The 4-1-1 on the March 14 2023 IUSD Board of Education Meeting: Terry Walker Honored for 25 years of service with IUSD
Standing Room Only Crowd for Public Comments
The March 14 2023 IUSD Board of education meeting was one of the most heavily attended meetings that I have been to in the nearly two years I’ve been attending in person. It was standing room only when the meeting was first called to order. I estimate that there were more than 100 community members present. The audience was comprised of high school students along with their families, elementary students along with their families, and coaches. All five Board Members were present as was Terry Walker. Cyril Yu noted that his absence from the February meeting was due to illness but he had tuned in for the livestream. Lauren later remarked (during her Board Member read out) that she had also been battling illness the past few weeks. Nothing was mentioned about Terry Walker’s absence from the February meeting. It was a LONG meeting mostly due to Public Comments at the beginning spanned about an hour. There were four items of business to cover- more than average for a typical meeting. Much of the standing room only crowd dissipated upon conclusion of the Public Comments portion. I estimate only 3 community members remained (counting myself) post Public Comments. I wasn’t able to stay for the duration of the meeting and left around 8:15pm upon conclusion of the Board Member Read Outs. I watched the replay and have reviewed the transcript to glean the details for the portions of the meeting I missed so as to provide an accurate assessment of what was covered.
Items of Business Covered
The items of business covered during this meeting can be found here under section 21 and were as follows:
a. Proposed Additions to the Secondary Course of Study: Grades 7-12 for the 2023-24 School Year- See Figure 1 Below; presented by Cassie Parham- unanimously approved by Board; Cassie shared that preparing students for college and career pathways, student feedback on courses of interest, funding and teacher availability are key factors in determining-annually-which new courses will be offered. Should new courses not produce anticipated interest levels during their initial offering, they will be substituted with alternative offerings.
Figure 1- Proposed Additions to IUSD Course of Study 2023-2024 as included via attachment to Agenda Item of Business number 21(a).
b. Resolution No. 22-23-21: Proclaiming the Board of Education's Dedication to College, Career, and Life Readiness for All Students - Roll Call- Minor grammatical Edit requests proposed by Cyril Yu, only first & last paragraphs were read aloud for the record- Resolution Unanimously approved by Board based on reading of first & last paragraph
c. Second Interim Report of 2022-23 (AB1200, Chapter 1213, Statutes of 1991)- 46 minutes long starting at the 2 hour 2 minute mark - Board unanimously Certified the Second Interim Report of 2022-23 as “Positive” based on information presented. A full sub stack post will be dedicated just to this agenda item as it has significant ramifications. Please stay tuned.
d. Adoption of the IUSD Transportation Plan- about 30 minutes long starting at the 2 hour 46 minute mark- Board unanimously Adopted the IUSD Transportation Plan, as submitted. It was shared that a transportation survey was recently administered to the IUSD community and the feedback has been valuable. IUSD spends upwards of $3.3 million annually transporting students to and from school. It was noted that the recently passed Assembly Bill 2233 related to the “development of affordable housing” will have implications for IUSD requiring IUSD to broaden its public transportation offerings. It was also shared that for the first time in 10 years, IUSD is receiving $2.3 million from State of California to offset transportation expenses incurred. In spite of the extra funding from the State, IUSD continues to run on a “structural deficit” for the transportation line item. Transportation costs incurred are unavoidable because IUSD is required, by law, to provide certain transportation services. It was made clear that transportation costs infringe upon other areas of the budget thus tradeoffs are made on an ongoing basis. (ie: IUSD has been faced with the decision of hiring more teachers vs. providing more transportation services). It was noted that Durham, the major provider of bus transportation for IUSD, faced an unprecedented bus driver shortages throughout the pandemic and should be back to 100% staffing levels by the start of the 2023-2024 school year. Because Durham was short on bus drivers, IUSD had to rely on third party transportation services to get students to and from school which come at a higher cost. IUSD has been able to negotiate a new contract with Durham which includes a clause stipulating Durham will pay the cost differential to IUSD anytime third party transport is used due to bus driver shortages. It was shared that 100% of IUSD’s school bus fleet is CNG and IUSD is working towards electrifying its fleet.
Meeting Flow
The flow of the meeting was standard with Public comments following the approval of the meeting agenda. The Public comments commenced at the 2 minute mark and wrapped up at the 59 minute mark. There were 5 topics addressed during Public Comments:
The 600 IUSD students from Turtle Rock, Stone Creek, Cadence Park and Oak Creek that were stranded at Pali Institute after their Outdoor Education Week due to inclement weather
3 public comments were shared on this topic. Two 6th grade students from Cadence Park shared their comments about the experience of being stuck in the mountains longer than anticipated and expressed their appreciation for the teachers that helped them get through the situation. The final comment on this topic was from their father, Joey, who is a product of IUSD himself. He expressed concern about the lack of information and lack of communication provided to affected families. He questioned whether the District acted with enough sense of urgency in addressing the matter. He noted that the OC Sheriff hadn’t even been made aware of the number IUSD students stuck at Pali Institute early on. He expressed gratitude that the students were safely returned but expects IUSD to do better. He also noted “I’ve tried to get a meeting with Terry Walker and he won’t meet with me.”
Appeal to the Board to offer Girls Flag Football as a competitive IUSD Varsity Team Sport recognized by California Interscholastic Federation (CIF)
11 public comments were shared on this topic from club girls flag football coaches, parents supporting girls flag football, Woodbridge High students, University High Students and IUSD mom/founder of a South County Matt Leinart Flag Football league. Those public comments start at the 8 minute mark of the meeting and wrap up at the 40 minute mark.
