all right good morning the time is now 11:03 on April 8th 2025 welcome to the regular meeting of the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education i'm going to take role and then we will jump right into the pledge of allegiance
miss Newell present dr rivas present mr meline here miss Grigo here miss Gomez here miss Ortiz Franklin uh board president Schmelson present and student board member Cortez Lopez present okay so
we'll go ahead and do the pledge of allegiance if we could cue that video the video is a little soft so as we're speaking the pledge we're going to focus on listening to the video as well but it's uh the sound isn't isn't super high so as soon as we get that going I don't think this young man tells us to stand
so let's go ahead and stand please i'm John and I'm in fifth grade i pledge to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic um
which stands one nation on its own indiv thank you very much that video comes from board district 1 all right it's uh 11:04 we're right on time board President's reports uh first we're going to go with labor partners uh
I believe Miss Nichols is out there and I would thank all of our labor partners for responding to the email that was sent out from my office requesting that labor partners keep their share to five minutes or less so Miss Nichols that um
I think I see you yes please come on up thank you don't rush don't rush so good morning esteemed superintendent board members wonderful to see all of you today uh I am the proud and relentless president of Ala Teamsters
Local 2010 and what I am going to be sharing with you today are voices from the field regarding a very needed and a very important funding source and programs to schools that do have a direct impact uh with services to our
students which is why we are all here to serve our students and ensure that we optimize their personal successes in each way that we can so today I want to talk to you a little bit about ELO funds i am getting a lot of emails and calls
regarding these funding sources even though very appreciated because schools do require these funds to be able to provide services for students but I wonder why there are these last minute decisions and expenditures that are
being sent out to schools that were sent out in February March hundreds of thousands of dollars to be spent during a very small window of time in addition administration administrators are asked to write additional plans
um and why are we asking to write additional plans if we have a school plan for student achievement that it delineates our goals objectives our actions in order to ensure that we have a plan to increase student achievement and decrease educational gaps why are we
asking folks to continue to write plans that seems to be a practice in our district you get money you have to write a plan in order to be able to spend the money so I ask you to please review
reconsider that and minimize double actions to decrease the workload at schools and begin to use the plan that takes a lot of time that explicitly speaks to the expenditures and the
alignment of goals and needs to meet the goals for student achievement in addition to that there's great frustration with extra duty pay we appreciate working in partnership with UTLA and our teachers who support these
ELOP programs after school on Saturdays we couldn't do the work without our teachers i also want to remind you that administrators were teachers first i was very proud teacher for 18 years before I moved out of the classroom and I loved it so we are teachers at heart
administrators teachers perform the service they get paid they get their hourly rate as they should because they're professionals no questions asked for a principal an administrator to get EDP they have to fill out the extra duty
pay form and in addition to that they have to now present additional documentation to justify the expenditures to the region with flyers and descriptions of the program and times and
dates i ask you to think of this practice as being is this fairing just is this showing professionalism to our folks if there is a concern with extra duty pay by all means as a previous director
of 10 years you need to follow that up and you need to use progressive discipline because that's fraudulent but let's presume good intentions and let's stop treating our administrators with such disrespect because that is
disrespectful especially if I'm coming in on a Saturday and I'm putting that on the EDP form that should be enough but in order for my folks to get EDP they have to jump through these hurdles because the EDP form is no longer
enough elo funds are being put out very very late it seems that the theme for ELO funds is we need to spend the money the district needs to spend this
money and it becomes this knee-jerk reaction and I ask myself why why the late notice where is the planning and foresight with the district leadership for its operational effectiveness and sustainable budget
sustainability and budget folks I was a director in a community of schools for almost 11 years I was a principal for about that long that's 22 years if I ran my school in this form of a lack of foresight operational
management and really negligent budgeting I probably wouldn't be here with you today and I ask the same accountability to this district i thank you for listening to me today
and I ask you to reflect on ELO funds and how these are coming out and the questions that I asked so that we have shared accountability thank you thank you for your time are there any other labor partners here no one reached out directly uh if there are please let me
know oh there you are come on up and you'll have five minutes to speak once you begin from CSEA hi welcome well good morning Grand Rising to everyone uh Leticia Fox chapter president Los Angeles 500 California
School Employees Association um yeah I would have set up in the front so you would have been able to see me much better but all the seats in the front are reserved we're coming up on May May the third week in May is classified
school employees week where we celebrate our classified employees this year as we had last year we will be having coffee cake and coffee in the building on May 19th that will be
the first day of classified school employees week oh and I I apologize uh good afternoon or good morning board presidentson superintendent Carvalo board members and guests on the
dis um now I'm time now so I just wanted to put that out i don't want anyone to forget to make this a part of the board agenda for next month um appreciating all classified employees and you may be
having a special day board members with some classified employees and uh that would be great i will also be sending to each board member our CSCA budget analysis at your budget retreat i heard
the uh CFO state that there has been an increase in classified hiring or there are a lot of classified employees teachers have gone down student enrollment has gone down but we have all of these classified employees um some of
you who sit on the dis you are classified employees if your job does not actually require you to have a California teaching credential and that position doesn't you are a classified
employee we will be celebrating you as well during classified school employees week so let's not make a decision on the classified employees who are the workerbees that we have in a lot of our
departments that are underst staffed and all come together to celebrate people who help children thank you thank you for your time are there
any other labor partners here today please come on up announce uh well I see it on your shirt i don't know if the TV can see it so please announce who you're here for and uh you'll have uh five minutes please go ahead thank you well I would just recommend adjusting the mic so we can hear you
perfect all right um good afternoon board members uh my name is Henry i'm a district intern and ELA teacher at Southeast High School um I'm here because Georgia Flowers um is yielding some of her time to me um in December my principal decided to
submit my name uh for non-reelection as a district employee i am here to ask you to resend and investigate my principal's decision as I believe it is discriminatory and biased against me as an openly transgender educator as a
district intern sorry I'm shaking i'm Is this I'm sorry is this a labor partner at this moment yes from which which Georgia Flowers Lee from UTLA so this is the UTLA's time yes that is what I was told okay go for it just making sure okay
yeah got it um as a district intern being non-reelected means I will not receive my credential at the end of this year and even with that at stake my greatest concern right now is my students on my campus i've raised repeated concerns about the hostility
our trans and queer students face on campus the principal has never followed up with me or the students about these concerns our school culture is not safe it is not welcoming and I refuse to accept that as a reality i am the only staff member on our campus who initiates
advocacy for our queer students for many of them school is the only safe space they need us to stand with them and empower them to stand for themselves so what do I tell my students when they ask me "Henry what's going to happen to us next year?" How do I tell them to trust their principal when the same person has
disregarded my identity misgendered and deadnamed me and raised his voice at me in front of another admin if I an openly queer adult am not safe on campus how can I assure my students that they will be safe to be clear this non-reelect is
not about my ability to be an effective teacher my principal has stated explicitly that his decision was not based on my past performance but rather his judgment of my future potential of course it's not my performance my evals have always met standards if I truly were ineffective I
wouldn't have all these letters of support from my community attesting to my work for equity and justice our students deserve quality education they deserve safe spaces on campus and they deserve adults who will advocate for them i refuse to stop speaking for them
i refuse to be bullied into silence i am asking you to reconsider the non-reelect and investigate the principal's lack of support for his queer educators and students i'm asking you to show my students that you stand with them i'm asking you to do the right thing not for
me but for my students who have always always deserved better thank you i yield the rest of my time to Miss Badur good morning board members my name is Lennena Badur i am the English department chair at Southeast High School and I am here to urge the board
to resend the non-reelection of my colleague Henry since joining Southeast three years ago Henry has demonstrated a deep passion for teaching and a commitment to improving our school culture his guidance as a GSA adviser and HRDE liaison has helped our LGBTQ
students feel heard valued and accepted over the last past two years Henry has been a visible and very vocal advocate empowering students to stand strong in their identities while also bringing to the attention of leadership the bullying and harassment of LGBTQ students on our
campus i believe the reason why I'm having to stand before you today is because of this advocacy for our students and his own trans visibility henry's dedication and commitment saw our GSA hold its first ever Pride event
last June this event brought together students families and local organizations creating a powerful moment of solidarity and support for our students however there was one person who was visibly absent during this event it is the very person who decided that
Henry should no longer teach for LUSD the principal a person who refuses to acknowledge the work that Henry has done and continues to do to make our campus more inclusive a person who has made no effort to address the incidences of harassment and bullying of our students
the only action he has taken is to try and silence their strongest advocate while others may continue the work Henry started it is his queer visibility and dedication that have made such a powerful impact on our campus so I asked the board today who will you listen to
the staff parents and students of Southeast High School or the principal who has continuously failed to address harassment and bullying i am again strongly urging you to reconsider the decision regarding Henry's non-reelection his contributions to Southeast High School have been
invaluable and I believe his continued presence is essential to our community's continued growth without Henry on our campus I fear that the progress we have made will be at risk thank you thank you for your time okay that concludes the
labor partners for today um do we have a uh we now go on to committee chair reports committee chairs um so the first one up is committee of the whole dr rivas yes thank you um committee of the whole met on March 18
2025 uh the committee heard a presentation titled California Teacher Pay Decades of Falling Behind by Dr sylvia Allegretto who discussed a significant wage gap affecting teacher recruitment and retention in the state
next uh we had a presentation from Rita Zworn Randall Willis and um Steve Bagmanian and um Dr tony White presented on jazz in schools highlighting the program success in bringing free jazz education and performances to LUSD
elementary students finally uh Dr francis Bayz presented on dual enrollment dream it achieve it explaining how the program allows high schoolers to earn college credit gain early access to higher education um pathways uh these presentations covered
key issues of educator compensation the importance of arts education and expanding college access opportunities for students the next committee of the whole meeting will be on Tuesday April 22nd which is also on Earth Day uh we hope to see you there um in person or
online if you're streaming and public participation is always encouraged thank you thank you very much Dr rivas uh board member Melbourne facilities and procurement committee thank you Mr mcclean uh the facilities and procurement committee met on March
18th uh we heard a brief update on the status of the district's housing initiative including a contract we have before us today to move forward to the next phase of this work uh um putting out RFPs for the initial nine properties that have been identified this coming summer we then heard an update from the
facilities team on the clearing and rebuilding plans for the Palisades school as of last week all three of the schools uh in the Palisades on District facilities have been fully cleared by the Army Corps of Engineers an incredible milestone which came even earlier than expected um in addition to
the presentation before our committee the team is currently hosting a series of town halls and webinars with the Palisades community uh to build consensus on the rebuild project which I know will be coming to this board in the spring the first of those community town halls is tomorrow evening uh for folks
who are interested um I really appreciate the facilities team for its presentations and the work to quickly plan for next steps in the Palisades i also um just because she's here in the audience but I want to acknowledge Dr dr deborah Bryant um formerly of region west who is now I think executive
director of kind of fire recovery and rebuild and operations so thank thank you to Dr bryant and to um Mr chait and his team as well um the committee also engaged in a discussion to elevate questions about our maintenance and operations processes with a focus on painting something we hear a lot from
our schools we identified a list of questions such as how is it determined to require multiple coats of paint how are hours estimated what happens when a project moves more quickly than planned how employee benefits are build to offices and school sites uh and the maintenance and operation team is going
to return to the committee this month to share uh more and answer the questions that the committee had last month um finally we heard a brief update on the review being done to compare district construction costs and timing with other entities this comparative study was previously one of the top
recommendations coming from our committee last year the report which is uh being put together by an independent firm MGT will be presented at our April meeting and we hope will provide avenues for the district to reduce costs and time of our construction project so our next and final meeting for the year
which will be a doozy given all the reports we'll have back will be uh on April 22nd so thank you all thank you Mr meline and board member Grigo from curriculum and instruction committee thank you um yes the board's curriculum and instruction committee met on
Thursday March 20th at 5:00 p.m this was the first meeting that I had the opportunity to chair the committee learned about project-based learning where Dr john Vladivvic executive director of secondary instructional programs presented on the topic dr vad
Vladovik shared about the different approaches to PBL as well as how it is distinctly implemented at community schools magnet schools IB schools and linked learning schools the committee took a closer look into how PBL is incorporated into the academic
experience of students specifically at community and IB schools we also heard from Javier Guzman CEO from center for p powerful public schools who presented on how this organization is supporting community schools in act with actualizing
PBL finally the committee also learned about what tools are available for teachers to adapt PBL into the classrooms such as the available curated projects and the schooly courses for teachers the committee shared thoughts on piloting PBL at priority schools to
support enrollment and attendance schools additionally the committee also expressed how crucial it is to give teachers time to train as well as autonomy for PBL planning our next curriculum and instruction committee meeting is scheduled for Wednesday May
7th at 3:30 i hope you can join us thank you thank you very much and let's see uh Dr rivas from Greening Schools and Climate Resilience Committee yes thank you uh Greening Schools and Climate Resilience Committee met on March 26 2025 to discuss crucial
efforts surrounding school greening initiatives and climate resilience strategies chief Eco Sustainability Officer Christo Cressilio provided updates on the eco sustainability office including solar energy initiatives the sustainability planning process and
climate literacy efforts a panel featuring uh Fernando Choa uh Jeremy Zidike and Chris Ruck from SMARt uh and SMRT stands for sheet metal air rail and transportation they call them uh they are also known as the HVAC Union
um I'm sorry lost my place uh presented on maintaining clean air meeting climate goals and student achievement while file remediation recommendations emphasizing HVAC system maintenance for health and learning uh post wildfire uh students
and staff u also presented from Griffith Steam Magnet Middle School and Garfield High School share their cultivating growth the impact of mindful gardeners project detailing how school gardener gardens support student mental health and community engagement the discussion
highlighted the critical importance of clean air a topic underscored by presentations and public comment suggesting it remains a vital issue for ongoing board consideration insights from partners at SMART raise a key question for the district how can it
lead in prioritizing effective long-term clean air and HVAC solutions for students particularly in the context of climate disaster recovery and future resilience this is especially relevant considering today's board vote on air
purifiers which is included in the um the month's board materials the next green committee meeting is scheduled for Wednesday May 28th at 4 p.m please join us thank you thank you Dr rivas and uh board member Ortiz Franklin the school safety and climate committee thank you
so the committee met on March 27th and looked at IATAR data our incident reports over the last few years uh compared falltofall data and unfortunately we are seeing an increase in some student safety incidents particularly fights and threats some slight increases but decreases in drugs
and weapons and so we wanted to hear from particular schools that were doing well closing um reducing some of those more violent incidents so we heard from Pinewood Elementary and Burough's Middle School who were seeing some good movement in their data and they shared a lot about their clear expectations their
deep relationships their collaborative leadership and fun activities for kids to stay involved and uh make healthy choices throughout the day um we will have our last meeting on May 8th um where we will look at recommendations for the year and uh just want to make a reminder to folks this Friday our school
experience survey closes we do look at those uh results particularly the safety questions in the committee um so lusd.orgtakethees thanks thank you Mr t Franklin and we have a student board member report
thank you i'm excited to share a few highlights from recent student engagement across LUSD uh to begin uh between the dates March 24th and April 8th the superintendent's advisory council and various advisory councils across the district has met to improve the reach of the student board member
election over the past few weeks we have successfully and are currently moving towards the end of our student board member election and I not only want to take this moment to congratulate our incredible student leaders and finalists who participated not only as finalists but as continuing the reach as student
board member election takes importance this election cycle was truly a celebration of student voice and civic engagement and we are working towards our committee meeting on Saturday April 12th 2025 not only to congratulate all the finalists but also introduced uh our
new elected student board member for the year 2025 2026 many of our students also completed a project alongside the committee for the young men leadership conference where multiple schools engaged and visited with resources to uplift our
students both academically and socially and as part of the commitment to raising student voices I also had the opportunity to work closely with students to promote civic engagement on a district-wide webinar with the family academy and the we are one team to empower students to see themselves as
change makers as we look towards the future in the family academy webinar students and parents alike both deserve information to expand our know your rights workshop and I look forward to seeing how my peers the students can continue their efforts in leading this change on their campuses and in their
homes as they empower themselves and equip themselves with more informations for their families moving forward I want to continue to build on this momentum to center youth voice in every decision we make not only during the current student board member election but every day we
step onto campus thank you thank you very much for your time uh it's 11:30 so we're a little bit ahead of schedule it might be a good time to take the consent calendar um let it decide what goes on the consent and what goes on the regular calendar um as a
reminder for folks consent calendar items are subject to discussion question or consent so if you have a comment or a question and would like discussion it comes off of consent for a full regular vote or if you'd like it to go on consent and do not have a comment nor a
question it will go on the consent calendar on a unified calendar for a single vote it's a procedural mechanism that boards like this use to promote efficiency in the business operations of this business meeting so I'll what I'll do is I'll call a tab number i'll
briefly describe it and then the board members will indicate whether or not they would like it to go on consent or not all right and then uh when Dr dr revas comes back she can let us know where she would like some of the items
to fall if uh if she has some opinions all right tab two california Department of Education's trans transitional kindergarten qualification requirements okay questions and comments tab three LA USD expanded learning opportunities program plan update i have
questions questions and comments who is that uh Miss Tab four Golden State Pathways Program Grants uh tab five we can work contract with the California Department of Rehabilitation
tab six official LA USD land acknowledgement i believe we have um some activity and presentation with this so it doesn't make so much sense to have it on consent discussion okay tab seven cannot be on consent uh tab eight donations of money to the
district tab nine define and approve four projects to provide critical replacements and upgrades of uh school building site systems consent consent tab 10 define and approve the Lame Street Education Center outdoor
classroom consent consent tab 11 approve an amendment to the facility services division strategic execution plan to redefine the Bell High School classroom replacement project consent consent tab 12 12 define and approve the Verdugo Hills School New Baseball scoreboard
project consent tab 13 define and approve 22 board district priority and region priority projects and amend the facilities services division strategic execution plan to incorporate therein consent tab 14 adoption of resolution authorizing filing of applications for state allocation board administered
programs consent consent tab 15 home to school transportation reimbursement questions questions tab 16 provisional internship permits consent tab 17 approval of routine
personnel actions questions they'll be on discussion tab 18 approval of non-rine personnel action consent tab 19 report of cash dispersements
consent consent tab 20 approval of procurement actions question so that will be on discussion so um can I just write down so we have board presidentson Miss Grigo and who
else okay uh tab 21 approval of facilities contract actions consent welcome friends just come on sit down if there's space please take it was that a no I was just I mentioned earlier in my
report that we're taking up the housing consultant which is one of those things so I don't need to make another comment there but I'll note that's one of the contracts that I'm excited about okay great thank you sir so consent 22 uh integrated pest management team approval consent
consent all right board member resolutions for action creating a more friendly user LUSD by digitizing district processes noticed on March 11th 2025 yes consent with comment comment also
we're gonna end it commitated we'll do an up we'll do discussion because there'll be an updated reso with some timeline additions okay great so uh and then we'll do some comments so discussion on 23 great 23 is discussion thank you sir let's see 24 we have a time certain and
a waiver of board rule 72 which will be coming up very shortly so it doesn't it will be bas it will be on discussion let's see earth Day 2025 strengthening climate resilience and sustainability also with a waiver of board rule 72
dis did you did I hear discussion okay discussion tab 26 denim day 2025 raising our voices against sexual violence also with the waiver of board rule 72 consent
consent let's see tab 27 mandated supporting child abuse awareness safety and equity waiver of board rule 72 also super brief comment but it can stay on consent okay super brief comment okay all right then we have um 28 which
is just an initial announcement and then we have a public hearing for tab 29 um and then we will have that can go on consent we'll just have to hear hear the statements and everything before we go on to consent does anyone have a feeling about tab 29
i'm hearing consent is what I'm hearing all right tab 30 report of correspondence consent uh tab 31 minutes for board approval consent and then another um resolution for announcement and I'll read through what
we have let me just take 25 off discussion i won't need it okay 25 on to consent correct all right we're going to check my work and then um move forward with public comment until we're ready for the time
certain all right tab two three and four I have as discussion tab five I have is consent tabs six and so discussion all right so uh six discussion seven discussion and then I have tabs 8 9 10
11 12 13 and 14 for consent uh tab 15 discussion tab 16 consent tab 17 discussion tabs 18 and 19 consent tab 20 discussion tabs 21 and 22
consent uh tab 23 I have as discussion 24 discussion 25 consent 26 and 27 consent 27 having a super brief comment by board member Ortiz Franklin and then
uh we have 2930 and 31 on consent all right so we have about 7 minutes before we have to proceed for our time certain it might be a great use of our time to begin taking whatever public comment is available on those items that have been
marked for consent i'm looking through our list of public comment folks so I can see which items that are on consent actually have public comment okay so the first consent item with public comment is tab 22 for the
integrated pest management team for report those all those comments appear to be remote and I will call on Sandra Schubert first sandra Schubert are you on the line sandra Schubert are you in
the room i don't have you on the line nor in the room so we'll just go to the next person i have Miss Robina Sule on the line robina Su please press star six to unmute yourself and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin robina Su
hi good morning my name is Rebina Su i'm the executive director of California Safe Schools and the co-coordinator of the Los Angeles Environmental Justice Network 27 years ago almost to the day my six-year-old son was walking into his
elementary school when an LA Unified school gardener unfortunately and accidentally sprayed him with highly toxic pesticides unfortunately suffered a severe asthma attack as the result of inhaling these toxic chemicals
unfortunately I was nearby in a carpool lane and witnessed the event and got him emergency care and thankfully he recovered clearly again it was an accident no latigious motive but he was concerned and he kept asking me if it
was going to happen again not only to him but to any of his friends or teachers and I told him without knowing really what the future would hold that it would not unfortunately at the time there was a very progressive LA Unified
School Board and they agreed and after one year of convening a a group to meet with parents teachers district staff and really highlighting UTLA 10th and 31st District PTSA and medical experts after
that one year of everyone meeting together the LA Unified School Board unanimously adopted the most protective pesticide policy in the nation for schools it led to California legislation the Healthy Schools Act an Assembly Bill
AB405 authored by the late Assembly Member Cindy Montine sponsored by our organization today it's become a national and international model for school districts and communities due to its foundational elements of the precautionary principle right to know
and this diverse 15 member IPM oversight team we appreciate the long-awwaited confirmation of the diverse IPM team members today and we look forward to continued open and transparent discussion and respectfully request the
assistance of the board in providing team members with a copy of any version of this revised proposed revised IPM manual and request that any formal or informal requests that were made through
public record request for thank you so much for your time please be We appreciate your time thank you okay Mary Z I see you're on the line mary Z please press star six to unmute yourself and you'll have two minutes to speak once
you begin mary Z Mary Zach please press star six to unmute yourself and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin i see you're on the line with us mary Zachk please press star six to unmute yourself and you'll have two
minutes to speak once you begin okay we're going to have to come back to you later i'll call on the remaining folks uh someone identified as Mrs lee are you on the line mrs lee please press star six to unmute yourself and you'll
have two minutes to speak once you begin mrs lee okay Mrs lee is not here are you in the room Mrs lee to speak on IPM she is not we'll take um one more attempt with Mary Z mary Zachk please press star six to
unmute yourself and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin okay I think it worked this time am I Am I unmuted i can hear you perfectly please be sure to speak up into your device and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin
thank you so much and thank you for the opportunity to speak today i want to take just a moment to recognize this long- aaited approval of the IPM team an very positive and encouraging step forward team represents an outstanding
model of a proactive approach to ensuring the safety of students and school communities over the past two years these dedicated individuals especially those volunteering their time have shown their commitment by attending meetings and patiently awaiting progress
despite all the delays and their persistence speaks volumes to how deeply this issue matters there's now an opportunity for true collaboration and dialogue to address the outstanding issues policy and procedures manual and the district's intention for the second
ad hoc committee both of which were meant to resolve the concerns of the 2022 inspector general's audit and in the report were promised to be resolved by January 1st 2023 nearly two years ago it's time to move forward with
cooperation and transparency transparency to uphold a policy that only brings benefit to the district to its students and school communities i hope the board will give its attention to these outstanding matters thank you so very much we are so thrilled to have
the IPM team approved thank you thank you very much for your time and that concludes public comment on tab 22 and we are now right on time for our time certain of 11:45 uh Dr rivas the floor is yours
thank you so much uh Mr mcclean well um still good morning good morning um colleagues and uh beautiful community here present today I have the distinct honor of introducing a
resolution that uplifts the legacy of one of the most powerful voices in the fight for labor rights social justice and dignity the beautiful Dolores Werta as a Lifelong organizer educator
and civil rights leader Dolores Werta has never stopped fighting to empower communities that have long been silenced and sidelined from co-founding the United Farm Workers to creating Dolores Werta Foundation to inspiring the world
with the rallying cry of Cisola has championed equity civic participation and educational justice for generations and future generations to come this resolution honors her incredible
contributions and officially declares April 10th her birthday as Dolores Guera Day in Los Angeles Unified School District be before we begin I'd like us to take a moment to reflect on her legacy which is a long legacy in a brief
three-minute video and of course this 3minute video does not do justice to her entire lifetime here um on Earth with her fight for social justice and so much more but um we wanted to at least you
know provide something that captures her lifelong work and her continuing impact on students and communities dolores led a lifetime of fighting for workers rights and social justice whose work has been captured in a documentary titled
Dolores which we encourage everyone to see so as you will see in this video it it's the beginning of her of this documentary but it distinctly captures the essence and the fight that she has had to endure as a woman of color as a
chana in the face of so many isms sexism racism patriarchy and so much more she has faced it head on and she has showed us what courage and strength is all about so cue in the video please while the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr
was leading the charge in the South the one California woman was fighting on the front lines for workers rights and while her name's rarely mentioned in the history books she may just be the most vocal activist you've never heard
of come on brothers we are waiting for you dolores helped lead a worldwide grape boycott that forced growers to agree to some of the country's first farmworker contracts she's the first general that I followed
into war the workers are on the right dolores who is an old friend of mine what she is she's an insult to the farm worker why are the growers in the teams so against her because they're
threatened we've never given up dolores is an icon doloresto has said Republicans hate Latinos she also writes the alternative to capitalism is democratic socialism she's
not afraid to speak truth to power she's a clown we thank you for all you have done and all you still do to promote the dignity and human rights of America's family she's a civil rights hero she's been beaten up and she's gone to jail she's a
very volatile individual we always like to say that we didn't cross the border the border cross does the FBI knew how dangerous Dolores was conservatives on the Texas Board of Education removed the legendary farmworker organizer Dolores Wuerto from
the state social studies curriculum i got to tell you I never heard of this woman we really have to set the record straight i mean women cannot be written out of history her fierceness her advocacy and her passion is what makes us and reminds us that we are the change that we can
advocate for what we believe in and ensure that there is change in the world in our education and most importantly in our communities one example of how her story has driven me to uplift my community is when I organized voter registration drives at
my school her legacy will continue to push me and many others to serve our community we appreciate your activism and strength to be overcome obstacles because in the end we save our planet thank you lotus Hera for inspiring me to
make a difference in my community and showing me that heroes can and do look like me step thank
you i am I am I am so deeply moved and I'm sure every single one of you here present by the power of her story and I'm proud to say that here in LUSD we're actively building the next generation of change makers inspired by her legacy now
I'd like to invite special speakers to provide some remarks uh first I'd like to invite um Mr david Goldberg to speak um as we walk up as he comes up to the podium I'd like to say that um he David Goldberg is a proud LUSD teacher and
longtime labor advocate currently serving as president of the California Teachers Association david is a passionate champion for culture responsive education and grassroots organizing david thank you thank you i just want to um I think
whenever you talk about an activist who has made famous slogans it's nice to talk in slogans and I think the slogans that mostly when I think of you Dolores is um that you can't lead the people if you don't love the people
and the love that you show everyone in all places from striking workers yesterday on a hunger strike to students I know in your foundation in Bakersfield run educational justice just to everyone to your children who I had the privilege of growing up with every year at summer
camps and learning from them um that love that you show so when people say we don't I don't even know who she is it doesn't matter the people who do know who you are and should know who you are know who you are and they know what your love means and so I
really want to honor you the way you have shown so much love to everyone but especially the most vulnerable people in our society and the second thing I want to really slogan is uh when you dare to struggle you dare to win and in these
times when it's so much um stopping us so much fear your ability to get out there and continue to struggle to continue to dare to struggle and to dare to win that you know that we don't win if we don't actually dare to struggle and the way you model that for
so many generations of people is just something that'll forever I drive by your house one of those murals is right down the street and I drive by right by my house i see your mural most days and just gives me that's what it reminds me of and the honor I'm so honored to be able to share with you and honor you on
this day so thank you thank you for your decades and decades of really modeling that for us all thank you thank you David next I'd like to invite Miss Sarah Bradshaw a dedicated education champion who holds over two
decades of experience in public education leadership political campaigns and education management her background includes roles in change management labor relations and strategic communications and she has a special special relationship to Dolores go ahead
Sarah well it's just that I worship the woman so Dolores and I have adjacent birthdays but I'll leave that aside so I wrote a speech um in 1985 I embarked on a teacher training program in Massachusetts i had to walk to
elementary school in the snow at 7:00 a.m while the school was not uphill in both directions I learned within three days that teaching was not a lifestyle I could withstand sorry David um the wonderful woman we are here to
honor today lasted as a California public school teacher a year she left the worthy profession for far greater reasons than mine i couldn't wake up um so Miss Dolores Wera left so that she might reach even more than those in her
classroom she had an entire world to teach it was my honor to meet Dolores Wera and Cesar Chavez while working for a union in the early 90s little did I know that I would be blessed with this woman in my life for the next 35 years thus I refer to her with love and
respect as Dolores and occasionally as Big D i have also come to have tremendous respect for her family that helps make her available to us you know who you are while I'm aging myself did I mention
that the year Dolores was born the chocolate chip cookie and car radios were invented since that happy day 95 years ago tomorrow Dolores has bringing joy compassion love healing organizing hope faith strength persistence and a whole
lot of moxy to millions around the world i'll not forget the day a young woman walked up to her in San Diego pulled up her sleeve and showed Dolores a ceue tattoo on her forearm so Dolores is the hardest
working 95year-old ever this is her after she was told a couple years ago you got to slow your roll um in New England there are many buildings with signs out front that say George Washington slept here i dare say
Dolores has slept in every Union hotel in California there are cars that should have placards that say "I drove Dolores." Yes yes yes for as much time as she spends on the road to Bakersfield there should be a Huerta Highway
as it turns out there's actually a section of road in Fort Worth named after you um there are not enough honors we can give this humble woman the reason I mentioned chocolate chip cookies and car radios Dolores reminds me of all the
lovely things about a warm dessert and just homemade and made with love and then man that woman loves to dance and sing and is good at it thank you board member Rivas and fellow board members for this
opportunity and your fellow board members for this opportunity to thank Miss Loris Werta for all she has done she is a leader in all human rights women's rights civil rights LGBTQ rights whatever you got rights she's doing it
at 95 so I'll wrap up with that dolores I'm honored to be your lucky charm and um David if you would can you make her an honorary teacher yes and then um just a
final ceue big D thank you Sarah very much now I am more honored to introduce the goddess herself Diana Diaz founder of the goddess Mercado and K me a school counselor at Estean Torres High School and a
community builder who lives the values of Dolores Werta the uh has long stood for with economic justice youth empowerment and grassroots leadership diana was also appointed 2023 commissioner for the commission of women by council um board
supervisor solis and woman of the year representing district 1 so here she is go ahead Diana thank you thank you Dr rosio Rias and school board for inviting me to speak about uh one of a an amazing inspirational woman i wanted to let you
know that before I came I um I pulled my students at at Estan Touris and I asked them do you guys know who Dolores Wert is and one student asked me what grade is she in and another student asked me um who's
her advisory teacher and another student asked me she sings ranchettas right and finally was I know I know miss she's married to that famous boxer right and in pulling the students
at my school on my campus this week I learned that Dolores work efforts are not as well known by our students by a new generation I didn't learn about her till I was in college in Chico Studies 101 there is a
school named after her but there are no local streets named after her yet i know she was one of the most adamant feminists and change agents who fought the pervasive racism that was common in mid 20th century her efforts right her efforts are not celebrated as highly as
her male peers yes Dolores Wuerta modeled equitable behavior and respect for her work even before it was a social concept because of this proclamation by LU by the school board students will now learn that Dolores Werta once said there
are the condition there are the conditions that exist but you don't have to accept these conditions we have the power to change them change was a core belief of Dolores who used her education and teaching experience to inform her activist work i
remember the novas campaign and although it was um famously lasted 5 years it ended with the gains for the farm workers that secured new labor policies health insurance and pension man some of those
are my family thank you Dolores popular history communicates that men transformed the US labor movement missing from the popular version of history is the efforts of women like Dolores Wuerta celebrating her birthday this
week on April 10th for her 94th birthday Felis Complanos it is important because she dedicated over 70 years to civil rights and social justice for marginalized communities making her living making her a living icon of the
American civil rights movement so Lores do so visibility has increased tolerance empowerment and confidence in the students that I'm working with please remember that when our national leaders communicate their desire to eliminate
equity and inclusion efforts in our schools it is effectively erasing the efforts of all civil rights leaders including Dolores and we can't let that happen i ask you today to remember that when regressive policies come to the
forefront of discussion in LA USD and people tell you that you cannot fight against it i'm going to remind you what she said when a labor activist in Arizona told Dolores "We can't do that here." She famously replied "Yes we
can." Cue Dolores thank you for your leadership advocacy inspiration and empowerment you inspire not just women but entire communities world leaders our superintendent and our board
members and everyone in LA USD including me thank you Rosilio Re Dr rosio Rias and school board for proclaiming this day as Dolores Wuerta and I know that for years to come our educators will read books poems tell stories about
Dolores Werta assign research projects that will lead to discussions about labor rights gender equality civil activism and maybe they'll even break a pinata thank you thank you so much Diana um lastly we
have one more speaker um I'm pleased to introduce Raphael Rodriguez a dedicated teacher at Mariana Elementary School raphael um I I would like to say a few words um the honest truth I'm a school teacher and I'm not always um have time to write
words down um but I have a dubious distinction of being the son-in-law of Dolores and with this distinction it comes a lot of um work homework you know and my principal could see sometimes I'm on and I was joking that one of these
days I'm going to retire and just teach because on weekends sometimes I'm out there working the line as a union member you know doing the work that we have to do and to be lead by an example and to me the Lord has been one of the greatest examples of course behind my mom you
