October 2026 Meeting of the Board of Trustees October 2026 Meeting of the YUSD Board of Trustees Show Transcript um so understand is over here ready begin and I do the Republic for which it stands 1 nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all so second all those in favor I report out on any closed session items thank you in closed session the board took action um off Personnel report and the auric actions to um higher 2 certificates uh temporary Keepers or took action to have 3 classified promotions 2 classified new hires and 1 classified retirement and that was on a Bernie and in my book and a 50 vote to approve the person who works and that was the only action in the court session presentation oh all right so for today we're going to move on to the public comment section so the public is welcome to address the board on any matter any school district that is not um members of the public May sign up requesting it to address the board if you do not wish to provide your name you will be assigned um a number by the executive assistant when you submit your request to address the board if there are multiple speakers requesting to address the board the board president may ask for a single spokesperson or may limit the number of persons speaking on the same topic the trustee and I'm asking questions to clarify that to not discuss your transaction on these matters if desired until such matters are appropriately placed on the agenda unless otherwise determined by the court of each each versus limited to 3 the public may also submit a request to address the board on each of the remaining items on the agenda including any public hearing items as those items are taken up by specifying the agenda item on the public comment request form unless otherwise determined by the board each person is limited to 3 minutes um if you would like to comment please consider a request from form located at the back counter you can just um bring it up here um and submit it to all right so we're going to jump into um public comments so our first 1 is Anthony wisener good evening my name is Jeffrey Meisner I have lived in the Eastern Madera County for approximately 35 years I moved up to Wildey granted home there until it's all and then I granted a number of different homes up here in 2002 uh excuse me in 1997 I bought my first home and uh that was quite an accomplishment and since that time I've owned uh this will be my second I'm in primary resident second home right now I'm in the process of buying a condominium uh because I believe the young teachers should have affordable housing in our area uh I believe these uh because I have uh I just received my tax bill for my primary resident I did the math uh my home is assessed at 200 uh 55,000 if I look at it on Zillow it's about 400 but according to my tax bill my assess values 255 per year I'm smart enough to do math and my monthly payment for the passage of measure White because I live in you you stomach in the Oakhurst area is going to be a whopping $12.75 the last left food meal I had was 15 okay I am willing as a taxpayer pay 12.75 cents a month to support measure wife if I lived in the Loyalty area I would also all the same because it would be another closing time I'll just skip to Burgers uh because I know how important the schools in this District are to our community and I could go down this whole line list I encourage each and every 1 of you that have questions about the bonds to go to uh you say unifies website there's a video there is 33 minutes it explains everything I encourage you to to read the ballot measure see what it truly says because there's a lot of misinformation out there the other thing I discovered on my tax bill is I don't have an assessment for you you don't like school district and I haven't for a number of years I do however have assessments for Bass Lake that's about eighty dollars a year and for the Community College this is about another 35 as I said I have lived here 35 years I will tell you I can't wait till Community College actually opens please please please vote Yes on measure W and measure why our students deserve safe educational opportunities thank you thank you to okay yes yes in high school I've been a teacher for 28 years 19 of their of those here at yhs this year I'm also providing Services once a week to some students with special needs at Raymond Granite high school I love my profession and I love my students I love working in this District where I live I love to attend many student events and I can because I live here I am active on our mtss committee and I'm active in my community I'm excited to share that our summer reading intervention class made an average of 2.6 years of growth and 13 days thank you for supporting reading instruction however I'm also saddened that I need to talk to you again about the despair that I and many of my colleagues are feeling financially I spoke to you about this last year my family tightened up our budget but we have to sell my car so that we can save money and pay bills finally after 6 months we were able to purchase another car but then in December we had to sell our other car so we planned to save up for 6 months again for the next car down payment it is now 10 months and we have not been able to see that we have this is with the 28 28-year teaching career with a master's degree for perspective in my first year of teaching right out of college the student loans all by myself I was able to buy a brand new car and now I can't I'm appalled to hear that USD has been saving approximately 1 to 2 million dollars a year every year yet they continue to refuse to pay teachers and staff in Equitable salary and insurance contribution why USD is holding a 20% reserve and asking us for our support on these 2 that is morally reprehensible of course I want improvements to our facilities and I was open to these Bond measures however I cannot support you responds with a district seems willing to bankrupt its own members we have some people that are facing foreclosure basically second and third job I fully support having a 10% Reserve but anything beyond that is just plain selfish we teachers are asking for an equitable increase in salary and an ongoing yearly raise to the insurance contribution we ask that why USD pass on the whole full Cola to salaries every year and budget to continued increases to Insurance contributions please please check your moral compass we cannot quote stay the course financially next up is Megan rice hello my name is Meaghan rice and I'm in my ninth year teaching at yhs I am speaking as a homeowner in so I would be paying for