Board of Education — April 8, 2025

I would like to call this meeting to order at 6.07. Sorry that we're late. Thank you for coming. Let's get started with the Pledge of Allegiance. Our student trustee, would you like to do the pledge for us today? Yes.

Put your right hand over your heart. Ready, begin. I pledge of 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.

Is there a motion to approve the agenda with flexibility?

So moved.

Is there a second?

I'll second.

Thank you, Patty. Thank you, Melissa. 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. Motion carried, 5-0. Thank you.

Okay, roll call. Board Member Wilson? Here.

Student representative?

Here. Board member Hollihan?

Present.

Board member Ayala-Contero? Present. Board member Olson? Here. And I am here. During closed session, in regards to public employment discipline dismissal release, part of the agenda, I would like to report the following. In closed session, with a motion... By Patty Hollihan. And a second by Melissa Ayala-Contero. The board took action to approve charges for immediate suspension with a vote of five to zero. Employee number... Oh, I'm sorry. Sorry. Employee number 2024-2025-12. This action passed with a vote of 5-0. Five board members voting yes and no no's. Oh, sorry. I'm sorry. The board took action to approve charges for immediate suspension without pay and dismissal against employee number 2024-25-12. And this action passed with a vote of five yeses and zero noes. Okay.

That was just worded weird. Okay.

All right. Approval of minutes. Is there a motion to approve the minutes of the March 11, 2025 Board of Education regular meeting? Move.

Second. Second.

Is there any discussion? All right. 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. Motion carried. Five-0.

Do you have anything to report tonight?

I do.

Give me one second. All right. It's a little bit of a long one. The schools have a lot of stuff going on. I mean, it is the end of the year, so very exciting. So I'll start off with my school, Redlands High School. Our prom is coming up this Saturday. RHS is having our prom at the Indian Wells Country Club from 7 to 11 p.m. The theme is Night on the Bayou and ticket sales end this Thursday, April 10th. Tickets are currently 1.15 and can be bought online through Five Star or in person at the student finance office. AP season is quickly approaching for all students as well as state testing for the juniors. So good luck to everybody who is approaching a very stressful time during this, but it'll be over soon. Link Crew is currently accepting applications for new Link Crew leaders. Applications are due this Friday, April 11th at 11.59 PM. If you are an RHS kid and you are interested, be sure to check it out. Same thing goes for mock trial. They are also taking in applications which are due the same day at 11.59 PM. So be sure to check it out as well. And then we have the RHS sports of the week. Today, April 8th, there is boys golf versus Beaumont at 3, boys tennis versus Beaumont at 3, baseball versus Rev at 4, swim versus Cajon at 4, track versus Cajon at 4, and boys volleyball versus CV with JV at 4.30 and varsity at 5. Then April 9th, there's only one game tomorrow, boys golf versus Cajon at 3 p.m., so if you're interested, definitely go check them out. And then April 10th, Boys Golf vs. Rev at 3. Badminton vs. Rialto at 4. Baseball vs. Rev with JV at 4 and Varsity at 5. And finally, Boys Volleyball vs. Cajon with JV at 4 and Varsity at 5. And then finally, the RHS Speech and Debate team is getting ready to head to the state championship. So root for them as whoever finalizes gets to go to nationals. Next up for Rev, their prom is April 26th from 7 to 11 at the Classic Club in Palm Desert. Tickets are currently on sale for $100 until the 12th. We'll be 110 from April 13th to the 19th and 120 from April 20th to the 23rd. And then their possibilities prom is May 2nd and sign ups to take a buddy are out now. At Citrus Valley, their brand new Seavey Winter Percussion Ensemble won first place at their first ever competition. So please wish them luck as they advance to finals on April 26th. The Black Hawk Theater Company is working hard on their spring musical, Legally Blonde. So go watch them perform on April 25th and 26th and May 1st and 3rd. Tickets are currently on sale for Citrus Valley's prom, which is on April 19th, and is themed to the great Gatsby. State testing for juniors and seniors will take place in a few weeks, and then CUV will have a fun spring rally next Friday. And then finally, I'll be covering E-Academy. So this Friday, their seniors will be attending the senior day at Crafton Hills College. Their E-Academy prom will be taking place next Thursday at the Yucaipa Performing Arts Center, and the theme is Dancing Under the Cherry Blossoms. Our middle school will be taking a field trip to the Aquarium of the Pacific on April 25th. PBIS will be visiting E-Academy this Thursday, April 10th, in order to check out how their Golden Eagles have become safe, responsible, and respectful students. And then registration visits with their lovely counselor, Ms. Craw, will begin next week for grades 6 through 12. And then dual enrollment sign up event will be held virtually on April 24th. And that is it.

Thank you, Bella. Nice report tonight. Do we have any reports from any of our associations? Mr. Caperton, you are up.

All right. Good evening, board members. Good evening, Juan, Jason. I just want to start off tonight by saying this is National Library Week. So this is where we recognize the valuable time and role libraries play and librarians and librarian workers play in strengthening our communities and transforming our lives. I would like to make a special note to the Moore Librarian, Janann Elias. For those of you who don't know, she was featured this month in the Educator Monthly by CTA. Janann won a $40,000 award to redo the Moore Library this year. Absolutely. So, yeah. And that, RTA is really proud of that because we reached out to all of our local associations to help support this effort, and we were all, different associations from all over Southern California helped her cross that line, and so we're really proud of her. You know, she is working to make her library and bring it to the 21st century. She is, they have purchased adaptable furniture so that students can work and collaborate and learn and create independently. You know, she is trying to create a space that fosters curiosity and collaboration at Moore, and I just want to thank her for all the hard work she's doing. She's doing a great job. I would also like to thank all of our district librarians, you know, considering it's Librarian Appreciation Week. They all work tirelessly to help all of our students, our families, our teachers, to provide access to, you know, some of these great programs they do, for example, at RHS. If you've ever seen the TED stage at RHS and some of the TED Talks, Some of the podcasts the students do. They have innovation rooms where they have steam rooms and 3D printers. There's a lot going on in the library. It's no longer like it was when I was going to high school where, you know, type up an essay real fast and last two minutes before class started and maybe check out a book. There's a lot of great activities and things are going on in our libraries. I would also like to mention on this Friday, the Redlands Teachers Association and Redlands Educational Support Association, or RESPA, we are hosting our annual Spring Fling event for all of our members. So it's a chance for all the employees of Redlands Unified to come together. We're at the Portuguese American Club. We have a great time and get together in solidarity. Redlands Association will also be at the Redlands Bike Classic this weekend. We have a booth and we're going to be doing games for the community and supporting that great event. And then finally, I would like to end my message today. On June 11th, the RTA has their annual retirement dinner, and I would like to extend a formal invitation to all the board members, everybody, and also all of our admin cabinet team for that night. Official invitations will come out in the mail probably by the end of the month. But yeah, June 11th at the Redlands Country Club. Keep your calendars open. So thank you very much.

Thank you, Steve. Thank you. No report from RESPA tonight. RAPA, do we have a report? No report tonight. Okay. So we'll go on to board committee reports. Does anybody have anything they want to report?

Melissa, do you have anything from CREBRA?

No, our meeting's tomorrow.

Okay. The rep committee, I went to that meeting, and I was really excited. Everyone was excited that the rep received the 34th Annual San Bernardino County Education Medal of Honor. So that was really exciting for them. They're doing a video production. They're going to come and do a video of their organization. A whole bunch of stuff goes along with that. So I know we celebrated their nomination last board meeting, but they actually won. So that was the update. Thank you. And some unfortunate news is that we've lost some scholarship funding through that program, and the AAA Academy may possibly eliminate all camps except for summer camp. So I'm not sure if that's for sure. It didn't sound like it was the final thing, but that's where it's headed. The last thing is a reminder about the Harlem Wizards. It's going to be totally great and hilarious, probably. It's going to be a lot of fun on April 25th at REV. So you can go to harlemwizards.com to get your tickets. It's going to be a great fundraiser for our schools and also super fun to watch the Harlem Wizards play our staff in basketball. That's all.

Patty, anything? No. Jeanette, do you have anything?

Just a quick report on the Redlands Compact Club. We're finishing up all of the mock interviews tomorrow at CVHS, and then our next meeting is next week with the student officers.

Thank you. Okay, on to superintendent's report. Do you have anything?

Yes, thank you. I'd like to update the board on our work that we've done at Mariposa. We, at our last meeting, had parents share several incidences of racism, specifically at Mariposa, but also there were parents that shared from other sites also. I met with the parents who shared some of the situations that But I'm happy to just update you on the work that we did specifically at Mariposa and then what we've done all year long district-wide and then what the future plan is. But at Mariposa specifically, students have been given two lessons. So this all happened prior to spring break. So by the time we got to spring break a couple weeks ago, there were two lessons given to kids in every classroom. One was centered around kindness and the other was centered around no hate speech. And one of the highlights from that training is to teach kids how to provide peer support, meaning knowing how to hold each other accountable when they see something or hear something, being able to tell an adult immediately so that we can help the students through that quickly. We also trained all of the teachers on how to implement no-hate zone lessons, and we are meeting with all the staff this week, and so that includes all the support staff. What we've been doing all year long, though, and this work, I've got to give all the credit to Ms. Nashae Thompson. She's our equity coordinator, and she's done an excellent job. Thank you. of really leading this work. But we have what we call equity teams at every single one of our schools. And that has been in existence for the last few years. And that work that they've been doing all year long includes being trained on no hate zone and how to implement that in the classroom. That is almost 200 staff that participate district-wide, and they've all been trained. The goal for the rest of this school year is to spread the lessons that have been done at Mariposa specifically with other school sites. Some of our other school sites have already experienced this, but our goal is to make sure that every single school at the elementary level see these lessons in their classrooms before the end of the school year. Moving forward as we go into next school year is to really continue the work that we're doing and to ensure that we have monthly staff reminders around hate speech so that we are constantly looking at this from the lens of not thinking that it's a one-time thing, but that it's something that we constantly have to monitor and be on top of. And that really includes all of our staff. We can't leave it to just Ms. Thompson, for example. It's going to take the work from our principals and from our support staff and teachers. We have anti-bullying lessons that will also include anti-racism. Some of the lessons that we're developing we'll share with the board. before we implement them. But we look forward to the work that Ms. Thompson is leading and that our principals are also engaged in. And so I will also say that Principal Gill at Mariposa has done a phenomenal job in helping lead the work that we're doing. And so I just wanted to provide a quick update and ensure the board that it is not something that we are going to say, okay, we've solved this now. It's not going to get solved with just a few lessons that we're doing. We have to stay on top of this. I just met with Ms. Thompson last week. I'm going to be meeting with her periodically, and I will continue to update the board on our progress on helping students be better. Any questions for me?

Thank you. Thank you very much for that update.

Done.

Okay. All right. Now we have a presentation, District English Learner Advisory Committee, DLAC. Update, Sonia Belingut, the Director of Special Projects.

