Join us tonight at 6 for a makeup CVUSD board meeting. Last week's was canceled due to a power outage. Trustees will discuss CA public health guidance for reopening, the childcare program and the timeline for adopting new sex ed materials. Join us here: http://conejovalleyusdca.swagit.com/live/ 

Instructional staff is recommending trustees approve three curriculums for staff to consider for potential pilot and future adoption:
- Positive Prevention Plus
- Rights Respect Responsibility
- Teen Talk
https://go.boarddocs.com/ca/conejo/Board.nsf/Public

I think the district is trying to set the tone of the meeting with soothing prelude music.

The meeting has started.

During closed session, trustees discussed negotiations on the price and terms of payment on 1335 Calle Bouganvilla with Bridges Charter School. That's the address of the campus Bridges currently leases from CVUSD.

Public comments: Carrie Howard said her family name is really Horowitz and hers is one of many families who changed their names in previous generations to avoid anti-semitism. She said tomorrow is International Holocaust Remembrance Day. She asked the board to recognize it.

Howard said there are few Holocaust titles in required reading and some, like The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, are problematic. She gave a shout out to teachers and said she wished she could help them more.

The CEO of Boys and Girls Club of Greater Conejo Valley said they've had zero cases of COVID transmission and they've been open since March.

She said if the CVUSD childcare program is closed, B&G has space to care for those children and would be interested in hiring current childcare staff. If it closes, B&G would like to run the elementary sites.

Christina Miller said she started speaking out about the psychological and emotional abuse of seclusion rooms almost two years ago. Her daughter attended Glenwood for less than a month and was put in a seclusion room nine times, she said.

Miller said Sandee Everett was the only trustee who ever responded to her. She said children have died in seclusion rooms. She asked why parents aren't allowed to view the rooms. She told parents to consider enrolling students elsewhere. She said homeschooling is a blessing.

Superintendent Mark McLaughlin asked Lisa Miller to clarify statements made by the previous speaker. Miller asked the speaker to meet with her or her staff. She said they'd be happy to share info with her. Until that can happen, she wants to clarify the word "seclusion."

Miller said seclusion means being alone, and that does not happen. She said the CDE found that CVUSD does not seclude children. Miller said the "seclusion rooms" mentioned at Los Cerritos are study rooms and office space for staff.

Miller repeated her invitation to the speaker to meet and talk about this. McLaughlin said the CDE cleared the district. Miller said the CDE looked multiple points of info. "We do not seclude." Miller said she doesn't want people to think children are at risk with trained staff.

Trustee comments: Goldberg went to a presentation about the Westminster Free Clinic internship program. 100% of interns attend college. Over half of their interns are first generation students. The have an asset-minded approach where they look at interns as assets to be built up.

TOPF Chief Fryhoff had a community meet and greet with students. Topics such as what to do if you get pulled over. Even adults learned a few things, Goldberg said.

Goldberg said she'll be attending a VCOE event for the International Holocaust Day of Remembrance tomorrow at 4. It's on Zoom, if anyone wants to join. A Holocaust survivor will speak. They are becoming more rare, she said.

Sylvester said she's grateful the district takes the time to listen to input at the different DAC meetings. She also attended a CSBA webinar on reopening schools. She said it reaffirmed CVUSD's decision to keep TK-8 open and renewed her disappointment high schools can't return.

Sylvester said she had the opportunity to attend a virtual play by WHS. She encouraged people to support the arts. There are two more Zoom performances. Info is on the WHS website.

Gill participated in the MLK Day of Service at Acacia. She said there was a nonstop stream of cars dropping off donations to @AdelanteConejo.

Student trustee Addie Craig said SDAC met yesterday and they have formed a subcommittee to evaluate potential health ed curriculums.

Addie said some students are really struggling with the delay of high schoolers returning to campus. She said SDAC wants to support students and she asked them to reach out if they need anything.

Addie said @Sycamore_Canyon will be hosting a diaper drive for @AdelanteConejo from Feb. 1 to 11.

Fitzgerald attended the English learner DAC and she was pleased to see the district's risk manager presenting on the COVID dashboard.

Fiztgerald said many have seen footage of local teens being handcuffed for a theft they did not commit. She said to the teens and their families that she is so sorry and the incident is a stark reminder of the work we have to do in TO on issues of race and racial profiling.

Fitzgerald said they have started some of that work in CVUSD with the equity task force. She said the community should be supporting those directly impacted by this and have specific calls to action. She said she supports those calls for change by those who are impacted.

McLaughlin said he has been to all the meetings mentioned by others and he'll save his comments for the next agenda item--CA public health guidance on reopening-- which has apparently become his life.

We're onto Item 2H: Discussion on CDPH January 14, 2021 Reopening Guidance.

