 Good morning. So I'm going to call the meeting to order. So welcome to our PBSD board meeting. We do have, we can have our music stop. That'd be fantastic. Thank you. We do have translation in Spanish. So if you need that support, please see Oranía Lopez. So tenemos traducción en Español. Si necesita de este servicio, por favor pase con Oranía Lopez. And if you would like to speak to an item on the agenda, please complete a speaker card and hand it to Eva Ranzaria. And you need to have that card in before the agenda item where public speakers can make their comments. Each speaker will have two minutes and we'll move on to item 1.2, our Pledge of Allegiance. And I would like to ask Trustee D'Serpa to please lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, one God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. All right. Item 2.1, can I have a motion to approve the agenda? I'll make a motion to approve the agenda. Call second. I have a first and a second. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries 6-0. All right. We're going to move on to item 3.1, our provisional appointment. Each board member has four individual sheets containing the six interview questions. We have one sheet per applicant. We do have our four applicants here. They drew numbers for their order and they were given that order and that was randomly. So we have the order is going to be Antonio Rivas, Lowell Hurst, Adam Bolaño-Scow, and Lizette Zuniga-Zamuriel. And what we're going to be doing is the four applicants, Rocio, is going to take them to a separate room so that they will not be hearing the other candidate's responses. Each person will have their own opportunity to answer their questions anew. So since Antonio Rivas is the first person to answer, you can go ahead and stay at this time. But Rocio, if you would take the other three people to the room at this time, that would be great. So Eva, if you would please use the roll call cards to determine the first board member for question number one. Okay. For question number one, Trustee Flores. And for question number two? For question number two, Trustee Vice President Clerk. Okay. And for question number three? Question number three, Trustee Soto. All right. And for question number four? Question number four, Dr. Holm. Okay. And for question number five? Question number five, Trustee Dodd Jr. And for question number six? Trustee Disarpa. All right. So Mr. Rivas, you can go ahead and come forward. You'll have two minutes to respond to each question. And then after the six questions, you'll have, you can have two minutes to make a closing statement if you wish. All right. Great. So if we want to go ahead and start, Trustee Flores, you can go ahead and start with the first question. Hello. And thank you for being here today and putting your name in the hat. The first question is, please summarize the strengths you would bring as a member of the board. Trustee Rivas. I'm sorry, you're not a trustee. Trustee Candidate. There we go. Here we go. I'm going to make sure people can hear you. Okay. Here we go. I'm going to start again. Honorable school board members of trustee, I come before you for the opportunity really to be appointed as your trustee in area six. And as to the question, what do I bring to you as a trustee? I'm someone that's been in education for 40 years. I'm retired. I've been, you know, in an experience. I have an experience that is not knowledgeable. He's a teacher, resource teacher, coordinator, counselor, and administrative for many years in those years. Along with that, I have eight years with the Watsonville City Council in which I was, two years has Mayor Portem and also two years has Mayor of the City of Watsonville. I've been, you know, as a leader in my community for many years. When I got elected with the City of Watsonville, it is very important to me that I bring you an array of experience and knowledge in relation to education as well as the city government. I've been in many commissions like the Transportation Commission, the Metro Board, I've been in the Mayor's Council, I've been in the Criminal Justice, the Sheriff's, the Sheriff's Citizen Advisory Board. And also, one of the things that I was very proud of was elected as the regional president of the State of California League of Cities. And you probably have a copy on my resume of many other activities that I have done. So, so right now, presently, people have asked me to belong to different commissions. I'm the board of directors of the Central Coast Red Cross, in which we did great this time and raising a lot of money. So, and hopefully any of you have been able to provide, you know, funding, give money to our Red Cross. Thank you for that. We'll move on to the next question. Okay. Yeah. And the last one, I just want to say, also, I'm in the Commissioner for the Mental Health Commission. It's two minutes. Sorry. That's it. Okay, here we go. Another question. Yes. Good morning, Mr. Rivas. So, my question for you is, how does an effective school board ensure parents and community members have opportunities to express their diverse range of views to inform board deliberations on important policy issues? Well, it's very important to me, you know, for with parents and to get involved in our community. And I said, you know, some of the things that is very important to me to, in regards to to involve the community in any venue and to be transparent, no matter what it is and include, you know, with the budgets decisions that you make has, has, has, you know, trustees. And for me, I had that experience to do that as a member of the City Council. We did that many times, community members, community citizens get involved in communities so big, so we can be able to, so the community can be able to trust whatever decisions that we made has trustees. I know sometimes, you know, we tend to keep some information out, but I think for me, as a member of this board, is to be open, be open and transparent to our community in order to, they be able to have the respect of our decisions. It's very important to me to see that. We did it that, we did it in the City Council when we have time. And, and all I can say to you is we have to be transparent. We have to be transparent no matter what, because the community is watching every policy, every decision that we make. And it's my, my intention is that there's trustee to be open and transparent so they can be able to trust our decisions. Thank you. Thank you. For question number three, Trustee Soto. Hey, good morning. Good morning. So, what are you proud of in this district? And what would you like to accomplish as a school board member is a three-part question. And which is your highest priority and why? Are you clear on the question? Yeah, yeah. Okay. Well, one of the things that is very important that my goal is that, one of the things that I really saw the, the superintendent theme, lift, and which I really believe in that kind of theme. And which you, apparently all of you know that it's very important when it's said that every person, every student, education, and ecosystems, which that's what she said, which includes the students, the family, the staff, and the community that contributes to the development of private, confident students on the pathway to fulfill the individual aspiration. This is a great thing. And that's something that all of us be able to follow. And I believe that very strongly. Another thing that I would like to improve is to put attention to our students with disabilities. It's something that will have to improve that. Now with the pandemic that will happen, they got behind. And they're not going to be able to have that individual, personal instruction with our students with disability. Also, the other thing is that I would like to do is to be transparent in regards to the budget. More communication with each other. More communication and to be able to trust, ask, because it's very important. When we make the decision, I know all of you care for the, for the students that work out of this district. And hopefully, and everybody has different ways of doing it. But we have to come together and come up with the decisions and come to ways and we can be able to help each other. So whenever we make a decision, we have to be together along with the superintendent because we have to support our superintendent no matter what. It's important to that. So, and the other one is that we have to make celebrations for our, for the district achievements and accomplishes that our students, they do within our school district. And I think that's it. And, and develop more wellness centers with our, with our district. Thank you. Next question is mine. So describe your response if a parent engages you in a grocery store and asks you for your support on a particularly controversial issue. Okay. We're going to have those throughout the community, which we have that within our, when I was in the city council members. We have to listen to that person that they have a concern in regards to a certain issue. We can bring it up within a school board and depends on what the issue is. We have to discuss that issue and hopefully we can be able to, one of the things that we'll first, I will ask that person is to write that complaint or concern. So we can have an unrecord and we'll be able to see it. It can be a legal issue or it can be just a policy issue. So that's what we have to understand that. And that's when the superintendent and, and the administration and the legal matters that we have to do, we have to work that, that concern that we need to resolve if it is important. If it is important and it's a concern that that particular individual have, eventually write it down, listen to it, and then maybe he can come before you, before the trustees to elaborate that concern. And then at the same time, we as trustees be able to discuss this matter in a closed session and, and see what kind of solution we have for that particular concern or the particular individual in regards to the school. Thank you. Trustee Dodd, junior for question number five. Good morning, former council member Rivas. Good morning. My question is identify a recent board decision that you felt strongly about and describe how you would balance community concerns, student needs, state and federal law, staff considerations, and your personal values and beliefs to determine how to vote on the issue. And how your personal and beliefs to determine how you would vote on the, on the issue. I can read the question again if you want. Well, issues will be coming in in different ways. And the issues sometimes, you know, it can be controversial. It can be very simple to come out with, to support. It can be, it can be a radio funding, it can be a radio bonding, you know, to be able to go get some bonds. With many experiences that that's something that we will discuss with the superintendent and the administration to be able to see what those issues will be. And this is an important issue