know but she's my other mother and to me to be part of her family is to be part of that legacy and when I see the videos like the video that we showed in the beginning um everything it's just like a bunch of memories for us but I remember this I always remember this is the Lord as she started as a school teacher and a
lot of people like a lot of people they said a lot of that but a lot of times we forget that the struggles that we as teachers are here for is to make a better environment make a better community for our children you know when these trying times you know I tell my students you know they they say well
what will happen I says I will protect you to the very end and that's what we do as teachers and that's what the Lord has did when she took all that time to walk out on the strikes you know literally you know taking that suffering for the people you know and and I
remember that every day you know and you know that spirit of cis weather to me is also in my classroom because to me when I remember that My legacy is her legacy that legacy of that me a child of a farm worker can be a school teacher you know
that legacy of that us we can we can strive for greatness and that greatness you know there's no other living legend example than Dolores you know and like I said she's my mother-in-law a lot of the time she asks me she'll say "Well what do you think about this educational item
you know whatever topic?" And I and she'll call me like "Okay this this and I'll say "Okay well this is what I've heard and this is okay thank you and I feel like well that's like um it's kind of a big burden to be honest you know but you know I do this and we do this with love you know and to me that I'm
here supporting you know my family supporting my um my mother-in-law supporting my school you know it was beautiful to see our children singing um going you know and to me like you ask any students in our school they all know who she is be honest yeah there's a big
mural that you saw in the beginning of that big mural and and that mural we did it all in one month and when we put it up there um our um our principal Miss Vargas she's somewhere in the back hiding because she's you know she's she's humble but anyhow when when when
they when they talked about doing the mural she says "Okay I want to do this mural." She's like she's like "But there's one big ask." I'm like "Yeah sure." She's like "Well we want to put your mother-in-law on there like" and she's like "Um we're doing that." And it's like and it's like "I hope you don't think like like it's a big whatever." And I was like "Oh yeah let's
do it." You know and to me as a school teacher I'll be there for how many years I'm going to be there but those legacies will continue because everybody's going to ask going to say "Well who's Dolores?" And they're going to say "Well this is who she is." You know she is an labor activist she's a mother you're my
my sister-in-law right there Wana Wanita you know she's a grandmother she's a great grandmother she's all these things to us you know but to everybody else she's also you know somebody who's out there to fight for LGBTQ LGBTQ rights she's out there fighting for immigrant
rights she's out there um um my son has been had the distinction of watching his his his grandma get arrested you know fighting for workers you know and and everybody else would be like "Oh my god grandma's getting arrested." He's like "Hi grandma." you know and that's our
history you know and and like I said it's a privilege and and sometimes it's a dream but that dream is that and the dream is the dream of the Lordis and we carry it on for our children for our students and for the for our students students and one day one of our children that are sitting in our classrooms will
be in front of the classroom and continue this legacy and they'll ask well who was the Lord and they'll say well where did she begin this struggle he'll say you know start over there in Boil Heights in the CSO you know start it over there in the fields of Deleno you know start in there in the fields of
you know of all over you know and this will continue so thank you elfel is very uh humble but he has been a teacher for 26 years in both South and East LA so want to mention that um and he's always been elevating to his
students to reach the potential in the spirit of CI Bu so wanted to mention that um so thank you Rafael now I'd like to acknowledge some special guests who are in the audience who have gathered here today to both welcome Dolores Los Angeles and to honor her legacy we have
Stephanie Casteda who is board president uh a board of trustees at Sentinella Valley Union High School District we also have Miss Lures Garcia secretary treasure of Teamsters Local 572 and Miss Vanessa Aramo president CEO of Alliance
for a Better Community so I thank all of you and all of our special guests we have Ace Ace members as well so I I thank you for being here uh we're grateful to have you present showing your support for Dolesa and her story contributions to our communities and I
want to share um a quote that is very meaningful to me many quotes of Miss Loris Werta she says "We must use our lives to make the world a better place to live not just to to acquire things that is what we are
put on earth for." So now the moment we've all been waiting for please join me in welcoming the incomp incomparable Dolores Werta organizer educator co-founder of the United Farm Workers and a lifelong defender of justice
uh thank you so very very much uh I do u thank you for all of the speakers that spoke and uh I am so grateful uh for this recognition and especially coming uh from this board of education right here uh we know that education is under
attack right now and uh I do believe that education is going to be the savior of our country the foundation of our democracy is education that we know that uh in in all
of the things that people have to teach that we've got to make sure that we have civics you know I remember being in the a when I was in the third grade i remember reading about the Bill of Rights and I remember how proud I was that this was our country the United States of America and we had these basic
basic rights and yet we see today that many people graduate from even college and they do not know the legislative process they do not know how government works so I think we've got to work really really hard that we get civics back into our schools and that students
participate even in elementary school like myself to understand how important it is for them to participate in voting you that's so important i know uh in in Santa Ana here uh in Los Angeles County
the kids there I guess it's Orange County the kids actually they have a kamata where they go to the nearest college campus and they have little caps on them that have the year that they're going to graduate and then after they march they get to vote they get to vote
for Donald Duck or Mickey Mouse or Minnie Mouse to the person that they want but they start knowing about that ballot how important it is and of course we also have to have labor studies because the foundation again of our
democracy are working people this is the foundation of our democracy are working people and yes we've got to have women's studies and gender studies so that kids know in elementary school yeah we have a third sex we have a third sex and they
know and then little boys have to know that little girls are uh actually as smart as they are you know and and that they can also be leaders and and we teach children these things at the very very young age you know then they know
they understand the importance of working people they understand the importance of the environment and why we have to save the environment so many things and when I say this I know that teachers are burdened you have so much to teach you don't have time to go into
the community even though the community needs your leadership so desperately you know uh so I I just want to wish all of you the best i'm very very glad happy thank you for giving me this great recognition and I do want to say that my daughter Juanita uh who was here with me
was also a teacher for 14 years okay for 14 years and and my foundation the Dolores Foundation uh we also are working on educational issues we're trying to stop the school to prison pipeline yeah and uh one of one of my board members is
here with me right now jamila Canra Guerrero jamila jamila teaches at East LA College and uh she teaches people who are uh heart of hearing you might say or am I saying that right jine deaf death deaf children
okay now she's a she's a she's a teacher there and uh you know this these are so we have all of these other people and we know at the same time that all of the the money that we need for education is being cut you know so we have a hard uh
a hard road ahead of us we have a hard road ahead ahead of us and uh so we all have to keep working together and making sure we get the kind of community support that we need for education uh because as I said before this is the savior of our democracy the only reason
we are in trouble right now in the United States of America is because we do have uh so many people that are ignorant and they are not educated and they do not know our history the the history of our country uh trying to uh
el finally eliminate the legacy of slavery eliminate the legacy of slavery and there's one more thing that I would really love that we could somehow uh make it mandatory that in every school especially in elementary school that we
teach children that we are one human race and that we are homo sapiens right and that our human race came from Africa i one big I think one big way that we can get rid of racism once and for all
is if people understand that we are all Africans okay of different shades and colors that's right and if we can cheat and you know and when I when I speak to groups uh I I say this every chance that I possibly can and I remember saying
this to a group of children here in a couple of times in Los Angeles and the children actually they got up from their seats they ran towards each other and started hugging each other they started hugging each other so if we can just you know plant that seed early on and that's
one way that we can eliminate racism once and for all and so again I I just want to thank you thank you for giving me all this time thank you for this wonderful recognition and we have to go forward and continue to you know to work and fight and make sure that our
education uh uh boundaries are are unlimited and that we can get all of the help that we can because again education is the savior of our democracy gracias thank you very much for this great honor
x7 woo okay uh this is not over yet so hold on one second okay just bear with us okay because there's only one time that we have this such a legendary uh visionary here uh before us i just want to mention that we have as I mentioned our other dignitaries that are here um they also
have some some something special to give you uh before I give you what I want to give you especially from the board we have Sentinel Valley Union High School District and County Central Committee on um school district organization board member Stephanie Casteda who has her own
uh proclamation she wants to present we also have Sonic Santa Monica Malibu um Unified School District board president Jennifer Smith um also CSBA delegate Alicia McNano and board member Maria Leon Vasquez from um Malibu Santa Monica
and Lynwood School uh unified school board member and CSBA director at large who serves as me uh Dr alma Castro who are here who also want to present you with with their own um proclamation so I don't know if y'all want to come forward and present her with that you go ahead
thank you thank you so much for giving us an opportunity um for So we also have Elmosa Beach City Unified School Board member Maggie Bo Monica go ahead go ahead sorry make sure we have time for a picture yes
one two three okay so while they're taking their picture real quick um we will have public comment right after they finish their picture is that okay there's a couple of procedural items okay sorry one is there is a there
is an existing friendly amendment I believe that we we need to hear before the um public comment happens and then there will be a vote and then we will all celebrate okay so we have a friendly amendments to the uh resolution which have been um um
shared with everyone it's in the second page just adding what's there in red so I accept the friendly amendment okay great so the amendments are on the second page of the resolution they're available both in the back and online if you would like to review them um uh are
there any objections to the friendly amendment everybody happy about it outstanding and now we'll hear uh public comment we have eight folks who signed up to speak uh for us today so when I read your name uh please come on up to the podium and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin uh Carlos Montes
carlos Montes are you here yes i think there you are uh you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin sir thank you so much hola hola Dolores dolores oh okay yes carlos Montes with Centro CSO we have the honor and the privilege that
Dolores Werta started with Centro Cso right and you continue to inspire the young folks in CSO they're in their 20s and the 30s i'm the older one i'm called an elder now i'm 78 you inspire me you know you're in the 90s i'm in the 70s if
you could do it I could do it our young people can do it right see and and believe it or not there are people in our community oh I know Carlos no but you know all time the Lord did it you could do it so you inspire the the m the mother the young people and and also you
are a great organizer you've organized me i met you at at a at a at a airport somewhere we were we were changing jets you know i was going to Chicago i think you were going to New York i ran into you and I asked you for advice and you sat there giving me advice about
organizing different issues then I said "Hey wait a minute your play is going to leave you almost you almost missed your play you had to get up and go right?" And and you know awesome you know I'm from the 60s also so we were there with you in the boycott and everything we were young toughs militants right
stopped the boycott you know we went down to the central market and started knocking down the great cases right you say "Oh wait a minute we shouldn't be doing that." You know Fred no we're nonviolent oh okay well how are we going to do the boycott right but you know we were there with you in the black liberation movement the labor movement
and you continue to inspire the new central CSO that continues to advocate and fight for public education against privatization we're also the only ones that denounce the East LA sheriff killings of our young men today in the board of supervisors there's a motion to
approve the settlement for the killing of a young Anthony Vargas in the Maravia projects by the sheriffs right that's today finally you know uh Hilda Solis is presenting it so in closing you're a great organizer you're a great
inspiration much gracias and thank you for inspiring a whole generation of the whole world right thank you very much much gracias for your time sir uh Nicole Fefferman are you here nicole she started the CSO okay she started the CSO okay miss
Fefferman come on up you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin hi my name is Nicole Fefferman i'm an L USD parent teacher and co-founder of the group Parent Supporting Teachers and I'm grateful to be able to speak here today in support of Dr rivas's resolution celebrating this American icon Maestra
Aerta um in high school students learn some really hard history that can weigh heavily on their shoulders and to support students I frame our US history studies as a national journey attempting to realize the American ideals of equality freedom rights opportunity and democracy and our classroom work is to
assess the journey towards achieving these ideals and how those of us today can move our nation closer to these ideals because we're a people constantly striving to be a more perfect union and Maestro Werta is an exemplar for our students experiencing today's economic
political and social landscape while struggling to make certain that our American ideals are not ignored or violated she isn't a great man who alone changed the course of history she's a teacher she's an organizer who helped some of the most vulnerable and essential folks understand and utilize
their power she is a determined and joyful leader who withstood violence of all types to build a movement that created opportunities for so many she shows all of us what is possible in that journey towards our American ideals
today I go into LA USD classrooms with the UCLA Labor Center and Miguel Contes Foundation to help schools comply with the new California law AB800 teaching young people our students high school students their workplace rights we want students to know that they have rights
and are entitled to enforce these rights and as Dolores Wuerta teaches us that the best way to protect ourselves and each other is by sticking together and speaking together and taking action together and LA USC students directly benefit from the fights that Dolores
Wuerta engaged in with thousands hundreds of thousands of folks in California in the United States around the globe and in our increasingly scary world our students in our district need to look towards Dolores Werta for a way forward her life and work can teach us so much about how to be resilient and
hard times and how to engage in righteous resistance thank you thank you for your time next next public speaker Yolani Quuevas yolani Quuevas come on up and after Miss Quas
uh Hans Johnson so Yolani Quuevas then Hans Johnson and then Eloa Galindo so that's the order oh please walk it's okay um the two minutes is yours thank you okay thank you so much uh thank you for having me board members um
superintendent and board president and hello um the Horta i mean I was on the video up there i don't know if you saw but um I just want to say that you are an inspiration to me and so many others
um personally I share your values so much and I never thought that I could ever be um someone as strong and um someone who could stand up for the
injustices that occur every day especially in today's political climate but the moment I learned about you I learned that I can and I learned the term CE in a different way i learned that I truly can make a difference not
just in my school but in my community in my country and that's all because of you and I'm so thankful to have this opportunity to talk to you to meet you and to say thank you on behalf of me and the board district 2 um that represents
Dr rivas and also uh Los Angeles Unified School District thank you so much Johnson Hans Johnson and then Eloisa Gendo all right the two minutes is yours thank you good afternoon board members and I want
to say a a a particular shout out to my own school board member here today Carla Grigo my neighbor in Eagle Rock uh and someone who shares and brings the inspiration of Dolores Werta to our school board and I also want to say thanks to Dr rivas for for bringing
forward this resolution to honor a Californian an American who tells the truth and who shows great courage on a daily basis part of that courage is not just to use a megaphone but it is to hold up a mirror it is to hold up a
mirror to the moral shortcomings of institutions and of for good governance in those institutions including government itself at the local state and federal level one point I want to make
Dolores is a leader for empathy and for teamwork two values that are incredibly important as pillars of public education we talk about the notions of teamwork often through team sports in our schools
but the arts and music which Dolores has celebrated and integrated into every social movement and protest she has led fusing all of our lifelines in her fighting for public education for environmental justice for women's rights
for LGBTQ plus rights and for workers rights in our communities arts and music are a lynchpin and have been the joy and the base for so much of that effective protest i want to urge this board to not
simply pass this resolution but to fulfill the promise of California voters with Prop 28 and to make sure that funding flows to our schools and to the teachers that we invested in with that decision that is a way to keep the spirit of Dolores Werta alive and it is
a way to show that arts and music not only teach empathy but they teach teamwork just as much as sports and athletics do thank you Miss Ginda miss Glenda is going to speak in Spanish so if you'd like to hear what she's saying in English as she's
speaking Spanish please put up your hands and we'll get you these headsets so that you can experience simultaneous translation our staff is handing out these headsets if you'd like miss Galinda is going to speak in Spanish so hear Spanish over the speakers uh but if you'd like to hear what she's saying in English as she's speaking in Spanish
please put your hands up and we'll get you these translation headsets thank you to our amazing translations unit for setting up this entire system okay gracias my name is Eloa Galin i'm a member of
ACE i'm a mother of a student at attending Garfield High School and I am here today because is it is very important to designate a day dedicated to celebrate Dolores Wuerta she has inspired us to
fight for the public education dolores Wuerta i want to thank you because it is not your job is not easy to fight against the politicians the corruption and capitalism is very difficult you
left your family you traveled in car starving because when you fight as an activist you fight against your own resources without funds without food leaving our children and this is why I want to thank you i want to thank your
children for the time that you gave your mother for the comprehension thank you Doloresa for the inspiration and during these times you parents teachers that are present never
stop fighting even during these important days because of the because of fight against the migrant politics and as immigrants we have rights and we have the responsibility to elevate our
voice because se yes we can thank you Dolores thank you for your great work we know that it wasn't easy you had to go through so much a lot of push backs and I saw I saw your movie
you were incarcerated and I want to tell you that these efforts that you made will not be left in vain against the presence of God because God says to fight for the corruption fight for marginalized people fight for working
people thank you thank you for your time okay estardo mazaros estardo estoardo are you here and then after Mr mazaros we have Juan Mandi two minutes is yours sir how can
anybody go after that yeah my name is Suardo Masaros we're here today to honor and celebrate a living legend Dona Dolores Werta thank you Dolores you deserve today and so
much more i for one will take your example and keep fighting to make your vision the world to make your vision of the world a reality i grew up with your model CE as my outlook towards the world
as a formerly undocumented person I faced those challenges and if I didn't have that CEO attitude I would not be standing here in front of you today so I stand here as a testament to Dolores's work in this country to uplift the voices of marginalized
people today's as an organizer in a chaotic and increasingly polarized world I find that phrase to be my guiding principle every morning I wake up every morning I say CIP yes we can because no
matter what the struggle is no matter what the challenges are that's the spirit that our people get up with every day to face those challenges to overcome the barriers cue I'm raising a daughter she is three years old and she will be a student at
Sixth Street Elementary i have already started passing the baton down to her of all the lessons you have bestowed upon us the lotus before she was born I hung up this picture on her wall one of the very first books that I
read to her was this book i read this book to her many times and some of her first words that she uttered to me are you guys can guess it april 10th will always be Dolores Worth Day at every school in L USD
dolores thank you for making the sacrifice rolling up your sleeves and making your light our guiding light thank you very much Dolores juan Mandi I see you out there mr mandi is going to speak in Spanish so if you'd like to hear what he's saying in English
please either use the headsets you already have or put your hands up to receive a set if you have not okay gracias good morning it's beautiful to recognize the lives of people but you know what
the problem is the mission has been accomplished and we've created a group of people that have taken advantage of the inspiration and sacrifice of people to do business with our Latin community this is a big point where are we getting
at we need to understand that Latino lives matter but we're not talking about this one thing is to come here to recognize the work of a person who has done historic work but another thing is inspiring new transformations because
it's very beautiful this hypocrisy it's very beautiful to see the legends and have all these different things but people live in one of the worst poverty crisis and those of us that are Latino and immigrants and our kids have less
opportunities because we're not creating the appropriate opportunities for them to have success we need to change these paradigms and what do we do with this my son told me recently "Father do you know what the problem is that older people
don't understand the youth do you know how many people are leaving the district do you know how many 25,000 do you know how many kids are abandoning school because there's a chronic absenteeism 40,000 do you know how many moments of violence occur in the schools
miss Tanya you know this the place you represent South Central i just went and do you know how many African-American kids are consuming and selling marijuana and you're still here talking about an ideal world what are you doing for our
community and you want us to keep supporting you when you give a social justice discourse you're just being a hypocrite because you don't feel or live what we do in misery and formal education we need new opportunities
because we need to create safety in and around the schools we can't continue being dishonest screaming things we're not even accomplishing thank you okay now we have two speakers who are calling in remotely sophie Ryan I see
you're on the line sophie Ryan please press star six to unmute yourself and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin sophie Ryan thank you the Association of PSA Counselors has been fighting for equity and supporting families for over 105
years as their president I am honored to be here honoring Dolores Guera thank you Rosio Rivas Scotch Medson and the board for this proclamation it's an absolute honor to celebrate a lifetime dedicated
to fighting for justice equality and empowerment of marginalized communities senor Aguerta you're a symbol of courage resilience and unwavering dedication to social justice in the face of adversity
you have maintained a belief in the power of collective action and the potential of positive change from today on April 10th we'll recommit everybody to the values that La Seenora embodies
asking ourselves what can we do to create a more just and equitable world from the bottom of our hearts congratulations on this welldeserved day of recognition seenora you have taught us justice is
interconnected that fighting for one group benefits us all thank you for your time and our final speaker on this is Isabelle Gonzalez miss Gonzalez please press star six to unmute yourself and
you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin isabel Gonzalez team promoting promoting civic engagement and leadership for the next generation beautiful i congratulate you Miss Rias
and for all this a resolve where the resolution that is shared with educators students and organizations community- based to amplify the equity values and civic participation i wish that were the
case miss Werta in what way do you think of sharing this meas or what type of equity are you talking about it's when you sitting there having security teams there and leaders of the next generation meaning
our students are exposed to lose their lives every day what equity when the organizations like BAP benefit one race only and discriminate the rest does social
justice mean giving green light to bullying to delinquents to drug dealers violators uh killers and criminals that are going into our schools freely and some too with yellow jackets
these you all our ass are falling to deaf ears and our safety has already been able to account for 5,000 signatures we've gathered and still then we have no justice and our civic
participation chant is no we can't no it can't be done so our petitions our respect aren't being respected and the money spent isn't being done so clearly
please you need to have financing for school police please members I want to recognize Miss Cesaly Cruz Meer Cru Miss Cesaly Meer Cruz to come and say a few words before
we continue on thank you thank you cesley Meyer Cruz UTLA president Jennifer McAfee our UTLA secretary and Georgia Flowers Lee our NEA vice president we honor you Dolores
Werta today and all the days of the year uh we wanted to make sure to come and speak on behalf of this resolution i want to thank you board member Rivas for um dawning this honor that should have
happened years ago so I'm glad that you're here and you did it um because this is uh righteous i want to speak specifically to Dolores
Wera because she is a legend an icon an I can um and I can movement in herself i had the pleasure of meeting Dolores many many
years ago walking in Deleno along the fame stretch that many people as we just celebrated the 60th anniversary of that
march i was pregnant i couldn't tell anybody I was pregnant at that time and I will tell you this I marched and I marched alongside her and since then I have marched with her in Oakland when
they were on strike i have marched with her here in Los Angeles and when you feel tired you better say Cue because if Dolores Wera can do it
everyone can she talks about capitalism she talks about fascism oligarchy austerity and she definitely talks about police brutality she just spoke to you and
talked about the school to prison pipeline and how we should not be criminalizing our youth that's what she believes in that's what we believe in because that is righteous and just we
have to stand on her shoulders and lift up her name in every single space she has been a defender and fighter for ethnic studies since she was born and we are talking about real liberated ethnic
studies and so we must celebrate Dolores Wera we must talk about resistance and resilience and she does it so perfectly with Belle Hook's radical love and so I
say to you Dolores Werta thank you for doing all that you have done because we benefit from your work and your labor and I want to thank the family who has
given so many years to allow us to have this enriched experience we love you Dolores Werta we lift you up today on April 10th every single school should be
teaching about Dolores Wera that it not just be about murals it is about love and it's about resilience in the struggle thank you thank you Miss Mayer Cruz so now I open it uh for any comments um from the board
members go ahead Mr well Rosio I agree i have to thank you Vice President Rivas for uh bringing this resolution to the board today because uh honoring Miss Dolores Rivas at this time
Oh Rivas I'm so sorry Dolores well I hold you in high esteem too dolores Werta at this time is what we need so we need the hope that she inspires we need the resolve that she has modeled to stay strong and in times
of adversity like we have now and we are so grateful that she has joined us here today to remind us of the dedication to the cause of justice is what we need to give meaning to our lives so thank you again Dr rivas for that wonderful
wonderful recognition thank you well I too um want to say thank you uh so fitting and so timely um Dolores Wera you're you embody what we need right now
um for such a time as this and at 95 to be and it's amazing the power even here today charging us uh and encouraging us as we lead within this board district to encourage our students and children and
I I think of a quote and there's so many that you have but one that is so important um you mention about giving clothes and food is one thing but it's much more important to teach them that
other people besides themselves are important and that the best thing that we can do with their lives or with their lives is to use them in the service of other people and I appreciate that because that is
what we stand for and that is what you represent what you have done for so many other people thank you for your service thank you for your love thank you for your example and appreciate your family too for sharing you with us for all this
time and being such an example thank you so much thank you i want to echo the gratitude uh to Dr rivas for bringing this um in these times um you bring so much light to us and um and you remind us of the
courage that it takes to stand up for the most marginalized in moments of repression in moments of bullying in moments of fear sometimes it's easier to step back but you your experience you
have taught that that's not what we do and all of us here on this board are learning from you and I want to thank you for reminding us that in these moments is when we stand with our most marginalized population with our
immigrant students with our LGBTQ plus students with our black students with all of our students and as a teacher who worked with students with disabilities for most of my career and someone who went on strike
twice you were always my inspiration and as a woman especially because it's hard i think it was Miss Galindo who said how hard it is to do this work but it's hard when you're a woman and it's harder when
you're a woman of color but you did it and you inspire us this majority women board you are our inspiration being here happy birthday thank you Dr rivas and Miss Werto what
an honor it is to celebrate your life and legacy um I had to laugh in that video when Bill O'Reilly was saying he didn't know who you are luckily we have a generation of students who won't know who he is um but thanks to this resolution they'll know who you are and even before this resolution as a kid who
grew up in California uh I knew who you are who knew who you were at a very young age uh and to to Miss Grego's point I think it was a nice lesson to learn in elementary school that next to the the powerful men we learn about in history there's a more powerful woman um
and so that was a lesson enshrined in me early thanks to to learning about you in our California curriculum and I'm I'm just grateful that we can do it and I think we all get asked in public office now living through dark times how do you stay positive and how do you stay hopeful and your legacy um your example
having been on the winning fights the winning side of many fights um and on the the side that has not yet won but continues to fight um seeing that sometimes you take two steps forward one step back but you have to keep moving forward is what gives us a lot of hope and so the fact that you're here uh on
the eve of your 95th birthday uh I think those of us who are here uh you know we we can't give up the the struggle uh and we know that we will continue it um you know and I think there is I had the privilege once of meeting another hero of mine um uh Gloria Steinum who had
said when asked is she passing the torch she said "I'm not passing the torch i'm using the torch to light other torches because only then will there be enough enough light to see us forward and I think that's uh your legacy as well so such an honor to celebrate you uh and continue to make sure that it's the students including those we heard from
today uh will uh will celebrate Dolores today and again know that uh usually in front of every man of history there's a more powerful woman so thank you Missa um what an incredible honor it is to have Doloresa with us today and to finally declare April 10th as Doloresa
Day and I want to thank Dr rivas for bringing this motion forward and I would love to co-sponsor um you're such an incredible civil rights leader and inspiration to all of us and in these days it is ever more important to know your story that every young person in our school district will know who do is
know that they can aspire to that sort of activism and impact in our communities um your fights for labor rights for farm workers for women for immigrants LGBT community we know that these struggles are ever more relevant today unfortunately and that they are
battles that are actively impacting the lives of our children whether it's attacks on our immigrant students and families uh parents being ripped away from their children because of where they come from um attacks on our LGBTQ communities dehumanizing our LGBTQ
students staff and families um efforts to roll back worker protections and defund our public schools all of this is so relevant to our schools and to our students who feel these pains every single day um so I'm just so grateful that we have you to inspire us um I uh
you probably don't remember this but back in 2012 I was an organizer on the President Obama re-election campaign in Las Vegas Nevada and a special assignment I got was to drive you when you came um to visit and to inspire um the Latino voters in the community who
felt that they were too often unheard and um it was such an honor to drive you successfully and um to meet you because you were a hero I have always looked up to um and to meet your wonderful daughter Wanita who we bonded over teaching at that time because I was in
the classroom um and it's that type of impact I know that you had on me that you have on so many people um and we know that our young people young people are the future of our community the fight for justice and equity lives through them and with your inspiration I have such belief that they will continue
to change the world so thank you happy birthday your life is a gift to us so thank you for allowing us to share this earth with you thank you so much well I wish Ditto was sufficient because everyone has spoken so well of what this day and you have meant to us and I'll
just say thank you for continuing to inspire us uh including today and hold us to the fire and I look around this room and see so many diverse people so many people of color and young women who look to your legend as their future and I don't know if as a young child or even
in your early days you would have imagined a room as diverse as this leading the second largest school district more to come and I uh only hope that we can live up to what your leadership really demands of this moment and of the future so um my hope I I know
we usually do photos is that we always stand here with the board in the back i would actually love to stand with the people in the back because that represents who you are and uh you are at the forefront but you're also just side by side step in step with those whose lives you're trying to better every day so when we get to that moment um I'd
love to do that and I'd love to be added as a co-sponsor and just thank you and happy birthday and I agree your life is absolutely our gift thanks student board member thank you first of all thank you Dr rias for introducing this vital resolution and it's difficult
to put into words the impact the Lord has had on my life um I try not to get emotional when I talk about items like this but I truly just want to speak from the heart about who else can champion change not
only for the state of California um who's broken the glass ceiling and someone who did that is a woman of color and I just thank you so much just myself I wouldn't cry but it's so difficult
um something about myself that many people don't know um is that I never planned to go to college um my family was working class um but one thing that moved me ever since I was little to to
champion change for my community was the words of Cis Bu and I truly mean that with all my heart um thank you for constantly championing change for our communities for the students for women of color for immigrants um I had a whole speech planned out but I truly just want to say
um from the bottom of my heart um you recently um this past year did an interview um with my mentor my dear friend Karen Ramirez and seeing people who look like me and individuals who constantly fight for what's right in our
communities led me to this board seat and to champion change for my student communities and as I think about our student board member finalists and the next student who will be here when I go off to college I know that they're in good hands because of the fact that they
have mentors and leadership and stand on the backbone of people like yourself so I end that all off with a true gratitude a sentiment of gratitude and thank you truly for changing my life and the life
of all my peers in the district thank you dr rivas before I have our superintendent give a few words would you please include me as a co-sponsor okay superintendent so there are many people who um learn history by reading it by
watching it in movie reels there are others who are blessed enough to meet history as history is made there are those who choose to applaud those who walk the line who
sacrifice and there are those who are determined and courageous regardless of consequence to walk the righteous path for the right reason at the right time regardless of threat condemnation or consequence the work to labor the life
of Dolores Werta is defined not just by pronouncements but by deeds steps towards the right thing even when everything around that right thing was so wrong it takes courage it takes passion
certainly takes a lot of passion it takes compassion it takes love it takes devotion and it takes inspiration to do that this is one individual who's been doing it for over 70 years fatigue and being tired are not
vernacular that help a movement dolores is someone who didn't fall seven times has been tripped seven times but always dared to stand up and it is that eighth
time when she stands up that we all pay attention for if she can do it what should be our excuse so on behalf of those who believe in labor thank you on behalf of those who are immigrants like me and many on this
board thank you on behalf of those who have no voice thank you for yours on behalf of the LGBTQ community thank you thank you for elevating their dignity their humanity their potential through
your work congratulations Ephelis Complangos so with that said before we move on to our last um part of this wonderful do I'd like to move vote
second okay take the vote shall we and we'll take the rule 72 motion simultaneously unless anyone objects thank you uh Miss Newell yes dr rivas yes yes mr melvin yes miss Grigo yes miss
Gonomez yes miss Ortiz Franklin yes or President yes and Miss Cortez Lopez yes unanimous yes there we go it is um so now the latter the last part of this wonderful beautiful day uh on
behalf of Los Angeles Unified School District and our governing board I am proud to present this proclamation to Dolores Wuerta it is our collective expression of gratitude and admiration for your life's work and your continued impact in our schools our youth and our
movements the proclamation not only recognizes April 10th as Dolores Werta Day in LUSD but affirms our district's commitment to advancing advancing civ civic education equity and student leadership principles that you have
championed for more than 70 years doro thank you for showing us how to fight how to teach and how to believe in one another and ceue now we'd like to take this up so really briefly before we go down and take a picture I'd like to take this
opportunity to sing Phelis happy birthday to Dolores here we go 1 2 3 happy birthday to you happy birthday to
you happy birthday dear Dolores happy birthday to you okay so we're going to do two we're going to do just two photos one with the board and then one just as I have been directed with Miss Werta and the entire
audience in the background with the people so we'll do one with the board and then we'll pivot for the whole audience so thank you everybody for your patience really appreciate it we'll bring you back a little closer thank you so much do you need some water
you're used to entire woman it's my honor it's our collective our collective model over there can I ask the the nonD folks to have a seat of my my can get a great photo of
the board just think of like Okay look right over here over here guys okay look right over here thank you can we all do our fist bump okay now we're going to do one with all
the folks so if everyone could face this way and then the comms and camera people come up here get a delicious photo of a with everybody everybody C step we're good
okay all right all right thank you thank you all oh yes uh thank you everybody uh thank you uh thank you uh Miss Divas for doing this wonderful proclamation i want to thank everybody in the audience for singing
happy birthday and for uh being here with us today and especially all of you board members mutas gracias thank you very much for this great honor gracias thank you so much is it okay if I give you my crown so you can wear for your birthday
okay thank you everyone let's please make sure to give our special guest lots of space okay diana and then Sarah sarah where's Sarah i'm here
oh there you are right here okay right over here one two three now look over here ready all right thanks everybody couple more photos and then Miss Werta has to go I'm told so
um thank you everyone for your patience all the union leaders okay all right okay all right big D whatever you want thank you so much okay we're going to do just the speakers if you don't mind
david shrink down how'd this go what's next get the sun in line birthday she's going to Stanford she's going to Stanford i have
to actually Your words are always going to cut to my phone they've got to resume board business and we have to go okay look over here real fast one two three thank you
okay folks here we go we're going to move on to the next items on the order of business shortly very exciting times i Please everyone give Miss Werta a little bit of space be very meaningful to me if you did
i mean really please give Miss Werta some space y'all i'd appreciate that so much i know you are the biggest inspiration I was ever okay open it up sorry
honey thank you oh my god we made it bulldog garfield i use another line by him another song talking loud and saying nothing thank you so much you want to get the key all right as soon as we have a quorum
back we can come back to the meeting no more meeting that's it you know I mean you put in a lot of years you send me an email today everybody thanks everyone for filing out
nice and quietly we have four pretty great recognitions coming up that involve our wonderful students so the sooner we quiet the boardroom or take our business into the lobby or foyer if you wish
to continue discussion always good to see you love you too thank you everyone as soon as we have a couple more board members up here we will Get right back to business okay that's all it is i'm telling you
okay we're going to begin in just a few moments thanks a million everybody for for quieting down i'm going to insist on quiet as possible because we have some very cool cool presentations about our our amazing students here at LA USD and I want to
give them their just due so looks like we have plenty of board members now and we will now move to it looks like the superintendent reports mr kawalo thank you very much uh good afternoon once again uh today we're going to celebrate and recognize four different individuals
or entities uh we will be recognizing teachers coaches mentors students and much more our very first uh recognition um is of the SoCal Beat Battle
