OUSD Board Of Education

Welcome to the March 11 Oakland Unified School District Board of Education. Can we have a roll call to establish quorum?

Yes. Madam President, on the roll call to establish quorum, student director Simmons, student director Smith, director Lada? Present. Director Williams. Director Hutchinson.

Director Barry. Director Thompson?

Present.

K. Vice president Bachelor?

Here.

And president Brohard? Present. Quorum present.

Thank

you. And can we have an interpretation check, mister Seychow?

Yes. Moving to interpretation announcement for tonight's meeting, we have three languages for live interpretation. They are Arabic, me, Spanish, and Cantonese. For in person, we have laptops for interpretation. Please come see us.

We'll start with Arabic. I will lower all 10 of his hands. Please only raise your hand if you need Arabic interpretation. Miss Abdi, if you can come off mute and make the interpretation announcement for Arabic, please. Great.

Thank you, miss Abdi. Check attendees to see if any hands are raised for Arabic interpretation. Seeing no hands raised, we will not start with Arabic interpretation. Next, we'll go to Spanish. Again, please only raise your hand if you need Cantonese interpretation.

Miss Ho, if you can come off mute and make the interpretation announcement for Cantonese, please.

Sichao.

Great. Thank you, miss Ho. Check attendees to see if any hands raised for Cantonese interpretation. Seeing no hands raised, we'll now start with Cantonese interpretation. Next, we'll go to Spanish.

Again, please only raise your hand if you need Spanish interpretation. Mister Copenhagen, if you can come off mute and make the interpretation announcement for Spanish, please.

Yes. Thank you, mister Sai Chao.

Great. Thank you, mister Copenhagen. Check attendees to see if any hands raised for Spanish interpretation. Seeing no hands raised, we will not start with any interpretation announcement, and we'll check again later during the meeting. I tend to back to you, president Bruhard.

Thank you. Tonight on in closed session, we will discuss the following matters. Under labor matters, d one twenty five dash eighteen sixty four, conference with labor negotiators. Under, item d two, under legal matters, conference with legal counsel, existing litigation. D three twenty six Dash zero five eight seven, conference with legal counsel, existing litigation.

And d four twenty three Dash zero five nine eight a, conference with legal counsel, anticipated litigation. Under public employment, we will discuss d five twenty four dash one nine six seven, public employment superintendent of schools. Under public employee performance evaluation matters, d six twenty five dash two four nine four, public employee performance evaluation, interim superintendent of schools. Under pupil matters, item D seven twenty six dash zero four eight four, expulsion of student r r. Right now, do we have any public comment on closed session items?

Yes, madam president. We have two. So Kimberly Mayfield and Deborah Bryan. How much time would you like to allot for public comment?

Two minutes.

Good afternoon, OUSD board members. I am doctor Kimberly Mayfield, and I come before you as a former OUSD teacher, daughter of a retired OUSD teacher, wife of an OUSD teacher, parent of a former OUSD student, and a teacher educator who has trained a generation of OUSD teachers. Today, I'm am asking you to vote to extend superintendent Denise Sadler's contract for two years. She is the right leader for the Oakland Unified School District for a time such as this. She has held various roles in the district and has also been president of OEA, which gives her a unique skill set to lead the district.

Superintendent Sadler is a proven leader who always puts the welfare of our students first. For example, she had the foresight to support the work of ONGB to increase student attendance throughout the district with the everyday counts attendance challenge. She provided a budget for next year that keeps every single school open because in Oakland, we do not believe in a one size fits all approach to education. And she reached a tentative agreement with OEA without a walkout at a moment when strike authority was active. She kept our schools open so that students could maintain the forward momentum in their education.

I know this is a very tough time. This is a leader with a proven record, and I ask that you give her two more years, a mandate. She has the community support and the support of, I know, lot of educators. Thank you so much for your time.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

If I may, madam president, there was an additional speaker, Frazier Scurry Scott.

Two minutes.

Hello. My name is Deborah Bryan. I have been a resident of Oakland for over thirty five years. I have a daughter who spent her early years as a student in the Oakland Unified School District. She now has a PhD and is a professor.

I have known Denise, doctor Sadler, for over fifty three years. She is a child of this great city and has been born and raised in Oakland. She knows the Oakland Unified School District because of her background in teaching and being a principal at several different school sites. Her resume speaks of the diverse position she has held in Oakland, including as OEA president and the education adviser to a mayor of Oakland. Doctor Sadler is passionate about the children of Oakland and has dedicated not only her career, but her life to helping Oakland's children receive the best education possible.

She understands the position of superintendent is not a nine to five job, but a twenty four seven challenge, which she accepts wholeheartedly. She has worked tirelessly for the last eight months putting together a plan program to benefit Oakland Unified School District. Doctor Sadler has over forty years in the district and is the best person for this role. She has integrity and she should be allowed to see her plan through to the end. I urge you to pause the search for another superintendent.

You will find no better advocate and no person more dedicated to the students, parents, faculty, and administrators of Oakland Unified School than Denise Sadler. Pause the search for another superintendent and give doctor Sadler's efforts a chance to grow. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Good evening. My name is Fraser Scurry Scott, and I've been a resident of the fine city of Oakland for the over fifty five years. I'm asking you today to extend the to vote for the two year extension of doctor Sadler's contract. Doctor Sadler brings forty plus years of Oakland classroom, school, and district expertise plus active knowledge. No outside candidate can come with this.

A national search brings the risk of a prolonged search negatively impacting our school district, community, and most importantly, the students. I have supported bonds for OUSD and as an an advocate for o h OUSD. I believe OUSD needs continuity in its leadership and its most important factors of all from labor negotiations, physical restructuring, and to showing our students and community and the state that there is stability in OUSD. Our path to maintain your path, OUSD's path to maintain local control, is directly related to its relationship with Alameda County Office of Education. Doctor Sadler has built a productive, growing relationship with superintendent Elise Castro.

No other incoming candidate can develop this important relationship from day one. Doctor Sadler also has the trust of our mayor, Barbara Lee, and superintendents throughout the region. Vote for a two year contract is a vote for the board's own capacity to govern it to govern with continuity and purpose. Oakland does not want another state takeover of its educational system. Thank you.

Thank you. Are there any other speakers?

All speakers' names for this item have been called.

Thank you. We will now go into closed session, and we will reconvene at 05:30. Welcome to the March 11, regular, school board meeting of the Oakland Unified School District School Board. Mister Rick Straugh, can we have roll call to establish quorum, please?

And on the roll call to establish quorum, student director Simmons, student director Smith, director Lada?

Present.

Director Williams, director Hutchinson, Director Barry? Present. Director Thompson? Present. Vice president Batchelor?

Here. President Brohard? Here. Quorum present.

Thank you. And mister Sechow, can we have a, interpretation check, please?

Yes. Moving to interpretation check for tonight's meeting, we have three languages for live interpretation. They are Arabic, Spanish, and Cantonese. For in person, we have laptops. Please see us.

There is also also translation closed caption feature available on Zoom that you can use by clicking the closed caption icon on your Zoom taskbar. We will start with Arabic. I'll lower I will lower all tennis hands. Please only raise your hand if you need Arabic interpretation. Miss Abdi, if you can come off mute and make the interpretation announcement for Arabic, please.

Great. Thank you, miss Abdi. Check attendees to see if any hands are raised for Arabic interpretation. Seeing no hands raised, we will now start with Arabic interpretation. We'll next go to Cantonese.

Again, please only raise your hand if you need Cantonese interpretation. Mister Yuan, if you can come off mute and make the interpretation announcement for Cantonese, please.

Can this announcement stand?

Great. Thank you, mister Yunwen. Check attendees if any hands raised for Cantonese interpretation. Seeing no hands raised, we will not start with any Cantonese interpretation. Next, we'll go to Spanish.

I will lower all attendees' hands. Please only raise your hand if you need Spanish interpretation. Ms. Vargas, if you can come off mute and make the interpretation announcement for Spanish, please.

Of course. Thank you. The Spanish announcement is on.

Great. Thank you, Ms. Vargas. Check attendees to see if any hands are raised for a Spanish interpretation. Okay I see a couple hands, so we will start interpretation for Spanish.

And that conclude an interpretation announcement and we'll check again later during the meeting. Turning back to you President Bruhard.

At tonight's meeting, there are several allotted times where we make public comments. There are cards over there on the table for in person speakers and online if you have registered, prior to the meeting. There will be, public speaking after the adoption of pupil discipline consent, after the student board members report, after the superintendent's report, the adoption of the general consent report, and the adoption of the general consent report facilities. After all non agenda items within the subject matter jurisdiction of the board, under unfinished business, there are two items where there'll be public comment, financial stabilization implementation plan, and the issuance of not to exceed a $185,000,000 in general obligation bonds. There'll also be public comment under new business items, the second interim financial report, the Garfield Elementary School, conversion to modernization project.

We can all applaud that one. Supporting proposition 98 settle up, application for provisional internship permits, and that's those will be the times I'll be public speaking. Tonight, in closed session, the board discussed the following items, but first, I have a correction from last from March meeting under item f one twenty three dash zero five nine eight, conference with legal, counsel, anticipated litigation. I have a correction on that vote. There were four ayes, one nay, and two absences.

Tonight or tonight and the board discussed the following matters. Under labor matters, under item d one number 25 dash eighteen sixty four, conference with labor labor negotiations, the board discussed this matter. Under legal matters, under item d two, number 26 dash zero five two six, conference with legal counsel existing litigation, the board approved a settlement in this matter. Motion by president Brohard, spot seconded by director Thompson, and the vote was six to six in favor, zero abstained, and one absent. On item d three, number 26 dash zero five eight seven, conference with legal counsel existing litigation.

The board gave direction in this matter, motion by director Lotta, seconded by director Thompson. Vote in favor, six. Abstained, zero. And absent, one. On item d four, number 24 dash zero five nine eight a, conference with legal counsel, anticipated litigation, The board gave direction on this matter.

Motion by vice president Batchelor, seconded by director Barry. Vote in favor, six. Abstained, zero. And absent, one. Under public employment matters on item d five number 24 dash one nine six seven, superintendent of schools, the board did not take up this matter.

Under public employee performance evaluation, item d eight number 25 dash twenty four ninety four, interim superintendent of schools, the board discussed this matter. That is the end of the 03/11/2026 closed session report out.

Madam president, I just wanna note for the record that the March 4, minutes are on tonight's agenda. We will incorporate the correct shim, into those minutes. And when the board votes, they will be correct.

Thank you. Are there any modifications to the agenda? Director Williams?

Yes. I'd like to pull item, O40. Believe it's O40. And item O33.

O40 and o 33?

Yes. 33.

Yeah. And O40.

And 040.

Sure. Zero three three I'm sorry. 033. And 040. Thank you.

I would like to move the following items on the agenda. After, student report item k, I'd like to take up the new business, and the first will be the second interim item t one twenty six dash zero five three five, second interim financial report. And the second item t two two six zero three eight five, Garfield Elementary conversion of modernization project to rebuild project. Item T 326Dash0533, supporting proposition 98. From then, we'll go on to the the original order of the agenda, which would be labor partners, superintendents report, consent items, consent items facility, public comment, s, unfinished business, and the president's and board reports and new litigation new legislation.

Are there any other modifications to the agenda? Okay. The next item is pupil consent. Do we have a motion to take up to approve the pupil consent?

So moved.

Second. And do we have public comment on this item?

Yes, madam president. We have two. Asada Olubala and Janelle Harris.

K. Two minutes.

Hearing you, is this the disciplinary expulsion?

Yeah. This is, pupil consent.

Thank you.

Is that better if I talk closer to the microphone? Alright. I'll do that.

So what are we talking about now? I'm sorry.

Pupil consent. So if you have public comment on the pupil consent items. Pupil consent? Pupil discipline. I'm sorry.

Okay. Okay. Alright. Alright. I'm all ready.

Between the two of us, we're gonna work this out.

Okay. I got it. I again wanna remind you that we once had a very viable opportunity to help our expelled students be be able to return in the best possible way of continuing their education. We have now taken the position when we closed the community the community school that we have turned these young people over to Alameda County with no true I I believe that that's the best place for them to be. The best place that for them to be is under the umbrella of OUSD, and we didn't do that.

I'm also concerned because when you close Community Day School, you also closed the Barack Obama Middle School that had been moved to Community Day. And and I might be wrong, but I didn't even understand that. And I'm just coming under that understanding. What happened to that school, which was an alternative school for middle school students, and we had the honor of having a school named the only in first middle school named after Barack Obama we closed it. So you are responsible, not Alameda.

You are responsible for coming up with a plan that will help these young people continue once they are allowed to. But you have three alternatives whenever you look at an expulsion. One, you can have a independent study program made available for them, and we have that under Sojourner Truth. You can also have a a school that is a OUSD school for expelled student. You've eliminated that, and you choose to use the third thing, which is turn them over to Alameda County.

The least likely to be most advantageous for them. I I implore you to reconsider what we're doing with students who are being expelled.

Thank you. Miss Harris?

And if I may, madam president, there is an additional speaker, Sheila Haynes.

So in regards to the pupil discipline consent report, black children, continue to be, the highest expelled in this district. And, you know, four years of being in this district, see now that it is by design. We do not do anything to help our children. McClymonds High School has a very high proportionate count of students that either are on probation or get expelled. They send them to McClymonds and, you know, they get no help there.

They get no help there. None. Zero. So I think we need to follow our own rules, which this district is very, very bad at. They don't.

They like to hide, cover, lie, cheat, steal from our kids, and I'm going to continue to say that. So if you have a child that you are considering, especially if he's black, putting in this district, I wouldn't do it. I wouldn't do it because this district has failed black children time and time over again. I have screamed it from the mountaintop. If if it was another race of children, this would not be happening, And I don't wanna hear that it is not about race.

Yes, it is. We do not have equity for black children in this district, and this report just proves it.

Thank you. Miss Haynes?

Yes. Let me allow Miss Haynes, Sheila Haynes to speak. Sheila Haynes, you're unmuted. Can you say a couple of words? Miss Haynes, if you can say some words, it doesn't look like you're speaking at the moment.

Hello, can you hear me?

Yes.

You can hear me okay?

Yes, we can.

Oh, okay. Well, I just I'm glad you guys finally got to this point because there was a number of students that were expelled on the last report and it had gotten to. It's just this doesn't even relate to black students at all, but but just overall the fact that black students are expelled more than general ed students, just the lack of discussing regularly expelled students, it even concerns me more with what's happening to our most vulnerable students. I I wonder if the district has a plan overall to keep our students in a safe place and put forth the funding for programs that best support our students' mental health. I continue to speak as on the arts as a way to do that, and, the students keep speaking on restorative practices.

So it just needs to be a district wide, practice where our students are, reinforced with that respect and guidance from the district because you guys are obligated to keep all the students safe. So I would be interested in just learning how you guys are dealing with general ed students and how you plan on dealing with the black students, disabled students, because their numbers are getting higher at the high school level. So thank you for your time.

Thank you. Mister Rakeshtar, can we have a roll call on the vote, please?

Yes. On the roll call to adopt the pupil discipline consent report, student board members are absent and recused from this matter. Director Lotta?

Yes.

Director Williams? Yes, sir. Director Hutchinson? Absent. Director Barry?

Yes. Director Thompson? Yes. Vice president Bachelor?

Yes.

And president Brohard?

Yes.

The, pupil discipline consent report is adopted.

K. Next on the agenda is the student report, but, I don't see the student directors here yet, so we will move ahead with item t one, which is 26.

Yes. So I think she might need to be no?

We do have a student report.

Good evening, everyone. I'm so glad you could all make it on our report tonight. On our report tonight, we have our middle school ethnic studies report back. We had that on Friday. It was a really good turnout with all our middle schoolers.

And then we have our force our fourth high school meeting that is upcoming. It's gonna be April 24, it's a new space and it's for the students to come and do their elections for the new governing board. And then we're gonna talk about the Civic Seal of Engagement again. So we have ACC updates. So basically last Friday on March 6, we had our annual middle school ethnic studies conference at, Mills College and, they had three different sessions.

So the first session was restorative justice community circles. And then the second session was the ethnic studies slash youth activism portion. And then the third session was the creative and art workshop. So all of these workshops were led by middle schoolers or maybe a couple of them were led by outside organizations, but majority of this is a middle school event led by the middle schoolers for them. It was a really nice event.

I actually got to attend one of the workshops by the brewer students and they did a, it was slime for stress. So the students got to make slime and they did like a discussion right before. It definitely got a little messy, but the middle schoolers came together at the end and cleaned up everything and it got it was really, really nice. So I really wanna applaud all the middle schoolers that were facilitating it and all that came. We had 27 RJ circles in total, and it was facilitated by over 60 middle school students.

That is a really good number. That's a record. We had a lot of middle school facilitators this year, so it was definitely a good year. We got a lot of student feedback, and we have, a slideshow of pictures that we're gonna give to you guys next report. So we're finishing up that portfolio, and then we can link the pictures from the middle school ethnic studies conference.

Now for our fourth high school meeting, it is our last meeting before the Youth Action Summit. The Youth Action Summit is the meeting where we elect our new governing board for the next year. At this meeting, we are gonna prep the students for elections. We're gonna review our priorities and next steps, and we're gonna do a public speaking workshop led by ACC. Just as a reminder, all governing board positions are open and available.

To run, all you need to be is an OUSD public high school student. Sadly, we do not allow charter school students to run. You have to go to a public school and you have to be at least in the eighth grade. Everybody else is welcome. Again, this is at Fremont High School.

It's eleven to two. Please let your high schoolers know so that they can get all the information they need if they wanna run. Back to the Civic Seal of Engagement. So we are in April. Oh, I'm sorry.

We're in March, guys. So the deadline is definitely coming up. It's coming up. You still have some time. So students just remember that your deadline is due April 3, and your mentor's verification form is due April 17.

So do not get those deadlines mixed up. April 3 is for the students. That's your cutoff day. So just remember to get your civic seal of engagement, and it's a seal that goes onto your diploma just giving, recognize recognition to the students who have done outside programs and have just helped their community. There you go.

That is all for our reports tonight. Hope you all enjoy it. Thank you.

Is there a public comment on this item?

Yes, madam president. We have four. That's Keela Haynes, Asada Olubala, Janella Harris, and Jason Ryman.

Two minutes each.

I was trying to find in my notes on the consent agenda. We have one of our high schools. I think it's Oak Oakland Tech. Is involved in civic engagement through their forget I forget. But they're going to Sacramento to learn the legislative process.

And I think that sometime, I would hope that all of our students would start to engage in government involvement. It's absolutely necessary that young people be encouraged to participate in the the government process at any level they can. And that exposure, we had Oakland Tech came to city hall and they they learned about how the city, works with legislative. And I just have to say we need to do it more. I'm concerned again with the ethnic studies.

On the agenda, there is a item that's related to ethnic studies, and it says so that young people can learn about other cultures. And you have to be able to learn to appreciate your own culture, and then you learn about other people's cultures. But we had African American studies at McClyman's, and it was taken away so that we can learn about other people's cultures. That doesn't make sense. The value of ethnic studies is absolutely necessary, but it can't be at the expense of eliminating a culture that the studying of your own culture.

So we have African American history books sitting in the cabinets without with no opportunity to learn. And let me tell you something. One of the main reasons why you see so many negativity issues about behaviors about black people and black children is that self hate that y'all have put into us historically that we have to learn how to love ourselves. We have to learn how to love our no other group goes through this except us. So please give us back our African American studies.

Thank you young lady for the report. I'm also gonna touch on the ethnic studies. I just want to reiterate and remind you of how important it is to know where you come from and who you are. It's important to know the shoulders you stand on to be able to sit at that podium up there and all the sacrifices that our people gave to this country because we built it for free. People commonly say that this country was built on the backs of immigrants.

No, ma'am. It was built on the backs of slaves that looked like you and me. McClymonds High School had African American male achievement and African American female achievement and it was cut in the budget cuts. McClymonds High School was a historical black high school only because we were not able to go to high school anywhere else in Oakland. That's why it's a historical black high school and that's how we ended up there.

To date, although I have pride in the name McClymonds High School, it has turned to ashes. We are neglected. All year long, we've been in a school of half a building. We have no library and there is no building going on. The project was approved four years ago and they still ain't put a shovel in the ground.

So we have all of our students crammed in classrooms that teachers share, which is illegal by the way, at McClymonds High School. And we have a lot of famous people who have come out of McClymons that they will never tell you. We have students that go to d one colleges out of McClymons High School and graduate. Not just go, but they graduate. So, we are roses and concrete and I just want to tell you that.

Thank you for your report.

Thank you. Next speaker, please. Are they both online?

Yes. Sheila Haynes. We'll allow them to speak.

Hello? Yes, we can hear you.

Oh, thank you. So first of all, happy music month and happy women's month. With all of these cuts and programs with staffing, that continue to impact our students, it's critical student safety be prioritized. And so as I spoke earlier, right along with our mental health, hopefully, you guys can have a plan to put in place the arts as a way to keep our students safe. I do appreciate the highlights on the reports in regards to, the arts and, the restorative practices involving so many schools.

There needs to be a universal practice amongst every school in the district that includes like restorative type practices. And this must include mental health and violence prevention because it's gonna be more difficult with the cuts and programs and staffing to our students, but they have to, feel safe. I also have to mention, I mean, I see that you highlighted an event happening at Fremont High School. And, you know, at this point in our lives, spoken words are so critical. I appreciate the fact that the district has recommitted to a zero tolerance of hate speech, but that symbol in front of Fremont High, the two short way, it it really represents a devalue of our women.

And it's that that word has caused decades of harm in our city. I don't know how that resolution was passed, but it's poorly written. And that sign in front of Fremont High is just a constant reminder of violence and the effects of decades of harm being caused by a single word where men are allowed to devalue women and women are allowed to devalue themselves. So I really call, I mentioned this before, I call for that sign to be removed. Our students must feel joyful and they must also feel respect for themselves and respect for each other.

So thank you for your time.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Good evening, trustees. First of all, I'd like to acknowledge an amazing presentation by our student trustee. It really shows the great work that our students are capable of in OUSD, but free. I'm here tonight to speak about Oakland Emiliano Sapata Street Academy. My name is Jason Ryman.

