Board of Education — January 13, 2026

We're going to start off with roll call. Melissa Ayala-Quintero.

Present.

Vice President Hollihan. Present. Jeanette Wilson. Present. Candy Olson. Here. And I am here. Oh, and Bella Salazar, I'm so sorry, student rep. Present. And we have no student highlight for tonight. So, Bella, would you please lead us in the pledge? Thank you.

Raise 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.

Thank you, Bella. Is there a motion to approve tonight's agenda with flexibility?

So moved.

Second. Thank you, Patty. Thank you, Jeanette. Any discussion on that? All right, we'll call for the vote.

Clerk Ayala Quintero.

Aye.

Board Member Olson. Aye. President Rendler. Aye. Vice President Hollihan. Aye. Board Member Wilson. Aye. Motion carried, 5-0.

Is there a motion to approve the minutes of December 9th, 2025 board meeting? So moved. I'll second.

Any discussion? We'll call the vote. Clerk Ayala Quintero?

Aye.

Board Member Olson? Aye. President Rendler? Aye. Vice President Hollihan?

Aye.

Board Member Wilson? Aye. Motion carried, 5-0.

In regards to public employment appointment, part of the agenda, I would like to report the following. In closed session, the board took action to appoint Blake Hardiman to the position of principal of Mentone Elementary School, effective January 14th, 2026. At step three of the management team's salary schedule, with the following votes. Ayala Quintero, Hollihan, Olson, Renler, and Wilson voting aye. Is Blake here tonight? Do you have anybody with you tonight? Welcome, everybody. Blake, would you like to come up and say a few words?

All right, I just want to thank you, Superintendent Cabral, cabinet, and board members. I'm honored to have been chosen as the next principal for Mentone Elementary, and I'm just so excited to continue the incredible work that's already taking place there. And I'm really looking forward to getting to know the amazing staff, students, and families, and just becoming a part of the Mentone community. So again, thank you so much for this incredible opportunity.

You're welcome. Thank you. In regards to the public employee discipline dismissal release part of the agenda, I would like to report the following. In closed session, the board took action to consider the dismissal hearing request by... Wait, that's not the right one. That's not right. I'm sorry. I have a wrong thing written. Reconsider.

Okay.

All right. We'll do that again. In closed session, the board took action to reconsider the dismissal hearing request by classified employee 2025-26-08, who was terminated effective December 10, 2026, and to suspend pay while pending dismissal hearing with the following vote. Holohan, Olson, Rundler, aye. Ayala, Quintero, and Wilson, no. In closed session, the Board unanimously took action to accept the resignation of Classified Employee 2025-26-09, effective January 1, 2026, and to approve the resignation agreement in connection therewith. In closed session, the board took action to terminate Classified Employee 2025-26-10, effective January 14, 2026. Ayala Quintero, Hollihan, Olson, Wilson voting aye, and Runler voting no. Okay. Trustee report, Bella. Do you have anything tonight?

I do. Hello, everyone. It's so nice to see some familiar faces. I hope everyone had a wonderful break and happy holidays. And I'm wishing everyone the absolute best for the new year. All right, we're going to start with Rev tonight. So Mock Trial has their first and only invitational this Friday in Santa Barbara. Academic Decathlon is starting the first of their events this week and will continue to work until their exam on the 31st and in-person competition on the 7th. Boys basketball is currently 17-3 after their recent victory against RHS, making this a very strong season for them. And then varsity cheer got second at the regional competition over winter break, and the team is looking forward to nationals in February. All right. For RHS, we have a little bit of a longer one, but it's worth it, I promise. So RHS Mock Trial Varsity Blue Team is competing in the semi-finals of the county competition this Wednesday and Thursday. So sending all the best luck to them. Student government applications are now officially open. If you are an RHS student and you're interested in joining, there's information on how to join on the Redmond High School Instagram page. RHS Girls Varsity Water Polo, they had a game today against Citrus Valley, which started at 4 p.m. RHS Girls Soccer also had a game tonight. JV started at 3.45 and Varsity started at 5.30. And then RHS Boys Soccer Team also had a game tonight. at Citrus Valley. They had Foch starting at 3.30, JV starting at 4, and Varsity starting at 5.30. So that's a lot of games for today, but I'm wishing all of them the best of luck, and hopefully it all went well. For the class of 2026, make sure to order your cap and gowns on Jostens to ensure you receive a cap and gown that fits you. And then senior shirts are also available to pre-order for $20 until January 16th. Make sure to check your emails for where to order. An exciting addition for the month of January are our warm-up Wednesdays to celebrate National Tea Month. Every Wednesday, the Redlands High School Library and Viva La Boba will be serving free hot tea to help start the morning off right. I'm personally, I'm very excited for this event, and hopefully it'll become an annual thing. I believe it's the first time we've done this. The Redlands Unified School District high schools are extremely excited to announce the first ever multi-school Sadie Hawkins dance, which will be held at Citrus Valley on February 6th. Tickets will be available for purchase for $5 starting next week at each school. The Redlands High School Speech and Debate Team has their home tournament on January 24th. This is a more speech-oriented tournament, so if you are interested in all the different events that we do, please feel free to come support. And then lastly, it's been very, very nice seeing so many of my teachers at school wearing their RTA shirts today, and it's been very nice to see such a nice community at my school. And yeah, that's it. Thank you.

Thank you, Bella. Steve Caperton with RTA, are you here?

Welcome. I hope you all had a great break. So tonight I'm here with hundreds of educators and community members, both inside this room and rallying outside as you've been hearing, who are demanding the fundamental respect that they have earned through their hard work, dedication, and sacrifice, and which is currently being denied by this district. I would like to begin with a brief history lesson. Since 2007, the Redlands Teachers Association has experienced eight years with no raises to the salary schedule. Many of those years were due to the 2008 financial crisis that affected the entire nation. During that crisis, RTA and RUSD worked together, just as we did during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to navigate those unprecedented challenges, as well as pass Measure D, securing much-needed funding for our schools. At the time, there was a clear understanding as the district finances improved, we would work together to make up for the ground loss during these difficult years. That, unfortunately, has never happened. Since 2007, the cost of living in the Inland Empire has increased by 56%, while our salaries have only increased by 40%. Every year, educators have fallen further behind. Since 2018 alone, state education expenditures have increased by 66%, and the LCFF-based grant has been increased. Yet educator salaries have increased by only half that amount. In fact, our raises are approximately 17% lower than the cost of living adjustments over that same time period. Despite these increases in state funding, for the ninth time in the last 18 years, the district is offering its employees a 0% raise, even after receiving a 2.41% cost of living adjustment from the state. This is not a funding problem. It is a priorities problem. The district justifies its position by citing declining enrollment, excessive staffing, and claims that employees have received too much in raises. Let's examine those assertions. In 2018-19, the average daily attendance was 20,068 students. Today it is 19,081, a decline of 987 students, or 4.9%. At the same time, state funding has exceeded salary growth by 17%. A 5% decline in enrollment does not justify stagnant wages when revenues have grown at historic levels. Salaries are not the cause of the district's structural deficit. Instead, the district has chosen to significantly increase the number of non-teaching staff and administrative positions, as well as its own compensation. Administrative costs have grown from 3% to 5% of the total budget. Legal compliance staffing has expanded from the one agreed upon cabinet level administrator to five full-time administrators with support staff. Promotions have been approved for administrators with little to no increase in job duties, effectively granting them raises. And finally, this board recently approved an almost 300% increase to its own compensation. At the same time, classrooms continue to deteriorate, furniture dates back to decades, extracurricular programs that once defined this district are eroding, and educators are being told to accept nothing, yet again. Budgets are moral documents. Like the tide, cost of living increases raises all budget lines, including salaries. Over the years, this district has made a conscious choice to prioritize vanity projects, administrative growth over the quality of life of its employees, and learning conditions of its students. We have heard repeatedly the district faces structural deficits. Such a deficit cannot and must not be solved on the backs of the people who actually do the work of educating our children. Structural problems require long-term solutions and a genuine willingness to work collaboratively. RTA has repeatedly shown its willingness to do this work. Tonight, I am asking this board to take a hard look at its priorities. The district has proven time and time again that it can find the money when it cares about something. Show us that you care about your employees. Respect the educators who make this district run. Thank you. Thank you, Steve.