this is a collaborative initiative between Sound Trap and the Young Producers Group the SoCal Beat Battle is truly a celebration of student creativity it is the coolest thing in town this year marked the fourth battle
with over 700 student entries i'd now like to uh invite our guests to the podium mr leandro Ottero a dear brother and friend senior partnership director with Sound Trap and Lawrence Gray the executive director of
Young Producers Group but before I turn it over to them I'd like to thank both organizations for your support uh of LUSD's I Dream Extended Learning Mobile Program i would also like to
appreciate your energy your dedication all you do for the young people of our community we have also a number of educators uh present here today we have Lester Vasquez a Florence Nightingale
middle school business entrepreneurship and technology magnet he's been serving as a teacher for 19 years thank you so much for your inspired and inspirational teaching we have Jolie Rodriguez Carson Senior High School she's been teaching
for 15 years of which four have been recently with Los Angeles Unified and then we have a number of teacher uh students attending we have Moab Ball with Hamilton High School um and she
was the first first place vocalist category winner kyla Pinkis Hamilton High School uh Nobody Talks second place vocalist
category Judah Dosoza Taft Charter High School Omen third place instrumentalist category Akira Armstrong Moran Fairfax High School I'm tired of feeling this way i know the feeling second place
instrumentalist category and last but not least Llaya Williams Ivan and Young Center third place vocalist Leandro take it away thank you uh Superintendent Carvalo
thank you to the board uh did not know I was going to be following Dolores Huerta today uh I think it's the epitome of uh yeah not being not falling a little bit short on the following presentation but we're going to try our best um we're here to honor our students really and to honor the work that teachers and kids
are doing every day in our classrooms and to really thank you the board and uh the collective body who's in this building who works uh in LA USD for dedicating yourselves to providing opportunities for students to learn with creativity and music making platforms like Soundtrack which is the company
that I represent um really excited to talk about the beat battle which is the premier music competition for students in Southern California middle school and high school we uh this is our fourth uh year doing it as superintendent mentioned uh this has been the biggest event that we've had we opened up the
culmination we opened up the beat battle for about a four or five month submission window and then we end it with a huge culmination uh event at Spotify headquarters in downtown LA uh hopefully you all can join us next year for the fifth year um where we do like almost like a career exploration event
where kids and and and guests can explore different career pathways in audio um but today really is about our kids and um I'm going to introduce my colleague who helped facilitate this beat battle Lawrence Gray to talk about YPG hello folks i'm Lawrence Gray i'm the proud executive director of Young
Producers Group we facilitate this battle we put out the call to LA USD in school districts across Southern California we had three categories we heard some of the winners before a vocalist instrumentalist and producer category so these are people that are doing many different things we try to
keep it wide open so that anybody playing any instrument making any kind of music can engage and that's really the big thing to understand here this is all original music students are writing their own stuff and putting it into the battle to be judged and get celebrated
so all the music we're going to hear today is stuff that these kids came up with using tools like Soundtrack Trap i think when we see creativity put at the center of music education amazing things can happen and when we're in the center of the recorded music industry here in LA the talent is just through the roof
and the event that we put on with Sound Trap as as Superintendent said is the party of the year it's really amazing and we really do hope you guys can join us again next year so in preparation for the beat battle this year we noticed in previous years we didn't have enough girl
representatives or female representatives so what we did during the school year was uh we partnered with different organizations like Girls Make Beats in LA to develop writing camps for girls to come out and learn from incredible artists themselves through panels and workshops and uh we saw a
huge uptick which uh Lawrence will share in a minute of our female representation uh at this year's beat battle we also partnered with the I Dream Initiative which we're super proud of this um collaboration where we went to over I think 14 schools we even did a winter camp um and impacted hundreds of kids
teaching them just the foundational tool of Soundtrack Trap and how to use it and um yeah Soundtrack Trap is a district-wide tool every student every teacher in the district has access through schooly and we're really proud of that u so thank you to the iDream uh team Carla and everyone who's a part of that but we're going to do a little less
talking today we're going to try to bring a little bit of the party we actually are uh debuting our beat battle culmination recap video today to you all and we're also going to have our students music playing on these little tiny speakers that hopefully can withstand all the beat the bass that we're going to play um but before we do
that we just want to give you a couple data points yes we had 712 submissions honestly it was too much it was insane it was It was a lot of music um when you have that many submissions the nine finalists that make it through to that
level are just super human the music that these kids are making is through the roof um and yeah we're very proud that with our partnerships with Girls Make Beats and and really putting this at the center we had a 37% increase in female submissions that was awesome and then partnering with companies like Sweetwater we were able to give away
$100,000 plus in prizes what did it include guitars from Fender we gave guitars we gave bases we gave MacBook Air computers to the first place winners so Moa got a new computer um and we gave microphones speakers basically
everything that you need to have a studio in your house and this is again I want to really reiterate something that Leandro said about about Soundtrack being districtwide every kid in LA has a computer and a digital audio workstation that is insane that is really powerful
access to creativity that if you told me a couple years ago that that would be the case I wouldn't have believed you and what we're seeing here with things like the beat battle is when these kids have access to the tools they're going to do amazing things so for us to be able to give these prizes away we're lighting fires all over the place that
are burning super bright as we're going to see in this video here all right without further ado here we go oh no okay so we also partner with a bunch of really incredible judges these are Grammy nominated producers vocalists instrumentalists um that not all of them
are pictured up here but these are the ones that handed out the prizes at Spotify all right hopefully this works welcome to the 2024 Southern California Beat Battle the best darn party anywhere in the world happening
right here in LA right here at Spotify courtesy of Sound Trap so I'm the proud executive director of Young Producers Group soundtrack makes great software we show teachers and students how to actually use it we also love to facilitate this beat battle we sent out
the call to all of Southern California to submit original music we received a ton of submissions thank you to the 712 participants you responded with your gift with your art with your vision with
your passion your compassion and your creativity it takes real bravery to put your own music out there these are people submitting original music you fashion something beautiful out of nothing and that's why we recognize you
one of the best things about tonight is we're going to be giving away ridiculous prizes over $100,000 worth of prizes behind every amazing artist kid here today there's an amazing educator we are
recognizing the best of the best this year we are recognizing the outstanding teachers of the year the next generation that's that's what it's about you know we're inspired by you guys you guys are going to be the innovators you know you guys are the ones you know are
passionate so you know keep it going um yeah proud of all you guys i just want to encourage you guys uh to never lose your curiosity keep learning congratulations to every single student who put themselves out there you won just by submitting to the competition
you are our future you are the engineers of opportunity and the architects of hope for our community and our country i am so proud of the fact that Sound Trap is here in LA i tell you producers
writers musicians podcasters you all come together and create something that belongs to you until you liberate it allowing it to become something that belongs to everyone everyone give it
up i got really happy because I saw my son i didn't even realize he had a little cameo on there but um anyway so I wanted to give a special shout out to our incredible educators i started my time as a classroom teacher in Philadelphia as part of the Philadelphia school district high school English
teacher um so I know as well as Lawrence of the power of a great teacher and what teachers do every day in classrooms to inspire our kids so this year we added a category which was the outstanding educator category and two of the three winners were from LA USD so we have both of them here so if Jolly and Lester can
stand up they also took home some prizes which included a Disney season pass which those for anyone who's ever bought one they're not not cheap um so hopefully you've been to Disneyland um and I'll pass it over to Lawrence
2024 so we'll go back one there we go okay um so again guys we're going to hear music from from the champions today you know we work with schools all throughout LA USD and we have we have teachers physically in in the schools and we're giving curricula to the different schools as well but these guys
are just punching way above their weight when we're listening to this we're going to have we're going to hear their their names they will stand up we'll have we'll ask them to please come on up to the front and step forward when they hear their names i ask everybody in the room to please show some love to these incredible musicians that we got today
um and board enjoy these tracks the first beat battle at a LA USD board meeting yes here we go come on up guys come on up come on up 2024 SoCal Beat Battle finalists
first place vocalist category Moabal there isn't anything that I let the blue ruin your life always watching are we any different
second place vocalist category Kayla Pinkis nobody talks in the world no one wanting just to walk out the door nobody
talks in the world third place vocalist category Leila Williams they woke up around a bunch of stunts cuz they hustle and now they cut up sit back and shut up oh I
got the hands up cuz I kept my head up turn them to a gang neck i hit him with this patty whack i don't no good i turn it in bomb ain't no stopping second place instrumentalist category Akira Armstrong Moran
i'm tired of feeling this way like I will never change the words you say I will third place instrumentalist category
Judah Duso Heat heat all right give it up we got we got to work on these speakers for next year when we come back uh but you can imagine at the Spotify space it's about a $4 million um audiovisisual equipment in this room and when we play
these songs for the first time it's the first time that anyone is hearing this song uh mastered by YPG in this space and it takes a lot of bravery to put your music out there and so thank you to the students for participating thank you for Lawrence and YPG for all that they
do um one other acknowledgement there are three kids that couldn't make it today because they had other commitments but we also want to honor them they're our producer category all three of which LA USD students all three of which are incredible i think we even had a middle schooler in this in this group um in one
of the groups earlier too um but yeah so se uh eight of the nine finalists were LA USD students of 712 submissions so it is it is really worth highlighting guys that LA USD dominated this beat battle
there was no competition right and the amount of submissions there was by far the most engagement and then the winners eight out of nine and again I really just want to reiterate every note we heard every melody we heard was all original super super cool to have that um thank you so much for giving us the
the privilege to share this with you all today thank you so much to the students thank you to the parents that are here and a huge shout out again to Jolly and Lester for bringing this creativity to their classrooms and enabling students to speak their truth to write their
songs um you guys did it it's amazing thank you everybody so when I um when I talk about um this event being the best uh party of the year it really is um you get to meet people that otherwise you wouldn't meet you get to listen to original
productions that are you know fresh tracks and just the energy is surreal and the fact that this opportunity that's been afforded these young men and women is an opportunity that's afforded to every single student in Los Angeles Unified everybody can produce compose
sing play it is a remarkable remarkable feat so Leandra Lawrence thank you so much for being terrific partners of ours and delivering big on their dreams congratulations to you so what we're going to do we're going to keep acknowledging there are
three other recognitions and then stand by we will take pictures with the board at the end uh the very next um recognition is a very special one for a lot of us actually all of us um the
academic decathlon is a tradition in this district that showcases some of the most remarkable students anywhere in the world and um today's second recognition uh is our 2025 academic
dathlon winning team Verdugo Hills High School as a school district uh we were proud to host the 44th regional competition for the academic uh decathlon this year we
had uh 722 students from 47 high schools that competed i was there i know a number of you were there that was an amazing amazing event the winner as I said uh is Verdugo Hills High School they won the superintendent's trophy
which is this event's highest honor each year between 40 and 50 high school teams across the district uh composed of nine official team the cathletes and multiple uh JV students commit to studying
preparing rehearsing for the regional competition that always takes place in January and February so uh this is a very diverse program it really uh cuts across gender soio economic ethnic
makeup of the populations in our schools and really uh this is an event that allows uh opportunities for intellectual exploration personal growth through a variety of different subjects it allows the teams to collaborate through team
activities public speaking challenges there's so much but ultimately there's something for everyone of course this would not happen without remarkable coaches and I really want to speak about a remarkable individual who is retiring
this year um you know your absence going to be felt um Verdugo Hills coach Mr silva uh will be retiring in June after 14 years at the same school and 31 years of
teaching mr silva they thank you we thank you for your outstanding professionalism your uh commitment to our students to their education and to their personal growth i'd like now to invite Dr nina Agnyhotri uh with Beyond
the Bells academic the Kathlon coordinator to the mic to provide uh an introduction to a short video and then uh recognize the team members thank you uh board president Schmurson
superintendent Carvalo and honored board members for having Berdugo Hills High School and our LUSD academic decathlon recognized today we will begin with a short video so you have a little bit of idea of what academic decathlon is all
about the spirit of decathlon and the hard work that our decathletes go through all year long this is a little snippet from our awards ceremony that took place in February 2025 los Angeles Unified is proud to host the
44th annual academic decap our students from 47 schools from all over LA USD came today to receive recognition awards scholarships trophies medals parents were here students their teachers their
coaches principals and community members we're all here to see our students receive this recognition that they've worked so hard for all year long you are an elite group of students and the gold medal are awarded to
I won a silver medal in mathematics a silver medal in music a gold medal in social science and I also won team's highest scoring student for Garfield my favorite thing about the academic decathlon is the people I meet getting to meet new people is something that I
struggled with especially entering high school and to me I formed a bond with my coaches and it's a very special bond like a home away from home my second family one of the things that we value most in LUSD is the diversity and
culture that we bring to our schools and our students our students really represent our community academic Decaplon here in LUSD is a mixture of students from different backgrounds different socioeconomic levels working together whether they're a 4.0 or a 2.5
and being able to achieve something amazing the winning school this year Verdugo Hills High School i grew up here in Sunland Tahunga born and raised today I won the LA USD Super Dathlete Trophy for the second time two years in a row so that was
pretty exciting to win two times in a row is a crazy feeling i wouldn't be holding this without my teammates we've been second or third for the past couple of years so as uh the team captain this year I really made it my mission that we would get there to number one and we did and I'm so incredibly proud of each and
every single one of them our team is here and they were of course uh enjoying their field trip here to the boardroom and also got to meet Dolores Wuerta what a treat so thank you for that and I would like to invite uh our team over today u Arthur Barcenez our
principal uh could not be here but we have Carrie Maderos our assistant principal from Verdeo Hills High School i'd like her to say a few words board it's an honor for us to be here and thank you for taking the time to honor our students i couldn't be more
thrilled to be one of the assistant principles at Verdugo Hills High School thank you Miss Gonz for all your support um it's remarkable the amount of sacrifice the students put in they're there after I leave they're there on
Saturday they're going to be there next week over spring break their dedication is unmatched and that has led to their success and we thank you for continuing to support this program supporting
Beyond the Bell is supporting students who have an opportunity then to grow as individuals and show pride in themselves and in their school someone earlier spoke impassionately about how teamwork
is across the board not just in athletics but arts and music and academic decathlon so I'm just thrilled and I appreciate the support that you've given and I implore you to continue it for many many many infinite years thank
you i would like to invite coach Eve Silva to come up and introduce his team again mr silva retiring after 31 years and going out with a bang for sure what you hear is the music that they make is not as awesome as the music
that you heard before but it's still music to our ears okay um thank you very much for having us here um everyone I've seen a lot of you supporting us through the award ceremony the super quiz and so to see
you here again um recognizing us is is a great is a great event um as I was sitting here I felt I feel a little like this is a cruel joke or something really you bring us here to recognize Dolores Werta and I was like really and then um
of course we hear that the party of the year was here uh and we're really supposed to follow that up okay we'll do our best um yes this is our first time in school history that Purdue Hills High
School has come um away with the superintendence trophy uh we've been we've been trying and trying and trying this is my 14th year coaching the team uh this has been a humbling experience for me uh I come from an
athletics um background as a cross country coach and cross country um coach at Belmont High School near here i was the super coach but when I started coaching at Academic Decathlon it all changed we were
32nd 40th and the music that you just hear was just one medal for the entire team and now you can you can you can hear it for yourself you can see it for yourself we come a long way um besides being the um regional champions uh we
went to the state competition where we placed fifth overall division one among the entire state of California um going against the best schools the California and the nation has to offer
we as consequence were invited to compete at the nationals competition which is going to take place in Iowa um de mo Iowa um the beginning of the month um but with success comes work and responsibility so as Dr anhotri uh
mentioned allotted already next week on spring break I get to bring my whole team uh to prepare for the competition the competition will resume on Thursday the 17th with speech interview I'm sorry
interview uh essay art and literature thank you so while everybody is enjoying their their their vacation we are going to be studying we are going to be going full out uh and we were placed in division
two so hopefully we'll bring home a championship national championship so at this point at this point I would like to introduce my team uh there are three divisions in academic cathol the first division is the varsity division
uh these are members who are anywhere between 2.1 GPA or lower so we have our freshman first year competing Miles Ketchum our returner Boy Perez senior graduating this
year and our gift given us to us from heaven because it was his first year competing but also leading the varsity division mr fuentes Giani Fuentes the second division is composed of the Scholastic that's the medium uh the the middle of
the um um group these are students who have a GPA of 3.2 to 3.8 eight so you can think of them as the B students right um first up another freshman uh Mr anthony
Marini i like to I'd like to point out that the future of academic cath at Verdu Hughes High School is is cured because we had two freshmen that already are competing at the national level so it's is it's the future looks good um second up in our uh Scholastic Division
is um first time competing she she was participating last year but she couldn't compete and now she's competing uh for us um I'm sorry I'm blanking on names because I'm a little bit nervous miss Chariz and leading in our scholastic
division also one of the top uh performers in the state and the re region Mr harrison Barrett Harrison also received the first place um scholarship for science in in the district and our T division the cream of the C um
these are students who are typically 4.0's and who are not afraid to show their academic dexterity anywhere uh first up is our second returner um Stephanie Gutierrez
second um participant in the honors division is a person who has been is incredible because she has been in the country for just two years and she's already competed in at this level competed last year came back this year miss Lillet Kachatran i teach AP AP English
literature i'm an English teacher but I also teach EL and she came into my ELD class and I said "Oh this this person is special." So um I recruited her right away our captain our captain for this year and individual champion for two
years in a row Irene Aanessian once again thank you very much for honoring my team for honor us here and um we hope to make you all proud come May thank you so much
thank you Coach Silva and the amazing Verdugo Hills High School team again our seniors are all collegebound ready for the world many of them have received acceptances to numerous UC's and Cal States and community colleges as well so we're really excited about the next step
all D Catholics graduate and go to college so that is our goal thank you for having us today much and uh best of luck in the national competition i know you'll do your very best and will make our community proud
our next recognition uh is one that quite frankly we could easily overlook but we have greatness in our school system in our classrooms our students our teachers our principles our coaches but also individuals who do for
the entire workforce uh our third recognition today is uh goes to LUSD's retirement investment advisory committee uh which oversees the administration and the implementation of investments
district investments for the benefit of our workforce the 403bs and the 457bs um LUSD was selected by the National Association of Government Defined Contribution Administrators as
their prestigious 2024 art capable president's award recipient for outstanding achievement in public sector retirement plans very appropriate that we win this we know we have our very best protecting our workforce's
investment considering what's happening with the stock market so um we join an illustrious group of former winners whether we're talking about the city of Seattle the Virginia retirement system um and this award
really underscores this team's commitment to excellence to innovation and the financial security of our employees i am very proud to invite Priti Kapor our director of benefits administration to the podium along with
Dr sandy Katon and Steve Schulo from the retirement investment advisory committee to provide brief remarks and accept our heartfelt congratulations for your terrific accomplishment thank you Mr carvalo um good afternoon
board president Mr merlson Superintendent Carvalo and honorable board members and executive leadership team it's an honor to be here to be part of recogni recognizing this important achievement for the Los Angeles Unified School District and the dedicated
individuals who made this accomplishment possible in 2006 LUSD began providing a 457b retirement savings plan a key component of our employees financial wellness the plan offers employees an
additional opportunity to save for retirement through pre-tax and post- tax contributions allowing for greater flexibility in retirement planning lusd's selection as the 2024 Art Capel President's Award recipient would not
have been possible without the dedication and expertise of several key groups including the retirement investment advisory committee for their strategic guidance and oversight in ensuring the plan success our plan
consultant NFP for their expert advice and support in optimizing plan design and performance our valued partners at Voya Financial who provide investment management and participant services that drive engagement and financial education
and last but not least the benefits administration team whose hard work and commitment to financial wellness have made a direct impact on employees retirement readiness each of these groups has played a critical role in making our 457B plan a model for public
sector retirement programs nationwide this this award is a testament to the collective effort and commitment of LAUSD to support the financial future of our employees it is an honor to be recognized on a national stage and we remain dedicated to enhancing the
retirement security um of our workforce thank you and now I would like to hand over to Dr mr sandy Katon and Mr steve Shulo from the Retirement Investment Advisory Committee sandy thank you thank you Superintendent and School Board it's been an honor and a privilege
to represent educators on the retirement investment advisory committee from its inception i wanted to thank David Goldberg who was the UTLA treasurer at the time of its inception who asked me to attend the first meeting with him and then asked me to represent
UTLA i'm so proud of how far we have come from just an adequate 457B to a winning plan winning the Nagda Art Capital President's Award it is an honor we have the lowest fees and we have
excellent choices i want to thank you President Shmearlson for not only attending our meetings but your continued support thank you yeah good afternoon uh Mr uh Mr superintendent and uh board members my
name is Steve Shulo i'm a retired teacher from LSD elementary teacher i'm not a financial profession professional but for some reason I got on this committee at in the inception sandy and I were on this committee because we were
interested in improving the retirement plans of all uh district employees and uh it was uh George Tishler he was a trailblazer and uh David Homequist who was your senior
advisor u Mr superintendent who and he was the one that asked me to be on this committee and I am forever grateful and honored to be on this committee uh and doing something that is rarely talked about in our district district publicly
privately 403b plans and 457b plans are discussed but not in a public uh situation and by the way this is the second award from NAGDA and so we are doing something right because this is an
extremely rare event in public K12 K12 school districts and uh so I am again I'm truly honored to be on this committee and I'm going to continue to be on this committee and thank you very much for this recognition
we will take a picture with the entire group with the with the award in just a bit um it is said that everything starts with the teacher and today uh as we recognize remarkable individuals everything ends with the teacher as well
every year the president of the United States of America recognizes through its presidential award for excellence in mathematics and science teaching a remarkable teacher from so many across
our land today we recognize a special individual the presidential awards for excellence in mathematics and science teaching is our nation's highest honor bestowed as I
said by the president to a teacher in the K12 uh space in science technology engineering mathematics and computer science this has been done done since 1983
the 2025 winner is our teacher so today's last recognition goes to Gate Street Elementary School teacher Jennifer Troes let me uh let me say a few things about Miss
Troes miss Trochez went through a rigorous selection process she demonstrated deep subject knowledge effective instructional practices and outstanding leadership in
her field and um you truly exemplify the transformative power that educators have in the lives of students both as a teacher a mentor inspiring the next generation of scientists engineers explorers innovators through your
unwavering commitment to academic excellence to creativity to student empowerment and to public education board members here you have the best of our nation
wow uh thank you Superintendent Carvalo and the school board i apologize my voice is a little horse right now and thank you to my colleagues here my my I don't know to everyone who took time to be here with me this afternoon uh today
is a big honor not only for myself but for my family and nothing I ever imagined for myself as being possible when I became a teacher 28 years ago um 28 years ago I actually left the early beginnings of a career in museum science
education um because my idea at the time was to gain a couple of years of classroom experience so I could go back and climb the museum career ladder but unknown beek known to me at the time I
had no idea that I would fall in love um with my work um with my students um when I first started at Foscher Learning uh center in South LA my neighborhood where I grew up and um I used that the
challenges of being a new teacher uh to motivate me um to stay in my profession and as much as I pride myself in being an independent strong Latina uh my journey as a teacher is not a solo
adventure i've been very fortunate to have worked alongside many committed and dedicated individuals who have supported me guided me and inspired me throughout my career to be the teacher I am standing here before you today i'd like to quickly thank the following
individuals miss Veronique Wills Miss Marisella Sanchez Dr jose Rodriguez Miss Liliana Valades Rodella Dr gonzalez Victor Gonzalez Dr lynn Kim Dr rita Blake and Miss Mary Sproul along with
USC Mission Science UCLA Center X Science Project the California Nanosystems Institute the NEAD Project and the NSF Calstate Dominguez Hills Elementary Science Master Ter Teacher Fellowship Program which I participated
many in many many years ago um I am very grateful for them because they help me grow in my capacity to bring STEM opportunities and learning to our students in particular girls and students of color because we all
understand that our society benefits the most when our STEM work force is diverse thank you for seeing um to all these individuals for seeing my potential and helping me develop my leadership skills to do the other work I love as an
educator and as a teacher leader which is providing training to other teachers to help them ignite a love for STEM in their students i am also grateful for my colleagues in my district my tribe of like-minded individuals who set a high bar of teacher excellence that inspires
and motivates me to incorporate my love of science into my work as an elementary teacher finally and most importantly I would like to thank my family my partner Daniel my husband Daniel my father and my mother and my brother who have been my biggest cheerleaders throughout my
career gracias i want them to be um since earning my award I have been asked what it does what does it mean to me to be a recipient of the presidential award for the excellence in math and science teaching this recognition means the world to me
it's the manifestation of the values that my immigrant mother and father instilled in me as a little girl mainly the value of getting an education and working hard so I not only uplift my family and myself but I uplift my community as well it is the recognition
of the commitment and the dedication that I bring to my classroom every day in hopes that I will be a positive impact to my students lives and it is an affirmation of the work I have done as an educator and teacher leader for my district so far work often done in
collaboration with colleagues within and outside of our district to ensure that all our students regardless of gender race and or socioeconomic status have access to a quality STEM education being a presidential awardee is is humbling i
am honored and honestly it makes me very happy uh to be seen and recognized for my work it is my hope that this award will continue to inspire me and challenge me to be the best teacher I can be for my students and my community and I'm really excited for what this school year is
becoming working alongside with my principal Mr rosel Gonzalez and colleagues at back at Gates Street Elementary i look forward as we work we continue our work to foster and nurture a love of steam in our Gator community and within our district thank you for
your time and for today i really appreciate it please stay there since you were the last to be recognized going to be the first to have pictures taken with the board and it will have all of the other uh awardees come up for pictures but I
want to add that Jennifer didn't only represent LUSD so beautifully um through this recognition but she's also LUSD teacher of the year a LEO finalist teacher of the year in addition
to being President Joe Biden's selection for one of the best teachers in America congratulations to you okay so right now the board is going to come take photos with the National President Award recipients and then we will go to the uh National Associate
Association of Government Defined Contribution Administrators award winners then to the V or Verdugo Hills friends and then the SoCal Beat Battle folks so we're just going to try and run through it efficiently appreciate your patience and again sincere
congratulations to everybody wow okay everybody look right over here one two three oh hold on one minute okay yes and can my husband take a picture of course oh yes
one more one more one more i mean it would have been possible right where's that hold on can you take a picture of us perfect beautiful congratulations so very That's my hand don't worry i'm not going for your wallet i'm just holding you up
thank you for taking Oh my pleasure sir my pleasure my pleasure thank you for taking Of course of course this is amazing amazing it's a pleasure sir i'm very happy i'm moving my hand okay two three thank you so much oh one
more here thank you thank you congratulations no no you're Don't thank us but thank you i know we have that science absolutely thank you but it sir
Come on if you want to bring your committee me it's up to you that's right okay look right over here one two three good good congratulations it took time
it took time but we did it congratulations you're welcome uh we will need to speak soon actually this award is for you oh I I know that no I was on my student council yes thank
you so much thank you so much thank you so much all right to the cat now where's the Kelly come in the middle it's your district it's your district where's Mr silva he's
he's chatting oh yeah there you go that's the right there congratulations congratulations congratulations congratulations good to
see you do you are you okay he's inside his window everybody look over here oh yeah congratulations you don't have to leave you don't have
to leave you can stay please please you need Thank you so much yes all right soundtrack so much i love this song by the way amazing amazing song i'd love to
see you you know grooving to it just amazing amazing i really appreciate you guys taking a picture with them yet uh these not yet they're our last picture love your rap amazing she's a star she's a star thank you so
much congratulations congratulations here's the super winner right here right next to Here we go come on Leandro hop in here i'm gonna go back here i want to go next
to Kelly what's up Kelly hi what school did you teach in Philadelphia i taught in Port Richmond um you're familiar with Port Richmond yeah I I'm from I taught at Gratz you taught at GR
sorry President asked me a question all right thanks so much everyone as soon as we have four esteemed board members up here we can re-engage in the business of the board thank you thank you everyone is as soon as we have another couple of board members we
will get back to the business of business i'll stay thank you everyone and if uh just going to let the board members know who might be eating lunch right now that we are going to go ahead and uh continue the business
we will start this off right may I have a motion to bring tab six to the table move it thank you moved by Thank you very much moved by Miss Gonz seconded by Dr rivas so tab six is all about our official
LUSD land acknowledgement and as is usual first I'll give you the order of operations we'll take the the public comment for those who signed up to speak and then we will go into any uh presentation or discussion associated with with the tab and then the board
will vote so let's see um would Samuel Lopez come on up samuel Lopez are you in the room thank you sir come on up and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin sir good afternoon members of the LUSD school board staff and community members
uh my name is Samuel Lopez and I'm a tribal youth council leader for the Gapaluno Tongas and Gabriel Band of Mission Indians uh and I'd like to just talk about the importance of the land acknowledgement uh growing up I've I never heard of land acknowledgement at school uh nor did I even really know what it was um and everything I learned
about my people was framed in the past tense um and it did felt deeply isolating to be immersed um that like to you know just get and be talked about in the past tense uh but ever since I've been uh just kind of working with my people in a more present tense uh it has
just been again so rewarding and important um for me to kind of understand for our future generations to understand our history in a more complete and understanding light uh because studying history isn't about documenting the winners uh it's about articulating and telling the story fully
um and what has been done and why we're here today at this moment in time it's especially important that all young people are seen supported and uplifted we must reinforce that first peoples are not expect to be observed on reservations or a mere topic to be written about in school projects we are still living on our ancestral lands um
and we're not going anywhere as a tribal youth lead I've had the privilege of working with my elders and fellow tribal members to educate your educators about who we are all the work being done in collaboration with us uh instead of just without us fills me with hope in the future uh hope in the future and the
possibilities that we can build together a meaningful land acknowledgement goes beyond words it invites us to reflect on our responsibilities it calls for supporting indigenous students educators and families within the district incorporating indigenous knowledge into the curricula and partnering with local tribal communities to ensure that their
voices are heard in education policies and decisions ultimately this land acknowledgement is a step toward ensuring that future generations grow up with a more complete understanding of our history our presence and our contributions it is an essential first step in honoring the past shaping a better future and fostering community rooted in respect so I just again want
to thank you so much for all the work that you do um to support that initiative thank you thank you for your time hey Anthony Morales come on up thank you sir miha greetings my name is Chief Red
Blood Anthony Morales tribal chairman of the St gabriel Bano Mission Indians and the direct descendants of the ancestors who inhabited a major our major village of Yagna which is now Los Angeles last November I stood before you to address your consideration of a land
acknowledgement that would recognize our tribal ancestral lands on which Los Angeles Unified School District resides today I ask that this consideration become final also at that time I shared a story of how to preserve one's culture so that
it will never become extinct and that is to teach their children because they are the ones who will continue their culture and that is our goal by becoming a partner with Los Angeles Unified School District to prevent extinction from ever happening today was a prime example i
was sitting there watching these videos of all the youth and it's them it's about them and it's important that they learn their culture so so that what I'm saying here so they will never become extinct their music and their their songs and dances their foods it's very
important because they are the ones that are going to carry their culture when the elders journey to their final resting place um this land acknowledgement will be an honor to our tribe because you are identifying our past giving us a voice
in the present and giving us visibility in the future in the memory of our ancestors thank you thank you thank you for your time sir thank you uh Herbert Johnson are you here
herbert please come on up sir the two minutes is yours why don't you begin speaking thank you of course uh good afternoon uh my name is Herbert Johnson i'm a retired firefighter paramedic for LA County Fire Department
um and I'm here to support the land acknowledgement i have been uh Tongva now for 30 30 plus years since I've been married and the more time that I spend with this culture the more I'm learning
and the more and my wife is a fourth grade teacher and so she takes me to go with her to go and teach and how teachers especially the lady that won the award god bless her um but it's always very fascinating to me when I'm
getting when I'm still learning learning after 30 plus years I'm still learning about this culture and learning about land acknowledgement and how important that is and to cont to continuing on to teach I mean the students but also to
teachers as well and watching the teachers when their eyes go that means they take that back to the schools and how important that is for the land acknowledgement I only have two minutes so I mean I can't give you a whole lot but I'd be more than happy to talk and
and with my wife who's a PhD student right now at UCLA in Native American studies what she is actually learning the good and bad which is a bit disturbing at times um so thank you for this time um hope
you considered the land acknowledgement and hope to see you real soon thank you thank you for your time sir okay let's see we have I'm just going through a list some folks are on this list in front of me but are going to be more formal speakers just before the vote i don't want to confuse those those
two all those names so Samantha Yang are you here samantha Yang come on up thank you for coming you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin samantha Johnson gang i'm an enrolled member of the Gabalino Tongva St gabriel Band of Mission Indians i'm an indigenous scientist with a
bachelor's in science from Cal State Long Beach and I work for my tribe and education i also do a lot of land acknowledgements i'm happy to be here representing my community today i am here in support of the land acknowledgement in my experience this is an excellent first step in restoring relationships and bringing awareness to
our tribe which has historically been heavily silenced my family has been here in LA County Basin since time in memorial we are from the village of Jubet which is also known as the Whittier Narrows in more modern times everyone in my family has gone through grade school middle
school and high school in LA County when my mom was in junior high in the 1980s her history teacher told her class that all Indians who were here almost starve because they were too stupid to find something to eat and the Spaniards saved them that teacher was chewed out later that evening by my army vet grandfather
but the mindset and ignorance are still apparent when I was in grade school in the 2000s progress had been made in fourth grade I beamed at the two whole paragraphs in my textbook about the Tongva way of life before colonization before quickly moving on to the
abundance of the mission and rancho eras in California last fall I spent most of my um November hopping from classroom to classroom around the city of Alhamra to give two-hour presentations to third grade students who learned our trib's history and culture the interest and eagerness in the students to learn more
about it was contagious san Gabriel Band of Mission Indians has also been hosting LA USD teacher professional development days for over a year with great success as an indigenous scientist I see how education indigenous culture and climate change are all interconnected land acknowledgements allow people to uh have
the opportunity to briefly hear about the land they are on and might help them consider how to move forward in a better way this is how we make a better future for our community which is how we help our next generation i'm hopeful to see what the land this land acknowledgement can expire inspire the copa may be very
well thank you for your time let's see i have both uh Mona Ralde and Rudy Ortega who are going to speak after everyone goes because you'll have more time than than just the two minutes so I appreciate your patience um we're going to go to the folks who are speaking
remotely so um Art Morales I see you're on the line art Morales please press star six to unmute yourself and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin art Morales I see you i see you've unmuted yourself Mr morales um if you begin talking we should be able to hear
