August 19, 2021 Regular Meeting: Optional 30 Minutes and Indoor Bingo Fail; Board Chooses Trustee-Area Plan 4A

President Joe Schaffer called the regular meeting to order at 5:10 p.m. with board members Don Bridge, Andrew Cruz, Christina Gagnier and Schaffer present; James Na arrived at 5:14 p.m. 1. The board reconvened in open session at 6:00 p.m., streamed live on YouTube, and Schaffer adjourned at 9:04 p.m. 12. Two proposals from Cruz, an opt-out from the 30 minutes added to the school day and indoor space for Chino Hills HS bingo, failed; the board chose trustee-area map Plan 4A and asked the county committee to establish the areas 34.

This page's record is the district's signed minutes, which the board approved on its September 2, 2021 consent calendar 5. The minutes name the people below. Recording detail is used only for facts that attribute nothing to a named person.

Closed session

The board met in closed session from 5:11 to 5:47 p.m. 1. It reported approving a resignation agreement under which Certificated Employee No. 1425 will resign before the last day of February 2022, and appointing Olivier Wong Ah Sun as principal of Don Lugo HS, Lani Davies as assistant principal of Country Springs ES and Joanne King as assistant principal of Dickson ES, effective August 20, 2021 1. As captioned, the recording's report-out names Chino High School for the principal appointment; this page follows the minutes 6.

Community member Sonja Shaw led the Pledge of Allegiance 1.

Optional 30 minutes of instruction

Cruz's memo said the board's May 20, 2021 Expanded Learning Opportunities Grant Plan added 30 minutes to each instructional day to address lost instructional time, that parents objected over family time, extracurricular activities and schedules, and that Cruz supported making the time optional 7. The Champion reported in May that the extra half hour a day was equivalent to adding approximately 16 days, and that the district would apply for $10.4 million to increase instruction time 8.

The minutes list Maddison Shaw, Casandra Sanchez and Sonja Shaw as speaking in favor of making the time optional 3.

Board discussion was interrupted by outbursts from the audience, and the board took a 10-minute break from 7:11 to 7:21 p.m. 9.

Na moved and Cruz seconded giving parents the choice. The motion failed on a roll call vote, with Cruz and Na voting yes and Bridge, Gagnier and Schaffer voting no; the student representative voted no 3.

After board communications, Schaffer reopened public comment, and Robert Wales addressed the board on the additional 30 minutes and the grant's approval process and options 2.

Chino Hills HS bingo

Cruz's memo said he had requested the item, on indoor facilities use for Chino Hills HS bingo, at the July 15, 2021 meeting 7. Na moved and Cruz seconded. The motion failed on a roll call vote, with Cruz and Na voting yes and Bridge, Gagnier and Schaffer voting no; the student representative abstained 3.

Trustee areas

The superintendent's memo traced the move to by-trustee-area elections to a March 4, 2021 resolution of intent to comply with the California Voting Rights Act, followed by public hearings on June 17 and July 15 on four draft maps 7. The San Bernardino County Sentinel reported in March that the switch followed a demand from attorney Kevin Shenkman of Shenkman and Hughes alleging that the district's at-large system resulted in minority vote dilution 10.

Schaffer opened and closed the hearing at 7:44 p.m.; there were no speakers. On a motion by Gagnier, seconded by Bridge, the board selected Plan 4A on a roll call vote, with Bridge, Gagnier and Schaffer voting yes and Cruz and Na abstaining; the student representative voted yes 4. Plan 4A put Trustee Areas 3 and 4 on the November 2022 ballot and Areas 1, 2 and 5 on the November 2024 ballot 11.

The board then adopted Resolution 2021/2022-09, recommending that the San Bernardino County Committee on School District Organization approve and establish the trustee areas, on a motion by Gagnier seconded by Schaffer, with Bridge, Gagnier and Schaffer voting yes and Cruz and Na voting no; the student representative voted yes 4.

The lines were revisited after the census: a February 3, 2022 staff memo noted that state law requires trustee areas to be adjusted after each decennial census 12, and the Champion reported that month that a new five-district map would create two open seats 13. In September 2024 the Champion wrote that that year's election would be the first with the entire board under the trustee area system 14.

