Good morning, everyone. Good morning. Good morning. Today is 09/09/2025. Welcome to the committee of the whole. So this, is the first committee of the whole for the 2025 school year, which comes at a pivotal moment for our district. As we begin this new academic year, we face both exciting opportunities and complex challenges. From the continued implementation of our strategic priorities to an evolving state and federal policy
landscape, it's clear that we must remain thoughtful, collaborative, and equity driven in every decision we make for our students, educators, and communities. The community of a whole is one of the few spaces where we can come together as a board, as a district with leadership, staff, partners, and community to advance our forward facing priorities while also demonstrating the progress that we've made. This work has never been more urgent. The recent Supreme Court decision upholding expanded federal authority over immigration enforcement reminds us that
our students and families, particularly within our Latino immigrant communities, face heightened uncertainty and fear. In this moment, our responsibility is to protect our students, defend our communities, and stand firm in our values as a district, committed to equity and inclusion and safety for all. Today's agenda reflects those commitments. We'll focus on two presentations that speak directly to our priorities, digital citizenship and LAUSD,
ensuring our students are prepared to navigate an increasingly digital world safely, responsibly, and equitably, Housing initiative update, our second presentation, advancing workforce housing solutions so that our educators and staff can afford to live in the communities they so deeply serve and love. Before we dive into those conversations, we'll begin with remarks from our labor partners. Their advocacy and on the ground experience remain essential in shaping our collective vision for schools that are inclusive, supportive, and community centered.
Following those, labor remarks, we'll hear from doctor, Francis Baez, chief academic officer, and Dominique Kogua. Sorry. I don't know if I'm pronouncing your last name correctly. You'll correct me later, please. Director of educational technology innovation on the district's approach to digital citizenship. Our second presentation will be with Christina Toks, chief facilities executive, Esam Dadoul, facilities director of planning and development, and Anne Volz, president of Volz Company real estate advisors on
the latest developments on our housing initiative. So that's just, an introduction of what what lies ahead. So So let's begin with our labor partners, if there are any labor partners in the house, in the boardroom. Nope? Don't see any standing up coming forward? Very well. Then let's move on to our first presentation. So I'd like to invite doctor Francis Baez and Dominique to the front. So as they're coming forward, today's presentation focuses on LAUSD's approach to digital citizenship, preparing students to navigate an increasingly connected world safely, responsibly, and thoughtfully.
This work equips students with the critical thinking skills, digital literacy, and ethical decision making tools they need to build a positive online presence and protect up themselves in a rapidly evolving landscape. So doctor Baez, will walk us through the district's strategic strategy, key initiatives, and upcoming efforts to ensure that every student has access to the guidance and resources needed to succeed, and our teachers as well to succeed in both academic and digital spaces. So, doctor Baez, the floor is yours.
Who is our education technology and innovation director. I will be presenting on the ways that we engage students in digital citizenship to promote safe engagement of technology. The goal in LAUSD is to cultivate a positive authentic digital footprint that can be leveraged for college and career success. Here you see images of the social emotional competencies wheel and the graduate student profile connected to our strategic plan pillar two, focusing on joy and wellness, which highlights strong social emotional skills.
This is a this is significant because the digital footprint can be helpful or it can be harmful depending on what students do and the depending on what students do and the content that they put online. We want students to know that words can be helpful or they can be hurtful, and their digital footprint remains. Digital citizenship is akin to media literacy. We guide students in becoming consumers of information and identifying authentic sources of information. Similarly, digital citizenship is about making good choices in the content that is posted online.
We want students to engage with diverse perspectives and contribute to civic and social issues through responsible digital platforms. The purpose of digital citizenship is to cultivate safe, responsive, and ethical digital behaviors in which students practice critical thinking skills and exercise good judgment on the digital spaces available to them. Much like what we do in the classroom and on school sites when we ask our students to follow, safe safety policies, being safe, responsible, and ready at school.
Similarly, we do the same thing when you're entering an online space. There are certain behaviors that will promote positive engagement, critical thinking, and that's what we do through digital citizenship. We wanna teach students to have a good balance and of, healthy and online relationships. Our goal is to foster equity and inclusion for all students to have the same access regardless of socioeconomic status. I will now hand it off to Dominique who will lead us through our partnerships and the guiding principles behind digital citizenship. Thank you, doctor Baez. Good morning, committee chairperson, doctor Rivas, members of the board, superintendent Carballo, deputy superintendents, and
LAUSD community. LAUSD's digital citizenship efforts have, evolved from celebrating digital citizenship week back in 2014 to 2019 prior to the pandemic, once a year during the digital citizenship week in October to now actually, embedding digital citizenship curriculum for everyday teaching and learning. With some strategic partnerships that we have been able to provide, through our partnership with Common Sense Education, a global nonprofit that is leading the work around curriculum development, program,
and, recommendations for digital citizenship curriculum as well as standards that provide the different competencies for what a digital citizen look like. Here are some of the topics that our students learn to be able to be called digital citizens. I wanna also, highlight our partnership with code.org, also a nonprofit that is, advancing the work around computer science education, really, bookending what students need to do, which is to not only to critically consume and use technology,
but on the other end of that is to ethically and effectively create with technology, which is exactly what the idea of computer science is. On the next slide, I wanted to also highlight our, policies and resolutions that underpin this work. We are here today to provide you updates around, board president Scott Schmerelson's resolution from last year, the fostering healthy relationships through digital citizenship week, resolution double o seven twenty four twenty five. And that resolution formally adopted and acknowledged the October as digital citizenship week in all
of LAUSD. Prior to that resolution, we also want to acknowledge that there has been policies, specifically the responsible use policy that have been updated throughout the years to reflect the advances in technology, most recently in 2023, to incorporate, AI literacy and AI engagement. And so I want to also, emphasize that because of these two policies and resolutions, we now mandate lessons for digital citizenships, competencies across k 12.
And I'm gonna speak to the details of those, lessons. Specifically for elementary students, we use the common sense education curriculum, which have been vetted through our, pilot programs in LAUSD from, again, 2016 to, last year through the practitioner schools program. These lessons have been tested across regions and across board districts and have been provided to our students, for the first time district wide last year. For elementary schools, teachers have the opportunity to teach, the different, digital citizenship topics in
whole group class, also incorporating it into their, positive behavior intervention supports, being safe, respectful, and responsible online. In the secondary grades, what we were able to do is to develop internally, twenty minute lesson that have been vetted by our, office of the general counsel as well as piloted through the, priority schools back in 2023. And what it really is is it serves as not only a lesson in digital citizenship, but also as a guardrail for our students in grade six through 12 or
13 years and older to be able to use generative AI, tools, we provided this lesson as a mandatory lesson before those tools are open for them. What came with these, lessons are the digital citizenship challenges that, the office of instructional technology initiative last year put together for schools that have completed the lessons at 90% or more, completion rate. And about 24 schools last year have reached that across four districts and again, regions.
The idea of these lessons is that teachers will teach these lessons, either in whole group or in secondary during advisory class, but also provide it to students to complete, on their own. Once completed, teachers go back and mark these as complete on Mysis, and we are able to capture the data through our focus dashboard. And we provide all of this data to our administrators of instruction to make sure that throughout the year we also get all our students to complete these lessons. Going, to the educator PD from the OI summer PD back in twenty twenty four,
twenty five, we've launched digital citizenship lessons and how they are integrated in content area. For example, like in, secondary literacy, how that might look like in critical media literacy through ELA. And also through the bank time PD. It was offered as a choice session for all schools last year and also through, opt in myPLN district wide PD. In terms of the digital citizenship week celebration itself, we have, provided the entire district some toolkits and guidance around how not only to celebrate within that one week, but
to prepare, to teach those lesson leading up to the digital citizenship week in October. Doctor Baez and our DOI, executive, administrators of elementary and secondary instruction put together some interoffice correspondence to detail the mandatory digital citizenship lessons for elementary and secondary, and we are going to also look at some of the digital citizenship challenge winners providing leaders, leaderboards, through our website, lasd.org/digc.
I want to highlight some strategic alignments around this and, the board informative with the updates that we provided to the board two weeks ago also highlights how this also is related to critical media literacy and now most recently would be around AI literacy. How does digital citizenship serve as foundation for the work that we are doing for developing our students to be critical users of AI tools as well? Overall, the community messaging that we, provide to our district is when we talk about
digital citizenship, it is not just about don't do this, don't do that, but it's more about do this, which is empowered students. How do we teach students to be proactive, responsible citizens instead of being, protective? And so that shift in the narrative around community messaging is from proactive to empower digital citizens. On the parent and family engagement front, we have collaborated with our s face, partners to not only provide our family academy webinars, but also to continue to engage them
in ongoing work, specifically at the school sites. We work with, our inter, instructional leadership teams to provide digital citizenship student of the month as an option for the student awards assemblies, and schools have the opportunity to become digital citizenship certified school, in which case, parent engagement and family engagement is part of that, certification. In addition to some resources that our partners at Common Sense Education has provided, we're also looking to expand our reach and deepen the work this year moving forward with
digital citizenship week. Much of the toolkit that we provided have been student, school facing, what teachers and administrators can do with their students and parents. But this year, we are looking to build and develop digital citizenship toolkits that are directly parent and family facing and also with multilingual resources and continue to expand district completion of digital lessons and, of course, to update the board on the progress that we are going to have throughout the year. Here are some additional resources related to digital citizenship, and I wanna again highlight artificial
intelligence and computer science education because, this work around digital citizenship is foundational to this other work around educational technology expansion. I wanna thank you for the time to present about digital citizenship in LAUSD today, and I welcome with doctor Baez any questions you may have. Thank you so much for your presentation, Dominique. I will open up the floor. I'll see if, mister Schmerlson would like to start off since this is his resolution. You're right. What did you say about the number 24?
You mentioned 24 schools had come. So, part of the resolution last year was to also have a digital citizenship challenge campaign, which is to celebrate schools that have completed, the lessons school wide at 90% or higher completion rate. And there's 24 schools that have completed that. Okay. Because it said elementary schools from k to pre k to, I guess, fifth grade Right. Have, instruction about digital citizenship, but not actually a test where it's put in the
MICEs. Correct? They do too. So we Are they all yes. So elementary and secondary, teachers both have to, mark that complete in MICEs. Now in elementary school, usually it's one usually it's one teacher. Correct. How about in secondary school, does every teacher have to teach the lesson, or does the English teacher say I'll do it, or the history teacher says I'll do it, or the math teacher says I'll do it? It's been, different, structures. Many of the, structures were the advisory teacher or that first period would be If they have advisory. Right? Correct. They have a but to your point is a lot of it is our English
teachers as well as, Okay. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Priscilla. There any other board member with a question? Yes, Daniel. Thanks, Dominic and Frances, for your presentation. You know, I'd just be curious what feedback or, conversations we're having with young people, with students about the, kind of concerns they're having or questions they have. It's great that we're doing lessons, but, is there any chance for students to give us either feedback on those lessons or somehow elevate their voice in the big vision of digital citizenship? Thank you. And that's part of our digital citizenship week events.
Although we are doing the lessons before the digital citizenship or after it during digital week, we also have other campaign for students to actually create content around what they think digital citizenship means to them, and that's a way for us to get some input and feedback as to what what does their voice really mean when they say digital citizen. So there's different, at the practitioner schools level before, we would have it actually in project, based learning, formats but also as, assignments for teachers. Yeah. I really appreciate that. And I, I wonder too, like, what kinds of questions are going on in our
students' minds right now, particularly as we grow with AI? Like, what are they grappling with that could help us as we grow our support for them? You know, we've heard a couple of these national stories about, how AI has influenced student behaviors, young people's behaviors, even adults actually, right, who are just engaging in ways that, you know, are sort of limitless at this point. So, you know, as we continue to grow, I wonder what we can ask of young people about their own struggles or how they're grappling with what it means to be a digital citizen and how we can incorporate that in our work. Thanks.
Thank you. Yes, mister Smelson. I'd like to, continue with your subject, which is really, really good because the New York Times reported the the trend among young people in AI as friends and romantic partners, these AI. So, you know, how are we gonna integrate AI in the district and make sure the kids understand that they're not your friend and they're not your romantic partner. When they tell you to do things, you're not supposed to do things that they tell you to do.
How are we gonna work that in eventually? Any ideas? They are actually integrated in these lessons already, but in the k five, but most importantly in the secondary. And that includes, in the lessons around, online safety, making sure that students don't share any personally identifiable information about them. But also being able to manage what is online relationship from your actual relationship with your classmates. And so many of the tasks and activities that we also teach teachers during our PD is to be able to lesson plan and for planning and delivery of lessons
to purposefully integrate technology and what might that look like for students. For example, is how do we focus on those in person collaboration, making sure that students are still working, with each other instead of just, focusing on their screen when they're in the classroom. Yeah. I know that with students, it's was even hard to to have them not share their locker combination. I mean, don't share your locker combination, and then tell them their books are missing from their locker. You know? So it's very, very hard. How about parents? Because parents need to be informed also.
You know, these people sending pictures and voices and photos, and parents also need to know how to protect themselves Correct. Against this. Do we have anything with SFACE for example? We've done that in previous family academy webinars, and we're continuing to evolve our partnership with SFACE to make sure that, our toolkit is actually, parent and family, facing so that at this point, the toolkit is how teachers and, administrators can engage with parents, but we wanna create something that directly involves parents. And that might be a video and tips about how to talk to your kids
around this at home, but also to be able to bridge what students are learning in the classroom to what you should be doing to follow-up with that at home. Parents and community reps would be excellent in talking with parents and making sure they understand. Thank you, Rocio. Hi. Thank you for this. So I we've been hearing a lot of concerns from families about screen time and the amount of time on screens. I know as a parent, I delayed as many years as possible to get my kids a phone. And then they got it, and it's like all that time didn't matter because they
were on their phone all the time, and they still continue to be on the phone just like everybody else. So, is there what do you say about this to families? Because I it's a genuine, very legitimate concern. On the one on the one hand, we want our kids to practice their conversational skills, their social skills, and yet we are we are giving a lot of work that requires them to be, behind the screen or in front of a screen, I should say. So what, in all of these lessons, is there anything that addresses that?