you try there you go if you speak now we should be able to hear you if not I'll go to the next person maybe you can call back in apologies Mr morales well we will come back to you kimberly Johnson speaking remotely
or are you in the room kimberly Johnson kimberly Johnson signed up to speak remotely but I don't I don't have her signed in just yet so we will call that name again in a moment and then Josh Schwit Josh S
please press star six to unmute yourself and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin josh S hello yes this is Josh Shy um with the office of general counsel representing the band of Mission Indians Gabriela Band of Mission Indians Key Nation um
we would like to recognize the good that the district is trying to bestow upon a First Nation however the uh rightful descendant of the LA base and the Kiche Nation was not properly consulted with in this process um for whatever reason
we're not quite sure but our uh understanding is that chairman Solace has not been consulted with in this so we would like to move or make a statement that no action be taken on this item at this time otherwise we'll
be forced to appeal thank you okay thank you for your time and we'll come back to uh let's see Mr mr morales please press star six to unmute yourself Mr morales and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin art
Morales we we can't seem to hear you Mr morales i'm I'm very sorry i know you were you signed up to speak in person and then switched to remote and I apologize that we might not be able to hear your voice today you want to give it one more try sir unfortunately we can't hear you i hear
you i see you muting and unmuting um and unfortunately there's nothing I can do from from where I sit to resolve uh the problem okay so that concludes the the public comment speakers and I believe we have also special guests here and maybe an introduction or a discussion about
the tab 6 itself come on yes please come on up i'm sorry my run of show is not smooth today i apologize please come on up introduce yourself and um and give us your words hi my name is Mona Morales Recal and I'm with the St gabriel Band of Mission Indians i do have one question Mr mclean
art Morales did send me what he was intending to say would it be acceptable for me to say that that's perfect you're a visiting dignitary and you can absolutely do that okay so this is on behalf of Art Morales i'm an elder tribal historian and former former chairman enrolled member of the
historical San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians having history of time immemorial our tribe was the only Gabrielleno tribe tribe in existence through the 20th century chief Anthony Morales's father our chief legal council and I were designated the first likely
the first most likely descendants by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Native American Heritage Commission in the late late 1970s i would like to thank the board for acknowledging the first people and representatives of this land with hope that we can continue to bring visibility to our ancestors in
history equashem we're still here thank you now can I speak on behalf of myself so um I do want to thank you guys so much for this it is such an exciting time for us specifically board member thank you so much and um Megan and Yuckling have been amazing to work with
this work didn't just start in November this work has been going on for years and it is um with so much gratitude that we have for the partnership that we have with LA USD and the impact that we've been able to have in a lot of the professional development sessions in working with the teachers and so deeply
grateful um in addition to that it would be remiss for me not to mention the MMED team um Lydia Carmine um Elizabeth Pratt and Elliot have been amazing to work with through the years and so I just want to call them out that it's just amazing that you guys have such a great team that has been so wonderful for us
to work with from a native perspective one of the things that we commonly say is all of my relations and in regards to all of my relations we have a word that means everything that we share breath with is a relative and that's a mind shift that's a little bit different from traditional ways of how we're taught
with that mindset we also um will work in the idea of having an open hand and the open hand means many things it's our ability to give and receive and our ability to have balance which in our language is mehura which means balance
and we know that when we get out of balance we carry too much we go like this or as women because we give too much we go like this right and so we want to make sure that we're staying in balance of all of our relations and making sure that we have reciprocal relationships not just with each other
but with mother earth plants animals so with all that being said in our tribal custom one of the things we like to do is give blankets as a sign of our gratitude so for the board members um we would like to give you a blanket and I have a question would it be appropriate
for us to do that now or do it later no time like the present I think okay the Tavia Band of Mission Indians and it's an honor to be here um my tribe is from the Mission San Fernando which is the San Frernando Valley area of
villages that's part of your LAU school district um territories for us in the mission of San Frernando 2,995 Indian people were taken to Mission San Frernando so when we talk about Atlantic launchment that's the land launch we're talking about by 1850 this was by the
way 1797 to 1850 by 1850 it was only 500 of us by 1880 there was only 30 of us and today the 30 remain in in the enrollment of my tribe of the Ferdinand Tavian people today which we have about 900 people enrolled and listed as tribal
citizens of my tribe so this thing this acknowledgement is an important and crucial thing as you heard from testimony about the identity of our tribal peoples the existence of who we are as native people in this area of Los Angeles and it's no fault to our ours our people who fought for land
acknowledgement fought for land trust fought for federal acknowledgement for the federal government and yet our tribe does not have that destination but today you're making that designation and I ask that in favor that you vote yes on this initiative because it brings that value of honor and privilege to understand
that the school district recognizes the first people of Los Angeles before it was called Los Angeles and that's the key and fundamental piece of this land acknowledgement that the schools will be speaking about these first people and I appreciate the work again as Mona had mentioned with I I'm not going to say it
right but Lydia definitely you know uh she did a tremendous job in making sure that she reached out to multiple bands in Los Angeles and to ensure that those consultation was put in place so I value her work her testimony basically your all uh to hear us and hear this
testament and we have blankets uh Mona text me and said we giving blankets sure we're going to do that we're going to do that so thank you again yes please yes please please come on up you will have two people wrapping you with the blanket we will begin with our
superintendent and then our board members he mayhey he yeah he tih your t-hoom he yeah
he yeah he yeah Mayha your ta your ta mayh your teeh your
teeh your teeh your teeh yeah He me yeah he the holy now for the holy Quiet okay the item has been moved and seconded and now it's my opportunity to
ask for a vote so um Miss Newell yes dr rivas yes mr meline yes miss Brigo yes yes miss Gomez yes miss Ortiz Franklin yes board President Schmurson yes that's a unanimous seven
eyes and now perhaps a photo was there a request for a photo yes okay very cool okay thank you very much everyone we're going to resume our regular business and we're going to move to tab
23 um let's see tab 23 has some public comment associated with it yeah yeah all right so I'm going to go ahead and call the folks for public comment and then we will take this item up for discussion we might as well do
this all the way right may I have a motion a move in a second move it all right moved by Mr smurlson second seconded by Miss Newell okay so all 10 speakers are listed as being in person i will call their names now um Joseph
Bernie uh Allison Mera Thomas Amamira Thomas Mariah Williams Khalil Smith Deina uh Mackie
Draper Daniel Sierra Daniel Sierra Gilbert uh Crystal Okay so none of the folks are here for comment so um thank you Mr mcclean and thank you
President Mirlson for um moving this up um you know from the past uh to the future I guess from that last agenda item to this one uh but the idea here is really just to help move the district forward in terms of our constituent and
public facing processes um it asked the district to do a review of all our current systems and processes to digitize things and to bring LA Unified into uh the the 21st century and in the world we're living in whether it's we're interacting with our um private
companies or paying parking tickets online a lot of things that we now uh take for granted in most of our lives that we're doing digitally we still um some for good reason some it's hard to find a reason uh but do things more antiquatedly here here and there's a list in the resolution school enrollment
emergency cards permission slips one of the things that's been great in the last few years through our ELO program which we're going to vote on later in this meeting and CAP is all these field trips well parents have to fill out permission slips by hand for every child for every field trip uh so it's you know whether it's the environmental coal yeah thank
you miss Hendy Nel is nodding um and so I want to acknowledge the work that the district's already started to do on some of these uh digitization processes one of the things we're also going to be voting on today um is uh the winning bid for a contract to have uh uh credit card
and digital payment services for things like leasing uh our facilities but I will tell you I asked I started asking and advocating for that seven or eight years ago um and so we wanted to just kind of uh expedite some of this and and make sure every department has an opportunity to say these are the things
we still do on paper we definitely want as the resolution calls for paper options uh to be accessible or for folks who might not have access to uh to computer or to a smartphone but in general many of these things we are an outlier when it comes to things uh being
done by paper and so the idea here is to uh save families time um rather than than taking unnecessary time so um appreciate the co-sponsorship of Miss Ortiz Franklin who I'll turn it over to now but uh it asks uh there there's an updated version here and working with
the superintendent's team again acknowledging the work that's already been done but just adding to this review that uh directs the superintendent to conduct a review uh conduct review of all current systems both internal and external to determine which can be digitized and modernized for ease of use
provide a report back to this board and then start uh start doing the work so with that I'll turn it over to Miss Ortiz Franklin thank you and thanks for bringing the resolution to our attention you know I was super excited when this came because as you're seeing nods of fellow parents of uh students in the district right now we are recognizing
where this might ease our own life as well um so just personally filling out the enrollment forms and the emergency cards uh this the the slot is so small sometimes to fit long last names um so really appreciate the the efforts to move in that direction um I was lucky to
add one on around the early childhood um checks i was almost late this month um but I paid my rent on time because that was digital and the check i had to find the checkbook in the car somewhere so I just think this will make things really uh simpler for families and also for staff um appreciate the the signins and
the mileage and uh I know the team wants to make the district a premier place for both students families and staff so I'm excited that we've been doing some things in that direction and I hope the strength of the the board um and invite my you know colleagues co-sponsorships and yes vote as well uh will make it
just easier for everyone so hopefully um we will see the the fruits of this labor very shortly thanks for bringing it thank you and with that I don't know if there are other board member comments questions or Yeah Mr schmson can I note very quickly we're on version three which has been passed now to the board
members is available online and we have hard copies in the back if you if you need it thank you so version three so I too would like to co-sponsor thank you very much thank you and I want to talk about cumulative records and if you don't know what cumulative records are
those are the children's records from TK to 12th grade and beyond and we are charged with keeping those records in perpetuity and that means forever forever and ever and ever and I could
remember working at Virgil Middle School when amnesty was happening in the 80s and they depended on those cumulative records to prove that they were in school and that was the lifesaver for the kids and their parents to show that they were actually in the US in the 80s
so let me tell you about cumulative records as a principal an assistant principal were responsible for them and sometimes schools have painting projects and they move the cubes to another room or sometimes they have modernization and they pack them up in boxes and move them
to another room somebody has to keep track of all these cumulative records and where they go if you have a fire at the school if you have a flood at the school someone is responsible for those cumulative records so it is very very
important that when properly at the right time those records are digitized and that means they're taken to a special place where they are uh cleaned up and photographed in perpetuity but what happens is and I know the
superintendent has supported me in this um it's a little slow to get moving with all those records a lot of work to get those records done but we have to make sure that all of our records are done in digitization properly so that we have
those records forever and I'll remind you again about amnesty and how important it was to keep those records safe so thank you thank you yeah Miss Hendy Newell yes um yes I too would like to co-sponsor as a parent who
has figured out a way you just Xerox uh uh emergency car because you have to fill it out every year and you just omit the year and you try to keep up with the times this would help so much um and as someone who had to look for those
by hand at a school site so I know the work that goes into that so definitely appreciate it and bringing it forward so we get into the century that we're in now so thanks are we I missed the beginning so we're just doing comments or questions
or Yes okay on tab um well I'm glad that you're bringing this forth but um we did receive a board informative on April 1st uh from the district so I I was just you know um a little confused uh what more
is this resolution doing um that wasn't already addressed in the board informative because in the board informative and mentioned that um the districts are already um digitizing some um forms like school enrollment field trips special education reimbursements
leasing and civics um and it mentioned all of the forms for field trips and also for enrollment special education reimbursements civic center payments so it's just this adding more to what the district is already digitizing to
include more um applications and forms yeah that was and happy to have um Deputy Superintendent Salceto or whoever on the superintendent's team talk to that yeah I mean a lot I appreciate that work a lot of it was in response to I think board advocacy over year over the years some of it like the credit card
payments for leasing we're voting on today but it took a long time others um are in process and so it it's just uh kind of to validate that work and has that it get expedited and then add um the other non-exhaustive list here emergency cards like Miss Hendy Newell
was uh discussing recording excused absences early ed center payments like Mr franklin acknowledged TP compliance forms and then through the review we changed it from audit to review because it was kind of like a lowercase audit just a review of every department to say these are the ways that the public
interacts or even the schools interact with the central office uh by paper and then ask them to add that to the effort yeah because it does say here are the the the next steps as you mentioned that the district staff will continue exploring the feasibility of digitizing
additional processes like the early ed center payments illness forms and tuberculosis compliance forms to just name a few um and that the board will be apprised for updates so this is just sort of making sure that's taking place
yeah I think that ca that informative came after this was submitted and again I appreciate I can't really my neck is trying to turn but I appreciate this and we've been working with the team um including this new language including continue to current efforts as you were reading uh so you know that was a I
would say a step as part of the broader hole but yeah Pedro if so the resolution was noticed at the beginning of March um what we wanted to do is be responsive to what was actually being u brought to everyone's attention and provide an update on what we've done to date um
there are a number of timelines that we need to execute on to ensure that we're digitizing a number of different processes in the district um but we also intend to kind of scour our processes across multiple divisions to think about what are the touch points with multiple
stakeholders to really identify where efficiencies might exist how do we leverage existing applications um and forms that are already online based or processes that are currently being converted that can include an additional element to resolve um resolve
some of the paper back and forth between parents staff uh external stakeholders community members that are submitting you know uh information for leasing and civic center permits um we do think there's an opportunity here at the same time it comes with potential costs and
expenditures um that is one thing that we have to weigh when we look at feasibility um and we always try to strike a balance on kind of leveraging what we have and just enhancing what we have so we'll have a report back on the 12 budget and what that that what what
it'll take well I'm glad because of this because particularly for the civic uh center permits and payment that seems to be an area that a lot of our community members um are very frustrated with so if this is going to you know really um modernize and um just making streamline
the process easier for everyone I think then um so thank you for bringing this for i just wanted to clarify with the board informative and yeah please add me to the resolution great thank you we will yeah miss Grigo yeah I just have a question regarding the where is it the
illness forms absence for illness non-illness is that for employees or for students um that is for we were thinking employees predominantly um but I I think this is what the review is going to call for certain things emergency cards and permission slips are the big pain point
we hear for an enrollment which is on here from parents but we're also going to ask schools to say you know we um and we remember one of the my Venice High School we also were hearing parents and it was about things like signing up for classes or even um summer school so
like we're going to ask our schools and ask you all to do the same and figure out what those pain points are but this the absence for illness and non-ill family new child leave was an employee all right and I appreciate the stakeholder and community feedback by October 25th um and yeah thank you great
i'm supporting it wonderful thanks uh okay then maybe we can um it's been moved and second we can take a vote outstanding roll call on tab 23 miss Newell yes dr ivas yes mr melvin yes miss Grigo yes miss Gomez miss Ortiz
Franklin yes board President yes that's six eyes and we'll check back in with Miss Gonz when she's here passes okay the time is now 2:54 we started taking public comment on consent items um and we got
through consent item 22 that was the IPM um and we'll continue with public comment on other consent items as we take them so tab 26 and tab uh 27 both have uh public comment both of which are on
consent so Eldana Area are you here eldana Area and then Norma Gonzalez this is for tab 26 norma Gonzalez both not here tab 25 is actually also on consent
my apologies we and we have six speakers for tab 25 um Angela Torres are you here angela Torres Samuel Pake Heights come on down it's your time to
shine you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin on tab 25 Earth Day 2025 strengthening climate resilience and sustainability two minutes sir yes thank you so good afternoon board members superintendent and staff my name is Samuel Pines and
I'm a sophomore at North Hollywood High School and I'm here to strongly support the Earth Day resolution for students like me Earth Day isn't just a one-day event earth Day is our future we see the impacts of climate change throughout Los Angeles we feel
the extreme heat we worry about the air we breathe and we are still recovering after the devastating wildfires after evacuating from the Palisades fire I returned to neighbors without physical homes and friends without a permanent
school that's simply not fair every student deserves a healthy and safe space to learn that's why the climate education this resolution supports is essential understanding these issues empowers us to contribute to solutions we want more
opportunities like Earth Day LA that connect us with others who care and teach practical ways to make a difference we're most inspired by tangible changes at our schools things like more trees functional recycling
programs and renewable energy installations empower us oh installations show us that the district is serious about creating and tackling climate change so please keep pushing to secure funding for greener
more sustainable schools we're counting on our bold action now to secure our future and our planet thank you thank you for your time jerry Yang are you here mr jerry Yang come on up you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin not as tall as Samuel so let's uh
Okay does the time just start on my first word or Okay okay sorry um hello LUSD board members i'm honored to have the privilege to speak to you about today's Earth Day resolution before I begin let me introduce myself i'm Jerry Yang i was I am one of the 2025 LUSD
student board member candidates i also currently serve as the president of the Los Angeles City Youth Council uh and I'm a junior at North Hollywood High School um same school that Samuel goes to so um part of my background is a lot of work within climate literacy working
with Jerry Song um I've recorded multiple videos for the 2025 Earth Month website um which hopefully will be coming out soon uh and I constantly push for uh for more climate literacy and more fun climate literacy curriculum uh I'm actually helping design a climate
change board game right now so that's one of the things um and I actually well Morlson uh left but I advocated to him about banning artificial turf across LA USD as well so as you can see I have a history of um climate advocacy and for
pushing reform um and now I want to talk about why this resolution in particular is important it should be no stranger to us the disasters that are currently occurring in our community it is irresponsible to ignore them and chalk them up just to you know disasters the
fact is is that many of them are caused by climate change and that's something that needs to be taught in schools as temperatures continue to rise as well students are bearing the brunt they feel the temperatures rising and the lack of green space in schools and it's important to acknowledge the moments we
have to celebrate our community and our environment this resolution is just one step in the right direction providing a platform for schools to build around to create events bringing awareness and celebrating our planet it also helps address issues students are experiencing uh due to climate change such as eco
anxiety insecurities and mental health issues i stand before you today not just as a leader in climate literacy and a passionate environmental advocate but also as an LUSD student asking you to pass this res resolution to support the future of our society and keep your
students my peers informed and engaged in the ever evolving world thank you thank you very much for your time uh Camila is Camila here in person joe Z are you here in person and we have
Lauren Aim online lauren please press star six to unmute yourself and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin lauren Aim lauren I see you're with us hi this is Lauren should I go ahead yeah please go ahead yes hi thank you so much my name is Lauren Nikam i'm the climate co-director at the
LA All Lines for New Economy and just calling in to express um gratitude and support to Dr rivas and the board for taking up this important matter of the climate progress of the district and the importance of um celebrating and honoring Earth Day in the efforts of the
district to um advance climate resilience for students and staff and um as a district and the need for additional resources to be able to do that so just wanted to voice appreciation for Dr in putting forward this resolution and
encourage the continued progress and solidarity with of many organizations and the and parents and residents of LUSD in working together to advance the equity for all um of us working in LUD
and parents and students so thanks very much thank you for your time uh that concludes the public comment on the item and Dr dr reebas is informing me she wants to give a few comments on her resolution tab 25 Earth Day yes I have a few comments and um
sorry I didn't know that this was placed on um consent and um and I do have some speakers here are present um so today I am honored to introduce the resolution strengthening climate resilience and sustainability in L USD in recognition of Earth Day 2025 since 1970 Earth Day
has united people across the globe to protect our climate cla planet and here in Los Angeles unified we are proud to be part of that movement we know that climate change is not just a global issue it is a deeply local one particularly for our black brown and
low-income uh students and communities experience the harshest impacts of heat pollution environmental degradation and yet there are uh they are also leading the way in innovation community care and climate advocacy um before I go further
I'd like to share a very powerful poem written by an eighth grader at uh John Ley Middle School uh by Jonathan Salvador it reminds us why work work ma this work matters not just for Earth Day but every day so this is a poem called nature's
work nature how how we started and yet we take it for granted many buildings cover the magic and this is quite tragic the phenomenon that occurs is amazing and the work done is destroyed many
parks gone and nowhere to play and many kids don't know they have a say the companies want allin on profits and Earth is the one who takes the hits what we need is more grass and not not let
this opportunity pass to show everyone what this planet has done we all must do our part starting with one we must clean up and not pollute let the trees grow and savor the fruit so thank you Jonathan for this poem um putting
words putting into words what many of us feel so deeply and um thank you for your inspiration for us to act in urgency and hope uh so the resolution recommits LA Unifi to advance it to advancing climate resilience clean energy green
schoolyards and studentled environmental learning it also encourages our participation in two key events the in the city of Los Angeles sanitation environments Earth Day LA 2025 event at Norman O um Houston Park an opportunity
to connect clean up and celebrate sustainability together and the second one uh which was just added into the resolution was the Echo Park Earthfest 2.0 um El Centro de Pueblo at El Centro de PBlo hosted by Senator Maria Lena Duraso let us remember that Earth Day is
not a single day it is it is um a launching pad for action throughout the year and this resolution reflects our district our district's responsibility to ensure every student learns grows and thrives in a climate safe and equitable environment now I'm pleased to introduce
uh some guest speakers who will share some important work being done to advance our climate goals uh first we have from the neighborhood council sustainability alliance we have Miss Aurora Corona um I'd like begin by
uplifting the work of the neighborhood council sustainability alliance and coalition working to advance sustainability and resilience across Los Angeles through advocacy best sharing best practices and common communitydriven action uh representing
NCSA today is someone who truly embodies that grassroots spirit i'm honored to welcome Aurora Corona a lifelong resident of Pico Union and environmental leader with deep roots in our school communities aurora also serves on the board of friends of Pico Union Library
where she leads local greening projects like native plant medians park cleanups and community gardens she reminds us that environmental justice begins one on the block where you live our welcome thank you i'd like to greet all the
board and thank you for having us here um yes um Dr rivas I want to applaud you for um all the work that you're doing especially for Earth Day as you mentioned it has been over 70 years with the first Earth Day and we're in our 55
year and yet we still are not where we need to be and the work is still there and you've heard our students and Jerry happens to be on the Los Angeles Neighborhood Council Sustainability Alliance he has now created a youth action team and I believe I don't know
if Scott's on it but um we're very thrilled to have this youth action committee and they are working hard and they are LA USD students i'm very happy that you mentioned the poem because exactly what I was going to do um I led
a contest about nature's gift that was the theme at LU City Schools and we actually got about 17 uh honorable mentions and top selections and the one that uh Dr receiv was a top honorable
mention for a top selection so beautiful work inspiring i think it's so important that uh we just had a ceremonious a a great ceremony land um resolution we can do the same for the planet i mean really
if we are so adamant about doing a land we cannot survive without the planet being here so my ask is that you approve Dr rosio Riva's resolution and uh a resolution for our planet and earth thank you so much
um our next speaker is that I'd like to invite forward is Miss Lisa Hart she represents the neighborhood council sustain alliance as executive director and a powerful advocate for citywide sustainability policy lisa leads initiatives that bring neighborhood
councils together for collective environmental action and she also serves on the executive committee on so-cal stop artificial turf task force we are grateful for your leadership collaborative spirit welcome Lisa thank you so much for having me it's an honor
to have an opportunity to speak before you the same day you're honoring Dolores Huerta it is so important that new generations of students learn about her work so thank you and I want to thank you Dr rivas for acknowledging the role of the climate crisis in the fires in your Earth Day resolution in the
immediate aftermath and even now many of our leaders have been conspicuously quiet on that front which was almost as frightening to me as the fires themselves lusd has been a role model for sustainability on many fronts so so thank you for your leadership and yes we
must have green schools and we must green our schools as a member of the socal stop artificial turf task force executive committee I know we we look forward to continue working with you on this important issue as we have identified solutions because although
artificial turf is the color green that is not what we at the sustainability alliance mean by greening schools thank you again for your leadership thank you uh thank you Lisa Noda for your support um now I'd like to spotlight the Earth Day LA Coalition a
group dedicated to advancing public awareness and celebration environmental action through citywide events and partnerships um I'd like to uh recognize Congrado Terrasa's Cross fortunately he couldn't be here with us but he's all part of this oh is he oh he's here oh
I'm sorry go ahead please okay i wasn't sure if you were here um so uh Mr mr terrasas Cross is a seasoned public servant and community advocate who has helped lead Echo Park Earthfest and numerous large-scale culture environmental celebrations across Los
Angeles gonado has mobilized coalitions and secured millions of funding to support arts sustainability and community engagement welcome Mr hi how are you all doing board members and superintendent my name is Cornado Teras i'm a district representative for state
senator Maria Lena Duraso and I'm here to express my gratitude uh to board member Dr rosio Rivas's Earth Day resolution and for introducing that and we also wanted to invite everyone to an upcoming free Echo Park Earthfest at 2.0
this is our second year it's Saturday April 26 in two short weeks at El Centro de Pueblo in Echo Park this is a community event that celebrates environmental stewardship it showcases how we can nurture our planet which we all want to do right uh we begin with a
service day LA co-sponsored by Mayor Bass it's going to be a cleanup from 9:00 a.m to 11:00 a.m we're going to follow with a great fest or festival we're going to be giving out free trees 100 free trees planting trees we're going to be have free eye exams people
can get free eye frames up to a hundred all you have to do is bring your your prescription or you can have an exam taken there and get free eyelasses we're also going to be having composting demo and youth performances until 5:00 p.m so we just want to thank you for all your
initiatives you do at the board and thank the the board member Rousil Rivas for your work in protecting our planet and we hope to see you all on the 26th i have flyers i can leave them with you pass them thank you
um I want to ask if m um S Coyama is here no he's not here okay oh oh you are hi welcome so really quick um Sakai Coyama is a lifelong resident of Echo Park and a passionate advocate for parks
neighborhood safety and animal welfare and green spaces her work reflects his deep care and grassroots commitment needed to build resilient neighborhoods uh from the ground up and she's also part of the Earth Day LA coalition thank you good afternoon members of the board and superintendent my name is Sakai
Coyama co-coord co-coordinator of Echo Park Earthfest co-president of Friends of Alleian Park and part of the Echo Park Advisory Board it's an honor to be here in support of board member Rosia Rivas's Earth Day resolution and to share more about the free Echo Park
Earthfest happening Saturday April 26 at El Centro de PBLO um Conrad explained a little bit about it to you but I want to express to you just as a product of LA USD student a lifelong born and raised in Los Angeles in third grade um we had
a project and it has stuck with me my entire life and informs me today as how I move through the world um third grade Dayton Heights Elementary School on Commonwealth Avenue uh Mrs johnson our project was about trash and recycling
and where does it go it doesn't just go away it has to go somewhere and so we had to do a whole project i had a whole poster i remember it clearly i might even still have it somewhere but just so you know how important it is to educate young children at a very vulnerable age
that it it stays with them and it becomes their lifelong mission as it has with me thank you so much thank you so much and one last speaker i know you called her for public comment but she's actually here present angela Torres um I'd like to invite her up
forward there she is um Angela is joined by Pasadena City College Corps and Impact Scholars so welcome Angela and these wonderful scholars and Angela is also a member of the historic Highland Park Neighborhood Council thank you so much um good
afternoon board members superintendent and staff um if he's still here what a beautiful morning honoring Dolores Wuerta i am still we're processing all of that um I'm joined with Pasadena City College Corps and Impact Scholars my
name is Angela as a proud member of the Highland Park Neighborhood Council and a passionate advocate for formerly incarcerated students and youth empowerment in Northeast LA I strongly support this resolution um this resolution not only affirms LUSD's commitment to climate resilience and
sustainability but also emphasizes the critical need for indigenous um led and environmental equity um initiatives so especially in communities like our own that are disproportionately impacted by climate change and I believe these
resolutions are important as they focus on environmental equity which are important in um our communities um impacted severely by incarceration gentrification and just eraser so I specifically just want to say I love the idea of more collaboration in this area
and wholeheartedly support um the proposal i think it it um involves an education piece that'll start conversations that we could have benefited from having when we were younger um thank you for leading this crucial initiative i'm excited to see um
it implemented thank you all for your time thank you so much so thank you uh everyone all educators students and committee members who are putting climate action into practice across our schools and our communities here in Los
Angeles together we're growing greener healthier and more just future for Los Angeles Unified School District thank you so much so I guess we can vote and I'll move so it was taken off discussion so I'm off consent for discussion so if there's other folks who want to chitchat
oh yes any other comments co-sponsor please noted yes i'd like to be added as well okay so co-sponsor for Miss Gonz also miss Ortiz Franklin also here rego Mr
okay unanimous co-sponsorship okay so we may as well take the vote on this it's on the discussion calendar not consent so this is on tab 25 um can we take the board rule 72 waiver at the same time unless there's an objection okay um we have a mover and
a second yet move her please move it second by Mr seconded uh by Miss Gonz uh Miss Newell yes dr rivas yes mr meline yes yes miss Grigo yes miss Gomez yes miss Ortiz Franklin yes board President
Schmeurson yes okay that's seven eyes on tab 25 and Miss Gomez I need to collect a vote I think on tab 23 yes that's a yes okay so that rolls and I would also like to take tab 26 out of consent i also have Okay so we'll put we'll put that on to discussion and come
back to it after we get through these consent items so last consent item we took was tab 22 we heard the public comment on that um the next consent item is tab 27 um we have two folks speaking to tab 27
mandated supporting child abuse awareness safety and equity um Sabrina Burgess Garrett or Burgess Garrett are you here sabrina and Adriana are you here adriana and Mr ortiz Franklin you said
you had a super brief comment super brief just to explain that we are all mandated reporters in LA Unified there is a shift in um the framing to mandated supporting um so when students are showing signs of potential neglect um it is not just for conditions of poverty or
uh hunger or uh transportation or all of these issues were um sort of relooked at the state and so the resolution is simply calling for us to take a look at our training and our uh policy to make sure we're in line with that so that we are offering support as well as um
maintaining our mandated reporter status um it's an effort to be more equitable because we know that more poor and black children are over reported in this process and so I would invite my colleagues to to co-sponsor to vote yes um to strengthen uh the way that we
train folks to offer support just as much as we are uh keeping them safe uh in our district so that's the quick comment yes thank you for bringing it forward i'd like to be added to Okay so adding as co-sponsors Dr rivas me too see Mr melvin I'm just going to go this
way and then Mr schmurson yes riego and Gonz okay so that was consent item 27 um I will confess to an error tab 29 cannot be on consent in fact no action is taken on it that's the charter petitions for public hearing we I will read my public statement and then we'll hear the folks
who signed up for that item to be heard uh after we conclude the consent calendar um we don't have any comment on tab 30 we do have uh comment on tab 31 which is minutes for board approval
maria Torres are you here maria Torres uh how about Nelly Mendes okay that concludes the public comment for consent items can I have a move and a second to take the consent calendar moved by Miss Gonzalez seconded
by Dr rivas yes okay thank you uh Miss Newell yes dr rivas yes mr melvin yes miss Grigo yes miss Gomez yes miss Ortiz Franklin yes for President Schmurz yes okay the consent calendar passes it's
3:20 we're going to go on to the discussion items that the board members selected as not being on the consent calendar so the first item up for discussion um is tab two California Department of Education's transitional kindergarten qualification uh we have
two folks um for public comment i will call on those folks and then um it goes to the board for discussion uh Megan Costello are you on the line megan Costello are you in the room Miss
Costello neither nor erinda Morita are you in the room you're signed up to speak remotely but you're not signed in erinda Morita um okay so it's up for discussion now i have two members who wanted to discuss tab 2 mr melvoyne and Miss Grigo
and we have uh from HR we have LS Ortega and Michael Berserdorf here and Dr dean Tagawa from early education um yeah thank you um I'm wondering about uh the PDS that are going to be offered for the teachers who are teaching TK i
understand that um there are many options for them but one of the things that I've heard from um TK teachers is that on PD Tuesdays usually there might be the only one or maybe there's another TK teacher and so they need but they're the PD they have to join the regular PD
that is offered to all the other teachers and they feel that they don't have the the PD is not relevant to their work so I'm wondering what can we do so that the TK teachers during PD Tuesdays get very specific and uh differentiated
uh PD that addresses their work yeah thank you uh board member Grego so one of the things that we did this year was to start doing what we call bite-sized PD so we take like a a four to six hour session and we break it down into 45 minute sessions so the TK
teachers can join so this year we've had on any given Tuesday when we have the bank time we have over 500 TK teachers who are able to join those so that is new for this year and we'll continue it for next year but it's definitely a kind of a sweet spot that we found because you're right you may be only one or two
TK teachers at your school site but when we can all bring them together for a 45m minute zoom then we get over 500 the other thing is within that same kind of PD structure uh we created a TK um teacher group in schooly and they're very active and we have over 1100
teachers in that group so there's different ways that we're trying to bring out PD besides just Tuesdays but the bank time um Tuesday seems to be we call them byite-size PDs but it seems to be a big hit so just kind of know we'll continue that for the upcoming year
great thank Excuse me thank you so I just a comment uh a clarifying question I guess but I'm I'm thrilled that we're now providing universal preschool in LA i mean I know we call it different things but to parents that's basically what it is um and everywhere I go people
seem surprised that we have that so I have seen our buses and our billboards but as we've discussed at Miss Gonz's committee I hope there's more we can do to to let folks know that we um have universal prek uh in LA preschool in LA um and I'm glad that we have enough teachers to provide instruction to our
youngest learners and most of these teachers have training either through their credential or micro credential or their hours of credit um you know I notice in this action we're kind of certifying either the training or the experience and while there is no substitute for experience in the classroom I want to make sure that
all of our teachers have some specific training for this population of young learners um and so you know we're by approving this we're basically saying that if you are already teaching you're certified but I just want to see what additional training are we doing to support educators to work with this
population not to you know we'll support this action but just um to make sure that not that those folks are are getting proper training and and professional development so um with the training for TK teachers we've done the bank time Tuesdays we've
also done Saturday trainings in the summer last year we brought over a thousand teachers together to do training specific to um um early literacy and early numeracy and then again during the course of the year we've been able to bring early literacy numeracy some writing and then the big
piece is the classroom environment so we've done several trainings with the TK teachers on the creating a classroom environment we call it like when you arrange your room in a certain way and you start developing those interactions it's like having an extra the environment becomes an extra teacher in the room so they've been wellreceived um
this summer we're working with LEO to do another TK training um and it looks like we'll probably have another thousand folks there so there is ongoing training um in this and then I I don't want to defer but I I'm excited because the micro credential has been in place for
three years and um that has brought in a very deep um well I'm not going to I don't want to speak to it because that that's Michael's thing but it it's a tough it's tough and I've been to the trainings and I really like the way it's laid out so I know that maybe is partial
of an answer but I hope that helps thank you any further questions comments appropriate to vote okay this is on tab two may I have a motion moved moved by Miss Gomez
seconded seconded by Miss Grigo uh Miss Newell yes dr rivas yes mr melboy yes miss Grigo yes miss Gomez yes mr artis Franklin or President Schmurson yes
that's six eyes now on to tab three LA USD expanded learning opportunities program plan update uh we have two speakers on that item uh Maria Louisa Palma I thought I
saw you here in person did I see you i have you listed as callin but please come on down uh Miss Palma and then you'll be followed directly by Mr david Tokovski so come on down you'll have two minutes to speak why don't you begin
thank you so much good afternoon my name is Marisa Palma i'm here representing Olada so um you have a budget buried in this item for ELOP um but there are no
lists of which schools have which programs for example how many students complete programs i know at committee of the whole some numbers were uh thrown out there about students but we don't know if they showed up once how many students complete programs such as the high dosage tutoring how many went
consistently where is there a list of official programs that each school has so parents can reference we had the great students here for academic decathlon today which schools provide that that type of program are ELOP funds included in the school budget i don't
think so are they discretionary who selects which ELOP programs are at particular schools we've hear that there's an opt-in are parents part of that conversation on selecting which programs are going to be in schools and if you have all asked I've heard the