Good evening. Thank you. So good evening, President Randler, board members, student trustee. It's awesome to see you, superintendent, executive cabinet, and of course our community. My name is Sonia Belinggett. I'm the director of special projects, and I'm here this evening for our annual DLAC presentation. So I'd like to give you just a little information before we get started. DLAC stands for District English Learner Advisory Committee. This is a committee that's required by CDE, and each year part of that requirement is that I come to the board in a public meeting and I share with you information about what the committee's been working on, accomplishments we've made, and who's on the committee. So the committee is actually comprised of parents, staff, and community members. And they're designated to give advice to a district employee, the board, a liaison. I'm that district liaison. on programs for English learner students and services for them. So that's what this presentation is about. I'm going to give you a little bit of data so that you can know and understand how many English learners we serve in Redlands Unified School District, and then we'll get into the work of the DLAC. Thank you. So 56 is the number of beautiful languages that are spoken in the schools in Redlands Unified School District. That's a lot of different languages to serve. Our top three languages for the past, I would say, maybe six years have been Spanish. at over 2,000 students, and Arabic in second and Vietnamese in third. Arabic and Vietnamese sometimes toggle back and forth, and those are the number of students as of the 23-24 school year. All of this is public information that we get off of DataQuest, and that is tied from our October CALPADS days. So I wanted to just give you some report totals. This is the most recent report from 23-24. And I put that yellow arrow there so you could see the English Learner column. But if you look to the left, you'll see Redlands Unified School District, and then compared to the county, And then as well to the state. So it gives total numbers there. The first column is English only students. And then IFEP students. English learners there with over 1,600 students. Our reclassified students, which I'll give you some information about them. And then to be determined, when this was captured in October of this time, there was about 21 students who had enrolled to our district, and they just haven't been tested yet. So this is just a snapshot of that October date. Obviously, English learner... Data is fluid. We are getting new students every single day, and we're always testing students, and then they fall into one of these columns here. So that 1,671 English learner students, that represents for RUSD about 8.4% of our student population, and then you can compare it there to the county. and to the state. I do want to point out, though, that we do serve in our department. We are servicing all of these students, but in particular, our English learner students combined with our RFEP students, which is over 3,000 students, we're responsible to monitor and make sure they're making gains every single year. So reclassification, RFEP stands for Reclassified Fluent English Proficient. This is our goal. It's always been our goal that when we have an English learner student, our goal is for them to maintain their home language. So think about those 56 different languages and learn English. So learning English is our goal and This graph represents how many students over the last three years. I tried to keep it simple for everyone here in the community to understand. So this school year, we were able to reclassify 216 students. Reclassification is open all year. Actually, we had a meeting today, and we have one student that we're still working on to reclassify. So we can reclassify a student at any time of the school year. But you can see the growth there. We've made a little bit of growth every single year in reclassifying students, and the criteria is there on your left. The first two where it says ELPAC level four and alternate ELPAC level three, those are set by the state of California. We do not set that criteria. ELPAC is the state assessment for English learners. The alt-ELPAC is our state assessment for our English learners with extensive needs. So we also look at how are the students doing. So the teacher has input on reclassification, their grades. We consult with the parents on whether or not they feel the student is ready to be reclassified. And then there's a performance and basic skills. Once we reclassify an English learner to RFEP, we are still required to monitor their progress for four years. So I just wanted to give you a little bit of information because this data helps you understand the work of the DLAC group. So the requirement from the California Department of Education, if we have 51 or more English learners, then we're required to have a DLAC. So we meet that very easily with over 1,600 students. We have meetings every year. We ask the committee, how many meetings do you want to have? We have a lot of topics, which I'm going to share with you, and we split those topics up over these meetings. They decided a couple years ago to have the meetings hybrid. What I mean is some are virtual, some are in person. So we have held these meetings so far, and our next meeting is May 14th in person. These are our officers. I'm not an officer. I'm just in the picture. So these are our officers. And we really appreciate their time. They come to the meetings. They're there with the lens of the English learner student and parent and what's in their best interest. Because over the next couple of slides, you will see all of the topics that we're required to cover in our meeting. So this committee actually has outlined topics for every meeting. So let's begin with those topics. This is the purpose and goals of DLAC. I won't read this line by line. I know that you have a copy there in front of you. But this is what we split up over our meeting dates over the course of the year. So we discuss our master plan, We do a needs assessment in the early fall. We talk about EL program education, what we're doing now in the district. We talk about training. Training is a requirement. We have to train our parents so they understand. For example, part of the training is... Robert's Rules of Order and how to do those types of things. So the training is great and it's mandatory every year. And we make sure that there's parent involvement and that they feel that they're a part of a really important committee. We also ask them about written notifications. It's very important to the state and to us that any notifications that are sent home to parents are in a language that they can understand. So we have a conversation every year about Things that are going home. Most recently you saw our videos, right? Our safety videos that have been going home. Those went home in English and Spanish in most grade levels. So it's very important that we talk about those and we get feedback and then we bring that back. Reclassification we've talked about. the annual language assessment. We let them know that it's the window. So the window is now. Our students have been testing since February 1st, and it's until May 31st. So our DLAC group supports parents at all the sites to make sure, in case they have any questions about the state test. And we discuss programs, data. They are an important part of the LCAP, so there is a person on the LCAP committee that represents our English learner parents and community, and there's a voice in the LCAP room. And our coordinator, Christy Hubbard, she does a great job making sure that that is taken care of every year. And we talk about requirements. So we let everyone know that there is specific requirements and we work with our HR department to make sure that we have the teachers and the instructional aides that have the requirements necessary to teach our English learner students. We also have things like bylaws. And at the very end of the year, two reasons we have the May meeting is one, that we're going to be reviewing the LCAP and getting final input for that. And two is if we have any federal and state funding coming our way. we have to talk about whether or not the DLAC wants to apply for those funds. So it's not something we do automatically. We give them information, and then we decide whether we're going to apply. And we've applied every year, and we do wonderful things with those Title III funds. So the needs assessment, I just wanted to let you know very quickly. This is what we work on all year. I said we do the needs assessment in early fall. And we break it up into categories because that helps our DLAC group kind of understand what we're there to do. We're not there to talk about, hey, let's get T-shirts for all the students, right? The committee is very focused on the work that we need to do. So this helps them stay focused in academics. They were asking for homework help. reading intervention at sites, after-school tutoring and parent workshops. And so then I'm able to take that information into principal meetings or meet with specific school sites on what's happening in the academic area. Attendance and behavior. This was very interesting. This year they really asked for, and the word they used was better, not improved. but they did say they wanted better teacher-student relationships because we all know when a student is connected to their school or their teacher, they're going to show up. They wanted continued rewards and incentives, which most of our schools are doing, and they wanted workshops so parents understand the importance of attendance. For, you know, cell, they wanted... support during state testing. They feel like our English learners, you have to remember, they take tests back to back. So right now they're taking their ELPAC and they move right into CASP. And so they want support for that, which our counselors do an amazing job. They also asked for transparency during lockdowns, which our superintendent at the very beginning of the year said, this is what we're going to do. We're going to let everybody know what's going on. And so they appreciated that. And home visits. They said sometimes they need help. Sometimes they need help to be able to get their child to school or they have a situation. So they shared with me that they really appreciate that. When our counselors, our principals, our assistant principals are doing home visits and getting to know the situations at home. And then our EL programs, of course, they want training for teachers. They want prep for the ELPAC state assessment. Tutoring, again. And then newcomer resources and support. So newcomer is a student who's new to the country. Finally, last slide, this is what we're gonna continue to do, continue to update the master plan, provide professional development, work with our parents, make sure that we're in compliance with state requirements. This number five is exciting, to re-explore the implementation of a dual immersion program. and obviously support reclassification in our seniors who earn the state seal of biliteracy, which this year will be honoring over 200 students in 19 different languages. So that's the work that we'll continue to do with DLAC. I'm open for any questions.

Does anybody have a question?

Thank you. I had a question. Okay. What is happening with the tutoring before and after school currently?

So the question is what is happening with the tutoring before and after school currently. That's dependent on the school site. So every school site has different programs. Some of the tutoring takes place, for example, it could take place during ELOP if they're an ELOP school. Other schools have their own paraprofessionals that they might have hired for tutoring. So it's really a school-by-school basis, not a district-wide. And also because there are a different number of English learners at each school site. It's very different. You know, not as high of a number across the whole district. It's dependent on the school.

But thank you.

I have two things. First of all, thank you very much for this presentation. You're welcome. Two questions. You mentioned the videos and materials, like if something goes home to parents, and it's in Spanish for those kids.

Yes, written notifications. Written, yeah. And are the videos ever translated into other? Well, I was talking about the videos that we did through our compliance department. So the question is, are those translated? Into a language somebody else would want. If they request it, yes. So that's a great question. So if someone, I can give you an IEP example or a video example or just a parent letter. If we get that request, we do have a company that we work with. The company is called Album, and we do our best to meet those 56 different languages. Sometimes it's pretty easy to do, and sometimes it takes us a little digging, but we do do that very often.

And then the other question I had was on the reclassification. If you find that maybe the student wasn't really ready, can they go back to...

So once they're reclassified, they cannot go back to be an English learner, but that's the point of the four-year monitoring. Our teachers actually have an online monitoring form, and they can go in... to the monitoring form and put what interventions that they're doing for that particular student, and the principal can monitor that. We monitor that from our department, and we work collectively. Each school has an English learner representative, so they're able to work with their staff on cases like that. Okay, thank you. You're welcome. Okay, thank you.

Okay, we're going to move 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, provided the person submits a completed registration card addressed to 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 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, 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, but no more than three minutes, unless the chairperson or majority of the board determines a different time limit is appropriate. And tonight we're going to do one and a half minutes. Clerk Wilson, do you have any speaker cards for those willing to speak on any agenda or consent item?

Yes. The first speaker would be Greg Britton.

No. Did you say you?

I couldn't hear. You're not going to vote Greg Britton?

I know Greg Britton.

Sorry. I thought you said the first item. Is this for agenda items or for public comments?

Yes, agenda items.

Okay. A couple of seemingly innocuous student trips on the agenda. And there used to be a time in which parents and the general public could trust what's going on in the government-run schools. Unfortunately, today, that is no longer so. By express policy... Government schools in this state keep secrets from the parents of the children. So where do we go with these trips? We should know, the parents should know, the board should know exactly what is going to be taught. We should see the materials that are going to be used in those seminars. We should see the ones that are going to be given to the children. And the parents should definitely get this in advance. before they consent to their children participating in these events, not just an innocuous, vague, one paragraph description of what the event is about. The superintendent in his report talked about quote, hate speech, unquote. And any defender and supporter of free speech immediately has an immediate red flag because all across the country, and in the schools in particular, those terms are used to suppress constitutionally First Amendment protected speech. For example...

I'm sorry, this is not an agenda item.

Wasn't the superintendent's report on the agenda?

No.

I thought it was on the agenda. Okay, well, it should be on the agenda.

But thank you for your previous comments.

Our next speaker on an agenda item is Catherine Appleby.

it's not an item that is being considered by the board which is why comments are for agenda items that are being considered by the board welcome Catherine

Good evening, board. I'm speaking on agenda item 8E, the designing schools contract for the AI boot camp hybrid training workshop. This approval of a $9,576 contract is only for 12 licenses. That is about $780 per person. And so I have some significant questions as a taxpayer regarding this expenditure. One, what 12 staff are participating in this? Two, what need prompted this expenditure? How was the consultant selected? What are the achievable action goals that taxpayers will see as a result? I am concerned that this expenditure is wasteful.

Thank you, Kathleen. Thank you.

Okay, we'll now continue with the superintendent's recommendations. First, we have consent item. Oh, I'm sorry. First, we have consent items under business services. Mr. Hill, do you have any changes or additions?

No changes or additions tonight. Thank you.

Thank you. Is there a motion to approve item 13A, consent items B through Q? So moved. Is there a second? I'll second. Thank you, Patty. Thank you, Melissa. Any discussion?

Regarding item E, that's for six staff. Is that correct?

