Note:

The Board will convene at 6:30 p.m., approve the Agenda and immediately go into Closed Session.

They are expected to resume Open Session at approximately 7:15 p.m.

A few months ago we presented four Bond Oversight Candidates to the board. Their candidacy was unanimously approved. We have received an additional application and are asking the board to approve this candidate. 

Pursuant to requirements of Prop 39, Measures “H” and “S” General Obligation (GO) Bonds require formation of a Citizens’ Oversight Committee (COC) to review and affirm bond proceeds were expended on projects as identified in each bond measure’s ballot language and project list. The COC is required to meet no less than once per a fiscal year to conduct its activities – however in practice, it is likely that between two and three meetings will occur each fiscal year. The COC is to be comprised of up to seven members

Employees, vendors, consultants and contractors are precluded from serving on a COC. Each member serves a two year term with the option to serve up to three consecutive terms, if required.

The candidate is Sharifa Wilson -- At Large Member.

Ensure accessible COVID-19 testing to residents to slow the spread of disease and protect community health.

The County will:

• Identify neighborhood/area for neighborhood testing site.County Public Health will identify a local area based on current data and information (with as much specificity as the data permit) where Public Health determines that immediate and increased COVID-19 testing is recommended to help contain the spread of disease (“Target Neighborhood”). Public Health will also identify priority demographics such as age and race/ethnicity where data allows (testing site: César Chávez Ravenswood Middle School).
  
• Provide all test kits. Through its partnership with Curative, the County will provide for all COVID-19 test kits, shipping, lab processing, and result notification associated with a testing event.The County will provide test kits at no cost to the Local Partner or the patient (though the patient’s insurance, if available, may be billed to offset the cost of the test). The COVID-19 test kits are patient administered, and specimen collection does not require clinician monitoring. Curative, Inc., is contractually obligated to the County to deliver test results to patients within 48 hours of receipt of specimen. The County and Curative will determine the maximum number of test kits to be available for a given testing event prior to the date of event.
• Outreach plan.County will consult with Curative and Local Partner to identify and implement an effective outreach plan.
• Testing event/site logistics.The County and its vendors provide all staff to support the logistics of the testing event.

RCSD requested proposals from contractors for the demolition, removal and disposal of two mold-infested portablesat the Aspire campus. To ensure that the Aspire Campus has the number of classrooms required on their site, the District intends to replace these portables in the near future.

Three bids were received and evaluated by District Administration and TELACU Construction Management. Based on the review and discussions of the proposals received, the recommendation is to award the contract to Anaya Construction, who was the lowest responsive bidder.

Contractor                              Proposal Amount

Anaya Construction               $ 38,000.00

Coulter Construction              $ 59,903.00

Overhaul Construction           $ 59,000.00

We have been building our Ravenswood Coaching program for several years now, and these roles were developed to support our district mission and strategic plan. We aim to provide support for coaches to grow in their practice, and build a professional community with each other. In the absence of our Lead Instructional Coach, we have the opportunity to work with Jen Ammenti of the Unwound Mind to provide this support.  We also aim to provide support to our TK-5 Math Coach, who supports the development of math instruction and math teacher leadership through one-on-one coaching, collaboration meetings, and professional development.

Decodable books are designed to align with explicit, systemic phonics instruction. They are simple stories constructed using almost exclusively words that are phonetically decodable, using letters and letter-groups that students have learned in phonics or word study lessons.  These books will serve as a supplement to our adopted literacy curriculum in grades K-5 and will provide book for each teacher at approximately $1000 per teacher.

These texts will support teachers in direct explicit literacy instruction with their students during small group or strategy groups. Teachers can choose to send them text home to support their students during independent reading as well. Third to fifth grade teachers have many students that are experiencing gaps in their phonics instruction and need resources to support their learners. The texts being purchased are focused on high interest reading for low level readers.

Belle Haven School would like to rename our Kindergarten garden and paint a mural in honor of one of our previous Kindergarten teachers, Jose Ibarra. Jose Ibarra was a beloved teacher by all staff and students.

