##VIDEO ID:Xf51y6U8bko## n [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] n n [Music] n [Music] la [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] la [Music] good evening thank you all for being here here here need to say that here here here here this so do we have any public comment all right then I will adjourn to close session special meeting special meeting closed it's a closed session this is recess to close session this is the first session this is the first then there's a second one oops [Music] [Music] [Music] la la [Music] [Music] la [Music] la [Music] [Music] n [Music] [Music] n [Music] a [Music] a [Music] [Music] one [Music] [Music] la [Music] la la [Music] f [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] n [Music] n nah [Music] n [Applause] [Music] n [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] l [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] all [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] a [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] n [Music] a [Music] [Music] n [Music] [Music] n [Music] la [Music] [Music] [Music] a [Music] [Music] h [Music] a o [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] n [Music] [Music] po a [Music] [Music] [Music] la la [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] n [Music] a [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] e [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] n [Music] oh [Music] PA [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] la [Music] la [Music] [Music] [Music] n [Music] for I [Music] in [Music] la [Music] la e [Music] la [Music] [Music] w [Music] n [Music] [Music] la [Music] a [Music] o e [Music] [Music] one [Music] la [Music] la [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] n [Music] n [Music] n [Music] the [Applause] [Music] la [Music] [Music] [Music] la [Music] [Music] [Music] for [Music] [Music] e for [Music] [Music] you [Music] in [Music] [Music] ch for [Music] yes hey Elizabeth thank you you're going to speak in a few minutes here I [Music] just we are going to call this meeting to order okay so good evening everyone we appreciate all of you from our community being here this evening we are in violation of the Marshal the Fire Marshall code right now we're going to open up a room for you for overflow in a few minutes we cannot keep this number of people in the hallway or in the room it's not legal for us to do this I want you to understand that we have two resolutions on our agenda when we open and that is for um Elliot black history month and then I believe one for um Fred Fred katsu so that that's going to happen nobody can make public comment until we come back from close session at 7:45 so if you would like to step out and take a break and come back at 7:45 that's when we'll start public comment for other things on the agenda that will give us time to set up the Overflow rooms for you so that you will have enough space to be comfortable and see the meeting on um our WebEx boards I'm going to call this meeting to order when yeah yeah so the the other room in 229 will be set up in about five minutes again we cannot have this number of people in the boardroom it's over the capacity that we're allowed to have in here okay hello hello we're going to need to go into the The Spill over room overflow room down the hall it will be ready in 5 minutes but this is not a safe atmosphere right now so we're going to have to exit to the Overflow room 229 it'll be set up in five minutes okay good if you're not sitting in a chair you're going to have to go to the Overflow room I will check and see if we can have two overflow rooms thank you thank you I believe there will also be some more chairs after we do the Elliott resolution because I don't expect our Elliott staff to want to spend the night here after their first day of school so when there is more chairs we'll let some of you come back in to where you see the Elliot staff sitting when we go to Open Session e e e it's really going to help us out if people can go out into the hall for these spillover room because we have students sitting on the floor here that should not be on the floor it's not safe for everyone in this room it's ready the spillover room is ready the Overflow room is ready and if everybody who does not have a seat there has to be seats here what about our kids on the floor yes so our students who are sitting here I think there's there's some seats for you to sit in if that's okay it's a lot safer so if you're speaking later after closed session there is a spillover room e e e e e e e so good evening we are going to um we've opened 229 we realize that that's still not enough space for everybody that wants to be here we're going to open it another room in our family engagement Center and set up another WebEx board in the meantime if you don't have a seat you really shouldn't be in here um because we don't have enough space we want to make sure a few people could stand in the back the hallways have to be clear people can stand on the sides of the hallways until we get the other room set up but again I want you to know we're not going to be taking public comment for the regular agenda until 7 45 so you may unless you have something on these first three resolutions that you want to make a comment about it you might want to leave I maybe you don't want to lose your seat but you know if you're standing and come back at 7:45 I think in the other room we opening we'll be able to fit about um 20 more uh people 20 to 25 more people and that will be all the Overflow um space that that we have we have to keep the hallways clear we have to follow the fire Marshall's rules they can see what's going on in here and they will come and they will shut the meeting down so I really need your cooperation and support and you know we're glad that you're here as a community with us but we have to follow the rules for everyone's safety okay the meeting is going to begin call to order here here here here here here here here did you call we're moving on to Item B resolution 2800 our commitment to rebuilding Elliot Arts Magnet do oh where's the pledge wa there's no pledge here we're g we're going to do it later resolution 2800 our commitment to rebuilding Elliot Arts Magnet do I have a motion and a second I move approval I'll second do we have public comment on Elliott and how many do we have clerk we have 14 okay I am going to ask that we do two minutes per public comment and we can start Erica Peters followed by Audrey Rivers go ahead turn yeah superintendent Dr blancco Schoolboard president Jennifer Holly and all those present tonight I am here to ask you to adopt resolution 2800 to commit to rebuild Elliot Arts Magnet my name is Dr Erica Peters and I am the instructional coach at Elliot Arts Magnet we lost our home on January 8th our school Comm Community watched their school burn on TV the district needs to commit to rebuild our school we are a community and deserve to have our school rebuilt our kids need to see that the district is committing committed to their future and rebuilding our home Elliott history deserves to be preserved please adopt resolution 2800 Audrey Rivers then Molly Leaf good evening board members I am a former resident of Altadena on East mesina and I came here to support Elliot in every way shape or form thank you please pass resolution 2800 thank [Applause] you hi my name is Molly leaf and I'm the Drama teacher of Elliot Arts um as you you probably know our theater tragically burned 3 weeks ago and the theater was a space where our students just didn't sing and dance and act they felt like they had a second home one they felt safe in one where they had a voice and they had a place where they could advocate for themselves and be a family the Arts is not just something kids do after school for fun it's for many kids their church it's their family it's a place where they can be who they are one of my seventh grade students just had gotten the lead in the School Musical Shrek she's Princess Fiona her dad is our guidance counselor Mr jod Simmons jod has five kids four days after they lost their home Jolie sent me an email and said Miss Leaf I'm kind of bored should I be getting off book that's why we need our theater back and we need it back bigger and even better than it was before Lori Toran good evening board president Holly superintendent Blanco members of the board SLT and our PD family my name is Lori tumian principal of Marshall for fundamental former principal at Elliott and I am here once again in support of resolution 2800 the commitment to rebuild and restore Elliot Arts Magnet I didn't think I would have to come back a second time because quite honestly I thought the resolution would pass unanimously and we all we were all going to cheer and clap with joy that didn't happen perhaps we needed to have more folks here to show everyone how much this means to current past and even future Elliot Art School family members I am here tonight again because I heard something last time that left me feeling discouraged and dismayed the notion that it's not about the building it most certainly is about the building because it's about what the building represents it's about the building because the building holds nearly 100 years of memories past performances and joy it's about the building that represents union jobs Teamster jobs and Community Partnerships it's about the building because it is the only public Middle School in Altadena a town that has just experienced unfathomable Devastation and Elliott was known as the as its Crown Jewel a Beacon of Hope in the community if you ever had the privilege of going to the top of that Tower some of us in this room have it provides a majestic 360 degree view of Altadena pasadina and sadre and it is so tall you could feel like you could almost reach up and give God a high five it is about the building because it provided a sense of comfort peace and safety for so many and tell anyone who has lost their home in these devastating fires that it's not about their building I wonder what their thoughts would be on that it is about the building because Elliot families want to know that their school is being rebuilt and while they are temporarily housed elsewhere having this in their minds gives them a sense of peace and further underscores that we care about mental health of our students as we are a trauma-informed district and this may sound emotional but what isn't emotional about restoring a sense of Peace for our students that is being trauma informed and those two things are not mutually exclusive it is about if it's not about our buildings why do we work so hard to get measure and bond money to restore our buildings to make them beautiful and welcoming Elliott needs to be restored to its original Majestic State the 1920s Art Deco Mecca that it was no reimagining no Reinventing because it's about the building which represents all that makes PD the amazing District that it is thank you so much for your time thank you so I'm going I'm going to remind everyone we're just on such an accelerated time two minutes two minutes so continue n pole and Amy manisan good evening everyone my name is Nae py I'm the current assistant principal of Eliot Arts Magnet I've only been at this district for the past year and a half I started my job as um Elliot's assistant principal last school year and I have to say the moment I walked into that building it was magical I have video of just walking around when I first got the job of just feeling the presence of the kids of the history without even meeting anybody there and then the students came I love the diversity I love the everybody has a home there everybody belongs there we have amazing programs we were doing so well with enrollment increasing enrollment um it's just such a special magical place we need our home back we are very appreciative that we have a you know a temporary place right now but it's not home we don't feel like we belong we we want to go back home and we you know it's what our kids need our kids have lost so much um a lot of them we were hearing stories today it's Devastation and on top of that we've all been displ and and it's it's not a place it's not a good place to be it's not a good feeling to feel like you don't belong right now so please help restore Elliott Amy D [Applause] Ariel good evening everyone my name is Amy Med I'm the magnet Grant coordinator at La darts magnet and I'm here on behalf of the community staff and students not only did many students and staff lose their homes from these devastating fires but also their school which is for most of us was our second home schools are supposed to be the heart of a community and right now all of our hearts are broken our school was a special place that allowed our students to express themselves to feel connected honored and be creative we were just getting started to show everyone how amazing our students can be if you ever stepped foot on our campus you would know how much magic there is and if you never have give us the opportunity to show you later on Elliott is a symbol for Altadena because it connects the past to its future it's the only Public School in Altadena and our Tower is a symbol of Hope in time of UN in this time of uncertainty please give our students that certainty and hope that they need please commit and keep your honor of rebuilding our school as the district stated they wanted to restore rebuild and Rise so please restore rebuild so Elliott can rise Ariel PTO fman followed by Carolyn Baker what was the first name sorry my name is Ariel tanero Felman everyone calls me misari including my students um I teach some of our District's most vulnerable and high need students students who have extensive support needs I stood before the board in 2019 asking you not to close Wilson I played voice recordings of my students telling you why they loved their school and yet the decision was made to close Wilson anyway I understand we had lowering enrollment numbers and multiple schools needed to be closed so Wilson was one of those schools it hurt but it was a financial decision that the board felt needed to be made when Co hit it was very hard to not have closure and that made it much more heartbreaking but no one saw a pandemic coming before you now is a resolution to commit to rebuilding Elliott which is no longer able to be used due to a tragedy and I literally watched my classroom burning on live TV it has nothing to do with the enrollment numbers and the board is not currently needing to cut a school for budgetary reasons to table this resolution again or to vote not to support the commitment to rebuilding Elliott would just compound the tragedy that our community has experienced I personally felt heartbroken all over again when I sat in this boardroom two weeks ago listening to How Charter Schools need to be considered for inclusivity schools that would never even consider taking my students who who rent property from us and could choose not to renew their leases if they don't like the school that you built the Elliot Community is strong and families want to return and rebuild their homes give them a school in their community that is a public school that welcomes all and where everyone truly feels welcome thank you Carolyn Baker followed by John miners good evening superintendent Blanco president Holly and members of the school board my name is Carolyn Baker and I the proud grandmother of two students who attend schools impacted by the eaten fire first of all thank you for your dedicated service especially in light of your own personal losses I Rise to comment on res resolution 2800 the commitment to Rebirth of Elliot Arts Magnet Middle School there is much talk about the importance of inclusion and I know inclusion is part of PD's vision mission and goals yet the public comments of the January 16th board meeting showed that some of the members of our school Community do not feel represented seen or heard resolution 2800 is a wonderful opportunity to codify PD's commitment to inclusion I'm here tonight to ask for your help in extending the spirit of healing inspiration and rebirth intended by resolution 2800 words matter as does their absence it is important to specifically name each of the six schools impacted by the eaten fire in s sp2800 thank you John followed by Moises Chavez John mayard mayard I don't think he's here all right Moises Chavez good evening everybody uh my name is Moes Chavez I am one of the music teachers at Elliot Arts where over the past three and a half years I have taught choir jazz band Orchestra guitar rock band music appreciation and have been music director for our yearly musicals and it has been my pride to teach these classes to all local students at Elia Arts our doors are open for example we've always had a large number of group home students if we don't rebuild Elliott where will these students go the staff at Elliot is the most committed staff by far I have ever worked with in my short 10 years of serving at Public Schools please rebuild our school so we can continue to provide top quality care and education to the hundreds of students present and future that are looking to us to continue to provide life-changing experiences thank you Margaret Hunt followed by Doug molor hi um I'm Margaret Hunt daughter of Dr Elizabeth pomy just saying she's right there my son Dylan and Dr pom's grandson is an eighth grader at Elliott I first want to commend the incredible team at Elliot our badass principal who got the school moved thank you this whole Army of people thank you Dr Blanco for getting them a new home today was an amazing day for all those kids um I want to talk about this incredible school um I'm an Altadena resident I didn't lose my home but I liveed nearby Dylan walked to school every day I can tell you that Elliott is much more than a school it is a beacon that sits up there on that hill we know we're home when we see that we're at Elliott um the students know that they're at home when they get to Elliott this passion that you hear from these F these teachers right right here I'm pretty sure you're I hope it's landing on you um so as a parent I know that my student is happy and doing great at Elliott you see this incredible Community right here but it's also a family this big family just moved but they don't want to be where they are they want to be back in their home we all need that to happen for them I acknowledge when I read this resolution that maybe there's some language in there about rebuilding a school I see my own home I see my decimated community that nobody knows what the cost is I hope you don't get hung up on the language and the resolution I think it's an important moment to show this town to show these kids and to show this badass crew of teachers and administrators that you love this school so please pass this resolution thank you Doug molar followed by Emily Savala uh my name is Doug motor aladine is my hometown I grew up here I went to Elliott I was on the Town Council I I lived here for half my life and I am proud of this town it is so beautiful and I write a lot about time travel and if we could go back in time and we could save the davies's auditorium at barnsworth or the James Cottages or St Marks or or the aling community church or or any of the treasures that we lost in that fire we do it in a heartbeat but we can't the fires took them promis forever but they have not taken Elliott or that magnificent Tower a tower that people who watch TV and movies all over the world know and recognize it's now the one architectural gem we have left please preserve it thank you Emily saala followed by someone um hi I'm Emily zala I'm in the eighth grade um Elliot is not just a school it's our community I've had great teachers um if it wasn't for Elliot I wouldn't have found out who I was I wouldn't have found sorry I wouldn't have found out um my passion I had great teachers teaching me that I'm sorry that I'm that I good at dancing I'm good at acting and that I want to pursue the musical career in the future it's taught me that um family doesn't have doesn't have to just be bloodline it can be everyone in your school even students that don't get along we all love each other and it's it's a community that no one else could ever get thank you I made the bestest friends I've always had a place to go everyone always know each other I it's it's it was like my second home and when I saw it burn it was like part of me died and I don't for me I know I'm leaving in like 3 months to go to high school but I need kids younger than me to have the same experience I've had to have to have a place to go and be yourself and find out who you were I need students younger than me to grow up knowing that everyone in that school cares about them because some people's home lives are not great and they need somewhere else to be and Ellie has always been that place I've never heard one kid in that school complain about it try going somewhere else and I swear they'll complain about at least one teacher but here everyone loves every teacher and I love my school thank you joury Rose and hi good evening thank you for having me um within my first semester of being at Elliot I feel like I've had a new home already created for me and it was it's just really special to me how I'm able to do all of these things I'm able to be in the spring musical I'm able to I'm able to play bass all the time time I'm able to make new friends I'm able to see even older friends have fun and just and it's really nice to be at Ellie because it's just everybody there is so caring and it's every even the building I I love that building that was it was amazing it was in the bell tower I I always dreamt of going up there and I just I don't know if I ever am still going to be able to go up there it was so beautiful and the whole community at Elliot was amazing and I just feel like you should really rebuild that cuz without that Community I feel like Altadena won't be the same and it really won't because without everybody I would without Elliot I wouldn't have met Emily without Elliot I wouldn't have met a lot of my favorite new friends without Elliot I haven't I wouldn't have made I wouldn't have actually pursued playing bass without Elliot I wouldn't have tried out for the spring Musical and I wouldn't have done a lot of things that I wouldn't have push myself to do without Elliot sorry um but Elliot's just a really special place to everybody there and even the students and it's just so it's it's a special feeling there and it's it's really just a home and everybody there is so caring for one another they understand one another another and even from like the hallways to all the other classrooms it was just it was just a different feelings thank you the Board of Education acknowledges received of public comment via email and it will be made part of our permanent record of this meeting okay thank you we are going to move oh you need fine what am I doing I was just so overcome uh we have a motion and a second on the floor are there any comments Mr Harden um I I want to say thank thank you to the Elliott Community uh for being with us uh tonight and I also want to thank um uh the president for in M uh including some some more inclusive language in the resolution um so that you know all of our school communi are included uh that they they have a safe um uh space and that their Community is together including the Elliot Community while I know it's not ideal uh they are together and I also want to credit the superintendent's leadership team and the superintendent for making that happen in a record uh period of time so um I appreciate that that this is in here and I I think that it's important I think this is a symbolic gesture for um a building that that that folks Regard in the community as special um but I also want to uh make it um known that it's important for all of us as a community to come together for the future of PD and we need to represent all of our communities uh including Elliott in that uh in in the growth of our district as we move forward we're going to have to make some some impossible uh choices um we're going to have to dream big uh to think about um how we can uh come back together rebuild uh our our school district and be even stronger in the future so um so I appreciate um I appreciate that that sentiment in terms of of coming together all of us to make sure that we um dream big about the future M Fredericks I also want to thank the Elliot Community um I already thought Elliot was amazing and uh because I went on a tour and uh enrollment was growing and I remember you were there and you were saying you were offering tours for the fifth graders from all across the district and it was it was working so you have very something very special and with the students speaking it's clearly a very special place so I just want to tell you when you show up it really matters when you speak it really matters we're listening so thank you for showing up um I had some questions for staff I I submitted them and um I didn't I didn't get any answers I don't think anything changed but I had questions about the damage to Elliot the extent of the damage and I understand that you know we're already dealing with reopening schools so there's just really no time uh for that um so there's no numbers at this point um and I'm a numbers person and um the reason I um I'm a little hesitant on this is be not because I don't feel like Elliot is wonderful and special and much needed in our community it's this resolutions have never been used in this way to um prioritize one's school and so i' I'd feel more comfortable if we came back in the process that we are normally following which is when we have all the schools and we can look at all of them Elliot in the context of