Chino Valley Unified Board of Education: February 20, 2020

The board let staff finalize an agreement with Xebec Building Company for a new district office 1, which staff said would cost the district nothing 2; accepted property from the district's Land Acquisition Corporation 3, authorized the public sale of the Galstian site and adopted a resolution releasing temporary certificated employees 1. Reporting out of closed session, it issued non-reelection notices to six certificated teachers 4. Public comment centered on an Ayala High teacher and on Butterfield Ranch Elementary teachers 4. President Joe Schaffer opened the meeting at 4:40 p.m. with Andrew Cruz, Christina Gagnier and Irene Hernandez-Blair present; James Na arrived at 4:55 p.m. 5. Schaffer adjourned at 7:38 p.m. 6.

This page follows the board's signed minutes, which the board approved without amendment on March 5, 2020 as part of its consent calendar 7. Names, motions and attributed remarks come from those minutes; recording quotes appear only where the minutes already give that subject to the speaker. No agenda or packet for this meeting is in the archive.

🏢 A new district office, at no cost to the district, staff said

Greg Stachura, Assistant Superintendent of Facilities, Planning, and Operations, gave an overview. Gagnier moved and Hernandez-Blair seconded delegating approval to the superintendent or designee to finalize the Joint Occupancy Agreement, Ground Lease, and Construction Services Agreement with Xebec Building Company, and the motion carried 1.

On the recording, Stachura said the project would come "at no cost to the district" and added "zero nada zilch" 2. Under the deal the developer would design and build a new two-story, 60,000-square-foot office building on Ramona Avenue, and in exchange take a 66-year ground lease of a second district parcel, where it would build a 300,000-square-foot warehouse 8 to lease out to a third party 8. Five developers answered the district's request for proposals 8, and the plan includes a new board room seating 162 people 8.

The Champion reported that Xebec's proposal listed $13.8 million for construction of the district building, that Stachura expected construction to begin within nine months to a year and take about two years, and that the bus yard would stay at 5130 Riverside Drive 9.

Earlier, Hernandez-Blair moved and Na seconded accepting the grant of property from the Chino Unified School District Land Acquisition Corporation, subject to confirmation that all encumbrances were released, and delegating the superintendent or designee to sign the certificate of acceptance; the motion carried 3.

🔒 Closed session and personnel actions

The board met in closed session from 4:57 to 5:51 p.m. on anticipated litigation, real property, student matters and public employee discipline, dismissal or release 5. Under Education Code 44929.21 it authorized the superintendent or his designee to issue notices of non-reelection to two certificated teachers, and issued notices to four more, with Gagnier, Hernandez-Blair and Schaffer voting yes and Cruz and Na voting no 4. The minutes identify all six teachers only by employee number and do not say where they taught 4.

Later, Hernandez-Blair moved and Gagnier seconded a resolution releasing temporary certificated employees and authorizing notices of release effective June 30, 2020. The motion carried, with Cruz and Na voting no 1.

🗣️ Public comment

On items not on the agenda, the minutes record that Illia Bekalo, Jacob Smith, Mikayla Estrella, Sydney Reyes, Maya Terry, Edward Cocks, Lisa Terry, and Kylie Kramer addressed the board in support of Ayala HS teacher Mr. Prisk; Amy Desmet, Roy Schafhuizen, Kevin Butsch, and Sean Snider in support of Butterfield Ranch ES teachers; Debi Woolery and Annette Deming regarding the Don Lugo HS journalism program; and that Cynthia Moran gave a report on city of Chino Hills activities 4. Before closed session, Chris Lardieri, Shannon Miki, Sean Snider, Kevin Butscher, Jennifer Ramirez, and Sarah Schweitzer addressed the board regarding Butterfield Ranch ES teachers 5. (The minutes spell one name two ways, Butsch and Butscher.) They record who spoke and on what subject but not what each said, so this page does not summarize the remarks.

Non-agenda comment ran past the board's 30-minute limit, and the last speakers were heard by board consensus 10.

Butterfield Ranch had been in the news since January: the Champion reported that 24 of its 27 teachers had asked to transfer, reportedly over the principal's leadership 11, that the principal was removed "indefinitely" effective February 3, and that the district had hired an outside firm to investigate 12.