of funding or things that we have to work on it. We able to be able to discuss that matter and how we approach that. If we need to hire a consultant to deal with that issues to give us some, you know, more information or more way of doing that, that critical issues, that's fine. But at the same time, you know, has my experience, I've been working, you know, with every elected official in my years to have the city council and also has his commissions that I serve with a state, federal as well as local officials. And I have a good relationship with them. So if I need to discuss the matter and to approach that, those things that we need to do within the school, I will be a person that will help you assist and support you with us. I'm a person that, you know, be able to, they know me and I know them. So I have that kind of resources with the involvement that I have done throughout my years working as a leader in this community. So that's the way I approach it. Okay, thank you. And trustee DeSerfa for question number six. Hi, Mr. Rivas. Hi. Thank you so much for being here and for all your years of service to our community. Thank you. What will you do to become an effective board member? Well, you know, it's to be effective in any role because an elected official is very important to be able to trust with each other. Communication is very important. The communication between each other is, for me, is very important and the trust that we have within ourselves is very important to me because that's the way we make decisions and and help our community. And in one way that we do, you know, as a member of the City Council and, you know, and a lot of the commissions that I serve, we tend to work it out. Of course, we're going to have differences, different opinions, but at the same time I think the main goal for us is to be able to for the betterment of our students in this district, whatever it is. It can be a program. It can be funding. It can be else to that. So, and you have to be a good listener, a great listener in order to understand the issues. As a counselor for many years, 25 years, and since also I work at Brown Hills Middle School and then out of the high school and Alistair High School and Salinas. So it's very important to have that communication, you know, with the principal, with the other staff members, and I did and I do all those things throughout the years myself. And for me, that's I think, you know, that's one of the main things that we need to do within our, because I trust you to listen, communicate, and trust you with each other. Thank you. If you would like to make a closing statement, you have two minutes to do so. What? That was the sixth question. So if you would like to make a closing statement, you're welcome. A closing statement. Okay. Well, really, my goal of being a new trustee is to support and enhance the educational models that you have developed in the school district. And also to really to maximize the student achievement, our students. It can be social, it can be emotional, the wellness and the safety of all members of our community is very important that our students are safe. And because you trust me, my dedication would be full. Like I was in the City Council 24-7, and that's what's going to happen. We'll be there. I'm a person that will go to, you know, around my neighborhood, which I did many years. They know me. A lot of the parents now they have children. And then they're like, that's one of the purpose and reasons that I decided to apply for this is some of the members of my community is the same district. This is free is now six for the 30. They know me. They know who I am and why I have that for them. So plus, you know, is I still involved with the commissions in different ways, political wise, in different ways that I can be able to support and help. And I wanted to say one thing. My daughter, when all of them went to Bahá'u'llah, my little school, they graduated from Watsonville High School. And my daughter is now, you know, she's a special language therapist. She served. She's a student trustee. I was very proud at that time. She was a wildcat. She was a mascot. And at the same time, she served as a student trustee. And for me, it's very important that students get involved. It's important that we can be able to to celebrate what our students are doing in every way, every month. And I think you do. And I just wanted to continue to provide the continuity and support towards achieving the best of our students. And it's important. And Lyft, for me, is something that is very important to me because I think that's what my heart and soul is with the students and with the community. So I thank you for this opportunity. And hopefully, I will appreciate your vote. Thank you so much. Thank you. Bye-bye. All right, Rocio, you can take three of us to the waiting room and then bring in Mr. Horst. You'll go with Rocio. It'll just be a few minutes till we bring in the next candidate. So yeah, just as a reminder, we have, you know, our candidates waiting in a room just kind of around the hall. Rocio is going to go grab the next applicant, which is Lowell Horst. She'll bring him in and we'll start with the next round of questions. And just while we have a moment, I just want to remind people that if you do want to make a public comment, that you need to have that speaker card in before we go on to item 3.2. So if you want to make a public comment, get that in before we move on to that item. This is where we're going. Do we have a copy of the questions for Mr. Horst? Do we have an extra copy of the questions for Mr. Horst? Tear off the time sheet. Okay. Thank you. Welcome. Well, good morning. Great. So what we'll do is we'll, each of the trustees will ask you a question. We'll have two minutes to offer a response and then at the end, you'll have two minutes to offer a closing statement. All right. Six questions, right? Six questions. And Trustee Flores has the first question. Hello and thank you for being here today and stepping forward and wanting to serve. Your first question is, please summarize the strengths you would bring as a board member. Well, strengths are always in the eyes of the beholder. And from my perspective, I would bring you a certain degree of talent with public meetings, a certain level of experience in working with complex situations, boards, budgets, personnel, from my experience as a, as a city council member and a board member of other boards. And I would also bring you knowledge in that I'm familiar with Ed Code, having been a teacher for 32 years and a representative of the employee organization when I was active as a teacher. And so it's knowledge experience and I think a certain temperament that I'm a pretty easy going guy that doesn't get flustered very often. I can take the heat and sometimes I give it out a little bit too and that, you know, sometimes works in my, my detriment because, you know, if you give it out, you have to be able to take it a little bit too. But so temperament, experience, knowledge, those are the strengths that I would see. I would also say there's a, a lot of community connection that I have been around a long time and no many people in the room behind me as well as in the community, particularly district area six. So, you know, some familiarity with community, familiarity with educational systems, part of that knowledge and experience. Could I add anything else in 20 seconds? Well, you know, with me you also kind of get a package. The Wendy Hearst is my wife is a pretty familiar with educational systems and her and I have spent a lifetime of working in educational communities and that's a strength. Trustee, Vice President Acosta, you've got question number two. Good morning, Mr. Hearst. How does an effective school board ensure parents and community members have opportunities to express their diverse range of views to inform board deliberations on important policy issues? Well, you're doing that today and you've done that at every meeting to make sure that the public has heard, that the public is invited, that the public is advised ahead of time as to what you're going to deal with, that the agenda is transparent, that it's well communicated to the public, that the public has a chance to weigh in and offer their suggestions, their advice, their comments, their criticism quite often. You know, that's part of the the boardmanship that you have to live with and display as how well you can take the advice of the public and what kind of advice you solicit from the public as well. So I think there's lots of opportunities for the public to express their support, their concerns, ask questions, find out what's going on on the agenda and offer their input and advice suggestions and as I said concerns. So the question is about opportunities. Yes, there's many opportunities for the public to to weigh in. The board's responsibility is to listen to the public and to try and act in their best interest and their children's best interest and provide educational opportunities that are going to be enriching and focused on achievement and that's where the public wants to see its dollars spent in most regards is effectiveness and academic achievement. And so I think there's lots of ways the public can reach you and communication continues to evolve. There'll be new methods of communication in the future I'm sure but I think the public if they're interested has more than ample opportunity to reach out and have contact with you. Thank you. Trustee Soto, you've got question number three. Good morning. Welcome. Thank you. So this is a three part question. So the first one is what are you proud of in this district? Second is what would you like to accomplish as a school board member and what is your highest priority and why? Well I think you know for me personally having been an employee of this school district for 32 years that's a pretty significant accomplishment to be able to come here and stick with it and find my niche in education and advance myself academically. I have a bachelor's degree in agricultural sciences. I have a lifetime teaching credential in CTE agricultural hands-on as well as ag science. I'm proud of my academic background. I have a master's in education, educational leadership and administration and so I'm proud of the academic stuff that I've done personally for the district. I'm proud that we're making progress and that we have served so many students over the years and I see them every day in the community. Someone's coming up to me and saying hey Mr. Hearst, do you remember me? I was in your in your horticulture class. I was in your ag science class. You know there's a lot of pride in seeing students advance. I forgot the last part of your question. What was it? I'll repeat it. The second one is so what would you like to accomplish as a school board member and then the last one is which is your priority and why? Well what I would like to accomplish as a school board member is have a very high functioning board and