Board of Education — April 28, 2026

Thank you everybody for coming. We're going to start with roll call.

Go ahead and call it.

Clerk Ayala-Quintero. Present. Vice President Hollihan. Present. Board Member Wilson.

Present.

Board Member Olson. Present. And I am here. Thank you. All right. Tonight, our student highlight, Empowering Positive Moments. We have the winners of the Redlands Bicycle Classic. First, I'd like to see if there's anybody there. Students, if you'd like to come up and do the Pledge of Allegiance for us.

Put your right hand over your heart.

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

Thank you very much.

And now we will have the members of the Bicycle Classic. Come on up.

Good evening, Board President Rendler, board members, Superintendent Cabral, cabinet staff, and community. We are pleased to join you this evening to share the results of the 39th edition of the Redlands Bicycle Classic. My name is Scott Welsh. I'm the media director at the Redlands Bicycle Classic, a longtime volunteer, and I'm here with two other fantastic volunteer directors, our public race director, Brian Zander, who's also a fifth grade teacher at Judson Brown Elementary, and Dan and Michelle Rendler, our school visit coordinators. The Redlands Bikes Classic continues to be the longest continuously running and invitational stage race in the country and is well known throughout the world. The race has hosted riders who have gone on to compete at the Olympics, Tour de France, and other world championships. However, as we like to say, the Redlands Bicycle Classic is far more than a bike race. It's a foundational event that brings the Inland Empire communities and the professional and amateur cycling communities together in a healthy and family-oriented environment. One of the staples of our event is the engagement with the youth and students in our community, and that's what we're here to share with you this evening. Dan will share an overview of the school visit program, and Brian will provide the background and results of the 2025 school dual event.

Thank you, Scott. Good evening. Unlike Scott, I have to wear my glasses to read. So Board President Rendler and I have been honored to lead the school visit program for the past several years. In preparation for the Redlands Bike Classic this year, and as part of our tradition, men and women professional teams and cyclists from around the world visit our schools promoting safety, fitness, and health. This year we had 37 teams participate, and this year was also a record year for women's teams. We had 18 women's teams go to schools as well, too, so that was really neat this year. The teams visited all 17 elementary schools within RUSD, all four middle schools, and CVHS, engaging with over 8,600 students. If you add in San Bernardino City Unified School District and the Yucaipa-Calamasia Joint Unified School District, we touched over 12,000 kids, had contact with over 12,000 kids with the professional cyclists. If you haven't been to a school visit, I encourage you to go in 10-1 next year. Seeing the excitement and the energy on the faces of the students as the cyclists ride into the schools in their kits, on their bikes, and, of course, wearing their helmets is simply amazing. And this year at the elementary schools, 6-7 was pretty prominent. I thought that it wasn't, but I'll tell you, I went to one school, and one of the writers said, I've been racing for about six or seven years. I've never seen 500 kids all at once go 6-7, 6-7, 6-7. It was pretty crazy. I thought that was over. Another important part, very important part of... the purpose of the school visits is to encourage the students to participate in the school duel races. And today we have, again, Brian Zander with us here, and Brian will give us the results of the school duel for this year with the trophies. Brian.

Thank you, Dan and Scott, and good evening, board and cabinet. Designed to increase participation and promote friendly rivalries among schools, the school dual composition was first held in 2007. The competition is participation-based, which means the schools with the most participants win the trophy and bragging rights for a full year. This year's school duel was held on the morning of Saturday, April 11th. Dark clouds did not deter nor dampen the school spirit for 659 youth cyclists, ages one through 17. New to the event this year were three new categories of contestants. One and two year olds were finally allowed to participate. And there was another category called the RAD Riders, which was devoted to students with special needs. All of these features improved the overall event and its inclusion of all of our community's youth. All of this could not be possible without the special relationship and support of RUSD. Nearly 60 administrators, teachers, school support staff, and even one board member and one special superintendent volunteered at least four hours of their time that Saturday morning to ensure the youth cyclists were safe on the race course and quickly reunited with their parents and loved ones at the finish line. Thank you to all of our awesome volunteers. Without further ado, we're going to present these two amazing trophies. I think Dan or Scott grabbed the elementary school duel trophy right there. And the other one here is for the secondary division, which includes middle schools and high schools. And we're going to invite the amazing principals of these two schools. And some of their students, I think, are going to come up, too, of course. They were the ones that did a lot of the work, and their families did a lot of the work, too, teachers and principals as well. Let's welcome and congratulate Robin Rivera of Judson and Brown Elementary and Jenny Dyerly of Moore Middle School. Thank you. Congratulations to Robin Rivera, the students and staff, and students of Judson and Brown, and to Jenny Dyerly of Moore Middle School. Congratulations.

I was looking at the kids that morning.

And one, two, three. Congratulations. Oh, excuse me. Okay, can I already turn it off?

Thank you very much, members of the Redlands Bicycle Classic. Appreciate you being here, and congratulations to Moore and Judson and Brown. Now moving on to approval of minutes. Is there a motion to approve the agenda with flexibility? So moved.

I'll second.

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

Motion carried. Five vote.

Moving on to approval of minutes. Is there a motion to approve the minutes of the March 10th, 2026 and the April 14th, 2026 board meetings?

So moved.