I'm the principal and executive director of Oakland Emiliano Sapata Street Academy. Along with a few of our Street Academy students, staff, board, and families who are present here tonight, we also have students and staff who are excited to join via Zoom. As you may be aware, Street Academy has served OUSD students for over fifty years in a small, nurturing, and engaging setting. We're rooted in the ideas of social justice curriculum, community engagement, and restorative practices. Street Academy was a vision brought to life in part by former superintendents Marcus Foster and doctor Ruth Love.

We have been visited and recognized for our work, by community leaders such as Barbara Lee, Jesse Jackson, and numerous others. We're a small school that has helped Oakland Unified School District students to complete high school and launch into post secondary success armed with the knowledge of our community's rich history, connections to local community organizations, and offer an a through g aligned curriculum. We're very pleased at the step forward happening tonight, in continuing the legacies of our numerous alumni, founders, students, teachers, and partners. We look forward to continuing our work of ensuring that our school and our students continue to receive the support that other OUSD schools and students receive each year. The Street Academy Foundation board, doctor Sattler, Vanessa C Fuentes, Han Feng, Janine Lindsay, all worked hard to get us to this point, and we're looking forward to continuing the work in the coming days to ensure that this work continues for years to come.

Thank you for your support for Street Academy. We hope you have an amazing school year. Thank you.

Thank you. Are there board comments on the student report? Director oh, wait. Director Thompson, sorry.

Oh, thank you very much. Director Smith, thank you very kindly. I really appreciate your report but I specifically want to focus on the civic seal of engagement that could be placed on students diplomas. I really like it, and I'm not sure if you've looked at or if anybody is thinking about, you know, some of the non tangible that you can actually gain from it, having students participate in the community. But I'm just wondering if you could do me one favor and go one step further.

Maybe you've already done it. If we could disaggregate the data because I'm concerned about who's actually participating and receiving the civic seal. So if you can act if you could do that, I'd be more than happy. But the report was absolutely phenomenal. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Any other board directors? Oh, director Hutchinson?

Yes. Thank you. Like I said at our previous meeting, I think it's really important, especially with what's going on with the district currently that, we have a lot more student engagement here with the school board and at school board meetings. I'm sure nobody's done any due diligence to make sure, the student directors to all city council and students at large have really been informed about what's happening with the district's finances and how things have spun out of control. And it's gonna have a huge impact on students.

It's having a huge impact now. It's definitely gonna have a huge impact going forward when there's rumors like half of middle school electives being cut. That was part of the message that was sent out to middle schools, although no decision's been made any place. We still don't have the ability to pass a balanced budget for next year. As we'll hear in the second interim report, the numbers are really, really scary.

At some point, somebody's on a step in and force the district to be solvent. And when that point happens, it's that much more important that there's a strong student voice and that hopefully students have been engaged with because these decisions are gonna go quickly. And if we're not prepared, we're gonna be left out of that decision making process. So I'm always available, but I I really encourage you to talk with the All City Council and figure out a plan to make sure students are informed about what's going on, especially as we move into an election year and many of our students can vote. Thank you.

Thank you, director Hutchinson. Any other comments? Vice president I'm sorry. Director Barry, do you have a hand up? Okay.

Vice president Bagelin.

Thank you. I appreciate the invitation to the ethnic studies conference. I was able to go for the first little bit and see the family feud games and that was a lot of fun and support the staff there that were supporting the students. So thank you again for that invitation. It is also around that time of year where we are having honor rolls and so I just want to give a shout out to two honor rolls that are happening over the next few weeks.

So the Latino honor roll, which is the twenty sixth annual Latino honor roll is happening at Fremont High School on the twenty eighth. And the Arab American honor roll is happening on May 2. I know there are many more honor rolls, and so I wanna give those a shout out when I get that information. But again, think this is a great way to support our students who have excelled and gone above and beyond. I also just wanna make sure, and I've sent

this

to you, director Smith, as well as, superintendent Sadler, to publicize, but the office of, congresswoman Latifah Simon is excited to announce the, congressional art competition, for the district, for her district. It is live now, and so folks can submit amazing art that they can create. And so this is another way for students to showcase their amazing talent here in Oakland. So again, I've shared that with you all. If we could share that widely so that students can again show their amazing work at that level as well.

But thank you again for your presentation.

Yes. Thank you again. The middle school ACC event was really I I remember going to the first one, oh, and not the first one, the first one I went to at Wams, and it was so it was one room, and it was it was powerful in that one room. But to go I was only able to go into the lobby, which was packed with restorative justice. I think there were five or six of them going on, and I didn't want to feel like I was eavesdropping on their restorative justice, but I was really and like maybe next time you could talk a little bit more about the kind of hand signals that that the brewers did.

Was really impressed by this because it was how you could remember what to do. So realizing how far both the size of the the participation, as which is a credit to your work, and also the development of restorative justice, again proving that it's not a static thing. Thank you. And with that, we will move into new business, item t twenty one twenty six dash zero five three five, second interim financial report. And doctor Frutos, I believe, is

Point of clarification. First, there needs to be a motion because this is a voting item on a recommendation. But also, hopefully, we can have two rounds of board comment, and I'd really like to have one round before public comment so we can make sure before the community speaks that there's clear understanding of what all of the numbers are. But this is a voting item, so it requires a motion before anything else.

I'd like to make a

motion to adopt. I'll second that.

It needs to be a motion to adopt what recommendation, and there's not a clear recommendation in here, but this is a vote for a certification of the second interim report. So there needs to be a more specific motion than that.

If you could show the slide with the exact language of the ask of the board.

The recommended motion, I believe, is on the agenda.

No. It says no. There's no recommendation in there. It actually states declaratively that there's already been a qualified certification, which was in error. I brought it up to the superintendent in our meeting, and so there's not a recommendation or that language in here.

So I would like to make an amendment to my motion of a qualified, adoption.

Receive and accept.

Receive and accept a qualified second interim.

I second that. And, yes, we can have two rounds. I agree. We'll have the first round, and then we'll have public comment in the second round. Doctor Frutas.

We will be presenting the second interim report. The goal of this report, it will be for the board to review, the presentation that we're gonna be doing tonight as well as the report that you've received, discuss some of the information about the multi year projection, the cash flow, and the criteria and standards, and approve, the second interim report, after you deliberate. The sequence of events that gets us to the second interim report every year starts with budget adoption, which is done by July 1. The actuals are then adopted, and then as as you all remember, we did the first interim report. The second interim report is another snapshot in time.

And tonight, as as as I go through the presentation, I wanna make sure that we address some of the concerns that we have heard. One of them is why are we stopping January 31 on this report? Well, there are three codes. One is education code 42130. The other one is education code 42131.

And finally, there's the California code of regulations title five section fifteen four five three that outlines the general requirements for this report, specifically specifically the period or time frame that needs to be reported, and that is ending January 31. So we received some comments why can't we discuss items that happened after January 31, And the reason is that is the snapshot in time that we're presenting today, just like we did with the first interim before. So I just wanted to make sure that that was clear as we, put that slide up there. And the certification possibilities for this report and this slide the board has seen before are positive, qualified, or negative. And our recommendation after we go through the discussion is for a qualified certification.

As we begin to look at the information, one of the important items, that we like to discuss is the narrative that our district has, like all districts, has three sections of the budget. The unrestricted portion of the budget, the restricted portion of the budget, and the combined. The combined is both of them. And for example, as we look at our reserve for economic uncertainties, which in the state is 2% for Oakland and the board has done an additional 1%, so 3%, the the balance counts against the total expenditures, both restricted and unrestricted. So for this report, we have, met the obligation of the 3%, and we have a remaining balance of a little over $3,000,000, which is a significantly better condition than we had in first interim report and certainly a better financial condition than we had during budget adoption.

As we look at the unrestricted portion of the budget, we begin to make some, notes of what we will be discussing with the board subsequently with other reports. And that is the unrestricted portion of the budget, as you can see, is substantially, strong. We have revenues of about $518,000,000, expenditures of about 422,000,000. So there's a balance of about $96,000,000. And I was commenting to one of the board directors in our discussions that if the unrestricted portion of the budget was the only budget, you would have a tremendously strong budget.

However, when we look at the restricted part of the budget that includes a lot of specialized programs, etcetera, If you notice, we have, revenues of about $341,000,000, expenditures of about 400 $540,000,000. Therefore, we have a significant deficit. So one of the measures that we started discussing right before the presentation of first interim that takes us to second interim is a variety of measures to reduce the deficit in the budget, and that is beginning to show in this report. So once again, it's important to understand the unrestricted part of the budget, the restricted part of the budget, and then the combined for presentation. This is a new slide, and as we were by the way, I would like to thank Ryan Nguyen and Troy Christmas.

They do the majority of of the work for these reports. My job is just to consult with them. But this is a new slide that we would like to begin to present in our budgetary reports because it presents a trend analysis and a way for the board to see in one slide what is happening economically with the district going back in time and as we do budget reports forward in time. So for example, in this budget, you can see in the blue line at the bottom, which is our attendance line and therefore our revenue line. I mean, how where we get the majority of our revenues.

We used to have in a in 2020 about 32,000 students, and since then, we've been fairly flat. So as we look at how do we increase our revenues, one of the avenues that the board has identified to increase our revenues is to get as close as possible our percentage of attendance to our percentage of enrollment. But what this shows is that our attendance has not been growing. So our revenues at best will benefit from COLA or any additional state, allowances that are provided, but not from significant student growth. So as you look up at the red and the green, the green represents our revenues over time.

And if you notice, we had a very significant bump in revenues around the time of COVID. And those revenues served the district very well. In looking at the budgets, there were significant services that were added and a variety of of support systems that were included in our budget systems. However, the green, which is the the revenues, has been going down. So as we crossed over in 2324, we began to see that deficit.

So as we looked in January at the beginning of measures to begin to reduce the deficit, you see now why that is happening. And the goal, obviously, as we continue to develop strategies and reports in the future, is to close the gap between our expenditures and our revenues. The other funds in the district are presented here. We have a variety of of different funds that are, you know, represented in all our reports. It is important to note that some of our funds have very strong balances.

The two in yellow are the highlighted for this report. As you can see, the unrestricted portion of the budget has been struggling over time. One of the elements that we have implemented over the last couple of months is the reduction of restricted balances by allowing to increase our unrestricted site, and those measures will continue. And we appreciate the board directors allowing the superintendent to direct the team to do some of those shifts. As we look at the multi year projection, we continue to see the challenges that the restricted portion of the budget has.

The unrestricted portion continues to have very significant balances, which is again a trend since we started looking at the budgets several years ago. And on the restricted side of the house, we continue to project deficits. So managing the restricted portion of the budget is of is of primary important for the fiscal team of the district. And finally, when we look at the combined, we noticed that there are those challenges of the need for the unrestricted site to transfer monies to the restricted site to balance the budget. Now, there were a couple of questions regarding round numbers.

So, I'm I'm not really sure in how many discussions that occurred, but you see a round number in the combined $26.27 of $3,000,000 and $36,000,000. Every year, the district contributes $3,000,000 to deferred maintenance, and it's a flat amount. It's adjusted sometimes because of the other financing sources and uses, but right now there's no adjustment in the combined twenty six, twenty seven year. And there's also a round number that wasn't pointed out of $36,000,000, which turns into 56,000,000 in the following year. Those are the strategies for cost reductions that we have begun to implement.

They need to continue to be in in the in the next couple of years, and they need to be adjusted.

Excuse me. We can save that for, your your board questions and comments, director Hutchinson. Thank you.

Thank you. And those adjustments need to be made in order for us to reduce the the fund balance. The key takeaways from this presentation, and we used to have it in multiple slides, is that our revenues are declining, not not something that the board didn't see in the slides, especially the line chart we presented. Our expenses continue to rise, and I know there are a lot of measures that the district is implementing to curb that. And we continue to to ask and implement budget balancing solutions.

The superintendent has done a lot of strategies that are beginning to yield results. We are recommending and and as as staff, the certification as a qualified budget due to the implementation and plan budget balancing solutions for this and subsequent years. And what are the next steps? We are going to submit the second interim report to the county office for their review. They will obviously, that report is seen by auditors, by financial advisers, and by bond reporting agencies.

District just had a meeting this week. Continue budget development and prepare for May revision. As the audit is completed, responding to any type of corrective actions, there's a budget and finance meeting coming up on April 2. The May revision is very important to us because the in the discussions that we have had both with the budget committee, with our labor partners, and within the district, there's an interest in all the recommendations that the governor made, in which ones become reality, which ones are maintained. For us, two very important ones are the discretionary grant and the cost of living allowance.

And finally, because of the way our budgets work, there's a strong possibility that a third interim will be presented to the board of directors around June, and finally, budget adoption at the June. I'm happy to entertain any questions you might have.

Board questions. Director Smith? Director Barry? Yep. Director Williams?

Director Lada?

Yes. I have, one question. You I think just for clarification, understanding that this report, the second interim, always ends at any activities or decisions that have been made by January 31 of the fiscal year that we're in. I think it would be helpful if you could clarify to the public when kind of as the team starts to implement decisions that have been made since January 31, for example, we've made multiple budget reductions, shifts that you outlined at the last meeting. There's the presentation about the TK hubs.

We obviously have tentative agreements. When I think, again, if you could just clarify when people will start to see those implemented through the May revision and the third and the adopted. Sure.

Thank you.

Well, as I mentioned, every every action that the district and you, the board directors, have taken has typically a report that has to be done. So this second interim report, as I mentioned, is basically a snapshot in time as of January 31. As the as the board gets approvals for the tentative agreements like we did with SEIU, there is a process called the AB 1,200 process, which is, by the way, in the similar legislation as interim reports where we have a report that the staff has to prepare and bring to the board for approval through the superintendent showcasing the ability to pay for the tentative agreement and the variety of mandates within the report that include a multi year report. So for every action, there's a report that has to be done. This is not the report for those actions.

And so just just with the rest of my time, I think just for the community to know that the next interim report that they'll see will be the AB 1,200 that we'll receive back from the county on the OEA tentative agreement. Correct? That will have a new multiyear projection.

The the AB 12 hundreds are are separate than interim reports. They're specifically designed, like like you said, director Lada, for the settlement with a particular group. So just like with SEIU, there's an a b 1,200. With any other bargaining group that's negotiated, there's an a b 1,200. And the the final interim report will be at the June.

Great. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. Director Thompson?

Yeah. I'll just make this really, really fast. I only have two questions. Thank you very kindly, first of all, for the report. But I'm just wondering, just to clarify and make it plain for the public, can reach because you did show a slide with restricted dollars, can restricted dollars be used to address any of this deficit?

And then number two, on slide eight, you showed the green line and, also the red line. And then this I'm wondering if you had a chance as, you know, as you looked at it, was there a duplication of any kind of services, or did you see any specific area that presented a duplication of expenses?

I you know, in in all fairness, director Thompson, we did not see areas where there are duplications of services. What what we did notice, and I was mentioning, is that when our revenues increased significantly, around 2122, there were significant increases in staffing and services. And, obviously, that was needed. There there's a reason why they were increased. We we got money for a reason.

What appears to have happened is as the revenues flatten and began to decline, there was not a proportionate decline in those costs. And I think the the board and even some of our labor partners have called for for for that attention to be given as to how are are the contracts being pared down, is staffing being adjusted. So that is something that needs to be reviewed. Some of these services are needed, and and need to be then funded. And that's why, if you recall, when we first started working with the fiscal team in consulting with them as to how to look at the budget, we had a couple of choices and we were very transparent with the board.

We said the board can choose to make a wholesale cut. If we cut it by a certain percentage, we can resolve this issue fairly quickly. The challenge with doing that, and and some organizations do, some districts have done that, is that you have programs that will be severely impacted if you do a wholesale percentage reduction. Instead, what the board opted to do, and I think the the superintendent and the team have done a good job, But it takes a lot more effort is to go program by program to see if things can be reduced or not. The staffing is probably the most difficult one because not only do you look at do you need the staffing, and and we know in cases we do, but the source of funding is very important.

You have grant funded, colleagues that if they if they the fund ins the fund sunsets and you keep the person, now the general fund has contribute. So all all these type and and that's where all those interactions do take place. Thank you. That's a good question.

Thank you. Director Hutchinson?

Yes. Thank you. Could we please put up page number 10? Like I expressed to you, doctor Sadler in our meeting, this just isn't good enough at all. And, when consultants were hired, they weren't hired to come and present everything in front of us instead of using district staff.

And many of the things that I just heard there are just not accurate at all. So as we're looking at these multiyear projections, can you please, because my understanding is we have a deficit in our unrestricted general fund. And the way that we read these documents is when we look at the unassigned at the bottom, that tells us how much money we have left after we've covered our required reserve which comes out of the unrestricted general fund. So can you please say again, how much are we projected to end 2526 with above the required reserve?

If you can take it to combined page that I've

No.

No. No. No. No. I asked for it on this page, and I asked for a number.

How much are we projected to end the year with in our unrestricted general fund after we pay our reserve?

I'm gonna repeat myself, director Hutchison. I'm gonna address through the

I this is not how my so you can't tell us how much we're gonna end our reserve with. I only have a limited amount of time. So can you please tell us how much we are going to end our unrestricted general reserve for at the end of the year? It should be an easy dollar amount.

It's a com it's in the combined page, and it's less than $3,000,000.

Less than $3,000,000. We know that SEIU is no longer a tentative agreement, that that contract was approved at our last board meeting.

And you're crossing it

to past January 31? Excuse me. Yeah. And we are projected now to have to do a retro pay for SEIU, which costs $9,900,000. So, that means we are now projected to end the year when we include the SEIU contract below the amount that we need to have in our required reserve.

Is that correct?

No. Not for this report because if I'm maybe No.

No. I'm not asking about for this report. I asked if we include the known numbers from the SEIU contract, which for this year is $9,900,000 in a retro pay. So, I can do the math of $3,000,000 minus $9,900,000 means that we are close to $7,000,000 below that. And then, if we approve the tentative agreement with OEA, that costs a retro pay of roughly $11,000,000 this year, which would then put us another $11,000,000 below the required reserve according to these numbers.

Correct?

Can I respond?

Yes or no? Is that correct?

You allow me to respond. I'm happy to respond.

So, doctor Sadler, I'm not sure why the presenter is playing these games with me when I'm trying to ask easy questions for the numbers that are very important. And then when we can see on here that we have a projected deficit for next year's budget of 36,000,000 even, not including the SEIU contract, which will cost 13,700,000 next year, which brings the projected deficit to 49,700,000. If we approve the OEA contract, that will cost next year 42,000,000. 17,000,000 in compensation, roughly 25,000,000 in non compensation, which would add another 42,000,000 to the projected deficit in our unrestricted general fund for next year. And if some of that is paid out of the reserve, then maybe you can take 10 to 20,000,000 off of there.

But it still means we have a projected deficit in our unrestricted general reserve before we even come to budget adoption. These are the definitions of a negative certification. This is also the definition of the incompetence that we have right now running the district's finances. And I don't appreciate a paid consultant presenting and then not being able to give a direct answer on what the number is in the important categories for what we were supposed to address all the way back in October. So, again, doctor Sadler, do you agree with the recommendation to certify this budget as qualified, and do you believe that we have enough money to pay for the OEA tentative agreement?

I would like to ask you directly since I got no answers from the advisors that have been hired.

I'm going to step in for just a minute here because I believe that you asked doctor Frutos a question.

No. Excuse me. I just asked superintendent Sadler a question. I don't need you to step in for me. Me.

Superintendent Sadler, I would really appreciate it if you stepped in and answered these basic questions that this is why we're here. This is why we have a second interim so we can project what our numbers are.

Can you give doctor Sadler an opportunity to answer that?

Director Hutchison, I'm gonna ask doctor Frutos to respond to your initial

I I was asking for your recommendation because in December, you recommended a negative certification. So are you here saying, you know, this is unfortunate that the superintendent is not speaking as the head of the district. I'm asking you directly. You heard how he just answered me. You didn't you didn't correct him for not being able to answer my question.

Doctor director Hutchinson, I I believe you've asked two questions. I'm gonna let the superintendent Sadler take the question, and then I believe that we do have public that would like to make comments, and you have also asked for a second round. So let's move on, please, if that's okay. Doctor Sadler.

I would like to ask as doctor Frutos to complete, first of all, your first question to respond to that, and then I'll respond afterwards.

Pleasure. As I mentioned before, the certification is qualified because the district is able as of January 31 to meet its 3% obligation, which totals 28,979,000. In addition to that, there is additional funds that at the time were accounted to be $3,500,000. So the qualified certification is the certification that the staff recommended to the superintendent, and I believe the superintendent is making that recommendation to to you.

I haven't heard it from any staff. I've only heard it for you, and you are not OUSD staff.

Director Hutchinson, superintendent Sadler is now going to address that question.

Your question actually, our student director asked me a question. I was responding to her. But your question, could you repeat your question again? I wanna be absolutely clear Yes. That I'm on the record and heard.

What is your certification of this recommendation for the certification of the second interim report given that we know we have an SEIU contract that we've already approved? And do you think that the district can afford the OUSD and OEA tentative agreement that was brought forward last week?

At this at this juncture, we are recommending a qualified certification based on the second interim. And

do you think given these numbers, the district can afford the tentative agreement with OEA?

These numbers are based on the second interim, which has been day.

And with that, we'll take oh, I'm sorry. Doctor Barry.

Yes. I don't I'm gonna try to ask all my questions, and then if we don't get to all of the answers, then we can address them in the second round. So I just want to make sure first before I get to some of my questions, I read the second interim report correctly. And I think I told you this yesterday, I didn't see the presentation before we met and I still haven't I didn't look at it until you just presented it, so this is just based on the report. But can you clarify the unrestricted restricted deficit for 2627 and 2728 based on the numbers in this report.

I have that it's a total of 94,000,000 combined, and then a total for 2627 and a total of 49,000,000 for 2728 as

a deficit That is correct.

Those are the current projections as of January 31.

Okay. And then this is less based on the data, but less about the specific numbers, it still looks like in 2627 and 2728 with the practices we're implementing now, the out years still seem to rely heavily on the relationship between unrestricted and and restricted. And I'm just curious how we plan to resolve or address that given that that is a significant, input for the structural challenges we experienced today?

Director Barry, I can tell you that is the most important question as the district's fiscal team continues to work with the board and the superintendent, not just this year, but in subsequent years. Because the gap is so large that it needs to be addressed. So far, the balances and the increases that the district has had has helped not increase the structural deficit beyond the 104,000,000 that were originally identified. Some of the changes that have been made since the fiscal team started working on these strategies in January, like shifting funds and making reductions, and the reductions that the board has approved for next year will make headway into reducing the structural balance as it stands now. In the long term, and now I'm talking if as we project out the the restricted balances expenditure level, if not reduced, eventually there's no other way to continue, with the financial maneuvers that have been made.

