Members of the public may address the Board on items listed on the closed session agenda. Speakers are limited to three minutes each (Board Bylaw 9323(5)).

The Board will consider approval of the minutes from the December 20, 2017, Regular Board Meeting.

Yunuen Estrada (Proctor Terrace Elementary School)
Kendrick Asiel Martinez Cruz (Steele Lane Elementary School)

The following schools will present parent organization updates: 

Proctor Terrace Elementary
Steele Lane Elementary 

This is an opportunity for members of the public to speak to the board on non-agenda items.  Comments on items that are on the agenda will take place during the discussion on that agenda item.  Members of the public may address the Board on matters within the subject matter of its jurisdiction. Please submit a Speaker Card to the Board Secretary prior to the meeting being called to order. Upon recognition by the Board President, please approach the podium. The Board shall take no action or discussion on any item not appearing on the posted agenda, except as authorized by law (BB 9323(2)). Speakers are limited to 3 minutes each (BB 9323(5)). Should a member of the public have comments that pertain to a complaint against an employee of the District, the Board advises that the matter should first be pursued using the appropriate district complaint procedure (BB 9323(6)).

All consent items are enacted by the Board in one motion, unless a Board member requests that an item be removed and discussed separately.  

The Board will consider approval of absent Board Member(s), if necessary, due to illness, jury duty, or a hardship deemed acceptable by the Board in accordance with Education Code Section 35120.

The Board will consider approval of the personnel transactions submitted. 

Staff is presenting Personnel Transaction items for Board approval.

The Board will consider approval of the vendor warrants submitted.  The attached warrant register lists all vendors for the period 12/11/17 through 12/21/17 for a total of $4,013,088.25. 

Staff is presenting the Warrant Register List for Board Approval.

Financially significant vendor warrants that highlight the largest check or invoice paid to a particular vendor:

(Current) Warrants - December 11, 2017 through December 21, 2017 = $4,013,088.25.
(Total 17/18 Fiscal Year) Warrants - July 1, 2017 through December 21, 2017 = $40,770,251.21.

The Board will consider approval of the donations and gifts submitted.

Parents, students, community members, and businesses make donations and give gifts to the schools on a regular basis. Donations come in the form of money, goods, or services. These donations are appreciated and welcomed by the schools and departments.

Donations received since December 20, 2017 = $34,533.75.
District-wide donations year to date = $ 1,129,370.50.

 The Board will consider approval of the contracts submitted.

Staff is submitting requests from various schools and departments to hire individual contracts or consulting firms to provide specified services.  For fiscal and learning impacts, see the attached summary sheet.

Total value of contracts = $837,755.56

The Board will consider approval of the Board Member School Site Liaison Assignments for 2018.   

Purpose

Approve the board member liaison assignments for 2018.

Consideration

In 1998, the Board established school-site liaison assignments so that all of the Districts' schools would be visited on a regular basis by at least one board member.  

Board Policy

None

Education Code

None

Previous Board History

The Board will consider approving the Tentative Agreement reached with the Santa Rosa Teachers Association (SRTA) on December 7, 2017, effective July 1, 2016, through June 30, 2020.

Purpose

Through the Fact-Finding process, both parties negotiated and agreed to a Tentative Agreement to increasing the Certificated Salary Schedules and District contribution for Health and Welfare Benefits outlined in the attached copy of the TA dated December 7, 2017.  The Board will need to ratify the Tentative Agreement.

Considerations

The Board and District will need to consider the impact of this Tentative Agreement on other employee groups.  As shown in the AB1200 response provided by the Sonoma County Office of Education, the District will need to make significant reductions in the 2018-19 and 2019-20 budgets to meet its financial obligations.  SRTA ratified this Tentative Agreement on December 21, 2017.

Board Policy

BP 4143

California Law

SB 160 - Rodda Act

Previous Board History

June 10, 2015

The cost of one percent (1%) ongoing salary increase to all certificated salary schedules effective January 1, 2018, will be $399,144.50.

The cost of the increase in the District benefit contribution by $1,400 for the 2017-2018 school year, effective thirty (30) days after ratification of this Tentative Agreement by both parties, making the total medical contribution per FTE $3,900 will be $224,000.00.

The cost of one and one-half percent (1.5%) ongoing salary increase to all certificated salary schedules effective January 1, 2019, will be $598,716.75.