Board meetings. Board meeting minutes. There was a question about one of the minutes. referring to me as they. Should we correct that, or does that matter? It's in the beginning. It's in the minutes under my comments.

Which board meeting minutes?

The March or the April. The last one, right? I think it was April. I don't know. Jeanette's the one who noticed it.

Are those AI generated? It's on page 56. It's at the top of page 56.

Okay, I can correct that.

What are you looking at?

If you just read through it, it's there and they instead of she. She. Oh, yeah. Several times throughout there. Is that AI that is transcribing this, or how did that happen?

Yeah. Can you set it for how we want it, our pronouns?

They are set up. Oh. So that was probably, I'm sorry.

Right in the middle of her comment. Fifth line. It says they.

It says they.

Okay, so with that correction? Yeah. Okay, we'll call for the vote.

I didn't get a second, though. Second. Second.

All right, and we'll call for the vote.

Motion carried. Five-0.

Okay. During closed session, the Board took unanimous action to approve the suspension without pay effective May 21, 2026, and dismissal pending the outcome of a hearing for Classified Employee 2025, During closed session, the Board took unanimous action to terminate the employment of Classified Employee 2026-21. I mean 2025-26-20, effective April 29, 2026, pursuant to Education Code Sections 45113 and 45116, and directed the superintendent or designee to send out appropriate legal notices. Tonight, our student trustee is staying home to study for AP macro test and will not be joining us to provide a report. We wish all our trustees, Bella Salazar, Ella Ford, and Aubrey Shahn, good luck on their tests and their finals. Moving on to public participation. The Board of Education values the perspectives and participation of our community members. Public comment provides an important opportunity for individuals to share their views 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 the filing of any such complaint. As a reminder, not all speech is free from consequences, and since this is the board's 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. How many speakers do we have tonight?

We have two speakers and three items total.

Okay, so you'll get three minutes each.

Michael Paisner with two items, followed by Erica Grossman. Welcome, Michael.

Thank you. Mike Paisner, Area 5. The first item is on the mobile communication device. I have a real simple question. For students at Redlands High School, they have the Minga Pass system on their cell phones. So if they need to be picked up early... Parent makes a call, the pass is sent to the students, the MINGA pass on their phone. So I'm just wondering how that's going to work and if you had considered those types of use cases in restricting students' mobile devices.

Thank you.

Next item, mental health. Prior to the last meeting, Ms. Wilson and Ms. Iacontero met as a subcommittee to hash out changes to the mental health policy. I presume they both left that meeting thinking they had agreement on the changes. However, when the policy was before the full board, suddenly Ms. Wilson had more edits, blindsiding Ms. Iacontero. This is a significant breach of protocol, even for Ms. Wilson. How would you feel if you came into a board meeting thinking you had achieved agreement in the subcommittee, only to be ambushed on the dais by your colleague? That was low. And when Ms. Wilson was asked about her breach of etiquette, all we got was a shrug. Oh, well. Really? That's how you treat people? Your colleague? That's shameful. If you were a member of my team, I would never tolerate such behavior. I would take you aside privately and lecture you about the importance of teamwork. Of course, I can't imagine being on a team with you.

Thank you, Michael. Welcome, Erica.

Thank you. Erika Grossman, area two, regarding the mobile communication devices policy. It states, when a teacher or administrator grants permission to the student to use a mobile communication device subject to any reasonable limitation imposed by that teacher or administrator, this language is very vague and suggests that the phone use is left to the discretion of individual teachers or administrators. Middle school previously announced a zero phone use policy on campus, and when it was strictly enforced, students were not allowed to take out their phones at all. However, it now appears that each teacher enforces different rules, which can be challenging, especially as a substitute teacher. Some teachers allow students to listen to music while working on assignments, some let students to look up information, and others allow phone use during free time. Additionally, Redlands High School use a phone app, Minga, for bathroom passes and other passes, meaning students are allowed to have their phones with them. Other high schools and junior high schools use the classroom laptops where students log on to use the restroom. So this inconsistency makes it difficult to enforce a clear standard. And I also believe it creates inequity for students who don't have phones. While some students benefit from using their devices, others don't have the same opportunity. And one last thing. At the most recent board meeting, I noticed that Candy made an effort to stay off her phone, and I appreciated that. In previous meetings, you appear to spend a significant amount of time on your phone. It doesn't reflect well on the school board to appear to lack itself.

Excuse me. Does that have anything to do with the agenda item?

Okay.

Thank you.

I'll say that.

Thank you, Erica. Thank you. That's it? Okay. Moving on. Moving on to board committee reports. Does anybody have a committee report? I do. Okay.

I just want to welcome Dr. Jason Angle from Cryop for visiting us today. And to let everyone know, our evening of appreciation is Wednesday, May 13th at San Bernardino Valley College. And this is a time to showcase and see the work of our students. Evening of excellence. I'm sorry. I said appreciation. So I hope you can see and hope you can attend. Thank you. Thank you. It's free.

Ned, do you have anything? Yes. I just wanted to share out that the Compact Club had their awards last week, and 20 students received certifications, which is a process they have to go through all year, working on several goals. Many goals. And then another student received a monetary award for her Multiply Your Generosity project. They're given seed money and they use that seed money to do something to benefit their community. and she received the award for that. And then there were seven students received financial scholarships, anywhere between $1,500 to $2,000, and it totaled $11,500, which is money provided by the Compact Club for students in the community. Thank you.