Liz, are you here? Hello.

Good evening, everyone. Welcome back. I stand here tonight carrying the voices of hundreds of educators, people who show up every day for the district. often without recognition, often without even enough resources, and now we are being told to do it for a 0%. A 0% wage increase is not just a number. It is a message. And the message we are hearing is that our work, our time, our energy, our commitment does not matter enough to invest in. That hurts. Because behind every job title is a human being, A paraprofessional who wipes tears, celebrates small victories, and stays late to ensure all students are picked up. A custodian who quietly fixes the things no one else sees, making sure classrooms feel safe and ready. A safety officer who keeps our schools safe. A nutrition worker who knows every child by name and notices when one has an eight. A secretary who is the heartbeat of the school office, holding everything and everyone together. A health tech who comforts a scared child like they were their own. These are the people you are offering 0%. Educators did not create this deficit. We did not cause the budget problems. Yet somehow... We are expected to carry the weight of them alone. And while adults debate budgets, our students feel the impact. Because when we cannot keep staff, students lose the adults they trust. When vacancies remain unfilled, students lose consistency. When employees must work two or three jobs to survive, students lose the full attention and energy they deserve. Students' outcomes are human outcomes. They depend on the relationships students build with stable, caring adults. Those relationships cannot grow when people are forced to leave the district simply to pay rent or buy groceries. A zero percent is not just financially harmful, it is emotionally devastating. Tonight, I ask you, not just as board members, but as human beings, to think about the real impact, the people behind this 0%. Think about the students who depend on us. Think about the impact on the futures when the adults they love cannot afford to stay. We're asking you to choose dignity. to choose respect, to choose students, to choose the people who have chosen the district day after day, year after day. A zero percent is not acceptable. Our students deserve better. Our employees deserve better. Our district can do better. Thank you for listening, and thank you to the incredible educators who continue to give whole hearts to this work, even when the district does not yet give back what they deserve. Thank you.

Thank you, Liz. And do we have a representative from Rapa here? Oh, Jenny, hello. Mrs. Dyer-Lee.

Good evening, board. Thank you for having me today. I just wanted to give some updates on how RAPA is going. We will meet next week as a board. But right now, we are working and gearing up for scholarships. So we will give out a minimum of five scholarships, one for at least one student at every high school, and then a few additional scholarships to recognize students for all hard work and academics that they're doing at this time. We will also be working with Angel's Closet in March to help support students who need items for prom or different things that are coming up, graduation, and events. And then we have many more events. We have our breakfast event that will happen again in the spring, so we're excited to have that again in the spring. We had one in the fall. Thank you so much for having me today.

Thank you, Jenny. All right, now it's time for public participation. Community input for agendized items. The Board of Education values the perspectives and participation of our community members. Public comment provides an important opportunity for individuals to share their view on district matters. The Board encourages comments, feedback, and input from all voices in the community, including those who may have differing opinions and perspectives. The California Office of the Attorney General asked us to share that in their view, matters pertaining to specific, identifiable students or any group of students should remain private to the extent possible. If you have a complaint about an employee or a student matter, please utilize the appropriate complaint procedure. Contact Dr. Rudy Wilson, Assistant Superintendent of Compliance, who can assist you with filing any such complaint. As a reminder, not all speech is free from consequence and since this is the board meeting in public, Where minors may be present, we encourage all participants to conduct themselves in a civilized, non-threatening manner. Thank you for your cooperation and for contributing to a civil and student-focused discussion. Members of the public may address the board on matters within its jurisdiction by submitting a completed registration card to the clerk or designated staff member prior to the start of public comments. On agenda items, when called, speakers may proceed to the podium, state their name and trustee area, and speak for the allotted time. The amount of time will be announced by the board president before the first speaker begins and will not exceed three minutes. Consuelo, how many number of speakers do we have?

We have four speakers, and it's a total of five items. We do three minutes, right? So we'll do three minutes. The first one is Dale Broom, followed by Jessica Callender with two items, and Quinn.

Welcome, Dale. Hi, Dale Broom, Area 1. And I'm speaking related to Agenda Item 16B and also kind of overlaps into 16C. But I'll keep my comments just very short. I just wanted to mention that I do support this concept of fair compensation for our Redlands Unified School District employees, including teachers, support personnel, within the constraints of our budget. But more importantly, as was brought up with Steve Kepperton's presentation is, We need to look at how much money is originally budgeted from the governor's budget for education and how a small percentage of it is actually getting down to the districts. Roughly about 60% of the per pupil budget that's guaranteed by Prop 98 is actually reaching down to the school districts. And so there's a big problem with a lot of loss at the top. And what needs to happen is more pressure needs to be put on the state controller, the treasurer, and the governor to investigate the California Department of Education for fraud, abuse, and wasteful spending in Sacramento because there's a lot of money that's being lost at the top. And when you look at that, it really is fairly significant. It's only about 60% is actually getting down. So that should influence how people vote in the future. So that's all I have to say. Thank you.

Thank you, Dale. Is Jessica here? Welcome, Jessica.

Hi. One of the things I wanted to speak about was the topic of mental health. I know from lots of students around here and lots of parents, that it's an important topic, and I'm glad to see that it's something that you are making a point to focus on. I urge you as a board, when you look at things regarding mental health, to ensure that the individuals that you are having assist our students are well qualified. That they understand that not every student's experience is going to be the same. And that they're not... That no age is going to... It's not going to make a difference. Their age is not going to make a difference on whether or not they have certain valid experiences and or certain... certain things that happen to them that might not happen to somebody else their age. I speak from personal experience. It happened to a child of mine where they were treated a certain way by... a previous school that they went to in the district, and then when we were transferred to a different school in the district, the individual did not know how to handle my child's situation. It was very concerning because then my child was handcuffed and taken away and 5150'd because of a misunderstanding and a misinterpretation by the the mental health professional in the school. So again, I urge you, as you take these topics and as you work on this mental health program that you're doing, just to make sure that the people that you're entrusting with your students' lives are actually trustworthy. And that's really all that I have to say.

Thank you, Jessica. Welcome, Quinn.

I do not start my time yet. Okay, thank you very much. As my mom just mentioned, I was 5150'd and placed in handcuffs due to a counselor in our own district at my elementary school. It was due to a misinterpretation done by the medical professional also known as the school counselor. I was 5150, placed in handcuffs, and taken to a mental facility for about a week because of a complete misunderstanding. In turn, I was suspended for 12 days, then the suspension was lifted after the principal realized that it was completely, everything that she had stated was completely false. As a student who has dealt with this type of stuff, and as a queer student, this needs to stop. I'm thankful that you guys are actually caring about the mental health portion. I just wish you guys would care more about the other students. no matter who they are, no matter if they fit the white cisgender norms, no matter who they are, if you just cared, they would... We might not have as high of a student suicide rate in this state. Now, I know some of you laugh, but most of these are caused by poor school counselors and and misinterpretations such as my own that I dealt with. So I'm thankful that you are dealing with mental health in such a way, but I wish it wasn't just about a similar group. I wish it wasn't just one group of people that was cared about. I wish it was everyone. Thank you very much. Thank you, Quinn. And I also have another one about the... Okay, restart my time, please. Thank you very much. I'm so sorry, I misplaced it. So this next one I will be talking on is about the changing of payment for substitutes and part-time employees. As the RTA president mentioned, this school district does not care a lot about the teachers. As shown with the giant protests that we just had outside of over 200, maybe even 300 different people on all four corner sides because of you guys. This district... I've been in multiple different districts and this district has by far been one of the worst in how I've been treated. And how the teachers have been treated. Which is why I wish that you guys would care a lot more about the teachers than your own selves. Which is why the maneuver of... Which is why the changing of the price for substitute teachers is just madness. As we've mentioned, the teachers were given a 0% raise while the state mandated a 2.5% COLA. This is unacceptable. Michelle, you should be doing this better. You should be controlling this more because this school district needs help. The teachers deserve better. Thank you very much. And please think about what you guys have done.