both pawns and I will be voting yes on both for me it's simple why USD is in need of significant repairs and updating as outlined in facilities master plan I'm so glad that it transparently outlined for the public exactly what we need the money for you may say it's a lot of money but it is reasonable and will only get more expensive the longer we wait it has argument too long which is why we need so many things I heard a lot of arguments against is bonds and the only 1 that holds any weight is folks who are genuinely concerned about being able to afford the cost but we pay a lot of taxes for a lot of things and none of them will have as direct and positive and impact on our community's children I have not heard a single argument that makes me believe that our district and these students don't need and deserve the funds from these bonds I simply Googled why do schools need Bonds in California and red California schools need bonds because the state provides no dedicated ongoing funding stream for building upgrading or repairing school facilities only daily maintenance not ongoing larger issues so arguing that the district just needs to manage our funds batteries quite and nearly a third of California's public schools are at least 50 years old and require major modernization that's us also passing the local Bond measure frequently unlocks matching uh State funds so we can have an even bigger no matter how many students are enrolled they deserve the support of our community we have a shared responsibility to these students distract from that or try to push it off to someone else is irresponsible if you aren't part of the solution then you're part of the problem yes on WNY thank you good evening tonight I want to discuss acceptable behavior and accountability where the brook Allen ran for board and for County Supervisor he uses physician with yusd as a political platform personal history and choices became connected with the district is that appropriate leadership when we have back to school night parents came to meet teachers understand classroom expectations to learn about their children's education not to sit through a presentation promoting the district's Bond agenda in 2024 and Amy Prestige and Jennifer Rogers were elected on this board in 2025 Jennifer established a nonprofit is now reportedly providing social emotional curriculum to the district at at the least um at the last board meeting the noble Rodeo fundraiser was discussed as benefiting that same organization and that's not forget the rusty piston Brooke Allen's business which continues to appear on the district's account payable records at what point do these overlapping relationships become a concern for this board where are the boundaries where is the transparent where is the accountability I'm not claiming that every 1 of these actions is illegal but legality and ethical leadership are not the same thing you expect students to demonstrate integrity Integrity responsibility and appropriate behavior yet what examples are you setting you were elected to serve the students and this community not to advance personal interests political iCal Ambitions or private organizations at District expense your position is public responsibility not a personal opportunity or self-serving and I want every board member and superintendent understand something your behavior matters your decisions matter and the public is paying attention the students deserve leadership that models the very standard you are expected to follow okay next up is Hannah Yoder good evening I don't see any other and I teach third grade at River Gold Elementary this is my third year as a yusd educator and I have chosen to work here because I truly value the strong sense of community um among the students and and throughout 1 thing I am particularly proud of is my ability to make a lasting positive impact on my students and their families over the past 2 years I have received many heartfelt messages from parents thank you name for the difference I have made and our children's lives I would like to share 1 part part of 1 of those messages I had contacted a parent to let her know about a minor behavioral incident about making her child earlier that day she thanked me for letting keeping her informed and then share something her childhoods it towards the end of her talk he goes I think my teacher understands to be better than most people do he wanted to say how you are always kind and fair thank you for for caring so much about your classroom and my child hearing those words meant so much to me because this is 1 of the reasons I wanted to become a teacher I wanted to make a lasting positive difference in the lives of my students knowing that a child feels understood supported and treated it reminds me of why this work is so important however as much as I love working in this community the reality of the rising cost of living is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore I can be a professional daily and I currently carve the co-worker to help with the with the cost of gas even with carbon link is becoming increasingly difficult to support myself say for my future and make progress towards my long-term personal and professional goals I care deeply about this Community but I also have to consider my own Financial possibility unfortunately I find myself seriously considering looking for other job opportunities that would make it more financially feasible for me to stay in education while also in the future I want for myself therefore I am only asking why USD to invest more in its teachers this is not simply about teachers wanting more money it is about recognizing the positive impact experienced teachers Bible students and supporting them with the competitive salary investing in teachers helps attract more highly qualified Educators retaining experienced teachers and ultimately provide greater stability for our students and our schools I love I love working here I want to continue working here making a positive difference in the lives of our students I hope yosd will make it possible for teachers like me to continue to continue doing so thank you uh next is Dennis sorry so I've that's why I got a high school that never come back to school in my life but here we are they exchange the time um I had a few questions I just made some simple notes um I wanted to find out on the record of contracts on the agenda how many of these are allowed for contracts that are 25,000 and they being the effects so they're more than 1 how many are there there 25,000 adds up pretty fast that's a question I have for you and then on the 90 consideration