Board of Education — February 11, 2025

Sorry for the delay. The meeting of the Board of Education is starting at 6.08. All right. Alina, would you like to lead us in the pledge tonight?

Ready?

Begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. Is there a motion to approve the agenda with flexibility, including consent items to be called together?

So moved. Second.

Thank you, Patty. Thank you, Melissa. Sorry.

Okay. Any discussion on that? All right.

I'll call the vote. Board Member Ayala Quintero? Aye. Board Member Olson? Aye. President Render? Aye. Vice President Hollihan? Aye. Clerk Wilson? Aye. Student Trustee?

Aye.

Motion carried, 5-0.

Thank you. Is there a motion? Oh, actually, I'm going to do roll call. Board Member Olson? Present. Board Member Ayala-Contero? Present. Board Member Wilson? Here. And Vice President Hollihan? Present. Student Trustee Jost? Present. And I am here. Is there a motion to approve the minutes of the January 14, 2025 Board of Education regular meeting?

I'm off. Second.

Thank you, Melissa. Thank you, Patty. Any discussion on that?

Seeing none, I'll call for the vote. Board President, Board Member Ayala Quintero.

Aye.

Board Member Olson. Aye. President Rendler. Aye. Vice President Hollihan. Aye. Clerk Wilson. Aye. Student Trustee.

Aye.

Motion carried, 5-0.

I'm sorry. In regard to the public employment appointment, part of the agenda I would like to report the following. During closed session, the board unanimously took action to accept the superintendent's recommendation to appoint Todd Rossi to the position of director of special services, effective to be determined at step three of the management team salary schedule. Todd, would you like to come say anything?

Do you have anybody here with you? Yes, I do. So thank you, our board, and I appreciate your support and your consistency for the minutes.

My other wife, Julie, will be here with me tonight. Hi.

And son, Mark, who are both Citrus Valley graduates.

Welcome. Welcome.

In regards to public employment employee discipline dismissal and release, during closed session, the board unanimously took action to accept the superintendent's recommendation to terminate the temporary employment contract of certificated employee 2024-25-05, effective February 12, 2025, pursuant to ENCODE section 44954, and directed the superintendent or designee to send out appropriate legal notices. Moving on to student trustee report. Do we have any report?

Yes, I hope you guys are all having a good evening. So I don't have anything to report for E-Academy, but I'll start off with Orangewood. So Orangewood High School held a blood drive on January 28th. The event was successful with plenty of participation. Moving on to RHS, the RHS blood drive is tomorrow on February 12th, and their winter rally is this Friday, February 14th. RHS spirit leaders are heading to nationals this weekend, so wish them the best of luck. RHS is also currently accepting donations for feminine hygiene products for the victims of the L.A. wildfires. All items can be dropped off at their South Campus office, and the donation window ends on February 21st. Moving on to Rev, last Saturday, Rev had a school-wide campus cleanup led by ASB, Key Club, and Interact Club. Their boys' soccer just won CBL, and their girls' soccer got third place, and both will be advancing to CIF along with their boys' and girls' basketball teams. In their last blood drive, Rev hit a campus record for the most donations since pre-COVID. 103 units were collected, and 43 first-time donors donated this year. This week, ASB will be writing the names of all students and staff members on hearts for Valentine's Day, and they will give out candy next week. Last but not least is Citrus Valley, my home school. Last week, to celebrate the start of Black History Month, the CV Black Student Union held a spirit week dedicated to African American culture. Also, the WASC Accreditation Committee visited the Citrus Valley campus and interviewed students to talk about their experience at CV. Black Hawk Peer Tutoring also just restarted for the spring season. For Valentine's Day this Friday, we will be dressing up in red, white, pink, and purple to show off school spirit. And our choir is selling singing grams throughout this week to sing romantic tunes to anyone that receives a gram on Friday. Currently, ASB and our school clubs are also planning for our annual multicultural day, which will be held on March 20th. Lastly, Genesis is happening soon on February 21st, and many students are eagerly anticipating this night of fun. So that's what's going on with the student population this month. Thank you for listening.

Thank you. Do we have any reports from our associations? Redlands Teachers Association, Steve Caperton.

All right. Good evening. Good evening, board members, Superintendent Cabral, Jason. The Redlands Teachers Association, we pride ourselves on our history of working collaboratively with the district to provide the best possible education for our students. Comments have been made in recent board meetings about our test scores with the implication that RUSD and its teachers are somehow failing our students. I do not have the time tonight to do a deep dive into our test scores. They are a complicated subject with lots of nuance to understand properly. But I do need to point out that RUSD routinely beats county and state averages, and our AP scores are the envy of the Inland Empire. More importantly, you cannot measure the quality of an education by a single snapshot. Rather, it must be measured by the myriad factors that make up a quality school. It starts with quality instruction and curriculum, but it also includes how we teach students to overcome diversity, how to be good citizens, and how we engage their minds and show them the possibilities for the future. This happens daily with every school play, science fair, science cap, speech and debate tournament, or athletic event. I encourage all of you to attend as many of these events as possible and witness how our teachers educate the next generation of leaders. Last month, we witnessed the leadership skills of our students firsthand. Numerous students attended this board meeting and expressed concerns about the proposed flag policy. They spoke eloquently and with passion. They made their voices heard by this body. They took on a challenge that many adults would be too afraid to do, and I applaud their courage. The teachers of RUSD are engaged in this challenging work, and we are succeeding. To highlight some of these efforts, I have reached out to our members and arranged for volunteers to speak to this board over the next several meetings about the extraordinary work happening at their sites. Thank you. Thank you.

Education support professionals. Liz, do you have anything? Thank you.

Board members, Superintendent Cabral, Cabinet, and guests, I want to personally thank the students who spoke at last month's meeting. I am incredibly proud of them for standing up for what is right. It takes a great deal of courage to speak in front of a crowd, and their voices truly make a difference. As adults, we can learn so much from our students. I also want to share some exciting upcoming activities. RESPA is hosting a We Love Our Members event at Tartans tomorrow from 5 to 8 p.m. We invited all our members to join us in celebrating the hard work and dedication of our classified staff. I want to take a moment to address the ongoing concerns regarding paraprofessionals. Despite the critical work we do, we still haven't made things right for paras. I understand there is a savings from the director positions that were eliminated and I urge the board to consider using those funds to support and properly compensate paraprofessionals. The MOU signed three years ago under a previous RESPA leader did not fully restore what was lost, and after just one year, it was taken away. This left paraprofessionals without the security and fairness they deserve. I appreciate your time and your willingness to look into a real solution for Paris. Thank you.

Thank you. My name is Administrative Personnel... Personnel Association, Kim Liam.

Good evening, board members, Superintendent Cabral and Deputy Superintendent Hill. Thank you for the opportunity to share what RAPA is working on this evening. First off, we want to say a huge shout out and thank you to Superintendent Cabral for participating in the superintendent's panel at the AXA Region 12 Trust and Inspire event with Dr. Singh. I know many of us who were unable to attend are still excited to read the book, trust and inspire, and continue the conversation right here in RUSD. We are also working on an event that Michelle Linnertz is working to promote in partnership with AXA Women's Leadership Network, Leading Forward Together, Women Educating and Inspiring Each Other. This event will be held on March 3rd from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Sierra Lakes Golf Club, and registration is still open through February 17th, so we'd encourage our management team to get involved and attend. RAPA is also sponsoring our second management breakfast of the year on Thursday, March 6th at 7 AM here in the boardroom. The presentation at this breakfast is going to focus on social media and its impact on our students, as well as how our schools can support our students. And then finally, we are launching into scholarship season. So our RAPA team is excited and gearing up. This is always one of the best times of the year to review scholarship applications for the two scholarships that we sponsor through the Redlands Scholarship Foundation. And that's it. Thank you. Thank you.

We're going to move on to board committee reports.

Melissa, do you want to go first? We do not have a choir rep meeting in January, and our next meeting is tomorrow.

Candy.

I will be attending my first rep meeting tomorrow night, so I look forward to it. Can't wait to see what it's all about.

I'm sorry, no report.

Jeanette. Yes, I attended my first Redlands Compact Steering Committee meeting on January 16th.

And this week we're having the mixer that the Redlands Compact Steering Committee helps put on for the students. And the mission of the Redlands Compact, just in case you aren't aware, is to provide for all students the training and motivation to plan for and obtain jobs that are part of a well- career progression and this is really a truly collaboration between the community and the school district and has been going on for many many years and it's really a great I was very impressed with this organization and I Look forward to being involved. There will also be mock interviews in a couple weeks in case there's any business people who would like to help participate in those.

Thank you.

Thank you. Next we'll have our superintendent's report. Mr. Cabral.

Yes, thank you. Good evening, everyone. I'd like to update the board on the discussion that we had at the last meeting. There was a discussion on a flag policy, and as a result of that, there was a consensus to have a survey done. The update is since we last met, we received notice from both RTA and RESPA a demand to bargain the effects of such a policy. And so we pressed pause on creating any survey. And through our HR department, we reached out to RTA and RESPA and set up dates to negotiate the impacts. And so at this moment, that's where we are. That's the status of the outcome of that policy. And so I will continue to update the board on where we are with respect to negotiations. I believe we have a date set up for the 27th at the end of this month. And so I'll keep everybody informed.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Cabral. We will now move on to presentations tonight. We'll start with a compliance and Title IX update by Dr. Rudy Wilson.