Thank you, Quinn. The last speaker is B.

Welcome, B.

I wanted to voice my support for the mental health first initiative. I appreciate that the district is considering evidence based mental health support services for our students. So many of our students are experiencing distress in these current years because the adults in their lives are not there supporting them. We have seen how the current presidential administration has cut funding for mental health services for young people. We have seen how they have tried to deny mental health care to their families by removing the ACA subsidies. We have seen how members of the public purporting to be here to protect students have treated students in this room. We have seen how the board and the district have ignored calls to protect our students from individuals who have made public calls for violence. And that person is currently sitting in this room. Since members of this board have failed over and over again to protect our students, despite the fact that they say that they are here to protect them, I am at least pleased to see that you are providing the mental health support services that are necessary to support our students during these trying times. Thank you.

Thank you, Beak. All right, now we'll move on to board committee reports. First we'll do, I don't know, anybody have a board report to give?

PyROP did not meet in January, so we'll have a report next month.

I haven't had a meeting yet. Yeah, we met last week, the compact steering committee and the dinner mixer for the compact students and a couple other groups are included as well as on February 11th. And this is where they get to sit with adults from the community and sort of interview them and then introduce them and they gain some great social skills, interviewing skills, knowledge about different professions. It's a really multifaceted event in terms of the goals. So that's on February 11th. And then in February, also the mock interview startup, which allows students in Compact and AVA to gain experience in the interview process and get feedback. And so that's all coming up heavy in February and March. All right.

Thank you.

And I have a Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission report. I attended for Candy Olson as the meeting was just two days after our reorganization meeting, and it did not give her enough time to plan. So at the meeting, each commissioner is, through the year, is given a few parks that they monitor. So they had their reporting on it. And most of the parks are looking very clean and well-kept. A few of the issues that arose were at Brookside Park, there's no tables on one side of the park. and it seems that some people are using the bathroom as showers, and that's causing plumbing issues. Smiley Park, there may be a leak in the fountain at the Redlands Bowl, and the plumbing was backed up in the restroom, but not sure if that was fixed. The Redlands Sports Park, which is known as the ASO Fields, the bathroom sinks were not working, and there were no paper towels when this commissioner went by there. And they said if anybody is at any park and you notice anything, you can always reach out. to the advisory commission and they can get that to whoever the maintenance people that need to fix things. The student commissioner reported that The dance that Bella talked about, she called it a sweetheart dance. It was going to be at Citrus Valley on February 6th. It's a lot of different schools. Arrowhead Academy is going to be there. A lot of different schools participating. And times and dates were established for the different sports teams to use the various fields around town. So if you're on a team and you want to know where you're... Might be practicing. I have that list. In reorganizing the different commissions and committees, the city has decided to have all these different commissions meet only three or four times a year. And so the next meeting for the parks is on March 12th. Candy, if you're not able to go, I probably could go to that one if you are busy. But if you are able to go, March 12th.

Okay.

And that's it.

think everybody for that and now onto superintendents report mister cabral get anything to report uh... yes i want to give an update on our deal i program uh... that we're very excited about and uh... i can start by saying i commend the board because this is the board goal that uh... was unanimously decided pretty early on uh... to bring this to our district and it is something that uh... we had been working on several years ago but had not implemented I also commend the board because the goal was for us to have it in place by 2027, but through a lot of planning that had already been done and then a lot of hard work from our director, Sonia Belingit, we're able to get it started this fall, which is a whole year early, and we're really excited about that. It's going to be kicked off with a meeting for all interested parents at the end of this month on the 28th. And there will be more announcements about that. We're going to, at that meeting, it's very important to attend either the Zoom. If you cannot come to the in-person meeting for the community who are interested, we're going to enroll students in TK and K. And there are only, there's limited spots. And so we do have criteria for our students. Current district students, of course, our current McKinley students, current district students, current students of parents that work for us is also on that list of criteria. And then, of course, any students who are not in our district who want to come to us to attend this program. We hope to have, well, we predict that we're going to have way more students interested than spots, which is a really good problem to have, but we are going to make it very clear in these meetings. There's going to be a Zoom meeting in the morning on the 28th and then an in-person meeting at McKinley in the afternoon where all questions will get answered for parents who are interested. One thing that has to happen, because they're going to be new to us as students, either in TK or K, is students have to enroll in the district first. And so if your home school, for example, is Lagonia, you'll have to enroll into Lagonia Elementary School, but then show interest in DLI. And if you're selected, then we will just transfer you over to McKinley. Okay. Our principal, Castorena, has already recorded a couple of videos. You're going to see a lot in the next couple of weeks announcing this program that we're very excited about. Also, our communications manager, Christine Stevens, has worked on our branding, and you're all going to see that very soon. Are there any questions about our DLI? We will be running in the fall.

What was it you said about re-enrolling if they're already a student in a different school?

So if you're a brand new student to us because you're coming in as a TK student or as a K student, you may assume that you're just going to enroll into DLI. But what we have to do is you have to enroll into the home school that you are assigned to. Then show interest into the DLI program. And then if you're accepted, then we would transfer you from your home school to McKinley. And that's a key component of this because when folks are interested, they're going to be told you have to register first. That way we have you in the system. And then there's no guarantee that you're going to be accepted into DLI, so you're going to be enrolled into the school, and we don't want you to miss out on getting enrolled first.

Ideally, how many students are we going to be starting with? I know it's TK and K, but how many classes?

What's the total number of students, Patty? Okay. So that would be about 80 students.

Are they following an AM-PM schedule like they typically would?

It would follow the same kindergarten type schedule that we have at other schools. But we're talking no more than 70 students total likely to get us started. 70 to 80, depending on the class sizes for K. TK, the class size is going to be 24. We know that. Any questions?

Happy to see that the progress is going on, and thank you for getting it done early.

Now, is there a waiting list right now that if parents are interested, who are they supposed to contact?

No, we don't have a list yet because at the meeting, we are going to, for the first time, give everybody an opportunity to start signing up. But that sign-up won't be determined on first-come, first-served type of thing. We will have an amount of time set for that. For example, we may have sign-ups start on the 28th, the meeting date, and a deadline of, like, March 10th. At that point, then, we will look to see how many we have, look at the criteria that we've established, and then likely do a lottery if we have more than enough spots or if we have too many interested and not enough spots.

But TK students at McKinley right now would get first choice?

We have an opportunity for McKinley kids. I'm not going to say there's a guarantee for every single McKinley student, though.

Okay, because they have to meet the criteria, right? Okay. Okay.

Thank you. That's all.

Thank you, Mr. Cabral. Now on to business services consent items. Mr. Hill, do you have any changes or additions?

No changes or additions tonight.

Do I have a motion to approve all consent items as listed under 12A through 12G? So moved. Second. Thank you, Patty. Thank you, Jeanette. Any discussion? Any discussion?

All right, I'll call the vote. Chair Cayala-Quintero? Aye. Board Member Olson? Aye. President Rendler? Aye. Vice President Hollihan?

Aye.

Board Member Wilson? Aye. Motion carried, 5-0.

All right, moving on to business services action items. Mr. Hill, any changes or additions?

No changes or additions tonight.

Is there a motion to approve the establishment of a new resource, Subfund 35, within the county school facilities fund to support modernization activities? Authorize Jason Hill, Deputy Superintendent, Business Services, to sign related documents on behalf of the board.

So moved. A second.

Thank you, Candy. Thank you, Melissa. Any discussion? I'll call the vote.

Clerk Ayala Quintero. Aye. Board Member Olson. Aye. President Rindler. Aye. Vice President Hallahan.

Aye.