Candy. The committee didn't meet.

Superintendent Cabral.

I do not have a report.

Now we're on to business services consent items. Mr. Hill, do you have any changes or additions?

No changes or additions tonight.

Is there a motion to approve business services consent items as listed under 11A through 11I? I'll move. Second. Thank you, Melissa. Thank you, Patty. Any discussion? All right. We'll call for the vote.

Motion carried by both.

And for business services action items, Mr. Hill, any changes or additions?

No changes or additions tonight.

Is there a motion to adopt resolution number 26, 2025-2026, resolution to authorize temporary borrowing between funds of the school district?

I'll move.

Second. Melissa, thank you, Candy. Any discussion? All right, we'll call for the vote.

Motion carried.

Five-0. Now, consent items under educational services. Mr. Hill, do you have any changes or additions tonight?

No changes or additions tonight.

Is there a motion to approve educational services consent items as listed under 13A through 13G? I'll move. I second. Melissa, thank you. Jeanette? Any discussion? All right. We'll call for the vote. Oh, never mind. Never mind. Moving on to action items under education. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

I have just one comment that I forgot to. Just wishing all our students good luck in CIF.

Now moving on to action items under educational services. Mr. Hill, any changes or additions?

No changes or additions, ma'am.

Is there a motion to approve new board policy 5131.8, mobile communication devices, second read and final read?

So moved.

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

Regarding some of the speaker's concerns regarding the Minga app, are we instead doing that with email or calling the teacher calling in?

My understanding is that they're still allowed to use their phone. It just has to be silent and...

MINGA does take a phone, but that's not the same thing as having it out for non-school purpose. I think there's a way to work through having MINGA as a pass. Technically, MINGA is for the teachers to know who's out and for staff to know who's out. So it's possible to do with this policy, basically. a student also gets their pass on the minga too and they have to show it to their teacher if they take it out to show the teacher then that's them doing it in front of the teacher with permission as opposed to them listening to music or going on YouTube with their phone how do they request the pass it's through the app they request it If you're going to get a pass to be out of class, they'll send it through Minga. And so if you're walking around campus, you can be asked by any staff member, do you have a pass? And then they would take it out.

No, but how does a student request a pass?

Well, a parent has to call in to get them out of class or whatever.

When we went to school, the student would need to go to the restroom, and they would ask the teacher. The teacher would write a physical pass. The teacher now approves that pass in the Ming app. The teacher does that, and then the pass goes to the student. So when the student's checked outside of the class, they can show their phone.

I understand all of that. I'm saying, like, how is that initiated? Is a student on their phone initiating, asking for a bathroom pass? No, they just ask.

They just receive. It's more of receive.

How do they ask for the bathroom pass?

Raise their hand.

Raise their hand. Okay, got it. Physically, yeah.

Sorry, I was confused. I was confused. I was...

I was thinking if they're on their phone asking for a pass, then that would be, you wouldn't know. Okay.

All right, we'll call for the vote. Motion carried, 5-0. Is there a motion to approve new administrative regulation 5141.5, mental health, the second and final read? So moved. I'll second. Any discussion? Call for the vote.

I thought that was for the one before. Now it does.

Motion carried, 5-0.

Thank you. Is there a motion to approve new board policy 5141.5, mental health, second and final read? So moved. Second. Thank you, Candy. Thank you, Jeanette. Any discussion? We'll call for the vote. Motion carried by vote. Is there a motion to adopt resolution number 27, 2025-2026, Day of the Teacher, May 13, 2026? So moved. I'll second.

Any discussion? Thank you all the teachers. Thank you for their work.

We'll call for the vote.

It comes up and goes.

It comes up and goes.

Motion carried. Five-0.

Thank you. We have a motion to adopt resolution number 28, 2025-2026, Education Support Professionals Day, May 19, 2026. I'll move. Second. Thank you, Melissa. Thank you, Patty. Any discussion?

Thank you to all our RESPA education support professionals who give hard work every day.

All right, we'll call for the vote.

Motion carried, 5-0.

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

No changes or additions, thank you.

We have a motion to approve human resources consent items as listed under 15A through 15C. So moved. I'll second. Thank you, Patty. Thank you, Melissa. Any discussion? All right, we'll call for the vote.

I kicked out. I'm getting back in. I'm missing one vote. It shows one missing.

It shows here all five of us voted aye.

Okay, I just saw that. I didn't refresh. Motion carried, 5-0.

Thank you. Continuing on with human resources action items, Mrs. Bruick, do you have any changes or additions? No, thank you. You have a motion to establish position and approve job description for deaf and hard of hearing, the DHH specialist. So moved.

Second.

That was me, and then Patty seconded. Thank you, Patty. Any discussion?

I had a question about that. Is that going to be a full-time position?

Right now it looks like it will be. It depends how many students we have. We took DHH back from SELPA, or from the county, I should say, and it's going to be our program now.

I see. Okay. Thank you. Okay, we'll call for the vote.

Motion carried. Five-0.

Time for 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 speakers do we have? We have six. Okay, you'll get three minutes each.

Michael Paisner, Erica Grossman, followed by Peter Hall.

Welcome back, Michael.