questions happen here on how can we evaluate what programs are causing positive academic outcomes well if we can't measure them directly for ELOP we need to be able to see which schools have which programs and then be able to look at those academic outcomes at those schools here's where some of the problem
comes in at the parent advisory committee this last week they presented the existence of I Ready to the membership but no I Ready results isn't that funny the the parents specifically asked for I Ready results they were told no they were told that because of the
development of the LCAP for next year for 2425 will be in the annual update to all of you to the board in June then after that those details will be made public and then the the pack can have that information isn't all the
information here public data how is it that those parents can't get that information we have some tiny little bits of I Ready information that were presented to DACA do you have this board members do you have I Ready data this needs to be made public as soon as possible all of it to the parents to
everyone thank you thank you for your time uh Mr david Tokovsky come on down you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin thank you very much mr melvin hit it on the nose on item two you're certifying these items as a board just like Prop 28
this board of ed certified certain things and now is the subject of litigation as to whether or not what you certified is accurate so on tab three you are certifying uh a plan that is if you read it is filled with more educational gobbledegook than I've read
in a long time it is unclear as to how it's affecting student achievement post pandemic it's 500 million did I say that right $500 million ask how much of it was returned to the state if any if not you can call the CDE
and ask them to get a straight up honor because remember when people speak here they're not under oath they're just telling you what oh that's a great question Nick that's a great question marching band did it get anything great all city marching band
did it get any money in the arts in the ELOP immigrant students newcomer centers how much was directed in this time of urgency over immigrants how much was dedicated to that tutoring vast majority of tutoring do you have the results of
the tutoring companies have you ever gotten them item four Golden State certification i missed all of you at the showcase it was wonderful to see that not one but carpenters all of these pathways that you're certifying not one
union basically involved you need to direct some of that item seven 400 teachers don't have class what in the world is going on with communication item number nine great thing haldale Elementary School 2.5
million it's the first time I've seen a community development block grant doesn't even say it by its name government relations should be getting 2.5 million from every congressperson every supervisor every city council that extorts Christina Tes every time we
build something in Southgate folks come up and say "Will you pay for our plumbing will you pay for our water?" They ought to give us their community ba uh development school the community- based develop development grant thank you very much i appreciate the time and
each one of these that coming up next you're certifying with your name and your vote to the state thank you for your time sir appreciate it thank you for your time okay uh may have someone move uh tab three anybody want to
move tab three move it mr schmurson anyone like to second tab three okay dr revas okay Dr reevas is second and now we take the vote uh Miss
Newell I'm sorry i'm so sorry i'm moving too quickly so please um discuss who so sorry Miss Gomez i can start sure um hello Dr bias um I appreciate you bringing this
forward and um I know the board has previously gotten a presentation on ELOP so my questions are a bit of a follow-up to that initial presentation i think it was back in the fall or winter of 2024 um I think first if you can obviously there's a lot of different uh programs
and components that are spoken to in the materials we received if you can speak to kind of what's our decision-making approach about how those different programs are allocated to different school sites um which schools are prioritized in terms of having access to to different programs absolutely so um
the ELOP has a premise so the California Department of Education has identified quality standards for this expanded learning program they are safe and supportive environment active engaged learning skill building youth voice and leadership healthy choices and behaviors
diversity access and equity quality staff and a number of others and so based on that we also looked at their strategic plan and looking at that alignment so I'm going to give you an example for um active and engaged learning we're connecting that with academic excellence that's pillar one of
the strategic plan and in that particular program we're offering uh instructional programs so they could be acceleration programs or they could be intervention programs tutoring programs um there is the winter academy there's a summer program uh there's a spring
academy there's a number of programs just related to that um the uh resources that we use the way that we make a decision on that is based on data is based based on student achievement data how students are performing on the smarter balance assessment our reclassification rate um all of those
ALCAP indicators are what what drive um our um uh our program so for example we found that in the Smarter Balance Assessment our foster youth our students that are not performing at grade level as we saw that so foster youth became a focus so we're working with Maria
Miranda to um provide us uh with some um just collaborating with us um on programs for those students to uh get access 11th grade was a gap in math so that's a focus so everywhere we saw that there was a gap we've invested in those areas steam and STEM was a gap for a
long time just recently you saw the region north and region uh region east had their um steamfest and that was based on number of different programs and clubs that are being held after school that are increasing the number of steam programs and increasing the number
of of um females and girls in STEM STEM and STEAM those are just a few examples of the types of programs we are implementing but how we're ba how we're basing that decision is based on data based on our strategic plan and based on the quality standards for expanded learning okay that's helpful and in
terms of the balance between which programs are being centrally decided versus school sites are opting in or selecting to utilize our funds in a particular way can you share more about that sure so tutoring has been offered to all of the schools and of course we had a vendor fair and the school
selected the tutoring vendor that they wanted to come to their school so they that's something that's available to everybody the afterchool program the beyond the bell program is actually the base that's the base for our expanded learning program and so we have our beyond the bell l program um youth
development services um ys we have our providers that are are are in KK through 8th grade campuses and they've so at this point all of those schools have been offered a service um we have um in terms of the opting in opting in would
be something like um we noticed that middle of the year data indicated we h we need more support with literacy and numeracy we sent out um an IOC to the teach to the schools that's an informative asking schools um that this opportunity is available you can have
our an intervention program after school or on Saturday you can have Saturday school that means you'll need to hire teachers after school and on Saturday to provide very targeted support um and so th that's an example of a school opting in um so there are clubs for example
there's one that's called an an esports clubs for good schools opted into that one and the reason why you need to opt in is because they need training before they receive materials to implement these clubs after school so that's one of the reasons for that opt-in got it um
perhaps as a a followup like just kind of better understanding the proportion of dollars that are distributed versus those opt-in types of programs the base of Beyond the Bell and then other kind of district-wide efforts like maybe the um the the Steamfests might be an
example of kind of it's broader than just one school site specifically um so if you could provide more on that that would be great um just on the school site piece I also wanted to follow up because I know Miss Nichols when she spoke to us earlier today um from AALA she mentioned just uh maybe delayed
dispersement of funds to school sites or the plan requirements can you can you share on that absolutely so um we after looking at middle of the year data we sent out a an opportunity for schools to opt in and I the plan that she was referring to and I spoke with her out outside um the plan she was referring to
when I explained it's it's the budget the budget worksheet in order for schools to implement a program you need to complete a budget worksheet how many hours are you going to pay a teacher custodial time materials all of those need to be a budget worksheet i explained that's not a plan that's
what's expected every time we're going to provide an allocation the plan is the school plan but the the budget worksheet is required to justify for me to come here to you and say this is how the money was spent x amount of dollars on teachers x amount of amount of materials x amount on transportation whatever the
cost is that is what is required her main concern and she said to me is EDP that's the extra duty pay that teachers that principles are asking for it's not about this expanded learning opportunity program or or the or or the um uh the implementation of it because it's it's
optional and anything that is uh a requirement such as a beyond the bell after school program comes with staff that comes with staff to be able to implement the programs okay um well I I was thinking about the EDP piece but I I'll set that to the side for one moment
um I also wanted to follow up just on our um partnerships as part of this effort you know there's obviously a lot of great partners i know especially in the afterchool space um but there's also smaller community- based organizations that u maybe historically have not had a deep partnership with the school
district can you just speak about um how we approach um partnering with community- based organizations as part of this effort and what process we go through to to bring those partners on absolutely so uh because of this investment there have been many
opportunities for RFP process the request for proposals say for a steam bench because we have a steam program after school um we have um gone out to request for an application and we've been able to vet we've had you maybe hundred applicants and selected x amount
based on the criteria that's the way that we've been able to vet we have um refreshed the arts um network partners as well we've refreshed that bench um digital tools Spotify we that that comes from our ELOP program that comes from the work that we do with them of course
they're part of our digital tools bench um so many providers that we use after school and on in the summer particular all stem from the RFP so RFPs are our way to say here it is it's open now anyone who wants to partner with in any
of these ways you can do so um I frequently meet with people who want to uh uh propose or introduce a program we meet we speak is this is this a problem we're solving for is this something that we need?Us that we've established for internships um that come our way because
we're always reaching out to folks asking for internships which is is part of our summer programming so there's just many ways that we reach out to them uh in addition to the ongoing meetings that we have with existing partners just to see how things are working and looking at our data how we can improve collaboration that is an ongoing um
piece of our work but RFP is one of the ways that we fairly go out to the entire community based on all those different um categories as I said the quality standards for expanded learning and the strategic plan if my if I may also add board member uh I've recently met with expand LA to look at opportunities of
how they can serve and I shared with them some examples of of places I've worked with that have been able to bring together especially our smaller organizations that are learning and trying to figure out how to navigate school district uh elements and so uh we talked about some real positive
opportunities that exist in that way and she's been bringing people together uh from expand on convening on what that could look like some potential opportunities for that so I think there's more to come knowing that there continues to be these ELO funds we have multiple opportunities but how you
access them can sometimes be difficult especially if you're a smaller organization and so how they can serve to be a resource in that way and they have a a unique um they bring a unique asset in being tied to the community and and I think to the extent that we can utilize um those uh partner
organizations to a greater extent would would be helpful i've got organizations in my you know DIY girls which works with the district in some capacity but maybe one where we could go deeper because they're filling a a need that is also aligned with our strategic plan um but in general I would just say I don't
find anything objectionable in the materials per se there's a lot of great work that's happening through ELOP i've seen the esports and the steam uh spaces that are being created and um kiddos doing tech work and the field trips i think for me the uh struggle is you know
this is obviously a large revenue source for this school district one we really want to capitalize on and is ensuring that um that our highest need students and schools are benefiting and that we are using these funds strategically and that there's a cohesive and coherent vision for for all of it and I can
assure you it is and it's connected to the quality standards of learning for LOP and also academic the um strategic plan um and looking at data thank you Dr bas all right thank you so much um I was able to go to Steamfest this weekend in
Region East and it really wore my heart to see the students singing performing uh to see all the educators supporting their students but most importantly it really moved me to see families there like whole families enjoying and they
had um snacks for them which I always think it's very important to have for for folks um so I think I also have attended a lot of Beyond the Bell events and they're amazing so I do know that um ELAW funds are being used and to support
our students uh but I'm wondering um do all the schools have access to this these funds number one two um if do the schools have an option based on their particular needs what type of of um
extended learning opportunities they want to bring for example maybe some folks some schools may want to bring um organizations that work on peace building or community building conflict resolution um do they have an option to
do that um maybe some could we use these funds to open up some dream centers that can offer um opportunities for all of these things um and other enrichment opportunities for um some of our most
vulnerable students and also I want to know how do we because I saw in the plan that community schools was mentioned and so I want to know how is it that we coordinate ELOP funding with community schools and then lastly I did see a uh
table that had special education division division of special ed and um but I didn't quite see any language around students with disabilities receiving some of this or targeted supports for them so if you can expand on some of those things i gave you a lot
to expand on that's fine um but if we could start there so let's begin with um so do all schools have the ability to opt into a program so I want to use an example of our climate literacy um champions that are in our many of our high schools climate literacy champions
um are uh they work with students after school as well and one of the programs in ELOP is the climate literacy action kit and the kit is used after schools with these champions and the students and this is for high schools that have the champions so they have the infrastructure to roll this out that's
an example of how high schools can opt in because they have the staff to do it we have other examples of a K2 interventionist program um for after school and Saturday K2 why because we noticed that our literacy and numeracy
um skills or our students needed to improve so they have particular program for that age level that wouldn't be appropriate for high school we have that for elementary so we have certain programs that are age appropriate developmentally appropriate we have uh programs after school where students are
receiving a a technical education certificate program these are students who are attending a high school and receiving a CTE uh certificate after school from the division of adult ed because their program is not offered at their school which is allowed from ELP
it's being given to them after school and they get a certificate program so that's not for elementary not for middle so we're offering a variety of programs that are age appropriate developmentally appropriate and appropriate for the the grade level and the needs that our students are having at that particular
time we're consistently innovating and we welcome programs and um suggestions that people might have to um uh to implement and to introduce new programs we we guide folks when there are new programs um that people want to in uh introduce into the system ensuring that
they meet all of the afterchool um program requirements and the ELOP requirements um we have um clubs that are after school that are science clubs um we have astronomy clubs we send that out to schools and say opt in if you're interested in doing this and the reason for that opt-in is because the school
then will know do they have um the the liaison or the point person who can implement that at the school site will that school team come to trainings to understand the nature of the program or to get training and a particular use of a of equipment that they're going to
receive with ELOP that's important we don't want to say all right everyone's going to get this equipment and then it's stored somewhere in a room because nobody got training no one got orientation we need to make sure that people are willing to participate in the program and that we'll get training and we'll implement it accordingly and so
that's the reason why that opt-in is there um you know some other um programs that we have um like tutoring for example that I mentioned everyone has an opportunity to have tutoring everyone needs to have tutoring that's required everyone needs to have tutor you select a vendor from here because all of our
students um have should have access to tutoring so those are some examples with respect to students with special needs esy our expanded um the the summer school program is paid out of ELOP um so that space pays for a significant amount for our students with an IEP to come to
summer school all students with an IEP can attend any one of these programs they can attend to be on the bell they can attend the tutoring anything that is available in our district where schools have opted into our students with an IEP can participate all of our students can participate in any of the programs if I
may also add board member uh Dr bias every time we have a school so I don't want you to think also that it's just you know I know there's certain themes to things that our schools do want access to our families want access to our students but also if there's a school and I've received plenty of emails and so has she from our school
site saying they'd like to be able to create something after school Dr bias will work with them to then determine if it's already a pathway that we already have within our menu of options for ELOP or she'll create one and when it comes to special education I know she's
working with Dr sodto for 2526 we heard from the board this year that they wanted to see something very specific and unique for students with disabilities after school as you know it's sometimes hard for our kids to be able to stay after school so we may need to think about something hybrid but
nevertheless she is working with them to determine something for 2526 specific to students with disabilities in afterchool programs i have another so just to be clear the schools um everything comes from central office though in terms of
the plan if a school is thinking of something they have to initiate it a conversation with you and then it starts there that's correct okay um is there a way though that the funds could be released at the beginning of the year for some of these um say for the any
afterchool club that the school wants to do um any sort of any of the things that I mentioned like a dream center after hours um uh program can those if they submit the paperwork early on a request for this can the funds be released early
on so that they have the whole year to to do this because what I've heard too is that funds are dispersed throughout the year and that might make it difficult to be able to spend the money at the school site yeah so we'll definitely look into that uh and and um definitely as soon as the students I
mean that the money should go to the schools right away so they can start implementing the programs absolutely agree and so um with respect to schools making a request in in the upcoming weeks and months um I will be submitting a proposal to Dr straden to Superintendent Carvalo on our budget and
to see where there we can carve out some earmark some dollars from some of those school specific programs that um might uh qualify for ELOP so definitely we'll look into that okay and then just another question is there um any way that community organizations can come to
us and they manage a a piece of that funding for programs that they run in our district i think that that would be that would be something that we would need to explore because again everything is match matching to the quality standards first the state the um the
strategic plan our data and at this point there's programs that have gained so much momentum like the iDream bands that's ELOP and some of these programs have gained a lot of momentum that it would be hard for me we'd have to have this discussion about am I going to pay for this program now and what am I going
to let go of now because those are the conversations we're going to end up having because some programs have become pretty popular in our district that would be hard for us to let it go but we want to explore that option we always want to explore the option of improving our programming um innovating that's what this is all about so we're open to
it i also just want to you know I'm sure that you understand that there will be some would require some trading off if it came if it came to that point it's so much money we hope not it's like a lot of money that I to me it seems like we should be able to have all of all of the things that we want for our students
because it's a lot and with that there was a question from the audience two questions that came up one do is there any uh parent input student input into any of this when does it happen how does it happen and then two are we on track
to spend this money or have we had to return any of this money back to the state great questions no we've not had to return any money to the states and we have gotten um student input and parent input when we roll roll out our summer programs and when and we ask a question
in general about any kind of intervention or expanded learning program we've gotten really good feedback this is why this summer we're actually introducing camps to our summer programming um especially in high school our high school students demonstrated in surveys they communicated to us they
they want to do additional types of enrichment acceleration and we're going to be offering them those opportunities so based on all the feedback we've gotten it's helping us to um improve our programming after school and also in the summer the Beyond the Bell program has surveys that they've sent out to
principles and to teachers and to students so based on their input we've been able to make changes so our programs have had a pre and a post and I've had surveys that people have completed satisfaction surveys to understand whether these programs are working and where we can improve or maybe this is not a popular one let's
pivot from this one and let's reinvest somewhere else dr rivas okay sorry thank you um I had a few questions um you mentioned about the survey is it possible for us to get the results of that survey sure yeah so we
can just follow up with that feedback and then the programs that were mentioned as far as tutoring what uh tool are we using for the effectiveness of the program whether we keep it this year we don't keep them how do we uh determine that for tutoring for the tutoring program for tutoring program
what we do is we meet regularly with the vendors and we also have a team that goes out and observes the program after school we go online to see what kind of instruction is happening we meet with the vendors when they if um just to make sure they're on track when they're not
we've had to um replace those vendors because there's there's a criteria that we're following for effectiveness we want to make sure that these tutors are effective in in their way of providing that instruction after school um we're also looking at attendance if the students are attending because one of the things we want to be mindful of is
for a program to be effective there needs to be frequency and intensity so if a student is not attending tutoring then that's one of the things we note right away this student needs to attend 30 hours of tutoring to really see that there's going to be an impact that's made uh uh for the students so we're analyzing student work we're analyzing
um the um assessments we're also looking at the assessments that the the vendors and the and the providers are implementing uh as well and we look at that to see how what kinds of changes students are making so there's lots of monitoring um that we do to ensure that our students are getting uh good instruction and and quality tutoring
what we have noticed and and I'm sure you've heard in this board meeting many times we can attribute the success of a student on one particular dose of of strategy or of a program um it would be really hard to isolate it would require a meta analysis but what we can tell you
is when students have enrolled and attended tutoring we've seen that achievement has increased we've seen achievement increase so that there has been some positive growth to um the tutoring services that have been provided and there's just a lot of monitoring oversight of the of the
program after school so with that is there a specific tool that you guys are using that could be shared that we could see as far as what exactly like you said what what are they monitoring for and how do they take that back with the data because you mentioned the data is
something that's driving it so what data uh aspects are you using to drive what tutoring is needed at this school or versus another school so I I'll also check Well we do have a lot of of those tools i'll just make sure that I'm reviewing all of this with our office of data and accountability to make sure
that I'm allowed to uh provide whatever information I'm allowed to provide I'm happy to do so whether it's the results that the vendors offer whether it's the attendance whether it's our observation tools whatever I'm cleared to provide I'm happy to do so okay um and then you
mentioned um so the school sites are receiving a budget whether we're talking about the beginning of the year and that's by per student how are they receiving their budgets so the budgets that stu that schools receive during budget development are for the culture arts passport and for the expanded
learning opportunity uh non-cap field trips so that schools have enough time to budget to plan for trips and do all of those enrichment activities ahead of time so that was all part of budget development they write that in their school plan these additional programs right now we're in the process of
planning the fiscal year 26 budget once it's set in stone so by May it should all be ready to go we'll be sending out allocation letters to schools about programs or your program for your steam program is is going to continue uh or your international newcomer program is
going to continue we'll be able to make those commitments before the end of the year so schools can uh start planning and there's a criteria for what would get uh accepted versus not what's the is there a criteria for that well if the school is interested in implementing
that program they will get the dollars and a budget worksheet to make sure that we're accounting for every dollar and um and that they have you know their their goals the goals have to be aligned to uh to student achievement so there has to be a goal connected to the implementation so that's really what we're looking for and if there is
anything that we need to help them with just to make sure it's accurate and correct for all of our compliance presentations and and to ensure that when any there's any audit we make sure that all of our paperwork is in order sometimes we do need to provide them more technical assistance to ensure it's all written but no one is being denied no no one is being denied any programs
they're not being denied because there's they're not no one is because you asked if there's a criteria all all schools will get their programming and their funding that they've been getting with those if they've been getting a climate action toolkit they're going to continue with that program once we look at the budget for 26 and there's a budget
development process and we get an approval from the superintendent Dr stratda then at that point we'll say "Okay let's let's let's go ahead and um allocate the dollars before the end of the school year." So there's enough time to plan and before the end of the school year meaning first semester second semester what is there this before the
end of spring 2025 by 425 526 and then with the budget amount is there like a set aside already put aside that schools will not be able to touch or how is that that's more of a budget question okay i think that Nero
is here um but no typically the budget worksheet is asis is we don't have anything that is 10% set aside from a school budget it's just all they can they can use all of the dollars that we send out to the schools all those set aides and indirect costs come from at the central office they're not at the
school level okay thanks Dr rivas okay uh so many great questions some have already been um asked and answered but um so I may ask one more i mean one
that's already been answered just for clarification but first I'll start with um the first um plan program guide that was presented to CDE department of ed um in 2122 um it looked very much different
from what we have now so that plan basically was just summer academic programming um all day enrichment and also beyond the bell like after school program and acceleration days um and so from that plan to this it looks very so you've
very different so from the initial one to this one there haven't been any other revisions made so from this the program that you just referenced in 2022 and the reason why you see such limited programming is because that's when we had ESSER so ESSER was paying for a um
many of our programs are paying for the um the tutoring for example so the programs that were not listed in the first plan because of ESSER since then we've expanded our programming um as long as they're aligned to the standards for the state we expanded our
programming because of the investment because there's so many dollars so we've been able to now expand in programming so what you see in this plan the plan is really it's it's a template and it's not it doesn't allow us an expansive narrative of what we would like to it's pretty limiting so you may see that the
narrative that's written here doesn't really represent all that we're doing because it's just very limiting even in the number of words and so on so forth so it's it's we're just providing enough to show that there's compliance to the standards um however um there has been a lot of um improvement and a change from
the first plan because of the over 70 programs that we have out operating in our district i did I do remember reading in um some of the guidelines from CDE saying that if the plan changed drastically from the initial one to you
know provide some you know the up the the changes so we didn't do that we're doing it now but we didn't do it before yeah we had especially since the funds have you know Yeah so we had so when we submitted that plan that was going to be a plan that would be effective up until
this point um within the parameters within the general parameters of the of these academic um excellence of skill building youth voice and leadership we implemented new programs um but the plan is really not set to identify every single new program what stayed the same
was the Beyond the Bell program what we did is we expanded beyond the bell because that's really the essence of it is that tier 2 after school program from beyond the bell we expanded that that beyond the bell from the first program to the second the second plan and then uh provided a little bit more details of
what we were doing but we did not deviate from the original plan since then to now all we did was make it more robust we made it more robust and created more opportunities but we didn't change the essence of it which is providing students after school programming based on these standards right yeah definitely now I'm glad that
Beyond the Bell is you know um receiving uh a lot of the um ELOP or ELO funds we're exchanging it using different terms for that um so you mentioned that because we're not for at least for this template that we're that you're being
provided you don't have a lot of space to provide um to show all of the programs and everything you're spending is it because as I was reviewing it I didn't see the uh funds that are being allocated for several facil facilities related
projects um there have been uh playground restorations campus lighting green schoolyards so where um where in the budget that you provide us provided us does that those funds fall in the budget how much has been spent thus far
on all of those facilities projects yeah and I believe in the update we provided you from the followup of the briefings we provided you what specifically was being done in those areas and what and how many schools right so yes but not the dollar amounts the dollar amounts
i'll we'll get back to you on the dollar amounts yeah I see i do see playground restoration 12 schools campus lighting five schools etc and so it would be wonderful to know how those schools were selected particular for campus lighting or field lighting because I have at
least two schools that definitely would um who definitely need some some lights for their athletics um and I've been working um arduously to try to get them that and then now that I see that you could have used ELOP funds I'm like "Oh
okay that would have been great to have known that." Um so and then also you know knowing that we can use this uh funds for facilities knowing that as was mentioned all city band facilities and also Reno middle school they definitely need an
upgrade they definitely need some love so it been wonderful for them to receive some funds and also for our bands um there's a lot of bands in our schools that are really struggling they need new instruments they need new you know um uniforms or that they're using particularly at all city they've been
using the same ones for like decades I think right so I think it's definitely it'll be great as you're evaluating and um um the programs how you can provide some some funds for our music and our bands absolutely and we go through um you know we we review those types of
requests um making sure that they're within compliance for example our marching band is paid out of general fund that's that's the funding source we use we're not allowed to pay it out of ELP so there's certain things we can and cannot pay for out of EL school it's an after school program where students are it's an enrichment program we can use it
right debbie I'll ask Debbie to come up it's stipulated in the um criteria afternoon the marching band is an activity that is done during school so if it's done during school then we cannot use ELOP funds to support it if it is an afterchool program we can so
that's the distinction well I know several schools are do it after school particularly in Burbank they do it after school um all city is done after school is actually done during the summer um in November they go on Saturdays so that's done after school so I know they use
those facilities after school so I feel that that sure we have the capacity criteria uh particularly also robotics i know there's um in the budget that you provided um there are for robotics approximately 54 um $55 million in
robotics so it' be great to know if we can use some of these ELA funds to create sort of a robotic space particularly for Franklin they've been um the students have been really you know asking for that and they did a whole proposal so that came straight
from the school so it would be great to um allocate some funds for the robotics and you know I know the district has invested in robotics and I'm really you know wonderful and grateful for that but I think in providing the facilities so our schools have the top-notch
facilities to engage in the championships that they've been winning um and they've been really um been successful with the little space that they have right so imagine if we can provide them with you know um the top technology in space i think that that will go a long way so I'm just you know
advocating for robotics and in in our in our bands as well um and yes I would love to get the the the dollar amounts for the um facilities how much we sp we've been spending and
how do we let um CDE know that we're spending funds in in this way as well and how that's connected to actual student learning i know it's under the umbrella of safety and expanding sort of the um the infrastructure for outdoor
learning um but how are we directly connecting that to the to the impact of the students and what they're learning so I think that would be great to have maybe at a at a future sure presentation but I also wanted to to make sure that facilities are uh they're there to
support the program but they shouldn't absorb the majority of the programming so that's a part the balancing act so I'll cons you I'll work with facilities to ensure that we're looking at the projects they're working on so if it was a greening program uh it was connected to something in science or science club
that they're having after school so we want to make sure that the that the facilities projects are supporting the core and that the or the core program uh the after school program and so that it's the core program is the the majority of the funding and the facilities or support is not dominating
the programming part of it and we'll work closely with with them yes it would be great to see that that connection that this project is connect connected to a program at the school that they're using after school so we have a total of 832.4 million and we've spent to date
312.9 million um and so under so we still have about 519.5 million left so ELOP funds so how are we tracking that that money is being spent under the all of the budget that you provided us so that we don't have you know returned
those funds so for every allocation we are we are allowed two years to spend the dollars so for every allocation so right now we're on track to spending the allocation that we received um a year and a half ago or to two years so we're on track to do that um just like this
last round of of dollars and investments we just completed um uh spending all of the allocation for the first year so we had two years so in this current state we are in the process of spending all the dollars so we're not leaving anything behind but you're checking that
periodically monthly quarterly to make sure that schools are So what we do is we uh look at the allocations and we redistribute the dollars every six weeks every six weeks we're redistributing the dollars if we're seeing that the rate of spend is not where it needs to be we'll
we'll swap the dollars out and we'll place them in another program that's that's in need of implementation uh and so that is one of the ways that we're ensuring that we're not sitting on dollars we're spending the dollars the money is moving and if it's not then we swap them out
and and lastly as was mentioned earlier we did hear from um our labor partner from Allah about last minute um expenditures or directives to our principles and having them to do more plans so it would be great if you can
you know streamline that process so it doesn't is a burden for our principles and you mentioned that th those funds are already budgeted so why are they getting this last minute fun so what I mentioned earlier for the same question is that we ask them to complete a budget worksheet and a budget worksheet may be perceived as a plan but it's what we
need to ensure that they're using the dollars appropriately what's the salary that they're paying for what is the custodial overtime all of those pieces that are required for to run an afterchool program we need to have that itemized when we're setting that out uh we know it's connected to the school plan we ask them just to tell us what
the objective is what is the what program are you going to be rolling out with this intervention what strategy what it is we're not asking them to write an exhaustive plan but we want to make sure that we're holding them accountable for the dollars that we're giving them as well as well to um ensure that we're prepared in case of an audit
this is how the school used the money and these were the results and this is how they performed um and and speaking with um with all the president um I asked for clarification myself because ELOP has been so wellreceived and I was really surprised to hear that it's something that's a challenge we've never
uh pressured our schools to spend the dollars because and I've said this in many principal organization meetings uh you are not responsible for having to spend the dollars but if if you're not going to spend them by the end of the year I'm just going to give them to another program and no harm no criticism no judgment that's what I'm doing every
six weeks I'm swapping out dollars because if it's not moving at the rate then let me move them into somewhere else that it will but I'm not pressuring them i'm saying but for schools we don't take the money we're just waiting at towards the end okay april May if you're feeling like you're not going to get to all of them I'm going to move it over here into this space but there's no
judge nothing related to you know them feeling pressured to spend the dollars and it'll be great as was mentioned to get the the data the information that you're using to um allocate certain funds for for different allocations um that you presented so be great to see
that thank you sure a lot of my questions um have been asked and concerns have been raised i guess do we um what percentage of schools have an afterchool program beyond the beyond the bell youth services are you asking for youth services or
what percentage have an after school program so like kind of the default is the youth services beyond the bell program and that's at every elementary school every school has uh an opportunity to have an afterchool program but YS is for everyone but after school like uh a Beyond the Bell LA's
Best youth development services um or a provider so schools have an option to have any one of those programs at their school and at this point we've been able to cover ground and middle schools have now implemented programs that they didn't have before yeah so I guess my question is for elementary schools like
what percentage have something beyond YS i'll have Debbie come up and respond to that good afternoon so every school has an ELOP program for UTK through 8 and they also have youth services so they all
have an expanded learning program and they all are using ELOP funds are those all after school yes so every elementary and I guess middle school Yes has at least another option for after school
besides just traditional YS correct right i I've heard differently from some school school sites so or some parents so let me But okay that's interesting if you have a school in particular if you could send it to me yeah um I guess uh I
I really just because my colleagues brought up tutoring i just I think the plan you know we're we spend or ask being asked to spend 118 million on tutoring and so I don't think it's absurd to say that we should be able to to do that meta analysis or figure out
as some districts are doing like here are the 12 uh tutoring providers here's I ready data here's ESPback data here like th show the data publicly and understand what works i think um so I'm just I'm not satisfied with that uh yeah just to elaborate on that
though we are engaging with a couple of universities to do a research on uh on the tutoring so that is something that that is underway um so we are doing that you know professional research related to this when are we will we get more information about that i'll get back to
you on that on a timeline if I may also board member we are working I was just uh talking with uh Carolyn to see what ODA can also do uh with us on being able to show impact you know 23 24 25 on
based on tutoring data especially when it comes to ESPA when we have those results so we'll be able to show a little bit more of some patterns potentially that we're seeing in addition to an evaluation third party evaluation report which I think would also be helpful i think we have multiple
years now that we can consistently say yeah and I know and I can follow up but I've seen districts that are looking at innovative contracts that are outcome based ting contracts so if a provider is not meeting their stated goal you drop them because as we're going into a constrained budgetary environment like you know even with ELOP funds we want to
make sure that you know I think a lot of what you were saying in terms of your efficacy was compliance-based and input based like are they doing their job i mean that's like the floor um but we should be looking at that outcome we we do actually and we have let go of we've let go of three vendors last um last
year because they were not um meeting the the standards meeting the goal meet helping us meet outcomes for students um so we have been using those strategies um and then yeah I think just broadly the the omission from this plan is just any outcome data beyond participation um
I think we're focused a lot on expansion which was great for the first few years and now we need to focus on improvement um and I think that's where as we're looking at the tutoring or you know some of it can be measured by satisfaction of
parents and students when it comes to some of these after school programs but if the first few years were expansion and and checking that box now working on improvement so um yeah I think most of the concern I mean I think Miss Vona has brought up some good points around clarity for partners and schools on benches that's something that I know our
office is is constantly asking for because you know there are uh providers who are unclear how to get on certain benches and schools are unsure and I also think too we're back in a world of very fractured plans you know so you've got I mean you mentioned a lot this is compliance we have to certify it but