The cost of the increase in the District benefit contribution by $1,400, making the 2018-2019 total medical contribution per FTE $5,300, effective July 1, 2018, will be $630,000.00.  

Cost of two menu-driven Professional Development days in 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 school year (approximate 1% increase per year) will be $800,00000 in 2017-2018 and $840,000.00 in 2018-2019.

The cost of placing all designated hourly teachers on the teacher salary schedule effective January 1, 2018, will be $94,910.11.

This is the first Board discussion to address the rebuilding of the Santa Rosa High School Farm. 

Purpose

During the Sonoma County Wildfires, the Santa Rosa High School Farm was severely damaged. The loss at the farm included: the barn, caretaker residence, vehicles, livestock trailers, tools, irrigation system, and the water pump. This will be the first in a series of discussions to rebuild the farm. 

Considerations

Overall Goal:

SRCS would like to make the Santa Rosa High / Alba Lane Farm (Farm) a great educational center for the students it currently serves as well as those in the future. This would include rebuilding the Farm to house livestock and to continue to grow wine grapes, hops, fruit, and row crops. Initial discussions include the following:

1. Rebuild the Caretaker Residence (Multi-home if possible)
2. Rebuild the Barn with adequate space for different animals and storage
3. Replace Vehicles and livestock trailers
4. Replace farm and agriculture tools
5. Build garage and storage area for vehicles and trailers
6. Replace irrigation systems and the water pump
7. Relocate animal pens from the main Santa Rosa High School campus to the farm
8. Build an outdoor multi-use covered arena for instruction, training, and storage.

• Items 1-6: This would replace those items destroyed by the fires.

• Item 7: This would move the animal pens off of the Santa Rosa High campus to house all animals at the farm.

• Item 8: This would be a new structure at the farm.

Insurance:

At the time of writing, the insurance company estimates they will provide approximately one million one hundred sixty-eight thousand dollars ($1,168,000) to contribute to the rebuilding of the Santa Rosa High Farm. Note: Item 6-The irrigation system and the water pump will be replaced by a separate insurance claim. This number is fluid and the expectation is to receive the final insurance settlement figure the week of January 8, 2018. 

Community Outreach:

Staff was contacted by a representative of the Sonoma County Fair Foundation Board who expressed interest by the Foundation to provide assistance in rebuilding the facility. A representative will be present at the Board meeting to discuss possible short-term solutions and long-term assistance as the SRHS Farm is rebuilt.

Board Policy

None

Education Code

None

Previous Board History

None

The Board will receive an update on the Integrated Pest Management policies and practices in Santa Rosa City Schools, and an update to Administrative Regulation (AR) 3514.2.

Purpose

To inform the Board of an update to AR 3514.2  regarding Integrated Pest Management and a community advisory committee working with the District on an Annual Integrated Pest Management Plan.

Consideration

At the September 13, 2017  Board Meeting, under Item C.10 Public Comment, on Non-Agenda Items, members of the community (Megan Kaun, Kerry Fugett, Marlena Hirsch and Nichole Warwick) spoke on the District’s use of non-toxic/safe pesticides on District Property. 

On September 21, 2017, André R. Bell, Assistant Superintendent of Business Services and the Maintenance and Operations Director met with the aforementioned members of the community, along with Ryan Thompson, Assistant Principal of Piner High School, to get a better understating of their concerns. The group requested the District to revise its Administrative Regulation Policy (AR 3514.2) promoting the use of nontoxic pesticides instead of synthetic pesticides and to establish a community advisory committee to work with the District on the Annual Integrated Pest Management Plan. District staff further met with the group on October 16, 2017 and again on December 12, 2017 to review the changes to the AR.  District Staff has updated the AR to use pesticides that pose the least possible hazard to all people at all District sites. Furthermore, the District would form an Advisory Committee to work with District Staff in developing the annual Pest Management Plan.

Board Policy:

BP 3514.1

Education Code and Statute

EC 17366 Legislative Intent
EC17608-17613 Health Schools Act of 2000

Previous Board History

November 14, 2007 - Board Approved BP 3514.2 and AR 3514.2 

The Board will be updated with information regarding the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) Tests results for 2017 and the California Accountability Dashboard.