Good evening. Thank you for the opportunity to present tonight. I am presenting on behalf of the Compliance Department. This is simply an update on the status of the department as it relates to the types and number of complaints that we've had come in since the beginning of the year. Some of you may not know, but as part of the stipulated judgment, the Department of Justice mandated that a position in Redlands was created, and that is my position as the Assistant Superintendent of Compliance. And the responsibility within my department relies on making certain that we receive, document, investigate, and resolve complaints. The specific complaints that come through my office would be Title IX, UCP, or any type of district level complaints which could encompass many different levels. By now, because we've advertised so much, I believe from the survey results that we'll look at, I believe that most of our students and many of our families understand how to file a complaint. But for the benefit of those who are here or are listening, you can always go on the district website to file a complaint. We still use Sprigio, which is an anonymous reporting tool that we use as well as WeTip. And, of course, you can always file a complaint through the school site or the school district website. The biggest part of my job as it relates to the stipulated judgment is Title IX and making certain that we are abiding by the federal law. And so the federal law prohibits sex-based discrimination in any educational program or activity receiving federal funds. This law protects students, employees, and applicants in school settings. By applicants, it means that if you're simply applying for the district, we're still mandated under Title IX. The types of violations, they include sexual harassment, assault, gender-based discrimination, unequal opportunities in athletics, and retaliation as a result of reporting a violation through Title IX. With most complaints, the process is once you file a complaint, you receive an acknowledgement letter from the district. We send out a notice of allegation, and there is an investigator who is assigned. As part of that, we also offer supportive measures, which vary from counseling or in extreme cases, if we can identify that there is a safety concern, we also have the ability to temporarily reassign a student. Or if it's a staff, we can place a staff member on administrative leave, paid administrative leave. Once the investigation is concluded, you will receive a notice of determination, and that simply means that based on the preponderance of evidence, the district has made a decision about the responsibility as it relates to the allegations. And as always, there is an appeal process, which is typically documented in the letter that you will receive. The other large aspect of the compliance department is dealing with UCP complaints. And specifically, this is the process for addressing complaints related to educational programs, discrimination, harassment, or noncompliance with state or federal law. As you go through and look at this particular slide, It deals with the discrimination that is based on race, sex, or disability. So some things that don't necessarily apply under Title IX may actually be covered through the UCP. That also includes violations of state and federal educational laws, pupil fees, special education rights, and noncompliance with local control and accountability plan. And this process of filing a complaint is very similar to what I just described under Title IX. And as with Title IX, there's also the appeal process. Hopefully this works. So as of December the 20th of 2024, This is what is on our website, and this simply outlines the number and types of complaints as it relates to Title IX and or UCPs. What you should note, and I know you probably can't read it from where you're sitting, but what you should note under Title IX, the green represent the number of cases that are student to student related, which is both a good thing and a bad thing. The one thing that we do not want to see would be any Title IX cases where it is an adult to student. And as of yet, we don't have one case where it's actually adult to student Title IX. So the information that needs to get out there is actually getting out there. The cases, if you were to go online and look at it, you will see adult to student. That's actually representing boundary policy violations that we have. If you move on to the UCPs, again, the green represents student to student and there's a large, it's the yellow, the 20.3%, there's a large percentage of bullying cases that we also deal with under the UCP policy. And this will, once we meet with the climate survey again, this will actually get updated. So there are certain steps that we're taking to make certain that we prevent further violations either under Title IX or the UCP. There is a student climate survey that was administered some time ago. And we had out of 11,000 sixth grade through 12th grade students, we had about 8,000 who actually took the survey, which was very impressive because we've got some great data out of that. The other thing that we're doing, there's a climate advisory committee that is comprised of three parents and three students. And my responsibility to that committee is to meet with them, share the results of the climate survey, and get recommendations for improving it. One of the recommendations that was made by the Climate Advisory Committee was to make certain that we met with students. And we actually went to both Clement and CV High School to do a student focus group. And one of the pieces that we got back in terms of feedback was to make certain that We modified certain questions. So, for example, I think it was question number 20. The question read, if they reported an incident, did they feel that there would be retaliation from the school? Now, the catch was, who was the school? And so we took that feedback and we revised it so we either specified that it was administration, staff, or their peers. And so that new survey will go out in April. We have posted in just about every aspect of school, restrooms, locker rooms, and the main office, in terms of how to report these cases. And you might be surprised to know that we get a lot of students that actually call my office and advocate for themselves, which is exactly what you want. Surprisingly, one of the pieces of feedback that we got is some students actually don't want their parents to know. That's not an option. So we go through and we actually explain that process to them. There are, I believe, five, six different videos that will be part of this process. They're lessons. They're all age-appropriate. As a matter of fact, I will show you a quick snippet of one at the end of this presentation. Our staff has annual trainings that we are mandated to go through, and we also have what's known as micro-trainings, which are done monthly. This is a slide that talks about the action steps that the Climate Committee wanted us to take, and I mentioned just a few of those. And this is actually up on our district website. So there were over 25 questions, I believe, and one of the things that I'd mentioned is, if I can get to it, my apologies, this. When I first got to the district, it was told to me that most of our surveys were under 10 questions, and this one was 20, so to get to About 8,000 students to actually respond to it was very impressive. And students were able to opt out of this survey, but it's actually going to be posted for anybody to look at. They will also have the opportunity to opt out of the lessons. We actually have a window that's open where the parents can simply opt their children out. But, again, that will be – that will – That will be presented on the website as well. And this is towards the end, so I will play just a snippet of this particular video, if it had audio.

From the School District's Department of Civil Rights and Compliance. It's about how you have the right to feel safe and comfortable at school. Your body belongs to you and nobody else. Today we will be talking about some sensitive topics.

So if you feel upset, your teacher... And again, these videos will be posted online for parents to determine whether or not they're going to have their children opt out of the lessons. As I said, they're all age appropriate. This is TK, and they're actually talking more about boundaries as opposed to something that you would see at the junior and senior level. So you'll have an opportunity to take a look at that. And if there are no questions.

I have one question. These videos, when will they be rolled out to kids?

The videos are, so we currently are waiting on our middle school and high school videos to be completed. And those will go to the Department of Justice and then, of course, to the board for a preview. So we are anticipating that those videos will be done this week. We'll send it to the DOJ and then present it to the board. The date, the target date that we have to actually administer the videos or the lesson, excuse me, would be the third week in April. So we have time.

Thank you. just have a comment. I just want to thank you publicly. I know when you first came here, you had a stack about this much of work to do, and you're making progress with that, and you're continuing to get us further ahead. So I just want to thank you for all of your hard work, you and your department, because it did not go unnoticed. Thank you.

I agree.

Speaking of my department, I want to recognize Yadira Lopez, who is my assistant back there. She's phenomenal. Mark Blaine, Heather Rowe. Dr. Leonards and Dr. Liam and Ernesto Lazarega. They are making this job very, very tolerable and easy. So thank you.

Thank you, Dr. Wilson.

I actually had a comment. No questions, just a comment. I want to thank you again for presenting this to us. But also I want to thank our students for participating in the survey because almost 8,000 out of 10,000, that was not what I thought it would be anywhere near. So thank you to all our students for participating. And also thank you to those students who are advocating for themselves. To hear that we have students calling and advocating for themselves is amazing. And it just shows that there are still kids out there who are confident enough to be able to defend themselves when they feel they've been wronged. So I love that. So thank you for doing that.

Thank you.

Any other questions or comments?

Okay, thank you, Dr. Wilson. Okay, moving on to our next presentation, CryRops American Sign Language Pathway at Redlands High School.

All right. Good evening, President Rendler, members of the board, Superintendent Cabral. We are so pleased that CRYROP has the opportunity to present tonight during CTE month. And at this time, I'm going to introduce Miss Daphne Hunter-Rakes to share some of the wonderful things that she and her students are doing in the American Sign Language program over at Redlands High School.

Thank you. Good evening. Just like Superintendent from CRYROP, just said. My name is Daphne Hunter Rakes. I'm so sorry. It's so hard to talk without signing. So I'm just going to go ahead and do what I do in the classroom. I teach a two-year program, so ASL 1 and ASL 2, and I've been a part of PRIROP as a CTE ASL teacher for now 11 years. And so tonight we have a little highlight video that we're going to share with you so that you can actually see the students in action. But what I want to bring up is that I have also invited an ASL 2 capstone student so you can hear from the students themselves. So before I go ahead and introduce her, what I wanted to tell you is our students are not just learning this beautiful language, they're learning the history of the deaf and the hard of hearing, and they're learning the culture, and they're finding more and more opportunities amongst our own community to actually put into action, do they want to be interpreters since there's such a demand? We do more than just satisfy the foreign language requirement, but they're really seeing, is this something I want to do as a job, or maybe just merge it with what major I'm looking into, and I can still serve this community while I'm doing what it is that I have a heart's desire for. So I just wanted to let you know what it is we do, and the video will be queuing up, and you will see RHS students who actually are signing and singing their alma mater.

Where the purple snow-capped mountains reach the clear blue sky, lies our cherished alma mater. Our dear Redlands house. Two, five. Alma mater, alma mater. Deep graven in each heart. Our loyalty unwavering true. Forever from you we part. Two.

That was beautiful.

Thank you. If you could please just pause for just a moment. What you just saw there was we had a special invitation like we've never had before. And that was to send students to interpret on stage in a live audience of 5,000 of other high school leaders. And so now, I'm sorry. Thank you for pausing. That never happens, and now we were just invited two weeks ago to send more students to interpret, and they interpreted for the top Canadian youth motivational speaker, and so now we're getting more and more opportunities as the word gets out, and so they want to see the students do it, not just professionals, so they see that next rung up, and so more mentorship coming. So thank you so much for this opportunity, and now if I can introduce my ASL 2 capstone student, and also cry-rop ambassador, as well as ASL club president. This is Nazira Sifuddin.

Thank you, Misty. I would like to thank the board member for letting me present CryRops American Sign Language Pathway at Redlands High School. So I'm in ASL 2, but in ASL 1, they're currently learning their animals unit and to learn how to sign stories. And in ASL 1, we're given these key projects that we must do, and it's small things like projects or fun things in the classroom like Signing stories. Okay, well, I'll talk more about ASL One, but my personal favorite project in ASL One was being able to go out and feel what it was like to be a deaf student, and that was when we were in our foods unit, and we went out, And we basically turned off our voices and pretended like we were deaf. And this really showed me what it was like to be a deaf person and how it feels to be treated. And that was one of my favorite projects. And I really liked that I got to work with others during that unit. In ASL 1, oh, we also do the vow of silence. So both ASL 1 and ASL 2 partake in this vow of silence where we honor the deaf community. And that is when, for a day during the school, we turn off our voices and we kind of go through what it's like to be a deaf student. And throughout each class period, we write entries about how it was like and how they treated us. So for ASL One's class assignment, they're doing an animal story video, and this is Mariah Rojas. She is citing The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and this is what all ASL One students are doing. And they do other projects like Yeah, like we we kind of get together and make these like short funny videos for Misty and we sign stories, videos basically to test like our knowledge on ASL. And this is Don Caterpillar. Okay, well, in ASL 2, we are learning to interpret music videos. So... Amazing signer, by the way. Loved watching her. But in ASL2, we are, we get to work in either groups, duos, or by ourselves in solos, and we're doing music videos which will then go into a competition that we have this, February 27th, and this is when we pick a school-appropriate song and interpret it. In ASL 2, I feel like we get to learn more deeper. In ASL 1, we also touched this space, but of learning deeper about ASL's history, its culture, and the deaf community, and how we can respect and understand all of it. In ASL 2, we're given a lot of these opportunities to sign for our school, like signing at rallies, signing at the Optimist game, which is where signers will be paired up with a deaf or hard of hearing child, and that child gets to go through the Optimist games with a signing friend. And we also do... I'm sorry. Veterans Day Parade and the Christmas Parade where we sign. So in ASL Club, we're giving deaf events. Last year, there was the deaf event at Uncle Howie's Pizza where more than 50 students gathered together, turned off our voices, and signed to each other with deaf guests. And this is really exciting. and signing opportunities. Like I said, we have the rally that's coming up this Friday and we're called, those are called rally signers. And then other opportunities like the one I had been to last Friday about Universal getting to interpret when they were talking about STEM. And then the one before that was a leadership conference at Knott's. And that's all. Is there any questions?

I'm just really impressed.

It's a lot. I don't think what I have to speak shows, like, as much as it is.

Oh, no, I think that you're all very impressive, because I don't think I could do that.