Absolutely. And one of the, shifts that we are, highlighting based on these lessons, both elementary and secondary, is also the shift between screen time and to screen value. And really having teachers and students themselves identify what am I actually doing when I am in front of my computer or on my phone. And so, in looking at data that we have, around screen time in LAUSD, much of this work is actually within the, recommended screen time for students in elementary, which
is less than one hour a day. And then, for teens and older students less than two hours. And then looking at that also is what kind of work are students actually doing. It might be, at the Bloom's taxonomy level. Yes. My computer might be on, for two hours. But am I coding, programming, or building some presentations together versus am I just watching, some passive video? And so she, also helping our teachers and parents and families to understand that what they do on screen on on their devices is more important than how long, especially
with the idea of screen value. Okay. The other thing is, sorry. Let me get my questions here. So the mandatory lessons happen once a year and people sign off on that. Right? So how, are there refresher lessons? Are we encouraging our educators to, do it again in the second semester? To revisit it every time a student is gonna be using, technology to complete some work? That's correct. So, both mandatory digital citizenship lessons in elementary and secondary are just one lesson out
of a series of lessons, especially for elementary common sense education lessons. Have a full range of k 12, in fact, lessons. But each year, we focus on a specific, topic. For example, last year, it revolve around, data privacy and security. And this year, we're looking to add, digital meet, balance and mediate receipt for elementary. For secondary, we are looking to also update the mandatory digital citizenship lesson specifically because it is AI focused, and we wanna be able to incorporate some of the advances
in AI. But secondary, schools are also not limited to that twenty minute lesson. In fact, we also promote the extended learning activities through the common sense, curriculum. And then, are these lessons that, the teacher actually engages the students, or is it a video that a student watches? They're both. So for elementary, it's actual teacher facilitated lesson, with some group work, pair work for, students to be engaging with it in person and interactively with their classmates.
In the secondary, it is a twenty minute lesson where we also strategically put some pause points where students reflect if they do it, independently on their own self paced. But it's also something that we provide facilitator guide for teachers to pause, between major content concepts of the lesson so that they can then engage, their students in think pair share or group, talk. So it's optional in the secondary for the teacher to facilitate the lesson? It's not. It's it's optional how yes.
It it's optional how they facilitate it, but for the most part, it's always been teacher facilitated. Okay. But it's optional to pause it, engage in a conversation with the students? That's not optional? That's not optional. Okay. That's actually in the teacher, facilitator guide that they need to pause it and now, discuss this with the students. Okay. And then let's see here. So there's the Digital Equity Act that, grants that, provided funding for broadband access, and that's been canceled. So how are we how are we making sure that our students have access?
I know one of the goals is equity. Right? And so how do we ensure that we're still meeting that need for our students, both in in the classroom but outside since they are expected to do some work outside. I I will refer to, CIO, Katal for, that broader conversation or especially for outside of the school. Alright. And then I still have some more questions for you. So thank you. Good morning. Good morning. Board members. I'm Soil Ketel chief information officer. So, there were a lot of effort from the district over the last three years
to provide connectivity to for the families at home, especially beyond their school, boundaries. ECF, and even in start of the pandemic, we were utilizing some SR funding to provide it. Multiple of those initiative now, essentially removed by the federal government and even a state, provided as you define the digital equity grant that was sponsored by the broadband initiative through the federal government now stopped, and the state is not providing the funding. As of July 1, we stopped all of our initiative related to providing the connectivity
that we were providing to the student, but we are continuing the advocacy effort through the FCC. And there is right now actually opening window for recommendation on both, FCC right now, receiving the, feedback from community. We are we were working with, office of government relation. And I believe there is a letter right now being developed by the district signed by the superintendent to be sent to the FCC that emphasize our, our approach on,
continue providing connectivity, for the lifeline, e rate, and etcetera. One of the biggest drawback right now is on the, on the block that we are trying to preventing. Even, FCC is trying to essentially roll out the Wi Fi for the buses. That's the last thing that's remained from our, pre pandemic initiative, and it's still available at the school buses. But, unfortunately, FCC is gonna put it to the vote to take it down, and we are advocating with all of our school partner to stop that from happening.
But, it is a challenge. We are working very diligently, and we are in, briefing superintendent constantly about, any changes that comes, to our, to our views. But regardless, we are working with the school directly. When the students get to the point of having those challenges, we're providing guidelines to the schools how to support the student for those type of services. And if it's especially homeless student, there are special resources as well as virtual academy. Virtual academy, actually, that we are still doing some pocket of connectivity for those student.
But beyond that, for general population of the student, unfortunately, at this point, there is no, road map to provide connectivity. Connectivity. Alright. Thank you. I appreciate that, update on that. And then, in terms of thank you. In terms of, the trainings that are offered for teachers, there you mentioned some summer trainings. Are these optional? Are these at training rate? The DOI summer PD, yes. It's optional, and teachers are paid. And the myPLN year round PD are as well optional, but they're also a training
rate. Okay. And have we received any feedback from teachers about the trainings? I wanted to add though that, in one summer, it was a required section to the required section to the professional development. So the teachers received a list and also examples of the type of, tools to use, how to use them, digital citizenship. That was all integrated whether it was the language arts professional development, whether it was a math, whether it was science. Every presentation incorporated, an aspect of artificial intelligence, an aspect of digital citizenship.
So it was all teachers received it that summer. And then we we saw it was an uptick in the use in the lessons during the day. And then as, Dominic just mentioned, then at this point, there was now an option board because at this point, everyone's received it, and we continue to have ongoing professional development throughout the year. Every week, we send out a weekly instructional news to our schools so they can, share with their teachers on the types of professional development we offer because there's always so many changes. We wanna ensure that teachers are up to date. So that's the way we keep it going throughout the year. But also during the summer, there was a required, session that all teachers received.
And the feedback we've been getting with from teachers is positive and it's also mixed. They are there are some things that we're addressing when it comes to, academic honesty and then ensuring that teachers understand how to, you know, grade papers and and understand what when to use AI and and to to be able to detect it. We we want students to use it, and we want teachers to understand how to use it and know when it's authentic student writing and when it's been supported by AI so that, for example, an English learner may be able to see a mentor
text that's generated through AI. That is an example. And then once teachers then ask students to do a a cold write, then they can demonstrate how they were they've been able to grow based on looking at some mentor text. These are some examples of just teachers just where they are in term there there's a spectrum of where they are in terms of the use. Digital citizenship is something that everyone everyone agrees on and everyone's on board with. Okay. Thank you. And then, you said it's part of the board choices. Right? The choice board at, on for Tuesday PDs. Right? Is there what about when there's a new teacher?
When we hire new teachers, and they're brand new to the profession, is this something that is part of their onboarding? It's something that we can definitely add to that is, you know, working with HR, ensuring that during that onboarding that it's a required session as well. We can definitely add that because it is, as Dominic mentioned, it's on myPLN, so it's something we can ensure that it occurs for our new teachers. Yeah. I would recommend that especially if we wanna have a baseline that everybody and be assured that everybody has at least received that one lesson or one PD, so that
should be part of the onboarding. So we can be sure of that. Let's see. I think that's all I have so far. Thank you. Yeah. Those are very good questions. Miss Gomez, go ahead. Thank you. Appreciate the opportunity and I agree on the the new teacher training piece. I think that that would be really helpful, for our beginning teachers. I wonder too that for educators who maybe struggle in the area of digital citizenship or who have less proficiency with technology, what specific supports might be available for those educators? So we have ed tech coaches or instructional technology facilitators that are going to be
supporting with the implementation after the bank time PD, but also, IPLN, opt in PD. We wanna be able to offer that coaching support of how do you actually teach these lessons in context, especially to making sure that it is still going to incorporate those teacher strategies, teacher moves, and it's not just play the video. And and does the teacher just go into my PLN to access, or how do they get connected with So right now, we that is the plan is we still have to launch our digital citizenship PD, but moving forward will be a job embedded,
coaching support from the EdTech coaches. Got it. Yeah. I mean, I think having a a person to help support them with this work, seems really helpful. I know that when we did our one to one rollout, pre pre full pandemic one to one, there were the the, technology facilitators who worked on school sites, and I remember hearing great feedback about how supportive they were in that space. So that's great to know. And then in terms of the lessons, I was curious about, so I I hear that, you know, you're updating, different year with kind of different topics, etcetera. How are they kind of vertically tiered?
I understand the elementary and secondary distinction, but for example, in the elementary space, how does the kindergarten lesson look different than a fourth grade lesson? Or or do we Take those nuances into account when we provide the lessons? We do. Yes. So the curriculum from Common Sense Education already is differentiated across grade spans while they are, under thematic concepts around, for example, cyberbullying and online harm. But what that looks like in each of the grades grade level will be different, both on content but also in the delivery, for example, like, a lot of, visuals
for, primary grade students, but also a lot of conversations that are teacher facilitated in elementary. Okay. That, that is helpful to know. And then I think the parent supports sound really helpful. I I look forward to those, and I was curious how we are engaging with families to find out kind of what supports and resources would be most beneficial to them. So we've started, engaging with, mister Placencia and his SPS team to really have that, opportunity to hear directly from parents and families around what this toolkit could look like. While we know it has to be multilingual, it has to have different, assets like
graphics, videos, and, tips. But we wanna be able to also hear from some of his focus groups already that are in place to be able to further personalize the supports. Right. Yes. I I think I mean, obviously, there's as, Barbara Maragallo alluded to, there's a lot of information that comes to parents about technology, and it it's hard to know exactly the right way to approach it. So I think hearing directly from families about what are those core questions that they have and how we might differentiate our support depending on what age your child is
at, etcetera, seems seems like a good thing to do. So I'm glad to hear that you're working with them. And then I'm curious about this initiative overall. What metrics, or progress measures are we using to to gauge the success of this digital digital citizenship initiative? So for the mandatory digital citizenship lesson, it's the lesson completion for the year, and we track that through every month. And, in fact, every two weeks because we do have the, time with the administrators of instruction, and we wanna make sure that they are also aware of the their
school's completion of this lesson. So that's one way to track, in terms of the completion of the lesson itself. The other way is also through our professional learning, how many teachers are, actually implementing this in the classroom. And we've had, some cohorts of our professional learning, participants who are specifically under digital citizenship also putting together their network as a peer network developing some of those lesson exemplars that other teachers can, pull from. And so the number of lessons and exemplars that can be shared across the board
is also one way to do that. Okay. Yeah. I mean, I think exemplars are great. I would say that both of those are more like check are you implementing something? Are you participating in something rather than really gauging? Are students gaining the skills that we intend for them to get as a result of these lessons? And also our teachers getting the skills that we would hope they have to teach this work as a result of the professional development. So as we look to launch, you know, later in October, I would hope that we can think too about how are we measuring skill development and ensuring that we
are attaining those core citizenship components. That's all for me. Thank you. Can you go ahead? Yes. And Kelly asked many of the questions that I had. As far as the parent supports, Is there an opportunity for them to be for there to be, like, an hotline of some sort for parents that need extra support? How would they receive that? So we've been, collaborating with ITS, and we were able to fold in some of our, hotline, support that parents need to be able to also fold that into the
parent, support group. Great. We can work more on specifically for digital citizenship, that covers that too. But more on the, specific needs of parents and families after hearing from what they absolutely need, that can be something to add to that as well. Great. And then the question about secondary, I know we mentioned that they would get it possibly through their advisory. If it's not an advisory class, how do they get this information? So we send it through to the principal that, as a school site and instructional
leadership team, they decide which teacher from that school, secondary school, will be, teaching it and depending on the structure of the school. And, of course, the English teacher where it lends itself to the critical media literacy lens is also the other option outside of the advisory class. Got it. And then with the track of success, noticing that there's 24 schools, have we been able to go back to those schools to find out what made them successful? How were they able to implement? How were they able to drive that work to be on that list?
Correct. So many of these 24 schools that have a 90% or higher completion rate is really to also from that IOC is to work with the instructional leadership team and decide at what time of, the day or when do we do this. Many of these schools have added it as part of their, first ten days of school lessons. And so, many of these schools have taken a structured approach to it, and early on at the beginning of the school year. So is that information now passed on to the other schools so that they can
be able to implement it in such a way? That is what we're, doing this year to, revise this IOC and mandate to promote it through the weekly instructional news of DOI to provide them guidance around how might you structure this so that it is doable and achievable. And I think many of the other questions were asked as far as, like, you know, just the skill set, being able to to see where it is versus, you know, I checked it off. I checked it off and knowing that they actually received that skill. And I think that's it.
Thank you. Provley. Thank you, doctor Rivas. And, thanks to the team for the presentation and agendying this and agendizing this, and congratulations, Dominic, on your new role. You're doing great. Thank you. I have a lot of questions and thoughts, and some are discreet and some are more philosophical. And many were were asked by my my, colleagues. And I'm also eager to hear from some of the parents who I know are here and who have signed up to speak because, you know, I think we this district deserves a lot of credit for working rapidly to bridge the digital divide, you know, going back now a couple decades, but really COVID accelerated that and making sure
that we're one to one and that kids have hotspots and access to devices. And now I think we're all lifting our heads up and saying, well, where's that balance? And what's the screen time versus value? And what is have we gone too quickly? And how do we balance, like, getting kids prepared for a world that is changing so rapidly, but also making sure we preserve some of childhood. And, you know, I think there are not as a rudimentary, fixes. Like, I'm obviously very proud of the cell phone ban, but that's an easy one. Just get it out. I think it's harder when it comes to to devices as we're also thinking, about
the need to train kids responsibly. And so, you know, I what I hope and I know there are various efforts engaged internally, but besides the discreet, like, do this checklist, what is the guiding philosophy that we are, that we are, that is driving kind of this at both the educator level and also at the school level? And so did I hear you say, Dominic, that that we have guidance that at elementary schools, it should be one hour or two hours of screen time or less? That's a recommendation from, research medical and educational research.
And is that something that we've adopted as a principal? Or, like, how would schools or parents know that? Absolutely. So we have provided our schools and our principals with guidance. So an interoffice correspondence will share about what are the supplemental tools that are available for small group instruction, which shouldn't be beyond thirty minutes. Really, we want this teacher to be able to have whole group, small group, collaborative without devices, but it's really used in elementary school, for example, during small group instruction, so that is a recommendation. If a teacher's using, a an app or a program maybe to build prior knowledge,
background knowledge before they launch a unit, That's something that's teacher directed, teacher driven, not necessarily students having a device. When we go to secondary level, we're seeing that students are producing, so that's where the that value the screen value comes in as the students are creating content together and producing versus just being passive in front of a device. So we've been able to share with schools what that looks like in terms of the the screen value and what it looks like at the different levels and what is available and for the the the, amount of time that is recommended as well.