to accept donations what's the uh the board stamps right now on nonprofit contributions to uh projects at the school we've undertaken many projects at and we've got volunteers so we've gotten donations and we put them in the roof on the main hall of this year we clearly roof on the Little League building we've replaced the deck on the equipment Pavilion and the main hall I'm sure you've all been there it just remodeled the mobile that the if it was a year and a half to get the person out of because of California under a wonderful laws and we're just about done with that so my question is if we don't get the volumetric pass was Plan B can we can we actually put a crew together and some teams that come into some of this stuff ourselves are opening for doing that it's California so I'm going to say we're probably prohibited so that's another question and uh on the other sheet I'd like to see I'd like to see the people that put the proposal together to come up with the 7 million dollars for these I've looked at some of the line items on it we're out of sight the other concern I have is that we're going to do this and it does pass are all the contractors going to come up here for Fresno and Sacramento and everywhere else but here all the local contractors get overlooked all the time for our own taxpayer money we've got stuff like the variety store that was purchased from my client the tribe bought it the nonprofit they love us that consists of a tribe all that money that they get for grabs to buy that building is our tax money and it's supposed to be advertised grants come with strings and there's a lot of things that you have to do you have to crush your keys without your eyes and 1 of the things that was supposed to happen with that building is it was be advertised all the local contractors have been on that wasn't done so we were watching I don't know how it's going to go I can say that we're already taxed to death in this day we recently put in a request for a 10 million dollar Grant from the national park Foundation that we were the only contractor that applied for it and we've been stonewalled by employees of the park that will build a lot of affordable housing here a lot of our issues come from other places they're not all about stuff that happens in this room for a lot of outliers that are outside of our control this whole state needs a huge change and it's going down to shiver right now like it might other 3 minutes actually you were supposed to do the part that you just did now at during item 9 you want to call me up again that that's what I posted but it sounds like you you're doing it out of order microscope I wouldn't want to be on that side of the table let me know when you want me to hit start and I will so I wouldn't want to be on that side of the table right now because there's some hot issues um I think you've probably got 1 or 2 pending litigation suits um there's any of that number ever come out to the public on what our potential liabilities are with those I think the teachers need a raise I think we need affordable housing up here so the teachers can afford to come up here God knows they can't drive from anywhere and save any money the gas is out of sight everything's stacked against us and we're looking at insurmountable problems that we're not going to be able to overcome here by ourselves but every little thing we can do to help get this maintenance done and get some of this deferred maintenance done that's all it all adds up so there's a lot of people in the community that would like to step up would like to try to help with some of this stuff and we've been successful in doing so in the past on multiple projects there's never enough money to go around there ever is there ever will be but I think the teacher deserve a boost and I think whoever wrote up your proposal I'd like to know who it is so I can go to work for him because they're making a way too much money so there's a lot of student involved and I'm going to be going to all the meetings and like whether or not I want to support the bond it's a double-edged sword yeah there's some deferred maintenance that needs to be done I see a lot but I also see a school that's pretty old and it looks remarkably good compared to some of the other schools um that I've been to first school I should have put in was 1 room schoolhouse outside I tested Kansas my grandma taught for 45 years and that's the first time I went into a school building was about this tall in regard to 12th grade was there and all those kids left with an education there were behavior problems because those were solved with a 3-foot paddle that's the kind of stuff that we grew up with there's no discipline anymore everybody wants everything for nothing nobody wants to work to get the resolution to get the problems addressed and come to something that's uh works for everybody but there is a middle ground and we need to find it and uh I just like to see some of that stuff happen suddenly Community you know I know from some of the projects we've done that we can get people in the community to come together and a lot of people are good people up here and there are a lot of good programs here I'd like to see the job reopen for 12 years it's been a storage area and I've been working with Brooke and some other people and try to get some training classes up here if you can't find anybody up here that can hammer a nail when it's left around power tools or anything else we need to teach our kids and things too and and not should be a College Prep School because 70% of the kids are going to go to college and then you have a prepared for anything that's why we're here our kids are our future and we need to prepare them for real life and don't even get me started the test proficiency thank you sir um the last 1 here is Mark good evening you all my name is Mark and I listen to everybody's comments up here I'm partial to teachers comments because my family or public school teachers as well when I look at the department of trading up but there are counties Public Schools it's raining in the bottom 50% percentile of performance you look at the mathematics performance is 21% maybe 1 out of every 5 children in America County Public Schools is you look at reading and and and uh language arts it's only a 33% being 1 out of every 3 kids a reading at grade level that is horrible so you're asking for money to for maintenance of the building is putting the priority on the buildings I I am a businessman I look at all the business aspects of of what you're asking for so I'm going to lay out a few of them and see the little outrageous to me you