I had a question. You may have said this, but how many students are in this pathway?

Actually, this year, I do teach all six periods, so I have a total right now of 178 students, and that is low for me.

Wow.

I usually have full load, so 210 students. This is the lowest school year I've ever had.

That's very impressive. Very good presentation. And it's amazing the mentorships that you're setting up to this and being able to practice the talent and skill at events is really great.

Thank you so much. And I'm just so grateful that we had a student willing to come and share this.

More comments? I just want to thank our student for coming out tonight. You did a great job sitting up here doing everything. Thank you. Congratulations.

Thank you for this opportunity.

Sarah and Mrs.

Deeper presenting about your ASL class. And I think we should take this as a sign to expand our ASL day classes to also CV. So that more students can get the opportunity to communicate with the hard of hearing community as well, like you guys do. So thank you.

Thank you. Okay, we'll move on to public participation. This is the time that any member of the public may address the board on any agenda or consent item listed for consideration. Provided the person submits a completed registration card to address the board form to the clerk of the board or his or her designee prior to the time the chairperson calls the item for the board's consideration. This is not meant to be a debating period. Comments and concerns regarding agenda or consent items will be heard immediately. but any issues related to policy matters will be referred to the superintendent. The person wishing to address the board shall, when recognized by the chairperson of the board, step up to the podium and announce his or her name. In the interest of facilitating the business of the board, the chairperson shall establish the amount of time each speaker may use to address the board prior to the first speaker. And we're doing three minutes, right? How many cards do we have?

Can we help adjust the clock to three minutes? Sure.

So it'll be no more than three minutes, unless the chairperson or majority of the board determines a different time limit, but we're going to use three minutes. Clerk Wilson, do you have any speaker cards for those who will be speaking on any agenda consent item?

Yes, the first speaker is Bay, B-E-A. Speaking on the school board compensation number 21.

B by the way so I wanted to say as a parent that I want to encourage the board to increase the compensation of its members and I recognize that it puts a burden on taxpayers and it may feel laudable to ease that burden but however not providing that compensation prevents people of middle or lower income families who might otherwise be motivated to represent their schools and students to shy away from that work and it increases the chance that the board will pass policies that they think are prudent to save money, but make it more challenging for children like mine to get services. It took us three years to get an IEP for my kid, and it was because the district would not recognize the need, despite the principal, teachers, and counselors at my child's school all recognizing that need. And that meant we needed to spend our own money to get adequate mental health services and take time out of our day to support the school when our child struggled. And to keep our child home when the behaviors described in the 504 were too much for the school to manage. Some families might not have the time, the money, and the resources that we had to do something like that. And they may struggle to find representation and to... because they don't have somebody who understands their plight and their concerns. And so I think it would be beneficial to all of the taxpayers to basically have more compensation for the school board members so that those families who would like to represent their children and have those resources could do so. Yeah, so that's it. Thank you.

Thank you, B. Next speaker is Greg Britton, speaking on XV1 student discipline.

I put in two blue cards. Do I get separately or address both, or how does that work?

Oh, yes, you should have been given a blue card per.

I put in two, so I just wonder how it works.

Okay, I was only given one.

We only have one, but you would get separate time for each blue card.

So I looked through the student discipline list there, and of course you can't tell what happened in any of these cases. And it's obtuse to the members of the public whether or not appropriate discipline is being given. It's obtuse to the families of other people involved in discipline cases. Is my child being disciplined fairly in relationship to what other children are getting? It's totally obtuse. And I know you don't want to use names. I got that. I agree with that. But you should provide more information so other students, staff members, parents Everyone is affected, and members of the public know whether appropriate discipline is being meted out. Is it too harsh? Is it not harsh enough? Back during the Obama administration, they came out with this letter that went out to the school districts, not a rule, not a law. It talked about they wanted proportionate discipline across racial categories. And in some schools, it had a devastating effect as students who were guilty of serious misconduct were not punished. And they continue to offend, and they continue to affect the education of the children who wanted to learn, who wanted to try to get ahead in their lives. So I would encourage you, student privacy is important, but to give enough information so everyone involved and the public can know whether you're meeting out appropriate discipline to the circumstance. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Britton.

You don't have a second blue card that was turned in with any specific agenda item. Did you have another item, sir? It's up to the board, but we don't have that card, but you're more than welcome to come up and take time on that item.

Thank you again, Greg Britton. Bonds pass, you're authorized for $500 million of bonds. And, of course, the bonds, when you pay them back, are basically double that by the time you count the interest. So the fact that you have the authority doesn't necessarily mean you should use it. On the agenda, you're going to authorize $100 million. That means $200 million that's going to get paid back by future taxpayers. And what is the need for it? California, I don't know about this district, but has declining enrollment rates. The state spending on education is now up to $24,000 a year. It was just back at $17,000 a few years ago. Is there some reason why you need to tax future taxpayers with bonds? You should have a specific list of projects that the public, the board, everyone can evaluate and say, we think these projects warrant bonds. the expense of a bond. And of course, in addition to interest, you have all the fees and the attorney fees, all the fees associated with issuing bonds. But I don't see that in the agenda. So before you go ahead and obligate we future taxpayers to paying back $200 million, for what? We should have the for what before you embark on that process and issue the bonds. Thank you.

Thank you again.

the superintendent's recommendations. First, we have consent items under business services. Mr. Hill, do you have any changes or additions?

Thank you, President. There are no changes or additions tonight.

Is there a motion to approve items 13, consent items A through H? I'm off. Second. Thank you, Melissa. Thank you, Patty. Any discussion? Any discussion?

Yes, just happy to see that everyone's going on competitions, either wrestling or cheerleading or AVID on these, and it's great to approve everyone that's going, especially when they're going to look at colleges on our AVID programs. I think it's great for that. It's a great opportunity to go during spring break.

Okay, I'm going to call for the vote. On the wrong section. Consent.

Yeah.

On business services consent.

Okay. Yeah, it was. It was on the. I'm going to call for the vote. Board Member Ayala-Quintero. Aye. Board Member Olson. Aye. President Rendler. Aye. Vice President Hollihan. Aye. Clerk Wilson.

Aye.

Student Trustee. Aye. Motion carried 5-0.

Adopt resolution number 30, 2024-2025, resolution of the Board of Education of the Redlands Unified School District, canvassing the results of the general obligation bond election held within the district on November 5, 2024. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Thank you, Patty. Thank you, Melissa. Any discussion? Okay, no discussion. Adopt resolution number 31, 2425, resolution of the...

I messed up. Call the vote. Yep. Need to call the vote, I'm sorry.

Board Member Ayala Quintero? Aye. Board Member Olson? Aye. President Rendler? Aye. Vice President Hollihan? Aye. Clerk Wilson?

Aye.

Student Trustee? Aye. Motion carried, 5-0.

Adopt Resolution No. 31-2425, Resolution of the Board of Education of Redlands Unified School District, providing for the issuance and sale of Redlands Unified School District General Obligation Bonds 2024 Election Series A. in the principal amount of not to exceed $100 million, prescribing the term of the bonds and their sale, approving the form of bonds, authorizing execution and delivery of a bond purchase agreement, authorizing delivery of a preliminary official statement and official statement with respect to such bonds, authorizing executive... and execution of certain documents and agreements in connection with the issuance of such bonds, making certain findings and determinations, and taking related action. Do you have a motion?

Approval.

Okay.

Second. Thank you, Patty. Thank you, Jeanette. Any discussion? Okay, we'll call for the vote.

Member Ayala Quintero. Aye. Board Member Olson. Aye. President Redler. Aye. Vice President Hollihan. Aye. Clerk Wilson.

Aye.

Student Trustee. Aye. Motion carried 5-0.

Moving on to consent items under educational services. Mrs. Buckmiller, do you have any changes or additions?

Yes, we do. Please pull item U as an umbrella on page 12 and replace it with the one in front of you. The one in the packet is missing a few school names.

Thank you.

Just for clarity, the attachments, so every copy of the SARC is included. Just the list was missing four school names.

Do we have to pull it, though? Can we just amend it?

We can amend it. I think she meant to just amend to include those schools. There's four schools that were missing.

Mariposa, Cope, and Orangewood. Orangewood.

Okay. Do you have a motion to take action items 16A through 16N?

I'll move as corrected.

Second. Thank you, Melissa. Thank you, Patty. Any discussion on any of these items?

I had a comment.

Okay, so I'm going to change that. A motion to approve items 15, consent items A through U. I'll make the motion to approve.

That's correct. With the amendment. I'll second.

Thank you, Patty. Thank you, Melissa. Thanks for catching that. I was on the wrong page. Okay, any discussion on these items?

I had a question slash comment.

Just wondering why some were approving them in arrears that they've already taken place.

Let's ratify.

We're ratifying a couple of trips because we did not have the information, all the information in time to approve it before the trip. At times when that happens so that the students do not miss the trip, they take the trip and then we ask for the board to ratify it. Ms. Buckmiller is creating a system that will allow us to have everything ahead of time in the future.

Oh, that's great.

Yeah.

Thank you.

I probably should have said a motion to ratify or approve, but okay. Okay. So we'll call for the vote.

Board Member Ayala-Quintero? Aye. Board Member Olson? Aye. President Rendler? Aye. Vice President Hollihan? Aye. Clerk Wilson?

Aye.

Student Trustee? Aye. Motion carried, 5-0.

All right, now we're moving on to educational services action items. Let's go ahead and take items 16A through you all together. I mean N. I'm sorry. N. That one's N. All together.

Do you have a motion? Move. Second? Second. Any discussion?

This would be time to ask any questions regarding these cases.

I don't have any questions.

Oh, I thought you did have questions. I thought you had questions on the expulsions.

Oh, I thought we were doing them in closed session.

Oh, okay. We can... I mean, questions. Sorry, that's my fault. I misunderstood.

Okay. Any other discussion? All right. We'll call for the vote.

Member Ayala Quintero? Aye. Board Member Olson? Aye. President Redler? Aye. Vice President Hollihan?

I'm sorry, aye.

Rick Wilson? Aye. Student trustee? Abstain. Motion carried, 5-0.

Okay, we're moving on to consent items under human resources. Mrs. Bruick, do you have any changes or additions?

Yes, President Rundler. If I can bring your attention to consent item A, K. A as in apple, K as in kangaroo. On the appendix item, there is a typo on your page 964. 964 of your packet.

And so in front of you, there should be a revised paper. And there is a typo on the maintenance and operations manager title. It's been corrected.

Okay. Do we have a motion to approve items 17, consent items A through AO? So, second. Who was that? Candy. Candy. Okay. Thank you, Patty. Thank you, Candy. Any discussion on any of these items?

Okay, I'll call for the vote. Board Member Ayala-Quintero? Aye. Board Member Olson?

Aye.

President Rendler? Aye. Vice President Hollihan? Aye. Clerk Wilson? Aye. Student Trustee? Abstain.