Actually training for managers, cabinet and ed services managers, so that we can help our school sites through the AI world. And so this is just the beginning of some training that we want to embrace regarding artificial intelligence and its use in the classroom for our students.

Well, I do appreciate Catherine's questions regarding how, you know, it will be utilized in terms of who will be designated as the 12. And then I was also curious how the, on the appendix, how the, is that the total amount of all the classes and the initial in-service classes?

That's for the coursework and the boot camp, as well as the keynote and the original and the eight sessions prior to the administrative advance. So it's a collection of in-person workshops, online workshops, as well as the keynote and the advance.

Okay, so there won't be additional funds allocated. That's the whole package.

That's the whole package, the initial package. If we choose as a district to continue the work, then there would be pieces that would be added at a later date. That would be in front of the board.

As not to exceed.

Okay, 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. Motion carried, 5-0.

Moving on to action items under business services. Mr. Hill, do you have any changes or additions?

No changes or additions tonight, thank you. Thank you.

Adopt Resolution Number 37, 24-25, Transfers of Appropriations Pursuant to Education Code Sections 42600 through 42602. The district may appropriate funds and make necessary transfers throughout the 2025-2026 fiscal year. The San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools Office requires districts to approve transfers of appropriation as needed throughout the school year. Do I have a motion? Second. Any discussion? All right, 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. Motion carried, 5-0.

Approve resolution number 38, 24-25, authorizing Juan J. Cabral to apply for and sign assurances for local, state, and federal programs, projects, or grants that provide funding for public and non-profit transportation services, including administrative, capital, and operational assistance. Authorize Jason Hill, Deputy Superintendent, Business Services, to sign related documents on behalf of the board. Is there a motion?

Move approval.

Second. Any discussion? Then I will call for the vote.

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

Aye.

Motion carried, 5-0.

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

No changes or additions tonight. Thank you.

Is there a motion to approve 15 consent items A and B?

Moved.

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

I have a question. Is this the kids that missed going with the rest of the class? Because it's only six fifth grade students. So did they miss when they went on the last trip? Is that why?

I imagine that's all that is going. Buck Milley, do you know the details on that?

I will check into that. I believe it is students in our extensive needs classroom.

Okay. Students at what?

They're in our extensive needs special education classroom.

Call for the vote. Member Ayala Quintero. Aye. Board Member Olsen? Aye. President Rendler? Aye.

Vice President Hollihan? Aye. Clerk Wilson?

Aye. Motion carried, 5-0.

Moving on to consent items under human resources. Mrs. Bruig, do you have any changes or additions?

No, I do not. Thank you.

Did you miss B? Or we did the A and B together? Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Is there a motion to approve item 6A, I mean 16A, consent items B through AE? I'll move. Second. Any discussion? All right, 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. Motion carried, 5-0.

Moving on to human resources action items. Mrs. Bruick, do you have any changes or additions?

No, I do not. Thank you.

Thank you. Certificated. Ratify and adopt revised resolution number 39, 2024-2025, action regarding teaching outside credential authorization. Do we have a motion?

Move to approve. Second.

Second. All right, any discussion?

All right, 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.

Motion carried, 5-0.

Approve increase for board member compensation. Education Code Section 35120 and Board Bylaw 9250. Allow the board to increase its compensation by 5% per year. The recommendation is to increase board member compensation by 5% as allowed by law, effective July 1, 2024. Do we have a motion?

Move.

Second. Okay, any discussion?

It goes back to 2024, July? Yeah.

Oh, do we have a total amount on that, what it would be?

What is that amount, Mr. Hill? Well, what would be the amount with the 5%?

$23, I want to say.

Yeah, I don't have the number on it, but it's- $20. $23, yeah. It's like a $20 increase. Okay, any more discussion?

Didn't we have to, I might be remembering wrong, didn't we have to take this one by one, like the four of you would approve mine, I would approve, didn't we have to do that? Because aren't we allowed, are we allowed to vote for our own increase?

Can vote collectively, yes.

Just want to clarify.

Call for the vote.

Board Member Ayala-Quintero? Aye. Board Member Olsen? Aye. President Rendler? No. Vice President Hollihan?

Aye.

Clerk Wilson? Aye. Motion carried. Four ayes and one no.

on to public participation and community input. 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, 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. Complaints and problems 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, but no more than three minutes, unless the chairperson or majority of the board determines that a different time limit is appropriate. Tonight we'll do one and a half minutes per speaker. Clerk Wilson, are there any public comment cards?

Yes. First up would be Kevin O'Connor.

Hello, Kevin.

Parents and educators need to have a sacred trust with one another. When we turn our children over to the classroom, what we pray is that the teacher will ignite the lifelong learning desire in our children. But when we see things coming out of California like AB 1955, and the things that are happening with biological boys playing in girls' sports and different things. We see that there are issues that concerns not only myself as a parent and a grandparent here, but also the pastor of the church located in District 5 and families in all five districts and beyond. Families that represent, because some of you may think because I'm white here that that's all we represent, but we have Pakistani, Bangladesh, India, Vietnam, Korea, Chinese, Mexican, Peru, and we even have some Americans. So when the classroom activates our children's sexuality by sexualizing things through symbols of flags that represent someone's sexuality and library material that engages them in sexual material, their innocence is attacked. I'm asking you, don't be a part of the attack of our children's innocence. Vote time and time again that the parents have a say and not just the educational system over what's happening within our classroom. The current direction that we're taking right now...

Thank you. Thank you. We're not going to boo any speakers. That's not very polite.

Next up, we have Joshua Hall, followed by Lawrence Hebron.

I'd like to encourage the school board to put the flag policy back on the agenda and to vote on it. Contrary to the popular wisdom that says that most Americans are not in favor of a flag policy that only allows for the American flag and the state flag, I believe the majority of Americans are in favor of a policy that allows for only the American flag. 77 million Americans voted for Trump, and I think that speaks volumes. The problem is that the people in favor of having flags supporting sexuality and the gay agenda speak louder than the majority, and so I think the majority should speak louder. just as loud if not louder. So we need to get the flag policy back on the agenda and vote on it. This has been going on for three months.

Thank you, Josh. Welcome, Lawrence.

Good evening. My name is Lawrence Hebron. I live in Area 3 of the Redlands School District. I'd like to know how we got to this point. It wasn't that long ago that you could be arrested, tried, convicted, and sent to prison for showing some of the books in our public school libraries to children. And if you got out of prison, you would be subjected to restraining orders and the requirement to list yourself on a sexual offenders registry for the rest of your life. And how did this false sympathy for homosexuals and trans come about? Look, if you have two X chromosomes and you think you're a boy or have an XY chromosome and you think you're a girl, you have a serious problem. And the compassionate, loving, supportive response to this is to help them get cured, not to indulge them. A doctor doesn't get a patient, a doctor doesn't tell a patient with a broken leg to run a lap. A friend doesn't give a friend with lung cancer a pack of cigarettes. And you don't give a child with gender confusion a flag at a month. You get him help. You are called trustees because you are entrusted with protecting and promoting the welfare of our children. Do your job. Protect and promote the welfare of our children. Porn hurts kids. Encouraging dysfunctional gender ideations hurts kids. Stop hurting kids.

Thank you, Lawrence.

I just want to encourage and remind our public that our students are present, and we also have students watching the live stream. And I would very much appreciate no use of profanity during our meeting. Thank you.

Next up is me.

Excuse me. Excuse me. Please sit down. You are not speaking. Thank you. No.

Just to be clear, I have no idea who said the F word, but I do not appreciate profanity in our meeting. That's all I am saying. Whoever said it, whoever you are, and everybody else who's here, please don't use profanity. I'm asking. Thank you.

Okay, next up we have Lawrence Weston followed by Jermaine Miles.

Welcome, Lawrence.

Good evening. My name is Larry Weston. I have two daughters, a grandson and a granddaughter. Me, my friends, my relatives, and all of my neighbors want all of the woke, homosexual crap removed from the classrooms so that children have an environment they can learn in. The schools should be teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic, not how to be a homosexual. Pride flags and black flag matters are inappropriate in the classroom environment. LGBTQ flags are offensive to most parents, and it is wrong to display them in the classroom. Homosexuality is morally wrong. It is against biblical teaching, and it shouldn't be taught in the classroom. Schools should maintain a politically neutral environment and not display any political symbols. The only flags that should be shown in the classroom are the American flag and the California flag. Pride flags make some students and most parents feel uncomfortable and unwelcome. It is absurd to think children need this woke education. States such as Utah, Missouri, Florida have banned pride flags as a political symbol and ordered teachers to remove them from their classrooms. Thank you, Larry. Thank you.

I just want to be very clear about what I'm asking everybody to do. When you come to the podium, you have every right. You have the freedom of speech. You get one and a half minutes to say what you want to say. Please do not use profanity. That's all I'm asking. I believe that you did, sir. And I'm just asking, I'm saying please, pretty please, do not use profanity.

Good evening. My name is Jermaine Miles. I'm a proud grandparent of a kindergartner. Welcome. In the ARC Church's Sunday handout, it asked for support tonight for Candy and Jeanette to, quote, help protect children from the lewd and lascivious tyrannical agenda of the LGBTQ ideology. Look, our incredible teachers are focused on teaching the required information while also dealing with a plethora of other issues, from our unhoused students who may not have warm clothing to outright disrespect of teachers by students. Have you actually witnessed anyone teaching that their students should become gay or consider changing their gender? I guarantee you no one has because it's utterly preposterous. The people whose entire purpose in life is to indoctrinate and convert people are Christians like Candy and Jeanette. These Christians are relentless in their mailings, knocking on my door, leaving pamphlets. They are the same Christians who want only their Christianity taught in our schools. Our schools is not your church. Hanging a pride flag, recognizing women's history, black history, is not indoctrinating. It is not excluding anyone. It is, in fact, teaching your children, a bad word in your minds now, inclusivity. And perhaps one of the most well-known Christian tenets of love thy neighbor, which you no longer believe.

Next up, we have Michael Paisner, followed by Eriko Grossman.

Hello, Michael Paisner. Ms. Rendler, I came here to call out an omission in the January 14th meeting documentation on flag banning. That agenda states written comments will be published in the minutes, and in those minutes you are documented thanking people for over 300 comments, and you gave assurance the comments would be recorded in the minutes, but there are no written comments in those minutes. Your public miscount of those comments during the workshop and suppression of documentation must be called out and corrected, even if we all know the true results because Ms. Iacontero already shared them. But even more important than that topic is calling what we see unfolding here this evening. You are witnessing the ability of one hate-filled pastor to manipulate Olson and Wilson's hate-filled church to come here and fill this meeting. Ask anyone who came here and supported these policies what brought them here, and you'll get one answer, Olson and Wilson's hate church. That's what brought them here. To be clear, I have no problems with anyone's religious beliefs, but if your church teaches you to judge and vilify people based on who they love, that isn't religion, it's hate. I give Olson and Wilson credit for one thing and one thing only. They are blatant in their hatred online, even if they are too cowardly to voice their bigotry from the dais. Mr. Cabral, please make sure Wilson and Olson get that equity and anti-hate training. They need a super extensive session on it. They're not learning. It's pathetic.

