one of the few perks of the job is being able to bang the gavel ok we are all president let the record show that we are starting our board meeting for october twenty third and everyone is present including our two item on the agenda were our ongoing labor negotiations and so forth just give direction to status regarding the negotiations process in so other than that we can now i can at least well but i would like a presentation on three point two one of the staff and proposal for a large elementary schools i don't accept that just as information item any of the other and the five plaint one  housing for transitional kindergarten i also would like presentation on that but if there is no other issues with any of the other information items i would like to suggest that we forego a presentation on three point one i had the quarterly williams report as well as by point to either facilities plan update that ok ok so i'll do that and then in terms of the consent calendar are there any  to human resources report correction without her consent yes i understand that that is i think it's likely separations new hires report yes ok thank you so ok so when we approve the consent calendar it will be noted that there are corrections to file a two point one c would be approving that as advise we are pulling the approval to add a gardener  from the consent calendar so we will be getting that will become an action item and we are adding for present to presentations the staffing proposal for large elementary schools three point as well as the facility testimony and since we have less than ten people wishing to speak including our union rep one union rep we will be able to hear from everybody so we will start with richard boyd and from berkeley out to the community and taking our input appreciate it very much but i wanted to just mention to did tonight that we are in the process of trying to come up with a series of proposals of things we we think  would restore athletics and physical education in the schools but i think before we do that i think it would be good if the board i don't i don't know what the procedure on this is but a schedule of the gender i don't so you can you decided to increase resources for athletics but did it in a way that wasn't really well thought out and really grounded in grounded in the best and best practices that we could end up not achieving of the things we want to achieve in terms of using athletics to help close the achievement gap the academic achievement gap for example which is really needs to be the top priority so we would like to see the establishment of a citizens task force to study this and come up with recommendations possibly for for one year but we'd also like to get on the agenda as an official item so that we can get a lot of input for you on this set of problems thank you thank good evening school board members my name is michael white's i am the math team lead from berkeley high school and i am here to read a letter from dr woo u c berkeley and this is with regards to core transition this coming up this is an abridged version of the letter which is being handed to you dear members of the school board let me introduce myself i am professor emeritus at cal former member of the national mathematics advisory pipe panel and one of the contributors to the writing of the common core state standards for mathematics i have also been doing professional development for math teachers in k twelve since two thousand i believe the the extra that this is an extraordinary time for school board for school mathematics education because common core map maddux are being phased in this is a set of standards this puts a premium on the teachers knowledge of mathematics because it outlines of mathematically coherent curriculum that teachers are not used to seeing in their textbooks it will be an exhilarating ride to implement such a set of standards but it was to be an extremely precarious one because of the specter of the collapse of the new math in the one nine hundred sixty s is never far away order to make this demanding set of standards a reality in the classrooms we need to provide content based professional development for our teachers it is my firm conviction that in the next five years at least the u s d will have its hands full just trying to bring our math teachers up to speed for the implementation of common core math in this transitional period the u s d a s first concern will undoubtedly be whether our teachers can safely navigate these trust treacherous mathematical waters incidentally an acceleration program in math is not a goal we should pursue at all costs in the name of good education i have had too many students crying in my office because they were embarrassed that what i considered to be basic skills were things they were never taught because they were accelerated to algebra in the seventh grade proficiency in mathematics requires a robust foundation and when students are rushed through foundational issues in the name of rapid progress they're usually short changed in these foundational matters the common core map lays a new foundation for the learning of algebra in grade eight and this is one grade that challenges all teachers and all students at the moment it would therefore benefit every student to learn the eighth grade mathematics carefully and well without being rushed if any acceleration is to be done it may be more appropriate to do it in the ninth and tenth grades in high school which can compress the usual algebra one geometry algebra two sequence into a well thought out two year program this then brings me to my second point which is to endorse the current proposal by the department of mathematics at berkeley high has the foresight to capitalize on the opportunity afforded by the transition to common core to make a fundamental improvement in math instruction i sincerely hope that the board will have the wisdom to provide the resources to make such an improvement a reality thank you thank you mathematics in michigan my comments will focus on the current acceleration model in berkeley schools i first have a few questions for us how many in this room took algebra as ninth graders eighth graders seventh graders how many in this room took geometry as ninth graders as eighth graders seven years ago seventeen berkeley middle school students took on geometry i know because i taught that class at berkeley high they were all very bright but many of them were not ready for the logical reasoning necessary in a rigorous geometry course i followed this group through the the honors progression at each step in this journey i felt that most of the students were not quite ready for the course they were taking ten went on to take calculus b c as juniors what was the rush if you took the next math course at community college during their senior year wouldn't have been better for them to go from berkeley high school to the university that's what we were prepared that's what they were prepared to do now we have seventy to eighty eighth graders taking geometry the effects of over acceleration really become visible in an honors analysis class students to often enter this course with weak foundational skills i'm not just talking about algebra skills and logical reasoning skills developed in geometry class they often lack a developed number sense it seems that they never played with numbers students will struggle with fractions long division prime factorization these come to me crying that they feel that they are missing some key concept wondering if they are able to handle it if they can survive the class each year my students and i work to fill the gaps and answer the why's each year i have conversations with parents that come to the realisation that it may have been better for their student child to wait to take geometry algebra as they look at my roster of juniors and sophomores and honors math analysis i can't help but think that most of the better served by taking this course is juniors and seniors then maybe they would be more prepared less stress we would use less time on topics from previous courses all of them would go on to take calculus or at least not be afraid to do so yes not all would take calculus from me that's fun but my goal is to prepare them to think at a high level and pursue their interests in and beyond mathematics the common core is not a fix all but it is an opportunity for our district to look back at some bad decisions our middle school teachers are currently forced to accelerate and over accelerate students we must carefully consider acceleration as we navigate the new waters of the common core i believe that it is vital that acceleration stay out of the middle schools especially in the early development of our new course progression thank you we finish up in a sentence or thinking we need to give all students an opportunity to enter college prepared to take college level mathematics and science some students will take college level courses in high school and that will be an option but rushing to many through the foundational courses does not serve them i'm happy to meet with any or all of you during one of my lunches if i can clear my room of kids thank you very much so we only have four more slides so i was being a little generous since we don't usually have you know the lottery system in which not everyone have a chance to speak kristen collins followed by alexandra hunt career graph and amanda abar nell good evening my name is kristen collins and i'm principal at berkeley arts magnet and i'm here tonight as a k five principal recognizing or representing the larger elementary schools here in berkeley and my focus tonight is numbers not math but the increase numbers of students in our k five schools since two thousand and ten eleven elementary schools have increased in roll meant ranging from seven up to twenty eight percent increase washington has a twenty eight percent increase malcolm x twenty two and my school fourteen percent we are pleased that our enrollment is robust that's good news there's an impact however our berkeley small schools are now  malcolm x is larger than longfellow and willard for a very elementary schools are close to longfellow's in rome and what has not happened is changes in funding formulas to support increased in woman in the elementary school and the different demand on the larger schools and a no win proposal three point two i you're going to look for a presentation about funding formula was and what i'd like to share with you tonight is basically we're looking at pretty much the same allocation across k five schools report card list of enrollment the k five schools have the same elementary resources even though some of our elementary schools are larger than our middle school schools which do have additional staffing at elementary we don't have attendance clerks vice principals or counsellors we have one school secretary and one principal whether the school has two hundred eighty five students or five hundred twenty two students counseling if provided is funded by the sites five schools have the same special education resources to education specialists at ten of the eleven elementary schools at one site they may serve five hundred twenty two students or at least a school  population and another much less k five schools have the same funding for literacy coaches at each site regardless of size at bam we increased the f t e for literacy coaches by three point three  in my view to a level that is necessary to serve a larger school of four hundred twenty three students that additional f t fee is f t e is funded by site funds literacy coaches are essential and we are grateful that central funds do cover a significant portion of that position a concern though what happens next year when sites do not have the same level of funding at the sight level to make the adjustments necessary to serve the increased number of students what happens when larger schools do not have the site funds to tweak the basic resource allocation and address the needs of a larger and roll meant the increased in will mimic a five schools since two thousand and ten and the difference in size across the eleven schools requires differentiation in funding and resource allocation in order to provide equitable services to all students whether they are in a large or a small school so i want to thank you for your consideration i know you're looking at this issue and you have concerns about it i think it's a start and i hope that you will consider looking at all the staffing needs at our elementary schools thank you alexander hunt followed by grier graf and but now hello glad to be here good to see you all again i'm alexander hunt for those who don't know me i'm the principal of malcolm x and i'm also here to talk about the proposal to establish a formula for clerical support  i believe that it's a step in the right direction to be looking at this issue but it's only the first step this is my fourth year as principal at malcolm x and in that time the enrollment of malcolm x has increased by over one hundred students we are now the third largest school in berkeley after berkeley high school and king we have excellent teachers at melcombe and we have a really dedicated support staff who is working to provide them with the support that they need this is this is not a question of people not working as hard as they can work to make things work for kids at all i believe that my staff is really doing all they can it is a question of some support positions being spread very thin and very far apart i mean i have the same teachers in the  position as a school that's around half of my size and it just doesn't go as far even if those people are working incredibly hard so i guess what i am here to talk about is when we're looking at at a formula  that we that we create a formula that is a formula that is a logical in terms of what students might be reasonably expected to receive and what sort of support teachers actually need in order to do their job as  y and to to