Board Member Wilson. Aye. Motion carried, 5-0.

Now moving to consent items under educational services. Mrs. Buckmiller, do you have any changes or additions? Is there a motion to approve all consent items as listed under 14A through 14H?

I'll approve, but I have a question on B, item B. I think it's just a typo error. It says approve 17 members of the Citrus Valley High School Florida cheer team.

That was a typo.

Okay. So I didn't think that we were going to pay for them to go. Okay. Then based on that, based on that correction, then I'll move to approve.

All right. All those in favor? Second. Oh, we got a second? No. Patty and Melissa, thank you. All right. All those in favor? Aye.

Aye. Oh, I'm sorry.

Blah. Call the vote. I don't know what just happened there. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye.

Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye.

Now moving to action items under educational services. Mrs. Buckmiller, any changes or additions? Thank you. Is there a motion to approve revision of board policy 6179, supplemental instruction? It's the first reading.

Move approval.

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

I had a couple questions, and I'm not sure, with it being the first read, if there's specific answers. But one of my questions is, why does this only cover grades 7 through 12? Would that be a Patty question?

Yes, I can let Patty answer that.

And then do you know if the ELOP homework assistance or regular tutoring, is that considered supplemental instruction? No, ELOP tutoring is not considered that, and it goes through grade six. Okay. But what about the tutoring at the secondary? Oh, okay. So because it says shall, so are we already doing this? As far as all the supplemental areas required, I'm guessing since it's a revised one, we are... Sorry, I just...

Original was in 2001. Oh, here. Do you want to see it?

Oh, thank you. Here you go.

156.

Which part are you on?

The last committee was 2014.

What part are you talking about?

I was just talking sort of in general how, because it says shall that we offer these, is it already happening at all?

The way that I understand it is that if we are in a situation where we will offer supplemental, then we shall make sure not to supplant the student's instruction in the core curriculum. That doesn't mean that we have to do it or that we're required to do it. It means that if we at any point participate in that, then we shall make sure that it does not supplant the students. I see.

Okay. Any more discussion? All right. I'll call for the vote.

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

Aye.

Board Member Wilson? Aye. Motion carried, 5-0.

Is there a motion to approve new Board Policy 5141.5, Mental Health, the first reading? So moved. I'll second. Any discussion?

I had a lot of concerns about this policy, actually. I don't know if I should. I was concerned a recurring theme about if the person who is doing the counseling deems it inappropriate for a parent to be involved, then they just can make that decision. I was thinking that it might be a good safeguard to add the definition of what's inappropriate. My suggestion would be somewhere along the lines of that you must consult with the parent, you know, unless it's inappropriate and inappropriate is defined as that the involvement of the parent or guardian would be expected to cause imminent grave psychological and or physical danger. to the student and if such danger is present a family services referral will be placed like within 24 hours. I just thought that adding a definition of what inappropriate means would be very helpful because I think that a parent should always be involved and if it's a situation where it would be inappropriate then it must be a situation where it's dangerous to the student. And if it's dangerous to the student, that means the CPS referral should be placed in my opinion. I just would suggest stronger language on that. And then there's just a couple things like on the second page on the second set of numbers, like on number two it talks about wellness centers. I would scratch that out since we're not doing that. Also near the top on the second page it's talking about the superintendent. She'll provide the participate in one hour of cultural competency training to support those group of people. I was wondering if the Keenum training would encompass that. I guess that's a question for you or Rudy. Would that be an additional hour of training or would Keenum cover that, what we already are doing?

We'd have to confirm, but there's a likely that it would be.

That sounded like it would be. I think that there's several, actually, issues with this whole thing. On the last page, I thought this sounded very cumbersome, and it was a lot of work here for the the evaluation methods to have median time to first contact, percentage of follow-ups completed within the ten school days, referral closure rates, results for the pupil groups identified, data collection analysis, target improvements based on results. I was wondering, who's doing all this? Is this going to require a whole other administrator to track all of this and the evaluation monitors outcomes? The way I see it, I think it would be good for feedback, of course, some type of feedback loop to see if the referral process is working well. But I would recommend just, like, for example, that second bullet point, input from staff, families, students who have been referred. I think that input from them who, not patients, but students and families who have gone through the referral process, feedback from them to see if it worked well, timely, and in such fashion. So that would be my suggestion. I would suggest getting rid of all of that other... Data collection. And probably my biggest concern is the last, besides the parent involvement, is the last sentence. I would change it to the superintendent may instead of shall expand in federal, state, and county level billable services programs to recoup. Because I'm a strong, you know, I'm strongly opposed to the CYBHI, and this just to me sounds like quite similar to that, even though it's not exactly. But it sounds like it's working that way. So those are my concerns.

Those sound workable and edits that, you know, we could make. I would urge us, though, to consider a couple of things. Because if we have changes that we want to make, rather than make them here on the dais, maybe there's a way we could collect changes. We can work on a draft and then bring it back. And I know everybody else might have other changes too. I just would throw that out there. Where we are, we would not pass anything that would be a HIPAA violation. I'm not trying to respond, but at the same time, we of course would not violate HIPAA. And I didn't say that we would. I said the changes sound workable. This is just a draft that we're working on right now. I would encourage us, though, to do it that way. What we were challenged up against is the deadline of January 31st, but I feel confident that we have a current process that meets our need. This policy would be us making sure that we have an updated protocol. I would encourage us, though, that whatever changes that we may have, even tonight or after tonight, that it get drafted before the 27th, which is our next meeting, so that we can bring back a copy that everybody has seen before the 27th. So is there any other comments?

Well, the comments I had are different. So that means there's quite a few comments to this policy. I was wondering, first of all, what law is it that it is coming from? And also that I... When I was trying to research, I saw in Ed Code 49428.2 that specifically states that board members must sign a policy by January 31st about the referral protocol for mental health services and I mean, Juan and I talked about this, but I don't see this as specific enough about the referral protocol to suffice for that part of this new law that we're trying to address. And there was a lot of information into one policy that might make sense for it to even be two. So I had a lot of thoughts there.

Well, this is a board policy, right? So maybe the referral in the policy would be in an AR? Is that the actual referral protocol?

The actual protocol, yeah. The carrying out would be the AR.

So we theoretically should be signing that by January 31st.

When I say I'm confident, we do have a process now that we follow, and I know that we are providing services to our students through that process, which I can help get described. After this meeting, I can have Director Wagoner help us with outlining that for us. But I do agree that we could do both. We could have this drafted with edits that are recommended, and then we could also make sure that our process is captured in an AR.

Would it be a first read again? It would have to be a first read again.

Okay. But I feel confident that we would be okay passing a policy, let's say, first read 27th, the second read on the first meeting in February. If all goes according to that timeline, then it would be in place right after that February meeting.

Now, is it 4145.5, or is this correct on the agenda?

It's 4145.5.

It says 5141. Is that correct? Yeah. I heard it was supposed to be 5145.5. No, yeah. Right. It should be 5145.5.

We looked at it today. We'll make sure the number's right. Yeah.

What I suggest, if everybody is okay with that, is the changes that you have, if you capture those in an email to me, and then we can get those together. And if anybody else has changes. Yeah, any changes, and then I'll draft that up, and then we'll send it out to everybody in the SU.

No, I don't. Go ahead. I would like to see them first before I agree to anything, just because. No, 100%.

And I don't know if this matters to anybody else, but my eyes are getting old, and I would love it if this wasn't in solid green. It's really hard for me to read. It makes it challenging. I mean, I can do it, but it's like a strain to read solid. Like, look at this. It's like blacked out.

We can send it to everybody.

Is there a way to do it in a different yellow highlight maybe or something that's not quite so?

We can change the color coding. Yeah, the green is because in CSPA's system. I totally get it. But we could copy and paste it out.

But the whole thing was green. So maybe say, hey, this whole thing is supposed to be green.

We could copy it, paste it into a document.

It's just a suggestion. I don't know. Maybe it doesn't bother anybody else. But look at this page. It's like reading a redacted.