Good evening. The school board claims RUSD does not tolerate any form of discrimination, yet some members target LGBTQ plus students. Pride flags and rainbows have long been in classrooms without issue, only becoming controversial when right-wing politics began exploiting trans people for political gain. You need to stop demonizing LGBTQ plus students. They are people, not sexual content. Educate yourself on what it is like to be born LGBTQ+, and the struggles they face. Let me share the story of a trans girl named Lila Alcorn. Lila knew she was a girl since she was four years old. However, when she came at her parents at age 14, her parents rejected her gender identity due to their religious beliefs and sent her to Christian conversion therapy, which is extremely harmful. They removed Lila from school and denied her internet access. Tragically, at 17, Lila took her own life by throwing herself onto train tracks. In her suicide note, she wrote, the life I would have lived isn't worth living because I'm transgender. Lila's story is a heartbreaking reminder of the consequences of intolerance and rejection. Together, we can ensure that no child has to endure such pain. Thank you. And transgender rights are human rights.

Thank you, Ethel.

Hello, RUSD. I am a trans-feminine student in Redlands High School. My pronouns are she, her, and the past few years have been a complete and utter mess for people like me. Each step we took, we are met with equal setback by bigoted reactionaries, and now we live under the thumb of a man for none other than his own self-interest told to his followers that he would wholly and utterly eradicate, quote, transgender and woke ideology. In all respects, I do not feel safe. I do not feel safe at that. At a national level, we have fascists who will stop at nothing in order to preserve and strengthen their billion dollar pockets. In a nation where biker gangs... are showing up at our school board meetings to advocate taking our rights away. Why the hell is this happening at our schools? Why the hell is any school doing that for that matter? Why are we systematically persecuting an already existing marginalized group of people who are kids? We have no choice but to fight back and speak back and speak the truth about this matter. Jeanette Wilson, Candy Olson, and Michelle Rendler, you are the problem. You are the assholes through and through. Your policies are bullcrap. Your intentions are purely of homophobia. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Thank you. I've already asked.

Next up we have Aya Francisco followed by Kendra Salazar. That was Aya Francisco. So did we hear from Erica? Yes. Okay, so we have next Kendra Salazar followed by Anita Rhodes.

Good evening. My name is Kendra Salazar. I've been a teacher for RUSD for 22 years. I'm here as an educator and a parent to remind you that you have a duty to all students and staff, not just the ones that look like you, the ones that speak the same language as you, pray to the same God as you, or love the same way that you do. You are a threat to the students in our district if your agenda jeopardizes their right to inclusivity and protection so you could bend to your conservative fan club. I'm here to encourage you to be present when you visit our schools. Some of you seem to be ignorant to our student population. While you're there, get to know them instead of tallying how many rainbows you see. I promise you that our students are more traumatized by the practice of lockdown drills rather than any rainbow flag or book you can consider banning. As a parent and teacher, I have my eye on you, and so do the students. I don't think you quite grasp the magnitude of your responsibility to our youth. They are much smarter, informed, tolerant, and accepting than you. They monitor your Instagram posts and hear your out of touch rhetoric. So why are you here? If you need help representing all students and staff, I encourage you to ask my daughter, Bella Salazar. She's sitting up there with you. She didn't snake her way on with an election. She was chosen by her peers. She was chosen by her school. I encourage you to do the same. Thank you, Kimberly.

Welcome. Good evening, board of supervisors. Excuse me, board members. I'm here to speak to you to encourage you once again to do what you know is morally right and what's in the best interest of these children. Permissiveness is not love when children are confused. You tell them the truth, you guide them to do what's right. Some of us are born different. But not as many children now that have caught this bug because it's being encouraged and taught. Don't do that to children. Treat them with respect. Let them grow up in the way that they should grow up. There is a way that seems right, but the end thereof is destruction for the heart and soul and minds of people. If you love a person intrinsically, you do what's intrinsically best for them, it may be easy for you to affirm a desire that's aberrant and harmful to that child, not to mention physically, but emotionally and psychologically. And then you turn around and say, oh, because they were taught to be normal. They're murdering themselves. They're murdering themselves because you're not telling them the truth. You're affirming lies to the children. We're in a time in life where what we all used to believe was morally right and upstanding is now hate. And what is absolutely morally repulsive, disrespectful to the children, disrespecting their minds, their emotions, their bodies.

Thank you. Next up we have Valerie Tabor followed by Hannah Edmondson.

Welcome, Valerie.

I think that you should all be fucking ashamed of yourselves. Ashamed, ashamed, ashamed.

She can be escorted out. Escorted out. Escorted out. Letting these people speak their hatred speech.

You have trans students.

Trans students who deserve to be treated with dignity.

Is Hannah Edmondson available?

That's Dr. Hannah Edmondson. I'm a Redlands resident, a Redlands graduate. And I had a speech planned, but I think I just need to speak to President Rindler. This is embarrassing. You have allowed this to continue by not voting no or saying no in that five and a half hour meeting that we sat through. I cannot tell the friends I graduated with what's happening. I cannot use these words. We have to use our own words. We cannot keep copy and pasting other people's slogans. I told my friends, I will be supporting my hometown school district tomorrow, Tuesday, 4 to 6 p.m., on Lagonia Avenue in Redlands. I'm also standing up for my profession and our students because it seems to be needed. Never in my life did I believe I would have to say, teachers aren't teaching your kids to be gays. We are trying our best to teach them to read, think critically, and to be kind. Please make this stop, President Rindler. Make a vote. You can make all of this go away. This is embarrassing. You are a leader of teachers, and you need to teach.

Next up, we have Erika Ruiz, followed by Jen Joglian.

Welcome, Erika. Hello. My name is Erika. I'm with the Inland Empire Prism Collective. We are a local LGBTQ nonprofit organization. It is very apparent that the recent policies you have proposed have dog whistles for homophobia, transphobia, and racism embedded into them. You claim to be against divisive ideology while actively trying to implement it by pushing forward a political extremist agenda of your own. As an organization, we've been tracking this anti-LGBTQ ideological strategy across local school districts for the past few years. Every district that has attempted to pass these policies has seen an increase in tension, chaos, and wasted funding in the aftermath. So I hope that's what you want, because that's what you're signing up for if you continue in this direction. President Rendler, is that really what you want your legacy to be? I urge you to please choose a different path. Thank you. Thank you.

Welcome, Jen. Good evening, board members, cabinet and all. My name is Jen Ugoobian, and I am a proud resident of Area 2 in Redlands and a very proud counselor, co-counselor at Mentone Elementary School. I love our district. That said, I'm really upset about the decision, the most recent decision to drop the ELOP EEP counselors. So despite the fact that so many of the surveys and the thought exchange, everyone was saying, you know, EEP counselors, those are like predominant requests by most of the people in the community, and yet all of the EEP counselors have been cut. I just wanted to voice my concern. We're very sad to lose our Ms. Crandall at Mentone. So I'm primarily here today, however, with my upset and sadness at the meeting that took place on that Friday when it was the last hours while we were at work still right before spring break and the first hours of our spring break when many of us had plans already. Ms. Ayala Quintero had made the request previously that these meetings don't pop up on our calendars semi-last minute because of that situation. very reason. I'm extremely upset and sad by the decision. My understanding of the decision is that we are going to have to out our kids if they share with us because they don't feel safe at home, that we have to out them to their families, let us know that they're LGBTQ or what their pronouns are. If you don't have this experience, you should know that kids are put on the street. So you talk about grooming, you are putting them in jeopardy. You are putting them out for predators and dangerous circumstances.

Next up we have Pat Molnar followed by Cindy Van Horn.

I'm Pat Molnar, a teacher of 29 years, and I too am disappointed in what I see happening here. As my shirt proclaims, everyone is welcome, all races, all backgrounds, socioeconomic, and all genders. And despite simplistic T-shirt models, gender is not simple. And a biologist will tell you that. Biologists will tell you that it's a whole spectrum. And the thing is, when children are young, they are trying to figure out who they are. My job as a teacher of English and French is to challenge them to think critically, to examine their ideas. And one thing that I've examined is studies showing out kids who are forcibly outed are more likely to commit suicide. I have a trans son that survived. Michelle, I talked to you about this. And my trans son, at a policy like this, if he had not had me as a mom, he could be out on the street, subject to real pedophiles, real groomers. The only kind of indoctrination I try to do is get students to do their homework. Clearly, I'm not good at it. And I want to say I'm very saddened that librarians are being smeared. Brandy Major is my hero. People who speak up and challenge is my hero. And novels help students see themselves, and that helps them feel less alone. Novels help students challenge their worldview. That's not a bad thing, because if your values are strong, then they will stay.

Thank you. Welcome, Cindy.

Hello, my friends. I'm Cindy Van Horn. Most of you know me as Miss Cindy. I'm the special education music teacher for the Reynolds Unified School District. Many of you in this room might also know me as Miss Cindy, Children's Church Director, Children's Choir Director, Vacation Bible School Director, Children's Camp Worship Pastor, and Choir Director to Missionary Children literally all over the world. I have been in youth leadership in the Christian Church since I was 19 years old. I have led hundreds of young people to Christ. And I'm here tonight to speak out against the forced outing policy proposed and promoted during worship services by the Ark Church in Redlands, a Nazarene-affiliated local church who say they are proponents of God's grace. Preparing for my remarks, I prayed about what I should say because I can get really righteously indignant when people are being hurt by the church and I can come off as strident. So I'm going to... Talk to you according to scriptures. I'm going to rebuke you frankly so that I will not share in your guilt. I won't seek any revenge on you and I won't bear grudge against you. But from the bottom of my heart, with as much love as I can muster, I rebuke you in the name of Jesus. Most evangelical churches are interested in the Great Commission. They are interested in the conversion and support of people into their fellowship. Thank you, Cindy.

Next up, we have Jared Gustafson, followed by Greg Abduche.

Welcome, Jared.

Thank you, Michelle. Thank you to the Redlands School Board. I just appreciate you having me out tonight. And thank you to the community. Even though I disagree with some of the speakers, it takes a lot of vulnerability and courage to stand up here. So thank you. I wanted to share a quote by Silwin Duke. He said, the further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it. Tonight we are witnessing banners, flags, chants, and essentially a vitriolic mob that as displayed by one of the speakers tonight, who lost the election, thank God, is emotionally dysregulated at best. But in some ways I want to thank that mob because the more they endorse sexually graphic and grotesque books, the more they lie to parents about their own child's gender identity, the more you fight to keep males in women's sports, literally destroying female opportunity, the more you fight for these ironious ideas, the more attractive, conservative, common sense ideas appear. Amidst the radical left, Christian values of honesty, integrity, and protecting the vulnerable look wildly attractive. Which is probably why Candy and Jeanette won the last election by 10,000 votes. Here's a common sense idea. Here's a common sense idea. Fight to protect children. Fight to protect female sports. Fight to protect parental rights. Thank you so much for having me.

Hi, Board. My name is Greg Abdosh. I'm a candidate for the 45th Assembly District. And this is the first time I'm coming to this board meeting, and I come... Thank you, Candy. Thank you, Jeanette. I just want to encourage you guys. There's obviously a room full of people, and you guys have a very divisive and divided group. Remember, you got voted by a majority. Michelle, I want to encourage you. Each and every person on this cabinet... this board has constituents that they're supposed to uphold and they're supposed to vote for. And when you get an agenda item presented to you, it's their constituents that are asking for that. So stand by that. I would encourage you guys to continue to fight for all children. I know this room is saying that Christians are against trans kids. We're really not. But I'm a dad of two daughters. And if a boy were to walk in my daughter's locker room and expose himself, I don't care what he thinks he is, that's a problem. And that's what we're fighting for. That's why I go to Sacramento. That's why I'm running for my election. Because we need to put a stop to this. Your own Democratic leader said it was unfair. I would encourage this board to continue to stand. Michelle, put it on the agenda. Let it happen. You guys need to vote on this, and you guys need to stand by all girls.