Request for a public hearing to discuss how IUSD’s COVID Mandates, mitigation plan and other COVID policies have affected IUSD community members (students, teachers, staff, IUSD families…etc)
The Public Comments shared on this topic were shared by me. You can find the full transcript of my comments and what I requested of the board here.
Concern over IUSD’s discrimination against students with disabilities
Michelle & Matthew -the mother and father of an Autistic Portola High School student addressed the Board regarding concerns they previously brought the Board’s attention via public comments. They reminded the board of the incident that had taken place previously where a gate was left open and their son had wondered off campus undetected. It was shared that the District has yet to provide the statements from the incident to the family as they have repeatedly requested. Michelle & Matthew shared they have since removed their son from Portola High. The other concern brought forward by Michelle, for a second time, is the lesser amount of educational minutes IUSD is providing students with disabilities which seems to be intentional. Michelle informed the Board that she has filed and Office of Civil Rights Discrimination Complaint against IUSD over this matter.
Request for a Teacher On Special Assignment (TOSA) to be put in place to grow the Robotics program at Portola so that it is on par with offerings at Beckman & Foothill in Tustin Unified
This was mother of a Portola High School Student Stella’s second time addressing the Board on this topic via public comments. She expressed concern over Portola High Robotics program not receiving the support it needs to be successful and requested the Board’s engagement in addressing the concern.
Student Board Reports
Student Board reports followed Public Comments. Each of the five students shared their usual updates from their respective school on: Student Governance activities, Academic activities, Athletic Activities, Arts activities, Philanthropic events and Social activities. Student Body elections are underway across all the high schools. Prom season is forthcoming. Many activities are planned for seniors to celebrate their final weeks of school later in the spring. Students who participate in the Legislative Action program are gearing up for their trip to Sacramento. University High School is undergoing its WASC accreditation.
Superintendent’s Report
The Superintendent’s report followed Student Board Reports. Mr. Walker shared positive feedback about the Irvine Public School Foundation (IPSF) annual gala which had recently taken place and gave thanks to IPSF for their partnership with IUSD. He spoke about and highlighted the ongoing training that is happening:
Customized/individualized training that happens before the start of each school year
A new on demand training platform available to teachers and schools
“Instructional Academies” for its leaders
A “Continuous Leadership Academy”
Induction Training for teachers new to IUSD
Emphasis was placed how proud Mr. Walker is of the training opportunities offered which are critical for IUSD to better serve its students.
Mr. Walker followed up the training highlights by commending the Measure E work and Measure E project progress that has been made. He then went on to break protocol by directly addressing two of the topics commented on during public comments: Outdoor Education Stranded Student situation, Competitive Girls Flag Football as an IUSD Varsity sport.
On the topic of Stranded Students, he stated “We [IUSD] are no strangers to significant events that present challenges…..[The] health and safety of our students and staff are the highest priority.” He implied that it was an all hands on deck scenario to reunite the students with their families and that there was no shortage of personnel working 24/7 to make that happen. He emphasized how proud he was of his team and how appreciative he is of the students and of the parents and the feedback parents provided. He pleaded for understanding from the community stating:
“I just hope people understand we continue to recognize there are some things that we can look back on in a perfect world and maybe think about contingency planning….most people completely understood what occurred was outside of our control. I just feel like we did amazing things.”
On the topic of Competitive Girls Flag Football as an IUSD Varsity Sport Mr. Walker implied that responsibility currently rests with CIF (governing agency) to work out the details as it has only recently approved Girls Varsity Flag Football as a competitive sport. IUSD recognizes the abundance of support for this program locally, the timelines they would need to comply with, and the resources that would be required. IUSD will move forward as they receive direction from CIF. Mr. Walker emphasized there is no action for the Board to take at this time. As he receives guidance from CIF he will keep all parties informed.
Board Member Read Outs
Board Member read outs followed the Superintendent Report. Board member Katie McEwen highlighted the IUSD the Holocaust Art & Writing contest hosted by Chapman University where IUSD had several finalists and a contest winner from Woodbridge High School. She articulated the importance of students being able to hear the stories of the Holocaust survivors so as to preserve the historical significance of their stories. She shared that the mental health data she had requested from Terry Walker’s team had recently been shared with her and she is parsing through it. She acknowledged that students have been struggling coming out of the pandemic and looks forward to working closely with administration to establish a dashboard which will allow closer monitoring of student mental health in more transparent and comprehendible fashion. The other Board Members commented on the Stranded Students Situation, the invitation to attend Irvine’s “Stated of the City” presentation, touched on the ongoing advocacy work, and shared highlights from their “Read Across America Day” experiences where they participated by reading to students at various elementary school sites.
Consent Agenda
The consent agenda followed the Board Member read outs. As per usual, the consent agenda was breezed through to make way for the items of business. I’ve included information on the Items of Business Agenda that were covered towards the top of this post. The Second Interim Report on the budget has so much significance and substance to it that I will devote a separate Substack post to the topic. In the interim, I encourage everyone that can to watch that portion of the meeting starting at the 2 hour 2 minute mark. This report sheds light on the economic situation facing our nation and our state and what it means for public education at the local and state levels.
Meeting Adjournment
Upon conclusion of the Items of Business discussion, Board President Lauren Brooks made a special announcement in honor of Terry Walker’s service anniversary. She noted that Terry is celebrating 25 years with IUSD. His first days at IUSD started in the classrooms of Santiago Hills Elementary where he was highly regarded by his students whom, to this day, speak endearingly about having him as a teacher. He moved on to other roles within IUSD over the years and ultimately stepped into the Superintendent role in 2011 a post he has served in for 13 years. Terry was presented with a token of appreciation by Lauren and the Board to commemorate his years of service.
The meeting was promptly adjourned upon conclusion of the special announcement ending just shy of 10:00pm.