality instruction and high expectations for our children. Gabriella Charter School opened in 02/2005. Three years later, at the behest and urging of then local superintendent Richard Alonzo, we forged a partnership with LAUSD and relocated to our current site in Echo Park, where we are today. I think Richard, Richard Alonzo, believed that our eighth grade graduates would be excellent feeder
students to the nascent LAUSD High School for the Arts, which was about to open. And sure enough, over the years we have sent numerous children, numerous students, excuse me, and alums to both, Cortinas high school as well as the LA County high school for the arts. Since we opened in 02/2005, we've faced the occasional bump in the road. But by and large, we have seen our children flourish and our families succeed.
None of that is ever going to mitigate the loss of my child, which is a loss that will always be with me. But as one parent said to me just before I retired, I think I think your daughter would be proud of you. Thank you for your time. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you. And thank you for allowing us to continue our partnership with LAUSD and to serve so many wonderful children and families. Thank you. Okay. That concludes public comment on the item.
The item is now up for discussion amongst the board. Okay. I'll start. Yeah. Go ahead. K. So today before us, I will be making some comments that are in relation to not only their renewal but also their multiuse agreement because they go hand in hand as to the benchmarks that were placed in the renewal, which was actually very unusual. It's never been seen before to see these two types of benchmarks in a renewal.
So, what you have heard here, from Logan is that before us is not a standard prop 39 colocation agreement. This is a multiyear, multiuse agreement that has operated outside the normal Prop 39 parameters we apply to every other colocating charter school. From the very beginning, this arrangement has been unusual, inconsistent, and inequitable. And my comments and my, my questions are directly connected to the renewal.
So the this Charter Renewal is about a school that is co located at Logan Academy, Global Ecology of Global Ecology. Can, miss Marlon Milmar, can you, my first question, can you describe the agreements of for a typical collocation under Prop 39? What are the agreements that are established on a typical agreement? Well, good evening now. Well, one thing I would say for a typical Prop 39, it's an annual process. That's one piece of it.
So, basically on an annual basis, charters submit their request, it has its analysis and then space is offered. So that's one part of the if you want to call the more typical Prop 39 process. And for shared use agreements also? Yes. Shared use agreements are also, worked out between the district principal and the charter, principal as in the Prop 39 process. On a yearly basis? They don't On a year. Until two or three or five years.
On a yearly basis. Okay. So stay there. I have more questions. So the Gabriella. Okay. No. Actually, can look. This collocation is not typical. So instead of district and Gabriela Who have the multiyear agreement. Can you describe this multiyear agreement between Gabriela and the district? And what is the duration of this agreement? And how long is it for? Or this is probably for you or lawyers? Or I would defer that to, Mr. Ryerson to talk to the multiyear colocation agreement. Good afternoon.
Nate Ryerson, Office of General Counsel. Good afternoon. So you want me to repeat the question? Yes, please. Yes. Can you describe this multiyear agreement between Gabriela and the district? What is the duration of the agreement? How long is it for? And how would you characterize this agreement? So the term of the agreement, being a multiyear agreement, it is in in existence for the duration of the charters charter school's existing charter. And if the charter is renewed, then the term of the agreement is renewed as well for the same amount of time. We did hear thirty years.
Is that something that is up to thirty years or around till the renewal we did hear a num a year of thirty years? It is to be consistent with the duration of the Of the renewed charter term. Charter. Okay. Thank you. So really quickly, I this agreement is unique, would you say? Yes. So for the benefit of the public, then correct me if I'm wrong, about some of the key terms of the agreement, automatic continuity, the agreement extends automatically with any charter renewal rather than requiring a new annual facilities allocation, Exclusive and share, premises.
Gabriela has this designated exclusive use of classrooms, shared use of common spaces like the playground, multipurpose rooms, and other spaces. Financial commitments. Gabriela is obligated to pay a pro rata share of operations, maintenance, oversight, and insurance costs to the district, with nonpayment subject to direct deductions. Some corrections to that. Okay. One is the exclusive use premises that the charter school occupies is static over successive years. The shared use agreement is an annually negotiated, document that is negotiated between the co
located administrators and is subject to change on an annual basis. The, pro rata share, the facilities related costs that the charter school pays, is is, related to Prop 39, single year colocation type of agreements. There are some deductions for the exclusive use premises that the charter school occupies. And in the shared premises, the charter school pays the same amount that the, quote, unquote, traditional co located charter schools would pay. And there are the are there are there broader privileges? Like, the agreement provides, fix unusual flexibility for third party use, filming, community access, privileges
not typically afforded in a Prop 39 colocation? There are provisions in the agreement related to filming, civic center, etcetera. I'd have to go back and do a, you know, a line by line comparison between the two types of agreements to see what the specific differences might be. But I know that there is language in the multiyear agreement relating to, to filming and civic center, etcetera. So why did the district and Gabriella enter enter into such an agreement? How is it that Gabriella Charter got this sweet deal?
I it it predates definitely my time at the district. We've heard public comment from folks who may have been, in involved in those negotiations, and so I'd have to defer to them. I was not here to be able to to share the the origin story, so so to speak. But from your knowledge or any background of of the origin of the multi use agreement, do you recall anything? I just understand that it was a mutually agreed upon arrangement between district leadership and Gabriela leadership, that had these unique terms. And is this the only agreement that is in existence for all collocated, charter schools?