we've got schools plans and we've got our ELO plan and we've got our strategic plan um and just making sure there's some to use the superintendent's word kind of cohesion between those would be important so uh thanks Yeah just one followup on the programs that
are listed in the plan um could we get descriptions of those because it it it's kind of broad but what they provide so that we're aware of what's at each school that we have sure so I've been listening intently to the comments of the board we will certainly
incorporate a number of of your comments and questions as part of the practice implementation and accountability uh particularly interested in efficacybased outcome centric uh contracting uh even though as you correctly stated in the early phases of
the tutoring programs and contracts there was a certainly an urgency considering the very anemic level of u subscription by students uh into these programs really there was a need to uh exponentially and rapidly increase
participation but I agree we're now in a different place uh we ought to apply a very thin filter specific to performance uh and have that tied not just to membership enrollment time on task but also uh ultimately academic achievement
whether it's I already driven or ideally smarter balance which is what makes a difference secondly to com heard earlier I've had preliminary conversations with staff members about opening up competitive processes that would establish new benches for
community-based entities uh whose work uh complements strategic plan goals uh to participate in afterchool offerings a lot of them already do but anytime is a good time to actually do an environmental scan of the community and see what's out there what entities could
actually supplement whether it's reading math extracurricular music athletic uh uh activities and do that that's something that we have an eye on it's being done to a certain extent through the foundation and I see no reason as to why we could not do more through ELOP
thank you Superintendent go ahead Miss Grigo just one more thing regarding um stakeholder input i think it would be great because this is such a big amount of money and there's a lot of I mean we heard from some folks wondering about the process and um what are we spending
it on how are folks involved in it i wonder if we could do a survey in the same way that we survey folks around the calendar where we survey parents and we survey students and uh employees to as to what it is that they want it doesn't
necessarily mean that everybody gets everything but at least we have an idea of what people want and I know it's it says in the plan that there is a survey but I know as a parent I have not been engaged in that conversation so um I think it would be great to do that and
maybe then if we are now doing the things that the people want there will be more um more uh involvement and engagement last chance everyone okay Mr mcclean I think it's time for public comment well
we we we're going to take the vote on this item and then we'll go directly to public comment after that we have the move in the second already done uh and now it's time to take role um Miss Newell yes dr rivas yes uh Mr melvin yes uh Miss Grigo yes miss Donz yes miss
Ortiz Franklin uh Mr smelson yes that's six of seven for now we can come back for Oh I see Miss Ortiz Franklin is asking to be admitted online so just give me one moment she will be with us and can register her vote um if you
could just go on screen for us Miss Ortiz Franklin if you're prepared yes thank you and that was it was that a yes for tab three yes okay outstanding thank you um and Miss Ortiz Franklin can I collect your vote on tab two
also a yes thanks thank you and I believe um that brings us up to date and now uh it is time for a general public comment apologies for the delay there's been a robust discussion so I'll call on the folks who
are listed as being in person and then we will transition to those who are speaking remotely um although I'll say 20 of 20 are listed as being in person so this this is good i'll call on I'll call on four folks if the first person could come up to the podium the other
three just sort of be ready to give comment i'd very much appreciate the efficiency um Maravius Moore marquavius you're first sir amir Casemir you're after Marquavius and then Cheryl
Kono so Marquavius come on up he might need someone to handle the camera going to yield my time to Allison okay Mr markavius is Moira is going to give his time to Allison allison please come on up you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin
i'm Allison Montgomery i'm a senior at Dorsy High School and a leader in students deserve it's been a year a whole year since I stood up here and spoken to you all about the injustices black students continue to face in this district and I'm here again standing in the same place speaking on the same
situation and to be real not much has changed you probably don't remember my face but you remember the issues I will be discussing today i am expecting a a school board notion to be passed this spring before I graduate black students are still not getting what they need they're punished
more supported less and our schools don't have enough resources that being said we're not asking anymore we're demanding change let's talk about the Black Student Achievement Plan BAP a plan that was created with the intention of investing in black futures and uplifting black excellence but we're But
what we're seeing now in BAP But what we're seeing now BAP is being watered down redirecting and stripped off its original purpose so today I'm calling out this district to put the black back in BAP increase BAP by 100 million annually
distribute that money to our schools to programs that are cultural culturally relevant and to mental health services many LGBTQ students deal with bullying and mental health struggles simply because of who they are that's why I'm asking this school board to make sure every LUSD school has queer affirming
spaces and inclusive curricula when classrooms reflect diverse gender identities and staff are trained to support queer youth we create schools that aren't just safe but places where students can feel accepted supported and free to be themselves we understand that Carvalo and the school board members may
be feeling fearful giving the harmful actions and threats coming from Trump but we cannot let fear silence us and allow a bully to dictate dictate our values students are counting on the school board to show courage on the issues that impact impact black undocumented and LGBTQ students not to
be intimidated by the president but to stand up and do what's right for us i've been a part of this movement that distributed 15,000 stickers across more than 50 schools that relate to this topic this entire the entire district is calling on the school board to pass this notion every student deserves to feel
seen supportive and safe let's build schools where being yourself is celebrated not silenced we're tired of constantly demanding for change and seeing nothing being done we're not giving up we will keep coming back and we'll keep speaking on the truth we will not stop until justice is not just an
idea thank you thank you for your time amir Amir Casemir are you here amir Kazmir and then after air is Cheryl Kono and then uh Marjan i'm yielding my time to air my name is Amamira Thomas i attend Roy
Ball and I am a leader at students deserve i come here not only as a grandchild of an immigrant but as a student at Roy Ball i can confirm that school that the school board in Carvalo have failed to defend undocumented students i know students like me in
various schools are frightened for their family members friends or themselves approximately 30,000 students are undocumented in LUSD yet you Curvalo have failed to defend these students and their rights to remain in the district
the US has a priority and a duty to accept anyone regardless of culture race ethnicity yet you make it easy for people against that belief to come and steal us of diversity in LA i come from Pico Union a community full of diversity
the population is mainly Latinos i have seen the good and bad from the same community but there's one thing we share in common and that is unity and in this same community I have seen discrimination against those those same people in these times
of discrimination we require reassurance which the school board and superintendent have failed to provide coming here and speaking up for undocumented people and people of color is a message to you Carvalo and the school board that we all deserve a
chance that the students deserve to be protected thank you for your time cheryl Kono Cheryl K come on up good afternoon everybody uh good to see you all again uh my name is Cheryl Kono
psychiatric social worker and alumni LUSD as a student and a parent so during the school safety and climate committee meeting which was on March 27th the LUSD operations department administrators shared their concerns and response for
the need to expand and increase LUSD psychiatric social worker positions to meet the high demand of uh school mental health services and school social work services this response came as a result to the escalating rates of mental health
needs and student crisis reports on behalf of the students families and schools we would expect that LUSD would expand and increase LUSD PSW positions in order to provide and address students mental health and crisis needs on the universal selected and intensive levels
levels accessible every day this is a call to action for the LED superintendent and board members to create a resolution um in order to increase PSW positions throughout LUSD to meet the needs of all students at all LD schools now I'm
sharing my time with Sam Womba good afternoon L USD superintendent and board members my name is Samuel Womba and I am a single father of three daughters all of whom all of whom attend LA USD in October 2023 my eldest daughter experienced a deep crisis after her mother left the state during that
difficult time she began selfharming and speaking about self-transitioning i reached out to our local guidance counselor Kristen Baldridge who prompted promptly made referral to PSW Ramos since then my daughter has been working with Yanette in regular sessions these sessions not only helped stabilize her
during the critical period but also equipped her with a toolbox of coping skills that have allowed her to thrive even though uh there's often awkward and challenging middle school years i cannot stress enough how vital it has been for my family to access to have access to a PSW especially given my financial
limitations after three years of pandemic related screen time I believe that inerson support has been essential to our progress having physically having someone physically present made all the difference i strongly urge the superintendent and board members to continue investing in this program children who are struggling need trusted
support and consistent support to help them feel seen and guided through their toughest moments the fact that my daughters were able to see a PSW weekly has in view in my view quite literally saved their lives it has also given both them and the toolbox to better help navigate any future crisises thank you
for your time and continued commitment to the well-being of our students thank you for your time okay the next three folks who are signed up are Marjon Marjon Marsh and Andres Garcia marjan
or Mar okay normally Marjon would have to be here to give up their spot is Marjon here his phone signal got cancelled his service okay okay i hope his signal comes back please
go ahead announce your name thank you emily Vasquez emily okay thank you i'll start hello my name is Emily Vasquez i attend George Washington George Washington Preparatory High School and I stand before you today
as a youthful leader with Coco let's start with a round of applause for LUSD's past victories in 2020 we made history we defunded a P campus police reinvested in counselors and launched a black student achievement program to finally address decades of systemic neglect facing black students we
celebrated black studies therapists and resources tailored to uplift a community intentionally left behind but here's the twist ld has decided inclusivity means eraser you remove race from begg's criteria deluing a program meant to
repair anti-black karm let me ask does LU think of four years of half measured undead century centuries of racism and unequal education superintendent Carvarlo my communities know what it's like to be targeted to watch curriculum
debates erase our histories to see police in hallways instead of counselors but solidarity isn't competition when you strip resources from black students you tell us that all of our safety is negotiable i don't speak for black students but I stand with them because when you abandon the most targeted you
fell us all bop wasn't a cherry project it was a promise and l erasers of race tells every single color your pain isn't worth our specific tea we're not food we see the hypocrisy you yell inclusivity while failing to fully fund safe passage leaving SS to navigate streets
alone patrol alone you preach equity but cut programs meant to uplift black youth whitewash our curriculums you can't slap a rainbow you can't slap a rainbow sticker on neglect and call it progress we see the playbook defund programs bring back police call it safety while students of color are hunted down by
policies politicians by indifference ld you cannot include us to death you cannot both size us impression so here's our demand put the black back in be expanded by 100 million no compromises abol school police not reform abolish fully fund safe passage
and community safety that doesn't criminalize our existence for penalties my community doesn't forget and we don't settle for less thank you thank you for your time uh Mare come on up
please and then Andreas Garcia i'm Rocher i yield my time to Khalil okay come on up Khalil you have two minutes to speak why don't you begin sir okay um good afternoon school board my name is Khalil and I'm an 11th grader at
Dorsy and a leader in students deserve again me and my peers are here today to tell you the same repeating message our demands our experiences and our concerns for this district all feedback which can only improve this district for the
better a way to strengthen LUSD yet time after time our voices are ignored or dismissed let me be clear our demands are not optional they are necessary our demands are crucial for our safety as students and it's time for you to decide
to act on it this board's plan to modernize systems is a good start but real progress means centering students which is why we demand you to protect black undocumented and LGBTQ students now let me ask you when will you have
heard this enough to make a change how many more meetings how many more students and how many more stories until we're finally heard this should not be our responsibility but it is every school board meeting a students step into roles as leaders and advocates all
because we want a safe place to learn and grow we shouldn't have to fight for that but we are and will continue to if these demands are met lives can change lives can be changed for the better thousands of unheard youth can can feel
safe and comfortable at school so many students will finally be seen supported and safe so please commit and accept our demands to improve this district for all students thank you thank you for your time andreas Garcia andres Garcia come
on up good afternoon uh hi i'm Andreas Garcia i'm a senior at Kalia Charter High School in Boil Heights i'm here today because I love my school and I want to encourage you to approve a material revision for Collegiate that you will vote on next month collegiate has been
life-changing for me when I first started I was nervous and unsure of myself but the support I got here helped me grow so much the teachers care they don't just move teach you and move on they stay after school tutor us and make sure we're ready for college i gotten one-on-one help with college counseling
and feel confident about my future i've already been accepted to four colleges this school has given me opportunities I have never imagined i've traveled to Japan and South Korea and this summer I'll be going to Europe i gone on overnight college trip to San Diego attended a summer program at Pepperdine
University and was part of collegiate's first ever competitive basketball team all of those experience helped me build my confidence and leadership skills what made a difference for me personally was getting speech therapy my mom fought for several years to get me that help in
traditional schools but it wasn't until I got to collegiate that I finally got the support I needed it boosted my confidence so much that I became a student ambassador welcoming visitors and speaking in front of groups something I never thought I'd do even though I'm a senior and won't get to be
part of it I'm also really excited for my classmates to have the possibility of joining Equitas and moving into a new private facility right now we're learning in old bungalows a new building will give us a better learning environment relieve the district of collocation and create a
pipeline from Equitas Middle School so the high school can grow and offer even more courses and activities collegiate is a place that helps students believe in themselves and help me become who I am today please support the revision so more students like me can have these opportunities thank you thank you for
your time all right the next three folks Ian Kirsy Gilma Orosco and Andy Hang ian Kirsy I see you're out there ian's going to yield his time hey there yes I'm going to yield my time to Camila who is coming up now come on up
Camila you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin thank you Mr kirsy appreciate it and then after Camila is Gilma Orosco and then Andy Hang um hello my name is Camila i am a senior and a member of students to serve at
Dorsy High School it's good the okay um the administration uh the administration in place with Trump's anti-immigrant policies go hand in hand with his attacks on public education making the landscape for future scholars
and educators alike difficult all my life I've been surrounded by scholars who never got to experience the resources they deserve in my home school community people with aspirations and dreams of a future and life full of education and knowledge being a firstgen
college student I have witnessed what lack of resources and attention does to these undocumented students with the deep hunger to pursue a future that academic opportunities allow them to have witnessing students not being able to access proper tools in their language such as textbooks and work teachers who
have to use Google Translate to talk to students and not being able to have educational conversations due to language barrier classrooms are that are filled with over 30 students with only one teacher available for them as well as the school to prison and deportation pipeline these are real problems that start at our school facilities and the
way our schoolboard members leaders and superintendent handle funding and resources education is power to it's a powerful tool and privilege it gives us opportunities opportunities to participate in the world around us contributing our ideas and knowledge
undocumented students are extremely vulnerable under the current administration and political climate it's important we take in how this affects um how this affects the diverse schools divest completely from school police and give your buildings
divest completely from school police and give your time and resources to the people who are in your buildings to receive the education you say you provide in fact we think LED must guarantee sanctuary pretentions protections and triple the number of dream centers to support undocumented students despite Dorsy having a high
number of undocumented families and students there are still no dream centers around or near Dorsy areas with undocumented students receive little to no support this is troubling that many students education and future are in your hands yet they have nothing to rely on at your schools and your system give them resources to ensure education after
high school as well as career centers for students who are undocumented work with people in your schools and community create a safe inclusive environment for your students they deserve to be seen and recognized giving your full attention and support i beg you to ask questions why students rroot their lives from their home to pursue an
education here and a future if you understand how the country's policies impact families in other countries and get them to come here then we can call on you to understand that a schoolboard motion is needed this spring to do all you can so much in LA USD to address the problems expand BAP by $100 million
triple the number of dream centers we appreciate your time there are a lot of folks who are also signed up to speak today thank you so much thank you for your time all right Gilma Orosco are you out there come on up Gilma you'll have two minutes to speak
once you begin board member she's going to give most of her speech in Spanish and brought translations if anybody outstanding so um we we do simultaneous translation in this boardroom so if folks would like to hear what uh Miss Orosco is saying in English as she's speaking in Spanish we
can pass out some translation headsets it's just going to take us a moment so moment so if you'd like to hear what Miss Orosko is saying in English as she's speaking in Spanish please put your hands up and get you these headsets to my friends on stage left I think that's stage left there's lots of space
upstairs uh the hallway is not a good good spot to to stand um given fire regulations and all so I would uh respectfully request that you find a spot there's some chairs back there stage right in the back and plenty
of seats upstairs with a great view I got to say yeah yeah so we I just have three folks wait in line um and I haven't said the next three yet but uh thank you so much for your cooperation it has nothing to do with anything but fire safety i
promise you okay gracias hello student agenda high school in Bul Heights even though it's not on the agenda next month you will have a big
revision about the college uh needs and I want you to approve them because my school has changed my life and I want you to know that in consideration when you vote for 15 years here and the last steps towards the US
territories I felt so much relief that I was breathless since I learned very quickly how I could make a life in a new country i didn't know the language and that was trans simply transformed into a humiliating
experience and I was a joke in an instant so I had no support in and I remember how I fought on my own to be able to communicate even with Google Translate and signs and I was even discriminated for just speaking one
language by a teacher all changed when I was in collegiate charter high school when even if it's a small school they always made me felt welcome and my teachers may not know Spanish but they explain everything that I may not understand its dedication and they
really impacted my life thanks to that support I was accepted in five universities only three years after arriving to this country we'll always see thank you for your time andy Wang
andy come on out mr wang you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin hi everyone my name is Andy Hang i am a proud science teacher at the School for the Visual Arts and Humanities in Korea Town and I'm going to yield the rest of my time to one of our wonderful students thank you Mr wong
hello my name is Jasmine Medina i come from um the school for the visual arts and humanities from the RFK community schools i'm here to speak today about um principal of Royal and her um and her administration
um I have um have some negative experience of her over the school walkouts um throughout the rise of the school walks regarding immigration towards Donald Trump
um when the walkouts were happening um Principal Royal um the day before um the day after the walkouts um my mom talked um to Principal Royal uh well
Principal Royal was giving out a copy of the principal regarding the school walkouts and my mother um um was be uh well well she stated that she wasn't blocking out the the she wasn't blocking students from walking out although my
mother um spoke out about it through my um experience due the school walkouts saying that principal Royal and her administration was blocking out the entrance um for the students to walk out um in response of this instead of a
Royal asking for a certain audio um that was possibly recorded in a classroom um she instead went to look at um um called me out the next day and she went
to to ask for my phone from the yonder pouch and in response of this um it I felt like it violated my my rights even though I also felt like pressure from her and yeah that's my experience
thank you for your time okay for the next three people Abigail Yosen abigail are you here and then after Abigail is Maria Daisy Ortiz and then Andrew Bluestone so Abigail Abigail Maria and then Andrew please
come on up you have two minutes to speak once you begin good afternoon school board members thank you for the opportunity to speak today my name is Abigail Yosion and I work for Stand with Us an organization dedicated to combating anti-semitism and educating the public about the Jewish
people i work closely with Jewish high school students across LA USD and I want to share with you what they are facing according to the ADL anti-Semitic incidences in K- through2 schools surged by 135% in 2023 in 2024 71% of Jewish
parents reported that their children encountered anti-semitism in the classroom these aren't just numbers they reflect real harm experienced by students in our schools i firsthand know the destruction that anti-semitism causes as my father and his family had
to flee Iran due to the Islamic Revolution my father came to this country as an immigrant because of its promise of religious freedom he got up left all that he knew to give his children a life free of hatred and discrimination but now I've heard from
countless Jewish LUSD students on a regular basis who are feeling isolated silenced and unsafe they are being targeted for their Jewish identity and told that their experiences don't matter in some cases even educators have joined
in or turned a blind eye shockingly our teachers union has become part of this problem utla's House of Representatives is alienating the vast majority of the Jewish community while exploiting a small minority who fit their political agenda they've attacked the largest
organization dedicated to fighting anti-semitism at a time of rising hatred and violence against us they funded teacher training that provides cover for bigotry against Jews and then voted against real anti-semitism training provided by the Jewish Federation of LA la USD cannot allow misinformation about
anti-semitism sponsored by UTLA to be taught in our classrooms we cannot allow this to continue la USD must stand strong against all forms of hatred including anti-semitism and reject UTLA's efforts to undermine real inclusive education on this issue they
are mainstream Jewish organizations like Stand with Us ready to partner with you right now to support administrators educators and students our Jewish community is diverse and we deserve educational programs that reflect our voices and lived experiences please take urgent action to ensure our schools remain safe and inclusive for Jewish
students and for all students thank you thank you for your time marie Daisy Ortiz is going to speak in Spanish so if you'd like to hear what she's saying in English please put your hands up we'll get you these headsets anymore all right thank you okay
good afternoon to everyone my name is Maria Daisy Ortiz and I'm here before you all first of all to tell you all that education is not negotiable because it's the passport that all children have to get far and so I would like for it to
be maintained the exam I ready to be maintained because it is like an X-ray about where our students where our kids are because if a child is unable to read then they're unable to learn so they should there should that exam should
exist but I ready has two components and that's where you all have to begin to push one is for the diagnostic where is the child at and the other one is how it's designed the instruction to be able to raise them up to the next level so
it's very important for the de professional development of the teachers to begin to monitor that it's being implemented and within that professional development there needs to exist this so that way it can help our children learn how to read because literature is one of
those tools that is used for their entire life and it needs to be given several a lot of focus in this area because our children if they don't know how to read then they don't know how to learn and another thing that I saw is
that they put these stops so now they want to try to justify them so for me that shows me that you are conformist that they are conformist but we're not talking about numbers here we're not referring to statistics we're talking about you know how these colors look we're talking about lives that are our
children who are the future and that's why Mr scott I'm going I'm going to your office so that way you under the law tell me where it says that there can't be any committees for low incomes that receive the money for participation for the
parents for those categorical funds if you tell me that under the lay that this doesn't exist then we are going to change ideas but in reality right here I see you all celebrating Miss Werta for equality but if there's no children there's no money and these children are
not orphans they have parents and they need to be consulted in the programs and in the funds and in the results and I'm telling you all everybody for these active works production productive to be able to reflect the academic
achievements it can be done so that way they can work big to get big okay will the next three people be prepared to come on up andrew Bluestone andrew Bluestone the microphone is yours and then Robert Jong and then Zma
good morning my name is Andrew Blstone i'm a resource specialist teacher at the School for Visual Arts and Humanities and I'd like to seed my time to one of our students parents Joanna hi my name is Joanna Martinez my daughter goes to RFK SA her name is Janiti Garcia janiti participated in the
first walk out at RFK at that time Aoyo took a picture of my daughter without her consent not only Aoyo took a picture but I was on the phone with my daughter while her assistant Sanchez was yelling at my daughter to go back to class i have a picture of Aoyo that day it was early dismissal and my daughter had gone
back since she is in sports janiti said it was after school when a Royo pulled her into her office to call me over the phone during these past years that my daughter has attended to Ball Academy I have never met a disgusting human being that yells at parents over the phone and in front of my daughter since she was in Aoyo's office at that time i also found
out that she didn't bother closing the door while she made the phone call i couldn't believe what I was hearing the fact that she had said that my daughter had walked out to be a criminal without any proof not only that but Principal Aoy and her assistant have intimidated students parents and some of the
teachers i will not stay quiet i will speak up for those who are scared to speak up we all have a voice and no student should go through this no one will ever intimidate my child when all she is doing is going to school now sometimes she wakes up and she doesn't even want to go to school she tells me
"Mom I don't really I don't want to go to school should I?" The only thing I tell her is "You have to do your best." This is why teachers at Saval end up leaving because of Aoyo aoyo and her assistant should be removed from their position immediately not only that
but Principal Aoyo thinks that cell phones are weapons in school it's not jail or boot camp yeah it is a weapon for both of them because they are scared to get recorded and for everyone to find out their true colors the way they manipulate teachers and students the way
she makes teachers feel they aren't doing enough the way she makes teachers feel like they are useless i've said it before and I will say it again i'm here to speak up for them thank you for your time Robert Jong good evening my name is Robert Jong i am
a UTLA chapter chair at school for the visual arts and humanities and I seed my time to Janitzi the student thank you Mr jong my name is Janiti Garcia and I am a senior at Sabah on behalf of my experience with the Sabah admin it has been awful it goes from constantly being
put out of class being questioned and not participating in sports and affecting my mental health and academics i ended up participating in the walk out like other classmates as I'm walking out Sanchez is standing in the middle of the hallway not allowing students to go to passing period or walking out as I proceed to walk down the stairs Aoyo's
in the stairway saying "I'm going to take a photo and show your parent." She proceeds to take a photo of me and as I was going down the stairs after walking out I came back to school because I had soccer practice then she walked into the main office with Gonzalez she pointed to me to Gonzalez and said "She is the one
that took a picture of me acting like a victim." I took a picture of a royal taking a picture of me to have proof it was after school keep in mind Miss Jessica and Miss Moreno and Miss Miriam were there and she didn't even bother closing the door while she talked to me and she called my mom on the phone which I have the audio recording ever since
this incident I've been targeted by Aoyo and Gonzalez to an extent where I don't feel safe comfortable going to school it has gotten to the point where I now have to seek for therapy because I was overwhelmed and stressed regarding everything going on it affected not only my mental health but also being a
student athlete this not only transferred from school but onto the field because of admin me participating in the walk out I was not participating in athletics in the end of my season she had a conversation with athletic director said that those who participated in the walk out shouldn't participate in athletics ever since my
coach is a soal teacher I feel that he felt pressured to listen to her to not let me play even though I was a captain and a starter during these events I have felt like I can't speak for myself and for others and is feeling like I must stay quiet in situations the feeling of constantly being intimidated by admin it
has also caused me fear to where I avoid them in situations thank you thank you for your time okay we have Zulma or Zulma Lel White and then Joseph Williams so the next three
folks going this way oh all right good afternoon my name is Zelma and I am a student athlete in the 12th grade at Narban High School it is crucial to know that mental health issues among the youth have reached alarming levels in recent years this year was my second in this program and I can truthfully say
that it's had a positive impact the support from my group peers and my PSW has been refreshing by expanding PSW services at all schools we can ensure that our students receive the care and assistance needed to cultivate healthy minds empower personal growth and enhance academic success which will
carry on LUSD's legacy high school is a time when students are finding their identity and often experiencing peer pressure these social dynamics can create physical and emotional challenges leading to feelings of isolation and low self-esteem which is where the PSW comes into play i will be dedicating the rest
of my time to Alyssa good afternoon my name is Alyssa i am a senior at Narbon High School i am here to speak about mental health and academic performance and how closely they are linked students battling mental health issues often experience
difficulties concentrating lack motivation and struggle to achieve their full potential i have personally experienced negative emotions and lack of academic motivation when it comes to school when effective when affected not only my performance on the court but my
overall mental well-being however this program has been a great help to me and I'm not and I'm sure I'm not the only one by expanding PSWs at all schools students would have the chance to provide students with the opportunity to
restore emotional balance leading to improved focus engagement and academic su success before it's too late and our students don't receive the care needed that being said LUSD must take immediate actions to
safeguard the well-being of its community to encourage an environment that supports growth success and a lifetime of emotional well-being thank you thank you for your time thank you for your time miss White come on up you have two minutes to speak once you begin hello my
name is Lel i'm going to yield my time to Crystal miss White good evening members of the board i hope this message finds you well my name is Crystal Corona i'm an 11th grader at the Rivera High School i'm a leader and a leader in students deserve i want to appreciate
this time I'm being given to speak for those who are scared to though there there's so many overlooked conflicts going on right now at this very moment it's time we shine the light on them and rise to fight for a better future early in this year to 2025 numerous Los
Angeles high school students staged walkouts and protests primarily focused on immigration policies and ICE raids the students and I at Deora participated in this historical moment i don't I didn't know most of the kids there given that they were from different schools yet I felt connected to them because of
the simple fact that we're fighting for the same cause safety equality and just for our voices to be heard i took the opportunity to speak for those close to me those who are scared as a student I should not have to live in fear in favor of my loved ones instead I should be getting support and admiration this is
an immense issue that should have a light shined on superintendent and schoolboard members will you work with us to invest in programs to support undocumented kids our stu our demands are not only to support undocumented students to feel safe and seen on school
campuses but also to ensure black and other students of color are invested in students deserve to be invested in during a time that our federal government thinks otherwise thank you so much for your time thank you for your time uh Joseph Williams mr williams
hi my name is Daniel and I attend Roy Ball Learning Center i am a leader what students deserve i want your full attention while hearing this comment that means your eyes are looking at me your ears are hearing me and your brains are processing the words parvalo and Bard members you have lied and failed to keep promises you have
failed to keep bringing at bringing extra sanctuary to your undocumented kids you have failed at helping them and I emphasize failure as failure for one student is failure for all students i'll have you know that in my community there is a fear a fear of separation the fear to be separated from a loved one
specifically at the hands of ICE which targets people who have the same skin color as me eyes ask for documentation sometimes even if they're legal residents of the United States of America people are taking custody but I'm sure you know all these simple facts so why haven't you done more carvalo why
don't you go on as many Spanish speaking programs as you can to raise awareness for other for other people who can't really speak English or can't read for me it's an awareness problem that could be easily fixed your lack of raising awareness for these problems goes deeper than just mere failure you along with
the board are among the highest forms of power in terms of education in LA you can all be doing way more of what you are given without us you all are nothing without you all we can still get an education but sadly people like you all make it harder for us but what if you made it easier you need to reduce school
police funding instead fund programs like that protect Latino black and queer students like BSAP use the money that is used only to make our schools and students feel more unsafe and put it in programs that will actually help us the conversation should not just end there it should not end at all teachers also
share a fear of being fired for the mere fact of being part of the LGBTQIA plus community henry Zahed a queer Muslim immigrant trans educator was wrongfully removed from teaching and the decision was made by this board and you guys said not based on on
Henry's past performances but based on his assessment of his future potential there's no excuse to fire him except that he is a Muslim transim immigrant person we all have the power you all have the power to let him teach and you deny to him let him
teach thank you for your time mao Tjo ma Gilbert all right mr treyjo is yielding his time to Gilbert come on up Gilbert gilbert right on you have two minutes to speak why don't you begin sir thank you
good afternoon my name is Gilbert Lopez i'm a junior at Venice High School and I'm here with Students Deserve i'm here today to share the demands I have for the school board the board has established different processes that would go into place if I were to go to any LD campus but truthfully no student knows about this why was it such a big
deal when phones came into play there were assemblies and surveys done throughout the school in the LD on what process they would do and how it would be enforced we have not had any such education on information about ice potentially going to campuses students not only from my school but throughout the district are worried they're worried
the district won't protect them they're worried there isn't safety measures they're worried because they haven't heard from their district yes there's a plan if set if push comes to shove but students don't have knowledge about this there have not been assemblies giving knowledge to students that we have planned without them having knowledge
students worry they have fear and all this does is creates more stress on top of their workload you yourself Superintendent Carvalo have come from humble beginnings you possibly may have even felt what students are feeling right now which is why many students look up to you you're a man who comes here with no set ground and persevered to get to the top becoming a
superintendent of the second largest district in the country mr carval and the board you all you all hold power that can bring reinsurance to students because ultimately the district is supposed to work for the students and make them feel comfortable and safe so they can learn we need this now more than ever especially right now with the
current administration so we as students demand the following first you make clear to not only the public but to the students especially where AOSD stands secondly we demand school drills to be done if ICE were to show up on school campuses although some people may think this is over the top we also have to
consider that we have to deal with this administration for four years who knows what can happen during this time lastly we demand that we need assemblies not next year but now not only that we need them to be recurring assemblies because who knows how the next four years will be this district can at least try and comfort students because I can assure
you that up to half or maybe more in this room would pray for their future children to not worry about dealing with discrimination not to worry about being outcasted so as Al as LUSD let us be able to build a stronger modernized system together and do what we can to make a change thank you all for your
time thank you for your time okay we have three more speakers gabriella Hutchinson are you here gabriella Hutchinson and then after Gabriella is Mary Claire Little and then Luis Dwarte or Luis Dwarte gabriella
Mary and then Louise please come on up the two minutes is yours hi everyone my name is Gabriella Hutchinson i'm a math teacher at School for the Visual Arts and Humanities and I'd like to yield my time to a student Valerie Seron thank you two minutes is yours thank you Valerie i am Valerie Seron a proud Latina and a senior at School for the
Visual Arts and Humanities and our voice is a first amendment right and the school walkouts that happened in February are a part of that right i participated in the school walkouts and Mr rose told me that she didn't tell me actually she yelled at me
and screamed at me and told me that the students from my academy were not permitted to be a part of this walk out i decided to leave for the walk out and I came back because I was threatened and told that my sports abilities were going to be revoked when I went back she
yelled at me and I would think that she would be a supportive person because of the fact that she makes it a big deal that she is a Latina woman herself i asked her why we weren't allowed to go and she said that this was a way of ditching class
she was to what I know she was taking pictures of other students and also threatening to remove them from their sports positions their senior activities and also change their grades she yelled at me and said I quote I made announcements saying no and I told her
that it was not my fault because I had not heard that she cut me off then and said that she told teachers and parents but even though she told parents we could not contact our parents regardless because we are told to not use our phones i told her if I would have known that you didn't want us to go I would have
not gone she then cut me off and said "Okay go inside and tell me later." She said that she had more important things to deal with than to deal with me she told me "One thing is making making a statement and another thing is causing vandalization and you are not going in
the right direction." I kept trying to tell her that I did not have those intentions but she kept on yelling "Go back go back." I told her you are supposed to hear me out and this concerns of any students and support us and she replied we don't owe you anything and you cannot demand that from
me but I told her it is your job and I have rights and once again I got called I got yelled at to go back this made me feel like I was denied of my rights and I was then told also that she was blocking stairwells as there is video evidence of her calling us criminals and
vandalizers and that we give Donald Trump a reason to deport us and our parents thank you for your time okay Mary Claire Little come on up hello my name is Mary Cla Little and I am a teacher at the School for the Visual Arts and Humanities and I will give my
time to Valerie Cerrone my my apologies it's only one person behalf of her mother no I I I get that but the board rule state only only one person can present before the board got it got it
okay so um I am speaking Yes okay i'm speaking on behalf of Miss Dena Cruz Valerie's mom okay so this is uh Valerie's voice speaking of my par of parents my mom was spam called very rudely that day and I have a statement
from her part of uh who has negative experiences with principal Aoyo these meetings were exhausting GSC and school site council these meetings were exhausting and long and the teachers didn't allow or consider the opinions
important sometimes discussions occurred where they didn't reach an agreement something I observed was that we were supposed to be three parents participating but usually only two of us arrived specifically on one occasion which was almost one of the last meetings because they were cancelled
unilaterally by Miss Aoyo i remember being the only parent who came that day to discuss the funds that needed to be approved for the following year she presented the budget on screen and explained each point how the school's funds were being organized the cuts that were going to be made and how they were going to be used the following year