all schools and so we could serve all students and so my vote is not a vote against Elliott it's how I feel this process is we're not voting at Miss Fredericks I know but I'm just we have to keep an open mind until the vote is called okay I was just making my comment thank you is there anybody else M Patrice so I'm a second generation husky and um so once upon a time Elliott was pink and it had um quite a few nicknames associated with said um pink aesthetic but um to your point about the architectural Integrity of the the building it does um have a very Majestic feel um it is an um iconic structure and I I guess I am counting myself as one of the fortunate ones who has been able to go to the top of the tower um our community has suffered a tremendous loss and U I believe that the purpose of this resolution is to make a commitment to our overall desire for PD to restore um recommit and to Rise um after this Devastation so I am supportive of this resolution and we will take the requisite steps to um examine the feasibility of what it looks like to preserve the structure as it is with the ultimate goal being to Reser preserve the as much of the structure as possible um and also to ensure that for remaining structures and the district as a whole that has suffered damage we will be re I I'll say that it is my belief that the superintendent and her team's intent is to bring forward our um plan to examine and have a cohesive and comprehensive discussion about what those steps are to make sure that we are um making the necessary modernizations and improvements to other campuses as well I think that we can do two things at the same time I believe in being able to be nimble and flexible and learning how to walk and Che gum I think that that's our responsibility as um leaders our responsibility as um policy makers and our responsibility as um the stewards of this organization so I'm committed to making sure that we are able to do it's a both and situation and not either or so um I I might wear pink tonight but um I am Elliot strong and I do um still have my husky pride and my husky grein in me thank you very much W Miss belly all right so Patrice I think I'm ahead of you by some years but I am an OT Alum go husky thank you very much and I do have stories about uh going up into that Tower I'm going to say it like that but you know um so I just want to say that it's different when you when you're from a place and you've experienced something like that building one of the students talked about the building you know when I was in Middle School we used to call it Junior High that staircase when you first man it was one of the most beautiful staircases that I'd ever seen in a school building and I still have not seen one like it but but what I think about this resolution when I think about it it's not I don't see it as just a commitment to one school okay um when you talk about the architecture of that school being a beacon the tower being a beacon absolutely correct there two junior high schools or middle schools when I was growing up where if I had been an artist I would have drawn picture after picture of their towers one was at the time Washington Junior High they have a beautiful Tower and then Elliott and we had to walk to Elliott it was an uphill climb every day and I remember the first day of school we were just looking for the tower if we once we see that Tower we know we've made it I am very committed to supporting this resolution um the resolution does make mention of the other schools um that we are going to need to rebuild and restore but Elliott is the beacon of that Community it's it's like at the Gateway and it means a lot if you're from here if you've attended there if you've worked in that building you experienced something that others just don't or have not experienced and so there is so much to be said about that building in itself even if we were to use the other school properties for something else I would not support that happening at Elliott we need that Middle School in Altadena that when that Community is rebuilt those students are going to need somewhere to go and so um I actually don't think that the the resolution is even necessary for that to happen but what I like about the resolution is I believe in my heart of hearts that one day that school that building is going to be in the historical uh registry and I believe that it's going to be important to have such a resolution from the district itself alongside that that school in that registry so that's one of the reasons why I think this resolution is very important for when that time comes so thank you do we have any other comments from anyone here oh student Miss G hello I am a junior at Blair High School I have never been to Elliot Middle School however I have had had so many friends and peers that have spoke so boastfully and proudly of Elliot I have had friends where I've we've literally just seen a random staircase and they would just be reminded of how beautiful that staircase is just seeing the community that's come today to speak about something that they're so passionately about especially when it's inspiring young speakers to come up and speak so passionately in front of the entire District that means Elliot has something special thank you is there anything else because I just have a couple of quick words I just want to say thank you for the heartfelt um talking when I first moved to aladen I am not one of these people here who have been here forever for Generations I'm not and I am overwhelmed by the Damage Done to aladen and it's very difficult for me to even drive uphill to my house because it hurt so bad and it's really been hard for me when I first moved here in like 2005 I didn't know a lot of people but the people I did know they would say oh you know Elliot's not you know it's not very good and they'd say sort of disparaging things I said let me go take a look at this Elliot because I needed a place for my daughter and I walked inside and I said this is a magnificent building that wasn't the best part the best part was when the bell rang and all these children came streaming out of the classes the architecture is a a symbol in example of the formal architecture that the United States of America did for public education because they said students matter but the children inside of Elliot looked like like the children that the promise of American public education made a reality and when I saw all those smiling faces from all different backgrounds all different abilities I knew in that moment my daughter was going to do well and Elliott did not let me down and so I thank you I we can call for a vote now we have a motion and a second on the floor just I oh my student M Chi yes all in favor okay thank you very much excuse me any know against I'm sorry all opposed thank you very much so the motion the resolution passes 6 to one thank you very much we're going to move on to resolution 2801 Black History Month Miss Michelle Bailey yeah I don't think I have any any more energy to read an entire [Laughter] resolution but so just a a really brief um I'll do one whereas from this resolution and let's see then I'll resolve it so whereas so I can we all just listen to the resolution please the whereas thank you okay so whereas black citizens have participated in every American effort to secure protect and maintain the essence and substance of American democracy Now be it further resolved that the governing board of the Pasadena Unified School District does hereby recognize the month of February 2025 as national black history month and expects all schools to commemorate this occasion with appropriate and meaningful activities I move approval I second I have a comment okay we're going to move to comment now um truste McKenzie so I I will not labor the issue but the theme of Black History Month for 2025 is African-Americans in labor so I just wanted to take a quick moment to um call out some prominent African-Americans in the labor movement who have um certainly um stood for workers rights stood for human rights stand for equity and also um believe in dignity for everyone who engages in work um I will start with um Lee Saunders who is the president of um the American Federation of state county and Municipal Employees he's the national president of alme is the acronym for that um the rest of these folks come out of California in some way shape or form um I'll start with lansa Butler she was president of um service employees International Union um local it was the long-term care workers union but now it is SEIU 2025 largest healthcare workers union in the the country these are people who um engage in inhome caregiving for families and they do really really difficult work and they do it with dignity and they do it with Grace um she was leading this me for well more than 10 years before um she moved on to do other things such as become a United States Senator and now is um serving as um a partner in a political consulting firm April verret followed lansa Butler as SEIU 202's leader and April Barett is now the first black woman to be the president of SEIU International so she's the first national president of SEIU that is a black woman and then the last person that I wanted to just give um honor to for this um Black History Month is Ivon wheeler Ivon wheeler is the president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and she is the first black woman to hold this position she leads more than 800,000 um union workers here in across the Southern California Los Angeles region and I'm saying this because in the world we live in today where workers rights are under assault um where people who have worked in Civil Service are in a position where their employment in the future is vulnerable and we have always had an opportunity for um folks to work and serve our government with dignity and um with value for being able to um provide benefit and value to all of us um it is important to recognize that there are people who fight for those rights and who fight for us to be able to have protections such as the eight- hour work day paid time off um and are still working for things like a more expanded um family leave and being able to provide a greater um Quality life and work life balance so thank you to the folks in labor movement who are still holding up that banner and still working to make sure that we have um continued rights um as we engage in work thank you so much Dr Velasquez I would like to call for the vote student Board member Miss Chief yes all in favor any opposed motion passes 70 resolution 2802 Fred kuramatsu de Ms Fredericks I just want to thank uh board president uh Hali for um giving me the honor of presenting this resolution um and I wanted to point out some fact that Jan January 30th is actually Fred katu's birthday so that's where the date comes from he's a American Civil Rights activist who resisted the interment of Japanese Americans during World War II um and I read a little bit about him he resisted the internment but he eventually got uh the enforcement got found him and his family was interned and so he also uh was incarcerated ated but 40 years later the interesting thing is um an Alum of UC San Diego which I'm an Alum of a civil rights um attorney found evidence that um the case against him was uh a lot of the evidence was falsified so he was uh Vindicated at that point and um but I want to point out that you know he had the courage to do the right thing which is he was a citizen he had the right to be here um but it took other people to help him you know he he stood up for what was right but he had help too and in the challenging times we have right now um it takes courage to do the right thing and maybe someone you know doesn't have that power but you can help them and I feel like this is a symbol of what we need to be as Americans um and it's not um it's not lost to many of us I'm sure that this the internment is very real today of force forcibly relocating people in our country right now um this is this is happening and what are we going to do to help each other and uh make sure we have that strong community that we have to be United um I also wanted to defer uh yield my time to trusty Chi and her uh assembly Representatives um to speak on this resolution good even good evening everybody my name is Leslie chi I am a junior at Blair high school and I am member of the student assembly whereas ordinary citizen Fred kuramatsu was convicted because he chose to defy evacuation orders based on Executive Order 90066 which led to the incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II Fred katsu's Legacy reminds us that defending our constitution is not just the job of elect officials it's the job of every citizen when we stand and fight for our rights we are making a statement about the kind of country we want to live in and just like kuramatsu we must be willing to challenge Injustice even when it's not popular or easy qu Matsu's courage is now needed more than ever after the aftermath of the 2024 elections it is critical that we engage with our Democratic systems not just as voters but as partic active participants in safeguarding our rights as we reflect on Fred katu's day we are reminded that the fight for civil liberties is ongoing whether it's voting rights the rights of marginalized communities or the freedom of expression Fred KATU story teaches us that our rights are not guaranteed without effort we must always be diligent and ready to stand up for J Justice even when it feels uncomfortable or challenging as we Mark Fred katu's day let it serve as a reminder to each of us that we have a role in playing in defending the freedoms enshrined on our constitution I strongly support the board's of Education motions to pass resolution number 2802 and declare January 30th as Fred T katsu day of civil liberties and the Constitution thank you [Applause] hello everyone my name is Lula matsura I'm a freshman at Mir and I'm part of the student assembly as a Japanese American I've always been conscious of how the concentration camps created after Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066 are big part of Japanese history I loved how the model curriculum for human rights and genocide by the California State Department of Education describes the Force relocation of Japanese Americans as an example of extreme human rights violation learning about katsu story will help students understand how important it is to fight for your rights that is why I strongly support the Board of Education motion to pass resolution number 2803 and declare January 30th as Fred kuramatsu day of civil liberties and the Constitution thank you [Applause] hello everyone I hope you're doing well today um my name is an Henry and I'm so glad to be here today to speak among you all for the second time a line from the resolution that stood out to me is whereas current California law designates a number of days as having special significance when public schools are encouraged to observe and conduct suitable commemorative exercises as specified oh I'm so sorry let me take out my edited version of my phone okay thank thank you I am aware that 28 States across our nation still celebrate Christopher Columbus Day as a Federal holiday I'm happy to note that California celebrates indigenous people's day for the state still honoring The Invasion students get a day off for Christopher Columbus who pillaged raped and committed atrocious acts against Native Americans and then claim to discover their land so let's continue celebrating people who deserve celebration what reason is there to not celebrate a day in honor of a man who stood for what he knew was right and led the way to the creation of the civil liberties act that protects the constitutional rights of American citizens no matter their race cultural background or appearance let's commit days to people like Fred katum who deserve celebration this is why I strong support resolution number 2803 to declare January 30th as Fred T KATU day of civil liberties and the Constitution thank you all for your time hi everyone my name is Alexandra maroin and I'm a junior at Pasadena High School and a member of the student Think Tank uh aligning the resolution aligning the resolution that stuck with me is whereas the history social science framework for Pasad I'm sorry California Public Schools kindergarten through grade 12 states that the history curriculum at each grade level relating to community state region nation and the world must reflect and integrate the experiences of men of men and women of different racial religious and ethnic groups uh over the past year I was involved in the building empathy project and had the opportunity to visit Manar before going to Manar I along with students of Mr Ria's buente English class learned about the hardships uh Japanese and mexican-americans faced during World War II such as racial profiling and uh police brutality um yeah this line in the resolution is meaning uh meaningful for me because that is the goal of the building empathy project through this project I learned what life was like in the Japanese American concentration camps it was very isolated very it seemed very depressing but uh I played basketball with some friends at the basketball courts they built and I felt like it was a really good distraction for them uh like to just disc distract themselves from the situation they were in I strong that is why I strongly uh support the board of education's motion to pass resolution number uh 28003 and decare January 30th as Fred T kot to day of civil liberties and the Constitution so we can teach future Generations about the Japanese American Experience in World War II thank you very much do we have any more comments any comments we're going to vote student board member Leslie Chi motion we have a do we have have a motion we have a motion I can I have a motion may I have a motion I move approval second a second Miss CH for the vote Yes all in favor of the resolution all opposed passes 70 we're going to move on to public comment for closed session reaa none oh we don't have any okay Rea paa we have one oh they may be in spillover oh oh it's Miss yeah Miss Becky good evening everyone I'm here to um speak on behalf of one of our members California School Employees Association miss Sally Swanson who is a classified employee and she is um a instructional Aid at aladina Altadena Elementary my name is Sally Swanson I've been with PD for 38 years an Altadena resident for over 45 years and when I lost my home I lost everything in my apartment I have been bouncing around from friend to friend hotel to hotel it's been very hard on me and expensive to have to start all over again that that is all that she has asked me to sit just speak on and I I know that she's back at work today and um she's being housed at a really nice place I'm not sure the name of it but um she just wanted me to speak on that and just let let the board know um her experience thank you if that's all the public comment we are going to recess to close session [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] a [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] n [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] l [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] la [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] la [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] la [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] la [Music] [Music] la [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] e [Music] [Music] n [Music] [Music] n a [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] for [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] for [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] for [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] we [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] e [Music] [Music] for [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] n [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] la [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] e [Music] h [Music] [Music] [Music] h [Music] [Music] h [Music] [Music] h [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] w [Music] [Music] n [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] n [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so again we cannot be over the capacity for this room you need to be seated in a seat I know some more spaces had opened up um you know when uh our Elliott um friends left so you either need to go to the Overflow rooms which we have two or out in the hallway um because the fire Marshall is going to come they will shut down the meeting completely if we don't comply not e e so I just learned that we have 100 chairs and we have a capacity for 130 so as long as there's not more than 30 people that's not are in a chair then we'll be okay with the fire marshal I'm going to make a public announcement of closed session actions taken concerning item D1 case number 914 762 by a vote of 7 to Zer the board took action to approve of the settlement of special education litigation in accordance with the terms of a written agreement concerning item D2 case number 202 4989 by a vote of 7 to Zer the board took action to approve of the settlement of special education litigation in accordance with the terms of a written agreement concerning item D3 case number 20241 0574 by a vote of 7 to0 the board took action to approve of the settlement of special education litigation in accordance with the terms of a written agreement concerning item D4 case number 20241 00662 by a vote of 7 to0 the board took action to approve of the settlement of special education litigation in accordance with the terms of a written agreement concerning item D5 case number 202 411 0376 by a vote of four to2 with one exstension the board took action to approve of the settlement of special education litigation in accordance with the terms of a written agreement and that is adjournment of closed session call to order at 8:50 here here here here here here here here and now for the Pledge of Allegiance may I ask our student Board member Miss Chi thank you and do we have public comment we're going to call for public comment right now yes we have 33 uh public comment cards for public comment for uh item H how are we going to manage them uh are we in for two minute one where are we on a consensus for minutes for each item one minute or two one minute one minut minute one minute we have a consensus on one minute for public we're not going to do that right now one minute for yeah somebody lost their purse could you please turn it into Ms Montoya if you found a purse turn it into Miss Montoya she'll take it all right we have one more public comment coming so we can start if you'd like to Dr Velasquez Monica caralis followed by Betsy petki one minute according to the bylaws we not two minutes we're going to do one minute because of the numerous people giving public comment okay uh let me know when we are going to start excuse me okay uh okay well I was planning to talk about something different but I have a minute and I want to have this on record for the Board District uh my name is Monica cares I have to students at avidon and my concern is why you call the police on us uh how we disrespect you uh that we have communication calling on on the fire department to after instead of the police I have captured all these on video and I'm very frustrated because you are rev victimizing Us you keep changing the time of the meeting when we have children a lot of these families have lost absolutely everything and you're disrespecting our community by making us wait how dare you how dare you to call the police on us how dare you to play with the times of the meeting on your website con constantly we have checken on that you keep re victimizing as victims of such a tragedy shame on you viy py followed by Sean Johnson good evening thank you for all that you have done uh my name is Betsy pvy and I have son at Jackson I know that this is an unprecedented situation and under understand the desire to push for normaly and I just want to say this is not a normal situation we are at a school that is right next to the burn Zone and even though you have done so much to protect our safety inside there is just no possible way to protect us from Ash that blows in for our students outside we know that it's toxic this is true and this is something that even close to us people have tested their houses and found lead in the area in the Ash and so we know that it's toxic we know it's toxic if it gets on students hands if they're eating they can they can ingest it and it's going to be in their play area it's just inevitable and so I ask you to consider a different place for Jackson students thank you Sean Johnson followed by lar [Applause] Torres Sean Johnson okay we can move to the next one and come back to Sean if she comes in okay um so let's keep going Larry Torres followed by Stephanie okay it's okay we can we can we can do the line Larry okay perfect go ahead hi my name is Larry torus I'm principal of CIS Academy and I just wanted to take a minute well less um to thank you this is an extraordinary time and from my vantage point as principal on staff the communication the thoughtfulness of bringing back back staff half of whom live in the district and were affected by the fires 10,000 of 14,000 students in the district were affected by these fires directly and your leadership and compassion you have a lot on your plate and a lot to do deal with but I just wanted to take a minute to thank all of you for an extraordinary job and I appreciate everything you have done so thank you Sean Johnson followed by Stephanie word Mueller hello yes my name is Sean Johnson I have two children at Jackson Elementary I came here today to urge