We we have lots of different types of agreements, for collocated charter schools. We have, single year collocation charter schools under Prop 39. We have sole occupant agreements. We have leases. We have public school choice facilities agreements as well. So there are various different ways that charter schools occupy district facilities. And for this multiuse agreement, is this it does not fall fall under the Prop 39 sort of agreement or parameters that are set? The the original basis for the charter school, or the the multiyear agreement indicates that,
it is pursuant to Prop 39. It is part of Prop 39. That's what the recital state. So this multiyear agreement really sets Gabriela Charter School apart from other, I mean, co located schools because it does stipulate, in the agreement that they have to do a shared use agreement, you know, do that with the school on an annual basis. Have they been doing that consistently since they started? The the agreement does require the annual shared use agreement. There have been a lot of challenges over about the last half decade in, in
negotiating a mutually agreed upon shared use agreement. Pursuant to, discussions between the District and Gabriela over the recent weeks and months, all of the past shared use agreement, terms and conditions have been mutually agreed to. So they are all caught up. And for the 2526 school year, there is an executed shared use agreement as well. What were some of those challenges as to why the shared use agreements were not, you know, finalized on an annual basis? There were probably a host host of different reasons. They they originate, as local school site challenges.
And the district, you know, I I'm in office of general counsel. It usually doesn't elevate to, something that has to involve the attorneys, until later on. But in my observation, there were challenges about agreements as to what spaces each of the respective colocated, schools would occupy, what those schedules would look like, etcetera. I have here a document that says that, from the outset after principal Rooney, who was the principal at at Logan when this agreement was signed, which is an agreement
in 02/2009, the charter school did not annually sign the shared use agreement. The first shared use agreement was signed by principal Rooney in 2011 and 02/2012, which is two years after the execution of this agreement, between the parties. And after that, the next executed share use agreement was in 02/2019 and 2019 to 02/2020. So there, it was not it it was it was part of their agreement of their their their multiuse agreement that they have to do an annual, but they never
did since the beginning. At least that's what I have here for a document. Okay. It's it's my understanding that there are, multiple additional executed shared use agreements for the years that you're referencing. So I don't know that that statement would be true in its entirety. This actually comes from the district. This is a document from 2023, from the district itself. Okay. Okay. I I don't know the origin of that of that document, but I can tell you I have seen, shared use agreements that have been executed for additional years in the time frame that you referenced. So the next questions are so this is in regards to fiscal soundness.
So that was the context of the prop 39. So these are my concerns in regards to the renewal. First of all, there's fiscal unsoundness. So Gabriella Charter recently made an agreement to pay approximately one to one one point two, million payment just before the renewal with the $800, $800,000 check and at least 250 placed in escrow. Why didn't, did they pay earlier, like like, in 02/2019? Why is it now that all of a sudden within a month or so, they
paid $800,000, which was owed years back? As a as a initial point of clarification, I don't believe they agreed to pay $1,200,000 they agreed to pay the $800,000 and deposit $250,000 into escrow. Right. So there's $802,150 in escrow. Yes. Yeah. And, potentially, it could be more because it's still under contention. It's still been allocated as to what they will continue to owe. That's correct. Yes. So the District and Gabriella have disagreed, and they've been in a dispute as to the amount of money that that Gabriella owes.
They had been paying a monthly amount. The District, made the contention that the amount that they were paying was inadequate and that they actually owed more. The charter school disagreed. A legal dispute was initiated and has been going through the dispute resolution process to address those issues. And part of the agreement, it says that the parties agree that the statute of limitations to collect or, dispute any amounts due in owing on this agreement shall be four years from the date. So have these disputes and how much they owe past four years?
The there are some amounts over the totality of the years that are beyond the statute of limitations. There are other amounts that are timely. The district has collected some of those amounts, and the district and the charter school have signed a tolling agreement with respect to the remaining, unresolved claims to preserve their respective rights and defenses. So it's it's interesting that all of a sudden an $8,800,000 check just appeared when they owed this money. Why didn't they pay it earlier? I know you said they were in disputes.
So is this money that was in reserves? They didn't take out a loan for this money. So how did this money just appear and just paid in full? I would have to defer to the charter school division's oversight team in terms of, you know, the fiscal oversight to be able to address that question. I'm sorry. Can you repeat the question? They owed $800,000. Do you know how they came about this money so quickly to pay for this and also add 250,000 in an escrow account? I'm gonna defer to Lillian Lee as to their fiscal condition, but they have always
had a pretty strong fiscal condition overall. And so they were able to, pay the $800,000 and the $250,000 in the escrow based on their overall strong fiscal condition. But if you have maybe further questions, I can have Lillian Lee come up here as the fiscal administrator. In your report, and I'm gonna look for that, And mentions, on page 12, according to Gabriella Charter, the projected they have a net loss of 104 for a fiscal
year second interim primarily due to decline in average daily attendance, as well as a higher than expected substitute costs based on the charter schools review of the, based on the, charter school, district, department, excuse me, the review of the Granbella Charter on audit actuals submitted to district, the charter now projects a net income of 811 resulting in a net asset balance of 5,000,000. So they have a net loss, but at the same time, they have a balance.
So how can you explain that? Yes. Good afternoon. My name is Lillian Li. I'm the fiscal administrator in the charter school division. After the second interim, the, the Gabriel Charter actually reported 811,000 income, leading to a net positive net assets balance of $5,800,000. So they they have been financially healthy and they have met all the financial ratios during the chart, operated charter, about this district's recommended, threshold.
Despite, lo have losing enrollment since, 2020? That's correct. So they have maintained a balanced budget despite, decrease in enrollment.