have $40,000 for building to paint and the sto finishes and the doors and doorways it's $100,000 for 10 10 buildings you go up to the next 1 you get 37,500 per fan 3 Vans with the it buildings you've got 114 $300 per a Lincoln panel to replace the panel when the breakers are failing if the breakers are failing replace the breakers is the wiring is good and the actual box and the bus bars are good you don't have to replace so we just replace the breakers seems a little bit sensitive you have 5022 dollars per square foot for window glazing replaced it on on the buildings slightly higher prices as well it's just replacing windows and just looking at a step counter on what are you doing to those but it's a lot of money you look at your your declining enrollment you have the 5 Portable Buildings you want to replace or full buildings if it is the enrollment is declining why you want to build more buildings utilize the buildings that you it's like venison I I went to school in worst buildings in this these These are pretty nice I mean my my final High School is Pierce cutter not Pierce College but Al Camino Real High School is a charter school now this school looks way this is the whiter campus in that it's a 50 year old school you know you look at this you have 500 500 dollars a square foot for the operational Services Support Center that's that's 4,500,000 for that building it it continues you you have a protection for for the water the fireplace 20,000 dollars for a protection pole I will do it for 50 because I can pour a concrete how was 2 foot wide that'll stop the mass truck and I'll still make 12,000 bucks you know for 20,000 for 1 for these numbers in the facility master plan is so outrageous the community looks at the fine print if you do not have the money by the city the state grants you can ship that Bond money to wherever you want to you can pay all past things with it it doesn't have to go where this master plan is and it's going to go so it's going to be a big bait switch to the to the the the voters so I'm all in favor of what the teachers are asking for let's ask for 1 I need to raise teachers funds let's put the students back in priority let's get this students the leading as they need when they graduate high school enjoying the community they want to be productive productive participants in the community thank you for your time all right reports Tony oh sorry Tony you the president for waking up all right do the representative chewy all right good evening everybody um I'm here just for a quick overview of some of the things that have been happening at our schools past month and um future events so starting with you say high school I just want to reflect real quick um on our homecoming week that was this last week which I think was a great success we had students involved showing our school spirit throughout the Justice base um we also have our annual grade last Friday which involved lots of students and clothes from your standing High School but also included local Middle School students um like verbal and course School um there's also a rally we have no sales for the middle schoolers and high schoolers which were both very high and seemed to be a great turnout with student joining it so I just wanted to um reflect on that because I believe it was a great success so moving forward with um you said your high school um I'm ready to speak is currently in the middle of a fundraiser where we have partnered with Rocky Mountain and Chocolate Factory to sell some candy we are looking forward to raise some more money for our future activities and new supplies um now with homecoming over our class is looking forward to start planning our next school dance to sit in December which is going to be my general this stands for the United by The Freshman Class of asp also our junior class today state is already starting to brainstorm ideas for um our spring school dance which is going to be cities so with the state of Kansas like the attendance in recent years the juniors are helping to make you more unique and exciting for all with ideas of hosting it Sky Zone trampoline park or the Fresno Cafe Zoo um so far we are still exploring different ideas for that but we are determined to making big changes to our safety stance also our rally team is already getting back to work after playing 2 RS for homecoming uh there are plenty a Halloween rally which will be uh the last week of October no official date just yet but we're hoping to make that a annual thing also a white chest we are going to be having a future first more around 10:30 which is an opportunity for all students to connect with followers schools employers military representatives and a lot more also just wanted to shout out why this Athletics have also been on a roll racking up wins some girls tennis also the girls volleyball team did beat mes um honestly um also a lot of the wine test report also applies to add ups but starting after break a social emotional counselor will start providing support to to 1 so moving on to the verticals the Scholastic Book Fair has been um in the library all week giving students opportunities to stock up on books for great which is going to be next week is also continuing to rehearse for their loss production uh that 1 looks has begun after schools after school on Tuesdays and they are preparing for a big competition in Madera which will be in March riverville also had their second hot cuddle of the school year where they recognized students of the month soaring pox PTO readathon winners PTO t-shirt design winners attendance team and voice back football team I want to championship for the second year in a row so just shouting at them out as well um not moving on to course School the leadership team most of uh their first rally of the year um and they kicked it off with a lot to be said uh the annual Walker thought it was a huge success with first gold reaching their fundraiser goal of 15,000 and also I'm hearing um principal question will be getting a slide on Friday the um Cafe is officially up and running on Fridays the students the staff some treats while also allowing teachers to raise money for the classroom there are also many clubs and activities business can get involved with this year including leadership event corpse trivia Club Battle of the books Craft club Lego robotics and Game Club um also coming up at C schools there will October 23rd and their annual Halloween parade on October 30th at 8:45 in the quad and um yeah that's all I have for you guys thank you sir on to the board member reports so after we move that it will clearly good evening everybody