That's something that will be going out? It went out already. Oh, it went out. So schools have guidance around that we they they at the elementary school level, they shouldn't be on screens for more than one hour. We talk about screen value and a holistic approach to a school day, the recommendation, but we also have, in monitoring the, the youth. We do also see that on average, they're on it less than an hour. So it's not a an issue that we have to say do not because we already see in the data that they're not on the screen beyond an hour.
And I appreciate that the district is starting to track this and think more critically about it. I guess, how are we tracking screen time? How are we sharing that with the community? And then how is that guidance being developed? Yeah. So, we do track it. There is there is a, a platform that we use to be able to monitor that, and we can later provide some information to parents or to families or communities. Schools, parents and communities can actually go to the principal or go to the teacher and ask directly about that so that they can see what what apps are being
used, the time, you know, so they can see that that's actually less than less than an hour. If I may, board member, I think that's also an opportunity of growth as you heard from Dominic, and as I said, the board has asked different questions around our families. I think we've done some work, but I do think there's an opportunity to share this toolkit that's being developed to guide families on how to be able to know best practices, best tips for that, how to talk to their own children about that. That is definitely an area of need. And then for us to also be very clear about how LAUSD is is monitoring
screen time and really promoting the screen value. So that's a a next step for us as well. I think there is an opportunity to grow that further. Yeah. And I think that I mean, and this isn't this is it's critical in terms of driving us forward, but not not a critique necessarily. But I think it's been reactive in terms of we're we're now monitoring this and we're starting to get this data. But how what's the proactive approach when it comes to the guidance that's needed or those conversations? I also you know, I think that we track students who are on our devices, but we know a lot of students have their own devices.
And so I'd also wanna think about how we discount or how we account for the fact that kids are on devices outside of the ones we have for schools. And then also when we have this data, one, does that calibrate with lived experience? I see a lot of elementary school kids on devices when I'm in classrooms that seems to suggest it's more than the fifteen minutes a day. But but, you know, again, that that's anecdotal and not not quantitative. But just also, how are we then taking this data and engaging families and saying does that comport with your understanding? And, you know, I I heard Dominic talk about s face, and I do think
a lot of this engagement should happen at the school level as opposed to, like, how are schools engaging. I and I also just think more broadly too, you know, when it comes to utilizing, like, AI. I mean, do we have guidance for teachers around can they use AI for lesson planning? Should they use AI? Are there certain I know there are certain tools we have access to. So where how can families get access to those discussions and to that guidance? We'll definitely prepare something and and that'll be our next steps. That will be in, definitely something that we will work on next.
And in terms of teachers' access to AI, there's been lots of PD, lots of tools have been provided. So that is definitely in place and we've been monitoring the use of the or online on screen use for for many years. But just recently, we've been now incorporating and synthesizing the data, but we've been monitoring that for a long time. But now, as you said, it's really important for us to get it in front of our families. So that'll be work in progress. Yeah. And I think to get their feedback and then also really hear what they're asking us when it comes to, some of these requests.
I mean, I you know, and the superintendent and I have spoken about this a little bit too. I think year you know, ten, twenty years ago, there were schools who were early adopters of, like, STEM and STEAM. And now and there's, like, an irony here, but there are certain schools that might wanna be adopters of, like, a more, antiquated and anachronistic approach. And do we allow that differentiation in the district? Do we allow schools to say, we're we don't wanna be one to one anymore? Do we allow schools to say, we're gonna do for no screen Fridays or whatever? I mean, again, kinda like the cell phone band, it's a little more over it's over simplistic in terms of just get them out, but maybe that's what we need
in order to do some of that detox. The other just quick discreet question that's not as relevant to this and maybe it's for Sohail, but I know it's something that board members have been hearing about is around, whether parents can opt out of certain platforms, particularly YouTube. I know it's part of the Google suite, but that is a question that we've gotten. And so just while we have this opportunity to discuss it, can parents who are filling out these these, digital citizenship and data privacy and responsible use forms, like, say that we wanna use Google apps, but we don't wanna use YouTube?
So, that's different than digital citizenship and responsible use policy. The, Google, consent form, which was introduced this year and required by the parents to respond on opt in or opt out, is part of the, I would say 24 apps that they are all designed for, user above 18. It was required by Google, not by district, that a parent must consent in order to a student that below 18 years of age to have access to these tools.
And it's essentially the total number of the tools that involve Google Translator and bunch of other all other school district actually did the same thing. This is not unique to LAUSD. So initially, when we designed this system in the short period of time that Google provided to us, we were able to create a automated process for the parent to go to the parent portal. Opt in or opt out from that is optional. They can opt out. Obviously, when they opt out, they need to discuss with the teacher and the schools to make sure the teacher, using the content, individually for the student to be able
to address those. You see, if there's a content on YouTube, they're gonna have challenge. We received that request, from the parents that they wanna pick and choose the apps. Because of the complexity of the design, we are in the design phase right now. By the and by the way, this consent need to be updated every year. It's not once and done. Every year when we go to the enrollment, parent need to opt in and opt out again. So and, hopefully, my goal is by, around January, we're gonna have a selection criteria that the parent can, select each app, and that app is gonna be removed from
from the platform. So when you were talking about the complexity, it's the complexity of on the district's end, working with Google, figuring out how to remove, like, YouTube from the suite of tools that this is No. No. Actually, that's the easiest part. The most complex part because we have so many students, and we don't wanna put the burden of their schools to go and select the apps one by one. We wanna automate as much as possible. That automation requires us create the list. And when the parents select and remove, we get that and automatically immediately remove their
student from that app usage. That's what that was work that we did in the summer to create the entire system. This is the first time we do a fully automated consent platform. In the past, the consent, let's be honest, it was the form parents submit. The school put it into the MYSIS, and it was a flag over there. There was a overnight job process. And then any activation automation required manual intervention. In this scenario, there is no human intervention. When they put a flag parent put the flag, the the system automatically remove it
from Google with the matter of the minute. It doesn't even go overnight process. Because we don't, obviously, we we know about the budget situation. We try to not to ex put the burden or extra work in any group, including the schools. That's why developing that automation to get the entire district wide 500,000, 600,000 parents that they may go over there and submit this request. We need to absorb that workload. And we did it for one consent. Now we need to do it for 24 consent.
So by Jan but the goal is by January. So for next semester and then the next school year to have that option. Exactly. And but right now it's in development. And we're enhancing that product, and hopefully, we're gonna use it for any future consent that we wanna do it because, again, it works, as is designed, and the parent can remove it. But my advice to the parent, always discuss with your school to opt in or opt out, especially your teacher. Because the teacher, we wanna make sure they are empowered to deliver instruction and how they are can customize that instruction according to the need of the student.
Great. That's helpful. Thank you. Yeah. And thank you. I mean, I think I do think helping, you know, getting those IOCs out and, making sure that they're accessible for the public and also schools, making sure that every school knows that these are the guidance, the regulations that the district is propagating is helpful. And then, you know, I'm eager to hear from the parents and the public around kind of how this work work evolves because I do think it's more complicated than, it's more complicated than where than where we got to, which was just, like, how do we bridge well, that is still complicated as my colleagues were discussing with funding and e rate and all the craziness.
But, you know, it's one thing to say, yeah, get every kid a device and Internet and access. And now figuring out where to limit access and how to teach about responsible use and is more complicated. So eager to hear more from the community about how we can get this right. So thank you. Thanks, doctor Rivas. More questions. Okay. Can I do one real quick? Some of my questions because all of these are great questions. I'm like, oh, I don't have anything for us to say. No. First, I wanna say that I was, you know, perusing through the, digital digital citizenship lesson toolkit, and it's it's, you know, it's a there's a lot that you have
been working on, so I commend you for that. And I know it's still, a work in progress. I mean, you have everything here from administrator messaging templates. You have, to host a coffee with the principal or with the regional superintendent. I mean, there's a lot here that you provide resources for schools and administrators and teachers to really be able to, you know, implement this digital citizenship. Just a quick question. As I was looking, through the websites here on digital citizenship, I see here congratulations
to the top schools in digital citizenship challenge. Is this challenge, take place during the October week, or is this something that's going all year long? And how can we get more schools to, be part of this challenge? That is the same challenge where we had 24 schools complete. And, it was, last year from, October digital citizenship week, and it ended, that fall semester. And we're hoping to continue that to, again, expand and get more schools to participate and complete the lessons.
But this time to not end just the first semester, but to expand it as an ongoing, all year round challenge for digital citizenship. Great. Because we definitely wanna see more of our schools. And I was also looking at the family and caregiver resources. You have, resources in Spanish. So, yeah, I think this is one of, the areas that do need to, you know, add more and more support. And not only in Spanish, right, in other languages, I think, will be will be great. And I do appreciate that you have a link to the key policies, responsible use policy, social media policy, and employees, but also as as to mister, Mill, Millvoy's point
is, screen time. Right? Providing that, information so parents know and also to help them at home and how to sort of, be able to track the use on on screen time at home and how that transfers over to school. So I think that that's really great. So I really commend you for all the work that you've done in in this area. So really quickly, first question. You did touch on this briefly, and I understand we're incorporating resources from common sense. But can you share more about how the district is working with local community organizations,
libraries, nonprofit partners to build a broad broader digital ecosystem where students and families can learn about online safety, digital rights, technology tools beyond the classroom? And are we partnering with them if there are any in hosting trainings to reinforce, the curriculum or or trainings with our parents? So for, external collaborations and partnerships, the only local partnership that I can, think of is with, KQED, which is, part of the, PBS, affiliate.
But that's also through our partnership with, our membership in the Digital Citizenship Commit Coalition. This is a coalition that LAUSD has been part of since 2018. And what it is is, group of k 12 school districts, La Canada, Montrose School District is part of it, and LAUSD from Southern California. And it's also, including some educational technology and media organizations. And many of these, members of the coalition actually curate and, do some research around digital citizenship. So outside of the local partnerships, I would say the PBS, through the KQED partnership
is what we have. My next question, just to be more explicit on the use of AI, can you share more about how we're integrating AI tools in everyday classroom and what does that look like? Our students are and and I do love that you mentioned that we're we're not only, teaching our students to be more protective and and being, you know, what not to do, but we want them to be more proactive, empowering them and also our families. But are we part of that proactivity, are we encouraging students to, download a chat
JPT or OpenAI or how do, you know, how do we or how are we teaching them to really, you know, use those, platforms or those tools, in the classroom? But, more like an everyday classroom example, if you can have one. Yes. So first of all, they, students have to complete the mandatory digital citizenship lessons for sixth through twelfth grade, students. And when they've been marked complete in Mysis, then that's when they get access to generative AI tools. In terms of these AI tools, we first and foremost go with what has been
vetted, district wide, and that might be, Canva for education, Adobe Express. And, what's coming is Gemini through Google, and these are already, tools that have gone through strict LAUSD, requirements. And what that could look like is, for example, in, game design and esports, we don't want kids to just play video games or esports. But part of that is also is like how do you create your own game, by writing a narrative of your game story and how can you use, for example,
Canva to prompt it to create a story arc for you and then also use maybe Adobe Express to turn that story arc from text to image generated by, Adobe through its, stock images and then complete that as a pitch of their game design. So there is again, it's moving the students from mirror consumers of technology, using esports to actually, starting to design and create their own video game design. Another example of, like, day to day would be like in an English class.
I walked into an English class and the teacher was delivering, delivering a media literacy lesson. And in the media literacy lesson, they were all, engaged in learning about advertisement and how consumers are influenced to buy a particular product over another. And so, then they went on to the chat GPT. They created a campaign. After they created a quick little campaign, then they, they collaborated. They either pair share or in small groups shared with one another and determine whether that was influential and why, and then the biases involved in those type of advertisements
and what consumers they are, gearing towards. And so that, is an example of how they use it. Teachers just give them a really quick little moment to engage in it and then after that it's about the collaboration. Teachers use it to plan lessons as well. Very, very popular app that is used right now that is used for for planning, district wide. So that's something that is very useful. And do we have examples for our teachers to use this with PBL, problem based learning for students to really showcase how their understanding of of the correct use and also how they can be also be empowered by PBL.
That is PBL is also one of them one of the ways we use it. Yeah. Great. Thank you so much. Okay. So I'll leave it there. So I'll, while we wait for miss Gomez, miss Grego, do you wanna more for a question? Yes. I just wanted to follow-up similar to what, doctor Reeves was just bringing up. Last year, I received an email from one of our educators at a high school, and she was asking me if we offer, computer classes where the students can actually learn, different programs including typing. So, you know, how to use Google Docs, how to use Canva, how to use
Microsoft Suites, how to use all these different things because what she's realizing, she was a history teacher. And so when she wanted them to start using these programs, the kids had no idea how to even start. So she was like, now I'm having to plan a few lessons on this. And it's a high school class that has mixed abilities and only one teacher. So it becomes extra work that she needs to front load, and so she was
actually reaching out so that I would advocate for these types of classes. I know when I was in high school, there were typing classes, and that's how I learned to type. And I know there were even, you know, computer class. I know I did just stated myself. But anyway but, but, yeah, I mean, could we and I don't know if we still have those. I know in the schools that I've worked at, I don't remember an actual computer lab class where you learn how to use these programs. I also know that parents have been asking for these types of of, workshops on
how to use them. So can you share more about that if we have them, if they're everywhere? Because I can see this becoming an equity issue. Right? There are gonna be and I could I could tell you that it's probably our students with disabilities who are, you know, are probably not having access to some of these lessons so that they can be prepared to use them in the gen ed class. I can say that, we have specialized classes around computer science education, but also graphic design and anything that has to do with technology. But most of those are, classes that are in the master schedule, mostly secondary schools.
But at the elementary and middle and high school level, it would be, case by case basis with schools. A lot of schools have, instructional aide who would open up, like, an enrichment class in between classes to teach these kinds of courses that are technology based. But in our work around professional development is we teach the teachers how to be able to incorporate these, technologies into instruction. While we do have, resources and content that we can readily turn into a student facing, what this could look like for elementary or middle schools, for example, like Google
Workspace for education. In fact, as we launch Google Workspace for education for students, in the next few months, we're already developing some of those courses so that they can better embed Google Drive, how do you use, Google Docs to collaborate? And many of our students, while this is available to them through the Schoology LMS app, I understand that there are some students who might need more support in terms of really diving deep into these tools in the context of their learning. And I guess that's also part of the concern I have is that I do
know that in general, there are some things that are happening. It's just not happening everywhere. And I think that's where we start to hear that some of my schools in South LA don't have this, but some of my other schools may. And so how can we make this so that it's for everyone? Like, every and if and and if it's not for everyone, then let's assess the schools that don't have access to that, and let's make sure that they have it. So I I would want as we're talking about digital citizenship and we're talking about
broadband access and we're talking about using technology for AI for all these different things, I think we also have to keep that in mind and, and make sure that we make it happen. Like, let's assess who doesn't have these skills, and let's bring that to our students. Thank you. And that is part of our, broader plans for the restructuring and rebranding of the instructional technology initiative to make sure that our approach moving forward with educational technology and
innovation is to support the entire district. And, of course, that support will be tiered based on what each of the regions or board district or the clusters of school needs. We're going to be restocking our resources. For example, our EdTech coaches who are our boots on the ground, they have done this work for more than ten years. They know exactly what schools have done, and we will also leverage our bright spots, the practitioner schools that have been, in place for the past at least, ten years. We can also leverage those schools that have been models for, purposeful technology integration.