So part of the discussion that the board of directors need to have almost every year until this is stabilized and the fiscal team is the reduction in the costs on the restricted side of the house. And again, I wanted to make sure that I was very clear with the board. This is where where a lot of specialized services are. So this will require significant significant work. If it is, for example, a service that's needed but is contracted out, it might need to be revisited.

If it's the opposite, that it's a service that is, you know, growing in in cost, how do we reduce it? It it's it's it's a strategy that needs to continue.

Thank you. I have additional questions, but I'll wait for the next round.

Of

course. Thank you.

And with that, we'll take public comment. How many speakers do we have?

We have six.

Six? Yes. Okay. Two minutes each.

Yes. So the six speakers are Carol Delton, Sadah Olukbala, Janelle Harris, Avi Ringer, David Chow, Vivica Ekwoy Wilson. Good

evening, board superintendent, doctor Frutos and district staff. I submitted a letter and had six points that I feel it's very important to be addressed to the community. And if those were addressed, think that some of the discussion and disagreement, would be clarified. I come to doing this work in the district, as a member of the public, not just from being a PTA parent after my daughter graduated, but also having represented my union in a neighboring district on these issues. I can tell you that when we had our interim reports, there was often a slide about what would be the next things happening, such as when do we get this year's p two, such as what is the net of the reduction in force.

Doctor Frutos answered one of my six questions. So here they are. The ADA, know from my experience, is based on the 2425 ADA. Is that the ADA that was in slide eight? And are we expecting additional enrollment ADA net of that based on other information that's being presented in this meeting about the t case?

Speaking of attendance, what is the result of the 13,000,000 question mark over four years that superintendent Castro submitted? Three, what is happening or what has happened with $30,000,000 of MA money that comes in as general, unrestricted money? Where was that allocated? Four, have the parcel tax committees been refunded or re given access to their balances, which was something that the prior CBO did without their consent? And the final one, we know that from past presentations, OUSD has at times put funds aside for settlements often in the materials and supplies.

I noticed materials and supplies is approximately 10,000,000 over expenditures to date. Is the money for the SEIU or other raises being held there? And if not, is there any being held elsewhere? Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

I just went and checked. The Garfield community is here, and I think that's the next thing on the item. But I still think it it it should be a standard practice when we have community members with children that that comes to the top of the agenda. All I did was went through this item, a presentation. On each page, I identified the number of issues that are considered excess or deficiency.

So on page five six, On page six, six. On page seven, three. On page, nine, eleven. On page five I'm sorry. Page ten, five.

On page eleven three. You're getting my point. We got a lot of issues on the last page I have is twelve five. We have a lot of numbers. Now I'm not no mathematician, but they have a whole lot of pages with an exceptional amount of excess and deficit.

That means there's reason to be concerned because we have to eliminate deficits and excess. The other thing is when you look at revenue and expenditures, we have less revenue and we have more expenditures. That has to be dealt with. Like I said, I'm not no expert, but we got a lot of work to be done. And when you keep saying in layman's terms, we getting something done, I don't understand what you're getting done.

And whatever you're doing, we have a right to have the ability to understand. So what I'm hearing is mister Hutchinson is challenging something. And when he's requesting answers, all you had to say was yes or no. And we don't have the and if we don't do that, then I'm concerned.

Thank you. Next speaker.

Hello, board of directors. Vivica Ekoy Walton, family organizer and civic engagement lead with families in action, community member. Really disappointed. It's very it's plain fact and public information that the district and OEA reached a tentative agreement on salary increases to avoid a teacher strike, which is great, an important step for our schools. However, the required a b 1,200 disclosure outlining that fiscal impact of that agreement has not yet been presented.

So the community, we have no idea what this is gonna affect now or later. And without that report, the board and the public can't see the full cost of the agreement or understand how it affects the district's multiyear financial projections. Transparency in fiscal reporting is not simply a procedural requirement. It is essential for public trust and sound governance. This raises a serious concern that the second interim financial report being presented may not be in be complete.

And the 12 a b 1,200 disclosure exists to ensure transparency and to allow the board to evaluate whether a labor agreement is financially sustainable before final decisions are made. I urge the district to present the full a b 1,200 analysis so the board can make an informed decision about the district's financial condition. The board cannot responsibly qualify or certify the district's financial condition without understanding how this agreement affects ongoing obligations, reserves, and out year solvency. Strong financial stewardship and improved student outcomes are deeply connected. Transparent budgeting, responsible lay responsible labor agreements, and focused investments in student support systems are all necessary if this district wants to deliver on its commitments to Oakland students and our families.

Thank you. Next speaker.

So it's very clear, that we are continuing to waste money. 400,000 on a contractor that is not working a full year is ridiculous. We don't have $400,000. And yet you guys still keep cutting from the bottom. Like, get rid of the ombudsman who is a complete not smart person, who does not know how to do investigations.

Get rid of all these administrators who do nothing, not even put books in our schools like doctor Aguilera. Why are they not why are they not cutting administrative positions that are useless? You got people that are creating their own positions, and they are still being allowed to work in these schools and do absolutely nothing. And that tells me that the board is clueless. It has been four years that I have come in here saying the same thing, same song.

I never get an answer. I never get an answer, which is why we were under conservatorship. And I hope you learn the next time we go under conservatorship, because you will be under conservatorship, that we can get a board that actually knows how to do finances because ridiculous. You just pay $400,000 on a report that miss Dawson, Grant Dawson said already. So I have been stepped away from the podium for a while, but it don't take a blind man to figure that out.

And the questions that were just presented to you by a board member is true. You know? It's true. So it's like, what are you guys doing? For the public is important.

But clearly, because I've been coming here for four years, transparency is not on your tongue or in your heart. And it's unfortunate that most of this board don't have no kids in this school district, but you wanna make decisions for my kid. But okay, keep doing what you're doing because I do not support the decisions that you're making.

Hello. My name is David Chow. I'm from parent from Sequoia Elementary, and I'm a member of the board at the PTO there. And I echo what others said here, but in my own words. In December, at first interim, the district's own business office recommended a negative certification, meaning the OUSD would not meet its financial obligations.

This board overrode that recommendation and voted qualified instead. County superintendent Castro reviewed it and treated it as a negative anyway. That's what triggered the fiscal advisory team and everything that's following now. So tonight, this board is again certifying us qualified, so I wanna understand what's changed. The multi year projections in this report show 36,000,000 in unidentified other adjustments for next year, and another 56,700,000 the year after.

Those aren't savings, they're placeholders. And these numbers were calculated as of January 31, as representative Hutchinson said, before the OEA tentative agreement was signed, the retroactive first year raise alone, 7% for Top Step, 4% for everyone else, effective last July, represents millions in obligations that aren't reflected in tonight's report. That makes this interim report some kind of mirage discussion. If we have to have it because of the rules, maybe maybe we just say it. Why can't we just say this is part of a mirage and let's move on?

At first interim, the board certified qualified and the county said no, it's negative. My question tonight, what gives you the confidence that this qualified certification will hold up when Castro reviews it? It's ridiculous. And if it doesn't, if the county again determines that it's negative, what's the board's plan? That's what we need to know.

Thank you.

Hello, board. We're here tonight, this item to discuss the second interim. With a qualified certification, the superintendent the county superintendent will come in with a financial assistance team, but we need her to do more than that. What we need desperately is for someone to come in here and help us make some strategic decisions on our structure and balance as we just heard from the consultant. That's what this board is for, of course, but this board is broken.

You've shown that you're unable to make the decisions that need to be made for the long term good of this district, and I'm speaking especially to the four members of the majority. No one forced you to take these positions. You put yourself up for them. You ran for them. And when you did, you put yourselves in a position of public trust.

K? We trusted that you would have the conviction to stand up to narrow interests. We trusted that you would be able to have the make the hard decisions, have the hard conversations, but you've proven yourself incapable of that. Okay? And it's our children who will suffer.

The die was cast back in September. As you were making your plan for the for the budget deficit reduction, president Brohard asked if there was anything that was off the table. You went around and everybody said there was nothing off the table until it came to vice president Bachelor. Are you with us, Bachelor? Thank you.

You said and you'll remember that school consolidations were off the table. And so in the time since, you guys have been chasing your tails consistently down blind alleys to satisfy this condition. Every other district is in this position are all consolidating schools. We're probably in the worst position of them all. Instead, we've come to this point with these shell games, these haphazard cuts attached to no strategy, no principle, cuts on the backs of our most vulnerable students.

So rather than making the hard decisions that could strengthen the district for the future, your decisions, your lack of strategic vision mean that we'll continue to look forward weaker than ever, destined to fail, and it'll be our children that suffer. So enough with the grandstanding, enough with the table pounding, enough with the mealy mouthed. Okay? It's so transparent. It's sickening to sit here and watch.

If you can't meet your commitment to the voters of this city, if you can't meet your commitment to the children of this district, step aside and let someone else do it instead. Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

You only called the first five speakers, but I know my name is Ender. So if you ask for some more, there could be more people besides me, by the way. My name is Oliver Brennan. I'm a parent of two OUSD elementary school kids. Qualified on a wing and a prayer, That's what we're doing right now.

This is a snapshot from the January 31 where we're claiming we're still certified as qualified. But twenty five days later, you guys approved a TA that we know is gonna make our end of year reserve below that level. Now tonight was the first night I've been in this room this year where this board almost had to admit we really are certifying negative. There were multiple questions that our contractor was asked, it all came back to snapshot on January 31. That is true.

But everything that has happened since then, which includes approving one TA, agreeing another TA, cutting about half what we needed to get to, all of this stuff is getting us to a situation where we will not have a reserve on June 30. We will have a projected deficit next year where we have no solution for. The same the year out. That is a negative certification. Somebody, somewhere needs to certify us negative so we can get the help we need now in the March, not at the July.

You know, we've no CBO. Our CBO is up in Sacramento City fixing their budgetary problems. Instead, we have a contractor here. Where is the CFO? The CFO is one of two signatures that has to go on this interim report.

I haven't seen this guy in months. We have a contractor. He ain't going to sign anything except an expensive contractor.

Thank you.

Are there any additional speakers?

All public commenters' names have been called.

Okay. Thank you. We'll have a second round of board questions. If you have a question, please feel free to ask. Director Barry, are good?

Yep. Go ahead.

Doctor Frutos, I think these are for you. And while you come, I just wanna say that I think the thing that has been most challenging for me is to compartmentalize the conversation tonight that and I'm trying to remind myself it's as of January 31, but as we've heard so many times tonight, so many things have happened since January 31. And I remember when we voted for first interim, the reason why I did not vote for the qualified certification because it just I could not conceive of how it would be possible that we would get to a point where we had $3,000,000 left in the balance for 2526, but we did that somehow. My questions right now, I'm just trying to process again understanding this is about what has occurred through January 31. I'm trying to wrap my mind around the future.

So my next question is around, in the second interim report, one of the conditions that weren't met was around our debt and our multiyear commitments, and you mentioned in in answer to the prior questions I asked, specialized services and and our ability to sort of manage that. And so I wanna hear from you, and maybe this is also a question for doctor Sadler, which of our debt and multiyear commitments do you find most concerning? My next question is around another condition around contingent revenue items. And so I've heard a lot of conversation about our hope that potential state money comes through. I wanna hear from you how you're approaching and factoring that in.

Are you, for example, hoping that all that money comes through and you're factoring that into the budget development, budget stabilization work? Or more conservatively, are you just sort of like putting that aside and doing the work with other strategies considering all other options assuming that money does not come through? My I think my last question is around cash flow. So where we are as of January 31 is one thing, but today, given the evolution of events of late, do you perceive there to be any serious cash flow issues? And if so, when do you anticipate, that being a concern for us?

In regarding the the I'll I'll go one by one, director Berry. You mentioned what are the areas that are most concerning when it comes to restricted and unrestricted. The challenge that we have is that we've obligated the district to a variety of services that are all on the restricted side. I think it'll be an evaluation between the board of directors and the different teams that provide these services as to what needs to be reduced. I can I can work with the fiscal team to give what are the numbers that need to be because we know we're contributing a 114,000,000 from unrestricted to restricted in the current year?

But obviously, not all of it can be reduced at once. That's why I mentioned that it needs to be an active effort for years to come for the financial team in the district. Not a consultant, but the district having strategies that will reduce that. One of the things that has been brought to the board of directors, superintendents' attention and to the fiscal team as I work with them is the idea of outside contracts. So that is an area that definitely needs to be reviewed.

And in some cases, the question will be, is it possible for the district to retain internally the specialties needed to provide those services? Now you include talent in the conversation. So I do think it needs to be a a broader discussion. What I'm presenting from the fiscal team to you today is the number, a $114,000,000, and it needs to be addressed over time. The second question that you asked, factoring new dollars.

It would be inappropriate for me to speak about factoring new dollars on the second interim. So putting that aside. For budget development, as we are working on that process, we want to factor in every dollar that we believe has a reasonable chance of coming in. And right now, that's two. The COLA that we have factored in at about 2.41, and the discretionary grant.

The other areas which are up for discussion are additional funds, well, and the special ed amount that will get us to $999. But the discussions about what the governor will do need to be reserved until after the May revision, and that's why the budget development process needs to come to the board at that time because we will have that information. But right now, as as the team is looking at budget development, I think those are the factors that have been included, not in this report.

Can I just ask you a follow-up question before you take my next question? Say the money does come through, do you use that to cover the cost of expenses that are already on the table, or do you use it to cover the cost? Like, what do you use that to cover the cost of is what I'm asking.

So let's assume that this discussion, instead of being for second interim, was for budget development. And we were now certain as to what the May revision was going to give us. The the revenues, the added revenues, let's say COLA and whatever else would be used in the revenue portion of the budget. If you remember, that's the LCFF, the first line of revenues. There will be an increase there.

And it would be used for whatever is needed during the year. Deficit reduction is is very important, but as you can see, the deficits have been going for quite some time. So the revenues increase. What it will do is that it'll make that green line that would that's why trend is so important. It'll make it go up and hopefully reduce the difference between revenues and expenditures.

So we we want to to capture every new revenue dollar as the budget is developed. And the final question that you had was regarding cash flow. We haven't had any challenges up until now with cash flow. One of the reasons why the superintendent has implemented some austerity measures for this year are precisely to avoid having those cash flow issues at the end of the year because we have a variety of obligations that need to be addressed. So that will be reviewed every single month as it always is to make sure that our cash flow situation continues to be positive.

But did you say we there are cash flow concerns today?

I don't have any.

Okay.

Today. But we are gonna have obligations in the next few months, and then we have to reassess.

Thank you. Your hand, director Hutchinson? Director Hutchinson.

Thank you. I think I proved my point already before. You know, I've been telling my folks every step of the way, it's actually been so much worse than any of us have realized, including myself. To not be able you know, the school board are the fiduciary agents of the district. The school board has the sole authority over all district money.

Combined, we receive a billion dollars a year in revenue. So when I sit and I ask the person, the superintendent designated about specific budget numbers that we need to be able to track, and I can't get a direct answer, You know, because these are public dollars and a lot of them, there's laws that apply. We don't have a transparency issue, y'all. These numbers have to be presented to me and actually go through the school board to approve them. And if I don't know them, that's not a transparency issue.

That means they don't exist. Now the way this interim report is supposed to read is they're supposed to be narrative pages that explains the changes in revenue or expenditures since the last interim report. And if you look at the first interim report, it was all in there. And so now that we have approved a new contract with SEIU, there should be a page in the second interim report that says we now know we anticipate these added expenses. There's no such thing to sit here and say, oh, well, this is it as of January 31.

And let's be clear. All of these changes and reductions we've been told about, I haven't seen an accounting of any of them. Any of them. Any of these strategies for this year. We haven't seen any accounting of it, including any accounting of the FTEs the board just voted to lay off.

No dollars, no explanation, and if you listen closely, we're told we have a growing reliance on restricted dollars in the out years, and you can see that growing. While we're being told, but we're done a shift to relying on restricted dollars now to get through this crisis. We hear those things together. Now I wanna know where the CFO is as well. There's rumors going around now that he's not even in the district anymore.

One of the things, superintendent Sadler, is you have to sign your name to the a b twelve hundred to say you determine that it's affordable. You already signed your name to the a b 1,200 for SEIU saying the district could afford that. And to hear you not be able to articulate anything now and to present a consultant in front of us who's getting paid $400 an hour, whose contract expires May 1, which means he's not even gonna be here past May 1. And lastly, this idea well, I keep hearing stuff like budget development. We're gonna address that in budget development.

Budget development every year for the years I've been on the board started in November. In November. Now I'm gonna share this clip around, and I'm gonna find out if there's legal liability for standing up and giving this kind of financial advice. But I don't know what

the laws are, so I won't

call it criminal today, but it's extremely unethical. And the fact that there's nothing coming forward from our superintendent who makes a third of $1,000,000 a year is unacceptable. Now I don't know how much stronger I have to say these things. I've been calling for for resignations already. If you can't do the job, get out of the way and stop causing harm to our community.

And remember, I voted against every single one of these things. So if there are legal obligations and people do have a demonstrated conflict of interest, if we do have an incapable superintendent, these are public dollars, and there's going to be public accountability. Please, somebody go to the grand jury. Please, more people start going to the media and bringing this up. This is worse than the battle days, and these folks are prepared to let this go on forever.

Elise Castro needs to do her job that she should have done in November, that she should have done in December, and there's no way with these budget numbers that we can ever be certified anything but negative on the second interim. Director And my last point is, and these numbers clearly show we have no fiscal solvency plan that was never done, and we still haven't addressed the main issue that we were supposed to address in on October 8, which was the budgetary shortfall in 2620 or 2526 and 2627, which means we do not have the ability to pass a balanced budget for next year. We're past the March 15 deadline to make staff adjustments. And if the county superintendent doesn't do anything beforehand, she will have no other choice but to step in on July 1, and at that point, we won't have any options left

your time.

But slash and burn because of this failure and incompetence. That's the point I wanted to make today.

You have

heard them all say they recommend qualified, and we can all read what the numbers are ourselves. Thank you.

K. Mister Rakeshtar, believe you had a comment to make before we take our vote.

Yes. I do. Just wanna make sure that procedurally, not substantively, that it's in the record that in the agenda, proper notice on according to Brown Act requirements as to what the board is going to be voting on and the recommendation of the superintendent is stated on page 54 of the published agenda. It says that this annual report, second annual report, is being recommended for adoption as certified to the county superintendent of schools. It's also in the resolution, which is the formal motion that the board would be adopting and stated in the resolve clause.

So just wanna make sure for the record that it was properly noticed as to what the recommendation is and what the board is considering. I do not get into the substance. Qualified. Yes. It's a qualified recommendation.

So it's stated as qualified. So we noticed the public seventy two hours in minimum seventy two hours in advance as to what the recommendation is and what the board would be voting on. It's all proper and now up for a vote.

And and point of clarification, mister Rakeshaw, I just wanna point out in the PowerPoint presentation in the text, it said we are certifying qualified, and it didn't mention the word recommendation. So I understand the distinction, but I just wanna point out to the community who's more likely to read the PowerPoint presentation that that language wasn't included, and I brought this up very clearly in my one on one meetings, and I was very disappointed to be told, oh, it must have been a mistake and slipped through. Thank you.

Thank you, mister Breakstrak. Can we have a roll call

on the

vote, please?

On the legal motion resolution number twenty five twenty six zero one three four as stated. Director Ladder?

Yes.

Student director, Smith?

Abstain.

Director Williams? Yes. Director Hutchinson? No. Director Barry?

Yes. Director Thompson? Abstain. Vice president Bachelor?

Yes.

And president Burghard?

Yes.

The motion's adopted.

Thank you. The next item on the agenda is a celebratory one. It is item two t two twenty six dash zero three eight five Garfield Elementary conversion of modernization project to a rebuild project. I believe we have a presentation and

Point of clarification, mister Eggstrad. Does this need a motion before the presentation? Does this need a motion before the presentation? I'd like to move, that we, adopt this item.

I'll second it.

That? Same. Yes. Exactly. Okay.

Good evening, doctor Sadler, president Brohard, vice president Bachelor, and members of the board. Tonight, we're pleased to bring forward an update on the Garfield Elementary project and a proposed shift from a modernization to a full campus rebuild with expanded early learning programming. As this project advanced through design, it became clear that structural requirements, temporary housing costs, and limitations on expanding early childhood capacity made a full rebuild a much more responsible long term investment for the district. This proposal reflects an extraordinary partnership, and we're grateful for the leadership of principal Brandenburg and the community school manager Nikita Williams, along with Ibasi, and the families and community members who help support this design and this recommendation that we're bringing to you. I also wanna recognize two people, or actually three people.

Jennifer Caban, from Oakland Children's Initiative who's here tonight. Kristen Spanos and Callie Martin from First Five whose support in helping make and re envision early childhood across the city of Oakland, is making this project possible. You will hear from them as part of the presentation tonight. Internally, this work reflects strong collaboration across your OUSD teams. I also wanna thank chief academic officer doctor Sandra Aguilera, Jessica Cannon who leads early childhood, our enrollment leadership, Killian Betlock, and also a special appreciation to Jen Blake.

And this project will incorporate a lot of the education specs that incorporate special education programming into the actual design itself. A special appreciation also to the facilities team, our director David Colbert, and actually one of our project managers over there, John Esposito, who's been leading the project. And also two groups in the lease leaseback, QKA, the architect, and Eric Aaron Jobson is here tonight, and also Swinnerton. I will briefly walk through the the this has been discussed at multiple times over both at CBOC and at the facilities committee, and I'm just gonna walk through a few slides, and then we'll top stop and take questions from you all. One of the things that I'm gonna get into is the the ask of the the committee and now the ask of the board is to approve the resolution and for the revised scope budget funding plan for the Garfield Elementary School rebuild and early child education expansion project.

A couple of things, like, one, you're getting a snapshot here of what you're gonna get with the facilities master plan that will be coming forward to the next board meeting, where it just gives you kind of one of the reasons why Garfield was named is because of the condition of the current facility. And so this is an updated look at that, but definitely you'll be seeing this for all of our schools at the next next board meeting. One of the things during the project, and I really wanna thank the design team for lifting this up, is that in every iteration of the budget that was designed in in essentially 2018, even prior to the the bond measure passing, there were problems with the budget and there were shortfalls along the way. And so it really pushed us to reinvent and reimagine the entire project. You can see that there were deep structural issues, high cost of temporary housing, and I think we talked about that here at the board meeting as well.