a high functioning system of education which promotes achievement and academic skills and preparing students for life outside of sitting at a desk as well. You know real hands-on live experiences and so to to help students and to thank you. Sorry I lost track of the time on that one. That's all right. I have the next question. Describe your response if a parent engages you in a grocery store and asks for your support on a particularly controversial issue. Well that's a really easy one for me because I'm in the grocery store a lot and there's always someone picking up a cucumber and waving it at me and telling me what I did right or did wrong on the city council for all those years and so I know how to handle myself in the grocery store and I know how to work with parents and listen to their complaints and ask them clarifying questions about their concerns and the controversial issues that arise and so I think that it's that's another skill set that I have is being able to talk with you know sometimes people are dissatisfied for a lot of different reasons and and so to have some conversations with them about the nature of their dissatisfaction and to try and pry out of them what they are happy about as well so you know to communicate effectively with parents and it's not just parents you know it's taxpayers and business folk in the community and employers and and everybody else that has concerns about education and the quality of education and how much students are learning and what they're learning there's always lots of questions some of them more philosophical than others but a lot of them are real practical hands-on questions that we can find answers to and fix and so to have that conversation and be able to refer them to real answers and real resources and real having a real dialogue with them I think that's the secret of that what are my what are my priorities academic achievement opportunities for students to be productive members of our community in whatever way that they are can be most productive whether it's in an intellectual pursuit or a career that's very hands-on and so that would be my priority serve parents serve students and build academic teamwork and promote achievement thank you trustee that's junior question number five good morning former city council member lolhurst thank you for being here today my question is identify a recent board decision that you felt strongly about and describe how you would balance community concerns student needs state and federal law staff considerations and your personal values and beliefs to determine how you would vote on the issue well that's a pretty tough one because you know you guys have had a lot of controversial issues over over the years you know how you interface with the employees I've heard the teachers come and and you know they're discontent about a lot of things and and how that gets handled I think you know the the the incident that stands out to me and I don't know if it's a good incident or not but it was the the terrible tragedy that took place at Aptos high school and you know the controversy over the the SROs and I'm sure that's still a dialogue that continues to evolve but I think student safety is is as important as their academic learning because if you're not safe you're probably not going to learn and if you don't feel safe you don't so how the inner that interacted with the various agencies the sheriff the the the Watsonville PD all the law enforcement I know you took a lot of criticism on all sides and I suspect you probably still have some more criticism about the the best approach to student safety you know from from what I know and what I've experienced you know as a high school teacher you know safety's uh on everybody's concern but it shouldn't we shouldn't live in fear we should feel confident that we are safe and that we're in a safe learning environment and so to send that message and to reinforce it with the public is extremely important to be good partners with the agencies that support us regarding student safety I think that's pretty important too we need to build partnerships cooperative positions where we understand what they can do for us and what our role is with them so I don't know if that's a direct response to your question but that's all the time I have uh question number six trustee to serpa hi mr. Hurst thank you for being here thank you again for your service to both the district and to our community at large what will you do to become an effective board member well to me that's an easy one too because I would study up and I would learn and I would you know review what has been successful in the past and where we have challenges and I would be in communication you know within the brown act guidelines with with the the board members and administration and the community as to what does the board need to do to be effective you need to be a an effective communicator and you need to be able to do things and get things done and so I would want to be active in listening studying up figuring out what has worked in the past and where there are huge challenges and of those challenges do research into how do we find answers how do we build partnerships how do we reach across the aisle and things we don't agree with you know philosophies that you know we don't always share I'd be a good listener I'd study up and I would take action that hopefully yields positive results for parents students staff program development a bridge to the future those are the kind of things that that I would do that strike me as common sense approaches and being a good board member and actively participate in all your activities and touch base with what goes on in the region and the state those are the kind of things that I think would assist myself and hopefully other board members in communicating learning sharing and not being afraid to act thank you if you if you would like to make a closing statement you have two minutes thank you very much it's a pleasure to be here you know this opportunity doesn't come up all the time and so that's why I'm here today because I am available and I you know with my being termed out on the city council and I really enjoyed the city council because you had to do a lot of the same things that the board has to do here and that means listen learn touch base with the community take the pulse of what's going on but you also have a lot more to do too with understanding where where the state's at with education what the limitations are financially with the employees and others where the resources are where the opportunities are that all takes a lot of digging in and studying and and being ready to participate and so that's why I'm here today because you know you have this opening I have the availability but why am I a good candidate well there again it's the knowledge that I bring to the table as a an experienced teacher as an experienced policy maker and I've sat on other boards besides just the city council municipal air boards a lot of the people that I've uh a lot of recycling boards and uh solid waste and trash boards and that kind of stuff that sometimes is kind of controversial as well but I'm bringing you what you see is what you get I'm well well known in the community as well like by some maybe dislike by a few but I think I've earned my stripes and I'll continue to be available to assist the community in whatever way I can if it's not in this position some other way while I still have a little gas in the tank to to go forward in my life but I bring a lot of experience that that includes a lot of knowledge and there again I think I've got the temperament to fit in and do a good job for you thank you thank you mr. Hurst and if you'll follow Aranya she'll take you to the waiting area thank you very much for the opportunity thank you and for for those members of the public who've just recently joined us what we're doing is the our the applicants are waiting in a separate room the next applicant will be coming in that will be um adam balanios scowl if you would like to comment at item 3.2 please put your speaker card in now because once item 3.2 starts we won't be taking further comment cards welcome so um we each the each of the trustees has a question for you you'll have two minutes to respond and then at the very end you'll have an opportunity to make a closing statements and you'll have two minutes for that and trustee floris has the first question for you hello and welcome mr. scowl thank you for um wanting to serve our community my first question for you is please summarize the strengths you would bring as a board member thank you trustee floris and to all the trustees and and the district for holding this uh this meeting very important meeting and an important conversation um i come from a family of of teachers i have become an unexpected almost full-time music teacher myself working with pvusd kids on almost a daily basis and so it's been an honor uh and a privilege to serve them um for those who don't know i am trained as a violinist i've had kind of dual careers in my life as an environmental advocate and as a violinist playing classical mariachi uh avian vargas is here a mariachi hero in our community and and as are others and so it's been really um an amazing experience to be working for lc stemma by huddle valley uh program supported by dr rodriguez and i want to acknowledge her support of the arts and i think that's been a wonderful thing for our community i apologize for my voice i'm getting over some congestion so i'm not trying to talk like the godfather on purpose um i i'll bring a sense of fairness uh i i believe good board members will listen to their community ask questions not make assumptions um i want to do this because i want to serve and i believe i can make a difference uh i'm there's no secret i think we got to make improvements um i we need to have fully staffed schools in my opinion our district is not fulfilling its mission if we have too many missing teachers not even enough subs if we're not paying enough money so teachers can afford to live here we have school districts in salinas starting off at 61 000 we're at 50 that's what it is in fresno california where the cost of living is significantly cheaper so i will be an advocate for resources on our campuses uh and i will do that professionally and collaboratively with all of you um certainly i'm not doing this for the money i'm doing this because i care i know i can make a difference and i think i appreciate the diversity of talents of our community and of this board so i'll start with that thank you vice president acosta you have the second question sorry about that i also get a big timekeeper um good morning mr scow and welcome um how does an effective school board ensure parents and community members have opportunities to express their diverse range of views to inform board deliberations on important policy issues thank you for that question trustee acosta i think the the heart of it and i think the big