continue to grow professionally so that is things like literacy coach support as christine mentioned and other resources as well currently some of these resources are fixed and there are departments in berkeley that do aready have a formula that i believe is working custodial department and that they have a formula that is based on square footage and it's at square footage that needs to be cleaned expands they allocate resources in a way that does make sense and that has happened that malcolm this year as we added garden classrooms and so forth i also noticed that the library assistance  positions are able to fluctuate as there are additional classes and so forth this is something i think is worth considering and something i think we can do and i just would urge you as we go into a very  important budget year to consider this as an important piece of the puzzle thank you  evening superintendent evans president hemphill members name is greg graffin i'm president of the berkeley rotary club i also have been a berkeley rotarian for over twenty five years but i've also had an opportunity in another district to sit where you are board members and i appreciate all you do for the students of berkeley and i know it's been a long hours sometimes i'm here this evening to let you know that approximately seventy participants in the berkeley rotary club have completed this year's project distribution of dictionaries to every third grade student and teacher in the berkeley school district about seven hundred of these hard bound copies of the american heritage dictionary were given with a lesson on how to use them and guide words and we had a lot of fun doing that  this is one of our many projects which our club raises funds for this part of our internet we are part of an international service organization which provides hands on locally nationally and internationally service some of our educational projects in berkeley the last few years have been scholarships a four year scholarship to at least two students a year to four year college so it's a four year scholarship with a mentor many to first generation going to college  projects this is the eleventh year that of the dictionary project without having to do and who used to be on your board we probably would struggle to get through this but she makes it very easy for us so thank you pamela and the berkeley vocabulary road crease i don't know whether that's good or bad so we hope that the students who have this throughout your twenty twenty vision and and i want to thank you very much the rotary club does great work shelves all the time buying up you know every children's dictionary that we could get in order to donate to the school so they would be at least to pull them in so the fact that the rotary club has stepped up to make sure that all of our third grade students you know in a year in which literacy ready being prepared to be literate in making that transformation of rather than learning to read reading to learn is really something that i i think you for and  commend you for i think the other part is learning how to use a dictionary versus google the i will say that the teachers that were at this the school i went to two classes that i did were very enthusiastic about having the teachers that i told mr smith earlier this evening that if he became a superintendent we will give one but he assured me he had to for his third graders who are now well beyond that point it is a great pleasure to do this and i there's nothing like serving kids and always said thank your board members for your work thank you superintendent for yours hi good evening everybody can you hear me or not you ok my name's amanda barbell and i've been teaching at thousand oaks which is one of the larger schools in berkeley for almost twenty years i also have two children who are there  and i enjoy the third grade dictionary as well and i'm here about the three point two i am glad i followed the two principals so as i said i've been working there for almost twenty years and i've been there and worked with four different principals and four different literacy coaches and a lot of different intervention teachers and through all the different personalities and styles of all those people i've worked with there's been the same theme all through the years which is basically we don't really have enough resources to serve all the children's needs primarily around intervention and our school is just too big and there's not enough resources and it's just been this theme  and so that's why i'm here it's just it's something that's really close to my heart last year i'm a recovery train last year i worked with a second grader and when i connect and when i checked in with her kindergarten first grade teachers she hadn't been served and it wasn't of course that the intention was it's because there wasn't room in the groups of those intervention teachers her level was just so low she was kind of in a group of her own and she didn't fit in the other groups and she just basically didn't get served and  in every year there's a call for teachers to do volunteer i mean paid hourly wage for after school with intervention groups and some teachers do this most don't mainly they don't because not because they don't care about their plates full enough with their personal lives in their classrooms and this sort of this reliance on teachers stepping up and the truth is that the big schools not enough teachers can step up to fill the need for these children  the other issues too with the principals spoke to who and i'm glad this reposed school services that will make a huge difference because i've also seen our secretaries struggle with a huge numbers but it's just bigger than that and that's why that's really the main thing i want to say  and you know in the context of two thousand and twenty in the context of implementing r t i i really feel like frankly for teachers it's discouraging at the big schools there's just this sense that we're kind of being set up to fail you know it's just it's it's heartbreaking to be in these conversations with you trying to make these intervention groups and just literally here's the data here's the kids here's the need and there's just bottom line not enough that there's just not intervention teachers cannot hold all that need and so it's this constant kind of like but every child there is there because they have such high need so that's death so thank you for putting out the proposal that's there and i really do hope that you consider how it can be expanded thank you thank you for that completes all the public comment cards we do have extended comment period at the end of open session and we will not be going back into closed session today so if you want to stay till the end you may we do have a card from one of our unions and that's cathy campbell president of our prickly federation of you tonight about an issue that came up at your october ninth meeting there was extensive discussion about suspensions and about discipline in berkeley and there's now some press coverage that's resulting from that discussion i wanted to bring in just some food for thought some perspectives and i'm doing this tonight because you have your retreat on sunday and i thought that some of these ideas might be useful to you so that's the spirit in which this is being offered so  for some behalf of my members i want to say that we acknowledge that this is an important issue a critical issue you might argue an ongoing challenge suspension is similar to attendance in that it's about a child's access to education and we've prioritized attendance i'm not sure we've yet prioritize this issue and i'm going to talk about that more in a minute we agree with director hemphill that this is an issue that requires urgency and we support that we knowledge and agree that there are cultural aspects to this issue that need to be attended to we agree that we are currently over identifying certain groups of students as socially and emotionally disturbed in our district that's a fact i mean that's a given we know that from various state audits we want to offer the perspective in addition to those points that this is an extremely complex issue and that simple solutions will not get you where you want to be i want to say to one other sort of prefatory thing which is that the s prison pipeline is a real thing it is a true thing and this is part of that and needs to be seen in that light and that's another reason why this is an urgent issue the deter you know deserves our attention and our resources and i speak on behalf of my members when i say i want to offer a few ideas that might contribute to this conversation one is that from the point of view of my members and my organization we're not yet scaling up our success we have to know what our successes are and we have to know why they work and if i had more time i talked about willard i'm going to see if i can get there a little bit but you have to document your successes you have to write it down and you have to offer to other people and from where i sit that hasn't happened yet this issue needs to be prioritised myself and pastor mcbride sat in a meeting of the twenty twenty design team awhile back and tried to convince the group to make this the next in the cater work group we were unsuccessful i think that's something that should be reconsidered because this is about access to school when a child is suspended they do not have access so i want to offer that to you i want to say that this when you look at this that's complexity you're looking at prevention intervention and restoration that's how i see this issue and all three of those things are complex and all three of those things deserve a comprehensive approach that gets you where you want to be i think what we need here is investment prioritization deep work investment in systems and skills and supports we don't want to go i think  way out of a policy change alone that will get you compliance it will get you form over substance and i don't think that's what this board is looking for i want to say that in your discussions it's useful i think to think about the locus of this issue as being the school individual teachers have or well they absolutely do and anyone who knows me knows that i accept that that's true and i but statements go to schools schools have classified staff they have administrators they have volunteers they have community you know what folks on campus we need to think about the locus as being the school let me say on the record that if an individual teacher is having a pattern of this and this and this over and over again that should be known and that should be dealt with i've said that for years somebody's got to know that and i think we have the data to deal with that and i think people who know me know i stand by that the locus for a child with this issue is a school and we need to look at comprehensive systems and supports we need to look at supports for students supports for adults who need to change behavior who want to change behavior i guess my main message to  run out of time is that this is an issue that deserves some robust conversation and prioritization and investment and b f t is ready and willing to be a partner thank you thank you very much  friday so that is exciting and stressful it's bizarre that we are already a quarter of the way through with our school year and currently all english classes are i think it's great that first of all that student directors bring up things that are impressive and impressing them in their student body and that it brings attention to all of us because we're not in the classroom we're not the schools that i was as you are  during the week so i want to thank their superintendent staff they've gone out to the town hall meetings and all the parents and community members and teachers they've been present to find out more about where we're at and  and for us as board members as we all went we were all listening very carefully so that will help us also in as we go in on the twenty seventh to our retreat so i really look forward to additional as  go out also went to my first meeting at rosa parks and i look forward to attending more of the like means not just of the school sites that i happen to visit more and support our in like routes to get them stronger with our staff  yes we visited today b tech for their lunch and i think that this is something that perhaps we can talk about and i know there's alternatives beginning with the salad bar for the tech there's a possibility that i think that we can bring it back to be tech i'm hopeful that we can have a discussion with the superintendent and staff in terms nutritional services of what we can do for our students on that level to do that thank you  good evening i also want to thank superintendent evans and all the staff that tremendous amount of work for the town hall meetings that was a great beginning and i think it was a great introduction for dr evans in the community and i look  continuing to engage with folks in different ways as we move forward in our later conversations around the i also want to thank the berkeley community fund they had their annual dinner on october tenth and in addition to honoring wavy gravy they honor host of berkeley students both from being attacked berkeley high independent high school and providing scholarships and really critical gap money for kids who wouldn't be able to go to college without those extra scholarship funds so that was always a very warm and wonderful event and those students are also matched with the mentor that go with them all through their college career so any time the students are having a financial issue an academic issue a social issue they've got to put a touch point that they may not have had otherwise i also as a parent of a student who is applying for college i really want to appreciate all of the college counselors all of the teachers writing recommendations late into the night how they do that on top of their full work days and now this whole