And, my, vision for our department moving forward is to do just that, is to really be equitable, purposeful in our, educational technology work. I I think board member Griego covered much of it. It was just to raise the equity issues that we know persist. You know, why did we need to do go full one to one during the pandemic, and why did we need to give out hotspots is because so many of our families lack that access at home. That was five years ago, but those conditions persist. And so while I think it's absolutely essential to have safeguards and guidance to be
linked to and learning from the latest research, we can't, limit the ability of our communities to gain access to important technologies that are part of today's society and part of the economy. And we know that our some of our highest needs communities, including many that I represent, you know, don't have the same representation in the STEM fields. And our technology efforts that we are teaching our students, including at young ages, are very meaningful and impactful to creating those pathways, to a family sustaining career in the
future. And so I think we we need to weigh those concerns very carefully and ensure that all voices from all communities are heard in any conversations as we move forward. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much for this great oh, yes, mister Carmela. Go right ahead. Thank you very much. I just really wanna echo a little bit on what, board member Gomez just mentioned. Obviously, when you approach, this conversation specific to digital citizenship or digital equity, frame within, a fairly recent a number of positions, some of which are research endorsed, that, look
at screen time and the impact that screen time and, in some cases, addiction to digital resources and tools may have on the well-being of kids. We need to take that within the context that, a lot of resources that our kids depend on and use, are obtained through technological tools in school and those accessed, from home on district provided, devices and connectivity. So before we get to a point where we, unilaterally say, let's aggressively restrict access.
Let's consider that restricting to some means eliminating. And we cannot get to that point. We cannot get to that point. Access to mental health resources is done online. Access to tutoring is done online. Sometimes you cannot necessarily depend on the support that parents, because of their own educational level, would provide to their kids. You need to depend on that lifeline, digital lifeline between the child and the parents. Secondly, we ought to be somewhat honest about this. You know, we are able to track very accurately the number of minutes that our
students engage in, instructional tools online, very accurately. And the truth of the matter is from elementary, middle, all the way to senior, that range is from less than an hour, around fifty minutes for elementary age kids all the way up to around two hours for high school, age kids. However, the disproportionate utilization of these resources happens not in school, happens at home. Anywhere between seven to eight hours that kids spend. It happens in restaurants where parents substitute often, the iPad for meaningful conversations around the
dinner table or lunch table. It happens when kids fly because that TV screen is in front of them. And what's really the difference between that TV screen and the computer? So we ought to be, rather careful that a position of privileged privilege, a position of newly informed privilege does not substitute for equity of access to resources, period. So before we start removing us, make sure that some of the kids who never had it at least have access to it. And, I am concerned that sometimes the narrative goes a little too far in really
uncovering the truth about this. Do we have a problem specific to digital tool addiction in America? Yes. We do. Schools are not the reason. Not even close. Parental responsibility is very much a part of this equation, period. Thank you very much. Well, thank you again for, your presentation, and, I also wanna thank the board for really great thoughtful and, broad questions that were asked. I think that that were really great questions that were asked today. So now we will transition to our second presentation.
We'd like to welcome miss Tokes, mister Daudul, and also miss Volts to come to the front. And this update focuses on LAUSD's housing initiative, an effort to support our workforce by increasing access to affordable housing for educators and staff in the communities they serve. The initiative aims to address rising housing costs, strengthen staff recruitment and retention, and ensure stability for the families who dedicate themselves to supporting our students. So, our presenters today will walk us through the district strategy priority sites, financing models,
and next steps to ensure that we are meeting the needs of our employees while advancing sustainable community centered development. So please come right front. Floor is yours, miss Johnson. Thank you. Good morning, board vice president doctor Rivas, members of the board, superintendent Carvallo. The reason that we wanted to come to you today at this cow is that we plan to come to the September board meeting with a request for authorization to solicit proposals for housing developments at four sites that we've discussed with you previously.
Prior to doing that, I wanted to make sure that we took the time to understand both what we plan to include in this RFP, the financial viability that we did, and the outreach that we've done so far. So with that, I'm going to turn it over to Assam Dawdul, who's our director of real estate planning and development, and also Anne Volts. She is the president of Volts Real Estate Advisors who has joined the district to do some of the financial viability analysis and help the district draft this RFP.
Thank you. Thank you, Christina. Good morning, board vice president doctor Rivas, members of the board, and superintendent Carvallo. My name is Asam Nagul. I'm the director of facilities planning and development. Before we, get here we go. Before we dive too far in, I did wanna highlight a few takeaways from today's meeting, that you'll be hearing, Anne, speak about. Really, number one is the district's focus, is really on workforce housing. This is due to the amount of funding and return developers are needed for these types of projects to be financially viable.
So you'll hear a lot about financial viability in the presentation today. The other takeaway, the district will not be contributing funding for these developments. The developers will finance build and manage these properties that is the intent of the district that the district is not putting in funding for these developments that they will be financed by the developers themselves we are starting with these four sites that you'll hear about today and we believe that these are the most viable of the sites, and give us the best success chance for success as we move forward. And we plan to use what we learned from this RFP, and development to pursue
other sites in the future. I know there's great interest in us continuing to pursue development housing developments, and so we're starting with these four, and the plan was to learn from this and to be able to move forward. So oh, here we go. So with that said, I did want to, before we dive in too far, go back to why are we seeking a housing initiative for the district? Why is it important? And so as we've mentioned in past presentations, we want to attract and retain qualified teachers and staff to provide a better work life balance, for our employees, less traffic,
improve air quality. We also want to allow employees to be part of the communities that they serve and live in those communities that they continue to serve. And, really, when we look at the value of the land that the district, has, we wanna ensure those resources are being utilized for their highest and best use to support staff and students. So with that said, the bulk of the presentation will be by, Anne Volz, the president of the Volz Company, who will, introduce. Thank you. Thank you. And it is a pleasure to be with all of you today, and I I do wanna recognize that everything that I'm gonna walk through is informed by significant participation
from Assam, Christina, the entire real estate team. So really appreciate the collaboration that we've had to date, and it's very important. So walk through just a little bit about affordable housing, and what is the affordable housing, and how is it defined? And as the slide says here, it's when a household pays no more than 30% of their, gross income to go towards the housing cost. So that's a a general definition. So there is in the industry, a lot of times, we will talk about capital
a, affordable housing and small a affordable housing. I don't know if they're in the dictionary, but we will, talk through these here for the purpose of the presentation. Is capital a affordable housing is very clearly defined? There is a lot of well defined funding sources for it. It comes, of course, and it's a fantastic financing mechanism that we'll talk about later too with several things, ways that you see here, low income housing tax credits section eight. And then there are, there are certainly restrictions because it needs to be very honed
in on certain affordability requirements tied to what is called an area median income, frequently called the AMI. Then there is obviously to a small a, affordable housing, and that really means that the housing is certainly intended to be less than market rate housing and also serve, of course, our low income employees. That's why we're here today. There are pros, cons to both. I'm not promoting one or the other, just sharing that if we focus in on
just the small a affordable housing, then we don't have access to the funding sources, but we also don't have the limitations of the requirements of the certain financing sources. So what is needed to build affordable housing? Is this is just a very simple puzzle, and it talks, of course, about demand, land financing, design, and construction. Of course, we need demand, and I will walk through too, and you've heard too from the previous study earlier this year that there is robust demand.
If we don't have need, I wish you didn't have need. I wish everyone had a a very stable house, but we are not in that situation. So you need to, of course, have demand. We need to have land. And as Asam mentioned, we'll talk more and Christina mentioned it as well, is we'll talk about four sites that we're looking at right now. And then of course we need financing, design, and construction. And I will walk through the financing, design, and construction in a bit too. So the case for workforce housing is these are they're they're pretty telling facts from
the survey that you did earlier this year. And what do we wanna do? We wanna come back hopefully in three, four years. I'd love to come back next year, and these have all significantly reduced. But and that's why we really appreciate that everyone here too is looking for a need for a change, and we've also been, as Asam mentioned, making sure this is very financial viable. But when you have if you go to the bottom one, when 46% of your employees are considering leaving, teaching, or serving the operations and maintenance of the education, everything
we just heard in the previous session, etcetera, because they may need to leave due to housing insecurity. That's a pretty significant eye opening data that we read right when we started. We immersed ourselves into all of this. And talk about demand. From the survey earlier, there's demand for over 6,000 employees expressed interest. So we are not going to be able to do 6,000 housing community units today, but there is significant demand from, of course, the escalating costs of housing in the
area. So potential sites, going back to the puzzle, we have the demand now looking at the land. And part of our work, and we did our work to date in association with our partners at Gensler, is we did significant site feasibility studies. We had several sites at first, but our first immersion was looking at the need. So we really focused in through the test fits, through all the different viability, through the financial sensitivity, through the zoning, is which sites, and we started to call them
the advanced sites, are the most developer ready. And that's how we ended up right now with the four sites in front of you that are actually pretty evenly distributed amongst the district. So we've identified, of course, the land. We've identified the demand. And right now, what are we here, and that's what we're here talking about mainly, is we, of course, need money, financing. As you heard in the opening from Assam, this is not intended to be a district funded housing community or communities, plural.
So, therefore, we do want to seek the services of not a vendor, but a development partner to work with us and bring in, of course, the design and construction as you'll hear more from the community outreach input and we would certainly align with it as well as everyone at the district, is the design and the long term viability needs to fit within the fabric of the community. So searching for that development partner that can bring the financing to achieve our goals,
those goals that Asan mentioned in the beginning, and also through viable design and construction. So that's what we're really here when we're talking about a development RFP. And another item too that should be on and we'll talk a little bit more is also the management. So it's one thing to get it open, but we certainly want to and with everyone, I'm sure here, ensure that it is a really quality residential experience for your employees. So, unfortunately, why is it hard to build affordable housing, whether it's a capital a
or a small a, is and I'll add some more complexity, is it does take years of careful budgeting and planning. I'm not we wanna do this as quickly as we can, but we also need to be very sensible to ensure, again, that your employees walk in and say, I am so happy to be home. So, there's resistance from neighbors. We certainly and I'll talk about it in a bit, is we listen to the communities. And it it's fair. Who are our neighbors? There might be this is change.
So there can be resistance, sometimes, to the word even affordable housing. And then if there are multiple agencies, of course, too, that's that's development on its own no matter what. Then we've also had a really we frankly have had a robust economy overall. There's been a lot of building in the several past years. So, therefore, construction costs have gone up more than at least I've ever seen in my career. So we've had continuing escalation of sometimes 10 to 12% for construction costs every year,
but, of course, our rents cannot go up that quickly. And then if they did, we certainly missed the whole mark of trying to provide affordable housing. And interest rates, they were incredibly low three to five years ago. We've hit more of a stabilization, but two, them going up, has not helped with the financial viability of our housing communities. So with that said, is talking about the work we've done to date and how are we here today to most likely come next week to recommend that an RFP
be released to find the financing, the design, the construction, and the management. As we started with intense feasibility study, so we were fortunate to be engaged around April. And as I mentioned, we had a a a longer list of sites. So we started and we went to every single one along with Gensler, along with the district, and as I mentioned, did a very thorough site assessment on all of them. And that's when we reached, okay, certain sites are not going to be feasible.
Certain sites maybe need to be deferred because they're not developer ready right away, and that's how we got to the four advance. We also too there is a lot of legislation lately that has been put in place to break down the barriers required to develop affordable housing in our state. So we wanted to make sure we looked at all the zoning, the affordability, the tenancy control. And so how can we make this as viable as possible given all the opportunities
and frankly the constraints that we have? And then you do have and it's it's wonderful. You have communities that are open. You've done this before. And so let's take a look at what have we learned, what's gone really well. Well, then let's make sure that we take those lessons learned and and maybe how can we improve upon this, success that you have to date. So what have we done? And I've somewhat summarized it so far as earlier this year, there was a request for expressions of interest that was sent out for developers. I think, actually, it was last year.
There was a survey that was done that, again, as I showed, significant demand over 6,000 employees are are seeking housing. And we've developed financing strategies. They all need to align with the survey data. Even your investors would expect that. We've met with the community. We've performed that site due diligence, and we have prepared a final draft of a request for proposal, that's what RFP stands for, for our developer. So as I mentioned, you have these communities that are open and you have employees
who are residing in them. And clearly, they are very pleased with the experience because but one challenge we have is that if an employee does leave the district as an employee, it is challenging for them to leave the housing community. So there's been some challenge on the, we'll call it, tenancy control for the sake of this presentation. We want to provide housing for all, but this is district owned land, district resources, even if you don't put in and you're not intending to any of your general
fund dollars. How do we really keep to those overarching objectives that Asam mentioned in the beginning? So we've been looking at different financing options. We're gonna leave it open to our very smart development community and developers that we that are in this industry every day, but we've been looking to potentially, public private partnership. So the community is, of course, incredibly important, and we did, there were two meetings with the labor partners.
And then as I mentioned, the four different sites we went to, we went to them twice. So and really wanted to elicit as much feedback as we could and certainly made them hopefully aware that they're going to be hearing from the developer and and so forth throughout the whole process. And we certainly heard back from the community that they do wanna stay informed. They would like to be a part of the process. This has changed to their neighbors neighbors. So who is going to be their new neighbors? Are there going to be additional parking, traffic concerns, maybe even safety concerns?