Motion carried, 5-0. Okay, moving on to human resources, action items. Mrs. Brooke, any changes or additions? Certificated approved 2025-2026 declaration of need for fully qualified educators for submission to the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. Do you have a motion?

So moved.

Second. Thank you, Patty. Thank you, Melissa. Any discussion?

Seeing none, we'll call for the vote. Board Member Ayala Quintero?

Aye.

Board Member Olsen?

Aye.

President Redler? Aye. Vice President Hollihan? Aye. Clerk Wilson?

Aye.

Student Trustee? Abstain. Motion carried, 5-0.

Okay, classified. Adopt resolution number 33, 2425, pertaining to layoffs and or reduction of classified positions. Do I have a motion?

Move.

Second. Thank you, Melissa. Any discussion?

Okay, we'll call for the vote. Board Member Ayala Quintero? Aye. Board Member Olsen? Aye. President Rendler? Aye. Vice President Hollihan? Aye. Clerk Wilson? Aye. Student Trustee? Abstain. Motion carried, 5-0.

We're going to go ahead and take items 18C through K together. Do I have a motion to take action items 13C through 13K? So moved.

I mean 18, I'm sorry.

18C through 18K.

So moved.

Second. Second. Thank you, Patty. Thank you, Jeanette. Any discussion? Any discussion? All right, seeing none, we'll call for the vote.

Board Member Ayala-Quintero? Aye. Board Member Olson? Aye. President Rendler? Aye. Vice President Hollihan? Aye. Clerk Wilson?

Aye.

Student Trustee? Abstain. Motion carried, 5-0.

Next, we're going to approve the student attendance calendar for the 2026-2027 school year. This is the second and final read. Do I have a motion? I'll move. Second. Any discussion?

We just started 25. And here we are with 27 calendar.

No discussion on the calendar? Okay. I'll call for the vote.

Board Member Ayala-Quintero? Aye. Board Member Olson? Aye. President Rendler? Aye. Vice President Hollihan? Aye. Clerk Wilson? Aye. Student Trustee? Aye. Motion carried, 5-0.

Thank you. Moving on to public participation. This is the time that any member of the public may address the board on anything that falls under the jurisdiction of the Board of Education, providing the person submits a completed registration card to address the board form to the clerk of the board or his or her designee prior to the time the chairperson calls the item for the board's consideration. This is not meant to be a debating period. Complaints and problems relating to policy matters will be referred to the superintendent. The person wishing to address the board shall, when recognized by the chairperson of the board, step up to the podium and announce his or her name. In the interest of facilitating the business of the board, the chairperson shall establish the amount of time each speaker may use to address the board prior to the first speaker. And we'll be doing three minutes. Unless the chairperson or majority of the board determine that a different time limit is appropriate. Clerk Wilson, do we have any cards?

We're doing three minutes? Mm-hmm. Okay.

So I'm going to call out the first two people. First speaker would be Patricia Malnar, and second would be Noah Rosen.

Good evening, board. Good evening, community. I am here because I wish to discuss the policy that continued the discussion from last time. As a teacher, as a parent in the district, it is important to me that we celebrate the voices of all students and allow for freedom of speech for them and for the community. And I am concerned because the policy, as we discussed last time, the policy would severely limit that. And one of the things that was discussed last time was the idea of having a survey. And I heard, uh, I heard superintendent Cabral discuss that the survey being held off for now, but I want to suggest to you that you look at the input of that has already been received through before the last meeting, during the last meeting and afterwards, uh, It was a very strong consensus that the board policy was misguided and the board policy was not approved for by the community. So I ask the board, I ask you, President Rendler, to consider that the will of the people has spoken. that people clearly want to see the policy continue as it has been, where we celebrate the community. The American flag is very important, and I agree with that. In my classroom, students... Pledge the flight, and that is their right, to do so or not. It is also important that members in the community have a chance to be celebrated as well, because we are a vast and diverse community. So please, I urge you to consider that people have spoken, that those who chose to have spoken before the last meeting, during, and after. And I believe you received postcards. You have received numerous postcards from members of the community. That was a chance for people, even busy working people, whether you're teachers, lawyers, doctors, plumbers, it doesn't matter. Please listen to what people have already told you, that we want to continue allowing people to celebrate cultures and different views in our community. Take that seriously, please. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Molnar.

Good evening, and thank you for your time. My name is Noah Rosen, and I'm a math, science, and computer science teacher at Cote Middle School. The district trained me and helped me get my C-STEM, which is the computer science credential from UC Davis and UC Riverside, and I just want to thank RUSD for providing me with that opportunity. This is my third year teaching computer science and C-STEM at COPE and I'm proud that my class was visited by CSBA in their decision making process to award our district with the Golden Bell Award and I'm very proud that we were able to win that award. I just wanted to share an awesome program that I initiated at COPE that is in its third year running. We are trying to create a C-STEM pathway so that students can cycle through the computer science program, starting from elementary school and going all the way through AP computer science at the high schools here. My students and I work with fourth graders at Smiley once a month in a program that we call COPE Smiley Tech Education Mentors, or appropriately, C-STEM. And the older students mentor the younger scholars with programming skills, and they work together to solve challenging problems using robots. It's fun and amazing, and my students always say it was the highlight of their day. I want to say thank you to Wendy Kores and Danita Slaughter, who are the COPE and SMILEY principals, and to the board for your support in making tech education a priority in RUSD. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Rosen. Thank you.

Next speaker, we have Joshua Hall, followed by... Can you have two comments? Joshua Hall, you would combine your comments.

First of all, I would like to urge the council to get on the agenda of the flag policy for the next meeting and to vote in favor of the new flag policy. We only need one flag, the American flag and the state flag. Having an LGBTQ plus pride flag in the classroom is not appropriate. That doesn't mean LGBTQ people can't practice their lifestyles, but we don't need to groom children into an ideology that is not conducive with education. Secondly, America, we don't need a survey. America already made itself clear that we want to move away from LGBTQ plus indoctrination by voting for Donald Trump. We made that clear. So vote on the issue and have it in place next month. Also, there are rumors that safe Redwood schools and other illiberal groups are working on recalling Candy Olson and Jeanette Wilson heard about these rumors yesterday. This will cause the school district a lot of money for the recall, and they've just recently been elected, so if these recalls, they're not official yet, but if they are happening, it's kind of stupid to recall someone when they've just been elected. Also, I'd like to add that if the school district doesn't get rid of the LGBTQ flag policy will be in violation of Trump's mandate and he could pull federal funding from the school which is 14% of the education budget for the state of California alone so that's something to consider. Thank you Mr. Hall.

Next we have Michael Paisner followed by Dale Broom.

Hello, Michael Paisner. My parents were born in New York around the time World War II was starting, so they were in grade school when that war ended. While growing up, my parents had neighbors and friends with numbers tattooed on their arms, Holocaust survivors. The Holocaust isn't just a story in a history book to me. The systematic murder of millions of people, not just Jews, but Christians and other groups as well, was real, and it was horrific. Ms. Wilson, You attempted to portray yourself as representing the will of your district on the flag policy. However, you only received 43% of votes. I am in your district, and I stand firmly in opposition to your proposed policy. More people voted against you than voted for you. Stop saying the flag policy is what your district wants. It just isn't true. You also falsely conveyed that the unions were supportive of the policy when, in fact, they sent a cease and desist letter the very next day. You've also referred to me and my friends as being in a cult. Stop lying. Stop insulting us. I'd have responded to you online, but you blocked me on social media in direct violation of the Brown Act. As for the core of your justification that some constituents are uncomfortable around pride flags, let me point out the problem isn't with the rainbow, but with people being taught to judge others for no valid reason, as we just saw. As elected officials, you are not obligated to echo bigoted judgments voiced by your constituents. You should oppose such sentiments even to members of your own social circle. as Ms. Aya Quintero and Ms. Hollihan so eloquently demonstrated and for which I am so very grateful. Ms. Rendler, I do appreciate your desire to get feedback from the community, but the community has spoken on the flag policy. The emails before the meeting, the speakers at the meeting, the postcards since that meeting, the community has spoken. You can end the flag policy debate at any time you want. With six simple words, I do not support this policy. If you say those six words, we can focus on topics that everyone supports, like literacy, safety, or expanding arts programs, or dozens of other issues. I urge you, say those words, avoid the legal dispute, avoid the wasted time and money this is going to cost our students and our teachers. Let us focus on more productive topics. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Paisley.

Ready? OK. School board trustees and Superintendent Cabral, Dr. Dale Broom, I'm from area one. And as a father of two former RUSD students and now grandfather, I would like to urge the school board to adopt the flag policy 6115 for the following reasons. Schools should not be a place where teachers and administrators push their political and social agendas on students by flying or posting flags in the classrooms or on school grounds. This is not a violation of teachers' freedom of speech. Every employer can legally set limits on freedom of speech for their employees while they are working, interacting with customers at the work site. If I personally flew a flag, a gay pride flag or a Trump flag, in my office at Redlands Community Hospital, I'd be fired so fast my head would be spinning, okay? Schools, and specifically classrooms, are a public workspace and under even greater scrutiny than that of private employers. That is why the federal employees are constrained by the Hatch Act to prevent this sort of political speech on their jobs. The desks, the walls, the bulletin boards are all paid for by taxpayers of California and should not have such flags posted. The students are the customers and the parents are the ones paying the bills. If they don't like the product that RUSD puts forward, they will pull their kids out of public school or move out of California, which means decreased funding for the schools here in this district. Many have already done so, and more will follow if a flag policy is not passed. Parents want their kids to receive a quality education free of social and political flags being flown in the classroom. During the 2024 school board campaign, our three pro-parental right candidates, Candy Olson, Jeanette Wilson, and Lawrence Hebron, and their volunteers visited approximately 60% of the homes in their districts, of all those districts. We spoke with multiple thousands of voters about this very issue of the flag policy, and voters were shocked that Redlands Unified did not have such a flag policy, and these candidates received tremendous public support to establish such a policy in the school district. Finally, the January 29th executive order on ending radical indoctrination in K-12 schools warned that public schools across the nation that they need to end all instruction So these are the words, instructions, advancement, and promotion of gender ideology and discriminatory equity ideology, which is also critical race theory, or lose federal funding. Posting pride flags in the classroom is a form of promotion of gender ideology, and this would be a violation of that executive order. All the more reason why Redlands needs a school flag policy. All it takes is one rogue teacher flying a pride flag in the classroom, and the school could lose up to 14% of its funding overnight. So we need to think about this executive order that just came down, and I'm sure it will be tested in court. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Broom. Thank you.

Next up we have Douglas Hauser, followed by Samantha Tradd.