online process the essay readers who are volunteering from the community the family members who are staying up late at night i think this is a really stressful time for a lot of our seniors across the board in the district and i just want to extend appreciation to everybody who's going through that process also director live a c ler and a pal and myself went to berkeley high last week for the professional development today and we were able to observe the sessions around constructive constructing constructing meaning and it was really informative it was we visited a group of teachers that were going through the introductory training and we visited classrooms where they were doing more advanced training and it was in lightning and engaging to see how the teachers were sitting down looking at how to talk and deliver the instruction in a way that is more engaging and in dialogue with the students and i think it actually has models we were talking about this earlier that there is models on how we can use that didactic with our families and having frame discussions in community meetings by using the format they've also use thing that struck me and so i think we might be able to learn from it in looking at other ways of doing engagement with the community in addition to what they're doing in the classroom and the last thing as i just want to announce on october thirtieth from four to six p m the chancers community partnership fund will be hosting its its annual orientation and mixer for community grants so anybody from the schools from the community who want to work in partnership with the university can go to the mixer which will be at the penthouse of the great western power bar building now chase building the tall building not the wells fargo one but the other one  echo the other directors in congratulating you on completing your three town halls and i went to two out of three and i learned i learned a lot from the community i learned a lot from the questions and so as i think director directors i leave a color and sign i said it's great to take this now into our retreat this this weekend and i will also echo a thank you to all of the staff in the staff came out and really made them a huge success i know it's a lot of work so thank you  there is i want to make sure everybody knows that the training the training for the school site decision makers is going to be on thursday night that's the twenty fourth a light supper at five thirty along fellow middle school and then the program is from six thirty to eight and there's it keeps getting better each year so i really want to encourage people to show up and meet other school leaders and then see how you can also contribute to preparing us again as we enter into this year of into as you'll see  later from the item on the agenda from a very rich schedule in calendar of community and parent teacher and student engagement and decision making in the district director dan just briefly there are three information meetings one was held last night discussing the transition to common core and particularly the question around accelerating math and at what level middle or high school the following two meetings will take place monday at king and wednesday at willard beginning at six thirty six thirty six thirty so you know if just in that issue you should definitely come out there's a lot of good information and a lot of work has been done on that by our teachers and our staff so and we'll be making that decision on november thirteenth and oh i'm sorry and i just want to support  director more for bringing that issue of lunch at b tec to our attention it's exactly why we are wanting student directors on the board and certainly i think i would imagine i was taken for all of us when i say we really support and attention that is needed to ensure that there is access and equity to good food and be tekken just that if it is going to be a close campus that they're able to enjoy you know their lunch time a few things i'll try to make them brief first of all i have been seemingly interviewed quite a bit around student achievement in berkeley particularly the achievement gap and african american students and so i would say that much of what i have read is i may have said it but not in a so in the context in which it was related which is not surprising when you talk to reporters i appreciate the comments that cathy campbell had to say on behalf of b of t  i think we are all trying to do the right thing but i but there's a difference between intent and actually the result of your intentions and i think really that's where we are now is as as  mentioned is that we do have successes but there are somewhat silos and we're not mislead replicating them and you know i think we need to do a lot more of that in order to make a difference so i as we will see with some of the data that we're going to get today we have a whole lot of work to do in i will say more comments from when that presentation is made i also want to just say is that have been working with but with josh and with the superintendent and our consultant in preparing for our board retreat this sunday which will be at twenty twenty b from nine to four i believe that's the time so we're definitely putting in a full day and just to give the board kind of a heads up of what kind of is the working draft at this point will be talking again tomorrow to try to get to a final agenda is that we will start by hearing from our superintendent we've gotten some information kind of offline and in which he's kind of did a kind of report of what he's been doing with his first ninety days in some of his initial observations but we've not really heard kind of an oral presentation of that nor kind of what his pullin when a findings have led him to want to present to the board in terms of a program for action and what he sees as where the district needs to be focusing for at least the next couple of years if not longer so we'll be starting with that and then we'll move toward perhaps  the kind of a review of some other information that we have kind of the existing equity plan and there's some information from student focus groups that we might be looking at as well but there will be moving into taking all of this and coming up with what the districts priorities will be kind of reflecting what's already kind of been there in the middle of this year but you know kind of focusing more refining and particularly focusing on what are the expected outcomes that we can measure for this year in terms of what's going to get done and for next year and then after we've done that we will move toward board priorities which are not exactly the same as district priorities i mean these are to some degree those things that we as a board want to be working on to move forward and so these will be things that are a little different in terms of that certainly staff will be working on them too but they're at the level in which for example an example might be  partnering with other agencies you know kind of where kind of specific board involvement will help carry the district forward and so we will be looking at a process to determine those and we will have at least half an hour for our policy subcommittee in order to start discussing what we have said we want to do is to kind of review and revise our byelaws and our procedures and i think we're going our policy committee of what are at least the areas that that they think we should focus and they will sell for we get with actually addressing those areas present have to get a copy of that agenda so that we can send you some comments i and we haven't seen it i haven't seen it yet to know if it reflects our conversations to date so and then the last thing that i wanted to mention is that i have had a delightful informative in intriguing and provocative conversation with a school there any other principal at berkeley high and the focus of our conversation was really around the role of african american studies in advancing not just the achievement of african american academic success but really the the fact that we have within our district a unique resource and that is the only african american studies department that is known a high school level and how that really should be and that is a resource that is not just one that could be drawn upon at the high school but really throughout this district and beyond into our community and know we've talked about everything from partnering with the african american studies department at the university you know how we can partner more of the community to you know and and specifically you know how we can open curriculum that incorporates communities of color contributions than we do now and so it's not that so it's at the department but it will be even beyond that and i think he is planning superintendent is that of so i actually i don't have anything written here but i did i wanted to speak for a moment to kathy campbell's comments i wanted to also appreciate the fact that you took the time to i think address the conversation that we had last at the at our last meeting and i also really appreciate the thrust of the converse of the thrust of your comments and the need for to help us really focus on this is the need for systematic systematic approach and looking at school looking at school schools as a locus of the problem and i think i might i want to take responsibility because i think i might have been quick to talk about the roles of the possible roles of individual teachers and i'm not saying that that might not be the case ever but that's certainly not the locus of the of the issue and so i really do appreciate your bringing it up but i wanted to make sure to speak to that publicly i obviously haven't prepared comments but i wouldn't have felt comfortable letting the comment period go by without addressing that and apologising to any members who might have felt like in any way i anyway i personally was not recognising that this is a complex problem that requires attention and and i think that the members of this board recognise that and and they have expressed concerns about the children who are who are being impacted by this by not having access to schools i appreciate that frame and i wanted to take responsibility if i inadvertently said anything that stepped away from that primary focus ok so dr evans thank you i just personally want to thank the rotary club for my dictionary i will make sure i put it to good use i want to thank everyone that attended the town hall meeting i had a great time presenting to everyone and i just want to let everyone know that i plan on posting responses on the web within the next two weeks so you'll see the responses i just want to remind everyone that tonight we presentations on twenty twenty indicators and how well we're doing in terms of that and just remind everyone that the two thousand and twenty students are now in sixth grade also we have a presentation with the f f l kept in so i want everybody stay tuned and listen to that because going to be really interesting to see how we're changing the dynamics funding as well as the requirements in terms point one c the human resources report revise is provided at the diocese with five point four c being polled for action you know do i have a motion ok hi good evening so the recommendation on five point four c is to hire an additional gardener to our staff the gardener would be funded out of our measure measure each fund so it doesn't affect general fund the rationale for doing this right now we have ten gardeners that work for the district includes lead gardeners and irrigation folks and then we have three that we hire on his six month basis during the summer time and we actually have to we hire for the two months during the summer time so what's happened in the recent past is that we opened up the moldering field which of course is a higher expectation of maintenance that may have existed in the past and the kingfield has historically been maintained since the year two thousand actually before that the last agreement was in the year two thousand by an outside party that then had free access to using the king field so i think field is currently not open yet because it was planted but it's but it will be opened probably about the of november so our recommendation is to hire an additional gardener and i am so so i appreciate your clarifying where the funding is coming for this position and that it's not coming from other general fund dollars because i think that's a question and it's one of the reasons i wanted to pull it just to make that clear to the public that there were not we're not hiring gardeners over other resources that would directly impact kids in the classroom because i think that  question and i the only other question i had i have a has to do with the distribution of grounds maintenance in throughout the district to make sure that for example all of the middle schools are receiving the same level of care and maintenance and  gardening so that everybody understands that the you know that there's an equitable distribution of resources i think there's areas where there's an equitable distribution but it relates to the amount of land that needs to be taken care of so it doesn't really relate to the you know each middle school getting the same thing by any means we do have one gardener who is dedicated full time to berkeley high school we do on occasion bring our team of other folks in to assist over there but it is based upon a defined schedule we go out to all the school sites on a consistent basis that does take more time not more time per acre but takes more time to deal with a large fields but not more time breaker because we have a lot of relatively small sites that have some small little areas that need work our department does not maintain the garden program so this is completely separate from that y thank you very much lou and now we will go right into our presentation achieving the twenty twenty vision to go to our common and purity communicable that by the year twenty