In order to meet the timeline, I would need all suggested edits by Friday. And then that way I can get them back out to everybody in the SU. And then if there's any questions or anything, we can have those come to us by the 20th so that we can put it back on the agenda for the 27th.

I can give you mine tomorrow.

Perfect.

Thank you. So, well, we have a... A motion on the floor.

I would make a motion to pull the item.

Well, we have an actual motion. So, yeah, we need to vote and vote down. So call for the vote.

Clerk Ayala Quintero. Aye. Board Member Olson. No. President Rendler.

No.

Vice President Hollihan.

Aye.

Board Member Wilson? No. Motion not carried.

You have to make another motion.

Make a motion to bring this back later date.

Pull it for now.

Revise it with edits.

We voted it down. Now we can just redo it.

We can just take the non-passage as a rework and we need to bring it back. If everybody's okay with that, we don't need another action. Or we could take action to bring it back so that it's official, it's up to the board. We could do it either way. But if we have an understanding that everybody will get me edits by Friday and then I'll get it to everybody in the SU so that you all can then give feedback, the goal is to have it back on the agenda for the 27th. Everybody okay with that?

Yes. Okay. Moving on to human resources, consent items. Mrs. Bruick, do you have any changes or additions? Is there a motion to approve all consent items as listed under 16A through 16E? So moved. Second. Any discussion?

Why not through E? What? Why not through E? You just said to D, right? No, she said E. Oh, I misheard you.

All right. I'll call for the vote.

Okay. Clerk Ayala Quintero. Aye. Board Member Olson. Aye. President Redler. Aye. Vice President Hollihan. Aye. Board Member Wilson. Aye. Motion carried. 5-0.

It will continue with Human Resources Action Items. Mrs. Bruick, any changes or additions? Adopt resolution number 2025-2026-12 pertaining to layoffs of vacant positions and or reduction of classified vacant positions. Do we have a motion? So moved. A second? I need a second. I need a second. I can't. Any discussion? All right, I'll call for the vote.

Chair Cayala-Quintero? Aye. Board Member Olsen? Aye. President Rendler? Aye. Vice President Hollihan? Aye. Board Member Wilson? Aye. Motion carried, 5-0.

All right, ratify or approve field work experience agreement between the Redlands Unified School District and Point Loma Nazarene University, effective November 14, 2025, through November 14, 2028. So moved. Oh, sorry. Patty, thank you. Do we have a second? Candy?

Yeah.

Thank you. Any discussion? Were you able to get clarification if that was the same?

It is. This agreement includes counselors, which was the reason why we had to update it and bring it back.

Great. Any other discussion? I'll call for the vote.

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

Aye.

Board Member Wilson? Aye. Motion carried. 5-0.

All right, ratify, approve revisions to board policy 4221.16, substitute short-term employees hourly rate, effective January 1, 2026. We have a motion.

I'll move.

Second. Thank you, Melissa. Thank you, Patty.

Any discussion?

All right, we'll call the vote.

Urcayela Quintero. Aye. Board Member Olson. Aye. President Rendler. Aye. Vice President Hollihan. Aye. Board Member Wilson. Aye. Motion carried. 5-0.

Approve revised student attendance calendar for the 2026-2027 school year. Do I have a motion? I'll move.

Second.

Thank you, Melissa. Thank you, Patty. Any discussion? Any discussion? I'll call the vote.

Erica Ayala Quintero. Aye. Board Member Olson. Aye. President Rendler. Aye. Vice President Hollihan. Aye. Board Member Wilson. Aye. Motion carried, 5-0.

Approve student attendance calendar for the 2027-2028 school year, first reading. Do we have a motion?

So moved.

I'll second.

Any discussion?

I'll call the vote.

Chair Cayala-Quintero? Aye. Board Member Olsen? Aye. President Rendler? Aye. Vice President Hollihan? Aye. Board Member Wilson? Aye. Motion carried. Five-0.

All right. Moving on to public participation. Public comments are permitted upon submission of a completed registration card prior to the start of public participation. This is not a forum for debate. Policy concerns will be referred to the superintendent. When called, speakers may proceed to the podium, state their name and trustee area, and speak for the allotted time. The amount of time will be announced by the board president before the first speaker begins and will not exceed three minutes. How many speaker cards do we have?

We have nine. Sorry, 10. So we'll do three minutes. Dale Broom, Tim Mahan, and Peter Hall.

Welcome back, Dale.

Thank you, Dr. Dale Bruin from Area 1. I wanted to discuss for the general public as well as teachers, and I'm sure the school board is fully aware of this, I would like to discuss the reasons behind the sudden shutdown of the mandatory statewide teacher PRISM training program portal. that actually happened here in November. And the basis for this was that there were two teachers in Escondido Unified School District that successfully sued their district in federal court challenging the district's secrecy policy based on AB 1955 that forced them to keep secrets from the parents the fact that students were gender transitioning in school. A federal judge rendered a preliminary ruling, Judge Benitez, that directed the Attorney General Bonta and Superintendent Tony Thurmond to scrub the PRISM training of this mandated secrecy policy for teachers and administrators. And they actually, the Attorney General and the California Department of Education testified in federal court that it had been removed. Well, some whistleblowers back in November discovered that it had not been removed and that it was hidden under a password protection. The judge has yet to decide how the Attorney General and the Superintendent will be sanctioned for lying in federal court. After this was revealed, the California Department of Education immediately shut down the PRISM training program. Finally, on December 22nd, Judge Roger Benitez of the Escondido Court, a federal court, ruled that in the Mirabella v. Olson case, found that the secrecy policy in AB 1955 was unconstitutional from a federal standpoint and blocked its enforcement. And the basis for that decision was that according to FERPA laws, 20 U.S.C. and PPRA law that's in the 20 U.S.C., that parents have a right to know about their children's student records, and that includes if a student is gender transitioning in school. Parents have a fundamental constitutional right guaranteed by the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment to control and direct the care and the upbringing of their children according to nine separate United States Supreme Court decisions over the last century. So as you would imagine, the Attorney General has appealed that decision to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the court needs to recognize, hopefully, and also our school board, recognize that parental rights such as these are an inalienable right. given to parents by God and that the state should not try to restrict those rights. So I would like to urge the school board to proceed with passage of a parental notification policy submitted by Board Member Olson, which has already been tested in court and deemed constitutional. It simply requires that parents be notified of any changes to a student's record without specifically indicating gender transition. It is then up to the parent's responsibility to follow up with the district to see what changes have been made to the student record. So I hope you'll proceed with that. Thank you.

Thank you, Dale.

Is Tim Mahon here? Welcome, Tim.

How are you? When do I start? Now?

Can you guys hear me? Yes.

All right, cool. I was just on my way to the gym, and I saw a lot of teachers out there protesting, saying that they want more pay. And I don't know if you guys know who I am yet. My name is Tim Mahan. I'm running for the governorship of California for 2026. So I thought I'd just come in here and talk to you guys openly and just ask what the issue is, because the numbers that I have for the budget of the entire state is $130 billion. It covers roughly 5.8 million students, which comes out to about $22,000 per student. San Bernardino County roughly gets $4 billion per year for the fiscal year 2024, 2025. It gives you guys about $10,000 per student. Obviously, you guys get funded by district. So Redlands Unified School District, correct me if I'm wrong, gets about 350 million dollars per per year you guys have about 25 schools 20 000 students comes out to 17 000 per student so the question is are you guys underfunded or what's the issue if the total budget is 22 000 per student

Welcome to our school district. This process typically doesn't include Q&A. It's an opportunity for the public to address the board and any concerns. You can ask questions, but any answers I would say we can provide for you after the fact, like we could either get your contact information, set up a meeting, and or phone call or a conference so that we can get those questions answered for you.