I'm Douglas Hauser, retired biomedical researcher, teacher, musician, and a whole bunch of other things as well. So I know something about academics. First, I want to say that I am also a relative of Holocaust victims, and I do not believe that the statement referring to the Nazi flag was done casually at all. If certain flags are going to be allowed expressing a viewpoint, Federal law already determines that other viewpoints are going to have to be represented, and we will open ourselves up to all kinds of horrible flags being potentially flown in classrooms. As to people being represented by the flags, the American flag and the California flag should represent everybody. Otherwise, they don't have to be here. So they're in California. They're in America. Those flags represent everybody, regardless of their preferences, their race, their ethnicity, their religion, whatever it may be. Those flags represent everybody. I've also heard that some people are planning a recall of some of the board members. This is insanity. The board has met one time. This is their second meeting. I don't know what terrible thing has happened that requires the extreme remedy of a recall. This is raw, ugly politics at its worst. Please, if anybody is organizing this, let's stop. Let's see if this board can actually get something done, and that something should be to return the classroom to academics. It is not controversial at all that people want their kids to learn reading, math, science, history, geography, civics, literature, and art. And let me also say, I think the... The sign language thing was really cool. I think that's great as well. But are the kids so proficient in these subjects that there's time for other pursuits? I don't think so. Race, religion, politics, sex, gender are subjects we all know they are controversial to say the least. So they should be left for parents to deal with to avoid arguments that are going to arise inevitably. This is not a difficult or controversial idea. For over 200 years, this was the focus of our schools all across the country. And the result was a nation that settled the West, changed the great desert into the great plains, freed the slaves, won two world wars, put a man on the moon, invented the bicycle, the automobile, the telephone, the computer, the light bulb, the airplane, and virtually every modern medicine known to man. Let's make sure these kids are educated properly and leave the waving of controversial flags out of the subject. Let's give the board the chance to do their job, which is to enable high-quality teachers to do their jobs. When they grow up, the kids will thank us. Thank you.

President Rendler, Superintendent Cabral, board members. My name is Samantha Trad, and I am a proud parent in the district and one of the leaders of Together for Redlands. We are a nonpartisan group of community members ranging from students to grandparents. Over the last few weeks, we have heard from countless people who are deeply concerned about two things. The first is the proposed flag and observances policy ban. No one understands why this policy is being considered. Where is the problem? In fact, on Monday, we dropped off 1,193 postcards, all urging the board to stop any consideration of the policy, and we have more coming in. I have 50 in my car right now from high school students who couldn't get it to us in time for the Monday drop-off. Our children have access to every flag and symbol conceivable on their phone or on their friend's phone. Instead of banning certain flags and symbols and muzzling our teachers, we need to help teach our students what these flags and symbols mean and celebrate diversity. The last thing we need are costly lawsuits because we're going against freedom of speech. Our country is so full of hate right now. We need to get back to our roots and fundamental rights and protect freedom of speech. On behalf of our community, we urge you to stop any consideration of banning flag symbols or other forms of free speech. The second thing we have heard from many people on is board member Wilson's refusal to identify the Nazi flag as a hate symbol. To put it mildly, this is deeply, deeply concerning. We urge Redlands Unified School District Board to clearly label Nazis and all forms of white supremacy as hate groups that will not be tolerated in our district. Thank you.

Okay, next up. Next up we have Guadalupe Miranda, followed by Ulysses.

Good evening members of the board and community members here. My name is Guadalupe Miranda and I'm here on behalf of Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino Counties regarding the highly concerning potential flag ban. This proposed policy not only threatens to limit the freedom of expression for students and staff, but it also raises serious concerns about discrimination within the Redlands Unified School District. When talking about flags, we're talking about more than just pieces of fabric. We're talking about symbols of identity, pride, and belonging. Banning flags that represent the LGBTQ plus community, marginalized groups, or other important causes is an attempt to silent those voices that need to be heard the most. For many students and staff, these flags are a symbol of solidarity, safety, and acceptance in an environment where they may feel otherwise, feel unseen or unheard. Restricting the display of these flags doesn't just limit free speech, it risks further alienating students and staff who already face systematic challenges. This proposal raises serious constitutional concerns. The First Amendment protects the right to freedom of expression, and that includes symbolic forms of speech like flag displays. Censoring specific viewpoints, especially those that support marginalized communities, is not only unconstitutional, but it also opens a district up to potential legal challenges. Instead of spending resources on defending a policy that could lead to costly legal battles, the district should invest in creating an environment that fosters inclusivity, respect, and support to all students and staff. I urge the board to reject this flag-ban policy and to ensure that all students and staff have the right to freely express their identities and their beliefs. We have a responsibility to uphold the values of justice, freedom, and equality for all members of our school community. Let's choose inclusion over division and support the rights of every individual to be seen, heard, and respected. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Miranda. Thank you.

Good evening, board members and superintendent. My name is Ulysses. I am here on behalf of Assemblymember Robert Garcia. I just wanted to come introduce myself. Like I said, Ulysses Nera. I am a field rep. I will be The representative, not in charge, but out here in Redlands, Loma Linda, Colton, so the eastern side of his district. His committee assignments were announced. He is on the Education Committee, Public Employment and Retirement, Taxation and Revenue, Communications and Conveyance, and Natural Resources. I will leave cards with you all. Please contact me if you have questions about those. And he is pursuing a couple of... legislation that could be a little pertinent to school boards. So first there's a language access. There are language access programs which protect language assistance services in healthcare and in any public space. So making sure that there is language equity. We saw a great presentation by a school that has an ASL language. And I think making language more accessible to everyone is in the benefit of And then police trainings, but most importantly, classified school employee contracting. And this will prevent privatization of public education jobs, protecting wages, protecting quality training, and job equity for folks who work in the school district. I am here for work, so I cannot state my personal beliefs, but I will leave these cards here and just know that I was left wanting to say more on a couple of topics. Thank you.

Thank you, Ulysses.

Next up we have Janice, followed by Monica Joseph.

So I'm here to advocate for the two flag policy. And my high school speech teacher taught me to use visual methods, which I have kind of ready here. Yay! I love my high school speech teacher. I do not live in this district. But I do live in San Bernardino County, and I know this district can be a model for good. My children are adults, and I have no grandkids. But I want Redlands to be a model for good for children everywhere. Don't make parents need to choose between Redlands and other options available. We have such a divide in this country right now, but most of us can support the American flag and the California flag and what they represent. With many other flags, the divisions are exacerbated. My neighbor puts up flags and political yard signs that I disagree with and I reciprocate. But we are adults and we have friendly arguments. Many children have a love for their teachers and those teachers have an incredible influence on children. I want teachers everywhere to use that influence to teach them to love America, love California, math, reading, science, geography, history, and not put their thumb on the scale for one ideology or another. Don't create more divisions on the playground or at the dinner table when they get home or in religious institutions they support. No Trump flags. No rainbow flags. No religious flags. Let those flags be phoned in private spaces. Please do not divide us any more than we already are. And the divisions also include calling people horrific names. The word fascist, I'm a Jew, and the word fascist does not mean people like Jeanette and Candy. These are good people, and fascism does not meet the criteria for... any of the people in this audience none of you are fascists and those two people are not fascist either don't throw that word around please thank you Janice

Hello, my name is Monica Joseph. Yes, I'm the Ivy League Indian mom. Ms. Olson, I saw your Instagram post. It says white people are the only race you can discriminate against. I understand. I totally apologize if you feel discriminated. Nobody should feel discriminated, not anybody, especially you, Ms. Olson. The same thing, children should not feel discriminated as well, right? You know how it feels. Why would we want children to feel discriminated? They should feel loved. They should feel safe. They should be happy to come to school. And at the same time, I also saw your Instagram post. I saw that you went to Redlands Coffee, sorry, Terrier Ground Coffee. And I saw how you extended support to all those extensive care needs kids. I see that love in your heart. I see you. I see that you are a wonderful person. You have children who you love. I saw all those Instagram posts. Ms. Olson, I dearly, dearly ask you to extend that love to the LGBTQ plus children in your school district. If this one flag policy is implemented, it would affect those children. They will feel discriminated. I understand the American flag, its stance that shows that I am an American. I am proud every time I see that. But that doesn't take away my identity as an Indian. It doesn't take away an identity or my gender identity by holding a pride flag. Just because I'm holding a pride flag doesn't mean I'm not an American. It just means I also represent my own gender identity. That's all that means. Please don't think just because I'm holding another flag means that I'm trying to be divisive. I'm not trying to be patriotic. You know how many LGBTQ plus... People in America voted for President Trump. So please don't try to discriminate us. Please, extend your love, and I wish you the most happy Valentine's Day. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Joseph.

Next up, we have Eriko Grossman, followed by Bea.

Hi, my name is Erica Grossman. I work for the district and all my kids went to school here. At the last meeting, one of the board members said that the pride flag makes some people uncomfortable and so it should be banned.

That is really sad because it implies certain people are wrong for existing and should go away. There were LGBTQ plus students here at the meeting that night. I also saw the same board members saying LGBTQ plus is a cult on social media. How can you be so mean and cruel to those children who just want to be themselves? LGBTQ plus students need to know that they're welcome and supported in school.

Many students hide their identities for fear of being bullied or made fun of. When I worked at one of the middle schools here, I wore a little pride flag and several students came up to me to whisper to me, to thank me for supporting them. Those students are scared I still hear a lot of homophobic jokes on campus. I do. We need to ensure our students feel safe and feel safe on campus instead of feeling ashamed of themselves.

This is why we're keeping an LGBTQ plus inclusive environment is so important. Some people believe that the school sorry, indoctrinating the students with LGBTQ ideology, which is inaccurate. It's really silly. Being exposed to a pride flag or learning about LGBTQ plus does not make you gay or transgender. This is a scientific fact that's been studied decades. Okay? LGBTQ+, people are just people who want to be themselves. It's not a choice. It's not a trend. It's not an ideology. It's not a lifestyle. Anyway, who would want to be targeted by so many hateful people, including the federal government? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Gressman. Thank you.

Did you want to come up?

I'm here today with Heather for Redlands as a parent of a child in the Redlands Unified School District and as a member of the transgender community. Members of the school board have stated they want to disallow any club or organization dedicated to supporting the LGBT plus community and to ban any symbols that are related to the LGBT community. I'm here today because I think it's important for those symbols to be visible. It's not about indoctrinating children or forcing people to accept our community as some here have suggested. It's about safety and showing LGBT plus kids who their allies are. Who are the people who will accept them? Who are the people who are like them? It's not always obvious who is safe and who is not. A lot of these kids have parents who are not accepting and they know that if their parents ever found out who they are, they could get beaten, wind up homeless, or worse. These kids need to know which teachers will support them, which friends will offer them a couch to sleep on, and which administrators can connect them with mental health resources and social services if they are ever in danger. The only way they can know who their allies are is if those allies are visible. If we force those allies into hiding, it doesn't protect our children. It isolates them and makes them feel afraid and alone. I'm nervous about being here today. I don't know if someone is going to threaten me, my work, or my family. But I came here today because I recognize how important it is to be visible right now. And I don't want any child who looks like me or who has parents who look like me or friends who look like me to feel afraid. I want them to see that there are people out there who care about them and are trying to keep them safe. I'm visible for them because if we don't stand up today and show our children what it means to face down bigotry and say in defiance that I am not afraid, then who will? Our jobs as voters and as allies is to be defiantly visible. Your jobs are to represent us. You are not here to represent your faiths, your beliefs, the majority opinion of this city or your personal values. You are here to represent the students and their families, including the ones who look like me and the ones who disagree with you. You are here to represent the ideals of this country laid down by our founders when they declared independence from tyranny because they believed that all are created equal and endowed with inalienable rights. We are here today to demand that you stop, not just pause, this discussion aimed at suppressing the First Amendment rights of our students, our teachers, and our school administrators to peacefully display symbols of pride and to assemble to discuss LGBT plus issues. If you cannot do that, we will do everything in our power to find someone who will. Thank you.