thank you for coming out tonight it's good to see all the teachers here I appreciate you guys tons um this is what working on your number 5 beginning your number 5 for me um it's awesome to see all of the amazingness that you guys are doing it is a struggle you know to to to get where we want to go 4 years ago was was a very big time for us coming out of coid um it was a difficult place that we were all placed in without any of our consent but with lots of you guys struggling you guys I see the teachers coming together really working with each other and it and the test scores prove it you know test scores prove it the uh FFA program down there u3 on the end uh what you guys do for for uh the blue collar world to his point or Coke's Point here the 1 thing that Jeff says I live every year is that uh those kids there they're not the ones that are just on their phones and every 1 of them their works really hard um it's impressive what they build lots of money is made we understand you guys are doing that with 50 year old facilities I get it I get it that's why all these students they do deserve proper facilities for the to better their future when you look good you feel good you do good I just want to thank you guys for all being all being here and coming out tonight you guys are the boots on the ground you guys are the ones that make it happen for you thank you very much thanks everybody for coming um the kitchen waiting because we're a long and close session so I feel like I forfeited my console thank you all for coming for those who spoke there's always um appreciate that very much the in person um we you know been out in the community a lot lately and um you know not not everybody comes and participates in person anymore so appreciative all all of you for coming to a public meeting thank you thank you and yes also Express appreciation to the members the community who came and expressed their thoughts and concerns and ideas and questions all very healthy and I want to say thank you for taking the time to do that also want to express appreciation for our faculty and the incredible incredible and just a group that you I've worked in education for 40 years and I know how difficult it is to improve academic performance coming to term County looking at the academic performance year-over-year from 47 school districts incurring County alone but then working in a position for the state where I visited hundreds of school districts throughout career in education I know at first hand how difficult it is to improve a a score as a district by score and academic performance and I see signs that that is occurring here I see year-over-year Improvement again our effective performance and dashboard indicators and that's difficult work we're doing it through our professional learning communities to collaborating communicating best practices across the board from teacher to teacher and pulling in the same direction I really get a sense that this district is doing not only very well in terms of fiscal responsibility but also academic responsibility I would like to also say I'd like to briefly address some online comments that have been shared about me I think that are based in inaccurate information and just not factual at all I am all about integrity and a career focusing on Integrity on compliance on transparency I'm following rules my compensation from the secret is 240 a month that is stipulated in the end code the District of our size test these get a certain amount different size districts trustees get different amounts 240 dollars is the compensation and that is the only compensation that I received from this District I didn't join the board to get 240 can I get into 240 this is even in the picture until after I started I joined because I love this community and I wanted to give back I'm proud of this District long career in education hard to be proud of a district when you see so many districts over my career having visited many that were in fiscal distress or other forms of some sort of management distress to really genuinely be proud of the direction we are moving it and I am genuinely proud of the direction we are moving in and so I will assure this community that if any issue comes up in the future that calls into question my Association I will recuse and abstain from voting that has not occurred and if it ever does I can assure you I will take those steps to make sure I remain ethical my moral compass States might be true thank you okay um first of all I want to mention the FFA annual dinner and auction which was awesome um it was such a great evening and the um the projects that those students created were beautiful and it really um what touched me most was Cygnet Pride that they took in their work the smiles they so proud of what they created with their own hands and watching the community recognize and appreciate what they had accomplished was just so heartwarming that's a kind of experience that builds confidence and that's a kind of experience that stays with a in person um the community support was tremendous a room was full and it was really heartwarming just to see so many people showing up for our kids thank you to everyone who made that evening possible um I also want to congratulate course gold Elementary for raising over 15,000 through their walkathon what a wonderful show of school spirit and community support and I understand principal Mindy is scheduled to get signed tomorrow is that correct okay absolutely I'm sure the kids are looking forward to that I bought my hazmat suit so I can good take it off you know go back to work after I do it great it's pretty gross great that's fine in River Gold I really loved hearing about the middle school students participating in the um Yosemite High School's homecoming and even through narrow and Parade floats so those connections between our schools really matter and they give our younger students a sense of belonging and something really to look forward to um and then with the bond measures coming up on November ballot I just want to encourage everyone take the time to really understand what they're voting for there's a lot of conversations happening especially on social media but I really hope that people will go beyond what they hear from others and then they'll ask questions that they'll attend informational meetings and look at the facts for themselves whatever position may be it we all share this community and we all have a step in its future so I hope everyone will take the full and informed decision and then finally finally um as Andy mentioned there's been some Community concerns regarding ethical