Purpose

The California School Dashboard contains reports that display the performance of local educational agencies (LEAs), schools, and student groups on a set of state and local measures to assist in identifying strengths, challenges, and areas in need of improvement.  For the California Accountability Dashboard model, the Academic Indicator is one of eight LCAP priority areas used to measure performance and progress.  One of these Academic Indicators is the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) assessments English language arts/literacy (ELA) and mathematics results.

Shown below is a summary of the SBAC results for 2017.

ALL grade levels tested in ELA:

ALL grade levels tested in Math:

The data provided by the SBAC assessments indicate that Santa Rosa City Schools needs to:

• Continue addressing how to close the opportunity gap for underserved students.
• Use multiple types of data to help guide our decision-making and instruction on behalf of these students.
• Develop progress monitoring tools to help us track students’ mastery of skills.
• Improve our professional development related to formative assessments, CASSPP preparation, administration and data analysis.

Considerations

• Participation and Consultation with SCOE Data and Assessment Network 
• Differentiated Technical Assistance
• Principals have shared data with sites 
• Parent and Community have and will receive information on the data through DAC, ELAC, DELAC
• There are 12,000 technology devices in the district, 8,000 Chrome books

Board Policy

LCAP: The Board of Education desires to ensure the most efficient use of available funding to improve outcomes for all students. A community-based, comprehensive, data-driven planning process shall be used to identify annual goals and specific actions and to facilitate continuous improvement of district practices.

Accountability: The Board shall regularly review the effectiveness of the district's programs, personnel, and fiscal operations, with a focus on the district's effectiveness in improving student achievement.

Ed Code

Section 60640: California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASP) System

Previous Board Activity

CAASP/SBAC

September 28, 2016: Report of Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium/California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (SBAC/CAASPP) scores for Santa Rosa City Schools.

LCAP 

November 15, 2017: The Board will be updated with the LCAP timeline and progress on the local indicators for the California Dashboard.  The Dashboard contains reports that display the performance of local educational agencies (LEAs), schools, and student groups on a set of state and local measures to assist in identifying strengths, weaknesses, and areas in need of improvement. 

The Board will consider approval of the Annual Capital Facilities and Developer Fees Report and Resolution No. 2017/18-023.  

Purpose

The Board is required by the Government Code to adopt a resolution regarding the accounting of SACS Fund 25 (Developer Fees). The draft resolution and accounting must be publicly available on or before the 180th day after the close of the Fiscal Year (December 27, 2017.) A draft of the resolution and accounting was put on public display at the Developer Fees counter in Fiscal Services on December 22, 2017.

Consideration

In order to finance the construction or reconstruction of school facilities needed to accommodate students coming from new development, Santa Rosa City Schools establishes and collects developer fees on residential, commercial and industrial construction within the district.

Developer fees shall be deposited, invested, accounted for and expended pursuant to Government Code 66006. Developer fees shall be deposited in a separate capital facilities account, and shall be used only for the purpose for which they were collected. Interest income earned by the capital facilities account shall also be deposited in that account and used only for the purpose for which the fee was originally collected. 

For this account, this information shall be made available to the public within 180 days after the last day of each fiscal year.

Board Policy

AR 7211 Facilities - Developer Fees

California Law

Gov Code 66006 Fees for Development Projects

Previous Board History 

December 14, 2016 (Item F-6) The Board approved the annual Accounting of Development Fees and Resolution for the 2015-16 fiscal year.

August 23, 2017 (Item F-6) The Board approved the current developer fee study report with the current rates for residential, commercial and industrial construction.

Developer fees are part of the District capital facilities program.  In the 2016-2017 fiscal year, the District collected fees and interest of $905,967, which are 3.7% lower than the prior year, and 7.5% lower than the average of fees collected over the last 7 fiscal years.

The Board of Education will be presented information on an anti-bullying software application called "STOPit®."  Through the app, students can send photos, videos, and screen-shot evidence anonymously to report behavior to school leaders. STOPit® is recommended by Redwood Empire Schools Insurance Group (RESIG) at no cost to Santa Rosa City Schools.

Also in this Item, is a temporary revision to current School Board Policy 5131 regarding the use of cell phones. Current middle school Board Policy prohibits students 7-8 from using a cellphone at any time during the school day. Comstock Middle School has asked for a temporary revision for Spring 2018. This revision will allow them to use the existing language for student 9-12 in order to test the "STOPit®" application in the previous board item.