And and some of the ed specifications were compromised because of the the the high expense in those areas. And it really wasn't a project that was aligned with the district's sustainability policy. Here are just some slides that I'm just going go through really quickly, but they're essentially just the documentation that supports some of the challenges in the project. And you could see, particularly around the sustainability side, there were some things that we were able to do, but generally the budget wasn't expansive enough to be able to cover all of the title 24 requirements. So, I'm gonna So, one of the things that this project is really unique in where it's located in the city of Oakland, it sits on the boundary between District 2 and District 5.

And just on the left, when you're seeing that image, these are with our enrollment team, this is where we are looking at where the future students of Oakland Unified School District are going to be coming from. Those are the ages of zero to four, and this project sits right on one of the most dense areas in Oakland. So I'm gonna bring up Jennifer Caban. There

you go.

Alright. Who's gonna talk a little bit about the the future and the role of OCI in in Oakland.

I was sharing some information over there with miss Asada. Good evening. My name is Jennifer Kavang. I have the honor to serve as the accountability officer in relationship to the Oakland Children's Initiative. It is also known as measure eight a.

So I'm working at, at the city. Gonna go to my written comments, so I'm succinct. So the Oakland Children's Initiative was passed by Oakland voters back in 2018 to ensure that our children have a pathway from early childhood to and through college. At the heart of this work, it is simple but powerful understanding that long term success begins with strong early learning opportunities. We have three funds related to the initiative.

One is an administrative one, the other one's college access, and then the one that we're talking about for this particular site is the early education fund. The initiative is focused, the early education fund is focused on expanding access to high quality early childhood education, strengthening system quality, and supporting the infrastructure that is needed so that Oakland families, especially those furthest from opportunity, can access these early learning experiences. One of the core priorities for the e c, the early education fund, has been to make intentional strategic, sustainable investments in early childhood infrastructure. The goal is not simply to address short term gaps, so plugging holes in a ship, but to ensure that the oak that Oakland is building a sustainable early learning system that can meet the growing demand for three and four year olds. That has meant investing not only in programs, but also in the places and spaces where our young learners are, building high quality environments that support children, educators, families.

These investments help to create stable, welcoming communities where children typically begin their formal educational journey. This expansion at Garfield reflects the kind of intentional investments that we're trying to make with the Oakland Children's Initiative, Expanding early childhood classrooms and integrating them into the p k five campus. This project helps create a cohesive learning environment that supports children and families over time. In terms of impact, this expansion will support approximately a 140 to a 152 additional students each year, which is at the core of the initiative to expand access to early childhood education. Over the next thirty years, that represents more than three stud 3,000 students gaining an an early start in school readiness.

And over the life of the facility, the site could serve more than 11,000 students in early childhood programming. At its core, this is exactly what the Oakland Children's Initiative was designed to do, make thoughtful strategic investments that strengthen systems and expand opportunities for Oakland children's youth and families. This reflects an intentional alignment between the goals of measure AA and the district's broader vision of supporting our young learners. I do wanna close-up. I wanna mention because you just talked about budget.

We had a lot of discussion about the fiscal supports that are focused on this particular site. So that includes not only leveraging local funds, but also state funds to maximize the support not only for right now, but for what this looks like longer term in that space. With that, I wanna close by expressing deep appreciation to OUSC's facilities team, particularly with Preston. He answered a lot of my questions, as well as the OUSD ECE learning team led by Jessica. Also been having very strategic intentional alignments across the board with our system partners.

And finally, our implementation partner who manages the fund related to the early childhood fund, which is First five Alameda County. The collaboration and dedication across partners is what makes work like this actually possible and helps us continue building strong aligned systems, and I mean aligned system, large system partners to continue to build strong spaces for Oakland's children. This is part of the roadmap for the Oakland Children's Initiative. I want to thank you for your time, and I apologize because I was rushing with all the words.

Thank you.

Okay. A few more slides. I just want to share with you the revised project scope. One, we did meet with the community and many of the members are here behind you to talk about different options around this expansion, and we landed on the community option in that corner that really moves the the school. It uses the current school for interim housing.

That saves you $12,000,000, and you can reinvest it back into the building itself. It will be on the lower part of the campus now, and then the second phase of it will take down the old building. So I just wanna name the location. Here is a schematic of what that will look like as we move forward. Here is the design and this is where we were talking about the SDC.

You could see the structure of it in terms of the classroom continuums all the way up. We're using the OPSC, Office of Public School Construction planning capacities that are official numbers that the state utilizes. But this gives you kind of an overview of of some of the investments at the school site. Here is the layout of the of the proposed campus replacement, and then the budget and the schedule. And I'm gonna go very quickly through this because I think it's important.

And I'm gonna I'm one of the things that was really important as we were having conversations with both CBOC and the facilities committee was that we did not want the expansion of this project and kind of dealing with these issues to impact other bond investments and measure why. And so we were able to create a funding stack that incorporated a lot of different funds in it to actually make up that, gap that existed in the program. So if Kelly Martin will come up, to talk about how First Five has supported kind of the initial investment that got the conversation going.

Lower this. Good

evening. I'm Callie Martin. I am the deputy CEO at First Five Alameda County, and I'm also a mom of a o u Oakland Tech student. Thanks for having me here today. I just wanna say a bit about First Five Alameda County.

We are an independent public organization, and we use a whole community, whole family, whole child approach to ensure that every child in Alameda County, regardless of race, family income, or immigration status, gets a strong start in life. And we do this to ensure that policies, systems, communities, and schools support families and children by creating the conditions that position all for success. First five is the named administrator of Measure c, is a countywide early childhood education initiative, and we are the, early education fund implementation partner for the Oakland Children's Initiative, also known as OCI. The Garfield expansion aligns with the work we've been doing in deep partnership with the city of Oakland's accountability officer, OUSD's early childhood education department, and the facilities team, as well as working with the chief academic officer. A bit about this investment.

Since well, since OCI implementation began in 2023, OUSD has received more than $18,000,000 in early education funds. The current year's budget is nearly 27,000,000, and it includes this year's cost for the Garfield project. We see the expansion of ECE at Garfield Elementary School as progress towards meeting the OCI's goal of increasing access for three year olds and four year olds, especially those from families with low income. There are an estimated 2,700 unserved eligible three and four year olds in Oakland. Every additional seat represents progress towards that gap.

Barfield Elementary in the San Antonio neighborhood would reach a diverse community in one of Oakland's historically underinvested neighborhoods. 97% of students are eligible for free or reduced lunches, in foster care, multiple language learners, or unhoused. Garfield has also been a key partner in First Five's Neighborhoods Ready for School initiative. It's a community directed, place based initiative providing community development and school readiness. First Five is pleased to speak in support of the Garfield project and this important resource for children, families, and the community.

Thank you.

So with the commitment of the $19,000,000 that comes from OCI and First Five, there is there was a gap of about $14,800,000 left in the project. And I and I wanna walk through that that $14.8.8, I'll walk through the how how we close that gap. I do wanna just point out one piece because we've been talking about this in the facilities committee. We are in the design development phase, and there are still some things that need to get figured out about the project. But once we move into contracting, that's when the final dollar amount gets gets attributed to the project.

So I do want you to I'm foreshadowing a little bit that there's gonna be some other things coming forward with some other projects as well that may need some additional funds, and I just wanna remind the board that you have the contingency that's been structured to measure why around that. So here is the makeup of the the final budget. We're asking that the project be moved up to a full budget of a $104,500,000. Of that so the board approved right now in measure y is 70,700,000. So that is what's allocated out of measure y.

With Oakland Children's Initiative coming in with $19,000,000, it means that there is still a need to get up to that $104,500,000. To do that, one of the things, and we've talked about this before, is developer fees have a very specific nexus to new construction and housing in the area, but also in terms of expanding programs. And so the district has been very limited in in the spaces that can use developer funds. We would be using 5,000,000 of the developer funds to to augment this project. And then finally, the state reimbursement from fund 35, we would be adding $9,800,000 to that project from that fund.

Here is the timeline. Right now we're in design development. We would be submitting at the end of this year into DSA and working on construction documents. We would expect approval to be in 2026, 2027, and then new construction begins in 2027. Here is a rendering.

This is a draft right now of where we are and what the building would look like. You're looking at the back of the school that would have early childhood on the 1st Floor and then the upper grades on the on the 2nd Floor. Two other renderings of of the building as well. One of the key features I just wanna name here is the current gym, or the current multipurpose room does not have enough space for after school programming and sports, and this would actually provide full access in that neighborhood, that's deeply needed. Okay.

We're here. March 11 board meeting for final approval. So with that, I'll turn it

back over to you, president Brohard.

Thank you. Do we have public comment?

Yes, madam president. We have 14 speakers.

K. With two minutes each.

Two minutes each. K. The first five speakers are Sada Olukbala, Janelle Harris, Taisha Hudson, Ilian Hernandez. It's Illian Hernandez again. Avila Sergio.

First say, I'm glad Garfield is getting attention to their needs because it should not happen at McClyman's. There's been a lot of attention given to Garfield. I've been to several meetings where they've taken under review what is necessary. I'm having a lot of trouble with the Measure AA process. So they met on February 26, the Measure AA Committee.

The young lady tried to explain to me how you got to the point where they are allocating these funds. On the agenda, it simply says that there are gonna be some funds of 11,700,000 for, Garfield and Sankofa between the two of them, $11,700,000. Now we're hearing it's gonna be $19,000,000 from First five. It is the whole process. Give them the money.

Give them whatever they need. But I'm one of these people that looks at the process and was it done correctly. And I'm not seeing a correct process being done. And that concerns me. You're gonna ignore me.

But this is an example of how we go through, particularly with this facilities department that y'all love Preston Thomas. Now they told me they took this up related to the school in February 26. I've been hearing for weeks that this process has already been taken care of. So y'all keep supporting Preston Thomas with his manipulative behind. It's gonna finally come to a head at some point because what's happening at McClymonds give Godfield whatever they need.

But any process that we have to go through has to be done correctly, and that's not the case here.

Next speaker.

Hi. My Ellian. Name I'm a second grade student at Garfield. I wanna know school because I want my brother to have a nice school.

Good evening you guys. I'm Alexa. I used to go to Garfield Elementary like five years ago.

One second. We'll reset the clock for okay. Great. So much.

I used to attend Garfield Elementary, and when I did attend, there were a couple earthquakes that have hit. And it was very scary because the building wasn't in the best condition and the best shape. And I have a little brother that goes there and attends school right there. He's about a he's about a graduate, and at the same time, I'm gonna have little nieces and nephews that are attending there. And I wanna make sure that nothing bad happens to them.

And at the same time, the area that they're in, it's not the best area and it's not the best secured. So I feel like with the new, remodelization, it could we could upgrade the security, like, get more friends, just help out the people because we don't want our kids growing up and seeing everything that's going on the streets so young because they're already exposed to that either way when they're in middle school or in high school. Why have them that why make them exposed to that at a very little age? Like, what if that was your daughter, your son? How would you guys feel if they were witnessing, like, people doing drugs, homeless people on the streets, dying because of all everything going around?

So that's why I wish the school gets a little more better, safer, and up to code that way for the kids mostly. That way they wanna stay there in the community and make it more of a loving home for the families there.

Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please.

My name is Taisha Hudson. I'm a third grade teacher at Garfield Elementary. I've been at this school for six years. I actually went through the district myself as a child. I went to Western Elmhurst and Castle Mod and I always wanted to give back to my community.

That's why I became a teacher. I love my job and Garfield is one of the oldest schools in Oakland and that's not sustainable for early childhood education. You have to have vision and to be able to see that this school needs to be fully rebuilt and it is an investment for our school and our scholar's future. The construction of the building foundation does need help. If you walked around there, you would see that and the surrounding issues.

As a student who and a scholar and a person who grew up in Oakland, safety has always been the issue and students who feel safe in their schools, with their structure, there should be facilities where they have AC for those hot summer days or for those hot spring days. We have lost a lot of kids and a lot of kids from Oakland have left for various reasons like COVID or cost of living, the list goes on. But if you approve the fully redevelopment, this is only not only gonna help. Garfield is only gonna help the surrounding communities and make people and students and families bring their students to Garfield community. The students and the staff of Garfield and the San Antonio community in Oakland deserve the right to have a fully upgraded campus and for the years to come.

Thank you.

So I'm excited for the young people at Garfield. I truly am. I know a few young people that go there, and it's pitiful. The building is pitiful. I don't think no kids should go to school there, but okay.

But what I will say to the parents is don't hold your breath because McClymond's project started in 2021. We still don't have a shovel in the ground. You got kids over 300 kids in half of the building, teachers sharing classrooms, which is illegal, and more kids coming. So our football field didn't get done. All of a sudden, somebody made a decision without community input to combine the two projects.

So what does that mean for McClime's kids that they're gonna take away funding because they now have to spend $5,000,000 to redo our field and clean our soil, which by the way, they try to sneak and do an exemption to clean our soil and they never admit it. They never said not one time. They said they were waiting for approval for the plans. That was a lie. I'm extremely disappointed.

I'm saddened. I have a whole bunch of emotions. I'm pissed. All of it. My son waited four years.

Four years. And now he's leaving. He's graduating without any OUSD help. None. He didn't get nothing from OUSD.

We just recently got a report from his I Ready report saying that he's reading at a fifth grade level. So he's three level grade levels behind according to them. He's a senior in high school, but we know that's not true. My son reads novels. Okay?

My son got a full scholarship, academic scholarship to a a college university that he will be going to in the fall. But it's not because of this school district. It's because he has a parent that demands that he that he gets supported in what he needs. So congratulations, Garfield, but don't hold your breath.

Are there any other speakers?

Yes, madam president. The next five speakers are Alexa Avila Mata, Avila Sergio, Landon Sandoval, Jonathan Valadez, and John Jones the third.

Again, if any of them are any of these, speakers are students, if they would come first. And if your name was called, you want to come to the dais?

Hello, board. My name is Jonathan Valladares. I'm the director of the Basie After School Program at Garfield. So just a couple updates. Landon had to leave, he was a little student that goes to Garfield, but unfortunately he had to go.

And Alexa already spoke, but her father was up next, so he's gonna be speaking. But yeah, I wanna say I've been at Garfield for fifteen years, and I can say honestly, the building hasn't changed much. And even when families come back with their kids enrolled after being students, they say the same thing. Oh my gosh, things haven't changed. And that's kind of, I mean, it's cool, like, oh yeah, nostalgia and stuff, but it's kind of sad just because being there and being the director of the after school program, I'm responsible for the safety of all these kids.

If anything happens, I mean, God forbid, an earthquake happens, I have no idea how the building is gonna react. But just being there and seeing things through day to day, I can see that the building is falling apart. When you walk into the cafeteria from coming outside, you can feel a dip in the floor, literally. It feels like at any time it will give out and it'll leave. And it's been like that for years.

And we need a whole new building. I mean, things have been patched, but it's the same thing. So a patch isn't gonna fix all the problems that this building has. There's an instance where during our dismissal, one of the posts that is that separates the doorways, it fell. And it could have hit a six year old student.

Me picking that up afterwards, it would have honestly hurt him seriously. And we were very fortunate that at that time, no one was walking by. And it was like our rush hour at dismissal. And there's countless things. I know Ms.

Hudson was talking about the air conditioning and one whole side of the wing, it gets so uncomfortable that I don't know how the students could even focus and get an education. And the biggest thing that I'm concerned is just the safety. And I think that having a whole new building will solve all of those problems that we would have. And it's basically, it's not, it's a need right now. It's not an ask or something that is, you know, a a want, but it is a need that this community must have.

So thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Yeah. So you were saying that he is the father of Alexa who came to speak

We have interpretation interpretation.

Okay.

Miss Vargas?

Yes. I am here.

Can you hear me?

Yes. We can.

Okay. Good evening. My name is Sergio Avila. I am the father of Alexa, and I am also very concerned about my child because the building is indeed very old. And if there's an earthquake, I don't I'm not sure if it can stand it.

And I'm also very concerned about the teachers. The teachers do not have a parking lot. They don't have a place where to safely put their vehicles. And Auckland is also a very dangerous city. So that would be all I wanna say.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Good evening. My name is John Jones the third. I'm a father. My son, he's gonna speak in a minute. He wanted dad to speak first.

I just wanna say I fully support this project. Right? And I'm a member of the CBOC. I'm a member of Garfield School Site Council. I just wanna say, first of all, Garfield is not just a school.

It's a community. And I just wanna give it up to all these amazing people here. The the the teachers, from principal Brandon Byrd and interim principal, Suite, the the teachers, the faculty. What I love about it is, number one, when I drop my son off in the morning, I know he's in good hands. I can feel, I can see the love and the care, and it allows me to focus on my job knowing that my son has been taken care of.

So they need the support that they need. And I just wanna say real quickly, where Garfield sit is pretty unique in the area. Right? Because if you look at that Foothill Corridor, right, even though it's geographically in District 2, across the street is is is D 5, and that's a densely populated area. So when you think about the future trajectory of enrollment with OUSD, any and all investments at Garfield School is gonna be an investment to the future of OUSD.

So I'm a turn it over to my son, see if we have a few words he wanna say. He's he's feeling shy right now.

Hi. My name is Josiah and I'm in the fifth grade.

And

real quick, what what college you wanna go to?

I wanna go to Harvard.

Do we have any other speakers?

Yes. Yes. We do. Call the last four speakers are Myra Alvarado, Deprice Bonilla, Dan Schmitz, and doctor Jeffrey M Parker. Thank

you.

Hi. Nice to see you guys again. So I just wanna let people know, yes, Garfield is one of the best schools. I live by Joaquin Miller Elementary and I still decide to take my kids to Garfield Elementary. As a parent, I am asking the board to, prioritize rebuilding and repairing Garfield Elementary School and to consider implementing a strong early childhood development project on this campus.

Garfield is an amazing school with dedicated educators, families, and a strong community, but the physical conditions of the campus need serious attention. I personally experienced a fall on campus which raised concerns about the safety of the grounds that our children walk on every day. Our children are already faced many challenges outside of school. Because of that, school should be the place where they feel most secure. It should be a space that reflects stability, care, and opportunity.

Early childhood development is one of the most critical stages in a child's life. The environments where children where young children learn to shape their confidence, their ability to focus, and their sense of belonging. Investing in early childhood spaces is not just about buildings, it is about creating the foundation for lifelong learning. I I was an ECE teacher, many years ago. Revising and improving the Garfield campus is is essential.

The condition of a school building sends a message to students and families about how much they are valued, how much we care about them. When we invest in safe, modern, and well maintained facilities like this one, we are investing directly in the success and well-being of our children. I urge the board to take meaningful action to rebuild, repair, and reimagine Garfield Elementary so it can fully serve our community and support our early childhood project that prepares our youngest learners for the future. Our children deserve more than promises. They deserve a campus that reflects their potential, their safety, and their worth.

Today, we are asking for more than words. We are asking for your vote. I don't understand why y'all don't wanna vote, to make this vision a reality for our children and for our community. And I actually fell two times, one time pregnant with my daughter. My oldest is 15.

He went to O High. And, and after and I fell again with her after, she was born, and I actually hurt my knees. And I went and I had and they came and repaired just the little area where I fell, which I could've sued the district, but because I love the school and I love where I where where I was working at the time, which was in Garfield. I was ECE teacher. I didn't.

But we really have to do a lot for our children, you guys. These they see us they we are their role models. You guys are the real role models. We are our role their role models every single day. Thank you.

Good evening, board, community, and superintendent. My name is Myra Alvarado. I am the OEA second vice president speaking as an individual, but most importantly, I'm here as a proud second grade teacher at Garfield Elementary School. Here standing with our community, it's really beautiful to see kids, families out here and staff. And I'm here hoping that you all vote yes and that we just really get this all started.

I've been at several different sites within OUSD in my eleven or twelve years as an educator and really like Garfield is home. Garfield is home but the building does not feel like home sometimes. It feels like I don't know what's going on and it hits home for me in a particular way. I went to school in public school in LAUSD, and the building that I went to in elementary school was falling apart kinda like how Garfield's falling apart at times. And so I'm excited to hopefully get this work started.

Just giving you a quick example of why this work is really necessary. Last year at Garfield, I had several instances of like mice walking around the classroom. One time there were three different mice going around the classroom and we I could not I mean, try to teach a group of second graders when there's mice running around the classroom. It's impossible. And our kids don't deserve that.

The mice though, they keep coming because our building is just full of all sorts of holes apparently that they could squeeze through. And our students, they deserve the best especially in communities in like Garfield that have been historically not not invested in. Our black and brown students really deserve the best and I'm really excited for this work to get started and so let's hope that this vote is a vote to not just get the money but get the work started at our school. I'm excited to continue working with you all. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker please.

Good evening, board. My name is Dan Schmitz, and I'm a community member. I do not have children in OUSD currently, though I did have at one point. I am a person who garden, so my my clothes are kinda dirty because I just came back actually from watering over at Garfield School. I am so excited that there is a plan in place to renew this school because the school is absolutely derelict.

I've spent years walking past and driving past the park that is no longer used with dead trees. The the the, park and rec department comes and mows the lawn, but nobody actually uses the space. Right? I'm so glad that there's a plan to actually have a front facing building on that street that will improve the property, improve the community, and I'm so glad that they're proposing a new park that can be used by the community and by the by the school district itself. I volunteer at the school, and actually, I raise my own money to do the school garden and the school grounds because they're completely left abandoned.

And I just see the work that Ibesi does. I see the work that all the teachers do. The amazing community that's there that's vibrant, that really brings a lot of love and health to the community, and they need a facility that reflects the effort that they put into it. So I hope that you approve this facility, and thank you very much.

Thank you. Let's go there.

Good evening. I'm doctor Jeffrey m Parker senior. And to our president and vice president to the superintendent and to all the wonderful board members. I am a special education teacher at Garfield Elementary. I teach the third through fifth grade.

And if you have not been to Garfield Elementary, I'd like to welcome each of the members to come to our to our school site. I'm also on the school site council. And as you have heard from all the speakers, our our school is in need of to to be rebuilt. And so I I'm standing here asking for your support, and also I'm standing also to say, I came, to work in the school district, left the university to give back to Oakland Unified School District. My objective was to help save, the young black boys, brown boys from the streets.