twenty we will have eliminated the racial predictability of academic achievement in the city of berkeley or our youth sorry thank you so it's and this is another brief presentation we will have a full presentation in january dr tanya moore pamela harrison small and myself are preparing for a retreat that will be happening for two thousand and twenty and following that in a presentation to city council we will come back with a complete presentation on twenty twenty but we wanted you to have something before you go on your bigotry so as director president hemphill shared the twenty twenty vision is really that citywide collaborative effort since two thousand and eight to ensure academic success and well being for all children and youth by closing the achievement gap in berkeley's public schools by the year two thousand and twenty and this is not only a focus there is a focal group called the class of two thousand and twenty they are sixth graders but there are also we are looking at a continuum of success and indicators and  the slides are a little bit different in your packet but i wanted to start out with a definition of educational equity this is something i brought to you at the end of last year when we shared that it's from our equity performing student groups and you can read the second bullet here and our district commitment is just really repeating that our commitment to educational equity you can see those bullets as well and i just wanted to share with you twenty twenty indicators so again it's a continuum starting at birth take a going through college and to have all students career and college is career and college ready so with that there are eight total indicators the ones that word and you're not able to see this as well as i thought i was hoping but we do have kiddie miss third grade reading ninth grade math attendance disciplinary action and suspensions family engagement and are graduation or career age he indicators so in all they make eight so we've had focal indicators that we've been working on and these days we have work group so the two thousand and twenty community has work roups in kindergarten manus third grade reading ninth grade math just beginning career in college readiness and ninth grade math and then also attendance so those are the ones on the share with you tonight this is a listing of the two thousand and twenty design team membership i will send this to you if you would like to see who the members are and i'm going to start with kindergarten readiness so first i'm sharing some highlights from this last year and then a couple of data slides so that kindergarten readiness with the work we're really focused on having a screener for kindergarten it began with the pre k a different memberships and community organizations from pre k also members from the city of berkeley and a variety of different advocates for kindergarten readiness and really looking at what we can do to determine students that are kindergarten ready we now have an admissions form which we've shared before and our results this year i mean a shared with nature these thijs will see a positive result but i'm going to be highlighting some other results within the results of selves so really designing instruction based on the results from universal screener and although i don't have the slide on we did find that the kindergartners last year did demonstrate growth from winter to spring and reading and all actually showing the class of twenty twenty's growth on t c r w p so next step is analyzing the results for this year so they just finished a screener and then we are realigning the tool itself to the common core standards so even in kindergarten there are some changes so this tirade here is really showing but students are coming in with the pre kindergarten experience so on the admissions form students are families are asked what is their pre k experience so they have a variety of choices and what you see here is that there is a discrepancy the big tall line the big tall pink line is independent preschool so seventy five seventy nine percent of our white students have independent preschool where you see a more spread out for both african american and hispanic or latino students so this is the pre k experience the kindergarten universal screening tool has a variety of different right measures it's not like the a p i of one measure that you can combine to say are they kindergarten ready or still just was administered by all kindergarten teachers for the first time last year and they did it again this year and it's just amazing and i just i do want to knowledge are kindergarten teachers so these are the measures you can see on the slide and the measures are the target here is are they kindergarten ready so it's not at the end of kindergarten but the beginning so for example would be the goal is fifteen or more out of the twenty six letters to identify and what's really interesting in looking at the slide and you have had these these slides is looking at in which areas do we have a smaller gap between our white students and african american students or white students and latino students and in which areas is there a larger gap and we're really exploring the message in the skinner and universal screener for next year and how it's used for balance beginnings so it's not only used for the it's ten in spanish as well so they do have a spanish version of this is done in spanish with the student with the students that are spanish speaking and are spanish speaking classrooms now if the teacher does not speak spanish and they do not have a spanish it can be and that's even marked on the screen or itself so it says if it's was administered in spanish or not but all of the all of the screener is translated so you can see here that the kindergarten universal screening tool the next area is third grade reading so this is another indicator that there's been a work group and has been in place for a while now and really the highlights of last year is continuing the train the build u c berkeley tutors and the city of berkeley recreation department staff in the reading strategies expanding the book the the libraries and placing the tutors in every elementary school this last year we did see in grade three and thank you for pointing that out the the it all a student groups increase performance on the p and really the next steps is to expand the libraries and make that transition to common core standards and training not only our build tutors but all of looking our different partnerships and how we can roll that out you've seen this slide before which is really the percent of students meeting standard and this next slide and again  it's see if i can adjust this a little bit here what you see here is looking at third grade performance over time so the green line at the end is two thousand and twelve thirteen this last year what you didn't see in  presentation is really breaking it out by african american hispanic or latino and white students we did break it out by african american students so looking at the discrepancy or a gap opportunity or  cheap gap between our white students and our african american students and then also our white students our hispanic latino students you do see as i shared before that there is growth on the teacher's college reading and writing project but that's not the case for the subgroups in c s t e l a overall and by subgroup for the last and this is just third graders this is not the cohort but these are just third graders so different each california standards test it's all of the different pieces and so what i explained on the last one i showed this last time is that this last if you look at eleven twelve you see that there they are aligned the most unequal percent of students meeting standard in twelve thirteen that is not the case you see that there is a higher percentage of students meeting the standard of p whereas the california standards test for english language arts it's sixty five percent it didn't go too far down below sixty six percent and third graders are achieving higher than ten eleven but it is all of the different standards for its reading and writing comprehension and the variety of different standards for the california standards test we will be moving to a smarter balance assessment and our local assessment so will used as our baseline for this year and then once smarter balance comes in the following year will be using that as our secondary measure so thank you for clarifying that and this is measuring the same the same question is looking at the california standards test in english language looking at the so looking at the club or to students and how they did what's important to note with the california standards test it's a different test when you take it in second grade to third grade to fourth grade to fifth grade so this last year they took the fifth grade test it's not the same test so we see these dips and valleys in the california standards test and just the state department having this discussion were inspired to balance she'll see more of a continuum but test is different it's a level it's they are assessed on their reading using fluency using a variety of different tools running record variety of different tools they do are clearly assessed on books but the method in which they're assessed is the same it's done by the teacher it is assessing them on their reading comprehension it's aligned to the teacher's college reading and writing project on the c s t each year it's a multiple choice test first of all that's the stairs are the standards the standards for that test is it it's a different test and it's a variety of different different tests as are just testing different standards testing different standards and the complexity of the tests is different each year the a different grade level so for example in second grade it's read to them and third grade it's the first time that they actually see that multiple choice bubble and she but they have a saying in third grade they actually have a booklet and fourth grade they had the first year of actually filling in the bubbles fifth grade is the second year in filling in the bubbles and really in talking to kids the test is very different  take so the take away would be really looking at i mean and this is something that tom tolex in this shared too is that california standards test in its in its beauty may not be  it's ministered differently in grade two  certainly in grade three and four ok and it is a minister differently but also the standards that are tested the new last year was the beginning of the transition to common core and now we are l it's articulated from year to year to year you know it's one level builds upon the previous level whereas when the c s t assessments were developed each grade level was developed by different people they are not articulated test and you do notice when you see statewide there's generally a dip from grades two to grade three as children move from writing the answers in their booklets to now bubbling in  a rise on grade four throughout the state and then a dip a slight dip again into grade five just i just want to be clear because when we when we as a board look at data and we discount certain data for  reasons and not others it's important to flush that out so we understand exactly when and why so we don't get to pick and choose as a board when we which data we like because it's good and we kind of forget to pursue procedural differences and then which data we don't like when you don't like it we tend do re you know as a board we then acknowledge the procedural differences so i don't want to discount is too strong a word i would not let you down and c s t but i would say the board needs to look at it as one measure among a number of measures it is there is some validity to the c s t there is some there is value to looking at it but to make the c s t the be all and end all is a mistake  because the the p each of this for this cohort shows basically continual growth of one exception for one subgroup in one year right the c s t show a very different tale and so if we were to try to get a sense of how this cohort is doing in l a from this data we would need to basically make we need to wait each of those of these this data sets and that's what i'm getting at so it as a board member or the thousands of for watching you know that what is the takeaway from this data set are we seeing generally speaking progress for this cohort or i mean you know no matter what it's it's the trend is up right so you know that's definitely clear across the board a matter what data set you look at but if but it's less continually positive i guess you could say the c s t versus the teaser pieces so for us to discount t t's that's fine i just want to clear why because it tends you know what i would say was a c s to his way when you look at grades three through eight and see how are they during high school then you look and see what's the projection on this particular grade level i mean to notice that there's a drop from fourth grade to fifth grade well let's see what happens when you know sixth grade let's see what happens with say it's great that that's what i'm going to be able to do that because i have and i have i have shared this before i have shared the differences especially in elementary school and the california standard says i would not say discount it because there are clusters within the california standards test that you can use to inform instruction there's a variety of different tools within the california standards has but i wouldn't use it as a be all end all but i also wouldn't discount it completely either it's just i think the take away to answer josh is question is the focus for tw twenty is really on third grade reading and the the measurement was as measured by the w p there was a request to bring in the c s t as a secondary measure to look at how how were those students doing on the california standardized tests and each year we've kind of seen this up and down and you