💬 Board and superintendent communications

• Andrew Cruz acknowledged advocates of the Don Lugo HS journalism program and thanked supporters of the Ayala HS drama teacher and program 13.
• James Na acknowledged Don Lugo HS's journalism teacher and the Ayala HS theater students who came in support of Mr. Prisk; asked Superintendent Enfield to show commitment and support for the Ayala theater program; spoke about the situation at Butterfield Ranch ES; asked him to review and strengthen the district's policy on bullying against students, staff and all adults; and spoke about security personnel receiving protective vests 13. On the recording he suggested the policy review could come back as "an information item" 14.
• Irene Hernandez-Blair said a few teachers had told her Measure G modifications to their classrooms were not what they had recommended, and asked whether there is a mechanism to check that modifications are functional and reflect teacher needs 13. On the recording she said the teachers find the rooms "look really nice" but say "it just isn't functional" 15. She also noted the Chino Branch Library's February 22 reopening and the Festival of the Arts at Magnolia JHS 13.
• Christina Gagnier acknowledged the students, parents and community who attended, and spoke about the investigation at Butterfield Ranch ES: its process, timelines, expected lessons learned and an action plan for moving forward 6. On the recording she said she did not want "to do a cursory investigation" 16 and that it had "been going on for a couple of weeks" 17.
• Superintendent Norm Enfield made no comment 6.
• President Joe Schaffer thanked those who attended; spoke about decision making in the Butterfield Ranch ES matter; reported visiting Country Springs ES and Levi Dickey ES; spoke about Student Government Day; and spoke about the district-wide science fair at Woodcrest JHS 6. On the recording he said that not seeing action right away "doesn't mean that it's not being addressed" 18.

📊 Reports

CIIS staff presented the LCAP annual update on the English Learner Progress Indicator 4. As captioned, staff said 58.1 percent of the district's English learners were making progress, which placed the district in the "high" performance level while the state sat at "medium" 19.

Student representative Audrey Ing reported on Student Government Day, the Student Advisory Council meeting and high school activities 4. She called Student Government Day, held February 13, "an extremely successful event" 20, and said the council had discussed concluding its district-wide kindness campaign 20. Tom Mackessy, CHAMP President, announced ACSA Region 12 awards for Dr. Kim Cabrera, Don Lugo HS principal (Secondary Principal of the Year), and Trevor Carenzo (Elementary Co-administrator of the Year) 4.

🏛️ Other action items

• CSBA Delegate Assembly. Hernandez-Blair moved and Gagnier seconded casting the board's votes for Christina Cameron-Otero, Barbara Dew, Barbara Flores, Cindy Gardner, James O’Neill, and Wilson So for the California School Boards Association Delegate Assembly, subregion 16-B. The motion carried; Cruz was absent during the vote 3.
• Hall of Fame. Na moved and Hernandez-Blair seconded naming Michael Finkbiner the 2020 Richard Gird Educational Hall of Fame employee-category recipient, and the motion carried 3. The Champion, describing him as a former school principal, reported that a Canyon Hills Junior High secretary nominated him 21.
• Galstian site. Hernandez-Blair moved and Gagnier seconded a resolution authorizing public sale of the Galstian site, and the motion carried 1.

📋 Consent calendar

Gagnier pulled the piggyback-contract resolution for separate action. Hernandez-Blair moved and Na seconded approving the rest of the consent calendar as amended, and the motion carried 1. The consent calendar included:

• the February 6, 2020 minutes and a resolution in support of the 2020 Census 1;
• payment for legal services to The Tao Firm, a student readmission, five expulsion cases, and trips for Briggs K-8, Ayala HS, Chino HS and Don Lugo HS 22;
• a notice of completion for a CUPCCAA project and change orders for the Cattle ES, Litel ES and Oak Ridge ES alteration project 22, plus the Chino HS reconstruction HVAC rebid package, awarded to West-Tech Mechanical, Inc. 23;
• the Comprehensive School Safety Plan for each school, a speech pathologist fieldwork agreement with Baylor University, personnel items, and rejection of claims, which were referred to the district's insurance adjuster 23.

Hernandez-Blair then moved and Na seconded adopting the piggyback-contract resolution, and the motion carried with Gagnier recused 22. On the recording she explained that she is a shareholder at a law firm and "may have a conflict" 24.

As information, the board received two new courses, Engineering Essentials (PLTW) and Hospitality Senior Project, and revisions to the French 3 Honors, Health and Mandarin 3 Honors courses 23.