That would be great. Put it on record. My email is timmahan2026 at gmail.com. Please send me an email. I'd like to meet with all of you guys to get this figured out. Because at the end of the day, I'm here for everybody. I'm here for you. And I'm here to help you guys. And I'm here to help the teachers and protect the kids. We've got to get this figured out, and the job of the governor is not to just go on TV and talk about Democrats or Republicans. The governor's job is to go to each city, talk to city councils, go talk to the mayors, look at the state of the city and see what's happening, and figure out ways that we can work together to fix everything.

Thank you, Tim. Thank you very much.

Okay, yeah. With that being said, get in touch.

Thank you.

Welcome, Peter. I'm going to speak about the last meeting regarding the books, The Bluest Eye and Push. And the number of people who seem to think that sexual abuse, especially child sexual abuse, is a racial issue is disturbing. A number of people said, I'm not black, but I'm also a victim of sexual abuse. And I have to ask, why does race matter? race is not important if you are a victim of sexual abuse. What is important is that you were or are a victim of sexual abuse. Your race does not matter. And anybody of any race and either sex, female and male, and any socioeconomic status can also be victims of sexual abuse. I mean, how many documentaries have been made about the sexual abuse of child actors today? Many of them very famous and also very rich. How many documentaries have been made about them? Many child actors who have done work for Nickelodeon and Disney have come out saying that they were abused on the sets of the movies and shows that they acted for. And then a lot of them also went on to be sexual abusers themselves. Drake Bell was sexually abused when he was doing work for the Drake and Josh show, and then he went on to sexually molest um, children. So, yeah, the idea that sexual abuse only pertains to people of color is ridiculous. And a bunch of these people just are very ignorant. One lady said that because she is, and I quote, a privileged white female that she will never be a victim of sexual abuse, and this is an older woman, and I just have to say that's very ignorant. She is assuming that will never happen to her. She's hoping it will never happen to her, and she might go her whole life without being victimized, but she could be victimized. Privilege is not something that is permanent. Privilege can end at any time. You can have a perfect, charmed life, and then all of a sudden it can just be totally destroyed, and you are no longer privileged. Thank you. Thank you, Peter.

Joshua Hall, followed by Quinn Shea and Douglas Hauser.

Hi. I want to talk about a book called It's Perfectly Normal. Someone, I think a parent, checked this book out and then intentionally did not return it. which I applaud them for because this book was found in a middle school library. There are 66 images of men and women of all weight classes, fat and skinny, all age demographics from babies to senior citizens, Both abled and disabled, there's a naked man in a wheelchair. There's a naked woman with arm and leg braces. Children should not be seeing pictures of naked people, even if they're just standing around doing normal, everyday things. These images are fine, the top images are fine for talking about sex education for freshmen and high school, freshmen and sophomore high schoolers, but then you have six images at the bottom of graphic heterosexual scenes Two lesbians, and then you have two gay men in bed together. These images are not appropriate for anyone who is not a high school graduate, and many people who are high school and even college graduates find them inappropriate for themselves. So these images should not be for anyone outside of a high school graduate. This book is not in your library at the middle school it was found in, but it's still in the catalog, so the school board should vote to remove it from the catalog so that it cannot come back. Thank you, Joshua.

Welcome back, Quinn. Welcome back.

As many of you know, I am a queer teenager. I have dealt with multiple people who have who have basically just gone off the rails for no reason. I have had an uncle who has gone off the rails. And this district is seeming to go off the rails from banning books for censoring books that are ed code books. books that have been read in high schools for years and years and years on end and also for banning a book so that way it's only can be read from 18 plus with parent permission 18 is classified as an adult in the state of California. Why would they need parent permission? And also, most 18-year-olds are not in high school anymore. In a sense, you are completely censoring this book to the normal majority of people. For what reason? Because it is a book that has been taught for, as I mentioned, years on end. That is in the Ed Code. Not Ed Code, sorry. That is approved to be in schools. And you proceed to censor it for no reason. What is the point? If we want to talk about censoring, there are certain people in this room who should have been censored during certain speeches that they have done. I will not name. But I think most of the people in the crowd know who they are. And those watching at home. They know who they are. This board is just not safe. It is not a good board at all. And also... Give the teachers their raise. The fact that they are getting nothing while, as I mentioned, it's mandated at least a 2.5% COLA is just madness. They should be paid for educating people like me, for educating the students, for educating our future lives. This district is unacceptable. Do better. Thank you very much for listening, and do better. Thank you, Quinn.

No, Douglas Hauser. I want to talk in favor of parental notification. I have not read the specific details of the proposal, but I would like the board to bring it up for a vote and make it available for us to see. Basically, the parents are the child's primary caregiver. Throughout the course of my life, through grade school, college, graduate school, I've had literally dozens and dozens of teachers. Usually you have a teacher for one year. The parent is the child's parent for their entire life. When the child graduates a year, two, three years later, the parent is left with the situation. The school district, the teachers have moved on to another class, another class, another class. They are not responsible for the student except when the student is in their care. So it is vital. It is, and I'm not just talking about the particular issue that I was thinking about. If a student is being bullied, the parents need to know about it. If a student is a bully, the parent needs to know about it. If the student is in danger of failing a class, the parent needs to know about it before they actually are surprised by an F on the report card. All these things, it is vital for the school to keep the parents involved. That will give better results for everybody. And of course, everybody knows that there is the exception if it is believed that exposing anything would cause a parent to be violent or destructive to the student, then we know teachers are mandatory reporters and child protective services should be brought in in such a case. But with those few exceptions, the parents should know everything that is going on in the school. If a kid goes to summer camp, the parents should know everything that's going on in the summer camp. All these situations of in local parentis where someone has taken responsibility. If the parent goes out for an evening and they hire a babysitter, the babysitter should let the parent know if anything unusual happens. There's always contact information. You can call this person. You can call me. So this is obviously common sense. I think the board should bring it up. for a vote, and I hope that it will pass and parents will get their rights that they need to have.

Thank you, Douglas. Thank you, Douglas.

Next we have Jessica Callender, followed by Bea and John Barry. Welcome back, Jessica.

Hi, everybody. That's fine. I'm a little disturbed by the stalling on the mental health issues request. And I mean no disrespect by this, but ladies, have either of you ever been investigated by CPS? Or dealt with an individual who is in your family who's dealt with a mental health crisis? The reason I ask that is because your statement, Ms. Olson, to contact CPS seems almost detrimental to the health of the individual that is experiencing this mental health crisis. And the reason I say that is because those students are already in a very vulnerable state. And to do that and reach out to an individual who only wants to remove them from their home, only wants to create more chaos in their lives, it seems irrational to me. Why would you punish a family experiencing a mental health crisis? So even mentioning or contacting CPS, you're removing the support that that student, that parent, that family needs in order to succeed, in order to be helped the most. It just kind of boggles my mind when we're already in a district with some seriously incompetent mental health experts. Why would you dare take risks with student lives. When a student is experiencing a mental health issue, they already have problems with academics, behavior issues, dealing with coping mechanisms. So unfortunately, according to the National Institute on Mental Illness, there are always delays dealing with before children and youth get help they need. And suicide is usually the second leading cause of death for youth ages 10 to 34. So to exacerbate a situation like that by calling CPS or calling someone who is going to only stall their mental health or their familial bond, it just seems odd to me. Take it however you will. But thank you.

Thank you, Jessica. Welcome back, Pete. Thank you.