Is there opportunity for economic development? So we have been taking all this community outreach, and it is reflected in the request for proposals. And as you'll see in a bit too is the development partner or partners that we select will be required and also show that they are experienced in a strong community engagement plan. So financial viability assessment is wanna make sure we're standing here in front of you today to there's development is risk, but to show that there is some viability, of
course, to achieving those goals by providing affordable housing. So we ran several different financial models testing all different types of programs, rents, financing. So to walk through at a high level is once we engaged in the whole process in the financials, we recognized too that, unfortunately, from the survey is there is a significant demand too for students' families. And it's unfortunate and certainly wish it didn't exist, of course, when you mix the
student families and we mix the employees, There does become challenges on many financial, aspects. To create that affordability, it challenges some of the legislation that's, in place. It could open us up to surplus land. So for a host of reasons, right now, to advance as quickly as we can for your employees, the work then focused in solely on your employee housing, and the
request for proposals is written for employee housing. So we started too as a traditional, there's big spreadsheets that go behind, what I'm sharing here, but with a traditional debt and equity model and we became very challenged with the cost of capital to achieve that small a or even capital a affordability that we really need to achieve, of course, for the objectives. So then we looked as well as a very common, low income housing tax credit
known as LIHTC, and this definitely drives affordability. It requires a significant amount of pretty deep affordability to achieve the LIHTC model. This is what you have, and this is how your current housing was financed. So and as I mentioned, that has been very successful. There are challenges, though, as you have right now, and we're certainly not saying that this can't be a viable option, but the tenancy control without a master lease. We even saw in the request for expression of interest is a lot of light
tech models, but showing the need for a master lease. That is district risk. It's an option, but it's district risk, which we've heard from the beginning is not intended to be part of the partnership with the developer. So then we also too and this is not a promotion of one development. We were looking for a development partner or partners that can achieve our objectives. The public private partnership, a 100% tax exempt financing, requires eligible residents. It's a capital e, capital r, and they do need to be affiliated with an
educational use. So, therefore, if an employee leaves their employment with LA Unified School District, they wouldn't be asked to be moved immediately, but they would not be able to renew because upon renewals is when you do check eligibility. But also too, and it, it's really the third row from the top where it says financial gap remains, is even with our models, we wanna make sure too that it is known here that there are still a a smaller financial gap, which is
pretty expected with conservative modeling and in today's market that I mentioned. So then let's add just before we talk about the potential levers to close the gap is that, of course, we've and that's alright. To achieve our goals, there's a bit of complexity. We've already talked about no general. The land is what the district is providing. We wanna make sure that we maximize the tenancy for our employees. I'm not sure if it's going to be a 100% for our employees, but we wanna maximize that as much as possible. And, of course, keep the rents affordable.
And we do have fair housing, which applies, certainly in our LIHTC model, of course, our ed code. So there there's complexity to doing work in publicly owned land. But there are means to close a financial gap. This could be a really long list. This could be an eight hour workshop. Our developers are accustomed to becoming, we'll call it creative, embedded in deep integrity, of course, but different ways. Maybe they will monetize a portion of the site.
A couple of our sites actually have a a significant footprint. They may take some risk themselves. Most likely they would. So they might take some risk maybe even on their fee or on some expenses. We've had a little break since we did our models and the rates. So frankly, even right now, if we ran our models to date, the gap is a little less. We can never promise, of course, what the markets will do, but, we could maybe a developer would want to bundle, which means do two, three, or four of our sites together.
So there's a lot again, as I mentioned, there are so many ways. There's a lot of philanthropic dollars lately, more than I have ever seen, and it's truly wonderful. Big organizations. Again, I we none of us can promise, but there are a lot of access to public monies and donations as well to close these gaps, both in terms of construction and also sometimes too for helping with, payment of rent. So developer procurement, as I mentioned, is we have been working on, it's at a final draft point right now of the request for proposals for a developer to bring
the financing, the design, the construction, and the operations. So what do we want to consider? Is in the draft is, of course, we wanna make sure we very objectively evaluate our proposals based upon the objectives that have been stated, those goals you heard Asam mention, the requirements that I have shared as well. So we wanna make sure too that we maximize the site. Is right now we're looking to is that is that AMI again is that area
median income. So 30% to a 120%. In your current housing communities, your AMIs are unfortunately, some of your teachers are making just a little bit too much, so they do not qualify to live in the housing, yet we still have 46% of our employees overall that are thinking they may need to find a different job because of housing insecurity. So prioritize, of course, that it is for our employees. Experience will be absolutely important.
That community outreach plan, of course, is very as I mentioned, we wanna see the robust engagement and how that will be incorporated into the plan and also show, again, experience. And then we wanna make sure that the developers know too, while this is gonna be a very objective evaluation, very easy to measure, that we wanna make sure we're open. This is not intended to be an RFP that says to developer you're going to do exactly this, is because our developers, as I mentioned, they have a lot of
tools that we hope and they will bring to us, and we believe they will, to achieve your goals. So we also too, in addition to demand, we, wanna make sure the developers are aware of this opportunity. So we held, an industry forum in August. We were really pleased. We had representation from several developers, and, and we heard from them too. Is wanted to really get their feedback and and share that this opportunity exists to make a difference for your employees. And I'm gonna turn it to Asad for the timeline.
Thank you. Thank you, Anne. So, just a quick summary of the timeline and next steps. So as you've heard previously, we're planning to come to the board next week with a request to release the RFP for the four sites. So that'll be coming on September 16. Shortly thereafter, we would be issuing a request for proposal and going through the process of, obviously, reviewing the proposals, interviewing developers as necessary, and then making the final selection with the anticipation that we would be back at the board for approval and authorization to enter into agreements if we were to obtain successful proposals, in the 2026.
So with that, I will open it to questions, and thank you for the time. Thank you very much, for your presentation. Yes. I will open it up to my colleagues for any questions. Who wants to start? Mister Movable? Sure. Thank you. This is, clearly a priority of mine, and I'm really appreciative to you all for for the great work. I think it was took us too long to get this off the ground, but since we've, since we've gotten it going, I appreciate that we've kept to our timeline and we've done, you know, all the objectives that you mentioned to the board, including
these industry forums and getting this RFP in front of the board, which I'm very hopeful we will approve next week. So lot lot of excitement. I think this makes a lot of sense. Appreciate the the flexibility, endemic in the RFP around, letting the market decide with some of these things. I know some of the concerns I had early on is when we were kind of maybe self defeating and, like, oh, this wouldn't work or this that wouldn't work. And let's let's see. So I think we've had us, struck the right balance. A few questions, just based on the, I guess, the slide that's the kind of
about the upcoming, RFP. One is, do we is there a way to prioritize LA Unified families LA Unified employees who are also families? Like, I know one of the things we've heard about is we've been deciding about this, and we we have the three projects. We have four here. One of my next questions will be how do we get how do we get the next ones off the ground. But we know there's advocacy from the community around families, which changes some of the financing and the abilities. But we know that a lot of our employees are also parents. And so is there a way to, like, be that specific? Yeah.
For right now, for in in regards to the tenancy, I don't we're we're not being overly specific in the, in the RFP now in terms of what the requirement is. We're allowing them to make the suggestion of what percentage of AMI. So, really, it's based off of the percentage and not the type of, of employee that's going into that that space. So But would we be able to say from a kind of normative standpoint we want employees who are also L Unified Families? I think that might be something that we would discuss with the developer after the
proposals are received and something that we'd have to discuss with, our legal counsel just to make sure that we're within the the all the fair housing rules as associated with whatever that particular funding source that that developer is pursuing. And on that point, because I know this is one of the concerns that's coming from the community meetings, can you remind us and if it's dependent on the funding source, that's helpful too. But if there is are we able to require that, tenants are district employees? Or is that just something that we can preference?
I also just saw something up in the bay at just this week that there's this, I think, a county project that they are preference or they are not preferencing, but they are I mean, I guess, maybe it's a preference, but they're only opening it up to school employees up there. So just curious because I know some of the feedback we've got is what you can you can, advertise or recommend, but you can't require. So it it is dependent on the financing structure. So a b three three zero eight allows us to prioritize our employees. So if we are to open housing, let's say, for an example, using the low
income housing tax credit, that list right immediately, would be available only to as long as we have enough demand and you I'm most certainly do to your employees. The challenge that we've run into, which is what you have now, is that you lose control of that tendency when folks leave employment. The public private partnership method, again, it's not advocacy for any one method, that actually requires that it only be a resident that is affiliated, the who's ever signing the
lease agreement or the license, whichever you use, is affiliated with an educational use. And so upon renewal, if they are no longer employed and verification obviously wouldn't be able to happen, they would need to move out within a reasonable amount of time. Yeah. And I know that our existing projects, one of the criticisms has been the percentage of employees has dropped, but I also get from a policy standpoint that if folks qualify and so they're, you know, making only a certain amount of income and they, like, leave the district for, let's say, a better opportunity even though we hope that
we create those opportunities for our employees, that we don't necessarily want in an insecure housing market to kick them out. So I get that that is a question for policymakers, like, we wanna increase the percentage or keep it pretty high, but I if you're an employee who then decides to make another decision for your family livelihood, I could see the argument that, like, you know, to your point of reasonable time. So I just say that publicly because I know that when we've looked at some of the existing projects, people folks will say it's only 60% district employees. It started out at a 100. And then with that attrition, we just decided we're not gonna kick people out.
So, that was one question. Secondly, it mentions on this slide open to market rate or land exchanges for viabilities, which are, like, land swaps. I had heard something recently around a new bill or a new law that requires a seven eleven committee for this. So can you just, Asama, kind of Yeah. There's there's a recent, AB one thirty requires which has just been passed, as of July, requires the seven eleven committee for any land swaps that would be, done by, public agencies. So we're currently working with Office of Government Relations internally with the district to see
if that can be reversed. And then we're kind of working through the issue as it relates to this RFP on whether or not, you know, we can suggest that land swaps are available, knowing that they might have to go through the seven eleven committee if this, AB one thirty were to continue. And can you just, like, explain for the public? So the terms we're using, land swap and then also seven eleven committee. Sure. So a land swap is ultimately, in in this context, would be that the district owns a parcel of land that is underutilized. There might be a developer who has or is in the middle of construction and
has a site that's already readily available that might want to swap existing units that they're currently constructing that for vacant land, which would allow us to bring units to the market sooner. And the seven eleven committee? Yeah. The seven eleven committee is required by the Ed Code. If you sell a property, the school district is required to go through a seven eleven committee, which is a, a fairly long process which requires seven to 11 committee members, to go through the process of disposing of any public lands for the district. But for the purposes of this, it just makes it more difficult If we had
a viable land swap offer that we wanted to avail ourselves of, the seven eleven committee would make it tough and the developer might ultimately lose that. That is correct. Which is why we're looking for that's disappointing, and I'm glad that Martha and her team are on it. The, as part of this RFP process, are we being very clear? I guess my suggestion is that we are clear. You know, I know there are, we, in part because of our advocacy around state law, but also as a government agency, have some of our own entitlement or zoning, flexibilities or powers.
And I just wanna make it clear in the RFP as developers are looking at this, like, what is in our jurisdiction? Well, like, if someone, for example, says I don't do work in LA because the city of LA and the land use is crazy. We want them to know, like, you don't have to work for the city of with the city of LA because of x y z. So are we is that all articulated in the RFPs as they're being drafted? Like, what what is and what are we what can we entitle ourselves? Where do they have to deal with other agencies? Absolutely. So without dictating what legislation they should lean into is we do recognize and and
demonstrate in the RFP that legislation is available that would exempt them through going through local zoning. There are I'm certain these will qualify for CEQA exemptions. So really showing that a lot of those barriers are minimal compared to a private development in city. Right. And then are we allowing or is the RFP gonna be crafted in such a way that government agencies or other cities could bid? Absolutely. So we are not being too prescriptive.
So it does not say that you need to be, for instance, a for profit developer or a not for profit developer. So a public agency would certainly be welcomed as long as they have, of course, the experience and the criteria to I know that we've just gotten at least one of the properties that's in my district. Some of cities have reached, you know, one city, but has reached out, and, you know, have we've had the conversation. And so curious if they have if that would be, an option. And then the other thing that I'm sure you're doing, but just I'd encourage us to look at is I know that the community college district, LACC, he just did
a similar RFP process for student housing. And so if there are lessons learned there for for better or for worse, that would be helpful. I know my colleagues have questions, so I'll just say this is exciting. And, I do look forward to once we have this first tranche of these four properties, there's a lot more land that the district could be better utilizing for the larger community. So I hope that we can, you know, another proof of concept, and then we we go forward. So, I guess I might have more, but I'll send it back to the chair for now. Thanks. Yes. I know miss, Ortiz Franklin had a question. Thanks. Yeah.
I love this idea of prioritizing employees who are also families. We did a recent visit to our Gardena, location, which has been around for ten years, and there's over 6,000 people on the waiting list and have been for ten years. One just got off the wait list and was waiting the full ten years. Less than 700 are employees, so, you know, about 10% who are applying. But we have this preference, and I'm not sure if this is codified in state law or if this is an LAUSD policy. But first preference to LAUSD employees within three miles, radius, that's where their job site is, and then all LAUSD employees, and then the general public.
And so I guess my question is, is that preference list for the Gardena housing LAUSD policy or state policy? Yeah. That so that was the Sage Apartments, that we had the pleasure of visiting on Friday. And with that, it was LITEC funding, low income housing tax credits. And so based off that particular type of financing and our work with that particular developer, that's how we set that waterfall. So it's based off of the the financing that was specific to that project. Okay. Yeah. And I I do think to your point, mister Mulvaney, the more the public knows about the financing really, leading on this rather than the board or the district making
policy about this, you know, that's helpful. You know, I would just say I'm really excited for this as well and so excited that so many developers came to our industry forum. There is such a great need. Even if people don't win our RFPs, because only, you know, maximum of four will this round, How can we encourage them to keep doing this work and applying for funding elsewhere to still serve our employees and families given, you know, what I just shared about one of our units having such a long wait list? You know, if if they're not successful with us, how do we help them, you know, keep going forward with this mission? Yeah.
So we'll continue to have, a a database of all the developers that we're working with that are submitting proposals. And so when the next tranche comes out, we'll continue to do outreach with all of those developers to make sure that they're still involved with us and still can propose on future projects. Yeah. Or do it without us, you know, if if possible. But I am really excited. You know, I I am looking forward to, particularly the one near Gompers Middle School, which is such a high need community. And so I, know that that will really help with stabilization of, staffing at high need schools in South LA and particularly near Watts.