you to do more testing um to give ourselves confidence that the school is safe for the children to be we've looked at the test results they seem very incomplete the types of products that were tested were not enough to know that the types of materials like lead asbest Etc are not present and they're going to provide a very unsafe environment for our children so I urge you to continue to do more rigorous testing on the school grounds outside as well as inside thank you Stephanie followed by Evette rapose good evening my name is Stephanie wmiller and I am a parent of two Avison students as it stands my son's middle school and high school classes are combined in one room with a partition where all of the students are here two teachers teaching simultaneously because there's no space allegedly my daughter has no school at all as it stands with the offer at Cleveland Elementary offering only half as many rooms as the students need in order for the school to function effectively that would also create a great disadvantage for Al Forte charter school which is currently in that space we are asking for for transparency we are asking for collaboration we are asking that the board consider the fact that there is no Ed educator who would say these are optimal conditions this is not above and beyond for my children for the students in this community who you are legally liable to support and furnish a comparable campus for the ones they previously had thank you event repos followed by Jason hanuk thank you do you have one minute or two okay my name is Evette rapose and I'm the mother of a fifth grader at aison school of leaders our children school has burned to the ground and while our hearts are shattered we need more than S more than sympathy and empathy we need action these students especially our fifth graders have already endured the disruption of covid during their critical Early Learning years they cannot afford another setback yet here we are facing exactly that let me be direct the Pasadena Unified School District made a legally binding promise you signed a facilities use agreement guaranteeing 16 classroom for students in emergencies just like this this is not only inadequate that you're providing a classrooms at Cleveland and your latest offer to provide two different classrooms to further upset our children it's a direct violation of your agreement you've spoken about finding immediate reasonable equivalent school facilities the choice and Legacy is yours meet with avison's leadership find a solution find a suitable location do it now our children are waiting and the world is watching thank you Jason hanuk followed by Nicole Hansen Jason followed by Nicole Hansen all right it followed by Jennifer oain okain so we have Jen Jason then we have Nicole then we have Jennifer okay we're waiting on them just in case they're in a different room okay all right then aen okay okay so you go first and then okay okay right so you guys you're our leaders right you you're our elected leader we have been through a massive Global disaster in Altadena right yeah and the Palisades my home is gone my neighborhood is gone my community is gone my school is gone all of these people in here are affected and they're here for a reason reason and that is because we need more from all of you we need you to lead you need to partner with the Department of Public Health you need to get clear don't rush dates don't jump up on your meetings and say January 30th there's no reason there's no reason when you don't know yet and you just don't because nobody does so take your time this is so serious this is public policy right you're changing lives you're affecting everyone's lives in here all these parents all these children I know you know but you are rushing because of your jobs and this isn't the time you're going to slow down you have to make big decisions and you have to partner with us Charters public it's over we're all one aen hanik and then Final Call for Nicole [Applause] Hansen I know there is nothing the district could have done to prepare for this catastrophe however what you decide to do now will be your legacy it is not okay to put both Odyssey Charters amongst the robal and Ashes it is not okay to play an in school of leaders and in Bungalows and in crunch on Alma FTE Charter where there's ample space at Wilson with over 15 Acres you're talking about rooms rooms that have storage clear the storage and let our kids go to school it is more point you say Dr Blanco not to divide this community then why are you splitting up Aon into two different campuses and those campuses are also affected that is unacceptable I'm sorry right now I just want you to get our kids back in school safely like she said do not rush you sent my other boy to Jackson I don't even know Jackson is safe right now you are gambling with our children's lives Nicole Hansen we're moving on Wendy Alvarez followed by Al Lopez Wendy Alvarez good evening board members I was a victim of domestic violence for years I endured mental emotional and spiritual abuse for my ex-husband I was a stay-at home mother and homeschooled both my children through Kinder and first grade I heard about aison through a mom's Facebook group aison was more than a school it was a sanctuary for my children and me after years of enduring abuse and hardship we found peace within its walls my heart swelled when my children said Mama they don't yell at us here that single sentence spoke volumes for the first time they felt safe valued and free to learn and grow aison and its staff gave me respit and nurtured my children that safety allowed me to re-enter the job market after a nearly 10-year employment gap I am now self-employed and able to generate income assured of my children's safety at aon's campus I was able to move about with composure and ease Avison isn't just a means to an end for my children and me it gave us security stability hope even if I stood alone most of the time and labeled as single Mama strong I was able to count on aison to provide for my children's needs academically and emotionally the quality of Staff exceeded my expectations the consistent communication via parent Square became my daily news the staff effectively carried out their roles in caring for my children in more ways than once hear us see us support us I see Nicole let's um Nicole can you wait for a second okay Al Lopez and then Nicole who's waiting patiently thank you Nicole hello uh Dr Blanco uh board member superintendent Blanco I'm sorry uh my name is uh Al Lopez and I'm one of the leads uh for the custodial department for our school district and I just want to take some time to acknowledge uh our department uh and the amazing work that they've done uh throughout this tragic fire um thank you you know uh our custodians uh work alongside with all our Tradesmen and for the common goal of just getting the schools safe and clean and back you know back up so I also want to take some give you some numbers real quick uh as an FYI District M employees with the collaboration of contracted grounds crew removed over 161 tons of Fallen green debris from PD facilities clearing out essential Pathways corridors 88 Paths of travel parking lots pre play uh playgrounds uh lunch areas and school grounds so our M Ando we had electricians working side by side with carpenters with painters custodians and nobody worried about what what their job was they every our job was to get the schools ready for the children to come back as fast as we can and also working with the Food Service uh the guys went worked them and their Department also as well was awesome handing out uh food as they could and uh just coming together and uh I just want to give and also props to our our our uh boss Manuel carasco he was leading us through all this so I just wanted to take the time to acknowledge all our staff that's all Nicole Hansen thank you followed by Amy Gonzalez my name is Nicole Hansen I'm the parent of three children at PD my youngest attends Altadena Arts magnet today we went back to school everyone was so excited to be back together today there were so many tears shed and hugs shared but our expect expectations were low we knew today wouldn't be perfect but what I didn't expect was to trade the fear of toxicity of the smoke and Ash for fear of the toxicity from the fumes of the industrial strength glue that was used to hold up the falling walls and the fear of toxic mold that may be growing in the walls of my daughter's temporary classroom surely someone knew the condition of this site before yesterday our teachers asked for the opening to be delayed until Monday so they had more time to get ready for our students but the majority of my daughter's classmates who lost everything in the fire and spread far and wide across the county and Beyond had to drive over an hour to be there today and to come back to such a toxic environment with half as many desks as needed and only 13 chairs to share between 53 students in a single dilapitated water damaged Bungalow with nothing more than paper and pencils was unacceptable [Applause] Amy Gonzalez followed by Brian [Applause] Stanley okay no problem Brian Stanley Follow by Ryan M okay Matt struski Serio Herman okay John Minard mayard good evening board president Holly Board of Trustees um superintendent Blanco um I'm the principal at Don Bonito Elementary as you know my normal practice is to come here and Shine the Light on what my school is doing or what is happening in my community but tonight I want to shine the light on what the superintendent leadership team and the board has done for us I am grateful for so many things that we have done leading up to where we are right now including able to reopen school um I am just very grateful for that I am grateful for the community event that we had at PCC I am grateful for the extra resources that we had on our first day back um the support was tangible and meaningful um it was just as astounding to actually have extra bodies on campus to actually have extra therapists there to work with our children who were going through so much Trauma from loss and I am greatly greatly appreciative of the work that you have done thank [Applause] you good evening board president Holly board members Dr Blanco cabinet um I'd actually like to take this time I actually want to read a statement from uh Dr Maran Stewart who could not be here tonight so I'd like to use my time to read her statement on behalf of Marian Stewart Lindsay Lewis Shannon mumo Ria aaka and Dana Moore as administrators of PD we want to extend our heartfelt gratitude to our super intendent Dr Blanco her personal message to each of us encouraging us to take care of ourselves during the loss of our homes truly meant the world additionally our supervisors reached out with Jen offers of help asking how they could assist us right away from providing clothes household goods and offered food and support the outpouring of love and care has been nothing short of incredible we are so proud to be part of P fight School District thank you all for being there for us during this challenging time Ryan mcke Matt stutsky Samantha catsbury all right good evening uh it's good to see the board again Dr Blanco I'm Ryan Mackey I'm 25- year homeowner District 4 and founding parent at Odyssey South uh you've heard a lot of the fear about toxicity it's real it's probably overblown but that's because people don't know I want to thank you up front for publishing the laboratory results not the full test reports but at least the lab results from the schools that's a good start what's missing from the approach so far is the Airborne contribution uh what's on your safety page right now is that you're going to look at the sqd uh monitors uh South Coast EPA they look at a regional estimate what you need to know is what's going on inside each building what's the local effect what's the building performance now you probably heard Dr Paul Vonberg from Caltech talk to the city council last week and he makes a recommendation for individual monitors in the teaching spaces this need not be expensive the cost of doing this is cheap compared to what it costs to sanitize all the structures again this is what we need to do to get our facilities efficiently working again so I urge you to consider that I'll be glad to work with you with us so the Odyssey team thank you all so we have our existing list which is Matt stry Samantha catsbury Amy Gonzalez and we're gonna add Samantha Sana oh hello uh my name is Matt strusky I have an 11-year-old daughter named Rain who's a very proud Avison fifth grader and rain has a disability and she uses a wheelchair for Mobility and when we were originally looking for a school for rain my wife and I toured 14 PD schools and just some of them had good things to offer for her but none of them seemed to be the right fit for our family and it often felt like rain was looked at like she was a problem to be solved and when we toured Avison it just felt different for us even though the campus was literally on the side of a mountain it didn't seem to matter there was a fifth grade student that was leading the tour for us and they LED rain up and down what seemed to be like miles of ramps so she she could show us her favorite parts of the school and it wasn't perfect rain had to push through mulch to reach the chickens in the garden and we had to carry her up some steps to see the art yurt but by the time rain started her first day of TK at Aon they had built accessible paths and ramps for the art yur and for the garden so she could get to the chickens easily and I felt like we finally found the school that fit our family and that this was the community for us and now we just need your help to save this community and all we're asking is that you consider what we have to say and just sit down with our administrators and help us solve this because the sooner we learn to to work and heal together the better it's going to be for everybody Samantha Amy um hi I'm Samantha catsburg I'm the mom of an Avison fifth grader my son Dax has been attending Avison since he was in TK in 2018 this morning while I was driving Dax to the second to last day of the wonderful free County care camps he said Mama I really want to go to school and he wasn't just talking about any school he was talking about aison sorry my son has thrived there for the past seven years despite losing 13 months of in-person instruction during covid he's persevered but that's not the case for all the fifth graders this is the grade that suffered the most learning loss during covid we can't fail them again please put aside your differences and think about the kids you're all on this board because you believe in public education and you believe in our children I'm going to be sending my son to a PD middle school in the fall but right now it's really important to me that he finished fifth grade with the children and teachers that he's grown up with please talk to our leadership about a more appropriate space for our school putting them at Cleveland not only is inadequate for them but it harms Alma ferte which serves a predominantly lowincome and minority population thank you Amy Gonzalez followed by Eric Martinez and Gabrielle Navarro hi my name is Amy Gonzalez I'm a parent at Washington stem and um I heard that maybe perhaps Washington might be one of the schools where some kids might want to come I'm very sorry for the loss of the families and everybody who's affected in the fires but I came as a friendly face to say we met some of the folks here they're really nice we have the space at Washington so I want to reassure them if they were placed there we have great staff we have great students um our kids know a lot about empathy kindness so they will be welcomed I know change is scary but um um it would be it would be they would at least be welcome and I know that our kids would be really they do a great job our staff would be a good job of welcoming them and just giving them a temporary space if that's what they need so that's what I wanted to say thank you Eric Martinez Gabriel Navarro uh good evening my name is Eric Martinez lead groundsman here and Shop store for teams for 911 uh I just want to speak on the work done by m all the staff there was great uh in the midst of the tragedy we all got together to you know get the schools ready for all the kids to come back uh gives me a great sense of Pride to be here uh special shout out to Manel Carrasco he led the team uh there was no game plan going into this no one knew what to do but we all roll with the punches and we're thankfully we're all here and thank you [Applause] gabri Gabrielle Navaro followed by samanta [Music] sanana good evening members of the board Dr good evening Dr bco um my name is Thomas Panos and I'm speaking for my lead um Gabriel Navaro uh who's the lead in the paint shop I'm also a painter myself and I just want to quickly acknowledge the the paint shop and really all of Maintenance and operations all of the trades when we heard that the devast station of the fire happened we all put our tools down and just went arm in arm to see what happened what we needed to do uh it was a Monumental uh amount of work but it wasn't too big for all of us that we were just arm in-arm working alongside together the camaraderie and what needed to be done uh many of the members were evacuated some of them lost their homes and still many of them still showed up to work um putting what you know was going on at home uh knowing that there was a demand at work as well there was uh first and foremost for the kids you know we needed to get the exterior sites of the schools cleaned up as fast as possible and we showed up as Al was saying the amount of tons of debris that we did in just a little over two weeks uh we were working hard and I just want to acknowledge all of M the paint shop especially uel carasco who spearheaded the whole operation at first it was like where do you begin and at the end it was we were just blowing through it dumb trunk after dumb trunk so I just want to really acknowledge all of them I know Gabriel Navaro um thank you very much for [Applause] every good evening um thank you for your time I just want to thank everyone for being here it's such a compassionate Community um on January 8th my family a PD family of nine years lost our home to the fires we lost everything my younger child is in her last year at Jackson having lived through the qu uh the covid quarantine with children in school I recognize the importance of getting our children back to some semblance of normaly and connection with their school Community as a working parent I also recognize that school is among the a parents best resource not just for learning but also for child care meal program social connections and so much more at the same time I would also like to voice my strong concern about the push of sending our children back to a traditional in-person learning experience so quickly all while information is still being gathered about toxicities that are now prevalent in our environment at the risk of creating a pun the dust has not settled on the crisis even once it does settle there will be a great many disruptions to it through the debris removal process today a parent at our school and member of the Altadena Town Council shared the following information on our school's Facebook page yesterday I met with caltech's environmental health and safety to review the testing conducted by PD based on the information they explained here is what the Jackson report confirms the testing was designed only to detect the presence of soot Ash and Char which are indicators of fire related contamination following the cleanup efforts the results show that soot Ash and um were not detected in most areas this report does not test for tox uh toxic materials like lead titanium and other heavy metals in this conflict of resuming school there is a constant negotiation that I am experiencing between my children's physical health and their social and emotional well-being I'm concerned that the information needed for parents to make well-informed decisions is not being released and am aware that we are losing wonderful engaged families from our school as a result thank you thank you for your time Michael Leon Don Bender good evening uh president Lee Dr Branco board members SLT so here this evening just to say how proud I am of my membership you heard from them yourself so I don't need to repeat that but as a rep I'm just really proud that my members stepped up and did what had to be done uh for the students I also want to share with you I'm very proud of being a Teamster um we've given out over 20 checks from our Disaster Relief Fund $5,000 to members that have lost their home and $1,000 to members that have damaged their home and it's it's ongoing um 20 so far and every Teamster local in the country has been donating to the disaster relief fund make sure that our brothers and sisters are well taken care of and I also want to say I really appreciate the school district Dr Bronco Administration for having such understanding of my members that I've lost their home and every time they ask is my like I said they're coming back and they're worried and they're hearing from all take care of your family and your home so that I'm very grateful for that you guys are putting them first and really appreciate and give them that Grace of what they're going through so again just a big big thank you Don Bender Danica white Nicola Borland good evening thank you all so much for all of your time I know that this is probably the heaviest meeting you may have ever had and I want to just stand here as an Avison parent as a PD parent and as a homeschool parent I have four daughters one who goes to Marshall one who's homeschooling herself essentially and two who go to aison and we chose each and every one of our school schols based on what was the safest space for our child and my older two are thriving my younger two are suffering in a way that I think all of you carry something heavy and something more difficult that anyone in this room or this building can understand as this is the weight on on your shoulders in this tragedy and This Disaster and I'm here just to ask you as an Avis and parent to consider a little bit deeper that conversation with Avison with the School of leaders those children will go out of this scenario and this will impact them in their lives to take positions like you and to do something about it so please the Phoenix of aison will rise will you consider being a hero in that scenario in the eyes of those children that you considered them and you helped them to become someone greater in the world not someone who has to fight an enemy in the world please consider the children thank you Dan Danica we Nicola Borland gabria Griffin hi I'm Danica Wiki um I have two students uh one at Odyssey South that is no longer there at TK and a third grader at Odyssey north um I just am here as a parent who uh cares deeply for this community and this school and all the schools that have lost so much on top of losing homes everything um we're feeling such overwhelming emotion and saying Your solution is to keep all our kids merged together on the north campus is to me sickening because it is just awful the testing we don't have a clue what's going on about it and you know I ask you would you send your kids to a school that around it is Devastation but also a sign that says enter at your own risk right would you do that it's not okay and I just I ask you do better for us do [Music] better niga band Gabrielle Griffin Maria Don Lee hi good evening board members and District staff my name is Nic I'm a parent at at Washington Elementary first I want to acknowledge the devastating loss that so many families schools and communities have faced due to these recent fires it's incredibly challenging time and the effects will be felt for years to come as schools across the district navigate changes relocations and adjustments is important that we carefully consider how to best support each Community students are uh schools are more than just physical spaces they are ecosystems with their own cultures specialized programs and carefully designed environments to help students Thrive we recognize that many schools are adjusting to new spaces and welcoming incoming programs and as we navigate these changes we must ensure that every school is placed in an environment where it can best serve its students when a school has the opportunity to establish itself in a location well suited to its needs that should be the priority this allows all schools to thrive without unnecessary strain or disruption this is not about limiting access or opportunity it's about making thoughtful strategic decisions that prioritize students success uccess by ensuring that each school has the right space to support its Mission we can create environments where all communities can f us so let's make the best choice not for today but for the long term of all students thank you Gabrielle Griffin Maria Donna Lee followed by Aaron s Saro hello everyone my name is Gabby Griffin and I'm also a parent at Washington Elementary I want to sorry I want to start out by saying that my deepest sympathies are with all of those affected by this terrible tragedy I think something important to consider during this time is a lowi impact solution for all students as we make attempts to get back to a sense of normaly the impact that sharing a learning space for students with different curriculums and educational goals concerns me if there is an opportunity to relocate to a school where impact would be far less on all parties involved that seems to be the best option I worry about the impact of different school schedules and how that will affect security at pickup and drop