Next up, we have Anthony Dodd, followed by Raina Jetson.

Anthony Dodd, thank you. At the last board meeting, member Jeanette Wilson asked us to consider the neo-Nazis in town who may want to fly their flag in Redlands classrooms. No Jew, minority, Catholic, or pride person would ever ask this question, for this is the talk of MAGA of neo-Nazism. They do not want the Holocaust taught. especially this bit of history that my public schools never mentioned. Six million Jews weren't the only people Nazis murdered. I presume two of our board members are completely aware that all minorities were sent to death camps. But until this week, I didn't even know that that included a few thousand Asians. I'd hope Patty... was taught in school that around 2,500 Catholic leaders and clergy were murdered while many thousands of common Catholics were slaughtered. Of course, many thousands of beautiful and otherwise harmless pride people were massacred because they are society's favorite pink punching bag. I'm not Jewish, Catholic, or queer. I'm technically a minority for being half Italian and agnostic, but that is not why I'm standing here. I'm standing here because we must always stand and protest against those who wish to discriminate against Jews, minorities, Catholics, and pride people. So when you hear them trying to slide into a discussion, any topic whatsoever antagonizing any or all of these groups, stand up and protest. I invite the gathered and as many and any of our so moved school board members to stand in support of all students that are Jewish, of any minority, even Asian, Catholic leaders and followers, agnostics and atheists, and yes, of course, those pink people of pride.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Todd. Thank you. Are you done? Thank you, Mr. Todd.

Hello, my name is Raina and I'm sorry I'm going to switch it up a little bit. I'm not going to talk about the flag issue, but I will say this is my first time coming here and listening to you guys all has been enlightening and I will say that I do think the biggest issue with everyone is how to make everyone feel inclusive and I don't think that maybe the flag is the biggest issue. Maybe it's how to make every student feel inclusive where we can have groups for LGBTQ and Christian or whatever the case may be where everyone has a voice. I will say that from what I heard. I'm not going to speak on it because I don't know much. But I'm here actually to talk about my son. He is an eight-year-old, and he attends Smiley Elementary. And I know that we're on time constraints, so I'm going to begin by asking some questions that I have. As I was sitting here today listening to everything, it sounds like there's an overwhelmingly large voice from middle school, high school. I don't hear so much for elementary. I say this because I attend... birthday parties, all kinds of gatherings with other parents, and many of them are unaware of how they can advocate for their children. So some questions that I have as far as the teachers go is, what kind of supports or trainings does the district offer for teachers when it comes to UDL techniques, SEL skills, and being culturally responsive to all students? What trainings or supports are in place for yard duties and staff on how to exercise conflict resolution and socio-emotional skills for students during recess? What supports or trainings are being provided for teachers to learn not only about UDL, but how to incorporate it into their classroom? For those of you who do not know, UDL is Universal Design for Learning. So how can we teach all children, no matter if they have learning disabilities, color, race, religion, anything at all, how can we relate to them and teach them? The last question is, what information is the district sharing with elementary school parents about their rights with their children when it comes to accommodations that have to be met? My son, I've, bittersweet pleasure, I've worked with Dr. Wilson. I had to meet with him about some things that were happening in school. He was absolutely phenomenal. Came to the aid, advocated for my son. I'm not much of a talker when it comes to that because I don't like, I guess you could say, spoilers. spreading propaganda. But as I've talked to other parents, they're experiencing a lot of the same issues because they're not being educated on how they could advocate for their students when their students have ADHD, or maybe they're on the cusp. My son is on the cusp of learning. And when I say that, if he was, we're in the process of getting him sent to autistic clinic to be diagnosed and see, but if he was, he's high functioning. So he often goes misdiagnosed. So what are we doing to accommodate our learners that don't have diagnosis? What are we doing to make sure that we're providing learning for all learners, both in the classroom and at recess? Because a lot of the problems that my son faces, they're happening at recess. I don't think that there's sufficient yard duties, and it's pouring over into the classroom. Sorry, I was trying to do my time.

Thank you. Next up, we have... Rue Whitmore, followed by Valerie Taper.

Hello, board. First of all, happy Black History Month. May it be filled with accurate history and black excellence. Applause Jeanette, you deserve to be removed from the board for speaking in favor of violent hate groups and defending Nazi rhetoric as a valid belief system, especially considering the district's minority enrollment is 80%. You should know better. And speaking directly to my board member, Candy, speaking directly to my board member, Candy, I want to be clear. I wish I could see your Instagram posts, too. But I am blocked, which is, again, a Brown Act violation that I forwarded to the district attorney, which is appropriate. Also, you can have all the training the far-right Christian nationalist groups and Dale Broom can buy for you. And you will forever be unsuited to be here, not because you are a morally bankrupt person who even 20 years ago was caught as a mistress in a closet with your now husband. You have no idea what rights our teachers and students hold. We're not going to do any personal attacks on people. Thank you. That wasn't a personal attack. It was just the truth. Thank you. Oh, sorry, Dale. You already bought two seats, my guy. You are not addressing the audience. You're addressing the board. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. So you also have no idea what rights our teachers and students hold, and you only want to tear them apart. You are already getting censoring cease and desist letters while maintaining that the teachers union approved of what you were doing with that policy, and they weren't. Okay? In one meeting, you have already had the unions on you. You are both very inappropriate to hold these seats. I'm sorry, is it my turn or your turn? Did you fill out a slip? Excuse me, we're not talking to them. Resigning is the only way forward that our community will be safe from either of you. Thank you for my time. Thank you, Mrs. Whitmer.

We're not going to have this discussion from the audience. Thank you. Can our resource officer please help me get these two under control? Thank you. Thank you. Who do we have next, Jeanette? Jeanette. Oh, she blended in the wall.

I couldn't hear. Are you ready? I am. If everybody else is ready, it seems like there's quite a bit happening. Listening. So my name is Valerie Tabor. I am a resident of Area 5, and I want to address the misinformation and outright lies shared on the dais last meeting. Acting as though election results provide infallible data about the support from the community for this bigoted flag policy is just outright wrong and bad research, as anyone with a background in statistics will tell you. To unpack it, I'd like to remind our newest board members that neither of their elections had more than 70% participation. And when factoring in the actual number of votes cast for our new board members, only about 30% of folks in their respective districts voted for them. As board member Ayala Quintero pointed out last meeting, folks in Area 1 and 2 did not have an opportunity to have their voices heard. Approximately 85,000 voters live in RUSD, and barely 11,000 voted for Candy and Jeanette. That's not even 12%. Even if we utilize the assumption that everyone who voted for these two agreed with this specific policy, which there's no way of knowing why they voted for you two. Not to mention that there are nearly 21,000 students who had no voice in the recent election who deserve to have a say in their education. While I and the many hundreds of other people who have spoken against this policy in emails, in person, apparently through postcards, we would like you to drop this policy. However, if you continue on this current path, I urge you to do your due diligence in gathering data, if only to redundantly affirm that the community stands against this harmful and bigoted policy. I would also like to remind the board that while Dale Broom may have bought himself two seats on the board with his $10,000 donations to each of these two board members, he didn't actually buy a third seat, so he doesn't get to dictate policy. Lastly, I wonder if RTA and RESPA have seen Candy's repost earlier this week on her campaign website, which I apologize, not her campaign website, her campaign Instagram, which she frequently engages with the public about board matters as a board member. and has people blocked, which, as said, is a Brown Act violation. I wonder if they've seen her repost earlier this week from the junk education program PragerU, expressing anti-union sentiments and calling teachers' unions the biggest bully in school. Just further information for you to consider. Thank you for your time. Thank you.

Next up we have Jonathan Marcus followed by Greg Britton.

Thank you for having me aboard. My name is Jonathan. It seems to me that maybe you guys need to get more people out there voting. I've been coming to this school board here, it'll be six years this May, and I am a dad of two former RUSD students. People have spoken on November 5th. That's why we have this executive order on promoting gender ideology in schools. It's a policy that says federal funding will be cut. We have no problem with alternative lifestyles. I love you guys, man. Calm down, dude. It's hilarious. Just please don't force it on our young children. Just like I don't push my Christian beliefs on you guys. DEI is done, not because of Trump's executive orders, but because our country has already been founded on it. Stop trying to hijack and tweak words and definitions. First, diversity. This country was founded on it, hence America being called the melting pot. Second, equality. Equality is already here in this country. We don't need equity. Equity is a real estate term. Third, inclusion. If we want to stop segregating people based on gender and race, then stop segregating people based on gender and race. Thank you, Mr. Gribal, for returning my emails and for replying. Congrats to the new board members. Thank you for your service.

Thank you, Mr. Marcus.

Listening to the audience, I have a new understanding of what they mean by the term liberal logic. Not having a flag for your particular group is not discrimination. If there's not a black flag in the classroom, you are not discriminating against black people. If you don't have a Hispanic flag in the classroom, you are not discriminating against Hispanic people and so on. And I'm particularly enraged by the attacks on Jeanette Wilson. I was here listened to the discussion. And Jeanette Wilson understands the First Amendment in a way that people out here apparently do not. Once you open a forum to political and social discussion, the First Amendment prohibits content discrimination. So her point was entirely, 100% accurate, that once you open the classroom for political and social discussion, as reprehensible as it may be, if someone wants to fly the Nazi flag or the communist flag, who by the way killed 200 million people in the 20th century, you can't stop it. Parents send their children to get educated so they can be prepared for life. The citizens send the children to pay for this operation. So we have citizens who can carry on the republic. Remember Ben Franklin? It's a republic if you can keep it. And you're not doing a very good job of training and raising the generation to understand that. The citizenship test. Easy test. Most people should be able to pass it without studying it. Only 30% of American adults can pass this basic civics test. Only 3% of American high school students can pass this basic easy test. And that's where you're falling down. More than 40 years ago, the Education Secretary had a commission, and they lamented the rising tide of mediocrity in American education. And this posed a grave threat to the future of the country. And what has happened in 40 years? It's only gotten worse. So you need to focus on the things we're paying you to teach, math, history, science, reading, Language, not on teachers pushing their particular political and social views. The teacher carries extra weight. It's not like flying the flag at your home or your business. When the teacher does it to the students, it carries extra weight. It is the state saying this belief system is something you should have. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Britton.