So I'm pumped for that and, really excited for this project. Thanks, sir. Mister Sproleson. So do we retain ownership of the land where the building is? Yes. That is correct. And what is our financial gain in this process? So so we're not necessarily looking at this as a financial revenue stream for the district, although pro the proposers could propose that there is a some type of, revenue sharing if there were to be any, revenue as well. So we're leaving it very open ended in the sense that the developers are going
to propose they're gonna propose what the maximum or, I guess, minimum, lease term is that they would like for them to develop on the land, but the district would retain ownership. Okay. One of the things that I'm very concerned about is the parking situation, and I certainly would hope that these buildings because there's no way that neighbors are gonna befriend into any building that takes all their parking on the street. And I know that the law says if you're near a big intersection where there's public transportation, well, that means, many times no parking at all for anybody.
And so that's a good way to start off with your neighbors to having no parking, taking their spot. So I hope that we'll consider that. I know it happens all over, and, it's, kind of sad. Here's what kinda makes me think. Well, I'm a teacher, and I'm at the the the housing unit. And I say, I'm not teaching summer school this year because I can't afford my salary to go so high because I won't qualify anymore for this building. So is this gonna kinda make people not want to increase their income like most
teachers want to. I was a teacher too. Everybody went summer school and and inter well, not more. Intercession. What do they call it? Winter session? Winter academy. Yeah. I'm just worried about people saying, I'm always have to watch my my my income so I don't I don't get kicked out of this building at a certain time. Really. Yeah. That's certainly a philosoph philosophical question as well. So capital a, affordable housing, does have strict area median income requirements. It doesn't mean that the minute if it's you're teaching summer school for three months,
I mean, there's some leniency as to but to your point is if a a employee gains or, I don't know, an increase, as you mentioned. The smaller a affordable housing does let us to be more lenient in that regard. So you could have district policy still trying to achieve the the small a. I don't think anyone's here to build luxury housing. I hear you. That would, circumvent what you just said.
Want to advance. You know, we have step and column, and you start off really low, and then you work your way up. So what are you gonna say? No more races for me, please. Don't move me up the steps and columns because I don't wanna be this income. So I I just don't want it to hinder someone's progress in becoming a better teacher. That's all. Thank you. Yes, miss Griegel. I thank you for your presentation. I am very excited that we're where we are right now with this. I think it was what? In '20 was it 2019 or 2023 that, teachers went on strike?
I one of those two strikes and we got an MOU on the housing. Which one was it? I don't remember. 2019. 2019. So, and we created we one of the things that we won was a task force, right, on housing that included community members. So I'm wondering, are any of these, stakeholder engagements inclusive of those task force, meetings? Because I know a couple of teachers who are part of that and community members who are part of that. Yes. So we've met with, UCLA, as part of not necessarily as part of the task
force. So we've we've had two separate distinct meetings. We've met with UTLA as part of the task force as separate meetings. And then specifically to this housing initiative, we've met with them as, last was in August, and the time before that was in June. And we've shared with them the timeline and the thought process behind how we were going to move forward with our housing initiative. That's great that you met with UTLA. The housing task force also includes other community members, and I think that's why they're, I think they're a great source of information, because it does include other labor partners
as well as other community members who actually do work in housing and have been doing this kind of work. I've seen some of their presentations on the various types of housing that exists in other parts of the country, in other parts of the world, And, and so that's the reason why I'm asking if you've met with them and talked to the task force. Yes. So we so we have met with the task force. I don't recall the exact date, but I can check with my team, on the last time we had a meeting with this the task force specifically. And then and then I do wanna highlight that it wasn't just UCLA that we
also met with. We met with SEIU and the other labor partners as well as part of this global outreach that Anne was referring to earlier. Alright. Wonderful. And then the other thing, one of the, which I'm very excited about, one of the proposed, sites is in BD 5. And, there was a community meeting that was held and, my staff went to it and it was very low turnout. So I'm wondering, what is and look. I was an organizer, and I've worked with trying to get people to meetings, and I know it's hard to get folks to meetings.
It's so what is your strategy to make sure that we in that people show up, that people are participating in these conversations? Because what we'll hear is that there was no community engagement. Right? So what are we doing, and what is the strategy for that? Absolutely. And we were in round one too thought it was lower than we wanted, of course. So I will say in round two, we had more of folks. But we also too is, there is a lot of there were emails, banners, that
a lot of distribution, social media. There is a website as well where everything, all the community presentations, etcetera, are kept. So we wanna make sure too that that is distributed because that's really the key source to go to to find out when we're gonna be having the next community meetings and how people can get involved. There's an email on there too. So if people have questions, they can email them to us. I mean, they go to the district. But that right now, but I we take it very seriously, and we've worked a
lot with the district day to day team as well as, I'm not sure if they're called the public relations department or Community engagement. Community engagement. Thank you, to ensure as much outreach as possible because it's really important and it's very valuable. Some of it takes, you go back and you say, alright. We need to change this RFP a bit. That was a really great comment. Yeah. I mean, I think that, it is hard to get folks unless you're talking to folks. Right, and inviting them and letting them know what this is about. So I would recommend that there be some form of personal engagement, and I've I've
shared this with with the superintendent. Like, some of these things, we have to act like it's a campaign. We have to go door to door knocking, talking to people, being outside schools, letting folks know, attending meetings, collaborating with the face, you know, office, the division that works with parents. I mean, just all of these things is this is great. Right? And we wanna make sure people know that we are doing this, and we want our employees to know that we are doing this. So I I mean, if if we could, make the community engagement more robust and
be not just rely on social media and, postings, but actual human contact and letting people know and visiting the different meetings, neighborhood council meetings or whatever, working with our governmental relations, which I know you're already doing, but continuing to do that to to really get the word out. I think that, I think that's very important. So, let's see. I do have something else. Actually, no. It's oh, wait.
Wait. Wait. Hold on. So, you showed us some employee results, and I'm wondering if you have mapped the results, to to know where the greatest need is. The survey that was done earlier this year does map that out. It maps it out by location, and it maps it out by location, and it maps it out by AMI, and it maps it out by employment status too. Can you share that with us? Or did you already share that? I remember seeing something similar, but I don't remember. Yeah. We we did share it, and what we found was that there was a pretty equal distribution amongst the entire district.
So there was not just one area that was more heavily favored in terms of the demand. There was demand kind of through equally distributed throughout, relatively speaking, within a few percent, throughout the district. Wow. Okay. Well, thank you so much. If you can share it again, I'd appreciate it. Absolutely. Thank you. Miss Gunas, go ahead. Thank you so much. Well, I really appreciate the presentation. I think the board, first passed a resolution on employee housing, back in November 2018 and, at that time also passed a resolution around supporting our homeless students and families and looking at, providing housing for them on our district underutilized district sites.
So I this has certainly been a long time coming, and it's exciting to see the progress. We know that there's a housing crisis in Los Angeles, really an emergency. And so I think being a part of this effort as the large one of the largest landowners in the county is super important, and we know from our employees that the housing costs, are really affecting their ability to work with us as a district, their well-being, the well-being of their families. So, I'm really appreciative of all of the work so far. I will note I am disappointed by not including our families in this effort.
I I think the idea of of looking to preference employees who are also, parents of children in the district is is a great idea. You know, we just know that our families are in desperate need of affordable housing, and, you know, I wouldn't want a missed opportunity to really support with that need. I know that there was the survey results, which we talked a little bit about. Though only it looks like about 800 families completed the survey, 89% expressed. So I see, like, a 40% ish number for employees, but an 89% who were
interested in in housing from the district from our families. So I I think that's pretty stark and speaks to the level of need and demand in our communities. Could could you all talk a little bit more about the decision to proceed solely with workforce and what those what those barriers are that led to that decision point? Yeah. I can speak to the more, you know, broad terms in terms of the financial, analysis that was done. Mhmm. And then, Anne can speak probably into more of the details. But, ultimately, when you look at when we look at the financial viability of each of these sites in terms of what the potential rents may be, and that rent
is really dictated based off of the percent of AMI. So a, AMI average median, income, if you're between 3060%, the rent is going to be lower. If you're between 40 and a 120%, then that rent will go up based off of that percentage. So for a family that is unhoused or, is even below that 30%, then that rent that rental return back to the district, or to the developer really becomes lower and it becomes financially unfeasible for those developers to get a return on the cost
of construction and the cost of maintaining the property. Okay. I I definitely, understand the math there. I would hope that as we continue to proceed on these projects, but also look at the other properties that we're examining that, we continue to prioritize the need of our families. Perhaps there's other sites where it would be more feasible to explicitly include our district families. And we know it's not just our families who are right now categorized as experiencing homelessness that so many, of the LAUSD families we serve are on the brink of
being housing insecure if they are not in that particular defined position right now. But I appreciate your explanation. And then I'm curious about, you know, what other district may use to evaluate developer proposals beyond financial feasibility, such as community benefits, sustainability, etcetera. Absolutely. So it is intended to be a holistic evaluation criteria. So it is it is weighted on a course experience. We need to make sure that we have a developer that can get the financing for the project, show that they have done it in the past.
We do have the community engagement plan is very important. The program and the approach is also and that's that's very important. We need developers, frankly, that understand our objectives and our goals, So that will certainly be evaluated as well, as well as to their management, capabilities. Because, again, a lot of times when you're doing these closings, everyone's focused just to get it open. But when it opens, that's when we make the impact. So having to that management entity that can really serve our needs as well is
important too. Gotcha. I, I you didn't mention sustainability or commute you know, community benefits explicitly, so I'm just curious whether those will be things that we consider as well. And I should have mentioned that. And the sorry. And the answer is yes. And that's even something we took away from a community outreach meeting is that they had some really excellent ideas on how these communities, especially at one of the sites, could really enhance the neighborhood. So we went back and did add that in more specifically. Great. Okay. Well, I look forward to seeing some of those details when we look at the
materials for the, board meeting next week. And then also curious about in terms of the process, how will we ensure diverse participation in the RFP such as by smaller or mission driven developers, not just the largest developers in LA? We do have, and also too, I should have mentioned this as well, as part of the is how are they going to address, local community local businesses, small businesses. So that is, included as what they will need to submit and be evaluated upon.
Okay. And, is local hire something that we'll be looking at as an incentive? And that is in there as well. Yes. Great. Obviously, that's important. We also typically, in a lot of our construction process, look at workforce learning opportunities for our students. Is that something we might consider as well? So yes. And so you're going to hire if you well, you don't really hire. They're your partner. So you would engage in a partnership with the developer or developers. The developer will bring in the architect and the contractor. But through our partnership, we certainly would want to ask the contractor, who technically works
for the developer, for the learning opportunities, the local hire. So a lot of that comes from whoever they bring in as their construction manager, their GC. So that's a long winded way to say, yes. That's important. Okay. Great. And I understand that some of these details might be fleshed out farther down the road, but just wanna ensure that the these are things we're thinking about from the outset of these projects. And then I might have missed this in the in the document, but is there a set number of units that we're aiming for overall with these four properties and a a breakdown of the types of units that we so, for example, if we're
trying to incentivize family housing, are we looking at, you know, multi bedroom units, for example, and not just So the the RFP as written does not specify the number of units for each development because we want them the developers to determine that based off of the zoning, based off of what they think, will be, achievable financially. And in terms of the unit type, that's also gonna be dependent on the developer to make that proposed. We we really didn't want to restrict any of the developers to any specific unit
types, unit sizes, etcetera, because we wanna create as much flexibility for the developers as possible so that they can formulate and put together a a comprehensive proposal. I I I think that the flexibility, makes sense and is appealing. I hope that as this is a longer term effort that we might set out some specific district goals as to, you know, what percentage of our employees are we looking to provide housing for. And then similarly to my prior comments, you know, how might we make a percentage impact in, for example, our families who are experiencing homelessness.
So I I would hope that as we look to this being a longer term effort that we can have, our own particular goals that we're hoping to achieve, laid out in a metric driven way, for our housing program. Yeah. And I do wanna point out that when we receive the proposals, we are evaluating them based off of what they are proposing. And so, obviously, if they were to propose a higher number of units or or a higher number of of bedrooms, then, obviously, that's something we would take into consideration as we're comparing one proposal to the other. Understood. Okay. Thank you both. I appreciate it. Yep.
Thank you. Miss, Handanubo? Well, this was amazing. Thank you, for bringing this to us, and, I haven't been here as long, but have been here as long to obviously appreciate the work. Some of the questions were already asked and wanted just some clarification on once these developers come forth, it's possible that there's one developer per project or per site. Is that possible? Yeah. That's correct. Actually, that's how it's written.
So it's written so that a prop a developer can propose on one, two, three, or four of the, sites. They're not limited. And each site will be, evaluated, independently of each other. So a developer may submit on four, but we're going to look at one at a time. And so they may that developer may win or not win necessarily, but they may be selected for one of the four, but maybe not all of them, if that makes sense. Okay. And she asked a question about the number of units, obviously, to see the impact
for our families or, you know, those at work, how we reduce that number, because, obviously, it's a large number and seeing how we do that in this round and then, obviously, for future rounds. And I think that's one of the questions that will be asked too, just when we see that coming forth. Obviously, this and and you said something. I was like, it can take a long time. I mean, it's been a long time. What is the estimate now since we're at this place right here? I'm just so I understand the question.
Is that I know we've said this has taken a long time. We've talked about resells from 2018 just to get here today. So today, moving forward, what is time frame looking like? As we get these RFPs together, what would that look like? Is it depending on the type of product Yeah. That kinda drives that? Got it. Thank you. So, yes, in terms of the development itself, so we need to select a proposer. We need to come back to the board to get authorization to enter into that agreement, which would be in the 2026.
And, really, depending on what the what the developer is proposing will dictate how long it's going to take for construction. As we mentioned, there's a streamlined process that, hopefully, we'll be able to take advantage of to get through the CEQA process, to get through the city approval process for the units themselves. In terms of an exact time frame, you know, construction can take, you know, a year, two years, and it depends on how long they're gonna take on the design. So I can't commit to a specific, time frame, but it does take as as we all know, design and construction can take a a few years.
It won't take seven years though. Right? I hope not. Just asking. What was and then with Tennessee control, is that all solely on the law, how can there be any effect to that in in a unit? So I've known to and this may be true in some, as we talk, big a, little a affordability, that some units are designated here, and then some of the units are designated in a different category. Is that all still based on how the developer come forward? Yeah. Ultimately, it's gonna be based off of the financing they use.