And then I got into special education, and I loved it. I'm saying that because Garfield is a excellent excellent school with a great administration, great teachers who love the students, and I just want the board to look at this project, not just a building project, but also a blueprint for the district, that we should feel that feel that we can send anyone that comes to the city of Oakland to any of our schools. And so if you come to Garfield, you'll see dedicated administrators, after school program, teachers, and and also in spite of the school in desperate desperate repair, our custodians keep it in pristine condition. So thank you, and we we need your support.

Thank you.

Are there any board comments? Director Hutchinson.

Yes. Thank you. I am strongly in favor of this project. So let me just lead with that before I I talk about a couple of other things. And, Garfield, like many of our school communities, deserve to have this kind of work and investment, decades ago, if not generations ago.

And this is, kind of why I got upset earlier about the second interim report and about the district's finances. Our public dollars and public facilities are our community resource. They're our birthright. Generations have put blood, sweat, and tears into this city to acquire these resources. And when it comes to our, facilities bond, you know, not everyone realizes that neither the federal government nor the state fund us for our facilities, for facility upgrades, and so we have billions of dollars of need across the city.

So that's why we've done these facilities bonds over time, and we're currently under measure y. Unfortunately, when measure y was first passed, the board president at that time put a CCPA project at the top, something that was not on the list. And at that same time, they put building a new central administration building way out in West Oakland at Cole on the list as well. Those projects cost tens and tens of millions of dollars. You know, the last rebuilds that we've actually done were under measure j, which was approved in 2016, but even those projects, Fremont High and Glenview, weren't done until after 2021.

Those were our last projects that were done, and that was five years ago. We've completely let go of the rope. And as you can see over the last few years at this board, as things have spun out of control in other ways, we haven't kept up with what we need to do with our facilities with money that voters already approved for us to use. So I was very happy, when I had the chance to push for a change in the measure y prioritization, to make sure that Garfield Elementary, Roosevelt Middle School, and McClymus High School were put back at the top of the list where they should have been. Any report that you see lists Garfield as the facility that has the most needs, that's in the worst shape.

So I have to say I'm a little concerned about what size we might be building Garfield for because we have to be smart about what kind of enrollment we're gonna build. But I also wanna point out, as you can see in the document, when this was first approved, the projected budget was 56,700,000. Now the cost is 104,500,000. So not only has this delay caused another generation of students at Garfield to miss out, it's now going to cost us twice the amount. And so I agree with what I've heard from some other speakers here.

Once this gets approved, that means there has to be shovels in the ground in the summer. That means the community needs to come back and advocate to make sure. What most people don't know is Fremont High wasn't getting built either until city council member Noel Gayle finally showed up at a school board meeting in 2016 and lit a fire.

Director Hutchinson

So, please, as I see the peep I will. As I see the people who are here and involved with Garfield, and hopefully even partnering with folks from McClymont and people from Roosevelt, we have approved the money to do this. I need the community's help to make sure now that these plans are being approved, that we make sure that we finally get these projects done. Thank you.

I just wanted to make one, quick comment, which is just, an appreciation for the I think the collaboration between the Garfield community, the early childhood department, our partners at Oakland Children's Initiative and First Five, and our special education department. Because there has been long conversations amongst families that the need to be able to serve every student in our community at all of our schools. That if you have a student who needs a self contained program, if you have a young child, if you have a fifth grader, that they should all be able to go to the same school together and that we should. And so I just wanna appreciate that this is a project in which all of those student needs are being centered and that we're, I think particularly for our self contained program, clarifying that they're a part of the school, that they're not in a portable, that they are going to have access to the full complement of what education should be, which is arts and music and play and community. So thanks for this project.

I'm happy to support.

Director vice president Bachelor. Thank you.

Yeah. I would just like to quick I'd just like to quickly ditto what director Lada mentioned. Again, as the scope changed, the amount of money had to change. Right? Because it went from a seismic retrofitting to our architects and folks realizing there needed to be way more upgrades than just a seismic retrofitting.

So that's part of the reason why the amount changed. Obviously, the tariffs and other things have made it equally difficult to do projects like this. But I really wanna thank the Oakland Children's Initiative for partnering with us. I wanna figure out how we could do this more often because, again, our students deserve these spaces. They deserve dignified classrooms, and our staff also deserve this work.

And I wanna make sure that, we are especially for our youngest learners, we're creating the best school environment so that they feel confident to continue to come into school and continue to learn and progress. So I can't wait for this project. I know that director Brohard and I are coming to the Garfield community in about a week or so to to celebrate with you all and to also talk to you all about some of the other challenges that we're facing in the district. But I'm really excited again to continue with this project and really see that area of the district transform because, again, as I sit between these two lovely school board directors, that's the Garfield community. Right?

Like, literally between districts two and five. And to be able to serve our youngest learners in an area where we know we're going to be growing our enrollment, where we know that young people are going to be, is again a really key component of how we're thinking about facilities for future long term use.

Director Barry.

I just wanted to say thank you to all the community members who are present today and all the community members who showed up to many facilities committee meetings before tonight to talk about this work and to advocate for it. It has been a pleasure to get to know your community through that work and I I wish you didn't have feel like you had to advocate for it because this is such an obvious decision for us. I also wanted to thank OUSD staff because I talk a lot at the facilities committee meetings about the need for us to approach our work in a way that leverages the best of what the city, the county, the state, and OUSD has so we can collaborate to serve our students the best way possible, and I think this is a great example of that. So thank you.

I also want to echo when I first went on the walk through with CBOC to Garfield, I think all of us looked and said, we have to rebuild this school. I mean, I think if you've been to it, the people have talked about the spaces. I had heard about the the pole falling, the space for the cafeteria with the pipes above. I mean, if you shot a basketball up there, you'd burst a water pipe. But the other piece that really struck me was a few weeks later, the principal principal Brandenburg invited me to a community meeting, and it was at 09:00 in the morning, and that place was packed.

And I think in hearing, the community members talk, the parents talk about one thing that really struck me was at that time a discussion about a parent center. And I thought this is really a community that this is a family school. And, you know, I thought about the implications for that of going on to Roosevelt, of building a community of schools in that area. And, I think the community, the parents, just had it had such an impact. And I remember talking to Preston about it afterwards, and we said, look, we really need a new school.

But I think the other piece, I think, that is really also a testament to the families is that this is a collaborative effort, that not only was it parents at Garfield, but it was OCI. It was our facilities. It was special education departments. People coming together to build a community school. And I think if people again, know that his school is is not there, but I think, like doctor Parker invited people to come see it, it is really a community school.

The SSC was a community meeting. I mean, these things are very it's a very special a very special place. And I think that collaboration again has resulted in in really getting a getting a new school. I'm really excited about the integration of TK. I think that to actually have TK spaces that aren't just converted kindergarten spaces, our youngest students need different types of play spaces, of learning spaces.

They even the kindergarten desks are too big for some of them. So I think that, again, having a dedicated space, a dedicated parent center, and a rebuild that really reflects a new school that really reflects the community. So, again, much appreciation to the Garfield community, to the parents, to the teachers, to the students, and to our, agency sponsors. Again, that's what made this possible and deep gratitude to you all. Mister Reichstadt, can we have a roll call on the vote, please?

Yes. On the motion to adopt resolution number twenty five twenty six hyphen zero one zero two, which is the conversion of Garfield's modernization project to a rebuild project. On the roll call, student directors are absent. Director Lotta?

Yes.

Director Williams? Yes, sir. Director Hutchinson? Yes. Excuse me.

Yes. Director Barry? Yes. Director Thompson?

A former teacher from twenty five years ago at Garfield. Yes.

Vice president Bachelor?

Yes.

And president Brauhard? Yes. Motion's adopted.

Thank you. Thank you. It's hard work. Next on the agenda is item t three, which is 26 dash zero five three three, supporting proposition 98, settle up obligation and protection of the constitutional minimum guarantee for public education. I believe there was a recommendation from the Budget and Finance Committee.

Yes. So this, I'd like to make a motion to adopt the resolution. Second. And I'll just quickly state that, yes, we spoke about this in budget and finance and was passed unanimously with a favorable recommendation. And I wanna give credit to Matt Glaser, is a PSAC lead delegate for championing this work to ensure that we are effectively advocating to the state to fulfill its prop 98 constitutional guarantee.

This is the third year that the state has used the manipulation to withhold prop 98 funds. And this is represents a significantly larger withholding. So it had been, you know, 1,000,000,000 two years ago and then 2,000,000,000 last year, and now it's nearly $6,000,000,000. So next week is the California School Board Association Legislative Action Week, and trustees are meeting with their representatives to advocate primarily to oppose this withholding. And so I would love to have our board support this resolution so that we can be even more effective advocates.

And then I know Doctor. Seidler will also be helping us, with this advocacy moving forward as well.

Is there a public comment on this?

Yes, madam president. We have. We have four speakers.

Two minutes each.

Those four speakers are Sara Olugbawa, Janelle Harris, David Chow, and Oliver Brennan.

If you heard your name, come on up to speak.

Good evening, board. I don't think there's anybody who wouldn't support the state funding education as it should. But I just wanna say, as I said at the budget and finance committee meeting last week, that, yeah, let's get this done. But we have known in for years how the state budgeting works out, but this is the first time we've ever gone through March 15, next Monday, depending on it. And even the $5,800,000,000 that may or may not come through, when you look at the the ADA enrollment in Oakland, about 35 to 4,000 students versus the total students in California, you're still talking about a number that if it even came through is in the 30 ish millions of dollars.

And a lot of that money would be restricted dollars where you can only spend it certain areas. And, you know, using it as a tool to get past this classification as qualified, You know, it is disingenuous. It's a decoy. Please vote this in and move on, but we we we this is not gonna save us. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Next speaker.

So what I've heard tonight is very wishful thinking from this board. And I'd like to support you, but I can't. Because for the past four years, I've got nothing but empty promises and staff who cover for family members, friends who all work for this district. So I will say this, you know financially we're in a very bad position and I really hope that Garfield gets what they deserve because those kids deserve everything and I'm hoping that McClymonds will have a new building and people will start to love on black people for once, you know, just for once. I probably won't see it in my lifetime, but you know, I hope my son could come back as an alumni and tell his stories of his journey through McClymond's High School.

It is his historical black high school and we are known all over the world. We went to Vietnam and they knew about McClymond High School. So, you know, I say this to say we don't have any money. So I don't know where this money has come from because if another bomb measure gets on the ballot, I am a homeowner and I'm voting no because you don't spend the money like you're supposed to. And it's not fair to those who are contributing to these bomb measures that get absolutely zero.

Absolutely zero. I am going to promote, vote no because you are representative of us. And you don't represent me. You don't represent me. I'm a parent that is very disappointed with this district.

I'm saddened by the way you treat our black children. They're uneducated. They can't read, and they go to college. So that, you know, they struggle when they get there. So when you think about how you are contributing to that, I want you to go to bed with that and just know that you're part of the problem because you can't do anything transparent and it's not fair.

Next speaker.

Hi. David Chow from Sequoia again. I support demanding the state honor its prop 98 obligation. 5,600,000,000 owed to California schools is real, and I appreciate the board is being on record about that. But I also had a question.

I wanted to be a little more direct. The resolution asking the state for money without requiring the district to prepare for the possibility that the money doesn't come seems like political cover, not a plan. I'd like to see the resolution do more. Specifically, could it direct the superintendent to prepare two budget scenarios, one assuming prop 98 funds arrive and one assuming they don't? Could it set a trigger date tied to the governor's May revised budget so that if the money isn't in the state budget by May, the district automatically moves to the contingency plan?

And could it require the board to report back to the community on what specifically the Oakland legislator said, not just that the meeting took place. Could we write this in there? Advocacy in Sacramento matters, but a resolution that stops at we demand without also saying, and here's what we'll do if the answer is no, leaves families planning around uncertainty, and I think we should be done with that. Thank you.

Thank you. Are there any other speakers?

Every district except this one is thoroughly invested in understanding that declining enrollment is going to mean we're gonna have less funds. And what are you doing? You're speaking to Garfield and recognizing that they're gonna have a growth in enrollment in early childhood education. At college, Coliseum College Prep, you're adding extra classrooms. At Fremont, you're adding and replacing portables, And you're saying we're gonna have a growth in enrollment.

At McClymonds, you're saying, when we finish the project, we're gonna have over 600 students at McClymonds. Where are y'all getting this from? We are on the declining spectrum. All over this country, birth rates are declining. We had a substantial number of students coming, via crossing the borders.

Trump has greatly impacted that possibility. Black people's un birth rates have declined. White people decline. Where are you projecting that you're gonna have the availabilities of extra funds at some point? I'm not a I'm not a rocket scientist, but I do understand this.

We have to plan for decreasing funds at all levels Unless somebody wanna donate some money to this school district, you just gotta get out of this bubble of believing at some point we're gonna have a growth spurt in this district. It's not gonna happen. And reality is a necessity to get things done.

Thank you. I think that's the end of public comments. So I think we'll move on to m, and I'll hand it back over to oh, I apologize. It's a voting item. Mister Wigstruck, can you ahead and

take a roll Board comments, please.

Director Oh, Hutchinson.

Thank you. Of course, this is something that should have been thrown in the consent report a long time ago. You know? But it's, it's ironic tonight when we have a vote on a qualified second interim. This resolution represents the sum total of this board's efforts to address the budget.

Is it? And I would assume my colleagues on the board have done what I've done and have actually reached out to our state representatives directly to already ask them these things. We have where's assembly member Mia Bonta who oversees our district in the state capital? What has she done to generate more revenue for us from the state? Where's assembly member Buffy Wicks who I've heard sends her child to an OUSD school yet has done nothing to help us out?

Where's Mia Bonta's husband, Rob Bonta, the attorney general? As we are circling the drain here, we have a resolution coming forward. Hey, let's ask them if maybe they'll do the right thing. Why haven't we asked our labor partners in the district to use their state affiliates to pressure Gavin Newsom? They all endorsed him.

Democrats have a super majority in Sacramento. Yet we sit here and say, oh, maybe we should ask them to maybe do this. And since doctor Kyla Johnson Trammell was forced out as superintendent, our superintendent does not have those relationships with other big cities across California. That's why we weren't included in the initial letter that those superintendents already wrote. And it's wild that we're pinning our hopes on a May revision for next year's budget, something we've never done before, Because we were supposed to start our budget development process last November.

It's never been like this before. And even if somehow Gavin Newsom changes what he's done in the past and actually comes through with some money, With the numbers we saw earlier that the pay consultant was not willing to confirm here publicly even though they're in the document, whatever extra the state might give us, we're still in a hole. And that's before we approve a tentative agreement with OEA, which will cost 11,000,000 this year, 42,000,000 next year, and 55,000,000 roughly for every year going forward. And so we have no fiscal solvency plan, which we were supposed to do, which the consultants were hired to actually produce. We have a scenario which the superintendent said at the time, a scenario is not a plan.

We're past the March 15 deadline, so we can't make staffing changes. But let's introduce a resolution and and ask the governor to give us some extra money. This is the definition of doing nothing, and it's actually offensive that people would put this forward as some sort of possible solution, especially at this point. Thank you.

There are no other board comments. Can we take a roll call on the vote, please?

On the motion to adopt resolution number 2526Hyphen zero one nine eight. Director Thompson?

Yes.

Director Barry?

Yes.

Director Hutchinson? Yes. Director Williams? Yes, sir. Director Ladder?

Yes. Vice President Bachelor? Yes. President Brewhart? Yes.

Motion's adopted.

Thank you. Mister Szechuk, can we have an interpretation check and then we'll do

Yes. Moving to interpretation check, we'll start with Arabic. Please only raise your hand if you need Arabic interpretation. Mister Tarek, if you can come off mute and make an

that is

for Arabic, please. Mr. Turek, are you able to hear me? If not, Ms. Sabde?

Okay. Let's move on to the next interpretation. We'll go to Cantonese. Please don't raise your hand if you need Cantonese interpretation. Miss Ho, if you can come off mute and make the interpretation announcement for Cantonese, please.

The Cantonese announcement is done, mister Sichao.

Great. Thank you, miss Ho. Check attendees to see if any hands raised for Cantonese interpretation. Seeing no hands raised, we will not start with Cantonese interpretation. Next, we'll go to Spanish.

Again, please only raise your hand if it needs Spanish interpretation. Miss Copenhagen, if you can come off mute and make the interpretation announcement for Spanish, please.

Yes. Thank you. Thank you, mister Ceychow.

Great. Thank you, mister Copenhagen. Check attendees to see if any hands raised for our Spanish interpretation. See no hands raised. We'll now start with Spanish interpretation.

Let's go back to Arabic. Miss Sabde, mister Turek, if you can unmute yourself. And with that conclude the October 10 announcement and we'll check-in later during the meeting. I'll turn it back to you President Bruhard.

Thank you. We're now at item M which is labor partners. Are there any comments from our labor partners?

Good afternoon. Good evening. Sorry. To the board members and to the superintendent. Ask me is asking for you not to eliminate 10 custodian positions because the district already does not have enough custodians to deal with the facilities.

We are asking that you take a look at what's going on which is they are trying to hire more substitute workers in place of the 10 positions that they're trying to take. The California Ed Co prohibits the actions and make it very clear that hiring a substitute is only to permit or cover an absence of an employee. This is also being done in food services, nutritional services. They're trying

to take

two six food services jobs, eliminate them, and hire more substitutes. We already don't have enough food services workers to fill the positions that we have. I'm standing here to say, please come and take a look at it because, once again, you're trying to make the substitute pay high to make substitutes wanna come, but you're taking away positions that we already have that we cannot fill. This is not okay, and it's against the law. So we would like for you guys to take a look at it.

I'm sorry that I had to stay here this long to get through this, but please, please, please take a look at that. To pay them more and not pay the people that are already working is not okay. To take away jobs that are not filled already is not okay to fill them with substitute workers. Thank you.

Are there any other labor partners? I did neglect to do item t four, which is the application for provisional internship permit, California Commission on Teaching Credentialing, named employees for school year twenty twenty five-twenty six from the Talent and Human Resources Department. Is there a motion to approve this?

So moved. Second.

And is there public comment on this item?

Sorry. My apologies.

TDOT dash four, we have two, Asada Olukbala and Janelle Harris.

Two minutes each.

So, I'm really sorry that the janitors are being cut. I wanna give a shout out to my janitors at McClymonds High School which is miss Penny who I love so much because our school is is clean all the time and mister James too. He's there day and night and he is black and orange to death. Like mister James wears black and orange every single day he comes to work and I love that. For the past four years, mister James is black and orange.

So, I just wanna say that I'm grateful for my janitors at McClymonds because even when there's only one or two of them, the whole building is still clean. They make sure everything is good for our kids and they participate in the things that we do there. So please consider, you know, cutting from the administrative side cause we have a lot of people that waste people's time. Another thing, you know, I wanted to mention is that how many attorneys does this board have on retainer? How much money are we spending there?

I just got another response eight months later after the complaint was filed that I will be sending to the state along with videos and pictures of our principal who thought it was okay to have, super nigga juice at a party at McClymonds that this district is denying ever had, and I want that on the record. So our janitors had to clean up that mess, and they were not paid for cleaning up the alcohol bottles that we found on campus behind a locked gate. They were not paid. So you guys keep playing with me, you gonna see because I'm not doing this. So I need somebody to attend to this because I got videos, pictures, and everything else.

So thank you, miss Penny, and thank you, mister James.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

So, I I decided to look at some data on by race who's teaching in this district. So I think it's 54% of your teachers are white. 12% of your students are white. That don't add up. I'm also looking at black teachers in this school district and what's happening to them that we've seen less and less of them.

I know what's going on. This is going on all over the country. It's going on in the police department. It's going on with staffing at city hall. Everywhere you go, you see less and less of us.

But you cannot have a district with this disproportionality of teachers. 54% white teachers, 12% white students. And when that young man came here from Fremont, the black teacher, you got rid of him because he brought up that there was racism at Fremont. And you gotta that's my of my next point. Teachers ought to be able to come and speak without retaliation and harassment.

That should end. The union should be in this room every meeting advocating. That's what they said they were on strike advocating for students. They're never in this room advocating for students. I highly disagree with their, what you have agreed with as far as what they said they want as a part of the settlement, they did this with the last contract.

They want you to support legal immigration issues. The last one, formed they formed a committee to support the immigrant community. This union has never supported in any commitment to African American students.

Thank you. Are there any other public speakers?

All public comments or sneez have been called.

Are there any board comments? Mister Rakestraw, can we have a roll call and vote, please?

Yes. On the the motion to adopt, resolution twenty five twenty six hyphen zero zero seven four. Director, Barry?

Yes.

Director Hutchinson? Director Williams?

Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

Director Latter?

Yes.

Director Thompson? Yes. Vice president Bachelor?

Yes.

And president Burghard? Yes. Motion's adopted.

Thank you. We're next. Oh, sorry. I pushed the wrong button there. We're going to, not hear the superintendent's report tonight.

We're gonna move on to the consent report, agenda items o, and that is minus zero three three and Is zero four there a motion to adopt? So moved.

Second.

And are there public comments?

Yes, one moment. We have three. That's Janelle Harris, Asada Olukwala, and Jason Raymond.

Thank you. Two minutes each.

And one more added is Carol Delton.

Believe that Jason is not here. So we have Carol Delton, Asada Olubala, and Janelle Harris.

Good evening, Carol Dalton. I've noticed that the consent report is somewhat shorter than it used to be and that's a good thing. I believe it could be shorter still. Measure h and n committee put up 11 items, 10% of the pages in the entire packet on items for six campuses. I don't understand why they're not consolidating them by campus at least if not consolidating them as a report of adjustments for district schools the way the Measure g one committee does.

And the reason I'm raising this in particular is people talk about the savings that could be realized in the accounting department by closing schools because you wouldn't have so many separate payments. The same is true with contracting. The same is true with board agendas. Stipends. There are two items on this agenda, o nine and o 19.

Taken alone, they are not that high in cost, $6,000 for o nine and 7,600 for o 19. These represent though the cost of administering stipends. This is not the stipends. This is the cost of administering stipends by the Oakland Public Education Fund, the Bay Area Community Resources. Most of your agendas have contracts like these and they typically state that this is not something that can be done in house.