off is this a long-term change it seems to be more impactful to have students spread across multiple campuses across PD schools I really hope that there is a deep consideration with this decision my hope is that all students involved can have a restored sense of community thank you for your time [Applause] Maria Lee Erin sarell J Stacy Connor Vivian Richardson I'm short okay good evening everyone my name is Maria Donell um one of the parents at Washington Elementary school as well first and foremost I want to extend my family's deepest sympathies to those who have endured heartbreaking loss of their homes or their loved ones our heart goes out to you during this incredibly difficult time as we work together to restore the sense of of normaly it is crucial to recognize the impact of school environment have to have on all our children especially with those with special needs as a mother of a child with special need I can personally speak on how much our our has our experience has supported our school has supported and understanding the meaning of my child's unique needs Washington offered more than just an education they provide structure consistency and sense of safety that is critical to those students emotional well-being and growth the potential merging of school races concerns about further instability particularly for children with special education needs and younger kids who may already been facing challenges for routine for uh routine for many of those students the school that just place to learn safe space disrupting environment could be um lasting effect and making it harder for them to feel secure and engaging engage in learning across the district we guys have been working hard and making sure that our kids are back to normal but I think the question is the Golden Rule would you like to have your children go to the same school that their kids are going to would you want to have a parent grandparents to have the same experience as they're going through put yourself in our shoes thank you then you can make that decision thank you very much I'm going to remind people to really pay attention to the buzzer because we only have a minute thank you okay my video is actually exactly a minute I'm Aon and I own a business in district 7 under Dr yarma bascus um going on 13 years down my kids go to aison I'm a parent of aison and I have a video to share there's no projector obviously but I'm going to play this into the mic and maybe you could see from where you're sitting what has it been like not having your school really bad really miss it I love school and what I've learned I'm sad because my school has burn everyone is safe we are still here I'm here you're here but I'm still full of fear I'm still here you are too and I wish this could just undo I I miss a so much I miss my school and I'm sad I'm miss learning and playing with my friends on playground they were planting trees and making a concrete path I love a a lot I love class my TK my Kinder classro I miss my teacher and my friends I'm sorry for my school cuz it burned to the ground but all the chickens died which is really sad hi I'm here to beg for a and AEL to be together I want to help Bill davidon back I wish I had a school please give us a school what has it been like not having your Stacy Connor Vivian Richardson followed by giovana federo my name is Stacy Connor you'll remember me from two weeks ago I'd like to apologize for my Outburst but I do not apologize for my sentiment you are responsible for the health and safety and well-being of our children and our families it is unacceptable to send families through the wreckage to attend a campus Odyssey North it is not safe to go back to that campus you yourself Dr Velasquez said that no child should have to see that no person should have to see that and you're going to send faculty and families through the wreckage every day to go to a campus it is unacceptable and I just I'm going to leave you with this parting thought the handling of this situation and the extreme times that we find oursel in I have moved my child to Glendale Unified I live in this district and I pay taxes in this district and we will will not be back and my three-year-old will also attend Glendale schools thank you so much for sending me away Vivian Richardson giovan federo Annie Messer um hi my name is Vivan Richardson and I'm a resident of alatina and I am my house burned down in the etin fire I have two boys one is in kindergart and odyssey South I've been a classroom teacher for 10 years and I've been a teacher at Odyssey North for three we have just collectively experienced the worst Urban wildfire in United States history this is a deeply traumatized community that is simply asking for more transparency from the board honesty students should not be expected to go back to school this week I don't think any students at dawn Bonito Longfellow or Jackson should also be expected to go back to school this week this shouldn't be about publ versus Charter Schools that's what's insane to me that this has been about public versus Charter Schools this is about keeping kids safe if the schools in behind did not resume in August until October and they think that was too soon that burned only 2,000 acres this burned 14,000 acres and it is 3 weeks after the fire we should not be back yet you did not test for lead or arsenic sorry that's it Jovana fedo Anie Messer Tina Ross and Mandy Holmes hi I'm Javan feder Rico I I have two kids at Odyssey South fourth grade in kindergarten I'm a lifelong educator my parents were Public School teachers my husbands are public school teacher I have been in private Charter in public school I sent my kids to Odyssey South because and with exhausted every option for my kid because that is where my kid could Thrive and he did and now because you the board has decided the only place you can put us is surrounded by toxic um Ash without testing it I have to send him to a place I have barely know and he will not Thrive because who knows because it was Odyssey South that made him Thrive it was Odyssey these are our future leaders these are the children that are going to help you when you are the elderly people that need the help you must do your best to protect them and you're not thank you very much [Applause] Annie messers Tina Ross Mandy Holmes and I'm not sure if Sergio Herman left okay can you hear me I'm short okay I am a mom at Odyssey Charter school and I plead you all to ask yourselves this question if you have children or had a child would you drive them past a sign that ended with enter at your own risk because this is what you are asking families of all schools to do you are asking parents that are already scared unsure and traumatized just trying to hold it together for what we hold dear to knowingly drop that most dear thing our babies and our our hearts off at our own risk in a known posted by the government toxic danger zone I know my time is up but all we're asking is not for miracles just to ensure us to make us believe that these places are safe to go back to we all love our schools and we want to go back we just have to believe they're safe thank you Cena Ross Mandy Holmes and Serio Herman is he still here hello I am stina Ross and while I've worn many hats at Avison the one I wear today is the former Middle School teacher of eight years um I'm speaking on what I have seen firsthand of the solution at Wilson well I understand you're most likely legally compliant um Avis in classrooms are not like other classrooms they're loud they're noisy we thrive in it and so do our kids uh we also have a high level of students with disabilities and learning challenges can you imagine trying to teach English to a room of kids with ADHD while Spanish and history are in the same room with you teacher burnout is an all-time high we know that we know the results of Co on teachers please don't make it worse this isn't a real solution currently for aga I understand it was a quick one and I applaud you for working quickly however I ask you to reconsider and think of a way to make this supportive for agla and think of a successful way for ASL thank you Mandy Holmes and siio hman I am a parent of a first grader at aison uh who has disabilities we've tried multiple schools multiple places and he has never done so well as he does at aison he has pathological demand of audiance I don't know if you're familiar with it it's a profile of autism as well as Global dyspraxia childhood apraxia of speech and the student the teachers at Aon give him the space the latitude to be himself and to feel what he's feeling PTA is a parasympathetic response and it comes out of pressure to the like overwhelming pressure put on them demands put on them and his teachers get down on his level and they give him the time that he needs to adjust they give him the support that he needs to transition into other spaces and he's never done so well as he's done at our school thank once again the Board of Education acknowledges the receipt of public comment via email I would like to have a motion to extend the time to midnight um all of the other cards have been identified under um item M1 and will be addressed at that time thank you I I move to extend the meeting time till midnight that's what I just said so you second it I'll second then all right all in favor of extending the meeting what we're extending the meeting still all of these are identified as M1 my apologies to Maris esino okay come all over we need we have a motion in a second on extending the time first all in favor of extending the time to midnight one two three four five six M Chi yes okay um no opposition any opposition seven to zero in favor all right so this is our next public go ahead Marino yes so let me know I am air Alum and a psdu parent I was supposed to attend a grief support group tonight something crucial to my healing after my family lost our home of 29 years and our entire neighborhood instead I am here because once again this District's lack of transparency and poor communication has left parents fighting for basic information about our children's safety yesterday morning parents had to push the district for answers after realizing schools were reopening without completed environmental testing and missing results from multiple campuses we were left to make decisions with incomplete and misleading information you repeatedly stated in Communications and was even quoted in the LA Times saying all PD sites will be cleaned sanitized and pass environmental test before opening this has not been true schools reopened this morning despite Jackson Marshall Mir and PHS only having preliminary results that had not undergone final review Marshall decided to open actually days before testing was even completed or results were even posted PHS John Marshall Jackson still have only preliminary results yet the districts claim all schools have passed testing people have noted here that the surviving homes have gone over these testings that have led the wildfires have led andp and other toxins and you guys have decided not to test our air Soil and Water for our children and these testings for these homes that have survived have come back failed they have they're being tested positive for these things why are we not applying the same standard to our schools and for our children we deserve real testing real transparency and real accountability the district must do better thank you okay thank you now we will move to item I comments from labor unions do we have anyone in the room Mr Garder from UTP good evening Dr Blanco uh superintendent Blanco and members of the board um I come to you with my uh labor comments this this week January 30th um so today and across the last week um our UTP members along with uh the rest of our labor unions have worked really hard to welcome back as many of our 14,000 students as we were able to um a reminder I know you're aware but just want to speak to the fact that dozens of our UTP members lost their homes and many more were displaced um it's been the heroic effort of teachers classified and all other certificated to to help make sure that our classrooms can be as well welcoming as possible um today as well as over the last week depending on which schools uh District um our students are in I uh want to celebrate the fact that we were able to sign anou that provided needed support and protections for uh those that were displaced by the fires and this will make sure that our members can get the leave that they need when they need to make um those critical meetings with insurance companies with um adjusters with or or just places you know if they're looking for a place to live um that they have that time built into their um that they're able to take that time I want to remind you all that the same teacher work force that have stepped up to the plate we I want the board to consider that if we truly trust teachers you want to make sure that you support them fully by providing sufficient collaboration time we've been getting a lot but we know with all the cuts there is discussion of cutting a lot of that time sufficient planning time we've provided suggestions in how we can um reconfigure our instructional minutes to make sure that everybody has planning time even if we reduce some of the costs as well as just calling out the fact that we need an appropriate balance of instruction and making sure that our teachers can prepare for student needs um and so I want to uh draw your attention to that our hours article reflects some of these changes that we think will help Focus our teacher time on teacher activities and make sure that uh our students can receive um the best education possible with regards to special education the special education article we we are awaiting breathlessly the response from the district and hope to see it at our next bargaining session um but just to be clear about what's in there and what we're asking for is appropriate case loads structured compliance time structured planning time for all of our elementary teachers we believe that making sure that we have planning time for everybody at every level will help make sure that our student needs especially those of our uh students with special needs are attended to and paid attention to at the the highest degree possible more dedicated planning time which again can be done without extra cost um would will lead to higher quality quity instruction when we have the students in front of us I brought up earlier the fact that so many of our teachers have been hit in the fall in December PD was gearing up for dozens of layoffs this year and I BR just want to raise the Spector of a lot of the individuals who have already lost everything as a few cases that I can share some sometime they're just devastating many of them will be among those that will lose their jobs if we have riffs this year in the last 10 years PD and across the state even is not just a PSD thing the layoff higher cycle wastes millions of not billions of dollars and within our district we often lose two months of morale across School sites after all that our teachers and certificated staff have been pouring into these reopening efforts as well as over the next few months to have Rifts happen this year would be devastating and it always seems to happen right before State Testing and it makes me wonder sometimes what the impact might have been year after year of these uh layoff higher Cycles on our state testing there is a better way um other districts we are already going to have many of our staff not return because the closest they could find place to live or is 50 to 100 miles away um they're making the heroic sacrifice to make it this year but they may not in the future and that's not we understand the housing situation is something that you all can snap fingers and fix so we are going to lose people because they are going to move to places that are closer to where they now live but with those that we that have made that commitment that stick with us I urge you to consider other options besides Rifts you can reduce class size in Kinder first 79 or where there is room there are retirement incentives that can be considered there's also a retraining option that San Diego um used and it helped them fill critical vacancies in special ed and it's a great way for us to use our human resources and make sure we don't lose um these trained and proven teachers you know they've gone through the ringer we're all experiencing this crisis together the rest of the state is not experiencing this the way we are and so the more we can keep the fellowship together so to speak the better off we'll be last thing I wanted to just say Is We I know we don't get measure e money until next year but these decisions about layoffs are about what we're going to be spending next year and how can we tell voters that approved uh measure e in city of pasaden was at 73% um that were supporting the classroom if it results in yet again a tanking of our classroom expenditure if we cut what was looking what like was going to be anticipated in our classrooms so thank you for considering all possible alter atives before um pulling that last lever and we look forward to working with you on um future pargeting proposals thank you for your time so now we're moving to item J action items approval of pass so sorry I'm moving so fast all right everybody's here okay csca how are you good afternoon right good my name is wi Vegas I would like i' like to thank uh president uh Holly and the rest of the board superintendent um just been running around so forgive me um just wanted to speak on behalf our of our classified employees um as with the reopening of the schools uh many of our members are affected and we're serving our our kids at our school sites and many of them have not returned back to work because they've been personally affected all I'm asking for the district and the board to help our classified employees that have been affected by the fires um many of them are still displaced many of them have not returned to work um the only thing I ask is is for the district to help those uh that are you know I don't want to say suffering but you know are dealing with this uh fire you know we can't help students if we can't help we got to help ourselves first and I'm just here to advocate for those that are not here and yeah I'm yeah I'm just kind of lost in words you know I just want to help those that are that are are dealing with the aftermath of all this um we want more days for members so they could deal with the effects of the fires um so if you please just consider you know working with our members a lot more and it's a small group of members that that are affected you know whether they're displaced or their house burned you know that's the group of people that I'm willing to help out and and and go all out to help those out thank you [Applause] good evening president Hol Dr Blanco members of the board and members of SLT uh my name is jod Maro I am the Pres President elect for the association of Pasadena School administrators um I want to start tonight by first giving a huge shout out to our teamsters and all the work they did to prepare our schools for our return they are they were there what within 48 Hours doing the work so um the eaten fire has brought unimaginable loss to our students fam staff and Community our hearts are with everyone who was affected by this tragedy and Absa would like to recognize the individuals who led PD through the devastation of the eaten fires are SLT even though they were also dealing with the impact of the fires in their own personal ways they set us that aside and put the needs of the district before themselves they worked more hours a day than they slept and we are just assuming that their own families took a backseat so that they could focus on the needs of the families of the Pasadena Altadena and Si Madre communities Dr Canal thank you for your empathy towards our Workforce and for reminding us that we need to take care of our adults before we can ask them to take care of our children you modeled what it means to put people first you emphasized the human in human resources Mr Bravo Karimi thank you for doing whatever is necessary to create healthy and safe spaces for our staff and students to return to and to make sure that they have the facilities they need to successfully learn in I am guessing that this is not what you were expecting when you joined the team six months ago but you are exactly what we needed Dr Chan Hill you are PD you have so much love and care for all of our employees and students you made sure that we were all updated and informed and led each update meeting with col and Grace you made sure that our students had lessons and resources available so that they're Lear learning was not too impacted Dr Roso thank you for your focus on the social emotional health of our children and staff for being present on the front lines with food and water distribution and for coordinating with PCC to provide a space where our community to come could come together multiple times Mr Garcia Albert Garcia thank you for quickly organizing a response to technology needs of students and staff while also focusing on next steps with the Promethean boards that all teachers are looking forward to having may I recommend we we go backwards in the alphabet on that uh Miss Hilda Ramirez Horvath thank you for your timely and consistent communication to the PD Community everyone felt connected and knew what the plan was it was helpful to have all of the communication be centralized so that we as school leaders could focus on our families and staff who needed us the most at that time zoa orano and Fatima Montoya sorry if I mispronounced the name for remaining true to PD for decades and having the historic knowledge that was needed always in the background you provided the support needed for decisions to be made although not official members of SLT there are some additional individuals who would we like to recognize Mr Carrasco his team had they handled the heaviest of the work loads literally and figuratively not only did they have to clean up after the damages of a windstorm a fire and then if that wasn't enough the universe added some rain they worked around the clock to save classroom pets and make our campuses a safe place to learn thank you to Dr Malone for being available to answer phone calls texts and emails from all of us 247 wrangling the principles and getting us to follow directions and stay off campuses during this time was probably the hardest job of PD for Liz pal as soon as possible she found a way to keep our families fed by providing grab Ando meals at various locations Dr alkazar thank you for maintaining the balance between responding to a crisis while also keeping the HR our gears moving so that schools had every everyone they needed when we returned and Dr Blanco you have REM remained calm and steadfast in your leadership you have advocated for what is in the best interest of our staff and students and you have remained true to that conviction even though we all know you have received some push back you held strong and you have modeled for all of us what a true leader is all of these individuals are members of The Association of Pasadena School administrators this is the power of Absa this is the power of us thank [Applause] you is there anybody else CTE all right so we are going to move on I'm wondering if we can reconsider our motion um of the time extension I I'm just worried I don't know exactly how many cards there were for that item and I don't know if that's 23 built into theend agenda um I am I'm concerned we're going to run out of time and so we can do a motion to reconsider and so I would like to yeah let's wait till we get closer because we just added this up and if we can okay be brief on the consent agenda and brief on board committee reports I think we can do this all right I have four polls we'll deal with four polls yes I'm going to that now yes I'm not understanding yeah okay we're now on item J action items approval of Pasadena Educational Foundation liaison uh new Boe liaison Michelle Bailey and Tina Fredericks we move to approve second ask for the call call for a vote I have a comment yes can we use my full name Michelle Richardson Bailey please yes we'll make a note of that I noticed there's quite a few wherever my name is it's not the full name I would appreciate that we will do that I just made a note of that so do we have a motion on this and a second okay all in approval student Board member Miss CH yes okay all in approval any opposed abstentions okay 7 to0 7 to zero sorry student board member report Miss Chi thank you to president Hol esteemed board members and Doc and superintendent Dr Blanco for your continued contributions and commitment to the pasadina unified school system and support to our student assembly the student assembly and student Think Tank would like to take a moment to express our heartfelt gratitude for your leadership and the district's unwavering support during these challenging times in particular particular we are deeply appreciative of how quickly and effectively the school district responded to the Ian fires the fires have affected many in our community including students staff and their families we recognize the hardships that this natural disaster has caused and grateful for the district's Swift action and ensuring the safety of all students while also providing the necessary resources to support those impacted in the spirit of well-being as we are coming back to school the student assembly and student Think Tank would like to remind teachers ad min rtion and students to have Grace for each other 3 weeks ago 50% of our district had to evacuate over 10,000 structures in aladana were consumed by Flames it is