January 20, 2022: Board Declares a Staffing "State of Emergency" Over COVID-19 Mandates and Tables New Trustee Maps

President Christina Gagnier called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m. in Don Lugo High School's multi-purpose room and, after closed session, reconvened the open session at 6:00 p.m. with Don Bridge, Andrew Cruz, James Na, Joe Schaffer and Gagnier present 1. The board adopted a resolution declaring a district-wide shortage of classroom teachers and staff, tabled new trustee-area maps until a study session, and approved its consent calendar 23. The minutes list 17 names under public comment on items not on the agenda, many of them on COVID-19 mandates, testing and masking 2. Gagnier adjourned the meeting at 7:48 p.m. 4

This page's record is the district's adopted minutes, which the board approved on February 3, 2022 5. Names come from the minutes or the district's agenda packet; recording remarks are attributed to a named person only within the subject the minutes give that person.

🚨 Staffing "state of emergency" resolution adopted

Resolution 2021/2022-52 was a board member's item: the packet memo comes from James Na as clerk of the board and says he submitted it under Board Bylaw 9322 6. Its operative clause declares that the district "is unable to release its schoolteachers and support staff due to the State's COVID-19 mandates," and its recitals say the district had already raised substitute pay and was still short of staff 6.

The minutes list five speakers in support of the resolution: Parent Advocacy of Chino Valley; Carla Vande Steeg, on behalf of Chris Stevens; Kylene Valles; Aaron Valles; and Oscar Avila 2.

Na moved and Cruz seconded adoption, and on a roll call Bridge, Cruz, Na and Gagnier voted yes and Schaffer voted no 3. The minutes record the motion and the roll call but not the board's discussion, so this page does not summarize the debate heard on the recording 3.

🗺️ Trustee-area maps tabled for a study session

The item asked the board to hold a public hearing, choose one of three updated trustee-area map scenarios and adopt Resolution 2021/2022-53 7. Education Code 5019.5 requires districts that elect by trustee area to adjust their boundaries after each federal census so that each area's population is proportional 7, and the district posted the three draft plans on its website on December 17, 2021 7.

Instead, Cruz moved and Na seconded a motion to table the item until a study session is scheduled; it carried with Schaffer voting no 2.

At its February 3, 2022 meeting, the board held the public hearing, chose Scenario 1 and adopted Resolution 2021/2022-53 5.

🏗️ Chino High offsite work: a tender agreement, with the president recused

Gagnier pulled item IV.D.11 from the consent calendar for separate action 3. The packet memo, prepared by Gregory J. Stachura and Anna G. Hamilton, explains that on December 16, 2021 the board ended Moreno Valley Construction's contract for the Chino High School reconstruction offsite improvements for default, and that the district then demanded that the contractor's surety, Arch Insurance Company, complete the project for the contract balance of $1,670,000 8.

Na moved and Bridge seconded approval of the tender agreement with Arch Insurance Company and Bogh Engineering, Inc. to complete the work, and the minutes record that Gagnier recused herself 4. On the recording she gave the reason as a conflict of interest with one of the parties named in the item, as a shareholder at Carlton Fields 9.

📊 Audits and other reports

The board received the 2020/2021 annual financial audit and the Measure G financial and performance audit, with oral reports from Scott Bradach of Eide Bailly LLP 2. On the recording he said the firm issued an unmodified opinion on the district's financial statements, with no material weaknesses or significant deficiencies identified 10, and he called it "a very clean audit" 11. For the Measure G building fund he reported no financial statement findings and, from a sample of expenditures, no non-compliance 1111.

The board also received the Williams quarterly uniform complaint report for October through December 2021, which shows zero complaints in every category 212, and a revision of Board Bylaw 9320 on meetings and notices 2. The revision adds a section on teleconferencing during a proclaimed state of emergency to reflect AB 361 (2021) 13. The board approved it on February 3, 2022 5.

🗂️ Closed session and consent calendar

Out of closed session, the board appointed Lisa Lista as assistant principal at Liberty Elementary School, effective date to be determined 2.