challenge is is really the budget and that and as a board member if i'm selected or have an opportunity to serve i think we have to have a lot of transparency around our budget that's no secret that there's challenges there i've i've heard that well we can't afford these resources that are schools there's just not enough money and um i'm also a union member i've been part of negotiations as a musicians union i think we have to bring a lot of transparency around the budget because the school district does not belong to the board or to anybody belongs to the community and i think as a board we have to realize where we're servants of the community and so and i would like to see vocational arts and music and all the schools and in order to do that we have to we have to pay wages that allow people to live here and so um back to more specifically specifically to your question the budget we have to open that up so really see how are we spending money and what can we do to fix the problem and maybe there are bigger forces at work maybe we're going to need more state and federal help i really believe the school district is a reflection of the priorities of our society and so i just can't accept an excuse that we just don't have enough money to have fully staffed schools um and so that's what i've been hearing from the teachers who have who have been talking to me the classified workers some of whom are just barely making state minimum wage who have been working for a year serving our district i talked to somebody in our community the other day she's been working 25 years for our district full time and she's now making a salary of about 45 000 a year and so i think we have to update with the times if we want what's best for our students we have to have competitive and professional wages and and getting back to the budget i want to see more transparency i want it to be easier to have public comment uh have board meetings it's challenging people are overworked i get i don't it's hard for people to participate but i want as a board member i will be proactive and and i would like to bring that spirit of trying to really go to the community thank you thank you trustee soto you have question number three morning adam thank you welcome so my question is a three-part question so the first section is what are you proud of in this district and the second is what would you like to accomplish as a board member and lastly is which is your highest priority and why i think one of the things the most proud of and why i want to be a part of it is i see the dedication of so many people at all different levels of this district i put in my application for the teachers who have been here 20 30 years certainly here not because of the money because they really love our kids they love the community for the classified staff who have been working here 25 30 but not just the 25 30 years but that kind of dedication matters for our board members for our staff i know there's there's some reason why we all came to education why we're part of education and so i think the spirit of our community is a strength and something we can harness on further build on build upon further to make our district even better as a board member um no secret that i want to increase wages especially at the floor uh for teachers and classified workers in order to have fully staffed schools i think this is very basic and and i'll at the risk of being repetitive i'm probably gonna repeat it a few more times but that's just that's not rocket science if we're losing people to salinas uh san jose if we're only getting young teachers for a few years and then they have to leave we might have to look at creative partnerships with other government agencies to try to find ways to build truly affordable housing because if we're really honest about the market rate housing that's being built it's not affordable to 70 percent of us and i'm in that same income bracket so i know exactly what that's like um and so we're uh the second part was second and third parts i'm conflating can you report so the first one was your pride in the district the second was accomplishments and the last one is which is your highest priority and why well i think it was hitting on the highest priority i think the the accomplishments are on the arts and the music were off to a great start but we gotta build on that uh parents asked me can i sign up for your class are you at mcquity or ye hall it's not at your school and and to be truly fair really needs to be at all the schools and to serve to be you know use the word equity it really needs to be at all the schools and i know we're off to a good start but that's going to take a little more uh investment and again coming back to the budget thank you thank you i have the fourth question describe your response if a parent engages you in a grocery store and asks for your support on a particularly controversial issue hmm my response well there's a lot of controversial issues in the schools these days no question about it and i've been having some of the conversations for the last three four years and i'm gonna continue to have them and i mean i think i'm not we can't be afraid of controversy because usually there's energy there it's because people care and they might have a different take on things and and sometimes you have to agree to disagree on some things and you agree to agree about other things that's that's just life that's that's politics that's governance um i want to be very accessible as a board trustee uh to not just my area and i think it's uh maybe an advantage i would say to be working in an after-school music program for lc's them uh being able to talk and work with families from all over our district and so i'm already in having these conversations with them i think it's it's very very important because as a board trustee i think good policy um i come part of my family comes from high academia and there's a sense sometimes that good policy is always top down like the experts set the policy for the people and there's definitely a need for research data and understanding but good policy also is bottom up it's understanding what's actually happening with our community what's our families and listening to making sure it's working at people um and so that's the art i think of of being a board trustee and being uh serving in a governing body is knowing what you know and knowing what you don't know and always soliciting feedback uh so that's um i'm not afraid of making a controversial decision wouldn't need be that's that's part of leadership and i'm sure people will take shots at me and that's that's part of governance on people if they're taking shots at all of you i'm sure it's not nice but um that's democracy and it's uh that's part of the deal thank you uh trustee dodge junior you have the fifth question good morning and thank you for being here mr scowl identify a recent board decision that you felt strongly about and describe how you would balance community concerns student needs state and federal law staff considerations and your personal values and beliefs to determine how you would vote on the issue well one one thing that comes out and i've taken some criticism for it um when i pointed out the laying off of some of the unfilled classified positions some of those included instructional aids custodians we used to have more custodians at some of the schools and from what i'm being told from the workers is that well if we're not paying enough in the wages people are going to take the job and so it kind of becomes this self-fulfilling prophecy in a negative spiral well if we don't pay enough and people are going to and so that's something where i think i've been visiting some of our schools not just in my area and the other and in the other areas where i'm talking to the workers and they're saying we're overstretched we're we are trying to cover for each other we can't do everything sometimes we can't clean get to this part of pvi or this part of the middle school because we don't have enough staff and so therefore sometimes not the classroom i mean that's a very basic issue but it gets to the point of under staffing and so i don't i'm going to be against laying off positions any more positions at the schools and i think we need to bring some back and if the excuse is that well there's just no money for it then that gets back to having a transparent conversation about the budget and not just something you know amongst us but with the community so that's that's something that comes to mind and and and any other decision like that yeah i'm going to be listening and meeting with with workers at all levels of our district getting there and i want to get the facts i'm going to be asking questions and i want to take it and then i'm going to be asking more questions and i'm going to be asking more questions i think our job as board trustees is to ask why why why then why and and do that in a transparent way thank you trustee the serpa you've got question number six thank you thank you for your service to our district in the area of l system and music i looked at your application it was great um what will you do to become an effective board member to become an effective board member i would say i'm i'm going to put the time into it i'm going to put the time into meeting i'd like to meet out with all of you i'd like to meet with with our staff and the administrator with dr rodriguez certainly i'm going to continue to meet with our workers our teachers and our classified and their leadership as well and also people i know who are on the job and with families and parents um that's it's got to be a constant conversation i think a constant feedback cycle that that probably is most important i do want to show some leadership and trying to resolve this staffing crisis issue that so many parents and teachers are telling me about they don't have prep time uh or understaffed somebody gets sick and the whole school day gets ruined because everybody's trying to cover for each other and at the end of the day everybody's wiped out i've seen this at several schools and the morale sinks so that i'm repeating myself of coming back to that staffing thing so i do want to be an advocate for the campuses and not just my area all the campuses all there's different needs different places in different areas but an under resource campus just makes it harder for everybody and so um that will be a priority of mine i would like to work with the administration on promoting the arts even further i think we have some amazing things going on with the arts council with the county office of education uh with the state bond that passed in the fall i'm glad to see arts the hunger for arts is coming back because we remember my generation and older generations we had orchestras we had bands my everybody had music their flute and then we had a bunch of people well that's not needed let's cut that that's not science and math are more important um science and math are very important