important to recognize that we are in the midst of one of the most devastating disasters in California history as fellow student assembly member German Maxi and student Think Tank member Paulina McConnell stated at usd's reopen restore rebuild and Rise Gathering last week we cannot return to schools and pretend that nothing happened speaking as a student assembly member from one of the earliest schools that reopened since the devastation Blair I would like to express my gratitude to the teachers who have shown so much patience to the students whether that means creating safe spaces where we can share our experience through our shared trauma giving the class A warm cup of cocoa and some snacks or just easing into the workload as students we urge our teachers that their top priority should not be getting back on track at academically instead we invite teachers to create a space where students can process and heal from what we and they have been through the emotional toll of of the devastation is significant and for many of us returning to a classroom feels overwhelming it's not just about catching up on assignments and returning to lessons it's about reestablishing a sense of normaly and emotional security healing takes time and that's okay let's be patient with the process and give us ourselves permission to take it one day at a time we also want to acknowledge the incredible work of our teachers administrators First Responders and community members who have shown resilience and solidarity in the face of these emergencies their commitment to our safety and well-being is a reminder of the strength of our community and the importance of standing together during difficult times as we moved forward we remain committed to supporting one another and continue to be inspired by all of the efforts involved in managing the impact of the fires we appreciate the continued focus on student safety and recovery and We Stand United with PD Board of Education and our Administration to ensure that our district remains a place of support resilience and growth for all of our students maybe remember this fire not as the tragic story of loss but the inspirational story of how our community came together we would then like to share an update on our new student assembly since the elections our cabinet has doubled in size allowing us to have a greater and stronger group to more accurately represent the students with these new members joining our team we feel even more confident that the student assembly will be a sustainable and successful system in spite of the devastation the student assembly and student Think Tank have met online every day over the past few weeks to form a collaborative working group to better serve our students this past Monday the student assembly and student Think Tank held a 5-hour meeting at Blair with over 30 students from both groups in attendance in the meeting we implemented a circle group where we shared our feelings insecurities and concerns s the amount of love and support I felt from the group was overwhelming by the end of the meeting not only did we progress on our matters of business but we all left the room feeling so full we also carved out time to work on the upcoming youth conference with more details coming soon worked on special elections for Marshall CIS and Rose City and provided training for new members of PD student assembly and think tank as we continue to navigate through these challenging times we remain focused on a shared goal and the well-being of of our community the student think tank and the student assembly will continue to hold weekly meetings ensuring that we remain connected and responsive to the needs of our peers together we will prioritize emotional healing support for our teachers and families and continue to work on projects like the youth conference and the special elections we are proud of the resilience and unity that has emerged from this difficult time and we look forward to working hand inhand with all members of the PD leadership and Community to create a stronger and more supportive environment for everyone thank you for your continued support and let's keep moving forward together thank you thank you Miss Chi now we will move to L board committee reports and I'm hoping that we can be substantive and brief so we can get to these public comments into the presentation does any we can skip it too that's a good idea too yeah let's just does anyone anyone have a pressing need okay we're moving on so we're moving on to public comment we are at that moment okay and we're doing one minute and hope hopefully okay we're not going to do the public comment we're going to wait until after the presentation so we will have the superintendent's leadership team and your presentation thank you I think Dr Blanco is going to kick us off and our whole team will come up here thank you well I appreciate everything that um our Absa said about all of you and I know know that we don't have a lot of time so I just want to say that we Echo their sentiments for everyone that's had um a collective impact on bringing us back to school we know we can't answer all the questions we meet regularly with federal government agencies local agencies and frankly there's not a lot of guidance about how far you can be from a z a burn Zone what the long-term effects are of of um so and Ash and the things that you've brought this evening so I want you to know that we're working with environmental hygienist scientist engineers and we're making decisions based on the best information that we have I have six children I think somebody said earlier think about if you would put your children in this situation that is the center of my decisions every single day two of the people standing here before you have their children in our schools oh maybe one graduated they're graduated but they had their children in our schools and their decisions are always about what they want for their children because they're here you know many of our employees have come back to work that have lost everything too and they're working because they want to do the very best for your children none of these situations our ideal we are not asking our Charter families to do anything we're not asking our own teachers and leaders to do you have always been part of the plan since we started planning this is not a situation that we have control over we're not hiding any spaces we're not hiding any buildings that we don't want people to use we would not have collocated Elliot and McKinley to middle schools together if we had a different choice and I know there's been um a history you know between some of our Charter leaders in the district we have hired Mr Bravo Karimi an expert in charter schools you can look them up on the internet and you can see he was the CBO of a charter school part of the decision in hiring him was so that we could build trust with our Charter leaders and we could get it right but at the same time I want to say our our district when I say above and beyond there's certain laws that we have not followed to benefit you and one of them is we're required to give dist space only to District children we have never approached your schools that way we've given space for all children so we have teachers teaching in the same classrooms together we have schools collocating and our goal has always been to make sure your communities could come come back together in one space because we know that they need to see your teachers and your leaders just like the children who attend PD again these are not ideal offers it's not ideal situations I want you to be back in school we had people work all night assembling furniture for you so your schools would be ready when you got there you have to understand that we are under a circumstance right now where we don't have a lot of choices for our children your children the children of PD they're one child I mean one group of children we're not looking at anything different or asking you to do anything different that we're not asking our own families to do and I want to make that very clear and you know it is unfortunate and like I said I have children and to address the preliminary safety concerns the people were asleep last night the reason it says preliminary is because it needs to go to their formatting to be in the same format nothing is going to change on the results if if you see your children and I'm sure you have when they connect with other children and people that they know they need to be back together for their social emotional health we are not rushing the reopening for any other reason than our students needs they've been through through Co you've been through Co and our community has been devastated that includes SAR Madre that includes the town of Altadena and the City of Pasadena there are many children that have to see the same stuff that you're concerned about going to Pasadena High School we've been in the neighborhoods we're looking to see is there any other option and there aren't options right now our city and town our cities and towns have a lot of damage and you know I understand your concerns but please know we share your concerns and we're doing the very best that we can for your children based on the information that we have today so one more thing I want to say I've never seen um so many things happen to the people standing before you right now in 21 days we we have had deaths in our family we have had our children in the hospital we have had parents who were evacuated from their home that didn't understand why because of their own Medical Health situations we've had parents that have fallen down and been taken to the hospital and this small group of people their in-laws lost their homes and they never stopped working for your children we are committed to every child whether they attend a charter school or a PD yes we are committed to every child regardless of where they go to school and I want you to know that and that is really a testament of what you're going to hear you know from them as they present where we're at we're very sorry for everything all of you are going through we want to be here to support you thank you Dr I just want to reopen reopen with our original goals um when we speak about restoring Community I think Dr Blanco has encompassed who that Community is very well so as a reminder we were here to reopen which we have successfully been able to do with most of our schools today restore rebuild and Rise I'm going to hand it to Mr Bravo Ki so the information here is is familiar um most important thing is after seven instructional days all schools are now open 17 what did I say sorry 17 um so with the most recent phase with schools reopening today um all pity unified school district schools are open so health and safety has obviously been a big focus of our reopening efforts given the unprecedented nature of the fires um a lot of good information on our website so thanks to the communications team and others who help populate all the test results um as Dr Blanco and others have mentioned uh we've worked in close consultation with County and City Public Health with officials from the state and federal government um and while there are no specific legal requirements we did consult about our cleanup and testing efforts to ensure that everybody agreed with our approach and so those results were posted in transparency and and folks can access it at the link on the slide so uh as also has been discussed a lot many of our schools uh were either were either completely or substantially damaged by the fire that included Elliot's art magnet um aison School of leaders at the North campus Odyssey Charter School South at the Edison campus Rose but Academy at the LMA Alta campus as well as the Franklin campus which was principally a professional development center there were however other schools that also needed to be relocated in addition to those that were substantially or completely burned uh that included alinaa Arts Magnet um as well as some of our early childhood and prek classes and so I'm going to go one by one to describe kind of the the reloc uh collocation destination of these schools as well as the date on which they open so first Elliot Arts Magnet uh as mentioned earlier opened today uh collocating with McKinley across the street um it's important to note that as Dr Blanco mentioned our own schools also just like our our our partners in the Charter Community have had there were limited options um and they were not given an option awarding go we had to work on planning for where to put these students who were tragically displaced by the fire with five fewer properties than we had before and there simply was not enough space across our campuses to give every school including the Pasadena Unified Schools the same amount of space that they had before Elliot Arts Magnet is collocating with McKinley with substantially less space than they had at their PR location now we of course are working hard to provide Portables and other space but that doesn't happen overnight art aladina Arts Magnet similarly uh moved to the Allandale campus also with substantially less space and fewer classrooms than they had at their previous location for Altadena Arts Magnet we also committed to install Portables as quickly as we can to provide them as close as possible to the previous amount of space that they had but they're making do with what we had available in the short period of time that school also opened today the Early Child offices and the prek classes uh they moved from Cleveland to both Webster and Jefferson Children's Center campuses in order to make room for our Charter partner Avison those classes were moved also today Avison School of leaders have been offered space at Cleveland and Washington campuses we are waiting an acceptance or a response to our offer Our Hope was like all of the schools to find one home for all schools and to make them available as quickly as possible so students could be back in the classroom uh in all these cases that I've mentioned so far it's less than what they had at their prior campuses including Elliot and Altadena last night we did offer additional space in addition to what had been made available at Cleveland by moving existing programming from the Cleveland campus elsewhere uh additional space at Washington campus Because of uh how much we were hearing from the Avison Community about the insufficiency of the space at Cleveland we didn't want schools to be located on multiple sites but we are trying to respond to the feed Feb back we're getting from the leadership of the Avison schools Odyssey Charter School South previously at Edison campus um the offer was to move to the otton campus to join the Odyssey Charter School this idea of combining the two Odyssey campuses was something that we have discussed with Odyssey leadership from before the fire um after the fire uh this was an idea that we also discussed that was the preference of Odyssey um we we understand the concerns of the community I get it I'm a parent um but this is these were the wishes of the Odyssey leadership uh we are not trying to shoehorn Odyssey onto that campus um we are awaiting the the so one highlight this is a update from since this slide was put together um Odyssey is uh has secured a private location for their students and is working to secure additional private sites for their students uh but they have accepted the offer at Autobon uh because we need to install Portables in order to accommodate the entire student population so while they've accepted the offer they're securing private locations uh to to house their students in uh the intern period finally Rosebud academy uh from lomma Ala to space at Don Bonito campus while we have not uh reached a final formal agreement with rose bud um we are just working out the logistical details with their leader leadership and we hope to have uh a resolution very soon for their collocation with Don Bonito Don Bonito also we we to to accommodate the space that we've offered Rosewood we moved existing programs out of those spaces in order to provide as much space as we have now to that school Community um in all these cases we we've always offered to continue to work towards adding additional space for our schools as well as for our partners in the Charter Community as Dr Blanco mentioned we know these are are difficult difficult circumstances but again I just want to stress the district has five fewer campuses than it had before and we have had to make doe with what's left which has resulted in collocations for both ourselves and offers to the Charter Community as well as substantially less space for our own schools as well than those schools had at their previous locations thank you Mr bravoo Karimi so while we want to actually provide you some data uh throughout this entire presentation and while you typically see data in the form of numbers I felt that it was much more illustrative for you to see some images of that data actually happening so it really has only been 20 days since um the fire and 17 instructional days and to imagine that we are in the space that we are in now um in that time period is uh pretty unfathomable and yet the numbers will show you why we've been able to get this far since the uh the since the fire we've been able to um have distribution events over 200 families came to our Convoy of Hope um we've had Chromebook distributions well over a hundred um families came through but this is where it gets bigger each day that we've been able to provide meals nearly 3,000 meals have been served to families over 5,000 individual instructional materials have been reordered and replenished barcoded and sent out so thank you so much to the cipd team and the warehouse who processed that 1,500 additional crew to the teamsters and m&o front lines that we've had working have gone through um and and thoroughly cleaned the schools with such Precision working around the clock I can't even count the hours um thousands I can't even count the thousands who came to our Community Connector event hosted by PCC an incredible partner during this time leading to over 2,000 employees showing up at the very top picture to PCC on our Welcome Back event which was unlike any other so those numbers tell you that a significant amount of work has happened behind the the scenes in front of um Community spaces and all with our community inviting everyone who's been in this room and More in their school communities to attend but with that we also know that as we enter the schools we've gotten to reopening that was the first step in our in our goal marker but really taking stock of what the reality is is understanding that this is a long hul process and journey so we have a lot to celebrate in these last 21 days but we also have a lot to heal from and a lot to understand our new context so let me give you a little bit of background on the numbers that you do see we have a preliminary district-wide impact map here which is only listing I have a few caveats only listing confirmed property losses people who lost homes whether they were families or staff what you won't see in the numbers is potential siblings so these are families not individual students you might see for example 27 families affected at one school that might mean multiple or more students than 27 because there are multiple siblings in those families Additionally you don't see the impact of any changes in residential circumstances right these are individuals who did lose or um families and staff members who did lose their homes um however we know that many more are displaced and unable to get back to their home for quite some time uh traveling from different distances or now housing and uh supporting additional family members or friends and therefore household changes have occurred in terms of space and in size so those are all different ways that impact can be measured that we don't yet have a full handle on so right now we're just at the stage of understanding who's lost their home which is significant in and of itself so at this time we also know that the numbers are constantly fluctuating because there are people we haven't been able to get ah hold of and as today with all PD schools open we've been taking stock through attendance but we are still um outreaching to families who we haven't been able to get get a hold of between staff and families at our Elementary on the left and secondary schools on the right we have nearly a thousand people who have lost their homes additionally this doesn't count any of our programs any of our Central office folks any of our district service center folks who are not associated with a school um I think many in the appsa um public comment earlier were named as well um so we know that there there are other impacts as well so just understanding that scope of impact across the numbers in our district mean that we are not going back into normality we want to feel normal but we have to understand that our context is very much changed so what we're going to share with you next are structures that we are putting in place and continuing to grow in order to support that new normal thank you Dr Hill I'm not doing a community Circle tonight we're just gonna give you the data of what has transpired since you all set the tone that night um our community circles are happening each and every day sometimes all day long sometimes at the beginning of the day sometimes at the end of the day um and it has been so powerful to hear our children and our stud St connect over what has happened whether in Joy or in tragedy and I want to say in anticipation of what we were thinking about what would happen I'm so grateful that I was given an opportunity to make the ask and you always say careful what you ask for right in this case it turned out to be so much better I want to First just thank um my two team members who have been by my side I think sh mumo called her team the WR or die I love that um I just love my team laa Chakan and and Erica bipo from Thrive and PC mental health um would not have been able to put the numerous amounts of Mental Health crisis counselors on our campuses without them they themselves were leading this with very small teams many many of which who had been impacted as well but they have been true to their word to provide mental health to every single staff and every single student in the PD upon opening we had a meeting that Dr Blanco coordinated with our Los Angeles County of op of Education Leo and we asked what do you need what what's what's going to happen and so we did and I said I need mental health support we had people from Northern California Southern California p mental health Thrive Marin County Office of Education Cano Valley Office of Education uh Orange County Office of Education alhamra Unified School district and what's to come um is that we've had I said I was hoping for 40 we've had an exceeding amount of over 60 plus people descend Upon Our campuses be ready for students and they have been seen in all different ways pushing into classrooms leading circles talking to kids painting rocks doing whatever it is and whatever it takes to be there in the moment to receive our children and our staff where they are I also just want to point out that this wraparound that we have this huge hug um is not something that's just going to happen right now um we've had multiple people reach out to us and we are establishing a staggered uh way of supports hopefully through the Rend end of the year those parties are Kaiser Permanente um Dee Henrich uh reached out to us p uh sorry Department of Mental Health out of um Los Angeles County um and many others will create a scaffold um for as long as this this is going to take Sacramento Office of Education has reached out and said what do you need I'm going to keep saying yes please so we're very grateful um for this Marathon that we have endured because this mental health is about establishing wellness and goodness and I can already see the ramifications and I'm so grateful thank you Dr Blanco for allowing us to make that ask um what you don't see is all the data because we had to turn this in so I wanted to share a little bit about our attendance um that is my other world so thank you to Brian Stanley and Lloyd dabol who have again uh working when I'm like hey I need this like right now or three days ago and they were like we got it and um we've been working with every single School site upon opening uh so that they understand the the urgency to provide this type of data every single day they they normally do it with some type of per uh Precision but by the end of the the week is when we really do this deep dive and we said we can't wait for that so we have worked with every single um site to make sure that we have what we can in a timely fashion next day is when we actually get all of it for secondaries but I wanted just to give um some and of course I don't have my glasses so I'm hoping I can read this um some highlights Upon Our opening um we've seen Hamilton I'm going to read every single school that we've opened just so you can hear a little bit with the numbers that I have and I'm going to give first day to today not the whole series so Hamilton we opened at 90% as of today they were at 97% Willard Elementary opened at 84% they are at 94% Blair middle school high school 87% thank you God it sucks getting old so well I I'm appreciating it I just I don't I don't like wearing glasses um that's it it's all um San rapael started at 88% at 90 almost 94% McKinley Elementary started at 82% as of today they were at 91% McKinley Middle School started off at 77% as of today they were at 92% Rose City started at 52% as of today well I'm going to give you yesterdays because I don't have it we'll have it tomorrow morning 71 almost 