can see that a little bit and it'll be very interesting to see i mean i hope so i just have  quick look back home in terms of looking at who who are the students here that are doing relatively well in comparison and rigidly looking at students of colors and wondering just wondering here if it's the test itself or the itself it's not culturally or these students and it is for one other set of others the other students are wondering here out loud because and how do our students of color compared to another group of students who are doing  the assessment how would they compare with it's just so this kind of results are being seen by just berkeley or as it would be would we see something similar in another school with students of color that things one is if we have a test that at least is the same test that every other schools like us are take then i think it's fair enough to look at how we're doing on that versus them because the same issues around cultural relevance around the dip between two and three all that's the same for c s t right and i don't know that we have that kind of comparison data for schools like us for the that the teachers reading assessment so i think that is a valid thing to say to say because in the past what we saw is that our african american population did worse than other african americans when it came to see as teas in the county and the state and the latino community did about the same sometimes slightly better than the what but you know so i think that's a valid thing but i think to move this along i think the bottom i would like to move this universe to the presentation because i think when we see some of the other indicators the picture will be clear and it's not a matter of cultural relevance of the test can i just say one i have a question about this  so i'm sorry because i'm not feeling well and it could be that i'm missing this so please if you could explain it looks to me looking at this slide in the slide before that there was a dip both in the third grade and in the in the two thousand and twelve twenty t let me answer a few questions so first question no and i'm sorry could the other piece that i was going to say i'm so out of it was going to say that the that i really appreciate that we're also looking at it because i do see that this is a robust measure and i'm glad that we're looking at it and i always get uncomfortable we've been looking at c s t scores all along and then i go i think we need to it's helpful to know the limitations and i think it's director daniels was saying i don't want to districts and you are correct that there is just crap in c and there is a lot of research out here about the cultural of the c s t we have a new measure to add the answer your question is yes there was a dip both in overall c s t performance for grade three where you see especially for african american students hispanic latino students just to point out one piece is that the t at the class of twenty twenty and that's not true for fourth grade so that's that's a piece that i would tease out more if but you know if we had more time that's what i would tease out more is that he and i know that there was a request to  question about what are we going to be using now that c s t is going away so that's the idea of bringing in our local measures as well so an answer those three quick questions quickly but yes you are correct so i want to move on to a ten s these as we've shared before there are a lot of great highlights in attendance i did share these at the last the district indicators at the last meeting some of the highlights is just that they are holding now regularly there's the truancy walks that continue and is involved as well as other organizations are involved in the process the attendance results are there is a that is that there was reduction in chronic absenteeism and that is the twenty twenty indicator target is chronic absenteeism which is nineteen or more days absent regardless of the app absence and just really looking at the next  intervention process and increased accountability and looking at some attendance highlights as well so with that said this is last time you saw the comparison of all students to african american students this is looking at the three different subgroups are looking at african american students hispanic latino students and white students split out by elementary middle and high school twelve thirteen again is the green bar the goal is to have it reduce so you want that green bar to be less and looking at those produce over time so that's that's how to read this slide so the takeaway here is that when you look at especially for hispanic latino you look at the differences in absences that they are reducing and you do see less absences in elementary school than you do in high school so the next slide this is a work that has not started yet and i did add that bullet so this is just baseline data and  they're not there yet but i did see the math folks in the audience and i do want to acknowledge them for their work but the highlights is really there was a summer math program and i met with tanya the smarter dr more this morning and she really talked about as their idea was so that the city could get a feel for what math is like before to begin before beginning this group really to get a feel for what math instruction is like so they had twenty three students that participated in the program results that we're using as a baseline is really looking at the student performance on the california standards just to have it inform again the c s t is going away to look at that to have it inform where the students are at and then also looking at enrollment and you can explain the next slide and the next step is really working on training the math teachers and then the partnerships in the new common core so as the pathways move along so this next slide how you read this and this is in the states it's two thousand with a three but what you see here is you have all of the different subgroups and i looked at every child that was every student it was rolled in the ninth grade for any group that had enough students i broke out that group that has an ass tricks it was less than ten students  courses if you added them all up it will not add up those do not add up to eight hundred sixteen just so you know there's a special letter some other courses that just had a couple students in them and so for confidentiality i didn't show those what you see is at the end the number of students enrolled in these different courses again only ninth grade and then the g p a for these students and so first of all you look at the average g for algebra and think about how many students took algebra also in the eighth grade looking at the differences between different groups of students so that's i mean there's a lot of information in the slide so i do have some because larry and i and i appreciate that the bath teachers were were here on a school night and so i first want to start my comments by saying that i know that the math teachers at berkeley high been working really hard on the new common core standards and having a successful kind of a successful way of meeting that and on their new proposal and i really appreciate the the work that they've been doing on that and i also appreciate that when the board was asked to approve a ninth grade and ninth grade algebra book and there were some concerns about going back to having algebra in the ninth grade as opposed to an eighth grade standard that i know that the teachers did do some work around trying to me because the question at least i know i added was well you know doing the same thing expecting different results is you know what that is a sign of and the district has not had a good history in the the academic outcomes of students that were taking ninth grade algebra and so i do know that the teachers did spin quite a bit of time trying to or aware of that fact and were trying to do things that were different unfortunately the outcome i don't know maybe it's better but it's still a one point three two g p a which is maybe a passing grade for your high school graduation but it's certainly not a passing grade for a three g requirement and i also am concerned about the g p a for those students that are taking geometry who are african american in invited grade which is considered to be cleaned of the i would call the normal or the expected course that you take if you're on that kind of and that group and so now we have students that may not even be aware of the fact that that is not a class that will be counted as a through g credit when they apply for for c s u or are you see which i think first of all we need to tell those families to that's the case because i have known of a student who got a d on a course freshman year got their act together graduate of the great in them graduating the great grade point average applied to u c got into it you see and two weeks before they were packing their bags were told oh by the way you're missing semester of a fiji requirement sorry you're not coming and the family was shocked because it never occurred to them that if they had known it they could have done something about that d right but they didn't you know they had no idea they were celebrating the fact that their their state their child had gotten their grade point average together and got accepted so i think first of all we need to tell all of those families that what this means is that this is not now a eligible course for four year college and i also think that we need to do something about it because these students are getting a one point three two in algebra this year well either you know either they're now taking what consumer or you know what they take for a second high school class if they are fit if they essentially got below they got a d or below and algebra so i think first is we need to have an intervention for those seventy one students to figure out what is it that we're going to do with those students and to get them on a pathway in which they graduate from high school with something that is meaningful in terms of math skills and secondly we need to work with those students they're taking geometry who now took a cold year of a class in which they also you know for the purposes of maybe where they are taking it don't have the class that i think that they have  so i consider that to be a crisis right now in terms of these students and i would hope that the math teachers who i know you have been working on this issue you know sometimes you try to do something you thought that it was something that would make a difference and it turned out you know the results were not what you expected and so you need to figure out what you can do to change those results and so i challenge the teachers in the administration both at the school site level at the high school and central admin you know to figure out what we can do to change this outcome because this really is just you know this is a this is a good number of students that it's not just a matter of what their c s t scores are it's a matter of what's going to happen to them in terms of their choices in so i'd want to know where they are right now what interventions are in place for these students this year i'd like to see you know have a conversation with pasqual around where they are right now in their first semester of tenth grade and what help they're getting at berkeley high  cyber high some way in which you know we can get them so they have enough mastery to in fact get that as a credit and also to be prepared for the next level of math because you're not prepared if you have under a c and we do have those students all tags so that we can follow up so present have i mean i think one of the things i remember in the context of the presentation is in the context of the twenty twenty vision for these children and youth the question as we begin to look at how we develop the math support you know the question could be how do we target the population that we really want to embrace and bring collective services across the community to achieve our math outcomes and we haven't done that yet and i think as we look at all of this data looking through the lens in the presentation it's how do we bring the partnerships together to look at the kids who are really needing support to get to the proficiency levels that they need and with her i say this without sounding angry in a way i'm not angry at i'm angry about which is a once right and i and i think that to some degree is that we all have to be angry about it's not angry at anybody right now because i don't believe that anyone involved in this process isn't trying to do the best that they can to come up with different outcomes and so i want to say that straight out but you know it's great to talk about systems and partnerships and all that and i guess what i'm getting down to is we have students there right now we know that if something doesn't happen they will be ineligible to go to a four year college right out as a choice and not only that they will not be prepared to go into community college because they will not have the skills to be successful and community college math any more than they will any more than they will have the credits to be eligible to go to a four year college and so while i agree that at some point in addition to talking about systems and overall strategies we need to start getting this is the year that we stop letting this happen you know in a way that is very very targeted and i think that when you say what our next steps this is what i this falls into that category of what i'm bringing forward to the board in terms of targeted support and being strategic in what we're doing  when you look at the results and you see geometry in honors geometry you have a c pretty much a c and d and these are the higher kids and the kids are pretty much at the bottom was one point three two so we're pretty much failing all the kids the other issue is how much do our parents know about this and the example that you shared