Hearings and Preserve School #2

The Safe Return to In-Person Instruction and Continuity of Services Plan is a condition of federal ESSER III funding; the district posted it for comment from July 29 to August 19, 2021 15. At the hearing, held from 7:58 to 8:14 p.m., Kelly Allen, Kelly Weathers, C.W. Clark and Edward Gonzalez addressed the board; the minutes record who spoke, not what each said 4. The Champion reported that on the day of the meeting the district's COVID-19 dashboard showed 65 students and 16 staff members recently testing positive, with no schools or classrooms closed 16.

The hearing on the sufficiency of instructional materials at Cal Aero Preserve Academy K through 6, a year-round campus, drew no speakers, and on Gagnier's motion, seconded by Na, the board adopted Resolution 2021/2022-18 174.

On Na's motion, seconded by Gagnier, the board adopted Resolution 2021/2022-08, educational specifications for Preserve School #2, prepared by PBK-WLC Architects 418.

Consent calendar

On a motion by Na, seconded by Gagnier, the board approved the consent items 4, among them:

• Warrant register of $20,739,873.04 and purchase order register of $228,316,665.33 4192021.
• Legal services: payment to Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo; Margaret A. Chidester & Associates; and The Tao Firm, whose June invoices totaled $34,882.94 1922.
• Buena Vista HS portable classroom installation awarded to Roadway Engineering & Contracting, Inc., the lowest of four bids at $189,800.00 1923.
• Two football scoreboards from Daktronics for Chino Hills HS and Ayala HS, $160,931.34, bought by quote after no bids came in 1923.
• Change orders: $59,006.00 on the Chino HS reconstruction and $34,800.00 on the Cortez ES and Dickson ES fencing project 192424.
• Allegiance STEAM Academy: an agreement for installing three surplus portable classrooms on its campus, an estimated $333,000.00 to be repaid to the district 1925.
• Rejection of security monitoring system proposals for re-bid, sale of five portables at Briggs K-8, Anna Lia Castillo as parent representative on the West End SELPA Community Advisory Committee, ten piggyback contract resolutions, the July 15 minutes, donations, personnel items, a student teaching agreement with Biola University and a fieldwork placement agreement with the University of Redlands 419191926.

Policy revisions on charter school authorization, advertising and independent study were received for information 26.

Student and employee representatives

Student representative Esther Kim, at her first board meeting, said her focus is communication and representation 1.

Brenda Walker, president of A.C.T., said members were happy to be working in person with students. Danny Hernandez, president of CSEA, said staff were multitasking during staff shortages and reported on the nation's shortage of qualified school bus drivers. Barbara Bearden, president of CHAMP, highlighted the departments that prepared schools for in-person instruction 3.

Public comment on items not on the agenda

The minutes list these speakers and subjects 3:

• Danielle Gundersen and Jim Gallagher: in favor of masks for students.
• Linda Fraser, Bryce Port, Shaun Smith, Derek Johnson, Virginia Renteria, Lorraine Harris and Brenda Arias: opposing mask mandates for students.
• Caitlin Jones: general concerns.
• Nicole Zuniga: contact tracing guidelines.
• Marisa Lipan: homeschool.
• Kristi Diehl: separating parents from the board room during the meeting.
• Christine Zhang, Annie Kang and Mu Li: enhanced disinfecting on school campuses.

Schaffer received board consensus to hear the remaining comments 3. The minutes record who spoke and on what subject, not what each said, so this page does not summarize the recorded remarks. Days earlier, KTLA reported that parents had taken to the streets in Chino to protest the school mask mandate 27.

Board communications

Cruz discussed his concerns about lasting effects of students wearing face coverings, the October 15 testing requirement for unvaccinated school employees, and CDC statistics on vaccinations 28.

Na spoke about visiting eight elementary classrooms, asked staff to look at a Sutter Union High School District resolution on optional face coverings, addressed cafeteria staff shortages and asked parents to volunteer at schools 28.

Bridge encouraged students to apply to the Biomedical Science and Technology Academy at Chino HS, thanked the Chino Valley Fire Board for buying four ambulances, and congratulated Chino Hills on receiving the McCoy Equestrian Center for $1 from the McCoy family 28.

Gagnier said her goal is to keep students in school for in-person instruction, spoke about the board making decisions that follow state law, and asked Superintendent Norm Enfield to invite the Chino Valley Chamber president to present Upskill Chino Valley programs. Enfield agreed with Gagnier on preserving in-person instruction 28.

Schaffer spoke about the August 20 Battle of the Bones between Ayala HS and Chino Hills HS and about being productive and collaborative in addressing community concerns 2.