Next up, we have Douglas Hauser, followed by Olivia Mortensen.

Hello, Douglas.

Douglas Hauser, thank you for the opportunity to speak. I have a few things, but I'll start with there's been a discussion of suicide in the LGBTQ community. I would point out that 40 years ago, the LGBTQ community was much, much less accepted than it is today. And the incident of youth suicide was much, much lower. If in fact the suppression of a naturally occurring trans ideology in children was the cause of suicide, then we should have had in the 60s and 70s huge amounts of youths committing suicide. We didn't. We have it now. It's because this emotional disturbance is being promoted. Okay, that's one thing. Another point is the job of the schools is not to teach love. It's not to teach hate. It's not to teach politics. It's to educate kids. It's to teach them reading, writing, math, science, history, geography, art, literature, civics. There's plenty there to fill up the school day. Okay? I'm guessing that if I were to give a reasonable test to a whole bunch of graduates of the school system, we would find that they can't do a whole bunch of stuff that we would all agree that they should be able to do. So the focus should be, I know the teachers are going to complain, but they know it's true. We've seen men on the street interviews with young people all the time, and they don't know who is the first president of the United States. Thank you, Douglas.

Welcome, Olivia.

Good evening, board members.

My name is Olivia, resident. And I wanted to share with you from a neurological nursing perspective, a child's mind is not fully developed or ready to make a decision. that can impact the rest of their lives. Parents are not only the sole providers, but also primary support and guidance to their children. All parents here tonight, don't you want to be the ones to decide your children's future? When did it become the duty or decision for teachers to nurture and guide your children? Children are a gift from God, and he chose you as their parents to nurture, support, love, and guide them. I oppose to any kind of insertion of LGBTQT influence that distracts the teaching from the curriculum of reading, math, English, and science. Thank you. Thank you, Olivia.

Next up we have Corian, followed by Isabella Petras.

I'm a student at Redlands High School. I wanted to address what students were unable to speak on at the last board meeting where you guys discussed incredibly bigoted policies that harm students and are guaranteed to bring more lawsuits against our district. This included banning books, severely restricting curriculums, banning flags, and outing students against their wills at the expense of their safety. To the board members who support these policies, even as you were told by countless people that it would harm students, please stop using us as pawns and treating us as objects. We do not want to be a part of your church servants because you do not know how to talk about God without hating other people. More than that, though, at the age of 14, we're allowed to legally make our own medical decisions. In fact, if we don't want our parents to read our own medical information, we are legally protected to not have that happen. I don't care how much you want to talk about parents' rights. This is about student privacy and their right to it, and it is currently being violated. Applause Students don't want bigots on our school board or church preachers in our classrooms. What we want is for our privacy, identities, and livelihoods to be respected. To Board President Michelle Rendler, you decided to support a forced outing policy despite knowing that it would kill kids. I am here today to tell you that you have failed students. You will continue to fail students until you don't support this. I hope you know that you can only protect students by stopping your silencing of them. Thank you.

Welcome, Isabella.

Hello, my name is Isabella Pastras, and I'm currently a sophomore in high school. And I'm sadly here again to talk about why flags, specifically the LGBTQ flag, should not be banned from classrooms. To some people, these flags might seem like a political statement. But for many people, they're so much more than that. LGBTQ plus flags are a symbol of safety, inclusion, and acceptance. When I see one in a classroom, I know it's a place where people are respected for who they are. Banning these flags sends a hateful message. It says you don't belong here and we don't support who you are. And honestly, no student should ever feel that way in a school. Whether you're a part of the LGBTQ community or not, we all benefit from being in an environment where diversity is embraced and where people are treated with kindness and respect. At the end of the day, school should be a place where every student feels accepted, supported, and respected. The LGBTQ plus flags are one small, powerful way to show that support. So instead of banning them, let's celebrate what they represent. Love, pride, and the freedom to be ourselves.

Thank you.

Okay, next up we have Stephen Becquia, Becker, followed by Sonia Rozzi.

Welcome, Stephen.

Good evening, board members, administrators, fellow citizens. Excuse me. I'm not speaking yet.

He hasn't started yet, so can we reset the time?

My name is Stephen Becker. I'm a resident of Redlands. I was born in this valley more than 80 years ago. I'm sitting on this side of the room, and most of the people around me have views that are dramatically different than mine. I think they are people who are deeply religious and they've articulated their religious views. We care for our neighbors and we respect their social and religious beliefs may be different from our own. That's what America is about. But nobody, and I mean nobody, has a right to impose their religious beliefs on others. And that's what's happening or attempting to be happening now. In the 1930s, when dictatorships were dominating the world, it is attributed to Louis Sinclair saying, when fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross. We're in danger of that happening to us now.

Next up is Sonia Razi. Do we have people outside?

Do you want to go to the next one, Michelle?

Okay, we'll go ahead and take Greg Britton.

All across America and the government-run schools, they are indoctrinating and sexualizing children, separating them from their parents, and more recently, pursuing the insidious... Take two. Are we ready? Yes. I should get that time back. No, you stop. Start again. In all fairness, start again. Start again. Thank you. All across America, the government-run schools are indoctrinating and sexualizing children, turning them against their parents, and more recently, pursuing the insidiously evil agenda of confusing them and then chemically and surgically castrating, mutilating, and sterilizing them. Why? Bleeding Christians know who and why, but also the left always attacks Christianity as a competing authority to the state and the family as a competing loyalty to the state. They use a variation on Vladimir Lenin. Give us the child for eight years and it will be an LGBTQ voting Democrat forever. The flag and the sexual books are part of this agenda. They are propagandizing for this lifestyle. The book and the flags all say, God is wrong, we know better. They use the exposure effect. The more you hear something and see it, the more accepting people are of it. The concerted attack and pressure on Board President Rendler shows the importance of their sexualization agenda. But I think your heart is in the right place. Martin Luther King said, cowardice asks, is it expedient? Expedience asks, is it politic? Vanity asks, is it popular? Conscience asks, is it right? There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe nor politic nor popular, but you must do what is right, Ms. Rendler.

Next up we have John Berry followed by Christine.

Hello. I'm John Berry and I served 42 years in the Army and Army Reserve. I am a veteran of both Iraq and Afghanistan. This is a 48-star American flag. It was draped on the coffin of my grandfather My grandmother gave this to me when I was in kindergarten. I've hung it on my wall throughout my youth. This flag got me excited about enlisting in the army in 1982 where I served for 42 years. You must protect the flag and its meaning. It's a slap in the face when special interest groups attempt to gain legitimacy by glomming onto our sacrifices as symbolized through this flag. The real damage you do by allowing special interest flags into classrooms is you are intentionally confusing the loyalty, aspirations, and patriotism of our students. In the strongest possible terms, I am urging you to adopt the policy of American MIA and California flags. Finally, I was a reporter for 20 years. 90% of any population does not even know who its school board members are. However, with this, this flag is an issue that's going to permeate into low propensity voters. They are going to base their votes on the school board entirely based on this flag. Do not acquiesce to the mob.

Thank you, John.

Do the right thing.

Welcome, Christine. Hi, my name's Christine. Good evening, board. What a beautiful night, right? Ugly language, but a beautiful night. Thank you for being here. Thank you for all of the time that you guys all put in. Tonight, I'm just speaking from the heart. I'm here to offer a perspective. I want to address a misinterpretation of the support that Jeanette and Candy have. The voters have spoken. The people of Redlands have spoken. They are tired of this woke, radical, that is why that woman lost her election. That woman is disgusting. We can agree, the man that was sitting next to me, we are total opposite in our beliefs, but we can agree that that was disgusting, and that is why people like her are losing. OK, so Candy and Jeanette have overwhelming support. Yes, not at these meetings. No, we don't show up in numbers to these meetings. Because you know why? We're parents. We're out there with our kids at sports. We're at family dinners. Some of us are taking care of sick parents. Some of us, we have lives. And this is what we get when we get here. We're recorded. We're followed to our cars. They attack your business. They research who you are. What size shoe do you wear? What are you doing? What do you wear? Everything we do is documented by these people. All they do is harass people. It's a small percentage of people who are not afraid of that. They don't want... Most people don't want anything to do with these meetings because of these people, because of the disgusting antics and the disgusting harassment and constant documentation and exploitation. Thank you, Christine.

Next up we have Rachel Ugly, followed by Emma. Wolf Saxon.

Welcome, Rachel. Good evening. Tonight, everybody wants the truth. This flag speaks the truth. It includes everyone. It does not exclude anyone. It needs to be in our schools. and on our buildings. Also, this country and our Constitution is not a living Constitution, and we're one nation under God. God's words are the truth. Everyone is seeking the truth. And biological girls work hard. They're dedicated. And when they lose, they have nothing left for them, yet those that win do. Also, Michelle, just look at your heart. Your morals and values, they will speak. Threats do not have to be taken by anyone, nor for Candy and Jeanette. Parents are responsible for their children. They need to know what's going on. They do not make the decisions and tell adults what they want. There are the children, whether they consider themselves children or not. And also, what we need to do is just really support our children. Thank you.

Welcome, Emma. Hi, my name is Emma, and I am a resident of Redlands in Trustee District 1. I honestly never thought I would be here. I did not think this was my place, despite the fact that next year will be my 18th year in a classroom. I have taught from second grade all the way through college. And when you've taught thousands of students, they aren't statistics anymore. They are the three students that I lost because they killed themselves. And I did not see it coming. And I still, every year when I do suicide training, sit there and question myself why I didn't see it. And when somebody talked about why are there more suicides now, honestly, all of those students had access to guns. And so they were successful when they killed themselves. Applause I have said for a while the outing policy is a policy as a teacher I'm willing to die on because I have helped and facilitated students eventually going to the parents, the students that have parents that they can do that with. And I wish every student had that kind of family, but they don't. And the fact that we're not discussing that and how we help the students who are hungry and homeless and come to my classroom begging for period products is disgusting.

Okay, next up we have Carol Theotig, sorry, and followed by Tricia Keeling.

Welcome, Carol. Christians don't hate people who are different. Speak to the board, please. Everyone has... Up here to the board. Oh, sorry. Christians don't hate anybody.

We're up here.

Excuse me, Carol.

Carol? They're disrespectful. I'm sorry. Forgive me.

Can you speak to us up here so we can hear you clearly?

My hope is that as the people on this side are, and putting Christians or a group of people that love candy and Jeanette, we're here for right purposes, and we have just as much authority and right to be here, even though we don't come every time there's a meeting. And the interruptions and the rudeness is unacceptable. We don't do that. We respect. There is no respect over here, and everything is okay. And it shouldn't be okay. There's a standard. And the lady who was a missionary all over the world, whatever else she did, if she was truly, she would read what is correct and right and godly and true. But none of that came out of her mouth. I don't understand. I do know. that we love everybody, and I'm sick of my pastor being criticized for things he didn't say. Thank you, Carol.