72% Field Elementary started uh this past week at 75% as of today today they were at 90% Washington Elementary started at 75% ended today at 89% Madison 87% to 90% nor mums 83 to 91 Don Bonito 79 to 83 Sarah Madre Elementary School 87 to 91 Sarah Madre as of yesterday I don't have theirs until tomorrow morning almost at 90% Octavia Butler and I'm sorry that I'm doing this but I just want you to see see the numbers 85% as of yesterday Altadena Elementary started today 85% longf Elementary 84% Elliott I will have tomorrow I will get that for you Webster Elementary 82% Jackson 69% miror 91 almost 92% Marshall 91% PHS 92% I share these numbers with you because when we do the calculation of what we call our normal off of the October date um we're not so far off yes we have lost some families temporarily and we hope that they come back but our school's opened to a home that our children and our staff know we had staff return to a space that they call home away from home and that is the only thing they may have right now our students thank goodness showed up to know that they were home so our attendance is showing great results and we will stick with it as long as we need to to make sure they feel loved and welcomed every single day so they stick with us and they stay with us because it is you know what I'm going to say the power of us and that is how we're going to get this through thank you Dr Hill thanks Julie I do need glasses you're right but I don't have them so um in inside the context of attendance though we also have to uh face the reality that we do have some students that are obviously uh displaced moving and there is going to be some fluidity between district lines so I wanted to share what we have uh current as of yesterday of the number of students who have disenrolled now mind you we do have families that have not yet attended but have not yet disenrolled and so we that isn't a gray space for us uh but as of right now districtwide um 90 students have officially uh uh completed the process of disenrollment we do see that the majority of them are disenrolling into another California public school um about half of them are in the Sango Valley and the other half are um beyond what we would call the Comm commutable um Zone uh there are a few who went out of state I think we have a preschooler who went out of the country we didn't mark that here um and then a a couple in private school so again we expect that number to fluctuate over time um some are uh some have left for a time period um and plan to be back in the next school year and some may um have left for for good but we're following up on each family trying to do exit interviews as we can um and then update as we get that gray area between attending and uh enrolling uh result right now for staff thank you Dr Chanel there's a lot of data on this slide so I'm going to just walk you through a little bit of it coming back there was a lot of unknowns wondering of how many staff were impacted and how many were going to be returning to the classrooms one of the items we broke up certificate staff in the first two colums is those that were reported absences based on the eaten fire versus absences that were prescheduled for example if somebody was on out on medical leave somebody was out on workers comp uh somebody so there's other types of absences that folks have typically are out we Des segregated the data to show you the difference between in terms of absences uh for employees we reached out to employees uh to have a discussion regarding the impact that this has had on them and how we uh and Human Resources can support them and you heard some of those comments through our Labor uh Partners in terms of uh being pleased in terms of some of the work that has been done to ensure that we were there for employees and the one other column that's on here is and something that I'm very grateful to um to you all of you is uh back in August of 2023 I made a request three months after arriving uh for a Personnel to work specifically with substitutes for the district before as you might you might remember uh Paso UniFi did not have our own substitutes it was something through a third party that that we manage because of that we have somebody that was that has been focused on ensuring that our classrooms have high quality substitutes um some of the data that I've reported before and it has not changed during uh this stragic event is 100% faill rate every time that a teacher is out of the classroom for either an absence um for schedule professional developments we have had 100% faill rates since we've hired uh that's spe uh that person it has not changed with this tragic fire un not knowing how many of our staff we going to be so this uh informs you 13 or now I need my glasses 15 uh of the lenses for certificated throughout this entire period have been eaten related um nonen related there's 31 so you can add both of those numbers it tells you how many certificated staff members have been outed you'll notice the certificated substitutes is much higher than that and the reason for that is anticipating needs at the school sites we've implored uh Rober Subs so we fill the absences the teacher is going to be out we provide them with a substitute in addition to that we have been been providing additional staff to the sites um at least two robing subs for every Elementary three for every middle school and four for every High School to assist them with any needs that they may have part of it was anticipating any absences or any folks that we are were unaware that were not going to be returning to us so we provided that extra support staff in addition to that people have been using them in a lot of creative ways to assist in the classrooms um reli leaving folks uh to provide that mental health support throughout our campuses and that has happened since day one and it continues will continue to do so so there's a lot more adults that we are providing so I'm very thankful to our substitute pool uh to our substitutes employees of PD who have really responded when we reached out to them to making sure that they were going to be able to help us and provide the support of our students um so I'm very grateful to them the on the right side is for classified abs also related to eaten uh desegregated those impacted absences eatting related versus um normal absences that would have occurred otherwise in addition we've um provided some subs for those but in addition we actually reach out to a few retirees to help us support us during that time whether it's an office manager a clerk uh or custodial so we're very grateful for the response of retirees and other stubs who have come to to assist us to ensuring that there was a Personnel in the front office or as a custodian uh and being there for for a kids so very grateful for the response of folks of personnel being there a lot of these folks you'll notice some of the numbers are lower than what you heard from Dr Chan Hill because while some some of our staff have lost their home so they were impacted they're still coming to work so that's pardon me yes so a lot of our employees the numbers of impacted while you see the absence is much lower it is because they're choosing to come to PD and be here for their students despite having been impacted that is true for certificated employees classified employees certificated employees and for Absa management employees it is true that they have had the trategy impacted as well but you don't see the absences reflected here because they are coming uh to support our students and knowing the the priority that they have placed and we're very thankful for their service um during this difficult time as well so you'll see the disparity between the two numbers also very grateful to our five uh labor Partners CCA Teamsters ped UTP Absa again we have worked with them uh to uh Mr Garner mentioned about you to ensure that teachers going to come back they felt safe and that they also were going to be um were going to be mindful of those that were impacted by the fire um a special shout out to our Teamsters um who reported to work uh the day the next day the morning of the fire who were here um without an mou saying what is it that we can do to support you heard from Teamsters earlier um but their request wasn't about to discuss at M they wanted to know what is it that we can do to support they did not worry about about Job classifications so a really good shout out to them um in supporting us um we're continuing to do some negotiations with our CSA and her Teamsters but again very grateful for their partnership um during this process from the risk management perspective switching hats a little bit um where staff is engaged with weekly meetings um that should probably say three meetings a week with our adjusters uh with our third party administrators with our Brokers to ensure sure that uh we leverage our insurance companies for every penny that is owed to the district uh because of this strategy uh so I'm very grateful for the partnership with across all the divisions um uh working really close with um saman Bravo Kimi and his staff to ensure that we're aligned when we meet with our carriers to ensure that we implore friends and accountants to ensure that um the policy we leverage the policies that we have to ensure that um you know not only for the coverage of the actual buildings and the properties but for all the expenses that we have to now incur because of this fire and as you might imagine um the cost is very high uh because of this but we're leveraging or um the risk management perspective to ensure that that is covered by Insurance um so we're working very diligently on that uh two three meetings a day and I'm also very proud um of marasco Mr Dunning a really special shout out for them I know that many of you know that when there's phone calls or videos they're sing at 12:00 or 1 in the morning and they're on a campus working um so really they're also not only doing that but they're also working with my staff to ensure that we're documenting everything for the uh insurance claims adjusted so a lot of work to be done there's a lot of phases when it comes to the risk management perspective the first phase was obviously making sure that uh we um that we leverage insurance so that we can get everybody back uh the phases will be about modules uh another phase will be about working in terms of property cost and what are some next plans but that's going to be coming down the line there's a lot of work to be done as has been mentioned several times I think this is day 22 uh of this so there's a lot of work to be done from the risk management is it 23 we're in the 20 still so 20 20 day 20 so there's quite a bit of work to be done but there's a lot of quite a bit of work that has already taken place so so we appreciate um your leadership as a board in supporting us through this process I'm going to give it back up to Dr Chan Hill oh whoops thank you another visualization as I uh share with you some thoughts around learning continuity um you know in the spirit of what Dr Canal actually was just sharing learning continuity is not something that solely rests in the academics division every person that has been mentioned every department and division that has been mentioned contributed to learning continuity in this time and for the next uh for the next months to come uh Mr Dunning and Mr carasa teams absolutely would not have the space that we need to have learning continuity in its finest without the significant hours that they have put in um so you'll see a lot of things that are collaborative you're going to see that even the data that I shared it was a firm team between it and enrollment that had to bring that together so that we could make decisions around the instructional spaces um so there's going to be a lot of conversation around its technology academics cipd all of these different uh folks uh drawing this up Swiss and the Deep integration of social emotional learning with what we traditionally think as academics the reason why I really phrase this is because in the coming days um and years folks are going to ask us how did kids learn and how did they do and they're going to judge us by different markers that are available whether it's a state assessment um or it's the data that we produce or anything that's local uh but either way that's going to be the ultimate question of success how did our kids do um and we're going to come back to this time and realize that for 21 days we were very much focused on a crisis that maybe felt like academics were taking the back seat but under advisement from the other school districts that have gone through this exact same crisis they actually said it is where it is right now because you have to ensure that basic needs are being met so that academics can really flourish when the time is right um with that said one thing that I am very proud of with this team is that academics never disappeared continuity of learning was uh in place from the time that we closed schools a lot of that is credit to I never thought I'd say this but credit to covid that we had a lot of structures that uh that enabled us to have self-directed online learning as well as other means of communic ating with teachers um and providing instructional guidance um you'll see an example of scope and sequences laid out for activities for teachers to do day by day um a big shout out to Kim nson instructional coach over at sier Madre middle who created padlets for healing and hope um we have the original um Wellness Studio from from Swiss that we enacted in covid that we are now building back upon um and then of course the um the canvas Hub that cipd team put together all of these are things that are going to make it easier for us to communicate to teachers and also have them self- populate things as they go so that that burden isn't all on them um but I also would be remiss if I didn't give a shout out to one team that significantly carried our learning continuity and that's the expanded learning team and learns two of them are in the audience so I want I know you but in partnership with the city they were able to open up um what we termed child healthare to make sure that parents knew that this was a safe place to drop off their child but if you went into any of those spaces you knew that they were doing learning activities with the students somewhat disguised and very fun so thank you for being there um but that enabled us to get back in person which is the ideal setting for our students we're not um investing our our mental uh capacity and cognitive load here on hybrid or um online environments we learned some lessons there we're really engaging in utilizing technology and online resources in order to do in-person um interactions so with that that's why it is very critical that we have Chromebooks and staff devices we know that many were lost and damaged in the fire so um a significant effort thank you to Albert and his team uh for getting all of these through we have more Replacements that are coming through daily and getting those numbers from the schools and additionally I mentioned earlier the instructional materials um Dr nio did go ahead and order 100% replacement for aladen and Elliott and then between 60 to 70% uh replacement for other schools based on students having things left in homes that are now gone um procurement and business again another collaboration has helped to expedite all of these things so that we can get them and actually many of them already here um in kids hands so thank you very much and how do we communicate all of this good evening um before I begin I'm going to ask a couple of people to join me up up here um from the communications team um the these include Lisa win um from the Communications Department shant Wisner our legal Tech who stepped in and showed up even in the face of his own losses um um also Frank Quan Where Are You Frank okay um and also not here with with us tonight our son ham our Web Master who was up in the we hours of last night making sure that our test results were posted um Bailey um our admin assistant who has kept us all going and behind the cameras here kin Beth David Oscar Nancy whose images and videos have told the story of our district and what we've gone through and what we've accomplished Frank Quan um are has been a tremendous support he's been here on the ground um working um almost for two weeks um Leos Communications Department has provided their experts here on the ground at larger events to provide support VMA Associates and others have provided um collateral print material um um just tremendous support and then um this week we got the support of my my friend and former colleague um who Shannon Copa who served as L usd's Chief Communications officer so together we've been able to accomplish so much but let me tell you this we were able to accomplish this only because this superintendent leadership team made it a priority to be responsive to provide the information that we could communicate out and so in our communication we're Guided by two principles one is to be timely and responsive and the second is that the idea that it matters how messages from whether it's interpersonal or through Mass notifications and mass media that that it matters not only how they are in formed and created and distributed but how they're understood and received and so with those principles in mind I'm going to turn to some numbers on um on what what we were able to do oh my God so um we um have produced since January 7th 45 um community and staff updates each paired with a Spanish language version we have grown our the views on these have grown by almost a th% um from 78,000 to 886 th000 our social media has grown by engagement grown in engagement um we had more than 177,000 views on one on a single reel um our we created a website um PD . usfir relief that that's had more than 54,000 visits this month alone and then through our strong relationships with our Media Partners we informed our community through more than 275 um U medium mentions um and so that our information it ensured that our information got out there to as many people as possible we also were able to coordinate some VIs visits by some state and local officials to make sure that you know the resources came here and and um that that supported our students and again this would not have been possible this kind of communication would not have been possible without the the leadership of people on this team standing up here with us with me um to provide the information that our community so clearly needed during this this time thank you our final partner that we wanted to bring some attention to um is the passing Educational Foundation and also I wanted to make sure that we use this moment to get this information out to our affected staff and families um uh you heard in our earlier presentation that they uh began a response fund for us they are coordinating volunteers they are coordinating donations um a significant load of um so that we can get resources to our families um but one thing that they also understood is that this is a long haul this is not something where we are going to give relief in this moment in time we have to make sure that we store up relief uh for intermittent times through the years and so that's really what they're working through for this response fund they are already dispensing um relief to families and staff who have been affected so I wanted to draw your attention to the second um URL pass ed.org uh slf fire a regge I'm not even going to read it loud I just read it wrong so don't listen to what I said um but you know use the the link on on the yeah click on it uh but I just want to make sure that staff and families know that they can register there and be sorted through for for Relief and Community Partners are still being um uh you know recruited so so thank you so much for for all of that help Dr Blanco I will hand it back to you thank you and um we lost our data people one of them U had to move away and the other one was impacted by um the the fire and so uh we know that they're doing the very best they can to provide data as quickly as possible so appreciate you know all of your work in pulling this data together because these are the kind of questions that we get from the media and from families and you know the day is changing in fluid and these are the systems we're designing to keep it up so we can keep everybody informed um one um area that I forgot to mention is that um we are ramping up our Center for Independent Study so I know there were a few people who came this evening that said they felt it was too early to come back to school and I assume then they wanted us to do some more online learning so if you'd like to join the Center for Independent Study we'll staff it appropriately information will be shared on our website about independent study at your school if it's for up under 14 days is that correct Julie that would just be work packets that you would get from your teachers that you know if you want to enroll in the Center for Independent Study um you know it's like in covid we had some families leave and we save their spots for them until the end of the year we are willing to do that again um so you know we'll work with you individually um to be able to make whatever ever your needs are you know I I'm not going to discredit anybody who feels a certain way about an area but we will have that service available for anybody that wants to enroll whether it's a short time or long time you know we're really here to meet your um needs in educating all the children so thank you does anybody have any questions then we'll go to public comment after we discuss any questions about the presentation let's let's do I have questions so I have a question for Mr Bravo Kini uh Environmental Testing is there anything missing from the environmental testing so as I mentioned we we worked in consultation with public health officials at the county and City of Pasadena levels as well as several state agencies um to determine whether we were taking the right course of action um and then most importantly we followed the recommendations of our environmental Consultants the industrial hygienists to determine the level of testing and cleaning that was uh necessary and so that's what we did and um and that's why we posted the results uh also so that folks could see um those results for themselves are there any testing on air Soil and Water so we are monitoring air quality um and we are of course also uh monitoring water quality at all of our locations um to the extent conditions change in a way we have existing procedures for how to handle that um and with respect to soil I mean we did a lot of of the recommended cleaning we did the recommended cleaning um that our professionals recommended any other questions Kim Kenny um my first question it may be a bit early for this but I uh when that information is available it' be great um the spaces that currently can't be used and and I guess I'm think that are not damaged like um Altadena Arts Magnet I'm I'm kind of wondering what the time frame is for them being put back in usage and I don't know if this is the kind of thing that will um come about by August by the start of the next school year and again I don't know that you guys have been able to do a thorough examination yet of them um it it looks like some other campuses are also potentially partially intact um but again I mean they're still in in Burn areas but um just kind of hoping that if not tonight in the near future we can kind of start thinking about next year because it'll be here before we know it you know is how how long is this for us um Mr Harden and I were talking a little bit today about prior my impression was is that they they're going to start taking care of Remediation in the burn areas in certain places kind of dependent on how quickly people get paperwork in and it might behoove us to try and see if there's a way that locations near our schools can be done earlier rather than later so that we can assure parents that it there's not going to be a constant disruption and and decrease in air quality going forward so that's kind of a question for the future coupled with a little bit of a comment um on the air testing I think we had seen a little bit of information about or recommendations that air quality sensors be placed where schools are so I don't know if when we say we're looking at a AQ qmd if we're saying the general LA County number um but there has been some recommendations for having specific measurement sites and I wondered if you could talk about that at all so I'm gonna let Dr canel answer um your first question okay and I know that the city is looking at purple air and putting some things around and we've also looked at that um but go ahead and answer the first question about the insurance and my response was going to be for very short that yes it is premature at this time uh but we'll be looking into that something that we're we will be looking into that we're working with the insurance companies but at this time the focus has been completely on this portion of it but it is something that we'll be working on shortly so we have a community message going out about um the work that we're doing with um the Army Corps of Engineers would you like to talk a little bit about the process and how they've explained to you that it won't be Ash and to it flying all over sure so Army Corp engineer is going to be responsible for um the removal of debris from Burn structures this is both for our campuses that that have substantial fire damage as well as private residences and businesses um they use a wet method I'm not an expert in debris removal but they use a wet method to uh um reduce the amount of of