Thank you. Mike Paisner, Area 5. So tonight's talk is on cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance occurs when a person holds two contradictory beliefs or when their actions are inconsistent with their beliefs. A bully calling for an end to bullying is a classic example. Specifically, I'm referring to Ms. Olson, claiming she wants to address bullying when she is the bully. She has bullied teachers, community members, including myself, as well as fellow board members. In fact, she posted a video on her Awaken Redlands account just a few days ago, bullying community members yet again. Newsflash, the best way to prevent bullying in our school district is for Ms. Olson to stop bullying people. Perhaps her disassociation from reality explains why she chooses to promote her forced outing policy in the same week that a perb ruling affirmed that the Chino forced outing policy is illegal. And bonus points, that PERB decision also affirmed that Chino's flag policy, which the Redlands flag policy is based on, is also illegal. That decision explicitly says that it carries precedent and therefore applies to the entire state of California. I realize news of this PERB decision might not have penetrated your particular news bubbles, so I have hard copies here for you. Ms. Rendler, you are just as guilty of cognitive dissonance. You have openly stated how you are a person of faith. To sit there and do nothing, to allow her bullying to go unchecked when you have the power to do something about it and still call yourself a person of faith, that is another classic example. A good person and a real leader would rein in radical board members by censoring them when they repeatedly violate the board's own rules. Instead, your inaction enables her behavior. We are a school district that is struggling financially and has a fiercely divided board. We need a strong leader capable of addressing our challenges. It's a shame we don't have that.

Thank you, Michael.

You did an amazing job, Michelle, catching me. You have let the speaker speak about the together for Redlands or his own canvassing before, but today you did a great job. But I'm going to read the rest of the earlier speech. So in previous meetings, Candy appeared to spend a significant amount of time on your phone. It doesn't reflect well on the school board to appear to lack self-control over phone use while implementing stricter policies for students. Additionally, board members are paid with taxpayer money during these meetings. Okay, now my public comment. As a previous speaker mentioned, the Chino Valley Unified Flag Policy and forced outing policy have been ruled illegal by a judge. I've read that these rulings have contributed to nearly $4 million in legal fees. I'd like to know how much has been spent so far on legal fees related to our district's flag policy. I also like to note that the U.S. Supreme Court recently declined to hear a case from Massachusetts involving a parental notification issue, leaving in place a lower court ruling that found schools are not required to out students, and that doing so is not a violation of parents' constitutional rights. We've been telling you that these policies are extremely reckless, wasteful, and harmful. I appreciate that Michelle has not placed a forced outing policy on a recent agenda. However, you have supported the flag policy. In doing so, you have sent a clear message to LGBTQ plus students and staff that not only do you not care about them, but that they are not welcome as part of the RESD community. The message being conveyed is that heterosexual and cisgender identities are considered the norm and that anyone who does not fit into those categories is wrong and should change or else they are not welcome. In the past, people with disabilities were treated in similar ways. When I was with my daughter in a wheelchair, people told me that children like mine used to be hidden away. Some even said my child was born wrong because I had done something wrong. This is the same kind of harm being done right now to LGBTQ plus community. And you are contributing to it big time. Thank you, Erica.

Welcome, Peter.

About three or four meetings ago, Erica Grossman recommended the books. They came for the schools by Mike Higsenbog, and One Day I'll Grow Up and Be a Beautiful Woman by Abby Maxwell. And she said both books were excellent. She said the book written by Abby Maxwell was heartwarming. It is anything but. Both books were written by people who I think are self-hating white people, people who are ashamed of the fact that they're white. Mike Hixenbog is white and straight. He's married to a black woman. And I think he's ashamed of the fact that he's white. He's a white male. And it's not as obvious as Abby Maxwell's shame of being a white person. She openly admits in like the first few chapters of her book that she's ashamed of her lineage. She grew up in New Hampshire, and she's ashamed of the fact that everyone her ancestry is white and came from Europe and stuff like that, and that as far as she can tell, none of them were abolitionists or did anything to stop slavery, et cetera. So both of them are self-hating white people. Abby Maxwell has a son who decided that he was a girl at six years old. He just said, I don't want to be a boy. I want to be a girl. And according to her, she was actually resistant to what her son was doing. A lot of people, I think, who have so-called trans children actually coerce their children to be trans. In her retelling, she didn't, and it took her a while to accept her son as her daughter. But, yeah, that's not heartwarming at all. That is a story of a boy who doesn't want to be a boy, who can't reconcile the fact that he is male, that he has a penis and testicles and he thinks he should be a girl. That's not heartwarming at all. People say that we should accept trans people for who they are, but they're not accepting themselves for who they are. They want us to accept them for who they want to be. And I'm here to say that we shouldn't do that. That is very dangerous. And it just encourages people to do things like sign up for genital mutilation, sterilization, etc., which is harmful. Even if you don't actually do those things, because some trans people don't do it, they're still presenting themselves as the opposite sex. They're tricking people into thinking they're one wing when they're not. And countless news stories have been written about men finding out that they've been with a so-called trans woman and then freaking out and murdering them because they see red when they find out that they've been with a trans woman who didn't tell them that they were a trans woman. And they either confessed or they found out some other way. No, people should not be doing this. We should not be encouraging this. Thank you.