The director of talent, the the chief of talent has assured me that it is. So please be conscious of making these choices. It's one of the things in contracting where they add up and they add up, and pretty soon you're paying in the hundreds of thousands of dollars for work to contractors for work that could be done in house. Thanks, you.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Of 45 items, 27 are contracts that are already in place or complete, can't continue to do things. Within the content of the consent items, you're dealing with equity senate professional development, addressing racism and anti blackness, in in school suspensions, support students to learn about other ethnic ethnicities and culture, workshops on diversity, equity, and inclusion, individual counseling, psychological intervention, crisis intervention, and I had a question. What is POP method of instructions? You're agreeing to have that done. Learning empathy, conflict resolution.

You're asking for additional legal counsel as needed basis from $337,000 to $720,000 without identifying the source. You have layoffs at McClyman's where you're eliminating the attendance specialist in the new position, attention attendance specialist that's bilingual. If we have 10 students at McClymonds who speak another language, why are we requesting that we have to have a bilingual attendance specialist? That is that is you screw McClymonds everywhere. You're trying to deplete the black staff at McClymonds.

We have no need for a bilingual attendance specialist. We have no need for that. I just went through a lot of things that are being discussed, being considered. These are some serious things, and all you're gonna say, take a vote. You have on every agenda, you have come up with some type of addressing racism and anti blackness.

Every agenda is on there.

So I'm gonna address o 40, which is the service agreement for Robert Half Inc. General counsel. So just a little while ago, made a statement about how much money we're spending on attorneys on retainer, including the attorney we have now as our general counsel. The qualifications, how long does it take to get a general counsel attorney, what kind of experience do they have. And I brought a document today that was sent to me yesterday that shows that the attorneys you're hiring are not competent.

And just so you all know, I'm a paralegal, a legal paralegal. The documents are not factual. There is no evidence or proof that was supplied to me in the response that I was given eight months after the offense, which is illegal, which means you don't follow your own process. So don't tell me about following process, and I'm a parent. And you guys do this.

I have 13 outstanding complaints that the ombudsman is not responding to. Not responding to. None of you have. None of you have. But I want you to take a look at this document.

I chopped it up like a salad like a salad because you like people to sue you, and they win every time they do. And our money, taxpayer dollars are being spent on lawsuits and dumb lawyers that don't know what they're doing. No experience whatsoever. And I got the document to prove it because it came from your lawyer. So I want to give this to my director because it's not confidential for me.

And I'm going to share this with you so you can see the comp incompetence with the notations before you vote. Don't bring no more dummies up here. We don't need that. That's a million dollars you wanna spend on someone else. No.

Thank you.

Thank you. Are there any other speakers?

All public speakers for this item have been called.

Thank you. Are there any board comments? Director Hutchinson.

Yes. Thank you. I'm gonna continue the practice that I started in April now of not voting on any consent report. As I've been saying at every meeting, I can't vote on a consent report because I don't trust the people who are making the consent reports. And, unfortunately, I don't need any more proof of the incompetency that's going around.

We saw a pretty good display of it today. And in the meetings that I've been having, that aren't public, it's been even worse. And so we hear a lot of talk now from the community and even from my colleagues on the board about, we need to address contracts. We need to look at how we contract. We need to look at how we contract.

This board leadership's been in charge for over a year. Everyone on the board's been here for at least a year. That's a full financial cycle. So if people wanted to look at contracts or address anything, they've had plenty of time to do that. And as you can see now from the intention that they give to issues, nobody's done anything.

Not one. So the problem isn't just that some of these contracts in here have already been completed. We're in financial crisis. So you're telling me we couldn't live without some of these contracts in the consent report? We couldn't have saved money someplace here?

What if we would have saved a million dollars each consent report? How would our finances look then? What if we had real advice and staff presenting instead of people who won't even answer questions? If they're brought in as advisers, where's the advice any place that we can't afford this? When have we heard anyone say, no.

That's something we shouldn't do because we have a choice of whether we spend that money, and we know we're in financial crisis. Not once. Not once. Not once have directors pulled items from the consent report to say, maybe this isn't the time to spend this money. Let me pull this item.

But instead, lemmings over the cliff every single time. And at this point so, again, we don't have an issue with transparency because as one of the seven fiduciary agents of the district, by law, I need to see everything around the finances. By law, I need to be one of the seven votes to vote on every financial decision. So if I haven't seen it, it's not a transparency issue. It means it doesn't exist.

So how are these decisions being made if I haven't seen it? How are one pagers and letters being sent to school sites or documents to the community members when I haven't seen it? At some point, somebody someplace is going to enforce the laws over public dollars and public spending.

Somebody's

gonna have to. We can't keep getting failed by everyone. And I know my voting record's clean, but there's no way I would ever vote a consent report with this leadership in place making these agendas. And lastly, we don't even have anyone left in the district who can do a fiscal impact report. That's why there hasn't been one done on anything in three months.

Thank you.

Thank you. Are there any other board comments? Mister Reichstroke, can we have a roll call and vote, please?

Yes. On the motion to adopt the general consent report minus items zero dash dot dash thirty three and zero dot dash 40. Director Thompson? Yes. Director Lada?

Yes.

Director Williams? Yes, sir. Director Hutchinson?

Abstain.

Director Barry?

Yes.

Vice president Bachelor?

Yes.

President Burghard?

Yes.

The general consent report minus the item stated is now adopted.

K. We have now item zero three three. I believe, director, Williams, you pulled that item?

Yeah. You can bring, both of those, zero three three and zero four o, if you like. And package those together. I think that is the statement that I really wanted to make is do we need to make a motion on that first?

Go ahead. Yes.

Hear them together.

Can you repeat? Can you repeat? Director Hudson director Williams?

Yes. Just bring both of those for a vote together. Three three four.

Yeah. They they they can be taken together. Just that but they will be recorded separately and the the comments you should, madam president, you should, allow any public speakers to understand that they're speaking on both items.

Is there a motion to, hear both of item zero three

To approve them,

I guess.

Approve, item o three three and item o four zero together? So moved. Second. And is there public comment on both zero is it O three three zero and o four zero?

There's no public commenter signed up, but you can allow the public.

Right. If there is any public comment, would you you can come to the diocese in two minutes each.

President president

I'm gonna speak on zero three three since I didn't know we had to do it together. The agency master contract for special education department. So I'm gonna remind this board that my son is a special education student, and he spent four years at McClymonds High School without any of his accommodations. He went to tutoring before school. He went to tutoring during lunch.

He went to tutoring after school, and I paid a private tutor $60 an hour to tutor him for an hour every single day that he was at McClymonds High School. They did absolutely nothing. The case managers do not do their jobs at all. I can't speak for other schools, but the one I'm in, I can't tell you how many emails, how many complaints, how many things I filed, and the union covers. The union covers.

I'm not a supporter. I don't care what anybody says. Their kids don't go to this school, and they claim they're doing this and that, and you guys gave them a raise. And it's like, show me the money. Why are we, 60 to a 100 IEPs behind?

Why are we behind on IEPs? Why? When it's the law that you have to keep them current. And they are not. They are not.

Mister Razer is in charge of special education. Jennifer Blake is in charge of special education. And both of them are not truth tellers. They do not give you the information. President, madam president, you are in special education.

You understand what the qualifications are, and we do not have that in this district. We do not have that. Please do not give money where you don't have any kind of impact report that shows or speaking to the parents on their children that are not getting services. Please do not do that because that would be extremely irresponsible of all of you. That's why I just had throat surgery, and I'm here to speak up because my son did not get what he is entitled to.

They failed my son.

33?

Yes.

Thank you. Yes, ma'am.

33 or 50? I've ordered sorry. Speaking

40. Right. I'm addressing 33 and make this make sense because there are several items in the agenda for which the item has already been approved and and a contract is in place and you're saying that you're asking for increasing the amount. You're increasing under this item from 800,000 to 1,500,000. The period is 07/01/2025 to 06/30/2026.

So you only got a couple of months left and you're increasing it to 700,000 with a couple of months left. You have you say all other terms and condition of the agreement remain in full force and effect, but you don't say why you ain't giving them more money. For what reason? For for what reason are they getting an extra $800,000? I'm sorry.

$700,000. Now make this make sense. You got this going on all through the agenda. It's happening with our legal situation, increasing the amount, as needed. So you're not you don't need the money, but you're putting money in place as needed.

Fuck. Yo. Come on now. We can't do business like this. They should have a specification of the reason for adding more money to this contract.

You're getting more services. You're adding more staff. Come on. We can't do it like this.

Are there any board comments? Director Hutchinson.

Thank you. The other thing for how our budgeting works is when there's already a contract in existence, that's what our yearly budget or the second interim report reflects. And so when there's a move to amend that and increase spending, that goes against the bottom line that we were just seeing before. So, all of that talk before, I'm not giving numbers and talking about as of July 31. What's supposed to happen is then there's supposed to be a written narrative attached to the second interim.

This would have been one of the things mentioned. So it's listed on there so the board knows that it's coming, and so when we see our next numbers, then it'll finally be uploaded and reflected. So, we know that things are with this amendment passing, dollars 700,000 worse than what we just saw before. It's budgeting one zero one. And when this board was told at budget adoption that we were likely going to have to make midyear cuts this year because there wasn't enough room on the budget.

We were we were told that as a board. Then the board was told, we have to address the budgetary shortfall of 2526 and 2627. We were told that by the county, and we're supposed to do that by October 8. We were also told that we could not negotiate any new contracts with our labor partners until we first addressed that budgetary shortfall. Those are in the official letters we've gotten.

Everyone knows that. And so now here we are tonight where there were five votes for the second interim report to be qualified. And we know what what we've already done since January 31, especially since we have no documents to show any reductions any place, that we know we will not finish the year with our required reserve. And instead of pulling items off of the consent report or saying maybe we shouldn't do this, each consent report has added to the deficit that we already had going into this year. This is why at the start of this year in August, both Lisa Grant Dawson and Superintendent Sadler informed the community that we were overspending by $4,000,000 a month.

I thanked superintendent Sadler for that notice. Then she came to the budget and finance committee meeting after that letter came out, and I thanked her there. It seems like we have some sort of problem with our memory where here we are just months later, and not only are we still engaging in the same practice, we seem to not remember that months ago we were saying, oh, we have a crisis and we shouldn't do this. And I don't understand what's changed. I don't understand why there were five votes instead of four for the second interim report.

I don't understand why the superintendent has gone from recommending a negative interim report to now recommending a qualified, but it doesn't pass the smell test. And things like the consent report every meeting just prove the fact over and over. Thank you.

General counsel, I'd like to comment on o three three. Reading this, it says that this is required by a student's individual education plan. Could you speak to that, please?

Yes. Thank you, President Pearlhard. So both o 33 and o 40 are to support the district's legal compliance. For o 33, this is specifically for to increase the not to exceed for the existing contract for psychologists, which are included in the, student IEPs. The district is continuing its efforts to reduce, those contracts, but in no event are we, attempting to not be compliant with the IEPs.

And so that's the reason for this increase. We do it is a not to exceed, and there are, definitely conversations and review with the legal department and the talent division, who now also supports procurement to ensure that these contracts are reduced. And I'll also speak to o forty, which is also a a legal department, contract, and I will I just wanna be very clear. This actually is a cost savings to the district, and it is a scalable staffing model that allows us in the event that we have high needs, compliance needs, investigation needs, outages in the legal department, we are able to staff up as needed. We did have a sudden unexpected retirement in one of the divisions of our department, and this the reason why this contract in part is being increased is because Robert Half was able to quickly provide us with that staff.

And we currently have one person who's out, and this contract is also used for third party investigations. We often have, the specific request that our investigations are not conducted by staff to avoid any types of conflict of interest, to have a third party. And so this is, this also allows us to comply in that area. So those are for that's for both of those contracts, zero o '33 and o '40. Thank you.

A point of clarification if we're asking them then. Reading the memo on o dash thirty three, for the fiscal impact, it says estimate estimated fiscal impact in amount not to exceed $1,500,000 resource six thousand five hundred special education department. If this is an amendment to increase an existing contract by 7 to $800,000, why is the impact listed at 1,500,000? I don't I don't understand because the impact wouldn't be for the full amount if the initial amount was already approved. And so, this fiscal impact doesn't make sense to me.

There's no accounting for how we're gonna get this money. And I'd like clarification on the impact being listed in this item for the amendment at $1,500,000. Is that accurate? I guess that would be a question for superintendent Sadler and, hopefully, for somebody from the financial department who did that fiscal impact because that doesn't seem accurate to me.

Director Hutchison, I will, have that reviewed, and I'll be Well,

unfortunately, reviewing it after the vote isn't good enough, and we have a board bylaw that says it requires a unanimous vote to pass if there's not a fiscal impact. If there's nobody here to clarify what this means, and it's obviously an error, either this item needs to be pulled back or it's on a required unanimous vote from the board. And I don't understand how these kinds of errors, are allowed to exist. And so finding out later isn't good enough in this case.

I'd like to make a friendly emotion, amendment to your motion, director Williams. Can we review this, pull this, will the date certain return?

Wait. Can I just clarify? You want to pull it because of the the fiscal impact includes the not to exceed amount rather than the increase?

I think that

Well, just a point of clarification. Can I just get a point of clarification? So the amendment for o 33 is to increase the not to exceed by $800,000. The contract is now the full not to exceed is 1.5. Is that is that

And just I would just also like to say, I think point of clarification, we've had a not to exceed contracts. Contracts. The most recent one was February 11. We had several contracts actually totaling a sum total of something around 13,500,000. And I believe we used the sum total of the contract for the fiscal impact.

So this, so I don't I think I would say that we do not need to pull it. We don't need a different fiscal impact analysis because that is the full cost of the contract as stated and as written.

So who was that a clarification for? If we're just gonna go back and forth, just because it was done in the wrong way before doesn't make it acceptable this time.

I don't And

and it needs to be the way our resolutions work, legislation works, and the way the memo works is it needs to be of the fiscal impact of this specific action item. And so we don't just roll in the whole amount together. That doesn't tell us what the impact is. And so there is no fiscal impact listed separately for this because we also know there's nobody in the district doing fiscal impacts. So somebody just saw the total amount that it would be and just wrote it in there as the fiscal impact.

That's not how it works.

I think you're okay with the with pulling it till dates are okay. Mister Rick Stark, can we have a roll call on the vote, please?

What what are we doing for the record?

We are pulling it with pulling it or withdrawing?

You you withdraw you would you're withdrawing 0Dot33.

Right.

Alright. That's withdrawn. The only one that's on the floor right now for the motion is 0DotDash40, which is the Robert Half contract for legal. On that roll call for ODotDash40, Student directors are absent. Director Ladder?

Yes. Alright. Director Williams? Yes. Director Hutchinson?

Abstain. On ODOT dash 40.

Yes. On all of them. Abstain.

K. Director Barry?

Yes.

Director Thompson? Yes. Vice president Bachelor?

Yes.

President Burghard? Yes. ODotDash40 is approved. Thank you. ODotDash33 is withdrawn.

Thank you.

Next on the item on the agenda is item p, consent agenda items facilities. Is there a motion to adopt? So moved. Second. Are there public comments?

Yes. There are two public commenters, Asada Olukbala and Janelle Harris.

Two minutes, please.

P one Coliseum College prep. I still contend that this is not being done right. There is no way you should be doing a project where you're adding classrooms to to to project that we're gonna have an increase in in the enrollment at that school. P two project inspector, I don't know what's being inspected at that school, but we've had a lot of inspections at McClymonds, and we already know that we have hazardous materials at that school. Lead and I think PCB has been there, and we have nothing being done to remediate, Nothing being done to remediate the toxins.

It doesn't matter if you're doing remodeling. You know you need to remediate those toxins in the soil, In the air vapors, you need to do something about that that's coming from the lead in the soil. You'd had a situation with coal. As soon as you found out there was contamination in the soil, it was remediated. It's no problem.

Why is Preston Thomas in the facilities department not moving to remediate the toxins and the hazardous situation at McLean? It had nothing to do with the remodeling. Like miss Harris said, they decided there's no reason for this to combine the the funds separately that was supposed to be for remodeling redoing the turf and to put it in with the remodeling, they were supposed to do the the turf in the summer, haven't done anything. What is going on with Preston Thomas and McClymans? What's going on?

Y'all got up and talked about, Lara and the other board member about Garfield. You never open your mouth to say anything about what needs to be fixed at McClymons. You never say a damn thing.

So I'm gonna say I agree with that and I'm a little disappointed that this board doesn't make comments on the egregious things that are happening at our school. You know, this is my son's last year at McClyman's and my plan is to follow this through because our kids deserve everything. And it's not right and it's not fair that they have to endure the atrocious things that go on. We have mice in our refrigerator. And I don't know if anybody reported it to you, but I reported it.

You've been to our kitchen. It was horrible. It's like kids should not be eating out of there. They got us all cramped in half of a building. We have over 300 students in half of a building.

Our library's never open, so we can't use the library. It's crazy. It's like, what is going on? And yet, we are still they're still coaching our families and our parents to come to school. Come to school.

It's important to come to school. For what? You can't learn in an environment that is filthy, that is full of cancerous lead, that has all kind of stuff coming out their pipes. It's over a 100 years old. Like, what do you want us to do?

It's like we never get an answer, you know. Everybody just pays attention and it's just like it's so hurtful. It's so hurtful. We deserve better. Our kids deserve better.

You gotta do better, you know, and I've been saying this for four years coming here begging, begging. And, you know, instead of fixing, you just cover it up. You just cover it up. But I'm not going away, and I'm gonna fight you until I'm dead. So know that.

Are

there any voice comments?

Racism Director Hutchinson.

Thank you. I just wanna point out for the record, the item that did pass, zero dash 40. There's no fiscal impact report listed on that memo at all either. But that did increase the cost by $383,135.58. And so this is what's been going on continuously.

I also wanna remind everyone first, I wanna say to the community, respectfully, I think some of the anger is misplaced, directing at at mister Thomas because in the end, it is on the superintendent and the school board. And the fact that nothing has been done is unacceptable. This board, I was happy last year to vote in the spring to renovate three football fields over last summer. Those three football fields were the Cesar Chavez campus, Oakland High, and McClyman's High. We as a board voted for that and approved that.

There was money for it, and we were told the work was going to happen over the summer. Here we are almost a year later, and nothing's been done at McClyman's. The other two fields are done. Why not? I've been asking the same thing.

Why not? No. It it needs to be directed up here because if the school Why not? Because if the school board joined me in directing these things to happen, if they shared my concern and expressed it to the superintendent, if the director responsible for the school would actually do something about it, then there might have been movement. Then there wouldn't have been a way to get around the fact that the last time the field was done, there was just a cement slab put in place, which turned it into a cancer cluster.

Just like the reason we found out about lead in the water across the district is because coach Peters had to wheel over water from his mother's house across the street because everyone at McClymond's knew that the water was brown. And when coach Tapscott was first notified of that, we received test results that dated a year before, and people knew about it and did nothing. In the end, the buck stops at the school board and at the superintendent. And it's up to us as a community if the people in these positions are not doing the job we need them to do, then we as a community need to ensure that there's a change that's made. And and no nobody is going to go until the people at the top are changed.

And and Thomas needs to go. So I would I would sabotage

for climate

change. You know? But And

I will keep saying I'm

not I'm not gonna argue. I'm not gonna argue that point. I'm not arguing. I'm not making a statement. Has this superintendent changed anything?

Has this superintendent changed anything? You know what? The summer was this superintendent. And what's going on now is this superintendent.

For Teddy? I've been here

for four, and

she did nothing for us.

Seven. I'm I'm trying to tell you where where it should be directed, and I share these same concerns.

He's lying on the line.

Excuse me. We're gonna move on.

A lot of people He's lying. Sister Assata, unfortunately. Bring it up. There's a long list of people who need to go at this point, and that's the point that I'm trying to make.

Score. Keep protecting his behind.

Miss, president Thomas, do you wanna be do you wanna respond?

Yeah. There there's a lot here. And I do wanna say, like, there is a lot of frustration around the history of the McClellan's project, and that goes all the way back to measures b j. Like, so I I do wanna name that. Right?

That that's very real. It is the largest project that is based in Measure Y. We just had a meeting with the Department of State Architects, the Division of State Architects, where they have finalized and they're they have to stamp out the the set of drawings for the school to be moving forward with construction. It is complicated. There's a deep, deep history of environmental injustice in West Oakland that we do have to address.

We've done extensive testing at the site. I wanna say everything is encapsulated at the field and all the things that you've heard talked about. When we install the new field, we will work with the DTSC, the Department of Toxicology, and make sure that the site is clean and safe for students. Right now, everything's encapsulated and it's fine. Right?

The problem, and I just wanna name it. You've heard it at multiple times at the board. This board made a vote to add $3,000,000 of measure y to the field. There's a reason why the field didn't move forward at that school site, and I wanna name it. When you replace a field, you have to do an accessibility review, which means you have to make sure that students with special needs can access that field.

And that is only one level of approval. When you added it to the McClyments project, and it has been added to the McClyments and this board has voted to approve the funding and some of the contracts for that field. You need to have a structural review because the stadium is getting replaced. The scoreboard is getting replaced. All of those things are part of this project and incorporated in it.

So that takes a longer period of time to get that approval. So you will find out that in the next month or so, there will be a contract coming to the board that a significant contract to move forward on this project. It is it has been stalled because of the complexity. The difference between the Garfield project and the McClemmons project when we engage community because of the historical nature of McClymont's, it was deemed to be a modernization. That means the structural issues must get addressed at that school, and they are incredibly complex.

Right? The rebuild of Garfield avoids all of that. So I wanna say that you are gonna see that I I understand where the community comes from, and we have added more to the project, and we're continuing to move forward. And I do wanna say, the kitchen has been absolutely upgraded, and we did hear the issue around the mice. It I also heard from community members here, we are replacing that with an entire box system inside that kitchen.

So I do wanna name that some of the things and I'm happy to come and do a full report to the board or to the facilities committee to bring it forward so that the information gets out. And so, Selena Dahl Hayes, is not here tonight, I didn't know we were gonna be asking, is happy to to speak on that and some of the engagement that we've done. So I appreciate you for giving me the opportunity to share.

Thank you. Are there any other board comments? Mister Rakestar, can we have a roll call and a vote, please?

On the motion to I'm not mister Rakestar, but no. No. No. It's okay. Just case.

On the motion to adopt the general consent report, general obligation bonds measures B, J and Y, students are absent. Director Lada?

Yes.

Director Williams? Yes. Director Hutchinson? Abstain. Director Barry?

Yes. Director Thompson? Yes. Vice President Bachelor?

Yes.

And President Brujahr?