reading and writing are extremely important but there's a diversity of talents in humanity and needs and we saw in the pandemic essential workers people who are really keeping our society going and it wasn't just the computer programs with people with vocational skills people who knew how to fix things so i think we need to value that in the global context i think we're realizing how important it is to have americans who know how to do those things for our own security thank you if you'd like to make a closing statement you have two minutes to do that well thank you very much for this uh conversation these questions um i gotta say i'm a little bit excited about this opportunity um i want to clear up any misconceptions about why i'm doing this or or what my motivations are and i and it's been everything i've been saying to you and in my application i mean i am passionate i'm an advocate there's no question about that but the pride i take in working with others is to actually achieve solutions not just to talk for the sake of being righteous and so that's what i want to accomplish as a board trustee is to work with all of you to actually find solutions and achieve those solutions that's my vision of success i'm not here to go after anybody uh in particular i'm not even into blame and shame i do believe in responsibility i believe that this board has a responsibility to figure stuff out and that's what i want to do and what i will bring and work in good faith with all of you that's that's the only way it's going to get done um i can only speak for myself and and i hope that uh the other candidates and i think the board was wise to undergo a provisional appointment and saving 80 000 i think it'd be a shame if somebody forced that anyways because they had their own agenda um it was a unanimous decision i did get 2441 votes that was more votes than the winning candidate got in 2012 and in 2008 so i think i do have some support in the community and i want to keep building on that thank you very much thank you and if there's anyone else who's just joined us what's happening is that the um applicants are in a separate room our last applicant Lizette Zuniga Zamudio will be joining us shortly and um if you would like to like after this we will be going into public comments if you would like to make a public comment you need to fill out a speaker card before we start that because we won't be accepting additional comments once we start the public comment period okay Lizette will just take a couple minutes um a couple of the trustees need a moment okay that was an alarm we'll go ahead and get started again um each of the trustees will ask you a question if i can have the room quiet please we're starting again um each of the trustees will ask you a question you will have two minutes to respond at the very end you will have an opportunity to give a closing statement and you'll have two minutes for that as well um so uh trusty floris has the first question for you hello Ms. Zuniga and thank you for stepping forward and wanting to serve our community uh your first question is please summarize the strengths you will bring as a member of the board so the strengths i would bring as a member of the board would have to be um i would say my leadership skills oh do i need to turn it off okay sorry um i would say my leadership skills um i feel like i'm i've been an advocate for my own children um for as long as they've been at school and being involved at their schools um i feel like i can you know advocate for all of pvusd um it's a passion of mine that of education in general it's a passion of mine and so i work in education higher education so i think um my strength in understanding how important it is um i can bring um you know very fresh perspectives of how it is right now and and um listen and advocate for all of pvusd thank you trusty acosta you have question number two sorry about that i'm also timekeeper welcome this is a minute um samudio sorry um so my question is how does an effective school board ensure parents and community members have opportunities to express their diverse range of views to afford board deliberations on important policy issues i think an effective school board can ensure parents um and our community members by listening to them by understanding their input and taking action um having an action plan having a goal plan um and just doing what needs to be done um either whether it's research or collecting data um input from other people to be able to um accomplish what's being expressed and as far as concerns and issues so i think that's very important um to our community to be able to listen to them and advocate for them thank you trusty so i'll tell you have question number three morning they said and welcome good morning thank you have question number three and it's a three-part question uh the first part is what are you proud of in this district second is what would you like to accomplish as a board member and lastly is which is your highest priority and why i am proud of this district um i feel like because i'm a i want to say i'm a product of the district i attended all you know elementary which i went to hot district power middle school and rolling hills as well as watsonville high school so i'm very proud that i am a product of the district and my children both attend the district as well i think um when i do bring up concerns or issues they've always they're always heard and something's always done about it um i have to give a shout out to mr leite at calabasas because he listens to me he follows up as well as mr westfall i mean i think following up it's just i'm proud that our district and our our staff are doing that um when i have my own concerns um what i would like to accomplish being on the board is i notice that when i bring up certain programs or ask about them i'm noticing that they are at certain schools but not at my school so i would love to um accomplish for these programs to be at every single school for every single pvusd student not just at some um and my highest priority would have to be um i think i would say the same thing about the programs just being able to make sure that they're um available for all students at pvusd um as well as being able to use my creativity and the ideas that i have as well for other programs um since i get to see it and ask about it every single day to my kids i feel like i um you know i get to see it i get to ask what's working for them what's not um so being able to um speak about you know in with my own experience with my own kids and um be able to help with that i think that's my priority i want to be a part of that i want to help and not just my own kids but our all of our kids in our community the families and the staff they all matter so that's my priority thank you i have the fourth question and that is to describe your response if a parent engages you in a grocery store and asks asks for your support on a particularly controversial issue okay my response if the parent engages me at a grocery store i feel like i i i know about confidentiality i know certain issues need to be only brought up in a more um you know a different environment aside from the grocery store i feel like um it could be brought or talked about at a more private um location and then um just making sure that i just follow the policies i mean if there's something that i can help i want to just make sure that i know my line i don't cross the line um and you know just be able to help as much as i can without crossing any boundaries without jeopardizing my position if i were to be bored um so i think that's how i would approach it thank you trustee dodge junior you have question number five good morning missinica good to see you today good morning thank you identify a recent board decision that you felt strongly about and describe how you would balance community concerns student needs state and federal law staff considerations and your personal values and beliefs to determine how to vote on the issue i think i would identify salaries i think i feel strongly about how teachers and staff um um just need to be heard in that sense um i think we need to maybe make a change on that um i think i strongly um i felt strongly about it um especially because i work in higher education i know how important it is and i've actually have worked as a temp at an hr for the district a long time ago and i saw the turnaround with teachers and staff um so i think um bringing up concerns about that would be a priority to me because at the end of the day they're teaching our students and our students are a priority as well um i understand that we there are federal laws that do need to be followed it's not just the you know someone asking it's just the yeah sure 100 grand or you know whatever a large amount that doesn't sound reasonable i think following those federal laws and um considering them is important um and i think my personal values and beliefs um definitely um would help make the decision since i do feel like i carry myself with respect and i would respect everybody everybody's decision and and um and input thank you trustee to serpa you have the last question thank you and um thank you lizzette for um for putting your hat in the ring um i did read your application and i want to thank you for your service as site council chair and service on delac is a really important um positions to hold it's where i started as well so um what will you do to become an effective board member what i do what i would do to become an effective board member is always show up always be here um do my research put in the extra work to be a the best member um i understand sometimes not just coming to the required meetings is going to be enough i understand that setting time aside and dedicating it to learn more about becoming a better member communicating with you know whoever i'm supposed to principles teachers um organizing extra meetings if possible just to be able to hear um you know everyone and be able to just advocate for everyone from our community i think it's important so i think i'm dedicated and i have that growth mindset so i i think that would bring me a really effective board member thank you um you have two minutes to make a closing statement if you would like to do so i would so first i want to say thank you for this opportunity and i'm super grateful to be here especially standing in front of amazing leaders of our community i was born and raised here in wasavel i grew up as a migrant student i am latina bilingual and biliterate i'm a mother of two amazing children who both attend pvusd calabasas elementary and rolling hills middle school and i'm very involved in their education and their extracurricular activities i have great relationships with their staff and principles because i ask a lot of questions and express my concerns and i'm always looking for ways to better support my children and i make myself accessible to my children's school to volunteer and help with events or donations