Welcome, Tricia. Candy Olsen and Jeanette Wilson, the transphobic shirts that you are wearing tonight have been used to harass and bully a child in neighboring Riverside. Do better. Shame on you. I'm here tonight to voice my opposition against the proposed policies of book banning, forced outing, and flag bans. Let's face it. Board members Olsen and Wilson are supporting a flag ban solely because they want to discriminate against the LGBTQ community. Ms. Olsen, you have stated that this isn't discrimination. However, I have received numerous public records requests regarding your past emails to this board, and you made it clear that you were only looking to ban the pride flag. On September 20th, 2023, Ms. Olson wrote an email to the board stating, please place Temecula's flag policy on the agenda for a vote on the 26th. No one is being sued for this policy. We do not want pride flags in our classrooms. You didn't mention Christian flags or Nazi flags, despite Jeanette's opinion that they're not really hate symbols. You only stated pride flags. You've been trying this now for two years, to openly discriminate against members of the LGBTQ community, and now the public knows. Also, you said no one was sued, but it did end up in the Public Employee Relations Board. process and cost Temeculas District $100,000 in legal fees. That's a whole lot of books in our libraries, field trips for our kids, and supplies in our classrooms. We need to focus on funding our classrooms, not the courtrooms. We need to continue to focus on education and not the culture wars.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chirsten.

Next up, we have Michael Grossman, followed by Katherine Appleby.

Welcome, Michael.

Thank you.

I'm a resident of Trustee Area 2, and I wanted to express my deep concern regarding the board's decision during the March 21st special board meeting to continue considering Policy 6-115, which bans symbols in our classrooms, including the pride flag, And clearly now, as we've heard, basically focused on banning the pride flag.

Oh, I'm so sorry.

You start my timer.

Excuse me. I'm sorry. I don't mean to do this during your time, and you'll get your time. But I think we need to take like a three-minute break, five-minute break. Sure. That's good. And then you'll be next. Okay. Thanks.

Thank you.

Michael, if you'd like to come back up.

Sorry about that, sir.

No problem at all. I'm a resident of trustee area two. I wanted to express my deep concern regarding the board's decision during the March 21st special board meeting to continue considering Policy 6115, which bans symbols in our classroom, including the pride flag. And as I mentioned earlier, it seems specifically targeting the pride flag. If enacted, this policy along with others discussed that day are sure to invite costly lawsuits and divert attention away from the crucial task of educating our children. That's why we're here. I urge you to refocus on the mission of the school district It's written right there. You guys see it all meeting long while you're here. It states, the mission is to prepare students to become productive participants in a diverse, multicultural, and democratic society. Thank you.

Next up, we have Catherine Appleby, followed by Sam Trad.

Good evening, board. I am a lifelong resident, a graduate K-12 of this district, and the parent of a child at Citrus Valley. And I would like to speak to you about that March 21st special board meeting workshop that went for five hours, that many of us attended and many of us did not, and your decision to move forward with policies that harm our RUSD students. Regarding the addition of language in Policy 6000 about instructional materials about pervasive pornography, et cetera, President Rendler's decision not to use her mic meant that the Administration members who were here could not address questions that both she and Superintendent John Cabral had when they suggested that there were textbooks that contained these topics. It was a workshop. You could have asked the district personnel. present and you failed to. I know that Assistant Superintendent Butch Miller or Directors Joy and Blynd would have been happy to provide you with that information. But your failure to consult them demonstrates you are more concerned with your political agendas than understanding the current state of RUSD and demonstrates an incompetence of this board that is disgusting, and staggering. It is beyond comprehensible, incomprehensible to me, how you do not understand what the CSBA policy pillars are. Thank you, Kathy.

Welcome, Sam. Thank you. The policies you are considering are going to cost our school district millions of dollars. I don't understand why you continue to move forward with these, President Rendler. We know that they will because they are copy and paste from Chino. We heard from Tricia. We know exactly what Board Member Olsen wants to do. Millions of dollars that should be going to our schools, our students, our books, field trips. I am so incredibly ashamed of how you are running this board, President Rendler. You have cut our time down in half. We used to have three minutes. Now we have one and a half. You had the workshop that she just talked about that was almost six hours long. When we said we can't hear you, you said, I'm not talking to you people. You are supposed to be serving everyone in our school district, and instead you are letting your religious beliefs take over whatever? I can't, I just, I don't understand why you want to pass these policies. We know that they are bad. They are going to cost our school district millions and millions of dollars. They impinge on freedom of speech, which is a tenet of being an American. Freedom of speech is one of the most important things. So I don't understand why you were trying to silence the community. I couldn't believe how you talked about librarians or how you cut off parents at the last school board meeting who were sharing so incredibly sad, vulnerable stories about their students who had experienced racism. They were telling you their stories and you cut them off because their minute and a half was up. Please listen to the public and not these extremists who are just going to cost our school millions of dollars and embarrass us all over again. Thank you so much.

Next up, we have Tina Escudero and followed by Jean Saglam.

Welcome, Tina.

My name is Tina Escudero Norby, and I've sent multiple emails opposing many of the hateful proposals being considered by this board. But since you've announced that you're too cowardly to read or respond to parents' emails, I'm here in person. It's National Library Week, so let me thank the librarians in this district. Heroes in a time when truth and inclusivity and books are under attack. Pride and cultural flags, inclusive books, accurate history, and trans students in sports are not a threat to my child's education. Your bigotry dressed as concern is. You're protecting children. You're not protecting children. You're targeting them, especially LGBTQ youth, students of color, and students with disabilities, including my child, a queer Latino student with a 504 plan at Moore Middle School. You claim to stand for parental rights, but only the parents that think like you. You don't get to decide what's appropriate for my child. I do. Opt-out policies already exist for parents who have concerns about their own children. Manufacturing fear over a non-issue just exposes your agenda. I'm here to warn you that if you violate my child's rights, I will see you in court. And when I win, I will send you all a postcard from the house that this district bought me. Thank you.

Can we start our time over, Jeanette, please?

I'm sorry, this is such a deeply emotional issue for me that I believe all schools should be a safe place. And I think what you're considering is to make it unsafe for only certain students. It says right in the mission statement to empower, By outing students, their preferred pronouns is only outing the student. You have an opportunity as teachers, as representatives, to help these students to understand themselves, to talk to their parents, and instead you're outing what their preferred pronouns are. You're making our schools unsafe, just in a new way, instead of gun violence. It's an issue of identity. I leave my time. Thank you.

Okay, next up we have Patricia Gomez, followed by Michael Cooper.

Welcome, Patricia.

It's Patricia, Patricia Gomez. I speak here today as not only as an educator, a resident of Redlands for the last five years, but most importantly, as a mother of an amazing, intelligent, strong-willed daughter with a big heart who is also a beautiful mix of African and Latina. I cannot fully express the importance of being able to see oneself in terms of ethnicity, cultural background, and other identifying markers, whether it be in the classroom, libraries, and in the community. As a teacher with over 20 years of experience, I've had the privilege of serving a diverse community. Educators are taught how to create welcoming, safe environments in order for students to thrive and grow both academically and emotionally. We decorate our classrooms with colorful posters portraying positive messages and images of people of diverse backgrounds, genders, abilities, and so forth. When students can see themselves as part of that classroom, they're going to be more likely to want to come to school. They will feel safe. They will feel valued. So I am extremely disappointed upon hearing of the proposal of the bans on pride flags, cultural symbols, banning of books, and forcing educators to out our LGBTQ plus community students. These discriminatory policies will have negative consequences both emotionally and physically. Those of us that work in schools, including board members, we have the right, actually, we have the responsibility to serve all of our students, whether or not they look like all of you.

Michael Cooper? Welcome, Michael.

Many people today have stated that they want to keep politics out of education. Education is political, and there's no way around that. I'm sure in high school you all took government and economics. Prove positive there. You can't get out of politics. I do have a few questions for people that may or may not have remained here. What kind of person, what kind of church wants to intimidate children with a biker gang?

Yeah.

How are flags sexual? If you think of flags as sexual, that's your own problem. Have you gone to a school and found the sexually explicit material? What physical evidence do you have that isn't circumstantial? Giving children a flag in a month is more helpful than telling them they don't belong. I'm curious what happened to the separation of church and state, and with that in mind, are we supposed to ignore science? Am I not allowed to mention homosexuality and transgender species in nature? If I'm not, then let's throw out the periodic table of elements. Let's get rid of the water cycle, and who needs to know about tectonic plates? Science is science. Try arguing with it. You can't. A hard reality that some parents are going to have to accept is that you don't choose your child's future. You can try, but they choose their own future. I don't understand how a veteran can logically believe that denying people rights is what they fought for. And I don't understand how you believe it's respectful to dismiss people or how it's polite to tell them they don't exist or need to be eradicated. Thank you.

Next up, we have Bea Hamilton, followed by Seven Templeton.

Welcome, Bea.

My name is Bea Hamilton, and I'm a parent of a child in the Redlands Unified School District. I wanted to express my dismay at the school board's recent decision to call a special meeting in the middle of the afternoon to discuss the subject of book bans, forced student outings, and banning LGBT plus symbols, clubs, and events on school campuses. You took an oath to uphold the law, and yet despite the fact that these policies have been consistently overturned by the courts because they violate California federal and constitutional law, the members of this board continue to entertain these policies. You took an oath to represent your districts, yet despite the fact that an overwhelming majority of students, teachers, and parents took their days off to speak against these policies, many of whom, myself included, are in districts that the of these policies claimed to represent, you continue to push these policies. You deny citizens the right to speak in what appears to me to be an explicit violation of the Brown Act on the grounds that it's long-standing tradition. Yet today, you change the long-standing tradition of allowing teachers and librarians to sit first so that bikers encouraged by the pastor from one of your churches could come here and intimidate the actual parents, students, and teachers of the school district. The board members pushing these policies should be a shame, but I hold no illusions that they are. It should give them pause that these policies have increased the legal costs of the Chino Unified School District by $500,000, enough money to fund the salaries of an entire department, but I have seen nothing to convince me that it has. Just like they did this afternoon, that afternoon, I fully expect that they will put these policies back on the agenda.

Thank you, B. Thank you.

Welcome, Simmons.

Hello.

So in terms of book bans, I just see it as a very simple, like, elementary and middle school students, yes, I think it's perfectly fine to ban a good chunk of books to protect them, but high schoolers, a lot of them are adults. I toy with the idea maybe of having a seniors-only section for explicit material for 18-year-olds because they are free adults and the First Amendment protects everything from... Queer rights to Mein Kampf. I don't know. As for forced outing, I would say in terms of dating, it doesn't matter who you date. That's kind of very personal. But gender dysphoria, I've had it since I was seven, so I can speak on this personally. It's a medical issue. And if parents should know about their children's medical issues... gender dysphoria has a 41% mortality rate, so teachers should have the option to tell parents if their child is experiencing dysphoria symptoms. So, you know, if... Like, if a student was having seizures on the ground, a parent would... Sorry, a teacher would tell the parents. So if a student is experiencing gender dysphoria, teachers should absolutely tell parents. So, you know... Pretty nuanced view of those two things. Yeah. Thanks. Thank you, Simon.

Next up we have Tim Ormsby followed by Dusty Rhodes.

Welcome, Tim.

Thank you.

Hi, I'm Tim Ormsby. I'm a 1976 graduate of Redlands High School. I live in President Rendler's district. I would like to say that I'm against book bans, and I particularly don't think it's the job of the school board to police what's in library bookshelves in schools. I've spent the last couple of months reading a bunch of these banned books because I wanted to know what I was talking about. And I don't think you can judge the worth or literary quality or importance or meaning of a book by turning pages with a yellow highlighter. That's not how it works. I think that the school board should not be a censorship board. That's not what we need. Thank you.

Welcome, Dusty.