Yes.

The motion is adopted.

And with that, we will move on to item q, public comment. Do we have public speakers?

Yes, madam president. We have Seven speakers for this item.

Alright. Two minutes each.

And I'll read them all off for the first run. Our first speaker is Carol Delton, Janelle Harris, Asado Olugbala, Michelle Jeter, Avi Ringer, Brandon Wall, and Oliver Brennan.

So I'm going to address what we're talking about here today, and I'm going to provide all of you via email pictures of rat poison in our kitchen which is against your policy. You can't put rat poison in a kitchen but because it's black kids that go to that school, let's just put rat poison in there. Ain't nobody gonna know. Yeah. Okay.

Well, guess what? I caught with them with their pants down and I went and took photographs of this brand new re renovated kitchen. No. It ain't renovated. They put some new appliances in there and redid some pipes in there because the lead in the water was at a supernatural content of lead high that they had to do it.

So that kitchen is not remodeled. And it's not that long ago that there were mice in our refrigerator. So if the refrigerator was brand new, how the mice get in there? I'm talking about a working refrigerator with food in it. Ask him how much food they had to throw away.

I got pictures and videos. So don't don't. Like, stop playing with me. And, you know, I'm not gonna point it directly at you, but I'm gonna respond to you. But my thing is you've known me for four years, and all I ask is that you keep me tell me the truth.

I come to your meetings. I stopped coming because I was being lied to. Like, no one ever mentioned that you guys were putting in a a a application so they didn't have to clean the soil. Like, what kind of people do that? What kind of people do that?

They have built buildings at Fremont, additional buildings. They have built football fields for everybody, and we are the home of the champions. We put Oakland on the map. We did. And we have to have our kids play on a field that is awful.

Awful. And I don't understand how you guys sleep at night. Like, I really don't. Like, I really don't.

So what's so important on that computer that you can't listen to miss, Harris? A parent. Why can't you give her the the respect and dignity of listening to her? I don't care if you don't listen to me, but that's a parent. Anytime a parent comes to this podium, everybody needs to respect and give them their attention.

She's still looking at that damn computer because you care about immigrants, but you don't care about black children. You mentioned the achievement awards for Latinos and for Arabs and others. The others was the black achievement awards that she don't care nothing about. Now you, when I was at this last meeting, you were told that the McClymans Project had started the week before. Went to the Measure B.

J. And Y. Committee on Monday? It hasn't started. Lie.

They went on Friday to see what's going on. They say they saw nothing except walking around and saying this is going to happen. This is going to happen. Facilities applied in November for a notice of exemption for McClyman's. They reapplied on January 0, I think it's the twenty third for another notice of exemption from McClyman's, West Middle, and Oakland School of the Arts.

What is a notice of extension exemption? It has to do with being exempt from environmental quality work. That's what it's about. So what do they want to not do at McClyman's related to the hazardous waste is the the question I want to know. But this man told you at the last school board meeting the work had started, and that was a lie.

No work has started at McClyman's. And you talking about how great he is. He's a liar. And you are the recipient of the lie at the last meeting. No work is going on at McClymus.

He said it was Or his facilities depart. He lies. He's got to go.

Next speaker, please.

Madam superintendent, I don't think we got a superintendent's report tonight, so I hope it's okay if I can address this question to you here. I spoke earlier on the importance of long term strategic planning, that seems to be missing from this process. According to press accounts, prior to the December 10 meeting, your senior staff presented you with a set of recommendations to the board that prioritized a long term strategic approach. But then out of the blue, you spiked it. And then instead, you replaced it with what became scenario three, sort of a notion of a plan without a strategy.

Can you speak to that? Is it is this true, the accounts that I've I've related here? And if so, how can the community trust that you're presenting the board with objective information? And this is a question for you, president Brohard. Do you think it's appropriate to have for so long in an interim position someone who you know is seeking the permanent position, who knows this board holds that decision over her?

Do you feel that you can get objective information from her, not just the information that she thinks you might wanna hear? And do you have any updates for us on the search for a permanent superintendent? Thank you.

I'm going to address that. I have tremendous respect for I have tremendous I have tremendous respect for superintendent Sadler. I don't know whether she's seeking the permanent position. That's not something I've talked to her about.

Oh, she told me that she was.

Excuse me. I'm going to continue.

Twenty seconds left.

I said you asked a question.

No. But I'm

If you need the clock back, we can give you

the That's fine.

I think that she has been honest and forthright with us. I think that her dealings with the staff have been honest and forthright. I have appreciated her courage in in dealing with this issue. I'm going to also say that she the scenario three was voted on by the board, and the superintendent was directed to come up with a plan for scenario three. So that scenario three does not come from the superintendent.

It was a board directed vote. And what I appreciate in that is that the the superintendent listened to the board, something that hasn't happened. I think as we go through this process of looking and understanding our budget, we are all excuse me, missus Sadek. Again, I think we've invited people, which is something we had

thought about doing. Point of order. Is that This is outside of anything that was agendized for this period. Excuse not appropriate under Robert's rules or the Brown Act for you just to wax poetic and answer this question because it wasn't agendized. And so

question, that and you also complete that conversations

with So I'm I'm just I'm just I'm just I'm just pointing it out. If you would pointing it out for general counsel and for the parliamentarian that this is very inappropriate, especially since what's being said is not factually accurate. We

can have a private conversation at some point, and I'm gonna be glad to do that.

That's your mandate.

Fifteen seconds on his time.

I I just want did I recount that properly, doctor Sadler? Or

President president Pearlhard, I just wanna just point out that, director Hutchinson is pointing to a Brown Act issue. He can comment briefly, but not continue with this with this dialogue.

Okay. Continue with your. Yeah. Just continue. If you could set that back to nineteen seconds.

Okay.

Well, I look forward to hearing more about this at another time. That'd be great. Thanks.

Okay.

Good evening. I can hear Sam Davis saying I can't answer any questions because they came from the floor right now. But I just wanna finish up and tonight, I'm gonna comment on this item and the next item that, you know, hearing stories about a remodel at at Garfield and, you know, TK hub expansion all over the district. That's positive news, and this was the kind of work I was hoping engaging this previous board when we adopted the three r process that we would go into restructuring. We had that opportunity.

We could have had these kinds of plans where you would do such a thing. I mean, I don't even know how you decide to size Garfield isolation without a plan across the whole district. I mean, why aren't we planning the whole district and then executing it? I know doctor Johnson Trammell was not staying on her job until June 2027 to now be facing basically insolvency at the end of this year. So she was staying around for a reason, and there were plans on the books.

Why didn't we continue those plans? Because no matter what way you dress it up, they were shelved. And now where we are, March 15 is coming next week. We had all this dialogue tonight about certifying budgets, but the reality is really coming. There is an opportunity to build a district for the future.

It certainly should include a high school in West Oakland, and that work needs to happen, but I think this board has blown it. So somebody at some point in the future will do this work, and I think it's great that we're expanding our TKs. Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Hi. My name is Brandon Wall, and I'm here tonight as a measure g one commission designated by our commissioner commission chair to advocate to the board tonight. As you know, g one is a local parcel tax that increases teacher retention and improves Oakland public, middle schools by funding arts, music, world languages, and student culture. As any merit middle school parent like myself and any middle school principal or educator would tell you, these funds are a critical investment. Arts, music, and world languages help round out the middle school experience and give students more chances to shine and find joy during the school day.

They're also important for attracting prospective families to enroll in OUSD middle schools. At our commission meeting on Tuesday, director Thompson informed us that our senior leaders are considering confiscating g one funds and funds from other local parcel taxes such as measure h to help pay for the district's twenty twenty six, twenty seven budget. We were surprised to learn that this would be allowed, and that it is permitted if it's due to quote economic necessity. But earlier, doctor Frutos and doctor Sadler said we're doing fine, although they neglected to directly answer director Hutchinson's yes or no questions about whether or not can afford important raises and other bargaining items that have been approved. So which is it?

Are we okay or are we not okay? I'm here because all four commission members present at our meeting this week are united in our plea that on behalf of OUSD middle school students and educators that you not scoop up unspent g one funds. These funds were approved by Oakland voters for a specific purpose, to increase teacher retention and to improve our middle schools. To take these funds to help paper over all the red ink over the proposed budget for 2627 after cutting middle school elective budgets by 50% would add insult to injury. G one expires in 2028.

There's some talk about putting it on the ballot in 2026 or 2028. Will voters approve of an extension if they know arts, music, and world languages are only assured to be funded when times are good? You for your consideration.

Next is there are there any more speakers?

Good evening. Carol Delton. The measure committee question was one of the questions that I asked, but did not get answered earlier. I'm disappointed there's no superintendent's report tonight. I'd like to draw everyone's attention to slide number five, which has strategic reduction in force to close structural gap approximately 65,000,000.

My question to doctor Sadler was what does that 65,000,000 represent? I have done my own calculations of what I think the reduction in force would yield, but I think the community deserves to have that coming from official numbers. The community deserves to have people respect the community and not expect the community to go item by item on the agenda and then put them all together, which is what I've found I have to do in order to understand where things are at. I then, I wanna move to the question of contracting. I've been a little frustrated as a member of the outsourcing committee that people the question people always ask is, how much are we saving?

What we have found we talk about restructuring. What we have found is that there are deep structural problems in the way that contracting is handled handled beginning with the issue that was dealt with at the last board meeting of how many people can approve contracts, moving on to the regulation for contracts, not having any any step of needing to check whether the work can be done by in house staff. So there is a lot of work to be done to restructure contracting, and our hope is that that, of course, will, increase reliance on staff. I ask district staff to take the steps, prioritize the steps that are necessary, such as approving job descriptions so that positions that are now being contracted out that don't have a job description can be hired in house for next year, such as approving a mechanism for staff to apply for for part time work that's available and others. Thank you.

Thank you. Are there any other public speakers?

All public commenters' names have been called.

K. Are there any board comments?

Madam president Oh,

sorry.

Madam president, I make a point of necessity and emergency.

Go ahead.

I'm just reading that California has been notified of possible drone threats from Iran. There are vessels off the West Coast and in retaliation there may be attacks. Could this be considered for discussion because in case of anything that could involve our could involve our schools because they are looking at attack attacking areas where, large sums of people are. So could you all take that under consideration for just invest yourself to find out what's going on. I I find this very concerning.

I saw the same article in the paper.

Thank you.

Thank you. Alright. With that, we're going to move on to item s, which is unfinished business. And we have item s one, financial stabilization implementation plan, protecting equity, maintaining local control, and prioritizing students. And I believe we have

a

million and oh oh.

Almost. No

more medical emergencies and

Do you have

the clicker? Is Jessica She she had to leave. Okay. Alright.

I'll walk through it. Okay. Section. Yeah. That'd be great.

Great. And I know I know it's late, so we'll go relatively quick through this. So you've seen many of these slides before, but tonight what we're gonna do is we're gonna talk about this is an update on the budget adoption, essentially. It's and we're gonna talk a little bit about the value of TK towards, you know, the overall transitional kindergarten movement that has fully been implemented at the state level, and now Oakland is implementing it at the local level. Enrollment patterns and needs, and we're gonna talk about an implementation update of two transitional kindergarten hubs for twenty six-twenty seven.

And then just to foreshadow in the future, two in twenty seven-twenty eight, we're still doing the analysis on that. Then I will walk through some of the costing and revenue so the board understands how to leverage the TK expansion for our families. So just to highlight, this is a slide that you've seen it multiple times. One of the operational goals was to really enhance efforts to improve student attendance. This is the enrollment side of that equation.

There are two big drivers for your budget. One is enrollment, and then the other part is the attendance of that enrollment known as the ADA. So we'll be talking about that. And also, you've seen this slide before in terms of the different phases. So this is really phase three and it's within the budget adoption and I added a little line that wasn't on the original slide.

Expand enrollment by developing TK hubs and underutilized campuses. And that was part of scenario three as an as a way to allow access for families, but also to increase the revenue that the district was bringing in. I wanna pause on this slide because this is probably one of the most important slides because we have been doing tremendous work across the district. And you saw OCI and First Five here this evening on an earlier item. They have been supporting us in expanding TK, access to families across every single district in in the school district.

Right? And so schools with available classroom capacity, and there are many of those schools that have space to add TK classrooms, we have been adding them. And we add them if they fill, and that that has been an ongoing issue that our enrollment team has been identifying locations to add new classes. Schools that are near capacity or at capacity, those families do not have access to TK at their neighborhood school or their school of choice. And so that is one of the areas that we're we're looking to address.

We have piloted hubs before. I just wanna name. Kaiser is a hub that has expanded and has provided lots of services to families. However, that is not an active school that serves k like, k through five. So these hubs are a little bit different.

We're taking the lessons learned from those opportunities, and we're applying those to schools that actually have a k through five continuum, and we're adding more TK seats at those sites. And then the district wide impact, it is leveraging underutilized space in your schools to serve families that don't have access to TK. So just a reminder, I mean, the the current bond has actually added expansion in terms of TK spaces. This is Laurel. And so Jessica was gonna be here tonight.

She had to leave a little bit this is a little bit later than what we anticipated. But really, there's a really strong early learning philosophy that is driving that both pre k and TK expansion. One of the things that I just wanna and this is definitely deeply seeped in research is that when you add students a year earlier, when you expand that continuum, stronger early literacy and math math foundations for students in t k, improved social emotional development, and this is particularly important coming out of the pandemic when students didn't have access to a lot of the different social emotional structures. Long term, it increases their overall attendance and school engagement. So it's not just that first year, it's an ongoing thing that families that get oriented to school earlier have higher attendance rates in the long run.

And also there's reduced need for later intervention. If students are coming into K, K ready, the reading results and things like that require less intervention and also less incidences of students being tested for special education services. So there is a compounding impact to having students have access to TK and even PreK as well. So just the general staffing model for for just to share this really quickly. We are staffing with a teacher, a paraeducator, and Oakland Children's Initiative, and you'll see the funding a little bit later, has been funding early literacy tutors at the school site.

There will be some support in terms of TSA and CDC site administrator partnering with the school site to provide additional supports. We're still working out the details on on each of those pieces. And then the place where you save the money, and I just wanna be really clear about this, is that you are using the admit the the current sunk costs in that school site. Right? You have a principal.

You have custodial. You have nutrition service workers. You have a principal, an admin assistant. You have an attendance specialist. So you're leveraging those supports so you don't have to add more to that.

And so a couple things, I'm gonna turn it over to Killian for these next two slides to just talk about enrollment.

Good evening, doctor Sadler, board. Killian Betlak, executive director of enrollment. Just stepping in to talk a little bit about the enrollment implications of this work. This slide shows the enrollment patterns for entry grades. I think the takeaway here pretty simply is you see the the TK line at the bottom going straight up, Right?

And so reflecting both the state's initiative around universal preschool, which TK is a part. It's not the only one. And just ongoing community demand and interest in TK as a opportunity for their for their children. I think when we look also and just very specific of what do we talk about when we talk about lots of demand at certain schools for TK, These are the numbers as of the close of the on time enrollment window on February 8 in terms of the disconnect between numbers of applications and numbers of seats, and perhaps you're gotten some messages about this or some emails. When we're talking about 200, 300, even high one hundreds applications for 24 or 48 seats, one, we're we're struggling to kind of meet our board policy around choice because are we providing a choice or are we providing a chance?

And there's a difference. And two, we're not we're not capturing all the folks who wanna come into our schools. Not even a little bit. Not even half. And that's a miss.

Right? For a district that, one, wants to serve the full, the full reflective and capacity of the city and also wants to grow. Right? We grow from the bottom. You you get kids in early and and then they stay and families stay.

Right? So there's a clear need and demand for more spots. Right? And of course, these aren't the only schools. There are other schools that have that have, you know, more than they can exceed as well.

Do you want you want this next spot?

Yep. So

one of the sites that we've met with the principal and are in engaging in the school community is Carl B. Monk, that will open its TK hub. And you might have heard of some of the TK hubs. Hintel has a TK hub, but that is completely maximized in terms of the number of spaces that we can have in that school site. So there's four, and then there will be two including Hintel.

So it's three plus one, so there's four additional at that site in total. I just wanna notice the area of the school that would actually serve the TK students is located in close proximity to the restrooms. And that's an important thing as TKers are still kind of learning their bodies. So there are the four classrooms that surround that space. We are looking in conversation with the school site around some further improvements that would be needed at the site in order to address that.

But that gives you kind of an idea of how the TK hub would work at Carl B. Monk. There would be the families that would be enrolling for those would have also a neighborhood preference at their homeschool. So they would families would have multiple choices in terms of where to go as they transition out of out of TK. So so here's the planned expansion that we're talking about, and this is where the the dollar amounts in that we're looking at.

One, it's an additional TK at Burbank that is for the Glenview attendance area. A one plus TK at the Hintel hub for Sequoia. There's an additional Kaiser classroom that will support Hillcrest and Chabot. And then the three TKs at Carl B. Monk will support the Montclair Thornhill area.

And when we talked at the school site about it, there's already a connection between the Thornhill community already ascending their kids to that site. The two TK locations that we're still exploring options for locations are for the Crocker and Cleveland attendance area. And then I did wanna highlight that we were looking this year for '27 for actually a dual language hub, but the the time that it would take to build a TK dual language programming was a little bit longer than it would take about eighteen months. So that's something that we're looking at for the following year. One thing that I did want to highlight, and this is in the scenario three, and I just want to kind of walk through the numbers.

And this has been validated both by our internal finance staff when we went through, and I'll tell you where these numbers come from. The OUSD will expand eight additional TK classrooms. If you invest in just the core structure, right, the teacher, the paraeducator, and the early literacy tutor, and those are the only investments you make, that is what we're talking about. Right? Where you leverage the other the you leverage the other resources that we're already paying for.

The district will generate an additional $1,100,000 of revenue that they can leverage for other purposes. So when you and and I just did this for Carl B. Monk in specific. You could see the 72 students. We looked at you noticed the attendance rate is higher.

That is the average attendance rate of the neighborhoods that we're pulling from. So it's a little bit higher than what you see in other fiscal reports, but that is the the average for that. That gives you the ADA. The numbers that you see in 2627 is the adjusted base grant per ADA that comes from school services. That is what they are projecting for the adopted budget.

So we're using next year's numbers so that you see that. That's the total base grant dollars. You can see the TK add on. There's an add on to cover the additional paraeducators that are in those classrooms. And then there is supplemental funding that comes with it, and that's the average for supplemental for the group.

It shows you an average salary and benefits for each of the TK teachers, the paraeducators, and early literacy tutors. Those are your costs for operating each classroom that you could see, and I identified the funding sources that would pay for those. And then you could see a general comparison between the revenue that's generated and the expenditures and then the remaining dollar amount for just that one TK hub at Carl B. Monk. So, this is, it also cites where those numbers are coming from.

And when you do that across eight classrooms, it's about 3,300,000 in total revenue that's coming in. But if you contain the expenditures to those types of investments, it would leave the district with 1,100,000 left in remaining revenue. So one, just wanted to share like kind of next steps because there's nothing to vote on tonight. This is just an update on scenario three. Complete engagement with the site for the TK Hub for Crocker in Cleveland.

Identify families. Mister Betlak has a process of going through the families are on waitlist. We'll we'll reach out to them and let them know about the the new classroom offerings. Develop a design team with the school site to locate it on how to build out the program at the site and prepare the school facilities to receive the TK students. And we'll use combined funding from RMA, which is already an expenditure that the district has.

It's early enough in the planning period for this where we can work it into the B and G cycle to do painting and freshen up the classrooms and get them ready for TK. And then one of the key components of this is begin hiring staff for the TK hubs which pretty much starts right away. So that's our update for tonight. Really wanna appreciate Jessica, Killian, and Pernita that have been instrumental in doing some of the legwork around this. And so now I'll turn it back over to you, president Brohard, if you have any questions for the board.

Are there any public comments?

Yes, madam president. We have seven speakers. First speaker is Darryl I'm sorry. Carol Delson, David Chow, Janelle Harris, Osada Olukbala, Oliver Brennan, Brandon Wall, and Oliver Brennan.

About two minutes each.

Great. Good evening members of the board, and thank you for the opportunity to speak. My name is Brandon Wall, and I'm a D four resident with students at Crocker Highlands and Edinburgh. I wanna start by recognizing and celebrating the work, OUSD central office staff have done to make this recently announced TK expansion possible. Expanding early learning takes real planning, coordination, commitment, and that work matters for Oakland families.

Despite the unprecedented chaos of the budget situation, the successful work being done on TK expansion is a reminder of what we can accomplish when we're all rowing in the same direction. Reminds us what is possible when we listen to the community, put students and families at the center of the district's decision making, and act with strategic vision and clarity. I also wanna take a moment to thank directors Rachel Lotta and Mike Hutchinson, both of whom I know have carefully studied TK opportunities in T1 and T4, and provided the necessary board sponsorship that helped make this possible. So why is TK expansion important? Transitional kindergarten expansion matters because TK works.

Research shows it improves school readiness, strengthens early literacy, and supports long term academic success. Right now, hundreds of Oakland families cannot access TK simply because there isn't enough space. So expanding TK would give more children access to early learning while also helping working families by reducing childcare costs. This is the right moment for OUSD to act. The district has underutilized facilities that could be used to expand TK, and at the time of enrollment challenges, early entry points into our schools are more important than ever.

Finally, TK expansion can also support equity by helping stabilize schools and communities that have been disproportionately affected by past closures. In short, even in the high eye of a hurricane, there is an opportunity to change the lives of Oakland students and families for the better. My ask, let's continue looking for opportunities to provide clear and positive direction and vision on behalf of Oakland students and families. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

So I I mostly wanna focus on the fiscal side of things, but I will say that, there's several families that I serve through the regional center, through Early Start, who would love, the bilingual hub. And they will be just about the right age when it opens. And so I I've talked a few times about how the board needs to talk about operationalizing budget decisions. And this is an example where the program is linked to the cost and is also linked to the net revenue or, you know, in other cases, it might be being linked to the net savings. I'd like to mention that there is another site in D 1, the Piedmont CDC that fell out of contract that when I toured it, when the seven eleven committee was making its decisions appeared to need very little to turn it into a working preschool space.

So I hope that that will be looked at again for serving students in an area where there is also great demand. And I'm very glad to see the district moving forward with some of these positive kinds of revenue generating and students serving solutions to the budget as a contrast to some of the cuts that have also been necessary. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

This is insanity at a highest level. You can go look at your computer. I just looked up what are the projections for OUSD related to enrollment? It's anticipated a decline of 6,000 to 7,000 students by 2032. What empirical data do you have that can validate that we're gonna have an increased enrollment when every school district across this country is dealing with in declining enrollment?