We would like to rename the garden because Jose dedicated himself to it. He always took care of the garden on his own time as well as with his students. He used the garden as a tool to teach his students about life. His family is also part of the Belle Haven community and his father helped out frequently. Please see image 2 for a picture of the garden.

We also would like to have a mural painted on a wall in the Kindergarten area. This mural is to honor Jose, as a teacher. The mural covers a variety of aspects our students encounter here at school, such as our mascot, students learning on technology, reading books, students with disabilities, music, art, and gardening. Please see image 1 for a picture of the mural and image 3 for the location of the mural on the attached memo to the Board.

Our school site council voted unanimously to approve both the renaming of the garden as well as painting the mural on the wall at our meeting on December 3, 2020.

The Ravenswood Education Foundation has offered to help with funding for a plaque to place in the garden as well as for paint. The mural itself will be painted by volunteers including Mr. Ibarra’s family and partner.

• Principals, curriculum and instruction team, instructional coaches are working to strengthen current distance learning (SPSA goals, etc.)
• Long term learning acceleration - committee dedicated to this planning and execution, kicking off next week
• More students on campus safely - we’re focusing the School Improvement Working Group on this issue, including committees on COVID Testing & Monitoring, so we can keep our staff and students who are currently on campus safe, and bring more back as conditions permit

Proposed Scope of Work

Ms. Roy will support the district to coordinate strategic pandemic response efforts. We anticipate her priorities in January - March 2021 would include: 

1. BACK TO CAMPUS PLANNING: 

2. COVID TESTING: Develop and project manage a plan to implement a rapid antigen testing pilot program 

3. COVID VACCINES: Develop and project manage a plan to proactively advocate for COVID vaccinations to encourage educators and students to return to campus for in-person instruction

4. STRATEGIC PLAN: Develop and coordinate an engagement process that informs the Supt and Cabinet in order to support them to update the strategic initiatives in the context of COVID.

5. COVID INFO & RESPONSE: Serve as the district’s strategic COVID response lead, including staying up to speed on new information and disseminating that information as needed throughout the district to ensure we’re operating in alignment with the latest requirements and guidance, and coordinating strategic responses as issues or opportunities arise

6. OTHER SUPPORT AS NEEDED: Coordinate strategic responses to other opportunities/ crisis management issues as they arise, particularly those arising in response to COVID.

Over the course of the year, her support would include but not be limited to the following activities:

1. Design and facilitate processes to engage our community in decision-making, and communicate process and outcomes to ensure transparency and build buy-in;

2. Support monitoring and reporting on progress toward the district’s strategic plan, and proactively identify ways that the pandemic might impact implementation of the plan;

3. Facilitate and support the SY20-21 School Improvement Working Group and Steering Committee, under the direction of the Supt., including proposing agendas, preparing materials / reports for the group, co-facilitating meetings, and following up as needed afterwards;

4. Lead cross-functional or strategic initiatives to ensure effective, timely implementation (as assigned and approved by the Supt.), particularly those in response to needs or opportunities brought up by the pandemic;

5. Conduct research, data gathering, analysis and synthesis as needed to inform decision-making.

Context & Contract Purpose

The Ravenswood City School District approved a strategic plan in early 2020 that laid out a bold vision and roadmap to transform the district over the next several years. Then in March, the COVID-19 pandemic forced RCSD schools to shift to instruction via distance learning for the rest of the school year and into Fall 2020. The pandemic has disproportionately impacted communities of color, like East Palo Alto, and the shelter-in-place restrictions caused significant hardship to many of our families. 

Although the conditions in our community and our world have changed dramatically since the strategic plan was adopted less than a year ago, the district continues to believe that the vision and priorities in this plan remain as relevant and essential as ever. However, we need to revisit the strategic initiatives and milestones, to ensure that they reflect our new context and challenges. We also need to identify additional initiatives that have taken priority as we adapt to the new health and safety constraints on how we serve students in the pandemic environment.

Developing new models of instruction and operations under these new conditions (distance learning, hybrid learning, etc.) and coordinating multiple cross-functional initiatives is placing significant strain on existing district staff, who are also still responsible for accomplishing their ongoing daily responsibilities to keep the district / schools / classrooms functioning well. A lack of bandwidth to focus on cross-functional initiatives and move forward our strategic priorities could limit our ability to move as quickly as we would like to meet the needs of our community.