Thank you, Peter. Dale Broom, Teresa Farias, and Mark Laird.

Welcome, Dale. Hi, Dale Broom, Area 1. Tonight I wanted to just mention what happened and discuss what happened at the last school board meeting, which was kind of a public publicity stunt to try to get the Bible removed from the school libraries. And that, of course, fell on deaf ears. The school board was not supportive of that. They rejected that idea. But I did want to thank Superintendent Cabral for his efforts to make sure that we have a copy of the Bible in every school library. And that is not promoting a religion. It is simply providing an opportunity for children and adolescents to be able to read the Bible. You know, in this current generation, fewer and fewer homes actually have a copy of the Bible in their homes where parents read to them or they have an access and able to read it on their own. And I think having that available in the school libraries is very important. We heard from a young teenager, a young girl, who was sharing about her experience of going through the death of a family member and then began to read the scriptures. And she found great value in having access to the Bible. And a similar experience happened to me when I was young because I lost my mom when I was nine. And as a young teen, I began to search and read the scriptures to try to find answers. And the scriptures are a perfect answer for all these issues. It is God's inspired word that is given to us to provide us truth, discernment, hope, and guidance. And at the last meeting, we heard about that from that student. And also, through searching the scriptures and beginning to read the scriptures, that is how I came to salvation in Jesus Christ. So, you know, even though we have modern courts that have limited the teaching of the Bible in public schools, the Bible has been an integral part of public education from the colonial times all the way to the mid-1900s. One of the key books that was used was called the New England Primer. throughout the colonial time, and it was basically a first-grade education book, and it was heavily infiltrated with scripture. And it felt to be important to help form the moral character of young students. We also had the McGuffey Reader, which was used throughout the 1800s and even into the 1900s as a primary education reading book for kids. And this also had numerous references and numerous excerpts from the Bible within it. The father of public education, his name was Dr. Benjamin Rush. And he wrote back in the 1700s, late 1700s, how important it was to provide biblical instruction for students as part of that public education. Now, we can't do that currently in terms of we're very restricted in terms of doing that in the public schools now. But I do want to encourage parents. to read to their kids the scriptures, and for students to grab the Bible and start reading it, to learn from it. Because that is what will provide the formation that we need for moral character and for our social peace and tranquility in our nation. Thank you, Dale. Thank you.

Welcome, Teresa.

So I am here on behalf of the school district. My kids, they attend Kingsbury Elementary School, the ELOP program through the YMCA. I was informed that the staff that works with us is possibly going to be removed. And I just wanted to let you guys know that my kids have been going there forever. The staff is amazing. That's the reason why I love the program so much is because of the people that run it and work it. They make all the parents feel confident. They go above and beyond to just do everything they can for our children. And I appreciate everything they do, and I hope that you guys would reconsider taking them out because we've built very special bonds with all of them, like Mr. Vince and everybody through the school. So I'm really, really nervous in front of them. So I just want you guys to hopefully reconsider taking the staff and removing them or whatever you guys decide. They mean a lot to us, and they are very compassionate, kind, and they really love their job. So thank you guys so much.

Thank you, Teresa. Thank you. Welcome, Mark. Hello.

Well, first of all, I just want to commend you guys because I know how hard it is to be here after a really long work day. So thank you for being here and good luck. I kind of want to shift beats tonight. And Candy, I was going to email you back. I've been really busy and I accidentally sent you a draft that I was drafting up. It is not what I intended to send. But what I wanted to talk about tonight a little bit is... kind of healing some division, right? First of all, I want to commend you guys, because wow, this was a quick meeting. You guys kind of slayed it tonight, like in, out, like I was in rush hour traffic on the freeway getting here, seeing if I was gonna make it or not. So this is like the quickest meeting ever, good job. The other thing though is tonight's a good example of what can happen when we come together and we're not fighting back and forth constantly. And I know we don't always see eye to eye, Right. I'll be honest, though. Candy and I probably agree, disagree very strongly on quite a few topics. Right. But I'll be honest right now. I would vote for her before I would vote for you, Michelle, because I've I live in your area. I've never received correspondence from you. The only time I haven't received correspondence back from Candy is when, honestly, I was being a little unprofessional, and it went a little bit both ways, right? But she actually, last meeting, reached out to me to talk about my board comments completely unprompted, and gave me appreciation for the work that I do, and it truly has stuck with me this past month, and I want to thank you for that. But for me, it's very much one of those things of if you stand for nothing, What will you fall for? Candy and I might disagree very fervently on quite a few things. She stands for something, Michelle. I genuinely have been trying to place you. All of these times I've been coming, I almost said years, I've only been here like a year, for these meetings, right? And I can't figure out your character. I've been trying to place you. And I've reached out a couple times and I haven't heard back. And I just want you to remember the focus that we all have. Students. Even though I might come up a little harsh and brash sometimes, it's always students' front of mind. So what are you going to be remembered for? And I think that we need to come together when it's possible on some of the things a little bit more. There's some topics that, quite frankly, we're always going to fervently disagree on. But there's a lot of these other ones, especially with student success in mind. I encourage you to please seek the funding from the Child, Youth, and Behavioral Initiative. I know it's scary, but I'm hoping that that funding will save jobs and it's going to save programs. I also invite any of you to reach out to me. I'd love to have you over at my house for coffee. That's all.