One of the things that I have seen in the time that I have been coming to these meetings is the board working hard to tear down our schools. They have cut funding to much needed programs, banned books from our libraries, prevented students and staff from displaying flags in their classrooms and passed policies condemning transgender athletes. The latest example of this is the school district's refusal to provide cost of living adjustments to our teachers. This despite the fact that the state of California is providing a 2.5% adjustment. The New York Times says that grocery prices have risen 3.1%. J.P. Morgan says that housing prices rose 2 to 3%. In 2025, with mortgage rates rising 6 to 7%. The National Security Agency estimates that home gas prices have gone up 11.7%. The California Healthcare Foundation reports that over the last 20 years, healthcare premiums for job-based insurance have grown nearly twice as fast as wages in California. Deductibles have grown nearly three times as fast as wages. The only prices that have gone down significantly are at the gas pump, and they have only gone down because of an increase in global supplies due to slower economic growth. It seems not only appropriate but necessary to support our teachers with a cost of living adjustment, not just for our teachers but for our students in an effort to support teacher retention. However, you're not doing this. You are choosing instead to deny them cost of living adjustment, thus threatening to destroy the educational quality of our district. It's easy to destroy something. You can see results quickly. It's much harder to build something up. The fact that this board has chosen to devote the majority of its time to conspire with the ARC Church, members of school boards in other districts, and a potential school board candidate to ban books from our school libraries that nobody else has requested, the fact that our superintendent made statements during the last meeting that he thought it was appropriate to require parents to approve what their adult children check out of the library, a clear and direct fact, FERPA violation. The fact that he just suggested that Candy Olson's recommendations and mental health professionals in the district should be required to commit HIPAA violations by including parents in all mental health decisions says to me that members of this board and the superintendent are not capable nor competent in their roles. The denial of cost of living adjustments is just the latest example. It says to me that the only ability you have is to destroy our district. You have no ability to build it up. I would ask that you reconsider your latest decision.

Thank you, B. Welcome, John.

Yeah, hey, John Berry, District 5. First of all, you guys like my shirt? Because the arguments at the Supreme Court today are encouraging, and it shows that you guys made the right decision to keep boys out of girls' sports. Anyway, not while I'm here. I'm here to warn Patty and Melissa about their continuing association with Together for Redlands, a special interest group hostile to the well-being of students and parents. Two reasons. Together for Redlands is flouting California's election codes now that it has formed a political action committee. As a result, I have filed a sworn complaint with the California Fair Political Practices Commission. Being a PAC makes it more difficult for Together to hide its donors. According to the FPPC, their next donor report is due February 2nd. Its donors need to be aware that their contributions are a matter of public record. Two, inciting violence is not protected speech. I'm leading a project that will document how many times Together for Redlands called this board Nazis and fascists. This project includes reviewing every meeting from 2025 to document who exactly said what. This is important because by using such language, Together is putting targets on this board in hopes of triggering the next Tyler Robinson, and he's the mentally unstable nut who assassinated Charlie Kirk. Unfortunately, their tactics has borne fruit for them because in April, after a particularly vile meeting, the Ark Church was defiled with swastikas. So, and finally, and kudos to Mass Resistance, which has published the public records associated with Tricia Keeling, who is the executive director of Together for Redlands, as well as her best friend, Amber Easley, for their court cases involving the bullying of an autistic woman that was so severe that lady had to seek professional help. Thank you.

May I speak, please? Thank you, John. May I speak, please?

Did you fill out a card?

Did you fill out a card? I didn't. Okay.

The next speaker is Dustin.

We have one more speaker. You'll have to wait.

Hi.

Thank you.

Dustin? Is your name Dustin or Justin?

Dustin. Dustin, welcome. Dustin Bowie, yeah.

Welcome.

All right. Thank you. Over the last month, I have received numerous stories from students who have shared my story and experience regarding the failures of school safety. Nearly every student I have spoken to over the last month has personally thanked me for finally speaking up and fighting for such a vital topic that is so overlooked in our district. However, despite the popularity of this policy, I am yet to see any board members speak up to make a proposal for increasing school safety, nor have I, to the best of my knowledge, seen any statements even made on it. We are playing a dangerous game. Every day, more and more students are exposed to addictive substances on RUSD campuses, starting as young as age 11, which is the age of an incoming sixth grader. Kids on our campuses are exposed to addictive and life-ruining substances, which are proven to have long-term effects on neurological and psychological development. According to the CDC, studies have shown that 1 in 10 high school students regularly smoke tobacco, a number that is already too high. With this, when you take a look at our test scores, which are seven points lower than pre-2019 levels, you'll find that only 50% of students have exceeded or are already are already low bar, 2025 standards in math, this number is only 38, sorry, in 2025 standards in math, this number is only 38%. When you look at statistics, how much longer will you blame COVID and how much longer will we claim that we are just recovering and how much longer will we try to say the things that are just, we'll just, how much longer will we say things are just going slow? Because when you look at the issues with our guns on our middle school campuses, our constant vaping epidemic, the declining number of school safety personnel, how can we argue that COVID recovery is to blame for our low test scores, and why is it hard to see that RUSD has systemic issues when it comes to school safety? The students have spoken and they want to see new and more effective training programs for school safety. They want to see more security being hired and they want to feel safe, most importantly. Students deserve the right to go to the bathroom without the stall doors broken off the hinges and without walking into a cloud of smoke. More importantly than anything, in the event of an armed intruder on campus, students want to know that in a real emergency, campus safety will be properly trained and equipped to respond effectively. Just because this issue isn't as politically pressing as banning a book doesn't mean it doesn't deserve the same urgency or arguably more. I'm going to continue to come up here and speak whenever I can until this board establishes true transparency with their constituents who elected them. And without just trying to appease people, they instead decide to take this issue seriously with investigation, starting with hiring. Thank you.

Thank you, Dustin.

Thank you.

Michael, go ahead and say what you wanted to say. But I don't – you got up and said you were personally attacked, and I didn't hear a personal attack. I'm just telling you. So.

Okay. Mike Paisner. I'm a board member of Together for Redlands. First, let me point out your hypocrisy. in sometimes enforcing rules about community members not allowing community members to attack other community members, including groups, but you just let it happen and let John Berry go ahead and attack together for Redlands with... defamatory and false remarks. So I really need to point out your hypocrisy for not enforcing rules fairly and consistently. If you're going to prohibit people from attacking each other here, you need to do it consistently, even if it's someone you agree with. Do better, Ms. Rendler. As for some of the contents and accusations, if we want to talk about Fair Political Practice Commission investigations that are ongoing, how about the one that is still going on against Candy Olson and her Awakened Redlands organization? That has been going on for a year where Awakened Redlands did not properly report their contributions, and there is no way where her organization is a nonprofit not supposed to be engaged in political activity. activity, in fact, promoted her own campaign and she's the head of it. How is she separate her nonprofit from her campaign? She's a board member and you dare not interrupt me right now, Ms. Renler, because you didn't interrupt John Berry when he was making false accusations. And my accusations are actually accurate and ongoing about her, uh, investigation and horrendous practices. You need to enforce rules consistently and stop allowing people to attack each other. What Together for Redlands is doing is legal, and we follow all required guidelines. We will be filing everything we need to, unlike the Awaken Redlands organization, which is under investigation because it didn't do those things. Ms. Rendler. This board is a complete joke. You don't run it well. You don't enforce rules fairly. And that's why this board is just a complete laughing stock. And you're a laughing stock because you're not in control. I used to ask you to speak so that we could hash these things out because I can't explain my points in three-minute intervals. But clearly you don't want to talk to me. And that's a shame because you have a responsibility to engage with the public and have good faith conversations. And I'd love to have a good faith conversation with you, but you consistently refuse and you consistently favor one side over the other. And it's pathetic. Very disappointing.

Thank you, Mike. Thank you. Excuse me. No, he's going. He's leaving. Oh. Okay. All right, we're moving on to board comments. Melissa, do you have anything today? Patty, do you have anything today?

I'm just going to say Happy New Year to everyone. Welcome back. I hope you had some restful time. And thank you to Steve from RTA and Liz from RESPA for coming today and for your words tonight. Thank you.