So once we once we know, which proposer we're selecting and what financing they're using, then we'll have a better idea of what type of tenancy control the district could, if it so chooses, proceed with, and how much of that tenancy control we want, compared to if we want to just keep it open up open ended. So I think those decisions will have to be made at a later time once we know which proposers we're going with, and what type of funding they're gonna use and what type of restrictions come with that funding. And she mentioned some of the questions in regards to, like, CTE for our students,
obviously, being able to have that opportunity on-site. But as as you mentioned, that comes from the contractor, which hopefully we'll see down the road. I think that's all I have. Thank you. Thank you. Wonderful. Great, great questions. A lot of them have been asked, but I just wanna, just go back on on on some of the areas that my board members here have asked. I heard I heard you mention that, as we partner with developers or as developers are being, you know, submitting their proposals, that we can communicate our priorities, the district's
priorities, the board's priorities. As miss Gomez mentioned, workforce development, training opportunities, good paying union jobs, and student career pathways. We wanna be able to integrate all of that. How can we include this how can we include this in the RFP so that selected firms align with these priorities from the start and have clear accountability measures built in it as as with follow through? So thank you. So we we will definitely take what we've heard today and sit back and look
at the draft RFP and make sure that we're incorporating all of the board's, kind of, initiatives that they want to pursue that we wanna prioritize as part of this RFP. Yeah. And particularly also climate resilience. We wanna build, you know, housing that is climate resilient, which is also aligns aligns with the with the district goals. And mister, Schmuelsson mentioned the feedback that we receive, particularly with traffic and parking and construction and pets, that is also something that we specifically include in the RFP.
Correct? Yeah. So so there's so two things. One, to go back to climate resiliency. So in terms of this district's sustainability efforts, that's already in the RFP that we've drafted. So there's language that specifies that we want it, just like our other projects, to be, environmentally sustainable. As it relates what was the second part? I'm sorry. The the the question about the community feedback about traffic, construction, and the that will go directly into the RFP for the next time. So we are not we have not, in the RFP, dictated the number of parking spaces per development or a minimum number.
Again, we're gonna rely on the zoning, but we do, indicate a preference for of how we're going to evaluate it based on what they propose and understanding that we heard from the community that parking was a big factor. Because we will the community will come back. And if these issues were not addressed, then we wanna make sure that we specifically or, you know, included our preferences and that we heard the feedback from the community. Because this is the reason why we're doing community engagement. Right? Otherwise so I know they will come back if they're very upset.
So we wanna make sure we're addressing them as those issues as well. So from now when the RFP, when we vote on it until when it comes back in the next spring, that's gonna be some time. Right? That's right there. So what do you see or have you thought about what could be the biggest risks in this time frame until, you know, we actually see vote on the the proposal? And how can so can you seek support in keeping that these projects are on
track? Yep. A great question. So, in terms of the risks, once we number one is we're hoping to receive proposals, which we think we will, considering the industry forum that we've done and the the outreach that we've done. We don't think there's a high risk of not receiving proposals, but that's there's always a risk of not receiving proposals for all the reasons that Anne, mentioned in terms of the construction market, in terms of pricing and interest rates, etcetera. So there is always a risk that proposers are not going to be able to make these pencil out. We hope it's a minimal risk, but there is obviously a risk there.
Once we issue the RFP, we're in what's called a cone of silence, and we're in a procurement process. And so we need to give time to the developer to put together the proposal and then time for district staff to evaluate. We don't see a lot of risk in that period of time and hope that by the time we are able to come back, we come back with positive results. Why can't we be bold and different and say we are gonna supply parking for our residents? Because this we're the school board. This is a school project. This isn't some big construction company, making housing.
This is the school district. And why can't we be fair to our neighbors and include parking for people? Because if I get all these calls about there's no parking, I'm gonna send them right back to you. Okay. You got it. Okay. The chief of Valley Services. You know, I think that's a very, very good very good and important question. So the risks and challenges. Considering, the issues swirling around us. Right? Tariffs, possibility, rapid cost escalation, the uncertainty specific to, interest rates as decreed by the
Fed, all of that could spell out a series of challenges that are hard to predict at this point, right? Particularly when we envision projects that historically in this district have taken a long time to realize, elevating the risk and the challenge specific at the very least to cost escalation. That's why we are trying to move as as fast as we possibly can, while still being thorough in the examination of what we're doing and the reason why we're doing. So very, very good question. Something we'll continue to look at. The the next point that I I agree with is, I mean, we're very hopeful
that people respond to this, but the the private sector is also monitoring these conditions. And they're not going to venture into these projects just because we think it's a good thing. You know, they're gonna come at it and with with with an eye towards making money. So that's something to to understand. But we have already conquered two critical elements. Right? We have the land, and and we understand the demand. And that's powerful both in terms of workforce with 52 of the respondents to our survey saying we're very interested. And as board member, Gomez said earlier, a very significant percentage, even though from a
smaller pool of parents declaring also a significant interest in these projects. We believe that that will actually increase to the point made by board member Griego to the extent that we get better at actually surveying larger numbers of, constituents, whether workforce or or parents. The next frontier, you know, after we, after we amass additional experience through through these four projects simultaneously rolled out, we'll be actually probing these additional partnerships. You know, the city, cities, not just city of LA, but cities have a a
huge interest. I met with, seven or eight city managers yesterday. Huge interest in addressing, housing, issues in their community, particularly in cities where you have, high level density, no available, land space, and we happen to be the only entity that actually has this space. So to the point that was made earlier in addition to the four sites, that we are rolling with and moving forward with RFP, we had, identified up to 10 or 11 sites.
We chose to move forward with four because they are the ones that probably are facing, the least resistance. You know, the pathway moving forward is easier. But in addition to the other ones that we have looked at, there are literally dozens of additional sites in the community. For each one of those sites, there could be a different methodology and purpose adopted, meaning we can be partners in bringing about not only workforce housing solutions with priority for our workforce, but also then, housing solutions for families looking particularly to address critical
issues. We could be partners in joint development or being the land providers, via negotiation to cities to address homelessness, the in house conditions of many. So there's a whole series, a whole host of possibilities that lie ahead. What we're lacking at this point is actually the experience to move quickly with foresights. We, as a board, have experienced in developing some of these. I I was on a visit to the one in Gardena. Fantastic space. Amazing, amazing asset that we have provided to the community, which, by the way, I
think represents the best practice. I I would hope that all of our partners had examples like the one in Gardena or the one in Koreatown. Now that we are where we are, if in fact we receive the responses we anticipate receiving to the RFPs, we amass that, that experience. And before ground is broken on the very first one, we believe that we can actually move forward with other iterations that would serve and address other needs like the ones I described, already. So I wanna thank the board, number one, for your vision.
I know we've been at this for a long period of time. We're now moving. I hope that we're catching up, moving with four, you know, RFPs simultaneously, which, has no precedent. But the point here is considering the need and the assets that we have available to us is even before we break ground, we begin to consider additional steps to be taken in addressing this vaccine problem for our entire community. I really want to extend my appreciation to the board for this important conversation, but
also to Christina Tokes, to Anne, and to to Esam for for leading and leaning heavily on this very exciting and very needed, body of work for our community. Thank you very much. And thank you for addressing that. That was my next point, just in general that we mustn't forget our families that are facing housing insecurity. And the point I was gonna make when you you actually address that is that we look for other initiatives and or joint partnerships in addressing that. So thank you for that, and I look forward to, the next steps that we
take to help our families. So thank you again. I reiterate reiterate, my appreciation for the presentation today. And, yes, once again, very wonderful, great, questions from our board as well. So now I we will move to public comments. So I hand the the mic over to mister McLean. Alright. Thank you very much. We have a full vote of public comment. So I'll call on the folks who are listed as being in person first, and then we will transition to those who are speaking remotely. So for the first person, Bridie Lee, come on up.
I think you're out there. You'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. I think that's the first time I put the r in the right place when I when I called your name. And then Anya Meksen and then Lila Bianc. So, let me turn on your mic, and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Today, the LA Times reports historic lows in math and reading test scores attributed to increased screen time, shortened attention spans, and changes in teaching methods. It reminds me of Mark Zuckerberg's famous mantra, move fast and break things. Tech celebrated ethos of unapologetic recklessness and what made the running joke on the comedy
series Silicon Valley that they were, quote, making the world a better place so hysterical. But it turns out the joke is on us. Other recent headlines reveal that Meta explicitly permitted its chatbots to engage young children in, quote, conversations that are romantic or sensual, and OpenAI's Chat GPT apparently coached a teen to commit suicide. LAUSD's digital citizenship lessons are from Common Sense Education who lists among its donors and partners, Mark Zuckerberg's Foundation and OpenAI. Bill Gates, another funder of Common Sense Education, said that with AI, we won't need
humans for most things, including, he suggested, teaching. LAUSD seems to agree. LAUSD's instructional materials for English language arts feature screen recording of an eighth grade teacher copying and pasting a student's essay into perplexity to grade. Is this a personalized AI education we're all being promised? Last year, mister Carvalho lauded the promise of AI chatbot Ed at a summit hosted by GSV Ventures. The VC firm forecasts a coming wave of EdTech fueled school privatization in its report, Learning and Earning. All the founder of Ed ended up earning was an indictment for fraud.
But has LAUSD learned its lesson? Move fast and break things. Right? Why don't we slow down and do some research before we destroy public schools and endanger children with untested, unvetted, unproven ed tech from untrustworthy, profit hungry companies who see young students as nothing more than dollar signs? If LAUSD wants to make the world a better place, it should reward the long hours, dedication, and care only real human educators can provide. There's not an app for that, and there never will be. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Anya Meksen, are you there?
And then after Anya will be Lila Biak or Leela. You'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Thank you. Hi. My name is Anya Maxon, and I'm a member of Schools Beyond Screens. There was a lot of talk today about data, that apparently the district has data on how much screen time kids are getting at school. And apparently, it's very little. That is the opposite of what we are hearing from hundreds of parents who have joined our group. We are seeing that middle and high school students in particular are spending the vast majority of every day sitting on their one on one devices and spending this time surfing YouTube, online shopping, playing video games, and more.
The district needs to make their data publicly available immediately, including the methods for how this data is collected. These twenty minute digital citizenship lessons, furthermore, that we heard about today are like choosing curtain colors in a house that's burning down. You are not addressing the core issue, which is too much device use. And in fact, you are now trying to gaslight us that what we're seeing with our own eyes at schools across the district isn't actually happening. Show us the proof. Research is clear that this generation of children is the first generation in history that is cognitively worse off than their parents.
They are literally dumber by every measure, and the reason is very clear. Their attention spans have been decimated by excessive screen time, not because their hardworking, struggling parents are lazy failures, as superintendent Carvalho had the audacity to suggest today, but because schools are relinquishing their responsibility to educate children with real human teachers using proven pedagogic methods rather than the latest corporate sponsored tech fad? Do we want future generations to be functionally illiterate and outsource all their thinking to
corporate controlled AI? A recent MIT study has shown that ChatGPT users experience a steep drop in cognitive functioning while using the program and for several hours and days afterwards. Is this the kind of learning we are encouraging in our schools? The district needs to urgently place limits and guardrails on the use of tech in school, and district leaders need to listen to the science on this issue, not the tech companies that are trying to sell you a product and sponsoring these pointless lessons that do nothing. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Lila Biak or Lila, come on down.
You'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. And after miss Biock is Maria Luisa Palma. Thank you. I'm Lila Biock, parent of students at John Burroughs Middle and Third Street Elementary and the founder of Schools Beyond Screens. This morning, superintendent Carvalho and Member Gomez raised the crucial issue of digital equity, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to address it. Because despite the slick marketing pitches from EdTech CEOs, their tools do nothing to close the achievement gap, quite the opposite. We all know that math and reading scores have been plummeting ever since one to
one devices were rolled out in 2011, and the decline has been steepest in the most disadvantaged communities. Look where tech executives send their own children to be educated. Nature based low tech schools. Mark Zuckerberg's kids go to a Montessori. In the future, those with means will be able to access personalized bespoke services, while tech companies and AI evangelists disconnect the rest of us from social services. The parts of schooling that really matter, quality time spent with real humans in the context of meaningful relationships will be devalued and widen inequity, making life even worse for
the most vulnerable in our society. We at Schools Beyond Screens believe data is important, science is important, and yes, superintendent, equity is important. These values underpin our shared goal, to create learning environments where all children can achieve their fullest potential. We previously submitted a petition with seven suggestions for mitigating the proliferation of tech in our classrooms. In lieu of asking you to address each suggestion individually, today, we'd like to consolidate them into one modest resolution, which we urge the board to adopt immediately.
LAUSD must undertake a review of all existing technology products and policies to ensure they are safe, effective, and legal, and develop a set of guidelines and principles by which to assess the use of classroom tech moving forward. These rubrics must be developed with the input of parents, teachers, and students, and must be based on independent research free from corporate influence. Thank you, and we look forward to your response. Thank you for your time. Maria Luisa Palma and then Carol Landaverde. So first, Maria Luisa Palma and then Carol Landaverde.
And then after Carol Landaverde is Diana Guillen. The safety of our students is our top priority. Is that a true commitment or a farcical slogan? Because I have been hearing from parents, specifically, most recently, from North Hollywood High School. They were told at a meeting from counselors that they have constant, wandering students on campus who don't attend class. So is this happening at other schools? I'm gonna guess, they are. The answer to why that was allowed was, well, we have 2,500 students.
So basically, the staff is too busy to deal with these wandering students. So are you knowingly allowing vast numbers of instructional minutes to be wasted where these students are not sitting in classrooms? So are you overstating attendance? I hear from parents, sent me pictures about safe passage workers in BD 3, mister Smurlson. They're staring at their phones the whole time. I have multiple photos. At the beginning of the year, all of you board members stood together in front of the media, together with school police. Ah, now you're friends.
Now when you're banding together against ICE. Now you want school police. Ironic, isn't it? I remind you, the resolution we presented to you by the public, we want this to be voted on by the entire board, titled, ensuring local school site and community control authority autonomy and choice regarding safe campuses and the protection of our students and staff. Mister McLean, I don't have any response from you this, so far this school year, about when that will be scheduled. We want this to be presented for all of you to vote.
Go on the record and vote. How will you vote on this? What is it that you're willing to to do, to hear from the communities, to allow the communities a voice? The democratic process to have individual schools choose if they want school police on campus. It's too bad Ms. Gonas isn't here because she told me recently, if it's not good enough for my kids, it's not good enough for anyone's kids. Ms. Gonas, do you want to send your kids to a school where students wander around freely? What happened to Melanie Ramos when she was wandering around freely? Unfortunately Thank you for your time.