Thank you. Thank you, Mark. Next, we have Olivia Mortensen, followed by Larry Gonzalez and Leah. Yeah.

Good evening. Welcome, Olivia. My name is Olivia from Area 5. I wanted to see or ask if there's a possibility if we can implement the parent notification policy. I believe it's something very important that anything that takes place, parent, guardian, grandparent is – supposed to be notified anytime anything takes place with the student, whether it be that they're not in class, they're checked out. We just want to see if that's something that can be placed on the agenda. It's just for the safety of the children. So it's something that I suggest and I strongly recommend that if you guys can look into that, make it possible. and if it's something that can be placed in the agenda. Thank you.

Thank you, Olivia.

Larry?

Welcome, Larry.

Good evening, everybody. My name is Larry Gonzalez. I'm a parent of a seventh grader in Cope Middle School, and I would just like to address an issue of transparency and accountability that matters deeply to families in this district. Board member Candy Olson ran on a pro-parent platform and made a commitment to do everything possible to prevent school employees from lying and to or keeping secrets from parents. Her constituents deserve to know that she has formally requested that a legal parent notification policy be placed on the agenda five separate times and it has not been scheduled for discussion. In addition, she has requested consideration of a no deception policy as well as revisions to the district's bullying policy. These requests have also been denied or not placed on the agenda. Truth and transparency matter. Parents have a fundamental right to be informed about matters affecting their children, and schools should be partners with families, not gatekeepers of information. We need policies that protect our families and our children from any form of deception or secrecy. Not only is transparency the right thing to do, it is also consistent with legal expectations following recent decisions, including the Mirabelli case. I respectfully ask this board to prioritize transparency, honor the commitments made to parents, and also these requested policies to be placed on the agenda for open discussion. Thank you. And it's just, as a parent of my daughter, it's been an issue with bullying. It's been an issue with her attendance. I co-parent, and I have 50-50 custody of my daughter. And the bullying has been an issue with cyberbullying and just the culture of fighting within the school. So that's something that really means something to me. It's dear to me is revision on the bullying within the district. And I just want to thank you guys for not banning the Bible from our libraries. I appreciate it. Thank you guys, and have a great night.

Thank you, Larry.

Leah, followed by Margaret Paul.

Hi, good afternoon. I'm Leah, I'm a freshman at Citrus Valley High School and I just wanted to come talk about what you guys spoke about last time with banning the Bible and all that. So students can grow up and never being introduced to religion and that's the reality, but by removing access to religious texts in school, crosses into something bigger than personal belief. When we read stories about censorship like society that erase ideas by destroying books, Fahrenheit 451, we're reading it right now. The message is clear. Limiting access to knowledge doesn't protect people. It repeats harmful patterns in history. This isn't about promoting one belief system. It is about refusing to silence any of them, taking away one book, whether that is widely followed or not, since the same message that certain ideas aren't allowed to exist. That kind of decision only deepens division and distrust, especially in a district where many students already feel ignored and dismissed. If real change is the goal, it should start with listening to students and addressing the issues that are already being overlooked. Conversations about removing books shouldn't even be happening. When there are bigger issues being left unresolved, freedom to read and think shouldn't be up for debate. That's all I want to say.

Thank you, Leah.

Thank you.

Margaret Paul?

Welcome, Margaret.

Thank you. My name is Margaret Paul. I'm a nationally certified school psychologist. I've been retired for a few years. I'm actively involved with the California Association of School Psychologists and the National Association of School Psychologists. And I am the recipient of many of our nation's top educators award from my previous school district. So I take education seriously. My dad was a diplomat. Then he decided to become a superintendent of schools, and there was recently an article written about him and what a difference he made. So I really, really am passionate about education. I'm also passionate about this town. And two weeks ago, I was at the Santa Barbara Bowl, seeing David Bairn from Talking Heads. It was wonderful. But I was sitting next to a woman, and we were talking, and She said she was from Chino, and she asked where I was from, and I told her, she goes, Redlands? Oh, no. You guys, what are you doing? I said, oh. She goes, we can't believe you're doing that over there. And you know what I'm referring to? Some of the same policies. And that concerns me, because I like our district. We've had some really good teachers. Some administrators are really good. But that's getting buried with all this stuff. Another thing I wanted to mention, I've been coming to the board meetings. On one occasion, I was sitting out here with another fellow educator who just moved to this town. She was with her husband. She wanted to say something because of... some of the messages she'd seen that Sandy had posted, I mean Candy, and they were repeated. But she couldn't because we couldn't get in. There were too many people here. And some of them from, not even from the school district, right? So I went to her at the end and I said, well, what's going on? She goes, we're enrolling her in private school. This is ridiculous. Since then, because I'm active in education circles, I've had four different families come to me saying they're either enrolling their child in private school or homeschooling them. This is impacting the ADA. You know why? Because those people said they watched the school board meetings online. They didn't hear a lot of that, but they heard the rhetoric and the statements that were made reading from those books and those passages, and it horrified them. And that combined with the previous history of sexual abuse allegations that were enacted upon is frightening our parents. So we have to look at the bigger picture. Our ADA is being impacted by all this political stuff. Is it really about the kids or is it about pushing personal and political agendas? You really have to think carefully. Also, my international friends, because they went to the high school in Tokyo, they're going, what is going on with your school district? They know about it all over the world now. So it does not look pretty. Thank you.