i have been volunteering as a youth basketball coach since a long since long before i had children due to my love for teaching and educating kids to become outstanding individuals i may not have served on city council or on board yet however i have been president of my vocational school ct site council president for calabasas school site council and vice president for a previous employer's fresh perspectives within every one of these i was voted in by my peers parents teachers and my colleagues i consider myself a leader and i understand the importance of professionalism trust loyalty and confidentiality i can create excellent professional relationships as i'm hoping i do with you all working and attending higher education has expanded my passion for supporting our students as well as parents and the qualified staff and faculty whom we put our trust in to help us guide and mold our children at pvusd grow into successful scholars and become career and life ready i'm a product of this district as i attended you know all the schools i mentioned and i appreciate the significance and the support of encouraging of an encouraging environment um our schools provide i'm familiar with the l-cap goals and i'm ready to be ready and committed to joining the board of trustees by making the time to excel in this position i'm a lifelong learner with the purpose of transferring my passion for learning at pvusd and i am excited and hopeful to continue to give back to my community as being a part of the board and help you make positive effective competent fair and responsible decisions to meet our community's needs thank you so much all right so um i'll make one last call if there's any other folks here who would like to make a public comment please turn in your uh comment card now because after once we start the public comment section we won't be taking any further public comments um so or we can have all the if they see yes yeah if we can have our our um applicants sit in the front that would be great all right in that case we're going to move our cable out of the way yeah all right okay we will move on to item 3.2 um our public comments and so each public speaker will have two minutes how many uh public comment cards do we have um yes president home we have uh 20 public comment cards we can go ahead and start on those okay i'm um i will call these out and buy threes and if i mispronounce your um name please do feel free to correct me i like to be corrected um john waller and dr. ann lopez i think it's dr. john waller excuse me dr. ann lopez and laura zucker so if you could come up in that order and we'll start with your public comments the podium oh sorry the podium thank you good morning everybody and um thanks for all the hard work you're doing i'm here to uh to tell you about adam and why i support him um my background is um an emergency room doctor at wadsonville hospital used to work in this building further down uh 40th year there been on many boards um very uh dedicated to this community my two boys both went through the pepahoro valley school district um i think you heard adam and i think that speaks for itself um i can tell you that he is passionate he has a vision he really wants to change things improve things um in his in his uh his statement um i think what is most impressive is that adam has not only talks but walks the walk as well he is a violin instructor for this school unpaid because he has a passion for bringing music education and arts to children and i can tell you i agree with uh what adam said is that this is as important as science math um humanities and you know adam really believes this and he is not afraid to take on things that have seemed not possible for a lot of organizations school districts included his passion i think he'll be a very effective board member i think his heart is in the right place and uh i hope you vote him i think he'll be a tremendous asset to the the board thank you thank you good morning everybody i'm dr and lopez i'm the director of center for farm worker families and i'm here to support adam to become one of your board members um not only is he an instructor and doing an incredible job of providing beautiful music all over the area but um also he's compassionate for teachers wanting them to have higher salaries and so on but what interests me the most is the fact that he's been on many boards related to environmental issues uh watsonville wetland watch the seara club he's worked for food uh food and water watch um various boards that relate to the environment which is my background and i want i i have been working with the farm worker communities in watsonville now for uh at least 25 years and quite frankly i am sick and tired of meeting families with at least one child related who's been exposed to pesticides and has some anomaly uh cancer birth defects adhd autism spectrum learning disabilities how can we possibly expect these children to learn when they're they're basically future is being hijacked by these awful chemicals and i would like to have adam on the board to present this environmental perspective because uh i just think it's unethical that these children are being thrown under the bus this way i see too many of them so i encourage you to include adam and his knowledge of the environment and pesticides in your group and his perspective thank you very much hello everybody my name is laura zucker i'm a retired teacher um but i taught it um hi got my t-shirt and a messy and a duncan holbert a little bit and that was wonderful um so i am here also to um urge you to appoint adam bologna scowl to this position um he's been a great advocate truly for children and their families in terms of what our previous speaker was talking about safety um at campus on the campuses in terms of you know um the problem with pesticides around the schools but he's also been a great um a great advocate for teachers and for our certificate staff as he said he would push for better compensation fair compensation for classified staff and for teachers and that would be essential to keep not only to attract but to keep the teachers that we have so we don't have um long term substitutes we have teachers who stay and stay and stay that would be wonderful um because that is what really affects our children's learning is a staff that is the continuity of staff and the quality of the staff but i was going to say one thing that's really important about him besides all his work i mean the work in environmentalism is very important in terms of safety but it also um to be a good environmental activist you have to be able to collaborate have curiosity and have courage and adam has all those things i know that he is a board member too you need these things he need he will be able to both since he's been an activist in in environmental organizations that are pushing for um for good causes he knows that sometimes you have to collaborate with everyone sometimes you lead and sometimes you follow and sometimes you work with people you don't agree with so as an activist a community and environmental activist he knows how to do that you also have to have curiosity environmental activists i would say particularly right what is going on what is the latest research who do i read to find out about about this pesticide or that pesticide so that curiosity is very important and finally you have to have courage which adam has too you have to have that courage to say you know what this may be soundly radical to people but we have to make these changes now we have to do what's best for the children thank you thank you okay and our next three jovieta molina sarah fischer and i only have sarah on this no last name you're a teacher here at pvusd good morning everyone i'm here to speak on behalf of adam as well i thank you for all your service thank you lol thank you mr divas thank you for coming out also i just really want to encourage you to appoint adam and encourage the other people who are vying for this seat to not push this special election do not waste the $80,000 use that for our children our schools if you really care about our children in our schools you will do that instead i am the person i am the classified worker that spoke with adam and said i made less than 45,000 that's that was a lie i checked my w2 i make less than 35,000 and i've been here in this district for 27 years and that is disgusting i know but i was lucky enough to be married to a man who went over the hill and worked in silicon valley and made a good living and we were able to purchase a house i cannot see that for my future um employees that are coming up and and trying to get a job with the district and they're not going to be able to afford a house here they're going to move somewhere else they're going to move out of state if they're smart okay so i really encourage adam to go for that what he believes in i think he's going to fight for the good of the children and by that i mean by getting a better salary for up and coming teachers and classified employees i'm on my way out now i'm going to retire in a year and hopefully i will be well off thank you adam you're the one i'm also here in support of adam bologna scow he and i both believe that there are different types of intelligence i'm an artist myself i make a living at it and if it hadn't been if it hadn't been for the classes that were offered when i was in school i don't think i would have you know bought a house at 23 and and been able to make a living with my art um when i was in second grade i had a teacher tell me in front of my mother your daughter's really cute but she's just not that bright you're just gonna have to accept that because i had a hard time learning how to read but again with the help of and support of my teachers in high school in the art realm i believed in myself um again i'm i'm in support of him because he truly does care about the future our future musicians artists mechanics chefs and these are the people that make the world function so thank you for your time okay um good morning board of trustees and good morning dr rodriguez um i am here today to ask that adam scow be appointed to the vacant board position adam has dedicated much of his life work to the environment and in particular he's currently working on um ensuring that organic fields are next to schools in our area i work at mcquitty which uh we do have a farm that's part organic and part not and um i believe that his dedication is going to bring better health to our community um i like his idea of partnering with organic farms to provide food as well for our students um his dedication to the health of our students and faculty and community alone should be enough reason for him to be appointed because what's more important than the health of our children um he's also advocating for the classified and certificated employees um he wants to provide higher wages for us and for um our classified counterparts um sorry i don't know why i'm so nervous but um yeah so i feel like if