September 2, 2021: Board Adopts Its Safe Return Plan and Starts a Naming Process for Mark Hargrove

President Joe Schaffer reconvened the open meeting at 6:00 p.m. with Don Bridge, Andrew Cruz, Christina Gagnier, James Na and Schaffer present 1. The board adopted the district's Safe Return to In-Person Instruction and Continuity of Services Plan, with Cruz voting no 2, and agreed to begin the process of naming or dedicating a Chino High School facility after Mark Hargrove 3. In board communications Cruz asked for a resolution opposing vaccine mandates 4. Schaffer adjourned at 8:02 p.m. with 13 seconds of silence for the 13 soldiers killed in Afghanistan 5.

About this record. This page's record is the draft minutes printed in the September 16, 2021 board packet 6, which the board approved on its September 16 consent calendar 7; the only change read into the record that night concerned a personnel item 7. The archived copy has the same text, with a signed final page 5. People are named only where those minutes name them, and recorded remarks are attributed to a named person only within the subject the minutes give that person.

Out of closed session

Out of a closed session on student, personnel and labor matters 1, the board reported appointing Rosa Gonzales as an assistant principal at Don Lugo High School, effective on a date to be determined, and Jamie Bergmann to the same post effective September 3, 2021, with Na absent for that vote 8.

Presentation and representatives

Zeb Welborn, president of the Chino Valley Chamber of Commerce, presented Upskill Chino Valley, a workforce, entrepreneurship, economic and leadership development program 8. On the recording he described a student pitch competition that gave district students about $5,000 in seed money for their business ideas 9.

Student representative Esther Kim reported on the year's first student advisory committee meeting and on back-to-school activities 8. CHAMP President Barbara Bearden spoke about schools recognized for gold and silver level implementation of the PBIS behavior framework 8.

CSEA President Danny Hernandez asked for more help for classified employees carrying added COVID duties, including health technicians, clerical staff, secondary library media assistants and custodians, and reminded site administrators that employees have a right to contact their unions 8. On the recording he said an elementary school typically has only one night custodian for COVID disinfecting 1011. A.C.T. President Brenda Walker pointed to the double duty nurses had carried since the pandemic began 8, and said the district was looking at options to ease the extra contact tracing and testing work 11.

Public comment

The minutes list 17 speakers on items not on the agenda, with their subjects, with names as printed: Elizabeth Saldana and Giamae Villalobos regarding student dress code policy; Diane Boudreaux regarding the Magnolia JHS music program; Sharon Duran regarding COVID policy, dress code, and in support of the mask mandate; Elaine Walshe regarding classroom conditions and teacher shortage; Max Ibarra and Erica Collins regarding mental health in schools; Madalyn Christensen, Juli Santorsola, Doreen Wills, Shelly Finnerah, Vanessa, and Oscar Avila regarding COVID-related mandates, protocols, and quarantine effects on continued education; and Kelly Allen, Caitlyn Martinez, Kristal Barret, and Sonja Shaw regarding parent engagement and Board accountability to the community 8. Because the minutes record subjects rather than remarks, individual comments heard on the recording are not summarized here.

The Safe Return plan

Districts needed a Safe Return to In-Person Instruction and Continuity of Services plan to receive federal ESSER III relief funds. The board had held a public hearing on the plan on August 19, and the version before it was updated for new California Department of Public Health guidance and for public comments collected from July 29 to August 19 12. Associate Superintendent Grace Park, Assistant Superintendent Lea Fellows and Director of Access & Equity Stacy Ayers-Escarcega prepared the memo 12.

The plan required face coverings, unless exempt, for anyone sharing indoor spaces with students, but not outdoors 13. Citing an August 11, 2021 state public health order, it required every employee to verify vaccination status 14, with full compliance by October 15, 2021 and at least weekly testing for employees not fully vaccinated 15. That order covered public and private TK-12 schools in California, and the state rescinded it effective September 17, 2022 16. Students unable to attend for 3 to 14 days could use short-term independent study at their school 17.