parents aren't very knowledgeable about these things they can't give their opinion on the topic they're more of a listener but the teachers know more about what's being discussed she didn't think it was right to be contin to be contradicted she became very upset and left the room but before
leaving she jumped up very angry slammed the table especially exclaiming at Miss Emmerick because she brought up a series of points on which she was uh on which she was failing when leading the meetings letting her know that she had to give us
a prior written report to study before approving it her reaction in my opinion was unprofessional after this I realized that Miss Emerch was no longer going to be part of the school she did not receive the EWA after that I don't remember the dates but after that meeting we had another Zoom meeting the
last meeting of the year and the topic was brought up again her attitude was emphasized that we did not we were not allowed to speak and that she felt disrespected a few weeks later I received a call from Miss Francisco
telling me that Miss Oroya wanted to meet with me and the other mother who had attended schoolside council meetings hours before I said I didn't want to meet later I learned that she wanted us to sign a letter the content of which I don't know and I regret that many teachers were removed from the school
because of that thank you for your time okay okay and our last speaker is Luis Dwarte hi uh my name is Luis Dwarte i'm also an English teacher at the School for the Dark Humanities and I'm going to take my time to uh Miss Ortiz
hi we are here to speak on behalf of the peace and the well-being of the students and the teachers a little closer to the mic so every so we can all Thank you as a parent I did not hear any of these problems from Principal Aoy Aoyo during the coffee with the principles she is very good at shifting uncomfortable questions and talking about her
hardships as a low-income Latina what I would like to hear a lot was that teachers were doing wrong and what she was doing to do things right and she was the only one capable of doing these things things like Miss Haroya having implement reports to do things right she also mentioned how teachers should not
let students get away with things so that they become friends there was an impromptu meeting on a on a Tuesday that was given information for on Sunday which means a lot of parents did not have time to make time to this to attend this meeting and it was supposed to be addressing
misinformation um Miss Aoyo during this meeting spoke for about an hour and a half an hour and 45 minutes actually of all the things that she has done for the school for example that she had to fight the school district to get the school painted because it didn't look like a our school before her and she had to
fight for that when I know that there was budget to do that beforehand um as a and as a principal uh as a supervising principal it is very unprofessional of her to be building her staff in front of parents during every
meeting she has a little digs to say "Oh my teachers they're I have to go call on them and I have to tell them how to do their teaching because they're not doing it right." She talks about bullying because she believes that we're bullying her by bringing these points up she talks about
bullying but during the last coffee with the principal she posted the names of the seniors that might not be graduating and she shared it with all the parents there instead of talking to them or students don't need
that during the school walkouts she handled the situation very aggressively my sister here her her student she gave out flyers for the meetings and she called them into the office and one of the things that we have done afterwards is no longer saying
bye have a good day at school it's call me if you need anything so that's just the way it is now for students to go to that school with the principal thank you for your time we appreciate your time and that concludes general public comment all 20 speakers spoke and I
appreciate everyone's uh cooperation and efficiency with getting folks up here to speak and thank you for working very well with my staff i know they really appreciate it as do I um Dr revas has requested that we move to tab 26 because she has some speakers ready to speak on
it and tab 26 has some public comment this is day uh denim day 2025 so let's uh go to tab 25 I'm sorry 26 and this also has a I believe a rule
72 waiver let's keep that in mind can I have a a mover to bring this to the table move it move it by Mr smurlson seconded by Miss Newell okay and we'll I'll Let's see we have Eldana Arega to speak on this are you in the
room come on down this is for tab 26 denim day okay good afternoon board members my name is Odana um I am an 11th grader at University High School Charter as well as a finalist for student board member i'm here today to strong um to stand in
strong support on the resolution for Denim Day but more than that I'm here to advocate for something I wish I had learned more earlier on in high school wearing denim on April 30th is more than just a symbolic gesture it's a powerful statement that we must um reject victim
blaming and believe survivors it's heartbreaking to hear the statistics on how many young people experience sexual violence we deserve to feel safe at school and a part of that safety means understanding consent boundaries and what healthy relationships actually look like the truth is most of us don't learn
these things in the classroom we learn them from experience from watching our friends spiral from being there when someone breaks down i only learned about the definition of consent how to recognize signs of grooming how to support survivors and how to respond to sexual assault not because of any
curriculum at school but because I was trained at a teen suicide hotline and that's the exact problem the issue is that we shouldn't be learning these through um trauma or going through crisis training just to understand how to protect ourselves or how to protect each other that's why I strongly support
this resolution's commitment to updating educational materials and creating spaces like Denim Day workshops and activities for real open and age appropriate conversations we need education that reflects reality that shows students where to find resources for support that empowers that informs
and that validates all students no matter their gender identity or background i know words that like rape grooming and assault make people uncomfortable teens often cringe inward or look away but pretending they don't exist doesn't protect us and so I ask you to please pass this resolution to
ensure that this education reaches every student because the cost of silence is far too high thank you so much for your time thank you for your time norma Gonzalez you're signed up to speak on this tab but I do not see you signed in norma Gonzalez are you in the
room okay so that's public comment on this item um Dr yes thank you um this is the last resolution and I I you know two of unfortunately two of the three speakers um had to leave but I we have one more speaker so before she has to leave I
wanted to bring this up so um I'm honored to introduce resolution raising our voices against sexual violence recognizing Denim Day 2025 in Los an Los Angeles unified every year millions wear denim in April uh to challenge myths
about sexual violence and to declare "There is no excuse and never an invitation to assault." Denim Day began in response to an outrageous 1999 ruling by an Italian Supreme Court that overturned a rape conviction because a
survivor wore tight jeans implying that she must have consented peace Over Violence is a trailblazing organization founded in 1971 launched Denim Day that same year to challenge this injustice it has since
become the longest running sexual violence prevention campaign in history peace of Violence has provided critical intervention and prevention services to Los Angeles communities for over 50 years their work supporting
survivors educating youth and building healthy relationships has made them national leaders in the movement to end sexual and domestic violence today we stand with them and with all survivors in the commitment to create safer more respectful and more empowered school
communities um unfortunately um the executive director and CEO of Peace Over Violence and the founder of Denim Day unfortunately had to leave she is Patty Gigggins but she wanted to let me know she wanted to leave this little kit of
uh pens and stickers for the board uh so you know so she left that here for me for to share with you all and also I wanted to let um you all know that there's a youth leadership institute in summer 2025 so we have some information
here but you can also go to their website uh um peaceoverviolence.org where you can get more information if you want to um learn more about the youth leadership institute and also uh she informed me that in about three weeks the youth
violence prevention and healthy relationships curriculum which is originally is originally one of its first kind in the nation um is currently being revised and it'll be ready in three weeks uh and ready for the district to implement in all of our
secondary schools so um you know Patty Gigggins has dedicated her life to preventing violence and building communities rooted in dignity advocacy and care she has inspired a global movement on that begins with education
and ends with justice um and also uh the second um speaker who unfortunately had to leave is Luke O'Quinn uh he is a prevention division manager of peace over violence and he has helped expand school-based programming and prevention education that centers student voice and
community healing um so um I'm hoping to have them back at a future committee of the whole so they can present their curriculum um as they will be implemented soon by the division of instruction but we do have one speaker
Naelli Galanalito uh she is a youth educator with the LA County Department of Public Health Student Well-being Center serving students at Miguel Contra's Learning Complex and several downtown LA high schools if Nelly can come forward uh
Naelli is a proud she her with pronounce she her is a proud L USD alum and holds a master's in higher education leadership from Cal State Northridge her work centers on delivering sexual health education holistic well-being services to students throughout the school day
empowering youth with the tools and support they need to thrive thank you so much for waiting and thank you um so the floor is yours good afternoon board members superintendent and staff my name is Nael Galankito from the LA County Department of Public Health Student Well-being
Centers as a whole organization we wholeheartedly support the Denim Day resolution which also commits to strengthening LUSD commitment against sexual assault and violence denim Day is an important reminder that individuals have the right to consent the
responsibility of self autonomy and empower folks to their resilience as mentioned the student well-being centers provide various health and well-being uh well-being services to students throughout the school day we support this resolution because our mission aims
to empower students to make informed decisions that promote lifelong health and well-being for themselves and their communities through sexual health education we provide opportunities for students to learn their rights about consent how to develop healthy
relationships and understand the importance of having control of their health the student well-being centers commend Dr rosio Rivas for wanting to bring Denim Day to strengthen LUSD's commitment against sexual violence as an organization we believe the importance
to of providing safe and accessible environments on school campuses engaging youth to use their strength and have a voice regarding sexual health we are committed to continue empowering individuals to know their rights to consent and have accessible resources
available to them so we must continue to have these resources is available and continue these conversations and most importantly know our right to consent we thank everyone for your understanding on the importance of Denim Day and thank you all for your leadership in support
of the resolution thank you very much thank you so much Naelli um so now I open it up for the board members who want to speak or u make any comments or can take it for a vote i'd like to co-sponsor if that's okay
and appreciate you bringing this to to us i think um for young for all young people to have this awareness is very important so thank you for bringing this to us i two would like to co-sponsor i
three four It's been moved and seconded shall we vote it was already okay uh Miss Newell yes dr rivas yes mr melvin yes miss Grigo yes miss Gonz Ortiz Franklin board president yes all right
yes thank you sir so I just want to thank everyone who's been so courageous in raising their voices particularly students and creating spaces for healing and education in our school so I thank all the PSWs all of the teachers and all of the staff who are there to provide
this space as we recognize Denim Day on April 30th uh 2025 let us reaffirm LUSD's commitment to ending sexual violence supporting survivors and ensuring that every student and staff member feel safe seen and supported together we wear denim and together we
say no no more silence and no more shame thank you okay this brings us to tab four Golden State Pathways Program Grants there were some comments and questions let's do the move in the second now before I forget would someone like to move tab for Mr
schmurson i'll second and seconded by Mr moving looks like we had comments and questions from Miss Grigo tab four Golden State Pathways Program Grants make sure we may have one caller still
on the line for that item oh we have one one person one person here in person so Nuo Chen are you here sorry you're not is is New Chen here okay is not here so that ends public
comment for that item and uh Miss Grego the floor is yours yeah hi uh thank you for this cte makes me very happy and I know it makes our students and our teachers very happy um but I've been hearing that there's
been some some uh CTE teachers who are being displaced because programs are clo I don't know why actually to be honest i just know that they're not there because maybe the program is no longer there and yet I see this amazing grant so I'm
confused can you share more about this like why is it that some CTE teachers are not coming back to their position if you know while we're also receiving money for CTE um sure so the grant is actually separate and apart from why CT
teachers may or may not be returning so it's not the grant funding is not related to positions at all so um if that is something that the board would like to know more about I'm sure that they can investigate through human
resources or investigate by asking individual principles but the grant funding does not actually fund teaching positions itself and can I ask you to introduce yourself if you're Yes I'm Esther Debbian and I'm the CTE link learning administrator with the division
of instruction sorry so this is not this grant money is not connected to positions it's connected to to what to equipment to curriculum and correct it funds equipment curriculum and it has specific
um outcomes grant funding outcomes which I'm happy to share with you please do yes oh I mean I can give it to you in writing yes which and it's in your actually in your packet there are specific seven outcomes that are included in your
Okay and then just in your grant descriptions okay and then just lastly um I see some of my schools in district five are are in this on this list yes and um so how how were they selected to be on the list all of the schools that
fit in four industry categories that were aligned to the grant um identified industry sectors were offered the opportunity to join through various outreach efforts the principles were
invited to a Zoom meeting they were asked if they were willing to accept money and join in on the grant and deliver on specific grant outcomes and if they opted in we included them and if they decided to not opt in then we did
not so they needed to have that pathway already in order to be part of it right for four of the six grants correct there's also one grant for opening a pathway and we did a similar outreach effort and invited principles who did not have pathways and we asked them if
they would like to open a pathway in again one of the four industry sectors and they could actually open in more than one sector and if they said yes again we included them in that grant and if they declined then we did not and then but if they open the new pathway it
had to be with the the current staff staffing that they have right it's not like they could hire a new teacher to to teach that pathway well they would have to hire because they would be opening a new pathway so so there is
a higher and then um just the other thing I want to ask is are there opportunities for outside organizations who want to write grants on our behalf for more CTE funding do we do we have those um partnerships already or are there any opportunities for folks who
are interested in doing in in collaborating with us in doing this work on occasion we actually do collaborate with outside organizations on joint grant efforts and one of the six grants is a consorcia grant where we did some
of the writing with uh Los Angeles Community College District Colleges in fact they submitted action plans with six of the colleges and they co-wrote that portion of the Golden State Pathway Grant with
us of course any other comments or questions on tab 4 um let me go back to you mentioned that um this money is not tied to positions but when you provided the um the budget
summary and it's connected to certified personnel salaries it's not tied to teaching positions it is tied to some coordinator positions that will be leading professional development and the salary is specific to professional
development so a counselor and career adviser that's where it's located yes and it's very limited positions majority of the salary over 90% is to professionally develop school site staff to lead the work that is necessary for
career pathway development okay got it great and one question here um what metrics um are being used and will be used to track employer participation in the district's um GSP pathway especially
in addressing regional workforce uh shortages so the four industry sectors that the grant is specifically tied to are education computer science health care and the STEM fields the metrics that are aligned to those have to do
with work readiness curriculum and also with work-based learning so the grant asks for c certain deliverables that are tied to internships and also specific dual enrollment higher education credits and also industry recognized
certificates so those are specific metrics that we have to follow in addition to career pathway completion so those internships um are with specific um sites or employers or the grant doesn't specify specific sites but it
does say that we need to include internships or specific work-based learning um types of activities for our students within those four industry sectors you already have um particular sites for these internships now as we
speak okay yeah so they're just waiting for the money and then you got you got that well the money isn't to pay the students yeah we can't do that with the money but the money can be for example to use to develop the partnerships for example to
sit down with these organizations and spend some time on thoseus or to develop curricula to make sure it's aligned to what is happening in the CTE classroom or preparing students to get those certifications that will be directly transferable to the types of skills they
need once they enter the internship and in these internships um do these partnerships need to have liability insurance or any prerequisites in order for theou to move forward depending on theou yes and does
that cause some challenges for some in order to have a brighter scope of internships depending on the site yes it can and are we able to because there's so many you know partnerships or um internship sites
that want to partake in this in this pathway or want to participate but because of these challenges are be able to sort of address those challenges or you know come with a plan to address them so that our students are not losing out on particular internships that would
be very um fruitful for them we found a number of very creative solutions um we're working within our own district for example we have we're a small city in and it of itself and of ourselves so we have our own architecture department
IT department so we're finding really and of course we have you know our own education department we are an educational institution so we're actually placing a lot of our students with our own um professional workforce and they're interning with our own staff
um we're also beginning to work with some of our um adult education occupation centers and our students are serving almost as assistants um after school and we're trying to roll that out very soon so we're looking at situations
where our students can intern in programs that don't necessarily requireus because they are in-house so to speak so we're leveraging all of the resources that we can and thinking outside of the box so that we're not solely relying onus and if I may the
intent though is to continue to learn uh board member on what what do we need to be able to have in anou that's pretty template language so from this we can learn so we can create stronger template language to make it easier for our
partners so as more of this opportunity these types of opportunities keep coming our way we work with office of general counsel and others to see how do we streamline some of this language to make it a little easier but it is a learning curve because there's some other elements that we have to take into account insurance and other things like
that but we are working through them because even for our students um with disabilities who have workability opportunities we've had to sort through those with them as well so we're working through and we're learning and the more we expand the more we'll learn and we'll work through those as well thank you for
that and just one last question um have there been any risks of unspent funds reverting back to the state for any sort of delays in in the project execution or if you couldn't find a coordinator or whatever the case may be i'm very proud to say that uh the CTE link learning
department has almost 0% grant funds going back to the state or the federal system that's great to know thank you that's all my questions just one uh clarifying you mentioned the optin if there's a school that wanted to opt in between now and 29 is that
opportunity still available for them unfortunately the CDE we already had to turn in our list of schools for the Golden State Pathways program however the um department has ongoing grant
funding and so there is no CTE or link learning pathway school that is denied funding in any shape way or form if they need th that funding in order to sustain improve or maintain their program and if
a program collapses between now and 29 what's the resolve for that it would depend on why it's collapsing and I would need to have more information i sorry I'm going to go back to the physicians i don't know if you have the
answers to this but I am concerned about some CTE teachers not coming back to their positions and I'm wondering are there um schools that are getting grant money and also not having teachers CTE
teachers not coming back and if so which are those schools and then what are we doing to support those positions to uh get funded so for example I know of a couple in certain areas like graphic design right all of a sudden the the teacher is not coming back to that
position not by choice but that's what happened so but so what's going to happen to that pathway and what can we do to continue supporting um these pathways uh that have been in the school for a while and I'm sure are very popular a lot of my answer is going to depend
again why that pathway is collapsing or why that teacher is not returning and the way we support the school will depend on that answer so for example if the reason why the principal is not bringing the teacher back is due to lack
of student interest enrollment or simply because that specific career pathway no longer has relevancy in terms of the job marketplace then we may want to find a different career pathway that holds more interest with the students and parents
or perhaps has better job outcomes for that community and that way we will start engaging with my new teacher support team and human resources and finding a viable candidate for the principal to interview and begin looking at transitioning the space and the
equipment and the curricula to a new pathway that's just one example but again it really depends on why that teacher isn't coming back or why the program is closing and also the teacher not returning doesn't always mean that the program is closing so I would need
to know I would need to know more information but you would be the person that if that is happening they would go to and ask for some support if they have more i don't have all the details but yes myself or one of my leadership team yes okay great thank you of course
if there's no further questions um we could take a vote all right the move in second is complete so uh Miss Newell yes dr rivas yes mr melvin yes miss Grigo yes miss Gonz
Miss Ortiz Franklin President Schmorson yes right that's five all right moving on to tab five we can work contract with California Department of Rehabilitation i have a move and a
second moved by Mr smurlson seconded by Second Dr ias there were some comments noted on this but they may have dissipated are there any comments or questions on this that's correct miss Greg go ahead
hi um I I don't remember if I asked this the last time we talked about the do um job um uh preparation for our students with disabilities but um what uh do we track what happens to our students who go
through the program are we I I read somewhere that usually they're minimum wage jobs that the students get and some of them are voluntary some of them are not uh voluntary does that make sense you're looking confused i'm like so
there are um non-paid internships to help grow skills for our students and then once those skills are built then they're offered uh subsidies and for for work uh and they're paid for their work experience uh some examples can be that they work in afterchool program
providing support uh in the BTB programs or they are um working on school sites with buildings and grounds or in the cafeteria or supporting preschool programs and they get paid for that work experience and then once they're done with the program say it's a 22year-old
student um who's graduated from the program how do we support them after that and do we try to get them to if they if they interned with us do we try to connect them to jobs with us so we are required by indicator uh 14 of IDA
uh to and that's post uh school outcomes where we contact each student that has gone through our program a year after to find out where they are if they if they're in school if they have a job and we have to track that data and deliver that to the state um as far as any other
type of outreach um I can have Dr coons share some information on that if there's any sure um hi everybody it's a pleasure to see you all um the the real work at our for this program specifically comes before our students leave us and they are enrolled in the
department of rehabilitation to access this specific kind of work experience and through that connection um with the department of rehabilitation that continues after they leave us so by enrolling them in this program and participating in a work experience while
they're still our student they're getting connected to a state agency that will be able to support them after they're done with us so really this is kind of like a warm handoff of a program between schooling and then the world of work and the department of rehabilitation can provide them those
supports in the future like for the rest of their lives as they're working to stay employed alongside the regional center who also almost always supports all the students who receive this funding so our work is really like the the foundation the groundwork that keeps them connected to employment
opportunities and by having them enroll they're really well connected i see i I would love to see if any of the students who go through the do program ever come back to us to work we are you know a large place that we can certainly employ
and it would be great to have them with us so we have hired five of our students uh over the past few years uh that have gone through this program uh to serve as campus aids or to be uh B&G uh personnel on school sites so slowly but surely we're also looking to expand
opportunities for hire with the Beyond the Bell program as well thank you this new bill uh thank you for being here how many programs do we have within there how
many different programs as far as uh work experience programs oh there's there's plenty right i mean it depends on what we're defining program can you answer the question well it says you have programs there so I'm trying to figure out what are the programs so
maybe you can define it for me yeah all right we uh so we have uh work experience programs for students in our high schools through our department of transition I'm sorry our department of transition services dots and those teachers and staff provide supports to
students through um what was voted on at a previous board meeting the TPP contract and through workability workability one through the state those are two funding sources that kind of equate a work experience program in high school and then for our students as they
transition to career and transition centers if they're a student on the alternate curriculum or with a a moderate severe need moderate support need those students are supported through we can work this contract that we're presenting here today and through
some district funding that is available for work experience so those would be probably our four work experience programs if we were going to define it as work experience programs based on your question we have eight career and transition centers also if you wanted to call those programs for our students um
that are adults with transition uh support needs and so we at those eight locations this contract fund source is available to those students and I know you mentioned five students that that's all that we know right now
over the last few years but obviously trying to expand that absolutely okay because that's a small number considering we service so many not that large of a population of students that have significant cognitive disabilities
not hundreds of thousands it's So what is the number that we're because the number here the number here for 200 what number is that 248 students two 200 Oh 200 students a year sorry 248 students and were served this year yes this year
and you're saying over subsequent years we could say we serviced probably similar per year okay and so we've had about five from that yes return okay but I hear you board member uh I think you're you're encouraging us
to have a target to how we will create a stronger pipeline i heard that from both our board members so we will definitely identify that go um thank you just a few questions here um let me go here so how does the
district engage local smaller employers to provide meaningful work placements especially given the limits of of sufficient liability insurance and other partnership challenges and barriers so we do try to engage uh small businesses
uh but again as Dr car Dr strad mentioned we we have limitations as long as they have insurance so we we usually contract with people that have all the insurance and that's schools colleges places where there is the SAM insurance there is the risk risk uh uh
insuranceances so those are the places predominantly where our students are working at right well prior to the changes in you know risk management and assessment um there were a lot of you know local businesses in the community that unfortunately no longer can
participate and those were businesses in the students communities that they had connection and they were actually hiring after so that you know drastically limited the opportunities for our students and I know that we're thinking outside the box and you're looking more
inservice but um I think that was a great disadvantage so it would be great if we can continue to work with those MUS or work with those employers uh small businesses to pro you know and then they were really saddened because they really enjoy providing the that uh
work-based learning for the students um so unfortunately that that that was um fell through because of those changes and I can say that we are absolutely looking for partnerships we are submitting forus you know every month trying to get some pass so that we can
have more expanded opportunities for our students so and that will continue um and the other question how can we work with the state to expand the program to serve more students or how is that number derived to uh only being able to serve approximately 200 students and
being able to offer more hours to them i'm glad you're asking that because I asked the Department of Rehabilitation the same question and following approval of this we're entering a discussion with them to expand the contract beyond the current funding this is the amount of funding that they have been authorized
by the state already to offer us right now at this time but their plan is to offer us an additional amount once we have um this in place so we we are always going to keep telling them we're serving more students than we were asked to um can you please also fund us so
that we can expand even more for our students and benefit the students of Los Angeles wonderful i'm very glad to hear that and maybe you can provide them with real case studies of the students and how that's you know change their lives yes you want to say something i do each month uh I'm sorry each quarter we meet
with the Department of Rehabilitation staff the contract administrator and each each time we meet our staff shares success stories about our students with them so that they are aware of the impact they're making and it's it's wonderful to go to those meetings and hear our staff share yeah i I personally
was able to um because um Paris special education center CTC is in my district and then so I went with the um the principal Hernandez and uh two of the sort of the coordinators and counselors that are helping a part of this program
um we visited an infant center and there was a student there who was just you know taking care of of the infants and you know that was part of her uh workbased you know site we also went to two of our schools where uh students were uh working with our plant manager
and buildings and grounds and they were cleaning and um there was um another one so a lot of our schools were a part of this and there was one that unfortunately I couldn't go to but it was a CVS but what I saw and what I heard is that this program or this the
ability for for our students with special needs or neurode divergent to be able to have these opportunities is just magnificent they they blossomed they were they have the self-esteem and confidence they were able to you know go
take the bus to these sites um and also the change in the families because the parents were very apprehensive about allowing their child to take the bus but once they they were able to see that the their our students were had the self-
advocacy they they developed this confidence was just uh beautiful to see and I know how this program really does change lives and it provides the skills and independence for our students in the CTC programs really to have independency
and not having to depend so much on their families and it it also changes the families as well because they're able to see that their child will be successful and has an opportunity for a job and now that we have diplomas it greatly expands that um the capacity for
for students to have that um expanded opportunities for life-changing ways so thank you for that thank you thank you i have a question for you so um all of our LUSD students are offered a tap cart so they have a way to get to work i'm
just wondering when they age out does the Department of Rehabilitation offer a similar program so that students are able to use public transportation with a tap card if you know if you know yes yes they do offer programs so they can have public transportation that's good
because getting around independently is super important for their self-esteem right absolutely thank you no further questions let's vote uh Miss Newil yes again it's on tab five so it's a yes or miss new bill dr rivas yes mr
meline Miss Grigo yes miss Gomez miss Ortiz Franklin a board president yes that's four yeses i'm a yes too sorry oh there you are thank you so much that's five yeses
thank you okay this brings us to tab seven which cannot be on consent let me see to this tab seven resolution of declaration
of need for fully qualified educators we have uh four in-person public commenters maria Torres are you here torres yes come on up and then after Miss Torres is Nelly Mendes and then Alex Garcia and
then Julian Garcia so Maria Torres you'll have two minutes to speak why don't you begin hi good afternoon i was actually um I wanted to address myself with Mr carbajo i'm just uh wanted to say you know to him and uh thanking Mr jose
Werta for you know helping me make uh make a better um and safety for my grandson so I wanted to you know pretty much uh reach out to every single one of you guys i know like you guys say uh see something say something and you guys have really actually did something so I
would like to tell each and every single one of you guys that I do appreciate it that you know my grandson feels a lot safer i know we still continue to have some problems here and there but I know that you know working with the district and working with Mr jose Guera you know has helped us out and you know I'm
looking forward to you know having a better system for the safety of my grandkids and you know so I just want to be here and give you guys a little um you know looped in and telling you how you know how things are much much better than what they were so we're pretty much
happy you know I I also brought the grandkids because you know an in appreciation for you know them you know being safer you know at at school and you know the bullying problem has you know um has decreased a lot and you know just the safety of them have been much
much better so once again I do want to thank Mr jose Werta and you know just for helping me out with all of my problems all of my concerns and I do see that there's a lot of differences and we are making a difference in that particular school so thank you have a
good day thank you for your time uh Nelly Mendes come on up miss Miss Mendes is going to speak in Spanish so if you'd like headsets to hear what she's saying in English uh please put your hands up and we'll get you a translation headset
mr and now that I wanted to say something nice he left but I do want to thank Mr werta just like Miss Torres has indicated because he's working with us i want to thank Miss Carol i don't
remember her last name because we were going to have an IEP the IP was cancelled on the same day and I spoke to Miss Carol carol told me "Don't worry the IEP is going to be held." And it was held and I think that Miss Carol is more
efficient than Mr salceo i feel that I think that Miss Carol she is has more than what Miss Salceo is lacking because Mr salceo Heights and Miss Carol has been there she has helped me at least
very much since I started working with her we've worked very well with Miss Carol any kind of issue she solves it in that instant something that never ever Mr salceto has ever done mr salida just attacks attacks attacks miss Carol is
dedicated to helping me and in all moments at all moments i want to thank I think that she's listening to me miss Carol thank you so much for all the help and I want to see what Miss Carla Grigo is doing because I saw her on TV very
there and willing and I gave her my vote but I do not see anything on how she's working i don't know if I'm a little bit lost in that aspect for special education she spoke a lot very well but but I have not seen anything about it
with you i did give you my vote it's bad to say but I'm saying it because I have not seen help within you i also have somebody in special special education i would love to also work with you because I gave you my vote because you convinced
me over TV in person i don't know but thank you now I didn't speak bad because everything's going well when my daughter's going well I'm good here too thank you for your time uh Alex Garcia come on up alex you have two
minutes to speak once you begin hello I'm Alex Garcia been in Carver i in seventh grade my life's been good because of Mr albert he's one he's the one who's always
protect me from everything that's been happening happening from the past school years of being bullied and now he changed that by giving me someone to protect me a personal
BI he cared for us me my brother everyone that was being bullied and was mistreated but there was an issue with some where
somewhere where I was sitting down in the Carver gym building two kids one named Abraham and another which I can't tell
by his name I didn't know slap me in appropriately importantly which is not good and they just only laughed i didn't feel uncomfortable or
anywhere i felt unsafe since my BI wasn't there that time but gladly my teacher saw he reported it to Mr zoano my PE teacher he cares
and once we talked to Mr oriana he solved the problem by well protecting us but thank you to Mr alberto Kavo for
giving giving me everything that I care thank you for your time uh Julian Garcia come on up you have two minutes to speak once you begin hello my name is Julian Garcia and I go to George Washington Carver Middle
School and I just wanted to thank um and our Carville Hall for making changes in our school which helped me and my family and mostly my brother from being bullied back then thank you for your time we appreciate it when I am okay my daughter is okay but I
do congratulate you because you are doing a good job at least I want I'm so sorry you can't take the the remaining time of that of that young man that you've you've appeared before the board once already thank you for your time you Thank you so much for your time i I I
appreciate it okay so we now have a vote on tab seven i'm a move mover and a seconder for the for tab 7 please i move it thank you M ggo seconded by Mr schmurson and Miss
Newell uh Dr rivas yes mr melvin absent miss Grigo yes miss Gomez Miss Ortiz Franklin yes board President yes okay that's four eyes um Miss Ortiz
Franklin may I please have your vote on tab four miss Ortiz Franklin okay Mr ortiz Franklin not there for the time being um Miss Newil can I please record your vote for tab seven
yes thank you this brings us to tab 15 i hadn't called it but it's okay we do not have any public comment on this item and I have just learned that we don't have any board member uh Miss Grego does not have a comment that she
initially initiated does anyone else have any comments mr kang you are free to go you know what oh sorry sorry you thought I spoke too soon sorry um I
you know what i was just re I was just reminded of an article in the Times um last fall about um students who live in the Skidro area and how it's very difficult for them to you know traverse the the neighborhood and come to our
schools so I'm just wondering and then I read in the in the report that we do have through the homeless liaison that's how students are able to get transportation to our school homeless and foster youth are able to get transportation but um do how does that happen is it because they have to
complete the SHQ form or how is it that they are able to be connected to transportation because I know at my old school we had uh unhoused students but they didn't have access to transportation so can you share that
for services for the homeless foster uh group of students it's coordinated through Dr from Miranda's office and they reach out to our routing department and through their vetting process they say these group of students qualify and transport district transportation takes
our first attempts to cover it with district routes and when those processes aren't there another route doesn't have a stop in time available then we either bring on another route or utilize other services such as a TNC hop skip and drive etc
okay um thank you any other questions okay so may I have a move and a second for tab 15 move it move it by Mr smurlson seconded by Dr
rivas uh Miss Newell yes dr rivas yes mr meline miss Grigo yes miss Gomez yes ortiz Franklin yes board President Schmurson yes all right that's six eyes i'm going to collect some votes uh
quickly please if if you could bear with me so tab seven um Miss Gonz yes thank you uh and then tab 26 um Miss Gomez
that's the Denim Day resolution yes and if I could be added as a co-sponsor please got it and Miss Artis Franklin uh yes as well and I'd love to be added as a co-sponsor
okay all right and then Miss Gomez on tab i have a like to collect a vote for tab five yes thank you very much think you also need me for tab four i do
yes all right all right so Miss Gomeon is yes for tab four and um Miss Ortiz Franklin for tab 4 yes okay thank you so much we are caught up now on to tab
17 this is approval of routine personnel actions miss Grigo I think you had some questions but let's see if we have any folks waiting to give comment yes we have five all right uh so for tab
17 first inerson speaker Henry Zahed so for those wondering if this is the second appearance in front of the board it is not mr zahed was admitted under labor partner um seating of time uh for UTLA so please come on up you have two
minutes to speak once you begin can we switch the order absolutely just state your name so I don't get lost hi my name is Sarah Valdez thank you ready hi um my name is Sarah Valdez and I'm a teacher at Southeast High School i'm here in support of Henry Zed our beloved
ELA teacher GSA adviser and fierce advocate for LGBTQ students on our campus i will be speaking today on behalf of Southeast students who didn't feel uh didn't feel safe speaking up today if you if today you were to ask a Southeast student what it means for them
to be in Henry's Mexican-American literature class they would say quote "I remember being more than happy to be able to take a literature class that is closely associated with a big building block of my identity as a Latina." End quote if today you were to ask a
Southeast student what the climate is like for our LGBTQ youth they would say quote "Students tear down GSA posters they make rumors about GSA they make microaggressions they say slurs and film queer students to ridicule them on a on
a bullying Instagram page end quote and if today you were to ask a Southeast student what losing Henry as a teacher would mean they would say quote "At a at a time of political uncertainty and ongoing attacks on public education students need support more than ever we
are living through a moment where classrooms should be safe spaces and that teachers should feel empowered to care for and uplift their students." Mr henry does exactly that i may not attend the school next year anymore but my siblings will." End quote let it be clear that Henry isn't just a good
teacher he's the only teacher at Southeast doing this type of critical advocacy for some of our most vulnerable students that kind of community doesn't just happen by accident it happens because of teachers like Henry lusd board members what response am I going
