October 28, 2021: Board Amends and Approves the October 21 ESSER III Spending Plan

The Board of Education held a special meeting at 4:30 p.m. with one action item, the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER III) expenditure plans 1. President Joe Schaffer called the meeting to order with Bridge, Cruz, Gagnier, Na and Schaffer present 2. The superintendent's memo said the plan had to be adopted at a public meeting on or before October 29, 2021, and gave its fiscal impact as $34,040,685.00 3. The board adopted four amendments to the plan dated October 21, each by roll call, then approved that plan as amended, and Schaffer adjourned the meeting at 5:35 p.m. 45

About this record. This page's record is the district's posted minutes of October 28, 2021. Their first two pages are the draft printed in the November 18, 2021 board packet (packet pages 24 and 25) 24, which the board approved without amendment on November 18 6. The posted copy ends with a signed copy of the final page 5. People are named here only where minutes name them, and no remark from the recording is attributed to a named person.

How the plan reached this meeting

The district's July 2021 survey letter had listed five ESSER III priorities, among them upgrading technology infrastructure, improving indoor air quality at all sites and increasing mental health services 7. The Champion's year-end review recorded that students, parents and educators asked the district that year for more mental health services on campus 8.

The plan first came to the board on October 21, and the board asked for a study session on it, held October 26; the memo said the revised plan included the board's direction from that session 3. According to the October 26 minutes, Andrew Cruz proposed cutting 80% of the indoor air quality allocation and 20% of the technology infrastructure allocation to fund mental health counselors at each junior high and high school at a 500/1 ratio, along with music for K-1 grades, seven special education licensed therapists and $500,000 for full-time staff at the Family Engagement Center. James Na proposed licensed therapists on all campuses, flexibility in air quality equipment, a $20,000 cool-down room at each site and a Peer Support Program Director. Christina Gagnier proposed revising the air quality action so the district could choose the most efficient technology 9. Joe Schaffer proposed structural changes to the general budget rather than using one-time money for recurring costs, and Don Bridge proposed looking at the general fund to sustain added positions 9.

Opening this meeting, district staff described a second draft dated October 28 that applied several of those requests. It cut the indoor air quality and technology funds by $4 million each and moved the money to mental health, including the 500-to-1 counselor ratio, which staff said would mean adding 31 counselors 1010. It also raised the parent engagement budget by $300,000 and added $300,000 to contract out counseling rather than place a licensed therapist at each site 101111. Staff said the county had found the cool-down rooms not to be an allowable expense, and that the peer support director and music teachers for K-1 were not allowable either 10111111. With both plans before the board, staff said one needed approval that night so it could be filed with the state the next day, the last day to file 111111.

Public comment

The minutes list Daniel Hernandez, Parent Advocacy Group Chino Valley, Casandra Sanchez, and Hilda Rodriguez (names as printed) as addressing the board on this item 2. The minutes record who spoke but not what each said, so the remarks are not summarized from the recording.

The four amendments

Gagnier moved, and Na seconded, to discuss the proposals, and Gagnier offered four amendments to the October 21 plan 2. The first rewrote the plan's Facilities action (LCAP Goal 1, Action 14); the other three moved money out of that line into mental health and family engagement. The minutes record each amendment approved by roll call 4:

• Air quality. Moved by Gagnier, seconded by Na. The action now says the district "will utilize the new technologies available to upgrade the existing air quality systems (i.e. air filtration, air ventilation, air purification)" 4. The October 21 plan had called for upgrading air conditioning units to MERV13 filter abilities, with $5,000,000.00 on the line 12. Staff described the change as giving the district flexibility instead of calling out MERV 13.
• Family Engagement Center. Moved by Na, seconded by Gagnier. A new $500,000 line (LCAP Goal 2, Action 23) adds two hours to the existing District Community Liaison to make the position full time, pays existing staff extra hours to run workshops on learning loss and mental health outside the contract day, and contracts additional workshops 4.
• Contracted counseling. Moved by Na, seconded by Gagnier. $300,000 goes to Chino Human Services and additional providers (LCAP Goal 2, Action 17). The minutes print the change as "from $401,433.00 to $701,443.00" 4; the October 21 plan lists that line at $401,443.00 14. Staff tied this money to Na's request for licensed therapists, contracting the service out instead of putting a therapist at every school 15.
• Intervention counselors. Moved by Na, seconded by Gagnier. $1,040,000 goes to the behavior support (MTSS-B) line, which now increases K-12 intervention counselors "by 18 more than previously allocated in the LCAP," keeps the MTSS-B coordinator, and is set at $2,435,486.00 45. The October 21 plan had 10 more counselors and a coordinator at $1,395,486.00 16. Staff explained that the 500-to-1 proposal would have meant adding 31 counselors, and that 18 was more than the original plan but fewer than that proposal and would put one at every school site 1517.

Gagnier then moved, and Na seconded, approval of the October 21, 2021 ESSER III plan as amended, which the minutes record as approved by roll call 5. Board members' remarks in the discussion are not summarized here, because the minutes record the motions and votes but not what members said.

What the district posted afterward

The plan the district posted as its "FINAL Approved" board copy carries the amended air quality language, the $500,000 Family Engagement Center line, $701,443.00 for Chino Human Services and "18 K-12 intervention counselors and 1 coordinator," with the plan total unchanged at $34,040,685.00 18. It lists $4,060,486.00 for the counselor line and $1,535,000.00 for facilities, while the minutes set the counselor line at $2,435,486.00 185. The record here does not explain the difference. The posted plan says that after hearing from the community and after board discussion, the board made recommended changes, and that the plan reflects them 18.

At the November 4 meeting, Molly Large of CHAMP thanked Superintendent Norm Enfield and district staff for working to ensure the ESSER III plan was submitted 19.

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