Thank you, Margaret.

Really quick point of clarification. So typically we followed the same consistent rule. Once we start speakers, then you can't sign up. We had seven sign up, and I think we've had now an additional four or five after that. And it's starting to gain steam. Other people want to talk also. It is up to the board if you would like to have anybody else who's in the audience come address the board. And so that's what I want to clarify before we move on. I think we went over by three.

I was going to say I think we went well over six because initially we had six speakers. Yeah. This question is a little late.

No, because there's still others that want to talk. There's one more person, I believe. So it's up to you if you want to keep going or if you want to.

I don't have the name. They didn't fill out a card.

They didn't fill a card out?

Who are you?

Come forward. Peter Hall's already spoken. He spoke.

Hi. Hello. My name is Larissa Munoz. I'm speaking on behalf of the YMCA Exploration Experience Afterschool Program. The exploration experience has been a big positive impact on all afterschool students who has been in the program. This program has been a safe place for students to be creative and socialize with friends and even with new found friends within the program. I have been to McKinley, Lugonia, Victoria, Bryn Mawr, Kingsbury, Clement and Cope and at each school I have saw firsthand completely great and great quality of staff in exploration experience that has been going above and beyond for each student. Replacing this program with another vendor will impact all families negatively. because of the lack of consistency and will give students a more hard time to trust another program leader. Thank you.

Thank you. No, I'm sorry. All right, we're moving on to board comments. Jeanette, would you like to go first?

Sure. Let's see. So I was busy two weeks. I guess it's only been since our last meeting. I did want to mention that I failed to include Mariposa in my last board comments where we had a great site visit and they were able to show us so much creativity on their campus. It was clean, organized, and had a great vibe to the attitude on campus. And then Victoria, we just did a site visit recently and learned a lot about the Victoria Elementary. What really strikes me at these schools is how each school has their own personality and their own special programs that they feel really passionate about. So it's always fun and exciting to see what each school's doing. I attended the multicultural fair, which was really fun and full of a lot of energetic dancing, and it was a really good time. The families seemed to be enjoying it. I mentioned the compact awards, and then we had our last round of superintendent awards, which was and always is a great time for the families whose children are being recognized. I did have... And a topic that I am hoping we could get on the agenda at our next meeting, someone sent me this article. I had already been hearing about some concerns about a colloquium, I think they call it. No. Is that right? So IPC, it's called IPC. I don't know if you guys are familiar with it, but it's a program that we are members of within San Bernardino County. And someone sent me two articles with concerns about that program, asking me if our district knows about some of the concerns with the program. So This most recent one was from edwatch.net, which is a watchdog group. And Redlands District is highlighted quite a bit in the article. And there are concerns about this group's flawed system, not using the Brown Act when they... qualify as an organization that should. Meetings are not public. And so I really think that we need to look into this and make sure that our membership is worth it and is a good membership to have. And then I just wanted to also comment about agenda requests. I know this came up at the last meeting, and I would really like to see, maybe we have to revise our board governance requirements. rules because to request something on the agenda is clear that the board member or the community person will be it will be given consideration and determined in what time frame and what category it gets on the agenda it's not stated that the superintendent and president will just decide whether it goes on or not so I think we need to be following that, and those decisions need to be communicated to the person making the request. So, for example, if I make a request, then I should get something back, some communication back telling me I received your request. You know, Juan and I have discussed where this will go on the agenda and when, not just... no response back and I just feel like it's very professional that we do it that way and like I said we might want to add that to the board governance because to me it kind of goes without saying but if it's not going to be done then we need to put it in writing and require it.

Yes. I also had requested IPC to be on this agenda, and it's important that we discuss it as a board because it's gained quite a significant amount of scrutiny from the public, and I think that we all need to discuss it openly and discuss the... I mean, at the very least, they're auto-debiting our account for... $5,000 every year since 2012, and I wasn't aware of this. Jeanette wasn't. This started back when we weren't here, and no one has been aware of the funds being taken from our account, and it's being taken through our account through the San Bernardino County Office of Education. I don't think that that is the proper way to do things. I think it needs to go through the business desk. The business department needs to come across the normal way, the normal way all payments go through for purposes of transparency and so that we can track what's going on. That's one reason. I think we need to put it on our agenda, which is why I had requested it. Again, like Jeanette had mentioned, it's registered as a JPA. And as such, they should be following the Brown Act. And there is no agenda or postings of meetings. And I think we need to discuss that. We are saving a significant amount of money by being a member, so that's important. However, other school boards have left the membership due to these problems and just requested honoring the discounted membership rates for legal fees. I can't understand why it wasn't put on the agenda, but also... regarding what Jeanette was saying too I find it very disheartening that I don't receive a response from you when I request an agenda item from either the superintendent or the president and you may have your reasons why something I requested shouldn't go on the agenda but I certainly would appreciate an acknowledgement that you got my email and why you've made the decision not to place it on the agenda I think having a communication is a big part of being co-members of this board, and it just feels like I'm completely stonewalled because I don't even receive a thank you, I received your request. So moving forward, I would appreciate a little bit more professionalism in that regard.

You want a reply to your email saying the same thing I tell you the last time for the same issue?