this is done teachers and classified staff we can focus more on the needs of the students because we won't be so stressed out about getting kicked out of our homes because we can't make the payment um and then we could actually be present in mind and body for our students which is really important um and i just really want to advocate for instructional aids because i think they're on the lowest part of the pay total pay um skill and these people work tire tirelessly they're filling the roles of administrators counselors teachers they're doing jobs that are way above their pay scale on a daily basis um in particular i have a student that's in first grade and he'll just shut down refuse to talk refuse to move and i'm standing there with my 21st graders and this one kid that just won't budge and uh my sorry okay mine anyway go Adam sorry it went off on a tangent but i think it's important too our next three uh Nellie Bekara Buds uh Christy Sushil okay and Julie Baird Nellie will be here when she's off babysitting duty good morning trustees um thanks for holding this having this venue so that our community can take part and as well as having the google form available for those who can't be here in person to provide input um i'm here as a representative of the PVFT because as Nellie Bekara Boggs no matter what i say it's going to be the coming out of the mouth of the president of the teachers union so um i'm just here to speak to um in in your selection process the thing that we value as educators or and as a number organization is that our trustees communicate with us um that we shouldn't be the ones expected to chase you all down but that we're part of that conversation so in listening to the various candidates who applicants for this position what i listen for is who's speaking about including the educators and the classified staff in these conversations because we all know that the only reason we're here is for our students period that what we advocate for as an employee organization is for our students period in order for us to make sure that our workplace is safe and that are safe and welcoming to everyone i mean we're we're always welcoming everybody we're teachers that's what we do but we need to be healthy and mind and body as well for our students it's like that analogy that the what we hear when we get on a plane if that you know the oxygen mask drops you need to put it on the adult before you put it on the child because without the adults being um sound and mind and body and knowing that their workload is sustainable that they are respected and valued we can then make sure that our students our that every year that the student population that we work with and even as a as a site that we are all working in a positive setting every year as a representative of our employee organization i sit in a lot of meetings when it comes to to work through to problem solve through the issues that our administration and our and specific members might be having so how does that all translate over to you as our trustees well you are the board that holds the way that this district is managed accountable you're important it is important that you communicate with the employee organizations it is important that we shouldn't be like oh we should invite them to it's let's listen let's make sure that they are at the table when we are looking when we are going through a process of what we want to maybe establish or put in establish in our school sites because those things when they impact our workload that impacts our space of learning and teaching as well so you've heard us say many different taglines are not just taglines they're just actually the truth because if you don't have the people in front of your students to help guide them through their education then you aren't really benefiting the students as the trustees thank you christy good morning everyone sorry i'm running a little late i swapped baby duty with my friend i'm gonna speak to the choir here i'm supporting adam so i'm not going to go into too much detail as to why because i think many people just said a lot of the things that i would have and are about to say some of the things as well i just want to emphasize though that community communication is key there has been a lot of controversial and interesting issues recently on the board from the pandemic and sense as you can see i'm an aptos parent and so for the most part just knowing that people are approachable open and honest is super crucial um and one individual for sure that we'll be doing that is adam he's already had multiple community meetings he's made himself very open to the public regardless if he's on the same opinion um he's open and willing to discuss so thank you very much hi my name is julie i'm also here to support adam i'm a parent um my daughter is a recent graduate of pbsd and my youngest daughters um in the school district now i'm also a textile designer and an advocate for arts education and that's why i'm here to support adam my art teacher in high school pointed me in the direction of textile design and i've had a successful career in the arts so i've always been an advocate for that and as a former teacher with mariposa art i was glad i was able to come into many of the schools in the districts and promote that also as an after-school program thank you okay all right um next three um ron sandiji sandage sorry javier vagus and manuel verseman sandiji that's what i used to say when i was in venezuela i also have a comment um that was sent to me uh from somebody who can be here today so i'm prepared to share that with you either orally or send it to you so you can see it later on if you want it i think it's really important for all of us to recognize that when we're looking for somebody to represent us as an elected official that you're looking for somebody who reflects the values and character and your belief system for me that's adam balanios scow i've had a chance to get to know him in a variety of different ways i won't go into detail right now but he's the kind of person that listens thinks and challenges the people with whom he is speaking he's always looking for solutions i've had an opportunity to speak with him about this school district and education in general i admire the fact that like me he is bilingual he's a musician and is interested in the kinds of things that are going to help the students and the families in our community this is why it's very important that you select somebody to join you on the board that will best represent not only the people of area six but also all of the people in the committee regardless if they have children in school because the whole community wants to support its public schools and they're going to do that when policy and programs benefit all of the students in all of the schools i'm a very proud former educator in this school district at both the classroom and management level i've been a parent of two students who went through the school system here and i can tell you when i look around and see who we have had the chance to listen to today and the comments from the public that's the man you want to appoint thank you good morning everybody my name is Javier Vargas and i'm a parent or student who graduated from whatsoever high school and i'm really proud and uh he's now the main vocal singer for carlo santana for almost 22 years um in uh in the past when he graduated from from our district you know he was always doing so many activities but his main talent i noticed they was the talent that i already got that from my parents too being a being involved in arts music and so that's why when i came to what's on bill they invite me also to be part of a musical program and a cultural multicultural program who was created here in what's on bill years in the past was called penny club and the penny club and the penny club thank you the penny club was oriented to uh the law income students from from this area who were also creative you know but they probably wasn't being able to bring their their own feelings their own cultures to create and benefit our community so thanks to that program i came over here too because they invite me to teach different areas voice teacher musical teacher and there was a lot of recreation a lot of activities and that program created a lot of uh environments for the kids especially from uh school programs and now i'll tell you my son is created now i've been uh like i said with singer piccolo santana for many years and he created a school um thank you this program to find racing to create a scholarship for for for kids from from the school district and especially on arts and music i'm proud and i would like to support my uh friend musician also thank you that you know where i'm here for you milanus i'm sorry there's a to help you thank you very much thank you i hope you can vote everybody vote for him thank you well my name is manobra samine uh if you're playing a drinking game i'm also a former mayor of watsonville like lull and and tonio um now i'm a proud stanford graduate um because of people like rea d hard if you guys remember her and actually she's the one who told me this morning make sure you go to this hearing even though you don't go to school board hearings um and tonio revas has helped thousands of first generation low-income kids in the slieness union high school district get to wonderful universities lull hurst helped the city of watsonville through our our current pension crisis that's happening to every organization in the state i don't know the other two candidates but you have the makings of a great task force here in terms of raising wages in a place that is so complex because of our housing cost from paharo to cabrillo i don't i don't know of another district this complex in terms of housing but i i i hope you all choose the right person um i just want to leave you with this when i tell people i want to stanford and i'm from watsonville people say well that's exceptional it should not be exceptional it should be commonplace we have great talent here please pick the right person that will stop the stilted educational achievement in the district and if it's happening because our wages are low then there's a huge problem there's a huge disconnect so i'm here because rhea would want me here today pick the right person in the end it's going to be about relationships it's always who are you going to get along with who's going to help the district pick the person that's going to be the right team member but please help this young student trustee have a fighting chance to get to stanford university okay and our next three kathleen kilpatrick um woody okay thank you and um morris is i don't know if it's a moriel or morricel and it's just an m for the last name student oh moriel thank you for good morning kathleen kilpatrick for those of you who are new on the board i was a school nurse with the district for 16 years about half that time i was a team leader for the school nurses an informal