with us is that their parent did not know and so we also need to educate the child but we also need to educate the parents too and then we talk about twenty twenty in our collaboration and we also need to let our all of our partners know this is how you can support us we talk about mentors and we need to be very strategic in terms of what we're asking in what they're doing for us so that we're all in the same page in terms of us moving forward to helping us meeting this twenty twenty goal so i have a numbers of how many came up through b u s d i think i could tease that out so i don't know how there is about that because it also seems likely lead to look what is it downstream or upstream what is that upstream which is that in the middle schools to figure out and i think that there's been a lot of conversation about that and i think that that's part of what at least our educators are arguing this shift in our ending acceleration but also a shift to the common core curriculum i think the theory is if we that that that will that will aid to build the building blocks so that this won't happen but i am really curious about the seventy one students who are in algebra one in ninth grade are those students who are who had to hoof i mean what w one or mass two or whatever we're providing whatever we decide to provide so michael long question short but it's really short so what's what's their story in middle school do you know that have you i think you know i don't know what we did the african american we have i mean there's a lot of data behind this out that this was the most important or the hardest hit to really talk about i don't know off the top of my head but i can certainly look at that and it is something that we have within that but just i don't want to stop i don't want to miss speak working group to have that information with us so to answer your question is this is why we're presenting is this gives the opportunity for us to begin so in this case we we have the data and i have this data a lot of data ready for this workgroup around ninth grade you're not not only ninth grade math but around math achievement and this can help to inform that work rupe another question would be the future and this on two thousand and fourteen there and so how prepared will be for passing that so my question would be in terms of that we follow these seventy one student they've had that intervention and that support if they are doing that poorly in geometry i wonder how they did in algebra whether they took a break and whether or not those how many of those students who passed their cassy exam because we looked at the the pre assessments that were done for all students not just the african american students in algebra one prius usman ford geometry students was very low and so i would be concerned that you know since the more or less based upon algebra one that is not just those ninth graders taking algebra but it's some of those to leaders who are in geometry who also may not be prepared to pass the cassy exam as well and that's been a follow up with  mike about because i did look at the pretty assessments i got a question about the pre assessments and there were different standards that were tested because these are assessments for the teacher to inform their formative tester not sum they there are different standards so the algebra prius assessment they assessed the students in algebra standards on the algebra two previous us spent they assessed the students on algebra standards and then geometry they assessed them on geometry standards so really assessment is to inform what they need the students early they want to know where the students are out and where they need to be and so you see that they didn't do that they didn't all of the lab math classes did not do the formative assessments last year  last year they did not first year this is the first year so it's a baseline year and i want to before i share any of that i really want to have that because it is formative so this is kind of anti graders on it and what we did is we clustered far below basic and below basic together basic how many students scored at basic which goes all the way up to a skill score of three fifty and then at three fifty one and above on the scale score on the math c s t but just to inform again a different measure to see how students are doing on the c s here or did on the c s t in ninth grade and then  i'm going to move on to the next target or indicator and so all of these are really what the twenty twenty design team are using the current college readiness has been a very active group and they they began julie can talk about it more so than i can but really the highlight is really having this partnership come together has been incredible and they also have you noticed that partnership for course our first thing off reigns a college mentoring program there's a c on the c t e pathways which will be very interesting to hear how that is going their last year there was a citywide college and career day that had speakers speakers the results unfortunately and i shared this last year because of some power school glitches and glitches with resources in the high school we do not have aided the results for all of our students and so at this point that is a twenty twenty target is the age results at this point we do not have those and so the one piece or results is the cohort graduation rate and the next step is really working with the transcript evaluation service  partnership or the m o you and we're working with them from u c berkeley to assist the high school counselors and assist to evaluate the student transcripts or at the beginning of that process and been working with them as well  so it's pretty thought it seems to me that that has to happen sophomore year when there is still an opportunity to kind of call to make up for  julie just talked about the counselors and how hard they work and all the teachers on the application process so it's really looking at the resource allocation at the high school and what is the process for because the have the students transcript and power school and it does if the student is attending school in berkeley so if they started the ninth grade american ten ewing through it says which courses they've met for a g requirements in which they have not it's students that move in or move out or any summer courses that they take so by the time that they're seniors any courses that were taken outside of the berkeley high school bubble do they're not linked in it's a it's a  technology issue and so and but there's also you're right on the tenth grade so really having that but it's a resource question is so the idea of the program is that it is a transcript evaluation service is a tool that potentially in tenth grade and continues through the question at the high school is who gets trained to use it it's a very valuable tool because it's actually very easy to read unlike the transcript yeah which are so i think that that's what the intent is but again the delivery of how we use it still has to get flushed out last time that i want to make on this was that and this was this was shared with you earlier in terms of additional data so i just want to kind of put it out there for the public  is that in addition to the graduation rate i really you know the question is well if you look at our graduation rate there's not a huge difference between the graduation rate for african it's it's about five percent five percent tiles which given some of the other data that we have five percent tiles if we were that in our other and our other indicators we would consider those cells have gone a long way for bridge the achievement gap but to me that's where we need to drill down because of those you know eighty four percent graduation rate which is far higher than let's say the state of california which is at sixty two percent how many of those students are graduating  with less than a two point zero average g p a or under a two point five g p a how many of those students that are graduating those eighty four percent didn't graduate graduated in passing   to looking at that school being really cold case through fourteen and seeing that our job as educators of k through twelve is making sure that the end of twelfth grade  either you know are prepared for what is assuming that students really need to be in some type of educational setting for two more years after after twelfth grade and so that to me success is that two years out either you about to become a junior in your four year college that you went to immediately after high school or you just finished your degree your general ed requirements of community college and you're ready to transfer to a four year college or within two year period you've completed a vocational technical certificate in which you're ready to make at least forty thousand dollars a year and i don't think that that the graduation you would think from our graduation rate that we should be doing  not bad for this country is in that outcome but if you drill down from what we've been seeing i don't know how many of that eighty four percent is in fact ready to be at that place two years after they get that diploma from berkeley high and that is a real concern to me and i think that's the kind of thing that speaks to parents not so much the c s t scores and that's something we've been discussing also in twenty twenty and i've been discussing with pamela harris and small is really looking at graduation rate g p a the other pieces that inform the picture of the student that's leaving our schools are they ready and then another question that was raised was around the c t e courses and i did byrd did not have that available but i will get that information so how many students are enrolled and by race and ethnicity so i'll try and pull that o and thank you so i do without spending too much time because there's a lot of information there but i do have a handout but i don't have it right here but i'll send it to you of all the partnerships are really acknowledging all of the different individuals and partnerships and agency involvement in these different work groups so we were able to pull together and look at the different work groups and all of the different folks that work together to bring these to fruition so not only you know working with berkeley unified school district so we wanted to thank everybody that has been involved and continue to be involved so i wanted to kind of lead with a positive in the  move forward you know julie if you want to add to this but it's exciting and done as much as we could and listing these i'm sure that there's others and that's why it says and many more on the bottom so i want to just say that i really appreciate the presentation and i did send debbie a lot of information that i really look forward to the january presentation with the city folks and with berkeley alliance because i think you know we've started to make headway and one of the things around the twenty twenty vision is that we've been really from the design team have looked at it from a systems approach and have been looking at a continuum and if you if you went back to the slide that debbie did where it was looking at the pre k through the college and career ready the idea when you look at third grade readiness is you're not hitting that and third grade you're hitting that in pre k kindergarten first grade second grade so by the time they hit third grade their profession and i think we also looked at the math is like let's not all of a sudden just say we have to work on ninth grade math which i agree we do but the issue is how do we build the pipeline up so by the time they hit ninth grade there and it's the challenge how do you do that systems work and deal with the the immediacy of the kids who are in the system right now and so i think you know it's a constant  dynamic that the partnerships are trying to address both in the sense of dealing with the real kids real time real programs right now but at the same time doing it in a way so you're not just throwing program after program but that you really looking at trying to make that change and i want to reiterate that we've had a lot of discussion over the years around the indicators and there's been some you know percolating issues that pop up every once in a while and that the indicators are all the responsibility of the school because there are all these academic indicators that we have to measure and what we had agreed upon early on is because even when you look at the health outcomes we were looking at health outcomes in academically successful so we agreed that the indicators would be the academic indicators but the strategies to achieve those academic indicators are really integrated interdisciplinary strategies that include public health including mental health include the university include the community partners so i think it's as important that we try to articulate our indicator work groups not just as a data group which i think we tend to boil it down to but really it's strategic planning and implementation group that we then have to monitor when we go back and look at the data it's not to look at the data for the data sake it's to look at the data so that we can make a change in the implementation and that part i think again is kind of like we're still working on it and i think it's a challenging process just like kathy campbell was saying earlier these are really complex and so i think having everybody at the table is important because i don't think the school can do it by itself you know where i see this that whole which you just art i see it at the meetings and that's where the school district the community programs are the teachers the parents there's there's a whole group and that's where i see this happen i see that you know there's an afterschool program you know that they're going to talk with a math teacher in the afternoons and in the room so i see this happening but i don't think that we've put it in a way that people could know about