Na moved and Bridge seconded approval of the rest of the consent calendar 3. Among the items:

• Payment for legal services to Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo; Margaret A. Chidester & Associates; and Tao Rossini, APC 3.
• Two student expulsion cases 3.
• The 2021/2022 School Accountability Report Cards, a resolution recognizing February as Career and Technical Education Month, and the continued funding application for Child Development Services CSPP 3.
• A $139,000 award to Tiber Corporation, the lowest of ten bids, to prepare classrooms for ViewSonics at Butterfield Ranch and Hidden Trails elementary schools and Ayala High School 48.
• A new job description for a Database Administrator, and student-teaching agreements with Hope International University and the University of Redlands 4.

🗣️ Comments to the board

Barbara Bearden, CHAMP president, spoke about COVID's impact on the community and on employee shortages, thanked administrators, teachers and staff for covering where needed, and thanked families for their flexibility 2. On the recording she said schools were already seeing an improvement in overall staff and student attendance 14. The minutes record the student representative as absent 2.

The recording logs 13 requests to speak when this comment period opened 15. The minutes list these speakers and subjects, grouped here by subject and not in speaking order 2:

• COVID-19 mandates, testing and discrimination: Samara Sanchez and Hilda Rodriguez (medical discrimination associated with COVID-19 mandates); Carla Vande Steeg (teacher testing and discrimination against the unvaccinated); Deb Rosen (teacher and staff COVID testing and discriminatory practices); Lorraine Harris, on behalf of a friend (employee discrimination and segregation of the unvaccinated); Cindy Foisy (the COVID narrative).
• Masking: Nicole Vicario (an employment concern associated with masking), with time donated by Christina Mooney; Misty Startup (negative effects of masking on speech development, opposition to the school time change, and employee discrimination associated with mandates).
• Other subjects: Byron Gonzalez (opposed to COVID vaccine mandates and transgender restrooms); Kristal (gender identity concerns); Jake (constitutional rights); Heather Peery (a student incident at Don Lugo High School); Juli Santorsola (medical exemptions), with time donated by Bernadette on the student time change; Parent Advocacy of Chino Valley (meeting updates, Superintendent and Board power, and an SB 328 update); Jim Gallagher (a Chino Valley Chamber job fair).

The minutes record subjects, not remarks, so the comments heard on the recording are not summarized here. The meeting followed a year in which, the Chino Valley Champion reported, the district "was most impacted by the pandemic when parents opposed to vaccination mandates for teachers, staff and students held protests and jammed school board meetings" 16.

🏛️ Board and superintendent communications

Schaffer and Bridge made no comment 4.

Na asked that staff look into the student masking incident a parent reported at the meeting, spoke about a letter from a Canyon Hills Junior High student requesting a crossing guard, spoke about the spread of COVID by the vaccinated and unvaccinated, and thanked teachers, staff and the student speakers 4.

Cruz called teachers and staff superheroes, spoke about humanity, and said he was proud of the community for speaking out 4. He also said a leading WHO scientist had indicated there is no evidence that healthy children and adolescents need a COVID shot, and spoke about a CDC analysis confirming a 40% spike in deaths among 18- to 49-year-olds over the last year 4. CNBC had reported two days earlier that WHO chief scientist Dr. Soumya Swaminathan said there was "no evidence right now" that healthy children and adolescents need booster shots 17. A Lead Stories fact-check of a similar 40% claim, attributed to the CEO of insurer OneAmerica and covering ages 18 to 64, found the rise real but said comparing July through September 2021 with 2019 misled, and attributed the rise to COVID-19 18.

Superintendent Norm Enfield wished everyone a happy new year, said January would be the most difficult month the district faced, credited teachers, staff and administrators with keeping schools open, and said he believes it is better to keep children in school 4. On the recording he added that the district was starting to see a downtick 19.

Gagnier said she is not keen on SB 328 and would bring a resolution supporting amendment of SB 328 by the State Senate and State Assembly, and she thanked the parent committee that worked on schedules within the law's restrictions 4. On the recording she called the law "ill-conceived" and noted that former Governor Brown had vetoed it 1920. A resolution asking the Legislature to amend SB 328 to delay its implementation came to the February 3 meeting, where the board tabled it for revision to ask that the law be rescinded rather than delayed 21.