You never respond to my emails, probably once out of 12.

Out of the three times you asked for that, the first time I told you.

You said I received your request. You haven't told me anything. What about the, I requested a no deception policy twice. You haven't responded to that, nor about the bullying policy. You haven't responded to that request. Why hasn't it been on the agenda?

I didn't see the bullying one. I saw the no deception one, and I thought we talked about that.

No.

I thought we had a conversation about that.

With who, you and me? Yeah, I thought we talked about that.

No.

Along with the parent notification one. We haven't had a conversation about no deception policy. And the no bullying policy, that was in the same request as the first no deception policy. I missed that one.

I missed it.

Well, I think, can I comment?

Well, this isn't a discussion. It's board comments.

We're not doing discussion. We're doing our board comments right now.

Okay, can I request it to be a discussion item next time? Okay. You certainly can. Okay.

All right. A few weeks ago, we had a school site visit, as Jeanette said, at Victoria. Thank you to Dr. Patel for the warm welcome and tour of their fabulous campus. I love the collaboration of all the teachers. The care they give their students is remarkable. The Teachers of Excellence Awards by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was beautiful. The annual event, I have always been honored to attend. Congratulations to the five teacher recipients. Jay Vanderlein from Kimberly. Vander Flynn, I'm sorry. Kathleen Alexander from Bryn Mawr. Jennifer Clausen from RHS. Amy Hudick from COPE and Brian Sander from Judson and Brown. All amazing educators. I'm so impressed when students come up and talk about their teachers. They are quite articulate and very heartfelt. The district multicultural fair held at COPE was a lot of fun. Our district has 20 different languages spoken, and this fair represented our students and families very well. We watched different dancers, and there was food from many different cultures. It was a lot of fun. The Superintendent Awards was another great event last week. I'm proud of all our students for their hard work and dedication to their education. And I'm really proud of all the parents, too, for bringing the kids out to these events. Thank you, Christine Stevens, for organizing this. And thank you also to Lisa Bruick for her role as our Master of Ceremonies every time. She does such a great job. Last week, I attended Willy Wonka Jr. at COPE. What a delight that was. The students did an incredible job. From the whole cast to the stage and lighting crews, it was a great performance. Cope's theater teacher, Mrs. Ballesteri, and the choir teacher, Ms. Mathers, did a great job preparing the students for the performance. A special thank you to Grandpa Joe for the invitation. Last Friday, I was honored to represent the Board of Education at the Distinguished School Awards at the Disneyland Hotel. Rev was honored with this much-deserved award. Congratulations to the staff at Rev for working together to help all students excel in academics. Later that evening, the Harlem Wizards were in town to play the staff of RUSD. This is an annual fundraising event put on by the Redlands Educational Partnership, and all money goes back into our classrooms with our teachers. Thank you to Sergeant Ione Barnes-Joshua and her cadets from RHS for starting the evening out with a presentation of colors. Your students are really good at what they do. And a highlight for me was when Kobe Dixon sang the national anthem at both the Multicultural Fair and the Harlem Wizards game. She is one brave little girl for getting up there and singing, and she is going to be a star someday. And I just want to thank you all for being here tonight, and that is the end of my report.

Thank you. A few things. Congratulations on the superintendent awards and also to the donor who donates the shoes all the time. That's really nice. I'm sure it's the highlight. So to that anonymous donor, we appreciate you and thank you for donating. I attended the RTA RESPA spring fleeing briefly because I had a private engagement, personal engagement already with and booked a long time ago, but it was great, and I appreciate it. I think everyone had a lot of fun, lots of food, and it was good to network, and I think I missed you. You got there afterwards, so I missed you. Congrats to J&B and to Moore on their work with the Bike Classic, and thank you to the Bike Classic for always bringing all the fun that you did. And then just lastly... Thank you to Heart Academy from Redlands High School and everyone who participated at EMS Day over at ARMC. It was a lot of fun, and the students had a great time, and we had the highest ever turned out. It was 900 students who showed up this time, and that's a collaboration of everyone from Cryop, so thank you. And to our RESPA and our RTA on their website, Professionals Day, I wish them all the best and thank you for their hard work. That's all.

Okay, I don't have much. I won't mention the Superintendent's Awards or the Spring Fling, even though that was pretty fun, or any of the other events that I went to. But I will say, the last board meeting, I did wish our RHS choirs luck, because they were going to our World Strides Anaheim Heritage Festival. And I'm very happy to report that they actually did very, very well. And so they each won three awards. Our Les Chanteuses won gold first for show choir, gold second for treble choir, and the adjudicator award. And our chamber singers won gold first, top score of all vocal performances, and the adjudicator award. They did a phenomenal job, and these kids worked so hard. So please, yes. Round of applause, not only for the students, but their director, Jesse Diaz. He does an amazing job with these kids. So good. These kids are so good. And there is a concert coming up. So I will let you guys know. But if you guys are interested in that, it's May 19th. You should definitely come by and see these kids because it's incredible what they do. They're so good at this. So that's it for me.

Thank you. Mr. Cabral.

Thank you, Dr. Engel. Join us. Good to see you. Thanks, everybody, for all your hard work. Keep it up.

All right. Well, then, this meeting is adjourned at... Are you kidding?

It's 725? Is it 725, really?