Carol Landaverde, come on down. Yes. Miss Landaverde, Okay. Okay. If you'd like to hear what she's saying in English English. Okay. If you'd like to hear what miss Lana Verde is saying in English as she's speaking Spanish, please put your hands up, and we'll get you these translation headsets. Or good afternoon. Sorry. Good afternoon to all, and thank you for allowing me and my son to be here along with miss Diana Guillen. This is an urgency for me. I want you to please pay attention because my son is not going to school.
He is, he has autism. He's special needs, and he has diabetes type one. He has asthma. And at the previous school he was at, they would allow me when the student would, receive his insulin, I would they would allow me to be there at the primary school that transitioned that he's had at sixth grade. Mister John has closed doors on me. He's discriminated against me. I had meetings. We opened the IEP. We did an amendment.
The they've closed up a lot. Miss Andrea Coleman has opposed to this, nurses for that are there as well. I was taking food to my son yesterday because he diet he's he needs a certain diet food. And they said that the nurse said they wouldn't allow me in. I had to take my child out knowing what the what he has. He has health issues as well. And I take care of him. And yesterday, I was really bothered because I did tell the principal that it wasn't correct what he was doing, and they tried to do a letter create a letter
when mister car mister Carvallo, I've sent you many emails since the thirteenth. And mister Placentio organized a review, meeting without my authorization. There was no transition made. What he did, he made an error. He said I was a bad mother. He made it seem as if I was a problematic mom. And I'm a leader from the West. I advocate for parents and my son will say he has something as well. So that's true because the principal and the nurse doesn't let let my mom inside
or something like that, and we we try, like me and my mom tried to, like, do like, try to get in, but they don't need us. Even even no one helped her, but yesterday, my the principal yelled at my mom, and and then it was, like, it was, like, one month ago.
I don't remember, but but the principal yelled my mom, and then I and then my mom had to take me, and then I I was like, sir, because and nothing went in. And when the the school when I was going, my old school elementary. Young man. Young man. About thirty more seconds, please. We value we value student voices here. We've gone over a certain period of time. So just thirty seconds more, please. Thank you so much. So and then, like, so in bed and everything like that, it's, like, going I
wonder if my life is going, like, worse, but but but the person was not letting my mom in. And the nurse, like, I don't know what they do about it. I don't know. But yeah. My they don't let my mom. Thank you so much. We appreciate your time. And and then I yesterday, the principal, yeah, that's all, and yeah. Even the principal doesn't do about it.
Thank you so much. We appreciate your time. We're gonna have to move to the next speaker. Thank you, Yaman. Thank you. Okay. Diana Guillen, I see you're out there. Please, come on up. You'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Miss Guillen's gonna speak in Spanish. So, again, if you'd like to hear what she's saying in English as she's speaking in Spanish, please put on these translation headsets. And following miss Guin is Maria Deis Ortiz. Okay. Thank you. Good afternoon, I believe. I believe it's afternoon. Good afternoon, members of the board. My name is Diana Guinn. I've been a president for the central committees for the last five years. And I've been listening to the today's presentation.
And, honestly, yes, parents, we are very worried. NPAC also mentioned that teachers, put students under screens saying they're doing iReady all day. And that is something that you need to supervise. Number two, they are also talking about, well, they're saying that they want housing for the employees. Honestly, I say, well, if you want housing, I can obtain, housing low income housing because I have I have Medi Cal. Therefore, an LAUSD employee that works eight hours, I don't think they would, be able
to obtain low income housing. The rent is $2,500 even though it's low income. And I was also saying that, housing in South Central, they've offered me and, you know, I will not take my family to live there because I have young kids who outside, there is prostitution. There are a lot of sell drug selling. Even though I do need the money, I need to save money, but I will not take my family there because it is very dangerous, especially working in within the safety issue. And because of the parent, because of this we want school police to come back
to the schools. You are not listening to us. We have asked for this as a public. We're we've demanded this. And you being members of the board, we want you to vote and for people to know that how you really think because you lie. When you say you talk to the schools and you said, yes. We do have school police, but they're not inside the schools. They're not vigilantly monitoring because when something happens, that's the only time you let them in. And miss Rocio, to the member PAC member, she don't respect them. Mom wanted to speak to you yesterday, and miss Uvia Saenz, you ignored her.
You denied her. You denied speaking to her, and you've denied meetings. And you only have meetings with organizations that will add to your political campaign. Stop doing that and Thank you for your time. Attend the public. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Maria Daisy Ortiz, come on up. You have two minutes to speak once she begin. Miss Ortiz is also gonna speak in Spanish, so you can keep those headsets on if you'd like to hear what she's saying in English. Good afternoon to everyone. My name is Maria Desi Ortiz. And first and foremost, I wanna suggest for you not to evade your responsibility supplementing
or adding a low resource item. And I did something that I wanna say to you. We want we don't want a lot of teachers. We want teachers with hard vocational and preparational so that they can have a better vision to better education so that for it not to only be information, but formation of the future leaders of this great nation because information is not the same as instruction. There aren't bad students, but bad teachers that do not teach or guide or form
leaders. If not they if not, they destroy dreams, lives. And we don't want our students to be thought to be ignorance. We want them to think so many information. You seem like program robots. We don't need that. I wanna invite you to see the documentary, the Sembrador. She's the best teacher so that you can see that you are honestly you honestly need to think outside the box to be able to touch the life of our children with a quality instruction because it's enough.
You to come down for for come up, and you applaud that. And when in reality, if you know how to count, when two are down and two go up, you've only recuperated a few. There are many that need to elevate. It's just a makeup that you're doing. You present things. You present digital numbers because of cynicism. And this is what you have the most. Everything looks good here. Just like the Alice in Wonderland, everything looks wonderful. But at the at the campuses, it's very different, and that is not what we
want. We want don't want this to continue. We want changes, but you don't want them. This is why you don't want parents. That's why you don't want committees. This is why you don't want transparency, and this is why you don't want inclusion. But you say you have inequity time. That's for your thinking. Craig. Are you here? Aaron Craig, come on up. You'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. And then after mister Craig is, mister David Tarkovsky. Parent family, the Parent and Family Bill of Rights and Responsibilities posted on the LAUSD website calls that a lofty ideal, that the district commits to a partnership between itself and parents that reflects mutual respect and and support for each other.
Partnership requires communication, honest, transparent communication between the parties. You'll recall from my previous comments that I had a requested information regarding my seven year old daughter's use of tech on her school issued device, information that boils down to three questions. Is it safe? Is it legal? And is it effective? Well, last Friday, you transparently communicated to me that you have no real interest in answering these questions, and you're just gonna hope I go away. My name is Aaron Craig, and I'm with the and I'm a member of Schools Beyond Screens. Our group has been asking for transparency and a clear set of data driven science
based guidelines that outline how tech should be used in the classroom. We've asked to be participants in the discussions that lead to these guidelines, and we've asked for transparency around how third party vendors interact with our children and their private data. We aren't saying that there shouldn't be technology in the classrooms. Far from it. We're saying that there are real concerns regarding the efficacy of these systems in school, and they need to be considered. So take us up on the offer. We don't bite. We wanna help. Our taxes pay your salaries, and our votes elected you. And we've entrusted you with the most precious things in our lives, our children.
Now later today, you're gonna find in your inboxes a request for that same information I required before requested before, but this time under the Federal Education Rights and Privacy Act known as FERPA, and you're gonna have forty five days to respond. And if you don't respond, then you're gonna hear from my lawyer. I wish that things didn't have to escalate. I would prefer that we cultivate a partnership that you so idealistically refer to on your website. Can we find a way to transparent and honest communication? I'm open to that, and I hope so because we're not going away. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your time.
Mister David Tolkoski, come on down. You'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Thank you very much for the opportunity. On the housing issue, again, you need to think bigger than just housing. It's a good first bite, but you have so much property that we can reenvision our schools and make it park space, make it housing, make it senior citizen, make it auditorium. So many elementary schools don't even have an auditorium big enough for their for their parents to come. Think bigger. Number two on housing, I don't know why we continue to ignore the first project,
which is Glass Hill Park. That is the first housing project. It's got some lessons learned. Find out why it's not being presented. Next, on, with respect to the first presentation today, if you're meeting with city managers, make sure that city is paying its developer fees. Why sit down with the city manager of Huntington Park and they don't even pay what they have to give for their developments. Number two, the danger of motions. With all good intent, there was a digital citizen's motion and now it's turned into
something else. Take a look at common sense education. Take a good look at it. It's a Trojan horse going into our school system from companies that want to take advantage. Number two, virtual academies. Have you seen the results of the five, six thousand kids in math and English in our virtual academies? If those results are really three times worse, take a look at what virtual learning is all about. Broadband. I think the IG needs to do an inspection of what has happened. Why do these certain places still not have access?
We received money, and there's more money available, and the governor is, dealing with that now. Equity issues. Not one word during an hour about AP Computer Science. Find out which schools have AP Computer Science and how the results are. If you find that 30 of your high schools don't even have AP Computer Science, that's equity at the highest levels. And finally, you have winter and and summer. If you're gonna do tutoring, find out the tutor data. Have you ever seen the tutoring data? Thank you very much. Thank you for your time.
Alright. The next will go to the folks who listed themselves as being call in. Marcela Garcia. Are you on the line? Marcela Garcia is not there. Are you in the room, Marcela? Karina Lopez is on the line. Karina Lopez, please please press 6 to unmute yourself, and you have two minutes to speak once you begin. Karina Lopez. Hi. Good afternoon. Good afternoon to all. My name is Karina Lopez. Karina Lopez Suniga. Well, we've always been worried in regards to the training for parents. And LAUSD has always told us that parents are are are associates when it has
to do with students. And we also have the rights. We also have the responsibility. But what is the responsibility of the district of LAUSD, and what is the responsibility? What is the real responsibility of parents, of families, especially the ones who belong to a legislative group and entity and provide recommendations. LAUSD receives budgets for each individual, for each student, and also to provide training, quality training, and appropriate training.
But this we haven't been receiving this. The parents, we have the rights, but we also have responsibilities. But how can we obtain or how can we provide this responsibility when not all the information is not provided to us in our language, in an appropriate way? And this is why we ask LAUSD to please comply so that parents, we can be responsible in an amplified way. Now technology, it is a vulnerability, for parents and members of the community, and we
should also integrate that. Please please pay attention to this. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Okay. Raquel Diaz. Raquel Diaz, you're signed up to speak remotely, but I do not have you online in front of me. Are you in the room, miss Diaz? Nope. Matt Ratheley, you are on the line. Matt Ratheley, please press 6 to unmute yourself, and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Matt Ratheley. Good afternoon, LAUSD board. Matt Ratley, parent of a Broadway Elementary School student. I previously emailed this board on August 25 indicating that the communication by Agnes Kamau,
regional director for District West, which was sent on 08/16/2025 to the Broadway Elementary School community. In my note to the board, I included a copy of the email that Angus Camal sent and indicate to you that the note that Angus Camal sent was obtuse, offensive, and illegal. Subsequent to my email of August 25, there was a letter served upon the district written by Peter Eliasberg, chief counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Southern
California. That letter was served upon Devorah Reed, Agnes Kamau, and Celia Sosa on September 2. Mister Eliasberg's letter in is in direct response to Agnes Kamau's email of August 16. In mister Eliasberg's letter, he points out numerous places where the policy promulgated by Los Angeles Unified School District and the follow-up email policy promulgated by Agnes Kamau would not survive challenges to its constitutionality. The letter expects a response from this district by September 9.
It demands that the district immediately rescind and cease enforcement of this illegal policy related to how parents interact with each other on social media. It says a lot that the chief counsel of one of the largest and oldest civil rights organizations in the country sent a letter to this district. The district should take seriously the points made in the letter and should expect that any attempt at enforcing illegal policies will be met with a swift and adverse with swift and adverse reactions. In the current state of finances, it seems intuitive that it makes financial sense for
the district to avoid costly and embarrassing litigation. In an era like we are in right now, it is shocking that this board, comprised entirely of members of the Democratic Party, is sitting by and doing nothing about this. The silence is absolutely deafening. This board needs to set an example to the world and that this school district is in is a house of learning, and they will not fall prey to legal Trumpian tactics. Thank you for your time. We appreciate your time. Belinda Ma. I see you're online. Belinda Ma, please press star six to unmute yourself, and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin.
Belinda Ma. Good afternoon, school board members. I am also going to speak to that ACLU letter that was sent to the general counsel of the district on September 2 regarding LAUSD's social media policy, which raises serious constitutional concerns that demeans your immediate demand your immediate attention. The ACLU has identified that LA USC's current policy violates the first amendment by prohibiting derogatory and disparaging comments about virtually anyone connected to the schools, students, employees, other parents, volunteers, and even the schools themselves. This sweeping censorship goes far beyond what the constitution allows.
The Supreme Court has made clear that we have the right to robust criticism of public officials and institutions, but this policy attempts to eviscerate that protection. It attempts to regulate speech about private individuals like other parents and volunteers. This policy creates an unconstitutional double standard across the board. Parents can praise anyone or anything, but they will face discipline before any criticism. This isn't just viewpoint discrimination. It is an attempt to control the narrative by chilling free speech. This is exactly what the first amendment prohibits. Even more troubling, schools like Broadway Elementary and District West are using this already problematic
policy and threatening to ban parents from campus for engaging in their protected speech. The ACLU correctly identifies this as unlawful retaliation that would kill any reasonable person from exercising their constitutional rights. The Internet and social media are what the Supreme Court calls the most important places for the exchange of views in our democracy. We cannot create speech free zones in these vital public forums. I urge this board to immediately rescind the unconstitutional portions of this policy and direct all administrators not to enforce these provisions. Our schools should be modeling respect for constitutional rights, not violating them.
Parents' voices, whether supportive or critical, are essential to approving improving our schools. Let's protect that right while we still can. Thank you very much. Thank you for your time. And the last caller is Maria Brenes. Maria, are you in the room? Because I do not have you online. Maria Brenes. Okay. That concludes, public comment for the meeting. Thank you, mister McLean, and thank you for all who shared your public comments. All in all, today's discussions from preparing our students to navigate a rapidly evolving digital world to advancing workforce housing solutions for our employees reflect our shared commitment to creating
schools where every student can thrive and every educator and staff member is supported. These efforts are deeply connected. By investing in our students' future and ensuring stability for the people who serve them, we are strengthening the foundation of our school district and the communities we call home. So thank you all. Thank you for my colleagues for great questions, wonderful discussion, and this adjourns our community of the whole, and we look forward to seeing you at our next meeting. Thank you so much.