Next up we have Heather Bumell. Followed by Kaya Yoshimitsu.

Good evening, board members. Good evening, superintendent. My name is Heather Bimal. I have been a resident of Redlands longer than most people have been alive. I've been here since 1963. There's no one that loves this city more than I do. I graduated high school, 1980. My children graduated Redlands High School District. My grandchildren are currently enrolled in the Redlands School District. I reside in District 5. Candy Olson is my representative. I am here to speak in a neutral, non-emotional way about the flag policy. I want to read just some excerpts of a letter that I sent to Michelle Rendler and ICC, the superintendent. I believe that the flag issue can be solved in a simple, non-emotional, and common sense way. No special interest flags should be flown in our public school classrooms, period. Here are some basic reasons for my statement. Unity in the American flag. With all the diverse cultural, ethnic, socioeconomic, and religious groups in our country, the one thing that unites us is our status as Americans. Under this flag, we all enjoy the rights and liberties afforded to us by God, our founding fathers who laid down their lives for us to be united under one constitution, one government, one military, and then we become one people in all the world who are called Americans when students stand and repeat the pledge of allegiance as we did in the beginning of this meeting to the United States flag it, that pledge unifies us in a most beautiful way in every classroom, in every courtroom in every boardroom as well as sporting events our campuses and stadiums around the country but special interest flags bring division just the pride flags alone There's 24 different pride flags. Would we fly them all? There's so many special interest groups that would love to be represented in classrooms, in boardrooms, in courtrooms. But the one thing that unifies us is being American citizens. And that is why I stand here with just a neutral way, non-emotional, as a business owner and as a pastor in town. I have strong beliefs on certain things, obviously. But when my strong belief in the public school classroom is, let us have one flag, Be one nation, one people, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you.

Good evening, board members. Hello, my name is Kaie Yoshimitsu. I'm a senior at Citrus Valley High School. I'm the president of our Gay-Straight Alliance, as well as our Creative Writing Club. I'm an ambassador Girl Scout, and I have achieved my bronze, silver, and gold award. I came here today to share my thoughts and the thoughts of others regarding the proposed flag banning policy. When I first heard about the policy, I started a petition to stop this policy from continuing. We, the undersigned staff, students, parents, and RUSD graduates oppose this policy. The petition has 171 signatures. That is 171 of your staff, your students, your parents, and your graduates who have chosen to take a stand and oppose this policy. This board was granted authority and power by the will of the people to protect their rights and the will of those people. I would like to share a comment that was left on my petition. Displaying flags paints a clear expression of identity and belonging. By limiting these flags, RUSD creates a very clear image for our students and staff. We do not care about your identity outside of an American. This policy would erase cultural expression by removing flags raised in the name of someone's ethnic background and the proud countries that they hail from. Additionally, it would impede on the expression of pride and gender by silencing members and allies from peacefully vocalizing their identity. This policy is oppressive on the identity of both students and staff. Removing the flags does not remove the people represented by them. Only temporarily signs them. It is unfortunate that I have to stand here and defend myself to people who are supposed to represent me. I think it is frankly appalling that a policy that infringes on the right of freedom of speech as dictated by the First Amendment is allowed to stand. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker is Daniel Tenajaro.

Hello, members of the board. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak before you today. My name is Daniel Tinajero, and I want to express my concern about a statement that Mrs. Honohan made at the last meeting. The statement is as follows, and I quote, I am a Catholic woman, and Jesus called us to love everybody, be compassionate with one another, and accept all. End of quote. While she is right about the fact that Jesus did call us to love one another, she failed to mention that he also called us to follow his commandments and teachings. So what I want to prove today is that Catholic doctrine does not approve what Mrs. Hulligan stated. I am going to read from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which is an aggregate book of 2,000 years of teaching and doctrine. His numeral 2357 reads as follows. Homosexuality refers to relations between men... or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. He has taken various forms through the centuries and in different cultures, basing himself on sacred scriptures which represent homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity. Tradition has always declared that homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered. They are contrary to the natural law They close the act of life to give of life. They do not proceed from a genuine, effective, and sexual complementary, and under no circumstances can they be approved. Numeral 2358. The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not inescapable. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most for most of them at trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, security, and civility. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives, and if they're Christian, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's cross, the difficulties that they may encounter on their condition. My question is, and I wonder, do you believe in God? Do you believe what he says? And if you do, please, please stop promoting this agenda that is harming our children and is causing confusion. Thank you.

Thank you. That's all the speakers for tonight.

Okay, we're going to move on to board comments. Jeanette, I'd start with you tonight.

I'd like to take a moment to apologize to Emma Vara, a student that spoke at the last meeting as she felt my response to her was belittling. It wasn't meant to be. So my apologies, Emma. And secondly, I would like to take a moment to address remarks that have led to misunderstanding for some who don't know me. For the record. I do condemn the hateful ideology of Nazis, which has no place in our society. To clarify any confusion about my point, to allow one flag could open the district up to being forced to allow other flags, even if we abhor the beliefs of that group. I hope we continue to work together to enhance our public academic institution. Thank you for your understanding.

Now on to my experiences over the past month. I have been spending a lot of time getting to know the district and the different programs and events happening within the district. I've been on site visits to schools, which were very entertaining and informative, and I learned a lot.

I attended the superintendent awards, which I would like to thank Juan Cabral for initiating for the district. I think they're just a great opportunity for children and staff to get recognized for the good and hard work they are putting forth.

Also, I attended, for the second time, the recognition for the Golden Bell Award, which is truly amazing, the programs we have for kids kindergarten through 12 in technology and innovation. And I've also attended the Civics Day for high school students, which was very, very exciting. just amazing to see the kids learn about our process and what it means to be part of a public school board. So I just wanted to share some of the things I've been doing and behind closed doors outside of the public venue. I've been also spending time giving feedback on policies to more clearly delineate notification to parents on various issues. And I appreciate your attention.

OK, I'm going to start out with Civics Day, which is always my favorite day that we celebrate together with our students, just to see how great they are and how they thrive in a leadership position. Have them come over here and they are able to job shadow us and see where we are and see what some of the ideas and what we're going on and to hear feedback from them. It's always good to hear what our students... I'm glad that you stayed. Thank you. I also attended the San Bernardino County School Board Association meeting where our Golden Bell Award winners, Mr. Jamie Quartz and his group, were able to be celebrated with my colleagues. And then also where... Technology was recognized, and so then Dr. Jason Engle was also there for CRYROP, which was great. So it was a winner both ways. Two, I, too, attended the Superintendent Awards, and it's so great to see our TK. I know Mr. Rossi was there with our little ones. I think they were TK or first or kinder. And TK, they were so dressed up, and they were so darling, and it's great to see them. So just check back in 12 years and see what they're doing and what they're up to will be great. I attended a spirit leader competition over at Redlands High School on Saturday night, and RHS was there, Red was there, Aquinas High School, and Cal State San Bernardino, and then a couple other club cheer squads were there as well, so that was great. It's the seniors, it was the last time that they were going to be performing there for people for competition, so it's kind of emotional for them. And then I supported the Rotary event, which they just had for their scholarship event a couple Saturdays ago on their wine tasting event at the Minton Building. And the money that they make goes to the scholarships that they give out from the Rotary. So we're thankful for them for what they do. And then also excited to hear about the Genesis Dance. I remember when they were barely putting that together. Those of you who were, Michelle, you were here at the time. How many years is it now? Do you know? Is this year six? Seven?

I don't know. Seven or eight.

It's been a while.

Yeah. They host it every two years, right?

And it's highly attended. They get almost 1,000 students. So it's really great to see our cohesiveness with all our schools getting together and enjoying themselves, which is great. And then also I just want to congratulate personally Mr. Rossi on your new position. You did an amazing job over at Judson and Brown, and I know staff is going to miss you. You're going to be irreplaceable, but we'll find someone. And congratulations on your next step where you're going to be, but thank you. You were always very supportive and helped me when I needed things there, so thank you. And then just to everybody else, it's President's Weekend, so staff, And students, enjoy the Monday, the extra day that you're going to get off with your families and get some rest. Thank you.

Sure. So actually, I'd like to talk about a concern that the student body has, and that's about the lack of awareness about Sprigio and how to anonymously report. I know that Dr. Wilson was presenting today about how we can anonymously report. But I was talking about this with Mr. Cabral and Mrs. Rendler yesterday at our student trustee meeting as well. But it feels like the way that Sprigio is... advertised at our school or made accessible through the posters, it feels like it's not enough. And I can speak for the student population when I say that I think more should be done to make sure that everyone knows exactly how to use Sprigio and to know that they can anonymously report using Sprigio. Thank you.

Okay. I just want you all to know that the education of your children is my highest priority, so that's why I'm here. One thing I wanted to give an update on was that we are currently identifying and pricing out a small cohort to use with a new reading intervention program. So probably by the end of the month or before the next meeting, we may have an update, whether that's reasonable, feasible, and whether Jason says that's okay. I'm just joking. It all has to be reasonable and something that would be a good fit for our students. Also, our official goals for this district should be solidified by the next board meeting, so stay tuned for those. That will be very important to see what this district is focused on moving forward and what your money will be most aimed towards. I'm very concerned about the fights and the bullying situation. I know a lot of schools deal with this. We're not unique to this problem. I have asked Juan to reach out to the DA's office to see if we have any options for varying levels of discipline, and I look forward to hearing back about this. Stronger, swifter consequences is something I would really like to see on our campuses. I am earnestly hoping that relief is on the horizon. for children who have gone home crying far too many times, feeling so small or that they don't belong. I know we need a better system for handling the bullying and I don't know what that system looks like yet, but I want to be involved in looking for the solutions and I know that we can build a better system. We have a lot of brilliant minds in this room and we can come up with significant improvements. We always have room for improvement. I'll just say a little bit regarding the flag issues. It is because I love... all of the families and children in this district that I feel the way I do regarding having a neutral flag policy. It is because I respect the families who disagree, and everyone should be able to have their opinion. I don't think it's kind to step on anyone's toes. I don't think it's polite or respectful. I think that to be fair and kind to everybody and all families, we should respect all families. And people are free to feel whichever way they like, and that is the true beauty of America, and we can unite together under one flag with different cultures. agreements, different beliefs on our family system and how we wish to raise our children. So that's all I'll say about that, but it is because I care about the children and the families that I feel the way I do about a neutral classroom.

Melissa, do you have anything this evening?