what are the program services that we're providing how the school services are integrating and collaborating with both the school district has the teacher the the counsellor everybody or one student this just one student comes to that place right because of their attendance this twenty twenty vision so let me just i just have two more things that i wanted to say and one is around the how we look at the data for the two thousand and twenty and i think early on we had a venn diagram and you know we had things that the school district was going to do was responsible for doing and will continue doing it we had things the city was supposed to do and then there was the venn diagram of where we're working in partnership together so when we're looking at that data and so for example with the third grade literacy and the build program the university's public service program i've said this before they reoriented their whole program from a fourth and fifth grade literacy program to a k three literacy program because of the priorities that we developed in twenty twenty vision the build program has data that shows that kids especially african american kids and i think to some extent you know more so african american kids really progressed but anecdotally i think i remember and i'd love to see it in january is that it's the kids who were like below basic and basic progress toward proficiency the far below basic didn't and so as we're looking at the data and our interventions how we reaching those really hard to reach kids that we don't want to just keep at the bottom and so we know that we don't want to eliminate the opportunities where kids who are below basic again because of the racial predictability issue we don't want them to stay there because people assume that's where they are but at the same time we have to figure out those targeted interventions for the kids who aren't making it and i think that's the same with the math and with the looking at so as we look at the january data i hope we can refine that data and again for the purposes of saying you know what the build really worked and x y and z but it didn't work here so what do we need to do to do that not let's toss the baby out with the bathwater and but now do we need to so i look forward to the january presentation  to the data because the progress that we are making is impacting kids but we can't we haven't been able to articulate it and in a way that  involve or consult with teachers principals school personnel pupils bargaining units and parents and this plan has to have be clear on its goals and it has to have goals not only for the district but also for all our targeted subgroups and also has to identify the strategies the district intends to use to achieve its goals now the state has set out eight priorities and it's interesting that the priority areas at the state are very much aligned with priority areas the district has already identified either in our own five district goals in the two thousand and twenty plan in our eagle master plan in our strategies to accelerate the achievement of african american students they're really focused on student achievement student outcome school climate student engagement family engagement course access and academic standards the implementation of academic standards as well as basic services such as highly credentialed teachers good facilities and availability of and structural materials so as this plan is developed which starts this winter  because the plan needs to be approved by june of two thousand and fourteen it's essential that we involve parenting community groups so what we're proposing his staff is to look  for community groups that would be very much involved in consultation with the district in the development of this plan the first is a parent advisory committee and that would be a fairly new group and what we're suggesting is that its composition basically mirror the piano with a representative from each elementary school two from each middle four from the high school but we're adding four representatives from the superintendent as well the second group although not required for b u s d because we don't have fifteen percent of our students who are english learners is an english learner parent advisory committee and we are recommending that we have one but we see an overlap here with the deal like that this really could  function of our current deal like body district english language advisory committee the third group is piano and they have already begun meeting for this year and take an active role in the district now and the fourth group would be the superintendent's budget advisory committee and that group has prescribed members that include union members a number of community organizations and others as well including a student from berkeley high school the intent is by having parents involved from each of the schools that these committees would also be in communication with the school governance councils at the school sites so as the school sites are developing their single plans for student achievement they're aligned with the local control and accountability plan that the district is developing so  we've also talked a lot about communication and how we inform people about this whether it's through our website the a plus news each trees and again going back to school sites in the way principals communicate with their communities if we can provide information for them to can include they will do that the state has not set out clear guidelines yes they're expected to put out those clear guidelines at the end of january with the template coming out at the end of march so as we're developing the plan the specifics will become clearer through the process but we want to come back to you at the next meeting nov thirteenth and there bring the board so i took a stab at trying to get a calendar laid out that help meet the statutory deadline so i backed up from my current and made sure that of the stakeholders in committees had an opportunity to provide input throughout the process and also include a joint orientation for all the committees in january and just with the english language learner population a good location for the first forum and that one would be at seven p m on december third we also see you know been a committee that's  been in place for five years we thought that would be a committee to take on looking at how we spend our money right now and how much money will be from the formula and what type of input that we can get from our employee union groups and some of our key community members and then just making sure that we as the cabinet come forward with some type  y cap plan in january just kind of our initial thoughts so that we get that out sooner than later and not wait until after we get the details from california department of education so we thought that was we try to put something together that we thought would at least a good starting point and then i would like to bring the calendar back in january when we have boy dates and actually meeting dates and bring it back to the board instead of having to be determined list to know quite a bit in the calendar but actually put the final dates into the calendar and bring it back in january in the high school development group in piano or instead of one of those groups that a representative from a peak had parents with children of african descent be added and the reason is that i think that while african american achievement is not specifically referenced in the in the and is being part of l c f f and l cap in this district you know we do have specifically achievement gap issue many of our african american students but not all probably are eligible in terms of being considered low income but certainly not the entire african american  community is and i think that there are certainly issues that are faced by all of our african american students despite their income and given that we are i think rightly trying to look at this process is something that benefits all of our district goals not just trying to fill some state obligation i think having specifically some representation of a group that is advocating for african american achievement is key i know that there's some state obviously and i and i would just say that in terms of i think how it's perceived by the community i think it would be very important to have that listed as being a member of the community in not be something that's just done through superintendent appointee both organizations should have a listed member is someone that is very obvious that in our district that we realize that that has got to be one of the outcomes and so so the current composition of the p s c and we as a board can more than happy to kind of change it is basically one per elementary school site it's based on a ask because we just to get everyone on the same page as we i mean as the same information we are as we asked this we had a meeting beef to prepare for this and i do think it would be helpful to hear the thinking behind the recommendation made by staff because i think there was i want to thank  advisory committee was to facilitate communication with the schools what we don't want to end up happening is a school governance council developing a school site plan that's not a line with the local control and accountability plan that the district has so right now the school governance council in many ways has a rep that goes to the piano reports back to the s g c does not have to be a member of the s g c and that's the way we looked at this person that this person could work with the principal closely and whoever is the s g c chair to ensure that as has been the site plan is being developed that school governance council develops a greater understanding of discussions that go on at the parent advisory committee and so that our district is operating as a as a coherent organization and that we don't have psychic ounces out there operating completely separately and unaware losing is a state right economic impact aid so i guess i thought that was the that was the piece of legislation that mandated the schools like hills as they exist now title one does also the way i would like to look at what are the different legal requirements in terms of peer invites three at the school site because i think it's important to have parent advisory groups but i think that with the change in funding and the  d the cap that i think it makes sense to kind of relook at our structures so that we don't just kind of graft something once something but we take an opportunity to look at how  the legislation is changed and it might be that it gives us some opportunity to strengthen and to even to strengthen the groups or you know to make them even more representative in terms of understanding their role as they've been to date so to clarify though i mean this is a process that's going to happen this year because those bodies those bodies exist this year and so i think the question that i had was who is making the if you're using the model of the piano which is different in the sense that there are committees at the school site that have been elected and our representation are not in theory or not so the way that i read this is that the principal would identify who that person is so i i i understand expedience of the model and that is some model that could be replicated in this one really familiar with but i'm uncomfortable with how each school comes up with somebody who they're representing and how do you create the balance that's required by the state where you need to have a targeted community is represented and i don't think they should just be represented through the superintendents for so i just don't understand how that process would happen in a way that would ensure equity and that we really recruit some representation that are normally at the table  question of concerns and i think that in neal's description although one of the purposes of the p c is the communication with the s t c that is not the primary purpose of a least as as i see it so the individuals who are the principals will recommend the superintendent to be on this committee will not necessarily and probably unlikely be s t c members themselves so they will not be come from the s t c of they will not be required to attend every s t w it's s t c created the second piece stand more directly is that the principals are going to get together think about who they think would be good talk about them collectively with me on the superintendent and then if it looks as if we do not have a group that is representative of our district and all the ways we want it to be then my understanding is that the superintendent only with an go back to the principals and say ok we need to keep thinking about who is good from your school site who could be on this committee so that at the end of the day what will come to us next month is a recommendation that would be actually representative and not just in the minimal sense of the law but in the true sense of what we as a board care about so that for me satisfy my concerns so i thought i would and i can add a little bit to that so i share the concerns especially and then we had conversations about how to help make the process of parent leadership at the school site more representative which is really the point whether it's s t c or something else if we have parent leadership in decision making how do we make it representative how do we have an outreach process an election process that allows for the success of candidates if they see even if they step up to be successful in in the election so that's a question i think we should continue to look at the requirements for al f the dollars there's a lot of tech there's a lot of discussion about how the dollars are going to follow the student and how much they're going to follow system change and how much they're going to be site how much of that those targeted dollars are going to go to the sites so i think it's really important that we have communication whether it's an s t