McLaughlin said they didn't know state was working on new guidance. He said CVUSD considered their schools to be already open and they were only welcoming back their last 4,000 students in high school on Jan. 19.

McLaughlin said the new guidance superseded Ventura County Public Health, which had given CVUSD the green light to bring back high schoolers.

Responding to accusations that the board new that CA public health would be releasing new guidance, McLaughlin said they did not know. He provided the following timeline:

McLaughlin said CVUSD is serving 8,000 students in the AM/OM cohort models. 4,000 high schoolers were set to return Jan. 19. for two days a week for the first two weeks. Athletics and activities have been on campus for months.

Sylvester said for new guidance to come out Jan. 14 (when a new semester started Jan. 19) is "unconscionable." She asked if the pilot courses are still going. McLaughlin said it's a new term. He said guidance is tricky and they can't just increase the number of kids on campus.

McLaughlin said parents ask why can you have PSAT but not classes on campus.McLaughlin said it's an activity, not a class, plus teens were screened and distanced. He said feedback was that it went well. He said it shows high schools are ready.

McLaughlin said he has a high school senior and junior so he knows how hard it is to have teens missing out on a year on campus. He said he shares parent frustrations. "I take it to heart. It keeps me up at night."

Gorback asked if the state has considered moving teachers up in line for vaccinations. McLaughlin said they have not. The testing center on CVUSD on Janss Road is up and running. He said there have been no adjustments to when teachers get vaccinated.

Gill said she wants to echo her frustration w/ the guidance. She called the new guidance a stumbling block for a long-planned return to campus. She said the definition of "reopen" from someone in public health-- not education-- is what's standing in the way. She called it a flaw.

Gill said she's not just frustrated, she's angry.

McLaughlin said the board has reached out to local and state officials to talk about the issue.

Addie Craig said encouraged students who are struggling with the impact on their mental health to reach out to their counselors to talk about this. Addie asked teachers/parents who are watching this meeting to direct teens to counselors.

Fitzgerald said trustees hear the stories of students who are struggling and that weighs into their decision making. Some folks are upset CVUSD missed the chance to open in November, but the scheduling issues were communicated, she said.

Fitzgerald said it's an indicator of the "insane" challenges of trying to open campuses in this environment. She said a large number of districts don't have in-person learning, especially at the secondary level.

She said CVUSD has balanced safety protocols with getting students who want and need to be on campus back. She said local control means that individual districts are burdened with meeting state guidelines on their own. She said many don't have the finances or ability to open.

Fitzgerald said to get last minute guidance completely disregards the mental health of students. It also hurts districts who have met previous reopening guidelines when the state makes changes without notice.

McLaughlin said he doesn't anticipate any changes to the middle school schedule unless there's a large outbreak. He said there's disconnect between the county and state.

McLaughlin said VC Public Health gave a parent a "shocking" response to a question. He said the response seemed to disregard everything learned since the 14th. He said it just shows the disconnect.

Gorback asked students to develop relationships with their counselors so they are comfortable going to them when they are juniors and seniors.

McLaughlin said there has been a significant drop in COVID rates in Conejo Valley zip codes.

Item 2 I: Discussion on the childcare program.

Hayek said due to low demand and COVID spacing requirements, the childcare program is looking at a $3.1 million deficit. He said they have a great childcare staff and they reopened for summer programs in July. He said they're in compliance but enrollment is really low.

Hayek said when things change, kids may come back. But they're still looking at transferring $3.1 million from the fund balance to bail out childcare. Even if they made a decision on childcare tonight, staffing changes require 60 days notice, so there'd be no changes until April.

Registration for the 2021-22 year opens in April. Depending on those enrollment numbers, that will determine if they run the program next year. He said efforts to value engineer the program haven't worked out.

Fitzgerald clarified the district has not made a decision on what to do with the program yet. Sylvester said her intention would never be to yank childcare from a family who is using it. McLaughlin said most years, child care is a successful enterprise program with waiting lists.

McLaughlin said CVUSD's childcare staff put their heart and soul into it. In response to the public speaker who offered to take over the program, he said there are pension and other HR obligations to consider.

McLaughlin said replacing bargaining unit work with an outside provider creates legal issues.

Aimee Mills said there are 292 student in childcare right now. Fitzgerald asked how many teachers and essential workers used childcare. Mills said she would find out.

There are normally 1,400 students in childcare in a non-COVID year, Mills said.

Hayek said there is no urgency to act on changes to childcare because they wouldn't take effect until April and they would make little difference. What is up in the air is the 2021-22 program. "All eyes on next year," he said.

We're onto Item 3A: Instructional Services - health education material selection and adoption timeline.