Approval of Contract: STOPit Anti-Bullying App

Purpose

This software application is an attempt to increase communication with students at the middle and high school level around safety and mental health issues that affect students. This software can be used on a computer or from a smartphone. The platform also includes two-way anonymous messaging for direct communication with administration and round-the-clock access to a talk-or-text crisis center. 

Many students may not be inclined to come forward with information about bullying, or other harmful or dangerous behavior or situations for fear of retaliation, and being labeled a "snitch."  The vast majority of students have access to either a smartphone, a computer at school or a computer at home. Any electronic platform will allow students to report an incident or concern.  STOPit® allows school sites to be more proactive instead of reactive when it comes to dealing with incidents of inappropriate behavior and mental health support. When students are comfortable sharing information with you, more students will start asking for and getting the help they need, and address issues early on. In addition, STOPit® also has the ability to give students immediate contact information for mental health issues such as suicide prevention. In a previous Board item, the SRCS Suicide Prevention Committee has endorsed the use of STOPit® as it will benefit students for mental health concerns also.

Considerations

Incidents are reported at all school sites. Despite the many practices that schools sites use to encourage students to come forward and report incidents and concerns, sites believe the anonymity of STOPit® will allow greater communication.  This item could also reduce higher costs of litigation, either from the cost of District personnel investigating parent complaints or from the cost of lawsuits filed against the District.

Students using STOPit® would work as a deterrent to bullying behavior, and help in maintaining a safe school environment for all students. STOPit® is currently being used in 12 Sonoma County School Districts.  Student and Family Engagement has visited one of the schools currently using the application, Kenilworth Middle School, and they endorse it because it allows site administrators to be more proactive and reduce incidents before they become long-standing. STOPit® has been presented to the site Principals at a recent Principal's meeting. The High School and Middle School principals are considering the use of this program as a pilot this during the Spring.  Approval of this contract will allow these sites to present information to their staff and prepare for implementation.

This item will be on the agenda for consultation with SRTA and CSEA  at their next regularly scheduled meetings.

Education Code

48900(r) Bullying 

Previous Board History

None

FIRST READING: Revision to Board Policy 5131

Purpose 

Current Board Policy 5131 does not allow a student in grades 7-8 to use a cell phone at any time during the school day.  Students 9-12 may use cell phones during break and at lunch and as authorized for instruction by the classroom teacher. As a pilot program for the Spring of 2018, Comstock Middle School's, Principal, Laura Hendrickson, requests to try the STOPit® software for the middle school similar to high school students. (see attached policy on pages 3-4). This action will only allow this revision through the end of the school year June 2018. If no action is taken, the middle school policy reverts back to the current policy at Comstock for the 2018-2019 school year.

Considerations

The STOPit®  application will be used at all middle schools as a pilot for the spring of 2018. However, with the exception of Comstock, the middle schools believe they can use the program effectively within the current Board Policy. If the revised policy is approved by the Board, Student and Family Engagement will collect data including feedback from the middle school administrators at the end of the school year to determine if the amended policy should continue. 

Education Code

35181 Governing board authority to set policy on responsibilities of students
35291 and 35291.5 Rules
44807 Duty concerning conduct of students

Previous History

June 13, 2012 (Item F4)

None.  STOPit® is provided by RESIG free of cost.

The Board will conduct a public hearing on the Charter Establishment Petition for Pivot Charter School North Bay. This is the second request and review of the charter petition.  The Board denied the charter authorization on November 15, 2017.

Purpose 

This hearing gives the public and Board of Education the opportunity to ask questions about the proposed charter.

Outcomes

The charter petition will come back before the board within 60 days of the date SRCS received the request from Pivot for approval or denial.

Consultation

As part of the petition process, each Department: Human Resources, Curriculum and Instruction, Student and Family Engagement are reviewing the petition, their feedback and analysis will be part of the presentation on February 14, 2018.

Previous Board Activity

October 25, 2017, Public Hearing on Pivot Charter School North Bay 

November 15, 2017, The Santa Rosa City School Board was presented with the district's recommendation on the Pivot Charter Petition.

Pivot Charter is an independent charter, meaning the funds for Santa Rosa City School students choosing this charter goes directly to the Roads Education Organization, the nonprofit organization runs the Pivot charter schools.

These items are presented for informational purposes only.