Call Monk right now. I looked up the enrollment from the Department of Education in 2024, had a 151 students. 52.3% African American. TK for who? Black birth rates are declining.

You're not gonna see a whole lot of black kids. Where is this insanity coming from that we need to build on the premise? And you got two people, one who's against McClymons, against black chairs. The other one, we had to go to the enrollment office. How many times, mister Harris?

A number of times because they were telling parents that McClymonds was full. You know that, Williams. So we we're gonna listen to these two people. I don't think so. Where are y'all going with this TK?

Karl Monk is a predominantly African American school that's up in the hills, and white people don't send their children to schools where you have predominantly black children. That's what was that's what's happened at Sankofa even now. They're trying to make it a integrated school, and they won't let it happen. You do not have when she was talking about Piedmont, we begged you guys to let them keep that as a child development center. The white people in the city of Piedmont wanted a library and you went with the white folks.

You got white people coming up here talking about I don't know what because they don't have their children in these schools. 12. They're 30 something percent of the population. Where is this coming from? You really believe you're gonna have a growth spurt in transitional kindergarten?

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

All public commenters' names have been called.

K. Board comments? Director batch director Barry.

Really excited about TK. I one of my questions is a yeah. I want my son to go to TK. I'm wondering about how you are preemptively setting up the TK Hub strategy such that when the district, including our leadership body, is farther along in

the

longer term restructuring, design, visioning work that needs to happen, that we are prepared to ensure that that visioning, that strategic work is the anchor and not we're planning around some of these decisions that are are, you know, opportunistically sort of arriving before all that other work is complete?

That's it's a great question. I think the inclusion of adding more students for families that we know, and mister Betlak can talk about when we don't offer TK to them, what they do, and it's not necessarily come to OUSD. It is generally in a a strategy that's agnostic around the long term direction of the district. You're providing access at a particular school for groups of families that don't have access to TK. Right?

So I do believe, and, you know, we there have been multiple attempts at it, and I think, actually, as you receive the master plan, there does need to be a long term strategy that's district wide. This school site is a site that does offer currently in its proximity to some of these other schools an amazing opportunity to expand the TK offerings for family and create access that doesn't currently exist. So I do think that there needs to be a longer term vision and it can be incorporated in that as all of our facilities are. And just one little piece also tonight. One of the things about Garfield.

Garfield is designed for actually more than 675 students. Right? So it's an expansion of the program there, but it also now becomes a cornerstone between district two and district five. But we do need to have that conversation because they're all interconnected. It is an ecosystem of schools that we need to definitely consider the question that you're asking.

Is that complete or did I miss? Okay.

Director Hutchinson.

Yes. Thank you. Can you put, page number 14 up, please? You know, one of one of the things is, unfortunately, we're we're operating under a lot of false premises these days here in the district, and we really need to get back on track. And so this TK hubs is not a budgetary issue at all.

And as we can see from from this graph, as we have expanded TK, we've actually seen a decrease in kindergarten. And so there is no correlation between the expansion of TK being offered and the amount of kindergarteners that we're enrolling in the district. We need to be very careful when we talk about it and even as we present it. I don't really believe in some of those projections for attendance rates, but it's clear that this can at least be cost neutral. If you could switch to the next page, please, page 15.

What we have in the district is we have eight schools because of the physical capacity of those schools and their current enrollment that they don't have enough physical space on those campuses to have the same number of cohorts of TK as they do for other grades. And so what we're trying to do now is create a hub for those families so we don't miss out on that. So besides those eight schools listed there, none of our other elementary schools outside of those eight have this same problem. So we're just talking about eight schools here. And when we look at this, those eight schools are actually just from three districts.

And of those eight, four of them happen to be in District 4. And so what we would really like to see in District 4 is a district four TK hub to be able to solve this problem. I think that, Monk and Hintel is the best option for that since it is literally half a block outside of District 4. But in looking through this, placing Glenview at Burbank won't work. And of the schools in District 4 listed there, Sequoia is closer to Burbank than Glenview is, and so that doesn't make sense.

And so as we're doing this, we need to be very intentional. And if we could create a d four TK hub to accommodate these school sites that don't have the physical space as the feeder back into those d four schools with room to hopefully expand if we do have increased demand at other d four schools for TK. That is something I would love to see. That is something my constituents would love to see, and it's an add on. But as this idea has been bounced around, we need to be very, very clear.

This is not creating hubs for the expansion of TK. This is creating hubs so we can accommodate the demand where in District 4, those four schools listed, there were a thousand more seats requested for TK than we're able to provide. And the other two districts are District 1 and District 2. So this is not an issue at all in District 356, And 7. So as we're going forward, we need to be very intentional.

And as the school board director that half of these schools are from, I'm hopeful, superintendent Sadler, that I will have a role to play to make sure we can accommodate these students. But this is not a grand expansion of TK. The numbers show that expansion of TK has not produced an expansion in the number of students coming into kindergarten. So we just need to be very careful when we're presenting things, what it actually is, what problem we're looking to address so we can have a realistic solution going forward. Thank you.

Director Hutchinson, do you mind if I just correct one thing on this slide? And I I I do apologize because it was it was at the time that mister Betlock was receiving all of the wait list and and these were a sample of schools. There are definitely some other schools in other neighborhoods that do have wait list and I I apologize it's So not on this

so then that brings us to a whole another problem. So why are we making a presentation that's not the complete picture of everything? Because if we're looking to make larger strategic decisions, and now you're saying this is only a fraction fraction of those schools. Why wasn't this why didn't we wait and bring it back when we had all of that information? Why why are we again pushing half baked plans?

And that makes even less sense to me, Superintendent Sadler. If this isn't the complete information, why are we doing this now especially since nobody's here? But from what I see, half the schools are in District 4. So, I expect to be included around, the decisions for this going forward. It's not good enough that you go and talk to welcoming schools to see what's available.

This needs to be a decision that comes from the school board directors representing these schools in these communities. And again, Glenview cannot be sent to Burbank. That's unworkable on on the face of it. Thank you.

Yeah, I just want I'm very glad to see this presentation, and I think the specifics around the increased demand. And I think, you know, even before I joined the board, had worked on the enrollment working group and understood the the lack, the mismatch between the number of TK seats we have in the district and the number of kindergarten, and I think matching up to the fifth grade cohorts. And I am curious, you know, it was, I think it's been mentioned before, but maybe if Mr. Betlock could address the, when we don't offer a spot to a student in TK, where they go. And then I think another thing that is maybe out in the community is around retention from TK to kindergarten.

So I just would love for you to talk about those two things and what that might mean for that, you know, stabilizing our trajectory going forward.

Sure. Thank you. One of the things we've looked at, from a data perspective is now that we've had, a few years of TK expansion is looking at what happens in year zero when a family doesn't enroll in TK in our district, typically because they're unable to access a preferred school. What percentage reenroll in kinder versus are lost to us, so to speak? That number is in the, is in the fifteen, sixteen, 17% district average.

It rises into the twenties for certain communities, and those are families that would have or indicated desire to enroll in Oakland Unified, who then when kindergarten rolls around, are saying, I've actually found a different solution for my family. Right? And we want if we have the ability to impact that number because we're going to offer more TK spots, it seems to me that we should. And because it is not fait accompli or it's not a given that families will return. Right?

Particularly when we think about some of those transitions in the early years, if I'm leaving a preschool setting to move into a different TK setting to then make a third school choice in three years for my young ones may may seem beyond the pale. Right? And the data support that. I'm happy to engage more deeply with those numbers for for school board directors who are interested. Your other question was around was around retention into TK and K.

One of the and I shared this at my when I was here giving an enrollment presentation January. Time is a flat circle. I think it was January. And what we saw as we fully expanded TK is we returned to '80 three percent retention into kindergarten, which was kind of our high watermark pre COVID, pre expansion. Of course, now with 700 more kids.

This year, 2526, that percentage rate was eighty seven percent, which, you know, four percentage points, but that's part of the reason why we expanded in the spring through our Schools to Watch process additional kindergartens at Hoover, Burkhalter, Cleveland, Thornhill, and I may be missing one, but I think when I say those schools, get a sense of this is in every corner of the district. Right? And so there is a promise. It's one year of data. One year of data is not a trend, but there is a promise that if those retention rates continue to be high, that growing TK is a chance to then grow kindergarten.

I'm not saying that that is I'm not giving you a stone tablet, but I think that that is, is something that there's some early data to suggest is certainly at promise.

Thank you very much.

Director Batson. Thank you. Yeah, I would appreciate this presentation. I I am a a proponent of increasing the number of TK seats and slots that we have at our schools. Schools.

I do want us to really be respectful as we think about the school communities that would be impacted by this TK increase. And I wanna make sure that we are not disproportionately impacting students of color and disabled students, and that we are adding to school communities and not extracting from those school communities. I will also say I'm not a fan of using the word underutilized spaces, especially at Karl Monk, because I know that they use every single inch of that campus for dance, for all kinds of activities for our students. I know that that is a term for facility spaces, but I think that it is not a term that our school staff would like to use for their spaces. I will also say that as we think about school facilities, as you mentioned, director Thomas, is we will have to also think about facilities upgrades to school sites.

And not only the TK spaces, but the entirety of the school site. Because one thing that the the Munk community has experienced is because of challenges in the yard, in the bathrooms, and just the, like, outside of the space, even though the program is amazing, families have not chosen it. Right? They choose other other schools. And so, again, as we think about how we're going to make sure that those school communities, again, are not extracted from but added to as we think about the additional spaces, I wanna make sure that those are elevated.

Another thing that comes to mind when we're increasing our TK enrollment is how we are engaging our low income families to understand the TK options. I can't tell you how many times I run into families that have no idea that we have these TK possibilities, whereas we've seen more affluent families really, you know, get on the roles, take it you know, take their students into those possibilities. And so, mister Batlatch, can you talk a little bit about what we're doing, how we're what we're doing to support low income families and enrolling in TK and understanding the TK, how we are making sure that we're engaging with them in the language that they prefer and with the media that they prefer. And if there's any additional things that would be helpful in that continued enrollment. Because what I would hate to do is to create TK hubs, not fill them, and then we have a gap in the budget.

Of course, thanks for the question. When TK expansion began, we used enrollment stabilization funds in particular to really do a lot of information access work, right? So really making sure folks knew, look, it used to be that three month window, it's not anymore. Of course our challenge was really expansive because we had to kind of change the eligibility every single year and kind of reteach. So we did targeted social media work.

We did radio advertising, particularly with Novento Tres Punto Tres La Raza. Right? We did and the fan. We did a lot of partnership engagement. So thinking about who are the CBOs who are talking to those families all the time.

So whether that's Oakland Housing Authority, whether that's Oakland Promise, right? Whether that's the Oakland Roots Health Center, we're gonna make sure they know the information that we know so that when it comes up, that included even pediatricians, so La Clinica, Life Long, right, we were making sure that they, and I was meeting with those folks, I did like lots of talks about like, this is a thing. One of our other initiatives are the initiative in the family navigator positions that are in that are in kind of a split between my department and early childhood, and they're literally talking to every single family who's enrolled in preschool, which is about a thousand families, about their options. And a lot of families in preschool are like, I'm in this two year arc. I'm in a facility that works for me.

I'm in a space that works for my family. I'm I don't this is you know, the thing folks think is that TK is above preschool. Right? It's the same curriculum in our schools. Right?

They're the same standards. It's it's a slightly different emphasis on play or free time or nap time in some of these different spaces depending on your kid. But these are also kind of co equal experiences. And if preschool works for your your child, that's something that we wanna honor. Right?

So there's a lot of work there. I agree with you that there is still information gaps versus families who are actively seeking information all the time versus those who maybe are faced with other things. One of the initiatives that we're really focused on and kind of in partner with some folks at Elma was seeing a gap particularly in mom speaking families entering kindergarten as a first year of formal schooling. We worked with a partner called El Timpano that does a little. Okay?

So we recorded mom language videos for that community that both was a how to to enroll, just like the basics, but we also did two that were on the benefits of early childhood because that was not kind of a norm of like sending the three year old away from the family, right? Particularly in that community. So working to then distribute those through El Timpano, who's already a trusted source in that community, was something that was really important to us. And then making sure that the schools that had high concentrations of mom speaking folks had these videos. Right?

So that they could send them to the community. They could blast them out in their newsletters. We have mom speakers, you know, through our partner with refugee and asylee office. That's in the enrollment office every day. Know?

And so and just working working through those other, you know, channels as just an example of a particular initiative.

Thank you so much. Those are all great, really great examples. I had an additional question, think, for mister Thomas around the budget. So as as you outlined kind of the the expenses and the revenue, were you factoring in at all any after school programming that students would be available for? And then how does that factor into the budget?

That's a great question. I know we're short on time and there's another item, but I just wanna name. The one part that isn't included in that slide is all the restricted funds that may come along with it. I have worked with Martha Pena already, and she's well aware in looking at the counts. So that would that funding would be allocated to the school site for the the program that's at the site.

Also, title one and other types of restricted resources is not included, so it's that is the baseline LCFF numbers that you would be getting. So there would be additional funding, and that would go into the budget one pager and support that school site in terms of the expansion.

So we could be getting more than 1,100,000 of expansion that we're seeking at this moment.

Given that we're talking about base funding LCFF with the budget, that's why we focused on that in in the analysis here. But there will be additional funds that we can share that

at least. And just my last comment, I'm also very excited about the idea of a dual language TK hubs as well, and would love to figure out how that could, happen in a place like Lockwood, for example. CDC.

I appreciate the report. I think this is really an exciting thing to be able to do with our TK. I'm also I wanna speak to Burbank. I have had several friends whose kids went to Burbank who didn't live in the area and loved the program and wished it went on to kindergarten. But I think it's been a very welcoming experience for those friends of mine who have have young TKers.

So, thanks. And that's well, I think you're on the next one too, Yeah. Mister Betlatch gets to go home. Thank you. Next on the item, on the agenda is item s two, which is issuance of not to exceed 185,000,000 of general obligation bonds, and not to exceed 200,000,000 of general obligation refunding bonds for Oakland Unified School District.

And I believe there is a oh, do we have a motion to adopt? So moved. I second it.

Right. Good evening again, superintendent Sadler, president Brohard, and members of the board. This is, I believe, the last item of the night. I do wanna let you know that our municipal adviser, and the bond, our bond council, and the underwriter are online right now if there are any questions. But I wanna say tonight, what we're bringing forward is a resolution authorizing the sale of the bonds, Along with the approval of of the preliminary, official statement, I would direct the board to the accompanying memo.

It is pretty extensive, which outlines the purpose of both the resolution and the POS. The action represents for you tonight another important step in delivering to the commitments made to the Oakland voters to modernize facilities, improve student learning violence environments, and responsibly steward the bond resources. This is for the third draw of measure y funding is critical to maintaining momentum on several of the district's major capital projects, and two of those we've talked about here tonight, McClements, Roosevelt, Garfield, CCPA, Melrose Leadership Academy. These projects reflect deep improvements that support the long term academic program and community stability. In addition to the major projects, I wanna name some of the other things in the third draw, it is also the remediation, the ongoing remediation of lead across all of our schools.

It also includes the much needed deferred maintenance, and particularly given the fact that the deferred main deferred maintenance fund 14 has been reduced. The only place that the district will have for deferred maintenance is in the third draw of the bond. And I also wanna it's the early implementation of heat mitigation strategies, are in the third bond in the third draw of the bond. And that will impact classroom comfort across Oakland. The timing of this issuance aligns with the projected cash flows needed and helps ensure that we can maintain a construction schedule and also taking advantage of current market conditions.

I wanna say that again. This is part of a predicted time period when we will be selling these bonds, and it's part of our cash flow as all five of those projects are gonna go into construction, or four of them definitely will go into construction when you utilize the most cash. So it's a critical moment in time for the bond program itself. We are also bringing this item back to the board because the bond sale includes refinancing opportunities that is expected to generate approximately 9,000,000 in savings for taxpayers by reducing the borrowing costs of previously issued bonds. And there are four series that this would be refunding which benefits the taxpayers directly, but doesn't necessarily change anything about your bond program.

If board members have detailed questions, our bond counsel, the financing team are available this evening, and any additional information that's included in the items. We believe the issuance positions, the district is continuing to deliver on major facilities commitments, and protecting taxpayer interests, and it balances both of those two things. So with that, I'll

turn it back over to you, president Brohard.

Are there any public comments on this item?

Yes, madam president. That's Asada Olukbala and Janelle Harris.

And neither of them are here. Are there board comments? I will only say you are right. It was an extensive memo. Mister Raystar, can we have a roll call and vote, please?

Yes,

ma'am. Student directors are absent. Director Hutchinson is absent on the remainder of the roll. Director Lauder?

Yes.

Director Williams? He's absent. Okay. Director Berry?

Yes.

Director Thompson? Yes. Vice president Bachelor?

Yes.

President Bruhlhard? Yes. Motion's adopted.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Alright. Thank you. Alright. Just a short, president's report. I wanna make sure that everyone knows that, there is no meeting on April 1.

It is the first night of Passover, so our next meeting will be April 22. And now just, I think, again, encourage everybody. I know we've been going out and doing community meetings. They've been very interesting. And we have a few more setups, so I think this is a really good way.

They've been, most of it, many of them have been small, which has been an opportunity to really talk with people. They haven't been town hall meetings or anything, but some as small as five people and some as large as 25. So I think they've been a good opportunity for Superintendent Sadler and I. Well, we have one this on the eighteenth at Garfield, meeting both in the morning, or the the two with the SSC, and then we'll meet with the parents at the after school program at 05:00. I also wanna give a shout out to PSAC.

I know that they, are beginning to work on some engagements as well. Look forward to hearing more about those in the future at their next meeting. Oh, it's right. The eighteenth, Wednesday of the night. So we'll have a busy night if you're going to Garfield.

We'll head straight over to PSAC after that. So on Wednesday the eighteenth is the PSAC meeting. And then before we go, I do have a, don't me forget, an introduction of new legislation. There any board reports? Director Barry?

Can you let me know when you visit my schools? For your community meetings?

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Let me clarify. They've only been District 2.

Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I wanted

to give a shout out, a huge shout out to Global Family because I went to their literacy night. I don't was it yesterday or the day before? And it was amazing. I walked in and staff, educators were in costume, dressed as elves, and I mean completely decked out. This, you know, floor to ceiling decoration, trees, and it just looked like a different like a fairyland.

And folks were reading books in all the classrooms, and then there was a special performance, and all the kids were dancing and, singing. It was just awesome. So, I as someone who loves books and who is avid champion of literacy, it was just really awesome. So shout out to Juan Vaca, miss Margarita there, for and all the rest of the team for putting that together. My community conversations have also been going really well.

I am naming that because I wanna do more. So if you haven't had an opportunity to join me, or if you haven't heard from me, please do not hesitate to reach out because I wanna do so many more of them. My next office hours is next Saturday at 10AM and I am probably going to do two in April given the gap between the last school board meeting of the month of March and our our next one at the April. And then I just got an email update regarding a program that happens over the summer in July for high school students. It's called the African American Leaders for Tomorrow program.

You can spend four days at CSU Dominguez and you get to build community but also learn about policy making. And I really wish I had an opportunity to do something like that at that age and as someone who spends a lot of time in Sacramento, there need to be more of us black folks in policy making. So I really wanna encourage our black high school students here in Oakland to apply and take advantage of that opportunity so we can take up space in policy. That's it.

Thank you. I wanna use my time to talk a little bit about some community events that are coming up that I'm excited about. So once again, the Parker Space will be activated on March 14 for a forty by forty empowerment day. If you haven't been, please come out. It's a lot of fun.

Kids get to play all over the playground. There's a bunch of games, events. I won, like, a huge prize of a bunch of different board games. My husband and I are very excited to play with all of them. But they're for students and kids.

So please come out and support them in doing that work. And again, there's a lot of free services that also are activated at that space and time. We have a Facilities Committee meeting on the nineteenth, where we will be kind of taking a little bit deeper dive into the Facilities Master Plan with some dashboard and some other really cool pieces. So hopefully, we have some folks attend that as well. And then in partnership with council member Rowena Brown and council member Kevin Jenkins, we're doing a cleanup day at Oakland Academy of Knowledge, which is Oak, on the twenty eighth.

So if you would like to come on up and clean up with us, it'll be from nine to noon that day and again, it's a great way to give back to our schools and I really appreciate both council members. You know, holding down Oak for that day. Lastly, I also shared this with the super intendent and our ACC colleagues, but there is congresswoman Latifah Simon does have a summer internship program available, and this is a great way again for what director Barry was mentioning of, like, getting folks in those spaces to learn about policy, to learn about how the system works slash doesn't work for some people, and to advocate in those spaces. As a former DC resident, I also love the fact that our students will get to go there and experience, what it's like to live, in our nation's capital, and be able to have again this opportunity. If you, would like to get this opportunity for your student and don't get it from our communications, feel free to reach out to me and I can forward you the email.

But again, it's our amazing congresswoman and all of our students would be, know, it's a great opportunity for all of our students. Thank you.

Thank you. And with that, I have an introduction of new legislation. This is to correct the date of the PSAC presentation. That when we amended this a while ago, we thought PSAC wanted to meet on the second board meeting of the month, and they would like to meet present on the first. I asked them several times to make sure I was on the right week.

Part of the reason for this is because if they have the, if they have to present on the second meeting, this is just before their actual meeting. So it's a a time crunch in getting the slides together, but also the committee hasn't had a chance to really meet and and give current information. So this will allow them to present after their meeting at the first meeting of the month.

Senator Brohard, what would be the will be the impact on the April meeting given that we only have one April 22?

That's interesting because this is a first read. So we wouldn't vote at their their meeting. They will still present in April on of the second meeting. Okay. Yeah.

Yeah. I have, I think, a similar question. I didn't hear exactly what you said, but I think it's the same thing or close to what I was thinking. Is that going to increase their presentation time? I mean, if we change this, I mean, would it increase their present do they understand that there is an allotted amount of time?

Yeah. They have twenty minutes, and that they're really working to stay. I I've had that discussion, and I believe that all PSEC presenters have really been timing their presentation. So, yeah. Yeah.

Okay. So again, this will come up next meeting to vote on. With that, we are adjourned.