c or something else i think it's really important that we have direct communication with the school sites and this and the parent advisory committee so there's kind of these this tension between those two the two things that we want a representative body and it is we do need to talk about how much how we're making the plan how much of those dollars are going to be are going to be f pacific students in for specific interventions and at specific sites and how that's going to happen so that's part of what the whole plan is going to address and i feel like i believe and i'm convinced that it's essential that we have a representation in order to have that connection so if you have a better suggestion i think we should look at it i just i think we have to grapple with those two things i think some of what my concerns are not ones that are going to be addressed in time to get this up and running because i think that we knew we do need to take a a fresh look at the relation i mean we've had the discussion before just in terms of relationship between individual school site plans and district goals and objectives realizing that sites do have their unique needs in you know they've got you know different data in terms of their strengths in the areas of improvement in and focus but they're also still going to be some articulation between what the district goals are and what those school cycles are and i see similarly with this process is that my interest in looking at this d c is to make sure that the way that they are the way the way they are organized now are the best mechanism to make sure that the parent representation at the school site results in that articulation and i think that the kinds of training that step does help a lot but i i think there's still some work to do make to for that whoever is on those boards to realize what their role is miles of the concern is that it was a very big part of the new formulas based on on low income students and that's forty percent of our district and so while i'm at saying that we def hundred percent parents from low incomes it's on our on these advisory bodies i think that something that should be thought about is that the new funding really is kind of late to trying to do targeted funding and so we need to make sure that there is there's something representing the percentage of the targeted students in our district who are part of making the decisions i think it's it's on the district to frame it for those individuals who do sign up and say yes i do want to be part of or that you know that we're looking for those representatives are going to be looking at the big picture not just their individual school because this is a district wide plan that will be you know part of that also is making sure that we're also having the representation of our early childhood community who will several people that would be great for my schools you know that i could choose i need to think about maybe having two or three that i'm thinking about so that when we all meet again that between us we make sure that there is that kind of represent well and i want to say that i think that one of the things that's really i gree that we both it's a district wide plan and this might be our i mean i kind of am seeing this as a great opportunity to do what you were talking about integrating what's going on at the school sites more kind of elegantly with the districts plan it's not that we haven't done that but there's always been this look at these plans we get them so late in the game how do they tie into the broader objectives besides you know they follow the common goals but how do they all kind of weave together while still holding up the individuality of the schools i'm hoping this will allow this will allow us to do that i wanted to say that one of the other things that i think is important to this is also going to be how we are making the information accessible and available to the parents and then what we're asking of them so that what we're asking of them is something that they can really give real and meaningful input into at different levels which is something we talked about a little bit on at our meeting and i'm not sure it's completely reflected in the but i do feel like that's also our responsibility that we're making sure that we are i think where articulating the questions in a way that people can give real input into into the process in a realistic way that also ties into what we're already doing in the initiatives that d and i would actually i think we might do consider might be worthwhile considering a hybrid of the organizational with the school based because i think that there are there are as you look  african american group i would look at continuing at incorporating is the new african american parents that are going to be organizing through the middle school program in the bridge program because i think that whether it's whether it's you know a combination of cad and them i really would that we need to have the representation of the african american community who said so clearly last year that they don't want to just be if they want to be at the table  and then i think the part that i also wasn't clear and though i know that there's a student engagement that's required but i didn't see that reflected in the memo and so i was kind of interested in the sense of how we develop a student advisory group or if there have been thoughts around that and i'd like to hear you guys is comments on that and then the other thing is i think we need to go out into the community and not just have  dialogue at this at this you know and or through a public hearing and then whether it's you know kind of like what dr evans did in going out to some neighborhoods in south and west berkeley or through the schools and we invite the rec centers but i think we need to get a deeper i think we have an opportunity kind of what you're saying present hempel's of this is an opportunity to also look at how we're organizing i think it's an opportunity to get a much deeper engagement  families in the direction of where the district's going to go for the next three years and i don't want to miss the opportunity by being too tradition way that we and we do it so i'd like to look at how the facilit that there's guiding framing questions that really get feedback well and so it might mean that i don't know if this process is resourced so that we could have some facilitation and some partnership to do community outreach and the daylight and strengthens their voice in the community we thought it might be seen as attractive to people who would want to be on the deal like so so this this is  i think i'm hearing at least a majority of the board understanding staffs thought behind have you know having schools like and i think what you're also hearing is that we are concerned that that the representation  is also represents the that are supposed to be the target of l c f and the two are not necessarily one in the same in the traditional way we made those appointments from school sites and do it's really just that this is a supposedly a different type of planning process than the traditional forms of representation that we've used and so you know to kind of think about how we accomplish kind of the complexities of what we want this group to do so if we've got two volunteers to do that then i think we would be ready to have something to take action on in our next meeting and we've already got so much to say that so just be clear according the time line which we can obviously we staff the superintendent we recommend to the board membership of the not the process to appoint the committee of the other members themselves jackley so that's why i'm saying we can't i don't think it is one that i was understood when we met was that they would be members of the s t c because in fact it was a way to kind of broaden the representation of the from the site so that it would be more refined so i always look that way so it would be more reflective of the communities that were that are just morkel reflective of our community and more representative of arc of our school and our student community particularly those identified through the l c s so i just i think that we can give that direction i think there might be some way that we can give some direction as far as how the sites even put together that mix of people and then you know we have a subcommittee we can disband that subcommittee and start a new one if you're saying you don't do one differen many but i think there also we can agree that we can if they agree that we just kind of have to give some direction as far as how we're going to select the people i think having the four additional representatives that are appointed by the superintendent we can maybe you know i think that would be if that's the direction of the board we could do it that way to people already there helping us with all of this in the process in the planning and so forth it was we were going to that we had that this would be this was i reckon so if if you're already collecting these names or your principals already i mean have has a great story as a criteria then developed that you're looking at presenting to the principals so i let the principals know that we were looking for a diverse committee that represents b u s d that every member is to represent everybody in the community but that we had targeted populations in particular and that we were looking at or completely balanced committee that we were not necessarily looking for a member of the s g c so someone who would work closely with the school but i did let them know that i asked them to recommend somebody and i let them know that we would get back to them and let them know whether or not it would work in terms of the composition of the entire group so that that's where it stood but i told them to begin thinking about it tomorrow night is the training for parent leaders so i told that they had some people they were interested in to encourage them to attend the workshop tomorrow night on october twenty fourth at longfellow but i'm very confident that we can at president have holes at least some framework around percentage around forty percent because what i don't want there to be is one person who represents that you won't see in a you know in a group so i think there needs to be some critical mass of the targeted population so that there's there's a good working dynamic and so i mean i think it's hard when you've got eleven schools of twenty one person each how do they know what the other ones do and so i admire your your commitment to try to juggle and i think that we're all in agreement about this i think we share this value including our staff and including our administrators i really do think that and so i think there's maybe when there's a step before it comes before the board i'm a little concerned about of the list of names coming  forward to the board i didn't understand that that was going to be the case and it makes it very difficult to not approve it and it makes a very uncomfortable so i i do think that it makes sense i think it's whatever process is used i think there should be  we should talk about maybe the criteria that you would present to us maybe at the subcommittee level to see how we're doing because part of it is also who's willing to step up and participate that's the other part we have to make sure that we're communicating to folks in a way that they understand what they're getting into in their rigs that people want to step up and who's going to who's going to step forward and volunteer is also going to be a question so i would why don't we why don't we with this general direction from the board maybe we can have bill have an interim step where at least maybe the subcommittee can look at the kind of look at how it's going to be  i clarify the names because i have to admit that when i put this together i was not expecting to actually give you names three weeks from tonight i was expecting to say this is the membership because this is an information presentation item so there's no real action expected from you tonight so when i came back and i came back on november thirteenth with this is the composition we were expecting that you would approve this is what you know this is the composition of  it is the governing board that appoints the committee so one of the calendar with the governing board appoint the committee and by appoint the committee that does mean names so if november thirteenth you know if i knew you were headed in this direction it would give us more time if the actual names didn't have to appear until the december board meeting because then we could really do more balancing we could contact more people if we you know if developed the criteria it seems like that that you know i thought what you were doing was trying to raise the mirror the piano drives us to so as not to avoid when i specified it here i didn't include preschool i just had one rep from each elementary but i'm happy to include a pre k we will include  i think that since there is a little bit of time that it would be worthwhile for the subcommittee to continue to talk to staff based upon what we're hearing today i think  agree that we all have the same intentions it's just a matter of hammering out exactly how that intention is realized in a way that gets the outcome that we want in then at our next meeting we have the ability to i just want to clarify i mean we said the pre k or the early childhood ed are we saying that we want the representation from the african american parents or peek at is that something that we want to have as part of the composition  or that would be something that would be working out with staff ok so i just want to make sure that there is on the radar yet so if if i'm on the subcommittee that i would be leaning towards that so if there are others who walk about the part of the discussion are more than happy to step back and let someone else be on so but i also think that there's a lot of parents out there who are maybe not