To ensure we advance our strategic priorities despite these unprecedented circumstances, the district proposes to contract with Ann Waterman Roy to provide additional project management, strategic planning, implementation, analysis, engagement & communications support.

There is no fiscal impact on the general fund.The cost of services will be covered by restricted Ravenswood Education Foundation funding.

1. Consultant’s billing rate will be hourly, based on the calculations below: 

The term of this Agreement shall be from January 22, 2021 until December 31, 2021 unless terminated earlier by the District. The District may, at any time from execution of Agreement, terminate this Agreement, in whole or in part, for the convenience of the District, by giving written notice specifying the effective date and scope of such termination. In the event of termination, all finished or unfinished documents, data, studies, reports, and materials (hereafter referred to as materials) prepared by Consultant under this Agreement shall become the property of the District and shall be promptly delivered to the District. In the event of termination, Consultant shall be paid for all work satisfactorily performed until termination.

Note: Updated Agreement. Attachment added 1-19-2021.

Caroline Morales will be eligible for an intern Education Specialist Instruction Credential with an Early Childhood Special Education authorization in Spring of 2021. She has already completed 18 upper division semester units in Special Education with a focus on Early Childhood Special Education at Brandman University. She continues to work towards her Master of Arts in Teaching with a Preliminary Early Childhood Education Specialist Credential. Previously, Caroline has worked as a preschool paraeducator. 

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ms. Morales has not been able to complete the Basic Skills Requirement to be eligible for other permitting documents through the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. This credential waiver will allow Ms. Morales additional time to complete the Basic Skills Requirement.

Last summer (2020), we entered into a 10 year lease with the Primary School (TPS). TPS is making significant facilities enhancements to the campus, and would like to amend the lease to clarify aspects of those investments. 

This includes changes proposed by the board, including identifying a per-portable rate and further clarifying the situations that this agreement applies to. 

CSEAP is a state-run program that allows encourages CSEA employees to save during the summer. These employees can receive matching funds at a very low cost to the district. 

Here is how the program works:

• CSE  members must be eligible to apply. Eligible employees:
  • Work fewer than 11-months a year;
  • Have been employed for at least one year;
  • Earn less than $62,400.
• Employees can set aside up to 10% of their paycheck and have the state match those funds up to a dollar for dollar match. 
  • For example, if your paycheck was $4,000 a month, you could save a maximum of 10% ($400) each month. During the year, if you saved the maximum $4,000 ($400 a month for 10 months). After the end of the summer (no earlier than August 31st, 2022), you would receive up to $8,000 -- your initial $4,000 and an additional $4,000 in state matching funds.
  • That means that you would start saving in August or September, 2021 and you would receive the additional funds in July and August of 2022. 

The district is responsible for the payroll taxes from this program. As this is our first year of the program, it is difficult to forecast the costs here. However, we can estimate the district's maximum exposure. If all CSEA employees were to contribute the maximum amounts (highly unlikely) and the state was to fully fund the program (likely), this could cost the district ~$60,000. However, in this scenario, our CSEA employees would receive roughly $800,000 in additional state funding in that scenario. 

Description: The Curriculum Committee shall have the following objectives:

Assure the alignment of language arts, math, and science curriculum to the state framework.

Review and if necessary, refine grade level expectations.

Assure that internal testing instruments are aligned with curriculum and state testing.

Assure that the testing process is well organized and consistent throughout the District.

Review academic support programs such as libraries and tutoring centers, etc.

Review and if necessary, refine report card system.

Plan to bring Urgent Learners back to campus.

Objectives: Discuss the proposed focus on planning to bring students back on campus.

• Three major challenges facing the district (First three months of the school year)
• Distance learning implementation, 
• Bringing more students back on campus, and 
• Planning for long term learning recovery
•  
• Next three months are critical for planning to bring students back on campus - need this group’s help
• Currently planning to be ready to bring urgent learners back by 1/25
• Will phase in, adjust, and bring more students back over time
• Need lots of planning, reflection and effective communication

BOARD MEETING ARE RECORDED.