Yes. First of all, I wanted to congratulate the district and especially Dr. Wilson and his team for the successful OAG visit that happened recently. The district... came out looking very good with that review, and I know it's a lot of details for the staff and principals to not only maintain the guidelines and expectations that the state is putting on us, but also to fix any corrections and get ready for a big review like that. I know it's very time consuming and stressful, so I give you a lot of kudos to that. Also, I was able to visit more middle school and learn more specifics about their behavior skills program. And I just wanted to give a shout out to the principal, Jenny Dyerly. She gave an excellent explanation of the program development. She's managing it very well. She explained the different positive aspects to the program. They're, I guess, piloting sort of there, you might call it. Because this program looks and uncovers really some of the underlying issues that children have. that are disobeying rules and having behavioral issues at school and attempts to connect them with the proper type of services to deal with the underlying issues. So I'm really excited about that program. The staff seem very on board with it, motivated, and they all seem to be really doing an excellent job working together to make that program happen. I would like to say I agree with the audience, the members, that we need consistency. One of the things we were just inconsistent about was allowing someone to speak who had not even filled out a card. And we need to be consistent with all of our rules and expectations and to... You guys are forgetting about freedom of speech when you want to forget about it. There is freedom of speech. The board cannot simultaneously be fact-checking what speakers are saying. that is not possible and that we are here to listen to the community. So to put that burden of responsibility on the board to determine the factual contents and what the person is saying, it's just not how it works. It's just not feasible. So I appreciate it when that does come and that does speak and supports or not. what decisions we're making. But to expect the board to do that is just not doable.

Thank you, Jeanette. Kendi?

It seems like Jenny Diley has the award for the day. I was looking through the middle school math scores, and I also want to give her a commendation for an increase in both ELA and math. in middle school, 7% each in each category, which is tremendous. So I'm not sure what's going on over there, but those teachers are working very hard, doing a great job. So all of our teachers are great, and I know the negotiations have been difficult, but... We're here to say that we do appreciate teachers and the rest of the staff, too, and we're doing everything we can to make a reasonable outcome. Something else I wanted to mention was I'm very excited about a financial page I had asked for for our website where all of our financial figures can be listed in one single stop instead of having to click 20 times to find different things such as union negotiations, union contracts, our financial audit, our budget, salaries, and all of our finances basically all in one page. It's almost all the way done. It shouldn't be too much longer, I would say, right? It shouldn't be too much longer. It's pretty easy to do, I would think. But I'm excited for that, and I got the idea from a different district, and I think it's nice for the public for transparency because our tax dollars, your tax dollars, you should be able to know exactly what it's being spent on. And today was a great day for girls' sports. It's in the Supreme Court. Today was the opening argument. So I'm very excited to see the conclusion through this school year of protection of Title IX and its original intent, how it was meant to be to protect biological females to have a fair, competitive category to compete in.

I want to welcome everyone back. I'm glad you were able to join us tonight. I hope you all had a great and blessed winter break, spending quality time with your families. Before the break, my husband and I had the honor of attending both the Inspire Choir performances at REV and RHS. And as the name says, it truly is inspiring to watch these students light up with joy when they are on stage. A special thank you to Cindy Van Horn and the many paraprofessionals who helped make these nights so special for our students and their families. We are all so fortunate to have such dedicated teachers and paraprofessionals in our district, and we appreciate all of them. We had an opportunity to go on two school site visits before break, Lagonia and Arroyo Verde. I want to thank Dr. Burton for escorting us around Lagonia. The grounds look really nice, and the classrooms were buzzing with activities. It was great to see firsthand the many changes that you and the staff have implemented over the last few years. You are definitely raising the roar. And Dr. Acosta, thank you for rescheduling our visit. Seeing the many classrooms and things going on at Arroyo Verde was wonderful. I thoroughly enjoyed walking the campus, as big as it is, and getting to be part of your enthusiasm for all things Aztec. We definitely got our steps in that morning. I'm looking forward to many more school visits this semester. I had the privilege of attending a Friday assembly at Franklin along with Jeanette. Mr. Benanti makes each student feel seen and cared for when they are called up to receive their awards. Frankie the Falcon was even there to take photos with the students and their families. This was probably my fourth assembly there this year, and it just keeps getting better. I remember Mr. Benanti, at the first assembly in August, the students were not able to follow along and repeat after him. And look at them now, five months later. They're singing the Franklin song, saying the weekly affirmation. Way to go, Franklins. Way to go, Falcons. I'm excited to see how all our students empower themselves and their studies in the next semester. And I'm looking forward to the next superintendent's award on the 20th of this month at CV at 6 p.m. so you heard the upcoming dates the dual language immersion information at McKinley 1130 I believe and 5 o'clock on the 28th superintendent awards is coming up on February 17th and the state of the district will be coming up on the 24th of February so mark your calendars and that is all I have tonight thank you

On to the superintendent. Wait, is Melissa going to say something? No, she said she didn't have anything. Oh, I forgot to say something. Can I have one sec? Sure. Thank you. Just for clarification regarding that mental health policy, I do not feel a CPS referral. I do not take that lightly. And it is a very, very serious issue. The reason my intentions of my recommendations of that policy was to ensure that parental involvement is ensured maintained. And I think that it needs to be a very, very serious risk to a child or student in order to justify not keeping the parent informed regarding that mental health behavioral services. I do not think that CPS referrals should be done easily or on a whim. It's very serious and I do not support just willy-nilly CPS referrals. I just want to be sure that If we are not involving a parent, it's because there is a serious risk to that child that if we did involve the parent, that student may be harmed physically or psychologically. And if that were the case, and we really believed... our mental health professional really believe that that student may be harmed by the parental involvement, then that would possibly be a case where some legal authority maybe want to be involved. So my intention is not to just bring on the CPS. My intention is to really preserve the parental rights and really protect the family, just to clarify.

Thank you. Mr. Cabral.

Yes, thank you. A couple of announcements. So Golden Bell, one of our last celebrations, and this will be in this week's SU, is on February 2nd at 530, and all the board members are invited. It's local here in San Bernardino at the SELPA Center, Dorothy Ingram Center. So you can mark that down. It'll be a chance for all the staff at Redlands High School to be invited. When we got the golden bell in Sacramento, everybody couldn't be there. This is a chance for everybody to be there along with, I think, a few other schools who will be recognized also. That's on February 2nd. I wanted to give a quick thank you to all staff who completed the survey that I asked everybody to complete at the end of the semester. A lot of good feedback and I look forward to improving and doing some additional things this semester to help get out there and see more staff members and be able to dialogue with more staff members. I want to acknowledge the hundreds of staff members that took the time to be out here this evening to make it very clear how they feel. Very much appreciate that. I know it's not a small task to take time after a busy day of working to come out and show support, and so I really do appreciate that. We... are in a challenging time. We heard a board presentation in December from our deputy superintendent that we need to reduce over $15 million from our budget for next school year. That is going to be the biggest challenge with respect to any hope of being able to show our appreciation in the way that I know is most appreciated. On January 27th, at our next board meeting, we do have a plan that we are going to recommend that will include cuts that we will need to recommend in order to meet that $15 million that we need to reduce in order to have a positive budget. It is not something that we take lightly, nor something that we have decided to just do. We've put a lot of thought, have reached out to our administrators, to our staff, to see where we can best reduce. And so you will see a recommendation that has gone through some thought. But it isn't positive. I am hopeful, though, that should we be able to meet that, that we will be able to do something. But I do want to make the board aware that that is coming on the 27th. Other than that, for the first time in three years, I got to go to a wrestling match over at Rev. And it was really, really good. Rev's good. I don't know if you've seen them wrestle, but they did a really good job. And the way they do it now is really good because if you can just take up one evening, you can see all levels, both girls and boys. and so I was able to see girls varsity and then stayed, and then right after there was boys varsity, and both teams dominated. We played against Cajon that night, and we dominated. So that was a lot of fun for me because I hadn't had a chance. It was nice to see, and our kids are awesome. So hopefully I am going to see Rev students next Friday. Is it this Friday? It's this Friday. I'm going to go to Rev to talk to students. This Conversations with Students Tour will commence this Friday. I'm going to go over there and speak to 40 or 50 students, and then that will be fun. And that's all I have today. Thank you.

Anybody have anything else?

I'd just say something really quick. I forgot one thing. I'd like to congratulate our superintendent for being selected as a superintendent to watch. So congratulations on that. You've very well earned.

All right, this meeting is adjourned at 7.52.