or Integrity issues um or any improper use my position that I can speak to on the board I wholeheartedly welcome conversations to clarify that to address any misinformation and concerns regarding my character and integrity so I'm open to to anyone um hello to the teachers just want to say um Years thank you all for the services everything that and I think that as long as we realize that we're all on the same team and we're all reaching towards the same goal that I think is Association moving forward that will be able to plan and place that everybody is comfortable with and um you know we're all on the same team versus you type of thing going on here so everyone can stay respectful and kind and just remember why we're here is for the kids as we as we move forward with these negotiations contracts um I won't um I was able to attend the and education um this month I'm trying to pretend that every year just to recognize our teachers and um the rest of the staff and then the restrictions um it's just a moment to recognize them and the list of Madera County or the contributions that they do and just take a minute to say like we we see you recognize what you're doing and spend a little time with just letting them shine a little bit so that um in regards to the bond measures um I'll take the next hour and a half going through a detailed just joking just want to say that from our end on this side of the table did our due diligence we did our research we put it off for years to make sure that we could have everything in alignment with what we needed to do um we gauge Community interests and then we decided to fill this before the voters so that's kind of our role that we've been elected to do so members just like you guys um so just wanted to say that um our far away perfect is a perfect system know there's larger issues with how these schools are funded with how money is allocated with all of these things but um just after analyzing all of the information for myself uh um you know we just you know as a diverse board honestly you found it that this was you know something that the community issue consider and so that's what we're that's what we're doing is we're doing this before I appreciate the engagement and I appreciate everyone being here and I appreciate you all asking questions so it's been a process for me and I think I'm learning process for all of us and no matter where the chips will I think we're going to be stronger in the district and stronger in the community from all of this so I just appreciate everyone um jumping in on all of this um and then I just want to say that I've worked with Jennifer and Andy for 2 years and and for the rest of my time on this board I no reason to question integrity of anybody on this board or in this Administration I've seen nothing that's unquestionable from the way that things were done and um you know from from where I'm sitting and what I've seen I would have resist these Integrity or the decisions that were made by any of these we can have superintendent report I have to remind him because after we're being he skips over me to hear me talk or whatever like good evening to all of you and thanks for coming out this is more participation than we normally get more meetings and for those of you that don't know we don't always meet in the library we don't really in our small boardroom um over on campus holds about 20 people the line to accommodate um all of you tonight so again thanks for thanks for coming out really appreciate that appreciate your interest um just want to talk to our teachers who I hope they know I love and they're near and dear to my heart um the work they do on a daily basis sort of miraculous you know and on campuses and around I'm talking to people I'm seeing what they do and could not be more proud and thrilled of the work that they're doing and just the The Hope and the future that I see and hopefully that they see in what for students um when it comes to negotiations it's always a tough issue and I appreciate people digging in and and being able to engage in that I will tell you we have 4 members of the um 3 members of the negotiating team here tonight with painting and Jeff and Chris over there um you know we've met 3 times um total and 2 and a half of those meetings were really about language um we've made a lot of progress in terms of um getting system language in the contract both sides are very comfortable with I think it was really good movement and they've been an absolute pleasure um to work with and really appreciate the work that they're doing in their representing the numerous well and then we spend half a week um talking about finances and um you know also living allowances and and those kinds of things and those conversations um are a lot tougher but you know at your half a session we made a little bit of progress with this documentary stuff and I'm really confident in that negotiation team and in the district negotiating team we will reach an agreement and it'll be a fair agreement and we've been able to you know get their year-over-year and I have the same level of competence now let's just stick with it let's engage um and let's make sure that we're talking to each other and now we're doing it in collaborative way I really appreciate you guys appreciate the negotiating team and appreciate the work that our teachers and our staff are doing um on a daily basis I also want to speak to Career Technical education that was mentioned and um you know I keep track of what most districts are doing State I've actually worked with a few of them um before coming here to use some of the unified I can tell you in many places CTE is either gone away or it's been significantly reduced and as budgets get tighter it's sometimes the first thing that people look to cut and I'm really here at um yay I'm actually used to somebody UniFi I do not know that um in fact we've enhanced it we've improved it and in some cases we've expanded that and if you look at who's in the audience tonight with our teachers our CTE teachers come out right we got our act teacher welding we got um Danielle here with with culinary with anybody I know Ken's not here but Ken does a great job with with auto we just we have to tell our teachers who are doing great things for kids and like we said you know not every kid goes to goes to college and is working towards that kind of a of a teacher but if they are we're here for you and we'll get you there and if you're not and you're working towards more work-based skills and you want to get your hands dirty and you that's your world we're here for you and I'm really proud that our