air pollutants released um and they also the work the the the staff that's doing the work have sensors and so it's done in a way um to keep the surrounding Community safe um and um we are working with the Army Corps of Engineers also to see when and where certain debris will be removed so that we can be uh informed um but as you mentioned board member Kenny the timing of private residen is having that debris removed is is going to depend in large part excuse me on um those homeowners submitting a right of entry form and so definitely recommend for all of those who tragically have lost their homes to submit those right of entry forms um to encourage all of their neighbors to do the same um the more in a certain area that submit those forms together uh the likelier it is that that debris will be removed uh more quickly any other questions well I'm sorry so you said you've been talking with people about the air sensors is that something that there'll be an update on or we see that happening in the next month or Dr anosa we actually have met with a couple of vendors and there are infrastructure to that but they've sent over their information and that's been happening Ono as we've learned things from talking they give us great Insight Miss abadaka is back so she's actually going to be on a call um with the county tomorrow so we are going to be asking them for their recommendations as well so we are trying to get um the best advice on is a sensor the best thing is One sensor great is a sensor in every classroom we want to get um as we've done throughout the best um information possible so we're not um going uh in a position that would not allow us to have the best um quality uh currently we are providing daily um advisement um the CDE also provides a resource for us so it tells us exactly what's restricted what's allowable the populations of people um albe it not perfect um it is what we have right now and everyone has noted that um it is not um you know something we're going to you know question at this time but we are going to be looking at things over time because this is going to be in amone this isn't something we're just going to want the best um opportunity for air quality uh cons and then I guess the the last thing I want to say is that I I do think it behooves us to be as transparent as possible I think you've heard a lot of information tonight and and hopefully people are watching at home who have maybe gotten information this evening that hasn't been um as available before about the efforts that have gone on and the impact to District PD schools that are similar to those being confronted um by our charter schools to whom we Le space um I I think we um just need to be cognizant of how many different programs there are on how many of our sites and it it it is easy to sit at home and say but that site looks empty or that site seems to have a lot of classrooms um but it certainly appears that our staff has done the very best job they could in arranging things for everybody and and weighing all of the options for each individual School site so I I hope that there will be some recognition of that this evening thanks anybody here Scott Harden I don't know who was first so Scott Harden okay real quick uh again Marathon wow uh day 21 um specific question about uh if you could double click sort of on the 5,000 replacement Chromebooks um just are those is that are we accelerating the device refresh uh that we had planned I just was getting a sense of that 5,000 number yeah so we actually it's true we did uh plan for a refresh for next year right so obviously this will impact it however this these devices are being uh purchased specifically because of the emergency um obviously the device selection may impact the the refresh for next year um but these are devices to replace what have L okays okay I have a few questions um I think Dr already know already answered some of it so we've been talking to paradise and kind of and you know learning from their lessons right and then talking about the testing um they must have best practices coming out of that that we can borrow you know so um I don't know if you've spoken to the best practice yet so um that's a lot of the problem that we have there's not a lot of guidance that anybody wants to put in writing about these things we um we know what people have done all of the precautions that we have taken are not required we wanted our staff and students to feel safe returning to school testing is not a requirement from any government agency if we purchase air monitors and use purple air that is not a requirement that's something that we're looking into because we're hearing you we we want you to feel safe coming to schools but most of all we're responsible for all of your safety and we want to to make sure that everybody feels okay about where they're at without you know without the regulations to help us so um we have learned from them we also talked to the superintendent that managed um the hurricane in Houston we have job alike people are working with other job alike people and we're trying to bring the very best when you say best practices there isn't standards around this there is not a standard about when it's safe to be how close it's safe to be to a fire zone the best answer I got is if something isn't red tagged you can enter it that's why they're letting people go back to their homes our schools that obviously um burned down or partially standing are red tagged so I mean the U that's the extent of the information and guidance that we received okay I have like four more questions um Pasadena public health and ell County Department of Public Health are they um I mean we have like it's like two cities in the California uh that actually have a health department so what is their uh what's their unique support for us and as well as LA County Department of Public Health yeah we met with them about five days after our disaster uh meaning our capacity in a public health um dors I reached out to my well within just a couple of days they have been spot on responsive between texts emails sending um things to follow as upon attorney so that we would kind of start to build what the status quo was going to be and that Cadence of information uh we also have been in contact with the county actually everything that um pass Public Health had stated in um any of our onset of meetings or since then we were do and they were so pleased and again they are only giving suggestions no requirements and um and they are not mandating anything so that has been our guidance but it has been um every couple of days it's not every day depending on what the question is so again that we're being guided through that but both at the county level and we have a a webinar not a webinar like a t i don't know what you call it a telecommunication something tomorrow I'm not thinking right now um tomorrow that we're participating with with LA County to see if there's any updates since both um um our district and Palisades have been impacted locally so and then is there any concern for funding of ppes and any sort of cleanup testing costs U for the future [Music] ongoing uh any concern with funding for those like there won't be funding you know we have relief um coming from you know FEMA you know extra resources but will that run out and we'll have to rely on our own budget basically um I mean we we'll provide what's necessary regardless of uh a dedicated source of funding to keep folks safe last question is the process of identifying sites and um for different schools and the most popular site being Wilson can you elaborate on how that was determined for who goes there and all that so uh as I mentioned earlier several schools were displaced by fire um we had to fit many pieces into this puzzle and um the schools whether our schools or our partners in the Charter Community the school leaders were not offered options we had to figure out what we thought was best overall uh under very difficult circumstances um we did have uh both of our schools that were being relocated ask if they could be located relocated to Wilson we said no um there's not space there we have multiple programs there that serve very high need populations that serve adult populations one of the existing programs had previously requested additional classroom space at Wilson we've said no to that uh because there's not additional space there regardless of the way it seems uh when you're on campus so I understand you know folks wanting what's best for their schools and and their students and that's what we want as well um but the availability of that campus um it wasn't possible and and like I said we we we unfortunately had to also decline our own schools desires to locate there anybody else we're ready to go to public comment now one minute each please thank you very much Saina Sosa carara Meyer Jennifer burn Brier La followed by Elise rias Gomez good evening I was going to talk about something else about charter schools and being one family but I'm going to take you at your word that um you see us as part of the family so no need to convince there um I just have a sincere question if you've given up on working with aison leadership to find a mutually agreeable solution and if not here's what I genuinely believe would help we need a meeting or better communication that doesn't seem like a big ask but yeah we've yet to have like a full sitdown meeting we would like to resolve the difference between that was a great segue um between what seems available at Wilson and what we literally see even taking into account the existing programs because um our understanding is they're very small programs they're important but small and that's a really big campus and so we're definitely not asking nor would to displace anyone but um we want to understand so I know my time ran out but I just want to say a walkth through I think would be so amazing to uh have our leadership and someone representative of PD walk through and say why this classroom that's filled with Furniture couldn't be used why you know all these many and then once that's resolved we can kind of move on thank you Kara Meyer followed by [Applause] Jennifer I'm going to ask us to stick to the one minute thank you no problem thank you I'm carer I'm a parent of a fifth grader at Avison School of leaders I just want to Echo what the last speaker said and then add on to that you mentioned earlier that there's a history of contentious relationships with Charters that's why you're not trusted the burden is on you to build that trust through better cooperation and more transparency it's more work than you want to do but that's how you make amends thank you Jennifer B Brier Elise Ras Gomez Juan Carlos Perez just to add um when my son's Dent industrial hygienist his doctor tells me that he has a cough and I should just give him cough syrup and my gut I feel like that's not enough I go back to and I challenge him regardless what insurance says I go back and I challenge him and I get the results that I need so the lead testing on the soil it can happen um Jackson parent first year my son's in kindergarten my husband is a teacher in PD Jackson was among in the dis disenrollment numbers Jackson was among the top five or six a parent released a survey and in that survey asked who's coming back and what are your concerns 57% of those parents said we're unsure we're not sure we're coming back if we are we're we have reservations I want to just highlight that with respect to this is going to impact our our enrollment numbers you saw that already the the people that are there they're they're wavering every single person that said I have reservations it was all in health so if you address those you can curb This Disaster that's going to happen after the disaster and we lose these these families elas ju carlosz Beth Davis Perez hi I'm Elsa Rivas Gomez I'm the parent of two aison students an aison board member and a homeowner in District 2 our school burned to the ground in the eaten fire just like you our students faculty and school leaders lost their homes and are displaced we are all in shock and grief right along with you PD keeps saying that the reason our elementary school cannot relocate to Wilson is that there are important PD programs there that is very true what is not true is that there's not is that there is enough space for us all programs like Rose City pal CIS and others are important but their students are rarely on campus and even if they were all there on a given day there would still be more than enough room for us all it's a 15 acre campus with an approximate capacity of 1,900 students if any of you were to walk that campus on any given day you would see empty Bungalows you would see classrooms with Furniture in them there is so much unutilized space when we desperately need space I know you're on the board because you care about our students I implore you to choose what to do what is right at this moment not what is politically expedient Carlos Beth and then Joshua Thompson uh my name is WLOS btis and I'm speaking to you right now as the father of a family that lost everything in the fire and I'm also the speaking to you as the father of a trans child and I bring that up because I want to put this in a bigger perspective a lot of our suffering is local but a lot of the suffering that's coming toward us and coming at us is not of our doing and not of in our control and that is we live in a world right now where education is under a attack we live in a world right now where our V our children are vulnerable and we live in a world right now where these children within our communities are truly truly suffering right now is a time for Unity right now is a time for you to take the kind of attitude that you had toward Elliot earlier that love that you showed for Elliot and understand that we as parents of Avison share that same love for our community and our school I am implore each and every one of you to set aside any differences that we've had in the past and understand that right now is an opportunity to rebuild and rebuild with Unity thank you Beth Joshua Thompson Leia Romero hi I'm Beth Davis Perez that was my husband um I'm here as a member of the Avison community and the larger Community many of us lost our homes every single Avison child lost their school everyone we are here to ask for real communication deep communication not Fiats about placements veiled as offers not admonitions that it happened to us but we're still here too doing our jobs it's your duty to be here to do this for these children it is our duty as a community to keep them together Elliot wants to heal together so does Avis that's all we're asking thank you Joshua Thompson Lilia Romero Dr NAD Nao yeah you heard your name stand up buen noes good evening members of the school board my name is Lilia Romero I want to begin by expressing my deepest gratitude to each of you to superintendent Elizabeth Blanco and to the entire Pasadena leadership team um your response to the eaten fire and your tireless efforts to reopen our schools have been nothing short of heroic as someone who grew up in Pasadena attended our schools including our great college and has now taught and PUSD for 31 years I have never seen anything like this I never imagined that the city where I grew and Built My Life shared memories and for lifelong connections would face such Devastation my heart aches for our PC family for the deep wound this fire has left in our community but in the face of this tragedy you Rose to the challenge and even as some of you suffered personal loss you acted swiftly ensuring students have access ACC to online learning prioritize safety and mobilize resources on behalf of my fellow Educators and students districtwide um and the resident teachers that I support through our partnership with the incredible Alder Graduate School of Education I want to say thank you gracias for rolling up your sleeves lacing up those sneakers and walking thousands of steps across our Dina communities ensuring that our district Mission isn't just words but it's action thank you good evening as I stand here to publicly publicly express my deep appreciation and recognition for the extraordinary efforts of the superintendent her leadership team emino and the teamsters and a whole host of other teams um who I cannot name right now because I only have a few minutes one minute I'd like you all to remember these three numbers 23 11 and 6 as of today it has been 23 days since the start of the and fire 11 days since evacuation orders were lifted for those of us who could return to our homes and 6 days since the do not drink water notice was lifted completely for the area so as we continue on our journey to heal and rebuild our community it will not be business as usual unusual times call for unusual Solutions and we all will have to make adjustments sacrifices and compromises because that's what a true Community does I'd like to thank thank you all and look forward to rebuilding Lan Bray Ashley Williams Maria Sanchez Pablo Mires and if you can line up if you heard your name so that we can move that would be great Ashley Williams Maria Sanchez Pablo mes got a minute here we go uh president H Le thank you so much board members appreciate you guys Dr Blanco you're doing an amazing job um I'm a high school principal my name is Dr l g John High School uh I only look over one school you look over the district it's a hard freaking job I was said I won't curse um but I appreciate what you're doing to Dr Hill you answer my calls Dr Malone I know you're watching thank you for picking up my calls and not cursing me out uh to uh cor uh uel Carrasco thank you so much and also to uh Mike Dunning uh they have worked extremely hard to get us where we are today to be able to take students in uh today was the best day I've had in three weeks because I saw students on my campus and they were happy to see each other teachers were happy to see the students and we had an amazing day uh it's a difficult time it's a crazy time but I appreciate what you're doing thank you Dr Blanco two seconds peace out Ashley Williams Maria Sanchez Pao Mir Hanley hi my name is Maria Sanchez and I am U I guess one of the people that lost their house in Altadena but I am happy to be back and I know it's really hard and I know that we really have to work as a community I have nephews and nieces in Charter and public and I know it's hard for everybody so I really I'm happy to see all my kids back at school you guys did an amazing job bringing us back it does it is home away from home and that that's what my kids tell me Miss Sanchez your home you don't worry about your house we'll take care of it and they're elementary students but yet they figured out they're going to rebuild my house and I'm like okay so I want to really thank you guys for taking the time to bring our kids back they really need to be back at school they really need to feel safe I know it's hard I know it's hard for my nieces and nephew that are not in their classrooms right now that are in charter schools and yes I understand it's hard and we have to work as a community to to be together but don't lose patience I understand you guys we are in this together and we will figure it out together Hanley Shiva s sarir Wendy Sanchez Emerson Perez good evening everyone my name is Hannah Lee and I oversee our teacher induction program in Pasad and unified tonight I want to commend our District's leadership for their unwavering commitment in the wake of the eaten fires through GRE grief and uncertainty uncertainty PD prioritized Healing Connection and hope superintendent Blanco and her leadership team worked tirelessly with community and labor Partners to provide clear communication immediate support and critical resources these include meals Child Care Mental Health Services and housing assistance they ensured staff had space to heal planned a full day Gathering to reconnect and made reop opening a top priority schools were cleaned counselors were brought in and learning continued even for all our uh some of our displaced students while the journey to Healing continues one thing is clear PD is more than a school district we are a community that rises together and I have never been more proud to be PD uh proud thank you good evening board president president Holley Dr Blanco and the board and SLT my name is Saba server and I most of you know me as the facilitator of the student think tank and the assembly I am also a former Blair parent and a Community member and I just want to thank the PD leadership led by Dr Blanco thank you you have done an amazing job you've Marshall resources and expertise as well as you could have in these really difficult times yes 2 three days um through all of this time as Leslie mentioned I don't normally speak for the students but I will say today that it has been amazing working with the students we've been working virtually I just said let's meet and they all show up virtually I think oh 10 students are going to come 30 students we had one meet this meeting at Blair that we had on Monday I was just luckily thanks to PF we had pizza we had food but the students want to meet they want to meet in person that is what they wanted and you gave them to gave it to them so thank you Wendy Sanchez Emerson Perez Samantha catsburg Michelle Hastings hello my name is Emerson Perez and I am a sixth grader at Ag and I attended ASL from kindergarten through fifth grade I'd first like to start by saying how sad I am to know that the school that I called my second home is now gone the school where I spent six years of my life learning the school where I made so many wonderful memories at the school where I felt safe loved and happy I have so many wonderful memories at ASL but I'd also like but tonight I'll only be sharing a few one of these memories at ASL is when we went took our right of passage trip to Catalina Island where I learned how to rock climb kayak but I also learned how important teamwork is the last memory I'll be sharing tonight is when we painted our fifth grade mural I remember my class sitting in the art room brainstorming what we wanted to put on our mural we ended up deciding on hot air balloons this m is one of the last things that remains on the ASL campus I'm very glad that this mural is still there because it's a l reminder that even though times are tough we can still find joy in the smallest of things thank [Applause] you good evening I stand before you with a heart full of gratitude returning to Jefferson one week after school's closed and seeing students walk through the doors with smiles and eager to reconnect with their friends their Joy echoed loudly in the hallways of the Jefferson Library schools have always been a place of stability and seeing students and staff together was truly a healing experience our staff some of whom were affected by the fires also needed a space to heal being at Jefferson was an honor for me this morning at Jackson Elementary I could feel the buzz of cautious excitement we didn't know exactly what to expect but we knew that we needed to be there for the kids for the families and for ourselves I was born and raised in Pasadena this is my home I feel a deep sense of Duty to my community with every fiber of my being I want to give everything I have to support its healing I know the road is is long but the time I spent at Jefferson and today at Jackson gives me hope I spent the entire day with my learns family's honor to hold space for them what we do is so important and I am so grateful for all of you and everyone at PD who has worked tirelessly to bring us back together I want to share a message of positivity let's acknowledge the resilience of our students and families and the dedication of our administrators Pasadena is not just recovering we are growing stronger together as we move forward I urge our community to continue lifting each other up and celebrating the victories large and small that Mark our path to full recovery thank you Samantha catsburg Michelle hins Cory odaniel Jose Montiel hi good evening I'm Michelle Hastings I am an aent parent of a seventh grader and I think the words of support that we've heard tonight for the majority of the PD students who are back in their schools back at their homes is a test to all the work that you've been doing but I need to just give a reminder that the job is not done yet the job won't be done until everyone of our students whether a traditional PD student or a PD Charter student is back in a safe classroom that's a reasonable size with a seat for everybody I would encourage you all to please reach out to our Avison team those people are bored they know what our kids need and what makes our home special for our kids have a conversation with them it doesn't feel like too much to ask at this critical juncture please have a conversation with them hear what they have to say and see how you can help meet the needs I know there's lots of Need for space I spent a lot of time at Wilson I find it next to impossible to believe that there's not actually space there I've been in charge of setting up that campus please have a conversation with us and let's take it from there thank you thank you Samantha cber Cory odaniel Jose Montiel David my specialty Spanish uh I'm Cory o Daniel the father of a 5-year-old Jackson dolphin he loves Jackson he runs up the stairs every morning without so much as a goodbye Dad if your school is coating to Jackson you would be lucky your kids will love Jackson but it's not safe and we're likely dis rolling the decision to reopen schools and declare them safe without conducting tests for lead asbest and Benzene critical contaminants that POS serious health risks especially for children is dangerous while testing soot Char and Ash and conducting