Na moved and Gagnier seconded adoption; the motion carried with Cruz voting no, and the student representative voted yes 2.

Naming a Chino High facility for Mark Hargrove

The staff memo says the district received a written request on August 19, 2021 from Board President Joe Schaffer to name or dedicate a facility at Chino High after Mark Hargrove. Under Board Policy 7310, approval would open a 30-day public comment window beginning September 3, then a public hearing at the next regular meeting and action at the one after that 18. Hargrove, a 1982 Chino High graduate who represented District 2 on the Chino City Council and served on the district's Measure G oversight committee, died on March 28, 2021, at 58, the San Bernardino County Sentinel reported 19.

Schaffer pulled the item from the consent calendar for separate action 2, and Jennifer Hargrove and John Miller addressed the board on it 3. On the recording, Jennifer Hargrove introduced herself as Mark Hargrove's daughter and thanked the board for considering naming something at Chino High after her father 2020. Na moved and Gagnier seconded approval of the request to proceed, and the motion carried 3.

The public hearing later scheduled for November 4, 2021 was pulled from that agenda 21. Board minutes from March 2023 record a board member attending the dedication of Chino High's new gym named after Mark Hargrove 22.

Consent calendar

Na moved and Gagnier seconded approval of the rest of the consent calendar, as amended 2; the amendment corrected a classified employee's name in the personnel report 8. The approved items included:

• Independent study. A revision of Board Policy 6158, which the memo says reflects Senate Bill 130's 2021-22 rules, including an option for students whose health would be put at risk by in-person instruction 232.
• Two more policies. Board Policy 0420.4 on charter school authorization, revised for AB 1505 and 1595 24, and Board Policy 1325, revised to add the district's electronic flyer distribution system 25226.
• LCAP. A clarification to the 2021-22 Local Control and Accountability Plan sought by the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools 272.
• Legal services. Payment to Tao Rossini, APC, whose July invoices totaled $25,214.06 282.
• Portables. Resolution 2021/2022-24, allowing the private sale of two portable classrooms, about 30 years old and each found to be worth no more than $2,500 293.
• Routine business. Three Baldy View ROP contracts, piggyback contract resolutions, student admission and readmission cases, and the registers 22.

Board communications

Cruz acknowledged speakers opposing the mask mandate, asked whether employees will be fired if they do not get vaccinated, and said he opposes forced vaccination of children. He asked Superintendent Norm Enfield to answer publicly at the next meeting questions about weekly employee testing, such as whether tested employees stay home, work or are docked sick leave. He said he would like a resolution opposing the mandates so the public can know where each member stands, and urged the district to keep music programs 4. His September 16 memo for Resolution 2021/2022-27 says he requested it at this meeting 30; on September 16 the motion to adopt it failed 7, and the Champion covered that vote under the headline "School board defeats Cruz resolution" 31.

Na said Principal Buoncristiani administered lifesaving CPR to an unconscious student, and thanked Assistant Superintendent Greg Stachura. He spoke about mental health, drug use at schools and educational plans for students out on COVID-related absences, asking Enfield to hire emergency additional personnel for that work, and asked that the meeting be adjourned in memory of 13 American soldiers killed in Afghanistan 44.

Bridge echoed Cruz's and speaker Boudreaux's comments on the Magnolia JHS music program and Na's remarks on the fallen soldiers 5. Gagnier said she and Schaffer had met with students about the need for mental health professionals on campuses, and that she wants an initiative exploring mental health professionals on all campuses; she also addressed a personal comment made to her, saying it should not be politicized 5. At the next meeting she asked Enfield for a resolution to establish a mental health task force or similar initiative 32.

Enfield said the district has no intention of cutting the Magnolia JHS music program and, answering Na, addressed short-term independent study for students out on COVID quarantine 5. On the recording he said the Education Code sets that option for absences of three to 14 days 33 and that principals had recently been reminded of the process 33. He said the district will work with students to identify which mental health resources each school needs, and that support is not a case of simply walking in and requesting it 5.