to give these students what response are you going to give these students today and to all the students at Southeast who've been sending emails sending messages and making phone calls in support of Henry I urge you to reconsider the decision regarding his non-reelection our students our school
and our community need him thank you thank you for your time henry Zahed come on up you'll have two minutes to speak why don't you begin um hi i yeah I didn't um have a second thing
planned um I am just going to stand in silence for a little bit april 4th was National Day of Silence in words silence is
uncomfortable my students are silenced i don't want them to be silenced anymore and that's all I'll say thank you thank you for your time roxanna Rodriguez come on up you have two minutes to speak why don't you begin
good afternoon i'm here today to speak on behalf of Henry and to raise a serious concern about the lack of clarity and transparency surrounding their non-reelection since joining Southeast High School in spring 2022 Henry has built deep relationships
with students staff and family he's taken on multiple leadership roles this year alone he took on yet another leadership role and still continues as a GSA adviser all while navigating an administrative transitions and a challenging work in climate after
receiving constructive feedback in fall 2024 Henry took it very seriously he sought support welcomed growth and made intentional efforts to improve yet before those efforts could take full effect he was issued a nonreelect notice
if this is truly about performance why wasn't it flagged in spring 2022 or during the school year 22 2022 2023 2024 why now henry's impact goes far beyond the classroom he organized Southeast
High School's very first ever Pride event and I can tell you that numerous students personally told me that that event made them feel comfortable to finally come out in fact when Henry brought it to our administrators
attention that posters had been vandalized and GSA students no longer felt safe hosting the Pride event they did nothing instead Henry reached out individually to teachers and asked them to please show up to our event so that
students could feel supported and safe henry builds trust with families he calls families just to tell them "Hey your kid's doing really great." Henry pushes for progress that makes some people uncomfortable in all the ways progress usually does and now it feels
like that progress could be erased as Leo today recognizes Dolores Wuerta for her civil rights work including her fight for gender equality and labor justice we must also recognize those who carry that work forward such as Henry thank you thank you for your time
giovana J giovana are you here uh Giovani Argetta are you here giovani Argetta okay that concludes public comment on this item is Brian here i do not have a Brian on the line at
this time if folks are calling in it's best to reach out to my office and then let us know the number you're calling from uh so that we can identify you when you log in um and this all has to occur be ahead of time so that we can effectuate your voice during during the
meeting itself um give me one moment to check if I have any messages with that information i do not so I I apologize but I can't I can't get that person to talk because I don't know um how they're calling in or who it is so that concludes public comment on this item um
can I have a motion and a second to discuss moved by Mr smurlson second seconded by Miss New is there any discussion on the item um I had a question about the hiring freeze i thought we had a hiring freeze
but then we also hired new folks and so um I'm wondering what positions are affected by the hiring freeze hi um so between uh the end of budget development and April 25th there is a
freeze on most um classified positions to ensure that anybody whose position was not funded that we're able to determine which positions those are and find new assignments for and find out where the vacancies are that are
also budgeted um we do have um a committee that reviews even though there is a freeze we still have a committee that reviews all requests and if for example there's a teacher vacancy that's not going to be subject to
um a freeze we're not going to keep that position vacant similarly with a a plant manager or a position where there is uh one of those at the school site so it does depend so I would call it um more
of a secondary review process to uh ensure that all of our employees continue to have assignments but it is something we do annually after budget development it's between budget development and the end of end of April
end of April okay all right thank you clarifying question for the teacher assistant degree tracked positions exactly what are those so in order to be a teacher assistant um employees have to continue
to earn credits every year you be enrolled in and earn university credits each year so uh that's the degree track teaching assistants the TA category are for those who are seeking their teaching credential uh and continue to enroll
versus um an education I'm sorry an instructional aid an instructional aid or instructional assistant uh does not have that same requirement got it and then um are the folks that are on the career
ladder are they obtaining credentials uh that is the goal yes and we have a a statistic on how many have and how many have it right i can get those for you any other
comments okay tab has been moved and seconded we'll take the vote on tab 17 miss Newell yes dr rivas yes mr melvin Miss Grigo yes miss Gomez yes miss Ortiz Franklin yes mr mr yes okay that's six
eyes that concludes tab 17 we'll now move on to tab 20 approval of procurement actions mr smurlson and Miss Grigo had questions and I believe we have one person for public comment on that item uh James Hart are you here come on
up Mr hart thank you for waiting so patiently i think I've seen you in the audience all day long all right so uh you'll have two minutes to speak i just raise the microphone a little bit uh the two minutes is yours sir thank you thank you uh my name is James Hart i'm with Studio Electric we're actually the electrical contractor over at Garfield High School for the turf replacement um
and the football field improvement about May of last year the change orders uh were needed because there were certificate scopes that were added to the job and um to date those most of them still haven't been approved in August of last year I was told by the
team of LUSD that even though the change orders were not going to be approved in a timely fashion um we were not to proceed on TNM and uh on time and material and further I was ordered to do the work or they would go after my bond and take my home basically and everything I
own it's hard to describe what it feels like when you're forced to work without compensation the emotion that you feel is shame and humiliation because you have effectively allowed
someone else to enslave you to work i am a victim for sure of a civil rights violation but I'm not here to complain this to the world it's not something I wanted to announce i'm trying to be the guy that
my daughter needs her father to be and fight this is a really hard fight and I need help i guarantee you if you guys knew what was going on over there most of you would not approve of the actions that the people are taking on your behalf
there's a lot of amazing things in this world that have been been built with forced labor i cannot imagine that the board of LUSD wants Garfield's football stadium to be one of them please help thank you for your time sir
all right so we are still on let's see we're in tab 20 we heard the public comment uh may I have a move and a second for the approval of these procurement actions move moved by Dr revas seconded by
Second uh Morlson and we had some comments on tab 20 it looks like from yeah Mr schmelson and Miss Ggo may I go great yes okay so um item
C credible mind and I think people know that I am aware of the ongoing strike right now from mental health care workers at Kaiser Permanente so I want to be clear
on this position i know that we all value Kaiser Permanente as a business partner and however I want to be absolutely sure that this program credible mind incorporated will not be
used against those workers who are on strike or limit the opportunities for LUSD employees or their families to get help from a mental health professional and because I cannot be sure of this at the moment I am reluctant to vote yes on
this item so can we get an assurance from Kaiser Permanente that this program if fully implemented will not impede our staff from accessing therapy everyone um I just wanted to clarify
that um this program is being funded by the wellness dollars that were donated by Kaiser but it it has no relation with Kaiser Permanente so it is independent of Kaiser program or Kaiser plan that we offer to our employees right now so this
this online platform as an additional mental health benefits resources will be provided to all employees retirees and their dependents and it provides online mental health benefits resources which focus more on preventative uh mental health care but it it has no relation
with Kaiser so it does not impact anything that Kaiser offers right now thank you i just want to be sure thank you thank you i have a question on that one too if you so the the so the funds came from the Kaiser Foundation but not or the no we have a health plan contract
with Kaiser and as a part of the contract they provided they donated wellness dollars to support additional wellness resources wellness dollars um but it is coming from Kaiser yes okay
as a part of the medical insurance contract and these are very restrictive in nature and they can only be used for um wellness or mental health services and when when were were these wellness dollars established so we have our um
original contract with Kaiser from 2024 um and 2025 plan year for each year they provided some uh donated wellness dollars which can be used for mental health and other wellness programs and I'll add this this is actually an outcome from the health benefits uh
negotiations in 22 2023 where we established a wellness and mental health fund um and we've worked with the various carriers to establish the fund and now invest in an employee wellness and this plan is a recommendation of the health benefits committee and the
district collectively um to provide additional resources for our employees i just needed that clarification so I appreciate it thank you um no I have additional questions so can you clarify it and me it was mentioned in the board
um report um there were certain guidelines and how this how does this project align with those guidelines that were provided I mean you kind of alluded to it right there about guidelines for the wellness spending of dollars so the guidelines are that the funds can only
be spent for programs related to um that improves employees health and wellness um and mental health okay so that was pretty much what I like so is this credible pl um mind a platform like an app it's an online platform where employees will be able to log in set up
their profile and based on their um user profile they will be provided wellness resources or mental health benefits resources which are tailored to their needs so it's tailored to their needs so it provides different strategies or techniques or whatever the case may be that based on their their own personal
Yeah need okay so um just wanted to know what criteria was used or will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of this platform um during this this phase so the platform will be able to provide us the uh a lot of
analytical data in terms of how it's being utilized in usage and based on that we'll make an assessment and see if it's something you know worth continuing and and how we can help our employees to provide additional mental health resources so this is to supplement
mental health supports not to supplant them yes um and this is further to to provide further mental health access so it goes beyond Okay so I I on the point that um board uh president made about um we
there are practitioners right now in Kaiser that have been on strike for um for over a year or more and right now as we speak there is a hund hunger strike that they're going through so my question uh to the district and um possibly to HBC is how are we holding
Kaiser Permanente and other network providers accountable to provide adequate behavioral mental health support um now since there is a long waiting list and you know uh our employees are are waiting for a mental health practitioner to address them so
how are we holding them accountable so this is something we have been addressing with Kaiser and health benefits committee as well um and there is an overall shortage of mental health providers nationwide as well um they they just keep us they provide us that
yes the negotiations are still going and they're working very hard to get those settlement in place but we don't have any update on those negotiations yet it's just interesting that in the northern part of our of our state they you know they um there are plenty but
here in the southern part of California there just aren't any um mental health support so I just find that interesting so I because now that I know it's to supplement not to supplant I will be voting yes so I just wanted to clarify that thank you so much thank you thank
you Miss Grigo yes just to follow up on this is not only for employees who have Kaiser it's for all employees all employees all retirees and their dependents and have we had this donation before and had this program before we did not have
this program before but we had um wellness dollars from health plans which we um used to uh implement additional wellness plans in place so we had done some webinars we had done some online challenges last year and this is also using these dollars to provide
additional resources to our employees and retirees thank you this new bill uh you're done with C oh yeah we're done with I had a question for A and B
um just does uh the seagull produce a report that identifies potential areas of cost savings um yes so Seagull is our uh mutual health benefits consultant for the district and um and health benefits committee um they do provide plan
oversight they help with RFPs negotiations and they've been helping a lot um on the some of the new provisions of the health benefits agreement that we have in place so where they have recommended some um additional wellness
resources exploring other options um for um gender formation benefits family formation benefits so they have spent additional hours which were uh or additional they have done additional work which was beyond their original scope so that's why to being uh more proactive um we are adding additional
dollars into their contracts so we are able to pay for their services and did they show a report of how it will save us in the long run by these preventive measures um yes so there are some on a lot of ongoing discussions you know monthly meetings with seagull you know they they
represent in the health benefits committee so yes they provide all the information there and that would be the same question for AI as well as well yes there said they show report that it's uh benefiting us obviously the more in the investment to be able to cost saved on
the other side yes so we we do consult them for uh exploring various scenarios and see which scenarios would be helpful and you know doing some feasibility studies so yes we've been using more and more of their hours yeah got it thank you
Miss Griieel yes um regarding the air purifiers um will every classroom get an air pure every classroom in LA USD that does not currently have an air purifier will they get one i can ask oh that's a
different item i was confused sorry I I can answer that one um our intent is to fulfill the promise and commitment of providing an air purifier in every classroom every classroom yes okay
you I still have a question on and when someone comes up from uh procurement or facilities or whatever I have item I um item I they began discussing N I think a little bit out of order and since we're here I I think it makes sense to dispatch of N and then
come back to I okay now I have one on item I now we're on item I so item I folks come on up okay so item I medical services and facility services um just wanted to
mention that at a recent greening schools and climate resiliency committee meeting our labor partners from Smart emphasize a need for long-term infrastructural solutions like HVAC upgrades how does this purchase align with a broader strategy for sustainable
indoor air quality rather than just addressing short-term needs um itemize is specific to the emergency purchases so it doesn't necessarily fit into a strategy it's to solve for the immediate needs of of the fires um I think the question in general probably
would need somebody that's overseeing that strategy and the sponsorship of it to to answer it yeah so I can speak to just the the longer term i think the superintendent spoke to this in late January um when you look at our current uh commitments
from a district's perspective from just capital planning is they have upwards of $525 million committed to just climate resilient roofing HVAC systems a number of investments that we're doing districtwide to ensure that as we confront climate change that we're
implementing um the efficient systems the the filtration systems that um respond to air quality issues but more broadly respond on to just heat and other impacts in the LA region um on top of
that I think what this item actually speaks to Mr freeman noted is are just our e emergency response we're talking about uh the masks that we deployed to school sites the uh air quality uh air filtration systems air filtration
filters because we had sites that actually had air purifiers and we replaced their filters as well and we are also building in the catchy of filters to make sure that we can continue to support uh schools so that we aren't you know caught off guard by
by future incidences um the these investments are critical to as I said actually meeting the commitments that we've made to make sure that our sites are actually ready for any challenges that we're confronted with in the future board member Rivas the answer to your
question is actually one that's going to be addressed in the upcoming uh workshop facilities workshop for measure us to provide the board an opportunity to provide input but also to seek to accept recommendations specific not only to the long-term projects but also what Pedro
just mentioned which is the hundreds of millions of dollars that we believe are necessary to address concerns in schools specific to environmental uh hazardous uh uh conditions whether they are fire driven climate driven or the like yeah I
had a similar question for item V um which is you know around the same the same subject wanting to know if there's investment being made in place of long-term HVAC upgrades or is part of a phase strategy so that'll be addressed in the in those workshops okay great
thank you that's all I have don't go away wait Mr so now I'm really mixed up because I have questions on N T and V you just said V let me piggyback on V um I was told that we no longer
purchase and we no longer install air purifiers at school because they're too expensive and the filters are very expensive and we had parents donating all of these air filters and nobody could change the the uh I'm sorry the
air air purifiers and they couldn't change the filters so what is our what is our policy now do we accept air filters from parents do we buy air filters i'm sorry air purifiers and I was told it's very very expensive and
that we have wonderful HVAC systems in our school so tell me where we are absolutely good afternoon or evening uh members of the board christina Toes chief facilities executive i think one of the lessons that we learned after the fires was that we needed redundant
systems to address air quality and we installed air purifiers in the seven schools um that had been evacuated and after we had cleaned we returned students to as well as a number of schools that were closest to the fires both the Eaton fire and the Palisades
fire providing those air purifiers in our classrooms provided the assurance to staff and students that besides the MV 13 filters that we had all um inspected and replaced where needed that we also had the air purifiers they do help
address some additional elements that our MURF 13s don't this um procurement will allow us to be able to provide air purifiers at all of our schools air purifiers and the needed filters and the needed filters so no longer will those
filters will now be provided to schools um we will not have to rely on parents donating filters no they were very expensive things so are we also asking parents not to donate the air purifiers that the district has its own air purifiers and we have the filters that
match correct okay yes we have now um a very um thorough inventory of where we have purifiers both that were formally donated so we not buying redundant and those that um were lacking so that we're strategic in where we're placing and
purchasing them carl anything on V okay I have one on T if anybody has anything on T may I do T okay now this is well get ready get
ready so this is McGrath Rentals okay at Frost Middle School there is a shortage of faculty bathrooms on campus absolutely a shortage and it is common to see staff running from one side of
the school to the other to get to this restroom on one side of the building and I was just curious can these model I'm sorry modular restrooms also be used to alleiate a situation like this at Frost Middle School because to build a J what
do they call J building a bathroom building it's millions of dollars that's what it costs today with plumbing and construction so is it possible to alleviate a situation like this either at Frost or any other school that has a similar issue until more permanent
faculty restrooms faculty restrooms are in place there's plenty of student restrooms at Frost plenty but not faculty so what do you think about the possibility or you want to get back to me uh no i would just say that uh both item S and item T give the district the
option of either leasing or purchasing portable restrooms um as needed so we will have the capacity to be able to do that so then I guess I would ask M to uh investigate okay that I I shall do that okay y they'll be very
happy if it's possible go ahead Carla christina do we have a list of schools that are going to be receiving these modular classrooms so we have on um for item T we know that we're
going to need them based on just what we've done at previous schools most likely for our seismic modernizations um where we believe we're going to need modular locker rooms or restrooms especially if we need to renovate any um uh gyms which typically we have been
including when we do seismic evaluations we've had to use the contract that is up for expiration which is why we're renewing this one um we used it at Huntington Park Jefferson High North Hollywood High Hamilton High so we know we're going to continue and this allows us to have that flexibility it's an up
to amount so we're only going to use it as we need it you okay I have one for uh N um N is uh various vendors and it's uh question is the language in the material states
that the amount of usage will depend on how many schools opt to participate so can you explain what exactly we're providing $16 million for if we're not sure how many schools are
choosing to use these services i' I'd like to do my best as a as a procurement officer um that's a question I'll probably have to take back and get an answer for you okay because it all depends on how many opt in okay thank you i'll wait i'll wait thank you
anybody else for uh tab 20 okay Dr rivas I have item D which is a skyline protection group i see Miss Bas is here
um I first I want to preface by stating that I 100% support arts instruction performances activities everything that has to do with the arts they're fundamental my following questions have to do more with transparency event planning and the use of resources for
this one-day extravaganza arts event i think that spending close to $ 1.5 million dollars of ELOP tax dollars is on one event is actually quite extravagant uh when the district and our schools can spend these funds as I
mentioned earlier in the ELOP um item on instruments art supplies paper supplies and you know our schools could use these dollars in so so many ways um so I just wanted to start by that so my question is why is the board being asked to approve this contract just one month
before the event when planning clearly began months ago particularly when the RFP uh went out in January for for this for this event yes so the amount of time that's required for there to be an RFP so it took January is when we began uh the time that we announce it the time
that we review it um the time that um then it needs to get presented to the board we did get um notice to proceed from procurement um we were negotiating prices so all of that took time um so um this is April i think by March we began
engaging um so we did begin planning other aspects of the event uh but this one that's just the time that's the length of time it takes to go for an RFP for us to announce it there's a certain window window that it's announced a certain amount of time to rate all of
the um the proposals to do the um negotiations all of that take time takes time which led us up to March when we got the notice to proceed and then now we're here for this board so it was not until March when Skyline uh protections was that we began engaging engaging so
it took March April I mean you know January February March it's like almost three months for that for the RFP process for the RFP process process okay so now it's coming and why is it for the contract for a year when the services are being provided for just that arts
fist it's for an entire year so this is for one event um we do have a a goal or vision for the future where we will have these a provider that would be available for any type of an event be it a college signing day or any of the different kinds of events that we
have at a central level that draw in uh multiple numbers of participants um the goal is that in the future we'd be able to uh to tap into a bench of this nature um but for this particular one it's only going to be for one day it's not going to be for an entire year there is a goal
for the future but not not for this one but we're providing them at least like a contract for a year the contract is going to end we're going to end by um this event will be the only event but the time the duration is for a year that's provided in the board book so
that's I'm I'm confused yeah and I think that might have been a typo map because I but I'll I'll cons I'll work with procurement on this one because it was it original the original intent of this is for that one event then there was a vision for there to be um this provider
or a any provider um for any kind of centralized event and I think maybe in the documents we might have gotten the dates confused because where we landed was this is going to be for one event only in the future there'll be another RFP if the district decides that we need to contract out for any other kind of
event 5K um college signing arts fest we just have to determine what what event might require this kind of production so this contract this vendor is just for um the services the amount for their services 248 only for this event but the
contract okay so that should have been you know fixed because I did bring it up at the briefing that we had and this was not mentioned that it was a mistake so that's why I'm confused I wanted to bring it back um and also why was Grand Park selected as the venue um for this
event it just seems like it's in a very for such a huge event that space seems to be very limited and why we're using Disney Hall and um for holding this event while they're while they're also having their own event it just seems like a lot going on for that one day so
the we u did look for different locations and we were going to go with one of the colleges at a similar site as last year but they were going under construction and there were some limitations there as well um this venue appeared to be the one that that um charges the least amount of money um and
we feel that the the type of footage that the the the dimensions of the area are just are just fine and the the we are partnering up with another organization that will be doing their event at the same time but it's actually a very small event it doesn't really draw a lot of participants so given that
it was already an established location for um uh for the event for one event we wanted to partner with them and just have our event there what is that um the the uh gosh I don't have it in front of me it's what I've briefed you on the
special education the um parents or their there's a special education arts event uh at the at the same location so that's where we wanted to pair up with them um and my last question is um how many um employees particularly in your
department are working on this event apart from you know um Miss Christian Johnrey and and the the arts um the arts branch we also work with all of the divisions all of the departments we work with meal services we work with transportation we work with
communications this is a cross district event to centralize we work with the regions we worked with we work with a lot of people we work with teachers work with all of the itinerates arts teachers we have regular meetings with them to talk about the timeline to um to ensure
that we have um a good handle on how many performances there are going to be so it's it's a lot of people are involved in the planning um I I raised this the reason for this question is because I am hearing concerns uh from district employees who have been moved
from their regular work from supporting school sites to work for just this one event so um yeah so I just want to you know that I'm hearing some concerns that Okay well we welcome you know whatever that is send them our way so we can figure out what that might be
that is regrettable to hear um nobody should be pulled from direct support to schools to prepare for these events even though these types of events do have value to showcase student talent to recruit students into magnet programs and regular school attendance that's
where we set up boots for career and technical education for adult education for UDK enrollment but that should be done in a way that does not in any way shape or form influence the delivery of support services at the schools so I'll be paying close attention to that and I
mean unfortunately I can't bring you their names because of course it's a in in trust and in me and confidential and they're also afraid of a retaliation but they wanted to let me know that you know what's taking place for this just one event so that's the end of my questions thank you
okay Carla sorry um so um I I really do appreciate this and I'm excited to go to the first arc i I didn't go last year and I didn't go the year before so I am looking forward to seeing what it's all about and I'm wondering last year did we
spend the same amount of money was it almost the same for the consult this planning this production uh yeah the planning consultant the production company last year was slightly higher um and this time with this one we brought
them down like over 200,000 um so we did negotiate um uh multiple times to bring this down okay and um do we have any do we get any feedback from people who participate in this our parents our students our
employees about these big events and I'm asking um for transparency reasons when we talk about not having money and then people see us spending a lot of money on a on a a party planning or event planning firm people wonder right wait a
minute why are you guys spending all this money when you don't have money etc so I'd like to know if um if we have a way to get feedback from the folks who are you know participating in this our our students our our families our
employees as to how this impacts them and and whether they want to see it again so we did send out some feedback forms so that we um we reflected right after the event and making sure that we saw what were the glows and the grows so we did get take some input from people uh and they were more logistical pieces
overall people were very pleased with the event and I think it's very important to note that this is ELOP dollars that this is a culmination of student work that we want to provide them a stage for them to demonstrate just how great our students can perform and that really um helped them to to
just peique their interest um they weren't just having structured performances they were also improvising um they had a stage for themselves and so um it was a really great event and it wasn't just something like we were it was really well thought out in terms of the purpose and the outcome is to
reignite an interest in the arts and provide students the stage and people were very happy and very pleased with the event i heard nothing but but positive things about the event anything any feedback was just on logistical pieces not about the date people were
very very pleased with it um ELOP we've we've we've um most of it is going to pay teachers to to run the event most of our budget is for teachers most of our budget is for the employees who are going to be running it it is not for for anything else other than for the very
teachers who were helping our students and preparing them for the performances those are the ones that are being paid to to participate yeah thank you and uh it would be nice just to get uh after this event is over when you do all the assessment your glows and grows i'd love
for you to come back and report to us and see because I I mean I agree i think it's great to have these events for our families for some of our families this may be the only time that they get to go for an outing in you know with their family and and be in a stress-free
situation and celebrate their children so certainly I want that for our families but when we're spending a lot of money I'd like to know if it's if everybody feels the same way or the majority of the people feel the same way and I appreciate the work that you and
all of our educators are doing to to make this happen with our students to showcase our students appreciate it thank you Carla i'd just like to say that's it's excellent advertising for all of our schools really that's a place where people could say "Hey I like this school i'm going to enroll my child." So just so you know you know that yeah and
our art teacher recruitment mr freriedman just wanted to clarify that question on the contract term the the contract term is correct um but just to note that the scope of work is so detailed to the actual uh arts festival that there's no other work that could be performed under
the contract no other work that could be performed outside of of that scope but the contract dates are incorrect or no that it is correct it is correct so for a whole year correct but again the scope of work that that's involved in the contract is specific to that arts
festival but why did we have to place that those dates there if there if it's only specifically for this date yep it's likely an oversight on on procurement's end but in and again the the scope of work is very specific to the arts festival okay thanks
anything else on tap 20 Miss Newell on K on the various vendors um with the apprenticeship i'm not sure who's here to answer that yes we have uh someone from our DEC office here to explain more questions
good afternoon i'm Matthew Oberlander director from division of adult and career education thank you uh the question I had was for the apprenticeship the 14 single source contracts how are students able to select or opt in to these programs yeah
so um those particular programs are run jointly with unions we act as the LEA and the union administers the program and provides the uh earn and learn model so our our students and our families are able to access them
uh in the same way anyone from the general public can but we help to recruit uh students through our pre-apprenticeship program so our pre-apprenticeship program is one where a student would enroll actually in a day class we offer five of those um we have
one in each region um and the re the way that the pre-apprenticeship works is we um have students enter that program they are able to learn about multiple skilled trades and we do this in partnership with the LA Orange County Building and
Construction Trades Council and so through that partnership uh the students go into the program they learn um field trips and they're able to meet experts and representatives from the different industries and then they're given support to transition directly out of
the pre-apprenticeship program into the apprenticeship program and then the way that we create um awareness of that pre-apprenticeship program is through we have a an overarching advertising campaign that has social media um TV
radio and print and then in addition to that we uh go as the superintendent mentioned earlier we go to all the different district events and we talk about all of our CTE programs including the pre-apprenticeship and the apprenticeship programs um we also do
webinars for the family academy where we talk about the CTE programs and the pre-apprenticeship programs and we do um visits to high schools on a regular basis and we have senior uh days where we have seniors come from the high schools to our schools uh and they also
learn about the apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs through that in addition we have a dedicated pre-apprenticeship advisor at Slawson Adult Slawson Occupational Center and that person specifically reaches out to high schools and lets them know about the pre-apprenticeship program which
then leads into the apprenticeship program you have a calendar of those items are those calendared where you go out to the school sites or is that just if the school invites you or how does that work yeah the that pre-apprenticeship adviser does have a calendar and goes out on a regular basis
most of the programs here I'm noticing are within the beauty industry or uh health and so I'm not sure where the others fit in or this is just separate these 14 here so yeah the we have about
I would say 30 we we represent 50 different unions in terms of our apprenticeship programs and they come to board at different times based on when the contract was initiated so this one just happens to be heavily cosmetology but in general they're mostly uh skilled trades
thanks anybody else for popular tab 20 yes just a quick question on item L on the UCLA Center X hi hi Mr radovic um so my question is uh can you clarify whether the AP readiness
workshops are designed for students teachers or both and what specific support does each group receive through this program so the workshops are designed primarily for students we also have a summer institute for teachers however the teachers can attend the um
uh AP uh readiness institute and I'm sorry your second question i apologize uh what specific support does each group receive through this so the students receive um supplemental instruction uh to allow them to develop this deep conceptual understanding of the content so they receive it during the regular
class but then at the AP summer institute or excuse me AP readiness institute the students are going to be able to further explore and understand their particular context with other students and my last question and how are these workshops or training having an impact on student success on AP test
by scoring a three or a four so when we look at the data that we have from the previous year um as a district 42% of our students um were passing the exam with a three four or five but the students who um were in AP um who took the AP readiness exam I was AP readiness
training uh the percentage went up I believe to 52% 2% an extra 10% oh an extra 10% okay i was like "Wow." Okay okay thank you those are my questions appreciate that okay it's a point of pride for our school system uh we outpace the nation and the state of California in terms of enrollment into
AP classes as well as particularly for uh students of color Latino students uh African-American students greater numbers in participation and a higher percentage than last year and previous years and a higher growth in getting a three four or five on a college board
exam we've had significant increases over the last three years when you look at the data of the number of students who've actually increased or who've actually um taken the AP um courses or who are enrolling in the courses and taking multiple courses as well and we've increased the number of courses that we offer i know that that's great
that's wonderful so is this the only um training or support that we have for AP or there other programs this is the primary program for our students it's doesn't just happen one time it happens 12 times throughout the year and they're on Saturdays um and for teachers we
offer an AP summer um institute for them um in addition to that we also have training we have our dedicated um AP coordinator who also connects with the um AP coordinators at the school we have a schooly group as well i know that some schools leverage the winter academy even the spring academy to provide additional
support that's targeted for their specific students this is just another part of the base that we want to provide thank you are we ready to vote for 20 i have one more item M last one I promise item M WS
company i don't know if anybody's here to Oh I thought this was for housing a housing initiative heartland then that's oh maybe I have the wrong item
over payment heartland solutions my my question is for the vault company I have the wrong one here do we know be misses nose we'll see yes I probably have the wrong item but
it's on the v company Um is this a contract uh is this contract part of the next phase of the district's housing initiative outlined during the January committee of the whole meeting yes it is and how will these advisory
services build on the REI findings and support the implementation of the identified next steps so um the advisory services are to provide the district with additional um real estate advisory expertise as we
look at preparing RFPs for potentially the nine sites that were identified to the board um we are looking at issuing requests for proposals and we know that the financial considerations are going to be heavily weighted and so this advisory service is going to be both
helping draft the RFP looking at the financial feasibility of these sites re um reviewing the proposals that come in and confirming their financial soundness as well as supporting the district with the community engagement that we
promised the communities around these sites that we would do um and otherwise support the district and the staff that we don't have who have necessarily the expertise in developing affordable housing so all of this will take how long will this take um just remind us
when we'll be issuing the RFP so we know when we'll be waiting for another year or less than that uh less than that we're looking at issuing the RFP this fall um this was very key to get them on board in April so that we would be ready
to both have that community engagement piece um do the fi feasibility of the nine sites and then draft the RFPs with the idea that we would come to the board before they're issued and then provide the board with the responses to those RFPs so they're going to help us throughout that that process and after
as well yeah okay great thank you for that clarification appreciate it for clarity I think that was tab 21 21 the facilities procurement contracts that's okay that's okay so we're ready
to vote on tab 20 okay the vote on tab 20 miss Newell yes dr rivas yes mr melvin Miss Grigo yes miss Gomez yes miss Ortiz Franklin
for president yes okay six eyes on 20 now we are off to tab 29 i have a public statement to read for tab 29 this constitutes a public hearing for the following affiliated charters alfred
B nobel Charter Middle Castle Bay Lane Charter Elementary Dearborn Elementary Charter Academy Dixie Canyon Community Charter Charter El Oro Way Charter for Enriched Studies Anadia Wayi Technology Center Encino Charter Elementary Hamlin Charter Academy Hannes Charter for
Enriched Studies Hesby Oaks Leadership Charter Nwood Preparatory Academy Lockhurst Drive Charter Elementary Louisie Armstrong Middle Nestle Avenue Charter Plain View Academic Charter Academy Serania Avenue Charter for Enriched Studies Superior Street Elementary
Topeka Charter School for Advanced Studies Van Go uh Charter Wilbur Charter for Enriched Academics Woodlake Elementary Community Charter and Woodland Hills Elementary Charter for Enriched Studies a maximum of 15 individuals who wish to address the board and this item will be heard those
who wish to speak should sign up online speakers will be called by name um let's see who we have here tab 29 kaylee Kimmy are you here janelli
Mahia Amanda Mahia David Tokovski come on up you'll have two minutes to speak it's been a pleasure to be here from the beginning with Dolores Wuerta and then at the end of the meeting to see the kids complaining when they walk out in the spirit of Dolores Wuerta they get
disciplined ironies abound today 22 schools Mr mcclean 15,000 kids in these schools are affiliated charters they all wanted to become independent charters under the previous board member uh that from Mr smirson and in the back here we
convinced them to stay affiliated and yet we have not grown except out of that moment it's time to expand the number of options for affiliated charter so schools can have their own design with respect to the contracts uh Miss Grigo a
contract that comes in at 248,850 is suspicious on the face okay a contract like that is clearly can be avoiding the 250 threshold which means you'd have to go out to a bid okay and then they may come back in and do a
change order later on so you have to raise the question of why does a contract come in at 248 it's just a weird number okay next uh if you're worried about uh Kaiser and I think that was I'm not what we call a a secondary uh labor boycott which I think I'm not a
lawyer but is kind of illegal um the real question is how much is being outsourced for psychologists not not from this small contract with Kaiser but you look at big companies like Hazel Health and others uh how much is going outside the district to psychologists
non-union in fact uh psychologists and social workers and in addition the children youth behavioral health initiative which I redundantly go on and on about was eligible since September of last year to be reimbursing I I don't care really well we're working on it
we'll get started next year you have lost eight months paying for social workers and others and finally uh Vulk uh Vulk is a Irvine based company that uh has to be able to sign various conflicts of interest statements that
the contracts office will do to make sure that the work they do with the other housing companies is big money uh and finally early ed you continue to not ask how many three-year-olds and four year olds are in the system we've grown it but it's certainly not that many we
need 10,000 times sir thank you so much all right can I have a move and a second for tab 29 move it moved by Mr schmurson second seconded by Dr rivas uh Miss Newell yes dr rivas yes mr melvin miss
Grigo yes miss Gomez yes miss Ortiz Franklin mr smurrosen yes one two three four five eyes um please bear with me while I review i have to apologize to everyone
i've made a procedural error tab 29 was not for action it was just a hearing so I apologize for my error well long day is no excuse so um that was not for action that was merely a public hearing so after that piece of
business uh are there any adjourning motions would anyone like to make a motion to adjourn this meeting are there any objections to adjourning the mot the meeting okay the meeting is
now adjourned the time is 7:07 no idea