that our schools and our district does that and and that's because of our staff and because of our teachers so thank you guys for what you're doing with respect to the bond um I spent a lot of time here this last month or so um at different community events um talking to service organizations a bit different School sites and just lots of places the whole intent is to share information um regarding these bonds I can tell you that this board um really spent a lot of time at a lot of homework in fact nearly 2 years studying this and deciding if this is something they wanted to put out to the community or not and I also can tell you that they struggle with the decision it was painful because we understand it's it's not easy to to have folks look at this and and to have to have them have to make a decision it was it was said a few different ways you know when you feel like you're choosing between you know finances and just top Economic Times and between kids that's hard and we did it and that's why I agree with Mark whatever the outcome is at the end of the day we build it as a district we put this out to the voters they need to make a decision with the decision no figure something out the decision is yes we have a plan moving forward so um I think that's really the role of the board I'm proud of the board for doing all their homework getting to the point where they got and and to voters and the decision will be a decision I do mentioned that we have some more information nights coming out we're coming out in fact on October 20th we'll be at River Gold on October 21st we'll be at course gold October 22nd we'll be here at December Hai when we do these information nights we do it a presentation about 20 or desk and then we offer a tour of our campuses so people can see firsthand and how our campuses look like all they look and crannies and and what's going on here and then we also offer question and answer during the tour and after the tour so there's lots to offer at the information nice quite honestly we haven't had a whole lot of people come out and take advantage of that we've done we've done 2 Series of those and but we have a third 1 coming up for the dates that um that I just mentioned and then um you know as chewy mentioned in his report homecoming was incredibly cool it was fun it was spirit Bill the parade was awesome the rally for the high school kids was awesome my favorite part though was the rally that that I was done for the middle school kids um River Gold was here of course gold was here oci was here and I assumed it was here and just the the engagement and the participation and the spirit that we were seeing for the middle school middle school kids gives me great help for our high school and and what's coming in in the future it was really cool well done by our kids who put all this together and and by our staff our our leadership staff and so Julie by the way to 2 rallies he led 2 rallies in 1 day and I went up and bust this bumped him and I said I only have ever seen anybody do that good of a job it's hard you're you're managing thousands of people at 1 time and he did it twice in 1 day it was really good and then lastly I just want to say Mark mentioned it but we recognize our current employees of the year at the Ekans and education Awards um a few weeks ago this is done down in Madera at the superintendent of schools and all the employees of the Year from all the school districts um are there and it's really really everyone gets dressed up and take pictures you know they go more nerves and and um some of you know because you've been there before right Jeff um recognized before but um it's really just just a real honor to be in space with him and to watch him be a recognized as a workshop deserving of I just want to mention again classified employee of the year was actually bragging our administrator of the year was Jessica Fairbanks and our Teacher of the Year Sylvia slips and they're all exemplify so much good work that's happening across our district we can only choose you know 1 each category every year but a lot of people um could have could have been chosen so just wanted to wanted to mention that it's a huge honor for them to be recognized at this countywide event and so um that's the only way markets get to me because I usually take a long time but I'm going to turn it back over to our board president mark all right thank you um next item is the consent agenda so until I have a motion to approve the consent agenda so any further discussion on the consent all those in favor next is discussion item 7A first reading of consideration as is our normal protocol um we bring water policies to the board for so tonight we have 6 board policies that are on the agenda for our first reading but no more action um so we'll consider those over the next month we'll hear what people have to say we'll bring those back uh to the second meeting so again no action on discussion but we do have 6 more policies on the agenda for our first meeting concerns emotional outcomes okay next is a public hearing so we will be able in public hearing on a Civic school year waiver is that in public like a for your approval in this year this is the public hearing uh to set the district Baseline program model uh the waiver of extended school year consideration it does not override or adjust any um scheduled to make a blanket schedule but it does um CDE allows to be considered for any students that need to go to extended school year to be um different amount of ways as long as this program is met um the program that we are proposing is in her room we did last year which was 15 instructions and instead of have to program we did a full 6 hour program which then allowed um families and students to be able to to uh get into deeper learning and to be able to have the services uh if they had um a variety of service needs to receive those uh of course with a waiver a waiver just allows the state to approve the suggestion about every IEP uh team meeting is an individual determination whether a student might need more or less depending on the role of their company we uh match this waiver uh um mix Sauce mix sauce also does the waiver for the um 15 days and the whole day program to match the continuity of the regular school year for the students and then also for the areas that we live up here uh it allows students to stay longer especially with their best right sorry long so they spend a year since you oh wait no no no I I do lie I started later I think I did it in January but it takes a state 4 months to get it on their agenda so I started early this year okay I I'm pretty