cleaning protocols that's great these efforts are not enough to address the dangers of lead in asbest contamination hepo vacuuming wet wiping air filtration those are great for surface cleaning they're not designed to remediate lead in asbestos lead can seep into cracks asbest gets deserved uh Disturbed and gets into the air when you try to clean it without targeted lead and as bestest test there's no way to ensure these dangerous residues aren't still present especially in areas like garbage and ventilation systems Jackson opened today with no heat do you know why they were afraid of stirring up the dust that doesn't sound very safe to me I urge the board to take immediate action and expand testing to include lead asbest Benzene ensure proper remediations of these contaminants if they're detected our students deserve better than assumptions they deserve the proof that their classrooms are safe thank you Samantha cber Jose Montiel David David C Mike OK Conor Monica caralis okay samanta catar okay go ahead what's your name David David great good evening members of the board and thank you for sharing all the information around what's uh what the work is that you're doing that's happening my name is David caler I am a father of a seventh grade student at Odyssey Charter school and I'm here to actually talk about the importance of safety and the importance of community uh as you've already heard tonight there are many concerned parents and children here representing our school today and odyssey is a phenomenal School in community but as you're also aware odysse see Charter South burn down completely and Odyssey Charter North is uninhabitable due to the environmental conditions uh our entire School Community has suffered tremendous loss in hardship and when I learned PD was suggesting and endorsing the schools be combined on the ottobon north campus this was completely unsettling our school is in a burn Zone we know it's not uh safe and we know the rebuilding efforts in that area are only going to continue to make the environmental conditions unsafe for the near future our children have been out of school for the longest time in Pasadena the school is not back yet and still search for the safe spaces the students I am also a Pasadena resident and I feel that you as the Pasadena Unified School District board have an obligation an obligation that you spoke up about tonight to all students in Pasadena and to the schools that that they are in to provide a safe space so we're going to need to move on to be a cognizant of the fact the work needs to be done in the burn Zone and to be able to provide alternative space in safer zones thank you thank you so much much I I urge you as a parent and a member of the community that now more than ever we need your partnership we need your commitment to transparency and we need your ability to find a safe solution that meets the needs of our school as we owe that to our children thank you thank you Ana dugall and Jen Juan I'm going to ask everybody to really stick to the one minute that's really it's fair for everybody because that's what we're asking everybody to do thank you hello my name is anuka dogall I'm a fifth grade student in aent school of leaders and Aon really meant a lot to me because of the teachers and my friends and the Beautiful campus and so I'm really just asking that each and every one of you please try your best to let Aon rebuild because if you believe in aon's potential and their Community then I think that Altadena can be so much better thank [Applause] you hi my name is John Wong thank you for the opport opportunity to speak um I'm the I'm an Avon parent and the president of our PTA um it's incredible how our community has come together I've rarely seen us so United during Co we tried to come up with a t-shirt design and we ended up with 20 and we had to sell them all on our store so it's an extraordinary thing to see us all coming together um I think I Echo what a lot of others have said about please just like walk us through um why it is that we can see the a campus that feels empty and I know and I know that some of you have alluded to that that you understand that it looks that way um help us understand why it doesn't work if it doesn't work is it an option to put Portables on the giant grassy Fields like what what are the possibilities there we would love to understand um I also wanted to flag for you um I saw your data about families who have lost their homes and are displaced um in the community in PSD our school did had staff Call all of our families and of our 420 students and there are fewer families than that 70 of ours over 70 have lost their homes and so I want to just flag to please keep collecting that data because I think the impact is more profound than the preliminary data shows thanks last call for Pablo mes Michael Connor Monica cares my son is in TK at Odyssey which is part of PD thank you all I'm glad I got to hear this last portion about testing but there are still so many questions and possibilities ongoing so ask why the rush when safety isn't certain speakers have been appealing to your hearts and your logic for what's fair and right I'm going to add a warning you will be shocked to know how many lower grade families TK Kinder first grade are terrified by the rush and they are leaving your District you're not losing Charter students you're losing District students we also know parents from alinaa Arts Longfellow now Jackson they're gone they're being welcomed to Glendale LAUSD and they matriculate into middle school and high school and they're loving it I I don't love leaving Odyssey I don't love leaving the PUSD but that's what's happening thanks thank you last call Jose Montiel risk Health number one e-risk headcount number two thank you samanta catsburg Ashley Williams mon Joshua Thompson did I okay all right I'll okay hi again and now I'm going to say what I came to say um well I came to talk about what does it mean to have a safe space a safe space means familiarity a safe space peace a safe space that it's known a safe space that offers security and so much more sometimes it's physical sometimes it's just a thought sometimes it's spiritual sometimes it's emotional imagine if we adults are in a constant look for a safe space how does it feel for our children's right now a safe as space promote healing a safe as space promote grow a safe as space equals opportunity the safest space means everything right now for all of us in our community we have so much lost of this sa space that right now what we want to ask you is to take this as an opportunity to be part to help us return that safety that right now we are not feeling and this is an opportunity for you to be part of it and we will really really appreciate that thank you do we want want to take a few minutes and extend the meeting we're done and then the superintendent would like to say something do I have a consent do we wanted right so um I wanted to uh do a reconsideration motion sorry let me I had the paper before but I lost it a motion to reconsider our earlier vote to do the time extension so this is something that still needs a majority vote and someone who voted the majority last time has to say it so I am motioning that we extend until 12:30 I think that should be sufficient time we can I don't know if there's a second second student board member what do you think yes all right we just raise our hands okay we we to 12:30 now the superintendent would like to say something so thank you for everyone being here this evening and you know sharing your passion with us part of my job that's very difficult is managing people's expectations being transparent and honest and I urge the Avison leadership and all of you to come to school at the spaces we offered we are not changing the offer we expanded the offer yesterday evening to give you an option that we did not want to give you we wanted to keep you together we offered to bring additional Portables what we were asking you was to make the space work for four weeks because that's how quickly we could get the Portables there we offered now Washington our leadership talks to the Charter leaders two and three times a day it is up to them now to accept the offers and get you back in school in term terms of Odyssey Odyssey requested that to be their facility use agreement offer to bring you both together to that campus when they understood that you might have concerns as a community they said we want to keep our lease with you and we're going to look for some other space for our families temporarily there is not going to be more negotiations with Avison and I'm being honest with you because we we are not going to go walking around Wilson improve to you that there's no space this is the offer until the end of the year this fua goes to the end of the year we have asked for an extension from your leaders on your February 1st offer most of them have agreed right and we will continue to work to try to find the best spaces for everyone I also want to address soil testing so the soil has many contaminants prior to the fire the reason that we not testing soil is there's things that could have been there from years and years ago that are going to show up now right we know that soil the best way to take care of it based on the social Engineers that we work with social Engineers I'm sorry environmental Engineers is to wet it down and push any elements that are harmful into the ground we're following that practice we're not going to we're not going to change that practice again I said we have Alternatives you can enroll in different PD schools you can enroll in um and I'm talking to the parents that are PD are currently enrolled if they don't feel safe going back to their own School we're trying to accommodate all the people that have put in transfers today because we want you to feel comfortable coming to school so you know we at this time those are the offers we have for our Charters you need to work with your Charter leadership and you need to get back to school because that's what's best for your children and the longer you you know want to negotiate something that's not going to be negotiated the longer your children are going to be out of school so in terms of um the offers we're ready to receive you you heard staff say here tonight they want you to they don't want to collocate with people but if you're coming they're going to welcome you it's not easy right now and I want to be very clear that this isn't going to change for right now that is the offer till the end of the year thank you very much we are going to move on to the consent agenda does anybody have any polls there is public comment on consent agenda which which item is it item M consent agenda three facilities three facilities John gaspan he left oh okay let's move on FS I would I would like to pull n2e which is board report 74 DB N2 Mary which is BR 82b N3 I which is BR 1082 DF and N4 e br31 p i what's the last last one sorry n4e board report 31p yeah repeat those 2 e 2 m 3 i 4 e great and then we did have three pulled by staff I believe prior to the meeting does somebody want to do a sweep on this I will move approval of the remainder second I do have some questions and then if your public comments on ones that were not pulled the public comment has left oh all of the ones that you have okay public comment has left so we're going to we're going to make a sweep on yeah I non po right and then I just have a couple questions on the um two two items so on the January 16th meetings um I just want to clarify that I know that we were going to table an item and then I think we called a postponement and I hope we can review the Rosenberg rules because it does clearly talk about tabling and and it has the options motion to table and so these since these are the ones that we've agreed to follow in our um policy I think we probably want to use that terminology so it has motion to table which we can do for a specific time or no specific time so I just wanted to make that clarification from that last meeting I'm sorry I think that was the one that was the minutes from January 16th so that was the meeting where I was at home and I didn't have my rosenberg's rules so I really couldn't weigh in very easily and then um my other comment so I I I see that we are ratifying of the emergency contracts that have occurred since we um since our last meeting I didn't see the contracts yet for the cleaning or testing is is that because we haven't entered into contracts even though the work's been done or so this is board report 81 D b-b so I know we had purchase orders for uh some kind of I don't know I I'll I'll have to follow up okay I think there was air filters and computers uh laptops but I didn't just didn't see the others okay so those would be coming to us the next time we meet yeah I'll follow up okay great thank you okay now we have are we doing the sweep approval right now and then we're going to discuss okay so let's do the approval super um student board member do you approve of the sweep yes everybody else any in opposition any abstentions 7 to zero approved all right 2E all right on 2E I would propose an amendment just to go under staff analysis that says this list and this is the piggyback contracts is being amended to add maalla company and expand the Arvin USD I think is what it is Arwin Arvin just so that it's clear somewhere on the board report we've already approved this entire list back in June I just it didn't say that we were only amending it to add one new item and change the scope of a second person so if with that amendments do you need if you let me know if you need to repeat it I would move approval so at the bottom of section two this list is being amended to add maalla company and EXP expand Arvin USD approval of amendment so it is mentioned there in the topic second you want the title changed no I'm adding a line under staff analysis okay yeah I'm looking at it oh yeah okay all in favor student student board member yes all in favor all yeah I'm sorry I thought I said I make a motion all all in oppos all in opposition yeah so in favor 7 to zero all right M all right N2 Mary which is the emergency resolution continuation I apologize that I didn't not notice this the first time the last whereas right now says because the mediation work has been pully fully performed and because the conditions warrant there's no longer a need for continuing the emergency action which can therefore be terminated which is not what we want to do so I'm proposing that it says whereas when the emergency remediation work has been fully performed and when the conditions so warrant there will no longer be a need to continue the emergency action which can therefore be terminated my understanding is that this whereas is here in case this can be terminated before we next vote on it at our regular meeting I just don't know how we keep it when it's in contradiction of what we want to do I need some clarification on that yeah Council was made aware of this suggestion and um said that it's fine as is but we I don't think the proposed amendment um harms resolution Council say it was fine as it is uh at the time it was prepared the amount of time that dis would need to enter a contracts without bidding to address the fire emergency was not clear it is standard emergency resolutions to include recitals to terminate the emergency if by the time the resolution is considered by the board the emergency in Need for flexibility with Contracting without bidding has concluded here the emergency is not concluded and further contracts are required for mediation work etc which is why the action to continue the emergency is being brought for approval at the next regularly scheduled board meeting tonight um but I think the clarification that board member Kenny is asking for I don't think makes any doesn't I'm I'm fine with it you think council is fine with it yes okay fine all motion so I'm moving that we make that change second all in favor oh student board member I got a yes all in favor we're voting in favor of the change yes sure all in favor all opposed zero no extensions seven to zero approves next one um the Southland waste award um I'm not sure that I noticed that in the explanation on the board report it quoted um I think it was public resource code for why we uh didn't have to bid it when I asked the question why didn't we have to bid it I was given a different reason um in the past we've always bid out our Waste Management um so I'm finding that I'm a little unclear about whether a service that we've always bid before didn't need an RFP process and and a bid this process so so I'm just not comfortable voting for this tonight okay so in the questions that was sent to all the board members it was explained that we didn't need to do that right but it it said it was a special special service and it's not Financial economic accounting legal or administrative so and again a different reason was given in the board report itself so I don't know why there were two different reasons given let's have the superintendent explain Mr Bravo karei is this falling under the emergency waste or is this regular waste removal this is not related to the emergency okay I just need clarification on it this is the one that we received the a letter about I I'm sorry I was going to pull it before they sent that so I have a question board member Kenny rather than saying that um you're not going to support it do you have a recommendation to staff since the contract starts Monday or tomorrow or two days from today I I don't know what else can be done at this point um I I did call Leo because I wanted to confirm that the public resource code that's called out in the board report or actually in the letter that we sent to Southland applies in this case um but I didn't hear back from them by the time time of the meeting so I I am uncomfortable so that's I just pulled it so that I could vote separately so then would it be safe to ask staff for the subsequent years um in the subsequent years we do go through the proper bidding process for the waste management so that we're not here again when it comes time for the next renewal I don't know who talking to you or Mr Bravo Kimi who I mean we we did confirm with Council um on this but for what it's worth that we confirm with Council that this was was proper and allowed M McKenzie oh sorry so so is this a policy or is this just something something uh board member Kenny that you're accustomed to us doing because if it's okay for us not to do it well what's I don't there wasn't really enough time today again I got one answer and then when I looked at the the Ed code I was like well that doesn't seem correct but then when we got the letter from um the vender they said oh we were told it's this other reason and when I went and looked at the report that was the reason that was quoted there I just am not quite clear that the Ed code that we're citing saying that we don't have to bid it does say unless other laws apply or something you know and and again when the COC went through their unhappiness about when we were bidding and when we weren't bidding etc etc we went through a fairly lengthy process I think you remember um our Council going through this is when bidding is required and this is when it's not and here are all the special cases and I don't remember the one that we're using here being there so um again I'm just I'm not comfortable it doesn't mean that I think one of the things that I'm trying to establish I mean we're we're going through right now a lot of changes are happening you know up here with leadership with the board both cultur related and process related policy related and I think this is one of those things that we need to be clear on so that we're not here having the same conversation again about another issue that's similar or the same and so I mean I know that people question our processes all the time if if we're saying that we're confirming with legal and legal is saying okay okay if it's within the norm if it's not violating any Ed code or any policy then we need to acknowledge that and keep moving but if this is something that the board would prefer that we have come to us and it's outside of of impacting or doing anything um where we're in violation of any kind of code or policy we need to have that discussion as to whether or not want to continue to move that way so I hear what you're saying I'm acknowledging what you're saying but I don't want you to have to be here again I don't want us to have to be here again can I can I provide some additional information so the I think the training doc document that was prepared by Council that explained kind of um when bidding is required when's not required that very document talks about um Waste Services where there's no bidding requirement so there is no bidding requirement per our the legal councel and it's included in that that training document that I think we're referring to um in any case we did get five bids so um we reached out excuse me we reached out to over five companies and requested quotes and pricing um and so you know we we'll do more research if if what's cited here which is what has was cited by our Council this exact section um but if it's Aken we'll we we'll certainly keep that in mind you know we can we can follow up but we got five quotes council's confirmed we don't need to bid this but we did the due diligence in any case um but you know and I think for this discussion I think it it it was okay for you to say that from the beginning that you did get the five bids because it it appeared that there were there was no bidding process at all and so since that's not the case that helps yeah uh I mean that would have been helpful either in the board report fair enough or or in my question in answer to my I'm receiving information now uh staff is watching the board meeting uh it's even though it's quite late um multiple staff are are watching to assist I'm calling for the vote uh I have something to say and Tina does too have um yeah I'm reading this letter now and it says we're g to they're going to do a p basically um yeah is that something to be concerned about no we had to hire a legal technician to manage all of our Pras we get a lot of them called them public records request for any audience who doesn't know it all right so um I just wanted to point out that as confirmed with legal counsel there was no need for a formal RFP process correct Mr Bravo Kimi for this contract because waste disposal services are considered special R Services which does not require an RFP that seems very clear to me and I I usually listen legal council because if you don't there's really no sense in having one thank you but but that's not the reason the reason is what's quoted on the letter to Southland which is the public resource code so it's not because it's a special services for a different reason all right we're letting it go all right next one oh oh we oh Patrice I got a question was answered so no need but move to approve second right call for the vote student board member yes all in approve anybody opposed one so any extensions American Reclamation is our vendor ala for all of us and then we have our last one all right confidential salary schedule um I think people will remember that I continue to be concerned that the what a confidential employee is from government code 35401 means any employee who is required to develop or present management positions with respect to employer employee relations and again we are approving a document that has Personnel that do not meet this government code board policy definition of confidential Personnel they should be in the classified CCA Union where they would have representatives in negotiations which they don't have now well the which position are you saying should be well the legal technician is the one that we are modifying tonight but everyone who does not handle bargaining for csca should not be on this form but but I've said this the executive secretaries have never been in cssea no and yeah all right all right is there a motion motion to approve second second student board member yes all on approval all opposed one any extensions six to one it carries thank you all right I think we are um at public comment nothing motion to adjourn request call for the vote could I excuse me hold on hold on excuse me what are you having a special meeting yeah could we could we hear about any future meeting dates that we might not know about already we're not having a special board meeting no we're just going to the I do have a question about the no we don't have one we don't there's not one being discussed right now but I do have a question about a meeting so the ledge committee is it truly indeed in conflict with the roadmap yes and now they're mve it moving it to the 21st which one ledge or Road ledge road map we've moved on the 14th is no good for the ledge advocacy Comm comme so they want to do the 21st you have an email okay allege okay meeting adjourned well I did second your motion all right well can we not skip to items next time so that we can I'm sorry future agenda items the board requests we'll do that next suay would she wanted to go it's after 12 yeah but we had till 12:30 that's true being asked if there's special any special meetings in February I'm still working with um the president to determine that there isn't a desire to have extra meetings but if something changes with this situation that we need you to know or something that happens to get ratified we may have to have one I have to think about that we did send them a date I thought we picked a a later date so we better check FAA do you know um when the joint meeting is with the city we send them a date we're waiting for them to confirm April I believe [Music]