Okay, so a few different things, a few different topics. I do want to direct a response about the bonds. I just want to clarify that when the bonds were voted on, a list of projects were included. The district is developing a master plan to properly apply the bond money to bring our schools to a safe place. We pull our bond in phases in order to be financially prudent. We will stop pulling money if we finish our product. So I don't want anybody thinking that we're going to continue to be pulling money from these bonds just because we can. That is not something we've done before, and it's not something we will do. Next topic, I want to thank Mr. Rosen for coming by and helping us in getting our golden bell. That was fantastic, so thank you for that. Very proud of that. Okay, we'll touch on this one. Okay, so there was a mention of DEI. I want to remind everybody that DEI isn't a said and done thing. DEI is constantly ongoing. The sign language that we heard from today, that is inclusion. The IEPs that we are doing, that is inclusion. Wheelchair access to our buildings, that is inclusion. That is something that we constantly have to be working with. with and towards. It's not a negative thing. It is making sure that everyone is included. And when I say everything and everyone is included, that flag there protects our students' ability to fly any other flag that they want to. So I just want to remind people that when we're speaking about others and whether or not we believe they're an occult or not, it is not appropriate to call our students that identify one way or another as being an occult. Thank you.

And I want to thank everybody for coming out to speak. I always appreciate listening to all different viewpoints. So thank you very much. And I have a lot of congratulations tonight. We've got a lot of good things going on in our district. Congratulations to RHS Blue Team on being San Bernardino County Mock Trial Champions. We'll be cheering for you in March at the state competition. Congratulations to Jaden Bowens from CV for earning all CIF Southern Section honors for the football season 2024. Congratulations to CVHS cheer team for being the CIF champs for the third year. Way to go. Also, big congratulations to RESPA President Liz Brewster on being chosen by CTA as ESP of the Year for 2025. Hundreds of thousands of classified staff across many districts, Liz was given this honor. I, for one, am very proud of you, Liz. At the end of, oh, also, and thank you, I mean, congratulations to Ted Rossi on your promotion to your new job. You're going to be big shoes to fill, and they are big, so. At the end of last month, I had the pleasure of having lunch with a group of our USD employees, board members Olson and Wilson, and our superintendent at Studio 24 on RHS campus. We had a lovely meal, and the students, the age 18 to 22 students, took orders and served and cleaned up. I'm so thankful that we have such dedicated special education teachers and paraprofessionals in our district. The life skills being taught and reinforced for our 18 to 22-year-olds is so helpful for these adults, who aspire to get jobs and be productive members in our surrounding cities. I also stopped in to see what the students at Terrier Grounds were doing. They were very busy taking orders and making coffee. If you ever have a chance to go to Terrier Grounds at RHS, it's a lot of fun. So thanks to Natalie for your vision and supporting all these students. I attended with Superintendent Cabral the city council meeting where Bryn Mawr did the Pledge of Allegiance, and they did an awesome job. It was really nice to see. I attended another superintendent's awards program last month. As always, it was a wonderful evening. If you didn't get a chance to go, you can still see all the wonderful pictures on the RUSD website. In fact, there are many pictures from different district events on that website. I attended a counselor's advisory council at Mentone. Thank you to Jen and Pam for the invitation. I appreciate all the help that you provide students at Mentone. I loved the angel wings of kindness in the multipurpose room and the kindness rocks that the students got to find around the school. I even got my own kindness rock. And also attended the Golden Bell Awards with everybody here. Kevin Ha, thank you for being there. And good job on a half a dozen golden bells for RUSD. Civics Day was also great, as always. I was impressed that all our board members, cabinet, CNS, and our superintendent were there to lead students in how our district runs. I'm looking forward to the Compact Club dinner this Thursday. There will be a few soccer CIF playoff games this week and a couple basketball games, another superintendent's award coming up, Black History Month event at Clement, and, of course, Read Across the Merit. Read Across America at many of our schools. Happy Valentine's Day. Spend time with your loved ones and have a great rest of the month.

Superintendent would like to make some comments.

Thank you. I want to say congratulations to Mr. Rossi, still here. Congrats for still being here, and also congrats on your new position. We're excited to have you on board. Rev Sports, Winter Sports, is doing awesome. So if you have a chance, hear this list. Boys basketball plays tomorrow night. And this is CIF playoffs. Boys soccer is going to play at Redlands High School because their stadium's not done yet, but it's almost done to be driven by there. It's looking pretty awesome. So Rev's boys soccer is playing on Thursday. And then girls basketball, Rev, is away. And then we also have wrestlers from Rev and then all the other high schools that are competing Friday night and Saturday. And then CV girls soccer, Juan League. So shout out to Ms. Jo's CV soccer. They're going to play actually tomorrow also at CV. So... If you're a sports fan, go support. And then I do want to talk about Measure D because this is huge, okay, huge. Super excited. Board, you are going to see us turning dirt soon because we are excited about the projects. Yes, we do have kind of a guide of the projects that we're going to be starting, but every single school site is going to be impacted, and I'm super excited about this. This is groundbreaking stuff for us, so I'm very excited about it. Can you tell how excited I am? It's going to be really good for us. And then lastly, Dr. Engel was here earlier with the CD program. The ASL is a great presentation. Just want to thank Dr. Engel for joining us this evening. I know he's not here anymore, but that's all. And thank you so much, everybody, for a good evening.

Okay, so we're on to discussion items. Item up for discussion is a governing board member compensation.

Anybody want to open it up for discussion? You want to? Okay.

Okay, thank you. So I've been doing a little research, and I know this is kind of... I can guess how this is going to go and, you know, it's never a popular idea to spend more money, but I want to raise a point that the state guidelines allow for $400 a month for what we, for our district size. It's based on district size. And every year you're allowed to give a 5% raise. That's just what Ed Code dictates. However, I've asked and I've checked and since... As far as we can tell, this board has never gotten a raise. I believe this Ed Code was put in place in 1973. So $400 in 1973. It hasn't really been updated very well. I mean, it's been updated as far as allowing for student trustees to be compensated or to receive school credit. I know we've had that discussion about allowing school credit for our students, but I know there's still some things that need to be worked out. But a 5% raise isn't very much. And only in the last three years have we ever allowed for a raise. And if we had, even since the time that Patty has been here, if we had been allowing those raises at that 5% rate, we would have been making $831 a month. The issue with that is, and I'm not asking for that, I'm just asking for our 5%, but the issue is that we're only paid to be here during these board meetings. We are not required to go out and do anything else beyond being here for these board meetings. I don't know that our public or our constituents or even our students would feel like we are properly representing them if we only attended those events. Outside of just this board meeting, I've spent 23 hours in the last month. That does not include reading emails, responding to texts. And it was a lot of emails this last month. going over the agenda, having meetings with community partners, having meetings with parents. I've had a lot of coffee this month, so thank you. And if I have not responded to your email, I am so sorry. I will get to it. But it's a very demanding job. And it's something that not only I can make the time, but what happens is when you are a working parent or you have a job, this takes away from that. So that is, at minimum, 23 hours that I have taken away from my family or my work. And I just feel that it's crucial that we are compensating not just ourselves but future board members for the time that we value that they put into this district. It is a very demanding job, and when we aren't paying for the time required, we risk losing out on candidates, on quality candidates that really do seek to represent. I mean, if we have stay-at-home parents that want to volunteer their time, yeah, that's how I started here. But that's not everybody's situation, and sometimes we really need to invest in our schools in every aspect, even in our board members. I'm not asking for $125,000 like LAUSD has. That's way over what I'm asking. But even in other districts, I mean, San Diego, again, a large district, but even their student trustees are being paid $1,700 a month. That is almost four times what we make. And I would just like to say that I would like to see that this board... is given the consideration that we would hope we put into our kids into these seats as well.

So we didn't have raises. But, okay. I think it was board member Vara who brought up the increase three years ago, I believe. And since then, it's just been, what was it, 3%? It's 5%. We've gotten $63 over the last three years.

Maybe let's look and see districts that are

like us, basically, comparable to our districts and see what they're doing. If you're going to look at something now, let's look and see what other compensations are. I mean, I'm okay, but if we're going to do something, we might as well do it and do it right.

I'm not totally against a raise. I think that this position is definitely by far a public service position. We are here to serve the kids out of the goodness, out of the opportunity to try to help our community and our kids. I would never – I know I have seen that LA Unified. I think that's crazy, and I think that's where a lot of corruption comes in. I would never be in support of paying some type of career salary for board members because then people will enter that for the wrong reasons. I do agree that – Now that I've been here, I've had to take off a lot of days of work, and I'm not even going to be compensated for one day of work each month. So I think something reasonable. I'm not opposed to that because I do take a major financial hit, and now I've learned about graduations. Graduations, I'm going to have to take an entire week off of work. I'm not a non-benefit employee, so I don't get paid when I don't work. So it's definitely something I would, if it was reasonable, I wouldn't vote for something where I would be making more money than if I were at work. I would vote for something if it was something that was moderate, like you mentioned, 5%. I think that's totally reasonable. We spend a ton of time, and the amount of situations that we've had to deal with, we deserve 5%. if that's what we're voting on. I don't know what we're voting on.

We're not voting.

Just discussion.

I would be fine with that. So, and just like, um, I've said the last three years, um, I got on the, when I got on the board, I knew what the job was. I knew what the pay was. I knew what I was going to do. So I'm against doing the race just because I think we are public servants, you know, for the school district, um, for our constituents. And, um, If it passes again like it has in the last three years, I'll do the same. I'll donate the raised portion that I get for that year. For the whole year, I'll donate it to something. I've done a couple of things, special services. I've done ROTC. I've done, I don't know, the last three or four years that we've done it, I've done different things. And I understand your positions, but that's just why I'm here on the board. So that's how I feel. So anybody else have anything else?

Well, I know I haven't been here long.

However, the... And I understand it's, I agree it's a civic duty that we have willingly taken on. I have found, though, so far the time it takes to do a good job is quite a bit of time. And some of the expenses as well, I mean, the district, tries to compensate where they can. However, even just driving, you know the cost of gas now, and just driving to the different events, and that's an expense that needs to be taken into consideration in addition to the time. And so I'm not opposed at all to looking into it further. Again, I would like to see what other districts are doing that are of a similar size. I mean, districts probably vary in what they want. from their board members. And I found it odd with LA Unified, if a person works full-time, they only get part of the salary, I guess I'll call it. If they are not working stipend, yeah, then they get... twice that I believe it is or something some formula but to me that is odd because we all should be putting forth a similar amount of effort and time and so I don't think it should matter whether you work full time or part time so those are just some of my thoughts I haven't researched it in depth

Just informationally in case anyone's wondering, yes, LASD makes $125,000 a month if that is your only job. And if you are working, receiving money any other way, you only get $50,000, which is still ridiculous.

A year, not a month. No, not a month. You said a month. Did I say a month? I'm sorry, my bad. No, a year. A year. I think most people would move to L.A.

They do have a much larger district, and the reason theirs is allowed to be so large is because their board is a charter, and so they're allowed to dictate their own salary.

So I would just like to direct our superintendent, please, to just look and see what other districts are doing, do a comparison. I know city council did this recently, maybe a couple years ago, and they looked at all the different districts, compensations and stipends from the other districts to see what they had. And so if I can direct staff.

And we'll also look at Ed Code because Ed Code does dictate what boards can do. And so we'll do the comps and then figure out and then we can bring some options forward.

Okay. Anything else on this? Okay. All right. Then we're going to adjourn at 840.