Hello, everybody. I'm Janet Candy. Looks like you guys are doing a very good job. If you weren't doing such a great job, you wouldn't be having all this pushback. Okay, I'll repeat it. Candy, Janet, Wilson, Candy, Olson, you all are doing a great job. If you weren't doing a great job, you wouldn't be getting all this pushback. What I would like to talk about is we have a person in history, Adolf Hitler. I know some people have referred to you guys talking about Nazi and all kinds of things like that, but a true Nazi, Adolf Hitler, took parents' children without their consent and educated them. Okay? He took their minds. He brainwashed them. He re-engineered them. He socially changed them into monsters. to hate other people and to kill people. That's what these people, these people that think that that's what you all are doing, they're pointing their fingers at you, but the fingers should be pointing right back at them because they want to take children away from the parents' rights to raise and create them as something else that's not even natural, perverse and deviant. God didn't make us this way. He made us, and he is supposed to be fruitful and multiply, man and woman.

Thank you.

Okay, we'll move on to board comments and reports. Does anybody have anything they would like to report? And today, actually, I would like to go first. Oh, do you want to go first, Bill?

Use your mic, please.

Do you want to go first? Sorry, guys.

Hello. My name is Bella Salazar, and I am the RHS student trustee. I am a junior, and I am involved in so many wonderful activities and programs at RHS, such as Speech and Debate and RHS Chamber Strings. I'm a Mexican-American, and I have broken many boundaries by being unilaterally deaf, which if you don't know what that means, I'm completely deaf in my right ear, and I have lived this way my whole life. Being deaf is all I've ever known. Crazy, right? I've grown up my entire life immersed within the school environment thanks to my mother being a kindergarten teacher. Since I could remember, I've always been surrounded by staff, students, and administration that have guided me through life and have truly made an impact on me and who I am today. And I have been surrounded by my parents who advocate for the people in their workplace and have always taught me to stand up for others. I am fortunate enough to be able to understand what teachers go through daily and the burdens and lack of support so many of you are going through. And I want you to know that I empathize with you and thank you for every sacrifice you make for our students. I promise it does not go unnoticed. Now you may be wondering, why is this so important, Bella? We don't need your life story. Although that may be partially true, this brings perspective to how the actions that this board has decided to take not only affect the students and staff, but it also affects the very person that sits next to you. My role as a trustee is to represent the students of RHS. However, I want to be the person that represents the rest of the high schools when they cannot be here. And I want to represent the middle schools and elementary schools that are heavily affected by these actions and aren't able to speak up for themselves. Many recent events that have occurred over the past few meetings are not okay. I understand each and every person who is enraged by the forced outings policy, the attempts to ban books, and the attempts to ban the pride flag, and all other pride-related flags. So with that, I would like to address these things. The dangers that these actions will create are astronomical to students of all ages, and it is disheartening to see this district that I have known and loved for so long become something that I unfortunately cannot truly feel proud of. When it comes to forced outings, it worries and sickens me that this is even being passed. To forcefully out a child whose only safe space may be school creates an even worse situation and environment for them. Furthermore, to create a school space where a child cannot truly be themselves is the complete opposite of what schools are supposed to stand for. I myself am a part of the community, and I am proud of that. Yet the school environments I was able to learn and grow in are what truly provided me with such a safe space to be so open about who I am. Now, so many think that being able to feel comfortable with who you are at school means forcing and pushing pride onto others. But this is so far from the truth. The real truth is that children like me do not feel the need to even mention our identity, let alone talk about it, because it is already incredibly unsafe to be who we are in general. There is not one situation I myself have been in where someone randomly begins to discuss their identity. The issue is that adults who have issues with this community are not educated enough on the topic and will never understand what it is like to be a part of the community because they themselves have no personal experience with it. Yet the real question is why? Why are so many people genuinely worried about a child's personal identity? It is no one's business as to how anyone identifies. Why do adults feel the need to control a child's personal business? And why are we trying to take away some children's only safe place? Because home may not be safe for them. Forcefully outing children is wrong, and it will always be wrong. Children of all ages should be able to feel comfortable and safe to be themselves at school no matter what. Now, I would like to discuss the issue of banning books. And listen, I understand concerns about sexual topics being in books within our school libraries, especially for much younger children, and I can understand parental concern with that. However, if you have ever actually been inside of a school library, you would know that within elementary and middle schools, the books are picked and displayed based on the age and grades at the school. What I mean by that is that elementary school libraries are riddled with children's books and only children's books. You will only ever find books and fantasy books like Harry Potter, Dork Diaries, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, A Series of Unfortunate Events, and even Fly Guy. If you have ever been inside of a middle school library, you'd know that the books within the library are a little more advanced than elementary school library books, but still appropriate for young minds. Within high schools, the books range from fantasy to nonfiction. The books are incredibly educational because there are so many autobiographies and educational books about important historical topics. Even inside of the RHS library, there is a holy Bible. I just cannot understand what the actual concern is. It feels that every attempt to ban books is based on uneducated control, and it concerns me that this could potentially hurt our libraries. It also concerns me that so many people who are for banning books attack and ridicule librarians, and librarians must face such a burden. Librarians are the sweetest and kindest people in the world. I myself will always remember my elementary librarian, Mrs. Chambers, who was such an angel. And just like so many other librarians, her focus was on encouraging the youth to read. When literacy scores continue to lower and children's development becomes more concerning, why would we want to damage and hurt the very place that would help fix this issue? What should be happening is encouraging the youth to read and continue reading. Children are the most creative and imaginative minds I have ever seen. And by attempting to ban books with even the slightest thing that may go against one family's personal views or beliefs only continues to damage the great potential of helping children become more avid readers. The actual damage that we should be concerned with is electronics and social media. That is what is actually hurting the youth's development. Not books about the African American community, not books about the LGBTQIA plus community, and not books that are about any historical event or any book that discusses real life issues that are very much coming true today. Thank you. Finally, I would like to discuss the attempt to ban pride flags. This truly unsettles me. The pride flag has been around for decades, and it represents the struggles that LGBTQIA plus people have had to face as they fought for their rights to be themselves without the dangers of being physically harmed and ridiculed. By banning the pride flag, it is an attempt to suppress that struggle that paved the way for all LGBTQIA plus current youth and future youth. Queer people will never go away. First to come for the pride flag, what's next? I have heard the many reasons behind this policy and why some support it. The idea that the American flag and California flag should be the only flag in classrooms is something that is just not okay. The American flag is supposed to represent the land of the free and the home of the brave. The Pledge of Allegiance that most of us say every morning claims for liberty and justice for all. Well, where is it? This is not freedom. And this is not liberty. Having the American flag being the only flag in classrooms is not about representing America. It is about representing hate. The pride flag is a symbol of peace, love, pride, and change. Controlling how kids are able to express themselves is something that should not be a priority. I've been immersed in this district for 13 years, and pride and identity have never been an issue. In fact, every classroom that I walk into that has a pride flag, which is small and on a poster provided by the district, not a huge pride flag like so many of you believe, I feel so much safer than I do when I enter a classroom that has religious scripture in it. Those simple words, this room is a safe space, truly do make a difference. And it has never been an issue. It is only an issue because you are making it one. The real threats within our school are the fears of assault weapons, which many children, including me, have escape routes for every single classroom they are in. No child should ever have to escape for their life while trying to learn. and the extreme amount of sexual assault cases that have plagued our district for years, costing us money and reputation. The real issue, however, that this district should be worrying about are the immense amount of lawsuits that they will end up facing with these policies. As you have seen tonight, no parent, student, or staff member is willing to go down without a fight for what is right for our district. The district should also focus on providing funding the arts and all the academic programs that represent their schools. The Redlands High School Speech and Debate Program had our program cut in half last year because of budget cuts. Yet we are sixth in the state and bring home numerous titles for RHS. RHS music program has hundreds of kids within it, and the band continuously brings home first place titles, and the orchestra continues to be one of the best orchestras in the county. Yet we are given barely any money to fund the entire program. Why is it that we are wasting our money on lawsuits because of unnecessary policies that only hurt children and teachers when that money could be going toward the academic programs at the schools? There should be more money towards theater programs, academic decathlon, mock trial, and all of these programs at the rest of the high schools. Redlands East Valley and Citrus Valley don't even have speech and debate teams because of funding, and their music programs aren't funded well either, which causes them to not strive and succeed the way they absolutely deserve to. Those kids are amazing and deserve the same opportunities the RHS programs are fortunate enough to have. The money should also go to funding our teachers. Teachers should not have to buy everything to support their students. Teachers should be provided with support within the classroom and should not have to worry about funding. We must fund the classrooms and the programs. Those are what benefit and run the school. And as I stated earlier, we need more support for our middle and elementary schools. These children are the future generations who are being modeled, molded, and educated to become functioning members of society. We cannot keep neglecting these schools and their programs. I want you to sit and think about what really matters when it comes to educating the youth and what really harms us. Because I can guarantee you that pride flags do not harm us. It is not someone's personal identity that harms us. It is not history that harms us. It is not books that harm us. It is you that harms us. Thank you.

I'm going to go next. First of all, thank you all for coming tonight. I hope you all had a restful spring. I hope you all had a restful spring break, spending time with your families. This week starts the 40th Redlands Bicycle Classic, with races happening starting tomorrow through Sunday. Yesterday and today, we had 36 assemblies done at 25 Redlands schools, and six Yucaipa and four San Bernardino schools. Professional cyclists talked about bike safety, nutrition, and fitness. I hope all our students come out on Saturday morning to participate in the school dual public race. I want to personally thank all the principals for allowing this tradition of bike visits to continue from year to year. This past weekend, I was invited, along with Jeanette, to Building a Generation's fundraiser. Building a Generation has been around since 1996, serving our children and families. RUSD is a partner with Building a Generation with a family resource center at Victoria and Lagonia. Some of the services include food, clothing, tutoring, parenting education, shelter resources. And I want to thank all those involved in the organization for what you all do for our students and their families in RUSD. It is greatly appreciated. I also want to thank Sonia Bollingett for keeping us informed as to what's happening with DLAC. I really appreciate that. And I'm looking forward to the Superintendent's Awards next Tuesday and the Optimist Games on Friday. So I have some more things I want to talk about. I also want to follow up on my commitment to review the resolution on racism passed in 2021. Let me first begin by once again apologizing to the Hawkins family for the events that took place at their children's school. There is absolutely no place. for racism, discrimination, or hate in this district or in our community. I do not support individuals or groups who promote such harmful ideologies. After reviewing the resolution, I believe it aligns with our commitment to condemning racism, discrimination, and hate. Our district is dedicated to the ongoing efforts led by Superintendent Cabral and our staff to address racism and bullying in meaningful and impactful ways. through lessons for students and training for all staff. We remain committed to creating an environment where every student and staff member feels safe, respected, and valued. As board president, my responsibility is to act in the best interest of all students, regardless of their race, background, or identity. I'm committed to upholding the principles of equity, dignity, and respect in every decision that we make as a governing board. I want to thank everyone for their continued support as we work together to ensure that all students in Redlands Unified have an opportunity to thrive academically and socially. And the last thing I want to talk about. Over the past few weeks, we have had discussions surrounding several board policies that have created strong opinions on both sides. I recognize that these are deeply polarized issues, and I've received communication from many concerned parents, teachers, and community members expressing their views on both sides of the policies. What gives me hope, however, are those who encourage a more balanced and objective approach, focused on what is best for our students, staff, and families. There are extreme beliefs on both sides, and I will continue to base my decisions on what is right for the students and staff in RUSD. the health, safety, and well-being of all students, teachers, and support staff, the advancement of a robust and rigorous curriculum, which incorporates technology and social-emotional education, and finding ways for students to continue their education, leading them on a path to college or career readiness. These are the pillars that I ran on, and I use them as a foundation for how I have voted for the last four and a half years. I will continue advocating for students, parents, and teachers, value and respect the diversity of our community, and promote high academic standards for our students. I look forward to working through these policies and getting back to excellence in education for our students, while also implementing our board's new goals, which are all students will be reading by third grade, math intervention for middle school, and dual immersion by 2027. Some may view my willingness to consider all sides of an issue and seek alignment as a weakness, but I see it as a responsible and thoughtful leadership. I am deeply concerned with how we address these policies in public discussions. Too often, the focus turns to personal attacks rather than on the issues themselves. This creates an environment where, instead of demonstrating values we want to instill in our students, like constructive debate, collaboration, and problem solving, there's hostility instead. It is ironic and at times hypocritical that those who complain about bullying among our students are the very same individuals who engage in bullying and demeaning those on the other side of the debate. None of this is new. We have these barriers up. It's due to disrespectful attacks in the past. I've heard from parents and community members who are afraid to speak out in support of a more neutral perspective because they fear being bullied or ridiculed here or on social media. It's essential that we model kindness, respect, and collaboration, especially during times of heated discussion. To me, those are not signs of weakness. but rather signs of strength, which should guide us during our discussions. I want to express my deep appreciation for all the messages of support I've received. While the personal attacks have been difficult, I'm grateful for those on both sides who have encouraged me to remain focused on what is best for our students, their families, and our staff. Thank you very much. Anybody else want to talk? Who wants to go next? Melissa, do you want to go next?