sure me a little bit I and I start first with the unions I get the unions approval first we get the school site Council which did it at our school that we talked about it and then it comes to thank you question there um okay first action item is action a consideration of approval of waiver to change the schedule for the extension hi hi I am seeking approval for the waiter motion to approve approve second discussion all those in next item Item B second reading and the drop shipper advisor board policies so again as of as is protocol um these 9 board policies and bylaws were in front of the board last or or treating and no action and so it's now been amounted to the past we haven't received a comment or any kind of changes to those so they're now up for work consideration for approval and I would recommend that the board approve the online policy and bylaws motion to approve all 9 for policies and second discussion all those in favor uh items c r accounts payable Awards so um if I may I wrote out a statement to this um open to community concerns that you are due diligence so so before the board considered for application of the same warrants I recommend postponing this item to a future meeting to allow the district time to seek further guidance regarding a concern recently brought to the district's attention I was a cautionary measure I believe it is it will have some time for our District administration to do our due diligence in reviewing these concerns over the word text action I would also recommend that trustee Allen mlo or comment on this item since the concerned ways involves a business interests of his the specific transaction is in the amount of for mandated inspections on Board District vehicles I made a determination that the transaction was improper but I am recommending that the item be postponed to allow time for the district to complete a review okay um so says it has recommended corresponding item 9 Z on the agenda to a future board meeting is there a motion to postpone this item I move to postpone that item second further discussion I will uh cooperate with the district's review and follow the recommendations of the superintendent by recusing myself from this item um I believe we need a roll call Vote for 1 Jennifer Rogers I I item 9 B consideration to accept bonuses so as is usual protocol um we bring any donations to the that are going to the board or going coming to the district uh to the board for approval normally these are on consent agenda however because we have some donations that are um coming from a nonprofit with 1 of our board members is the founder we wanted to separate this out and make sure that um this was not just in his own separate Island we have a motion to approve I move to approve item 9 that is a 90 90 yes yeah I move to provide a 90 I'll second it any discussion yes because these um donations some of them were from my nonprofits and I won't be voting on this and I would also like to recuse myself as a Treasurer on the uh nonprofit board disting question that so um 2 board members that were accused of itself but we still have a forum so we'll do a roll call vote so um we've had motion and a second so and um okay the next item is actually Item B approval of the 2025 2027 6 developer fee so you see this come to you each year it's a requirement of government code section 660006 and 6600001 the school districts provide certain financial information to the public each year the report must be made available for public review 180 days after the close of the previous fiscal year we just had an audited actuals last um board meeting the annual developer fee is represented to the board for approval and compliance with these codes and this represents the 2526 fiscal year actual expenses and revenues you'll see in there we collected 169,000 130 in developer graphy starting with a 220,000 dollar balance and ending with 191,000 the expenses in there you'll see is there is a Wastewater cop through the county and a c so key for a loan for some old facility projects and for me that will be paid off in the 2930 school year that's Coop and so that is all that was sent in there and that report is there for your approval motion to approve second thank you for saying 2930 I've been saying 2030 and now I'm going to say 2930 that makes me 9930 school year and it's in August but it will be that this year so you mean it's in August of 29th well now I can give you excited to see that all right any more discussion all those in favor ratification of Grant agreements number 2 3 42091 amendment number 2 by in between 78 Unified School District in California state Water Resources control for this agenda item requests that the Board of Trustees is ratify and approve amendment number 2 um with the California state Water Resources board for the core school elementary groundwater treatment and water system improvements project so originally in October of 2024 the original Grant agreement provided initial funding of 2.3 million dollars for planning design and additional initial project scope we had an amendment number 1 that was approved in December of 2025 that extended some critical timeline dates um including adjusting the estimated completion construction date to March of 2027 and a completion of the full Grant in 2029 this amendment um would be EXE included now formally incorporates a final budget approval based on actual Construction contract bids from GSC Construction Company who is award would be awarded the bid which that was over 5 million so obviously 2.3 and the initial planning over a year or 2 the cost of escalated so this amendment increases the total grant funding from the 2.3 to 5.9 million dollars and adjust the estimated completion of construction date to March 1st of 2028 and project completion remains in 2029 so asking for ratification so moved second from the discussion paper the last action item so um we are actually going to adjourn to our second closed section because 1 more item to consider so we'll gather out into that how's it going bro I was texting and he's like I like that so many times let me know when you got my phone I'm always busy but I'll make time for you let me know when by the shops how about you go oh I love it that's awesome very cool yeah let me let me know when and where um I'll make time for you I'm I'm also very busy but stuff around yeah yeah I mean personally somewhere back all right I'm having some fun pumpkins on the track and they start and then race on like go cars or okay I was like oh you see you gotta go find that paperwork though let me know when like I mean we can talk about a little bit before