I'm going to get the nice thing out of the way. Okay, so I want to shout out to Bryn Mawr because Bryn Mawr has an amazing reason to celebrate right now. This year, 190 schools in 29 states received the recognized ASCA model program, RAMP designation. These schools will be honored for making an exemplary commitment to their school counseling programs. The RAMP Award, celebrating its 21st year, recognizes schools committed to delivering a comprehensive, data-informed school counseling program in a top-notch educational environment. Since its inception, more than 1,600 schools have been designated as RAMP recipients. Ramp schools are now in 47 states across the country. The ramp designation is valid for five years. To maintain ramp status, this year's ramp recipients must submit a successful application by October 15th to maintain their ramp status. This year, 35 schools earned re-ramp status. This year's RAMP honorees have shown their commitment to students and the school counseling profession. These schools use data to inform their program development and implementation so all students can achieve access. RAMP designation distinguishes these schools and encourages schools counselors nationwide to strive for excellence. Bryn Mawr is the first school in RUSD to receive this designation and is grateful to Rachel Malatesta, Michelle Dupuy, RCSS, and our former administrators for their support. I have actually seen Bryn Mawr's counseling program in action, and they are amazing. The time that they give to our students, to our families going out of their way to make these services accessible to our families. I mean, I've sat in a room with single moms who have praised our programs, and I just want to acknowledge the hard work of our counselors because they are doing amazing work for our district. So I hope everybody hears this when we give them a round of applause. Okay. I'm actually pretty embarrassed with the way this meeting has turned out. I understand that there is two sides and that tensions are high. And we're censoring profanity, but we're not censoring hate speech. And I don't care what direction this board is going. There is a limit to how much people should be allowed to say something. To students that may be listening, to students that are in our presence, you do not know what anyone is going through unless you are in their heads and you are not. So to be able to stand up here and say that people, their identity is invalid, that they are mentally ill, that they should not exist, is absolutely disgusting that this board is not stopping it. We will stop someone from saying crap and hell, but we won't stop them from slandering our students. I don't care what you believe. This role is to protect students. Even if you don't like them, even if you don't agree with them, this is the job. And if you don't like it, you shouldn't be here.

Do you want to go next? So along those lines of behavior, it's really too bad for me that I'm sitting here and the superintendent has to actually break up you facing off with me. You square up with me that we're going to have a physical fight.

You're going to censor her because if not, we're not supposed to be attacking individual board members, and I did not.

I think that we need to treat each other respectfully at this board. I will respect you when you respect our students. So it's my turn now. I didn't interrupt you. If you're going to address me, I'm going to respond. I think we should be respectful to each other is what I said. I think you should respect our students. I do respect our students. It's my turn. OK. So contrary. Contrary to what has been, a couple things I want to say. There's been some material that's been circulated that has some false information on it regarding the flag policy. I just wanted to clear that up, is that there is no proposed ban on multicultural holidays or celebrations, which has been circulated by some teachers throughout our district. So I wanted to let everyone be assured that that is not part of it. Another thing I hear frequently is that the books are not inappropriate and that we don't have anything that's in our elementary schools. I'm hearing, and Jeanette hears also very frequently, different books that are in our elementary schools that are not appropriate. For example, Jack... Jack, Not Jackie, is talking about a little boy who believes he's a, I'm sorry, it's a little girl that believes he's a boy when he's a toddler and makes a transition when he's extremely young into being a boy. And then another one just recently we heard about, it's for second and third graders where boys are kissing in the book. And it doesn't really matter who's kissing who. You shouldn't be having any type of that stuff in second and third grade. It's not appropriate for that age group. We also talk about, oh, no one is influencing the kids. No one is talking about sexuality or any of that type of thing. Well, there is staff in this room. who tried to tell a little boy that he was actually a little girl. I know this because I knocked on the door of his parents and they told me about the story. And it's not the only story. There's plenty of stories, plenty of things. I've had a lot of complaints from people in the community that, again, don't want to speak up. They don't want to say anything because of the hatefulness. There is so much hate. from the people who say they are all about love. And I don't really understand how that even goes together, because we should all be kind to each other, regardless of our opinions. Once again, I want to request a resolution on the agenda for AQMD. proposed rulings I've asked for that it hasn't gotten on and most importantly I think as a board we should stand to protect the girls and put a resolution on the board to save girls sports I'm asking again I ask within plenty of time the first time and I will always stand for the girls there are biological differences between boys and girls and Our state is doing some things that I vastly disagree with, and I think that as a board, we could put forth a resolution to vote on and make a statement to our legislatures that we will not stand for unfair competition for our girls. And so I'm requesting that again for the next board meeting.

Thank you, Candy. Jeanette, anything you want to say?

I just wanted to talk about the boys and girls sports as well. This is an issue that's been affecting schools throughout the state most recently and has been very prevalent in the news. And I also agree that it would be great to have a resolution from the board to show the state that we do care about our female students, that we care about their safety. As female students with boys in their sports have gotten injured and will continue to get injured, it's a biological fact that boys are often stronger and vastly different in their physical abilities. It's not only that, I feel that it's quite a fairness issue and that it is not fair to girls for boys to come in and take their spot for a scholarship or a placement in different tournaments. And also I feel we're teaching them inappropriate information by allowing it, that boys' and girls' bodies are different and they do need to have their own separate sports, which is one of the reasons Title IX became into existence to begin with, was to allow girls the ability to have their own sports teams. And I do not see... The people that are against this, it is not a progressive thing to have boys and girls sports. It's a regressive issue in that we have always fought for girls to have their own sports. So that is why I want to protect the females in our district, and I think the board should take a stance on that.

I'm going to leave on a positive note. It's been a long night. And first of all, I just want to thank our librarians for all their hard work and everything that they do on librarians. And you're right, Emma, our RHS library is amazing. What they have done since when I've been there 47 years ago is... It is a lot, and it's awesome. And I remember my librarian teacher from the early days as well, so I want to leave on a good note. But I do want to say thank you to Mariposa for inviting me to their spring break kickoff right before spring break. It was a great little area, and I was attended with President Rendler and Mr. Cabral, and they did a great job just to kick off the week. celebration for spring break on everyone. And then I want to thank our student rep here who was so brave and spoke today. Not easy. It's not easy coming up around here and doing that. And I appreciate everything you do. You keep fighting because you're an example of what we want our students to be. So you keep going. And all of you have a good night. Thank you.

Superintendent Cabral, do you have any comment?

I do. I'm actually going to start with our student also. Because Bella, I mean, you have an example here of a leader. She's a junior. If you didn't catch that, a junior. So she's the class of 26. And regardless of... Whether you agree or disagree with the comments that she made, it takes a lot to be able to sit up here with a bunch of old heads and be able to do what you did. So I appreciate you, and I applaud you. And just to translate, old heads just means us, like, you know, we're... It doesn't mean we're old. I do want to say a couple of things. I'm not trying to make this meeting longer, but I'm going to try and I'm going to continue to try to help our board move forward. And it is something that I feel very confident in what I feel that I am very talented in doing. And I know that up to this point, the perception, the reality is that I'm failing. And I want to tell our school community that I'm going to continue to try. Because and only because our students deserve us. And they deserve for us to do what we can to make sure that they are moving forward. I get accused sometimes of only talking about the good stuff. And why do I do that? I do that because there's a lot of good stuff. And I want everybody to know the wonderful things that are happening in our school district. Because you don't get to see it. I don't even get to see all of it. But there are so many great things happening. We have an example of a student here. I talk all the time about our advanced placement scores. If you want to know about achievement, our pass rate out of 2,000 high school students that take the test is higher by almost 15% than the national pass rate. That's right here in Redlands. Those are things to be celebrated. We also have two schools out of 330 who have been given the California Distinguished School Award. That means they're in the top 1% of all schools in the state of California, all elementary schools. That's Kimberly Elementary School and Highland Grove. Why do you get a California Distinguished School Award? Because you have high student achievement and you're also closing the achievement gap. That doesn't happen without great school leadership. Our principals are to be applauded. Our teachers who work extremely hard every single day. Our support staff who are right there with them. And, of course, our students. We can't forget about parents because there is no second grader who's being successful who's not doing their homework with their parent sitting right next to them. And when it gets to hard math, sorry, parents. I've been there. So congratulations to those two schools, and we have many others that are just doing great things. I want to say that I'll be at the Bike Classic this Saturday. If you have not been there, go. I think our kids start racing around 8 a.m. It's one of the coolest things you'll ever see to see a bunch of kindergartners racing uphill. I think it's kind of messed up that we make them race uphill. That's not my decision, but they go so hard. It's so much fun to see, and the races are done usually within a couple of hours. All of our kids participate that go out there, so come out and support. We have superintendents awards. Our last one for the year is next week. on Tuesday, and I want to thank Johnny's Restaurant, Tacos and Sports. They actually gave us these performance awards that a student can go in and get a free meal. So I just want to do a shout out really quick to Johnny's. Yeah, we have every kid who gets a super intense award is going to get not only the award, but we're also going to give them one of these and make sure they go out and support Johnny's. Lastly, I just want to say thank you, I guess. Just thank you. Please keep the faith. We're going to continue to take care of our students. That's what we are here to do, and we're going to do that, and you are going to see that. Words don't mean anything. We are going to take care of our kids, and you'll see those actions from me.

Okay, we have no discussion items tonight, but items for future discussion was left off the agenda on accident, but we will have two items, the air quality...

resolution and the boys and girls sports resolution we'll bring those back to the next meeting and if nobody has anything else could I add please something for future agenda I'm thinking Juan maybe by the end of the school year I'd really love to see a presentation by Nietzsche. Nietzsche. Nietzsche. To about partly in specifics what she's been doing at Mariposa, but also what else her job entails and what she is doing for the district to help us be a good, strong, safe, kind district. I would really appreciate learning more about her role.

We can certainly get some set up for that.

Anything else? If not, this meeting is at, I can't even see that clock. What time is it?

8.56.

Thank you everybody for coming.