position that as far as i know no longer exists i spent many hours in this board room at board meetings and i know what a hard job it is to be a board member and i i really appreciate all those people coming forth and you have a very diverse pool of talent to draw from here so i really admire that most of the time i was here it was either here about um wages salaries and staffing issues or about health and safety which are totally you know interrelated issues health and safety is my main thing and i am concerned about the uh occupational exposures that teachers have including pesticides so that's the issue i'm working on now um and definitely adam has been working on that issue with me and i do value his contribution to that but i also really value this idea of developing arts in the district and that means not only the musical and visual arts but also the culinary and gardening arts music is math gardening and cooking our math and science our students learn so much from from participation in the ant in the hearts that that really needs to be a core part of our educational experience the other big issue of our time is the environment that's the issue that our children are going to be facing and that our new generation of leadership is taking on some of us have been working on this for years it's time for a new generation of leadership i really value the contributions of our seniors including myself but i think it's time for a young vision for our district so i i encourage you to vote select adam thank you hi i'm woody rehenek i taught a special class at freedom elementary school for 14 years mild moderate grades three four five and four years before that at salsip way this and minty white when i retired five and a half years ago i was so burned out that i could not this is the first time i have set foot in any uh educational setting in the district i i did other things i had to put myself together umpty dumpty style and uh i i felt uh it doesn't matter what i felt but i'm i'm back together now and i'm here to recommend adam who a year and a half ago formed the uh campaign for organic and regenerative agriculture to not only lower pesticides by school but to offer in alternatives now as a member of the seara club wetlands watch right here in a last year on freedom rotary he's had a lot of involvement adam also was part of food and water watch i believe a statewide organization when he came to us he said he was he was burned out because it was hard to move the needle at the state level and he wanted to make a difference at the local level so he's a good example of think globally act locally uh his arts if you've ever seen rosa so his music group he's he's a virtuoso violinist and when you think of the time and energy that he put into becoming that he wasn't born that way i'm sure he puts the same kind of time and energy and environmental issues and i sure will serve on the school board similarly uh an amazing person and uh i just want to say that he's articulate dynamic and that uh he's a bottom bottom up grassroots organizer yeah be proud to have him in our school board thank you hello everyone for those who don't know my name is mariel momarill i attend washington high school and i'm honored to be this year student trustee but today i speak to you not as a member of the board but simply as a student of pb usd looking around the room i think i'm the only student here but i knew that i had to be here and that's because each of us know very well and have seen how important it is to value the voices of our community and i think part of that is having people on the board who are reflection and i think part of that is having people on the board who are a reflection of our district who have present passionate involvement that go past prior experiences and knowledge so i wanted to recognize mizuniga samudio for that and i say how much i appreciated your heartfelt responses i support you as someone whose students can relate to and see themselves in i think reliability and trust goes a really long way and i think it's worth it to put our trust into someone who can grow alongside us on the board at the same time our district can benefit from someone who can capitalize on the momentum they've been building with a commitment to trust transparency safety and well-being of students through art and environmental justice so i'd like to extend my gratitude to mr. scow who puts a great emphasis on those aspects of student growth because i have personally felt the positive effects of those kinds of opportunities that serve as alternative ways to act on intellectual accrualities and interests of students our education is something that cannot be taken away and so we need to allow students to reach their greatest potentials because trust me we all have it in us we just need proper guidance and solid support systems and for that to happen we need the well-being of all educators as well as our classified staff custodians counselors we need them to be healthy just as much as they need students to be well and most of all we need them to want to stay and more so for them to be able to stay thank you okay and our next three are jennifer kahn providencia and i providencia matinas allenis and eileen clark naguda that's on okay oh okay i'm i'm jennifer kahn i'm a retired i'm pv usd school teacher i retired right before the pandemic so i dodged that bullet i'm a 38 year veteran teacher i taught in pvs at mcquitty for 34 years in the same classroom kindergarten and adam is now in my classroom here to advocate for adam bolan bolano scow and i'm so happy that he's doing music in the classroom there because when i was a teacher there we did a lot of singing a lot of dancing and and we need that and i was chided for doing too much singing and dancing but i did it anyway because i knew that it was good for the children for their learning i'm also i was also the union rep for many years and i belong to sas the safe eggs safe schools and i know that adam advocates for you know pesticides and organic farming we have a field right outside mcquitty school and many of the schools here have that and so the the music the the um the pesticide the the health and wealth of our of our students he he knows that he knows the teachers he knows the classified he knows parents he works with the students so he's a perfect represent representative to be on the school board because he's in touch with all of that and as my grandmother who is also a retired school teacher who is from kentucky but lived and taught in california for and raised my father here would say he's salt of the earth he has a good heart and he um is also a do-gooder as she said and as my my mexican grandma me me abuelita mexicana would say tiene ganas he has the desire um es bien trabajador he's a hard worker and one more thing uh and what oh i forgot anyway oh he um he has what i hint they and he's a good person so thank you i probably don't need a microphone but i'll use it anyways good morning to everybody um i'm here um to speak about my really good friend adam everybody else already said everything else that needed to be said about him everything is true um but the way he plays the violin if you guys haven't heard him you'll fall in love just with that because he does it with so much passion and love and you can feel it but just like he does that with the violin and the same way he dedicates himself to all the other issues and he cares so much about this community i get to talk to him about all of the above that was just mentioned i get to spend a lot of quality time with him he's my really good friend and as a friend he always listens and he's always there he's always available so he's a great person just as a whole he's a great asset for you guys to have on the board i really think he would make you guys a little bit um step it up you know he would bring bring it to the table he would bring a challenge to the table which is what i think that the school board needs so that things can be addressed and and changed because we need a lot of things in this in this district to change not just to be addressed but to make a change things need to be different there needs to be um more responsibility and people need to actually get out there and do something about what's really going on i'm a parent of two kids in the district and i don't i don't feel very um happy about my daughter in high school going to school and still spending three periods in one day in the gymnasium um i don't appreciate that she's not able to get the education that she has a right to to get because there's bullying going on in school and some teachers can't you know they don't have the training to be able to detect that i don't appreciate when my daughter is not heard by her counselor because they're too busy with other appointments it's been two years and she still hasn't been able to get in there with her counselor so there is a lot of issues not only with my daughter is that happening it's happening with many other parents i i get together with a lot of different parents from the city and they all have different issues and some have the same as me so make the right choice and elect adam good morning everyone my name is aileen clark nagoka i am a retired teacher from pbsd and parent of graduates of pbsd um i agree with everything that has been said about adam and i'm also here to support him um i but i wanted to to highlight another quality of his that hasn't been spoken up so much and and that is that he's such a great listener i've um worked with him i'm part of rehan at asya and a climate action group and he's a board member for our group and i also worked on his 2020 campaign and um i just couldn't believe how well he listened to me how much time he devoted to answering my questions and i knew you know i was one of many people he had to talk to and he um just gave so much time and listened so well um and i just also wanted to say that um i he he um is a newcomer as compared to to others who's whose experience i i really respect the the other um candidates who've worked in city government and other capacities i know them and respect them very much but um i think it's so powerful to have new eyes on on old stubborn problems it's i think i've seen i've seen it happen where a new member of a group can bring a fresh perspective and i think it's time that we do have some some new eyes on these stubborn old problems that we've had in our district for a while especially um wages and housing and um and safety so thank you very much i support adam okay and our um final two speakers for today and there's no last name here uh maria and then bobby good morning uh my name is maria and i attended pvusd and all of my five siblings still attend pvusd when i was a student i was part of that eld program and we never got access to music um we were stuck in the same classroom with the same teacher except for p and maybe spanish class um so i really appreciate adam uh willingness to bring more um attention to art but also we need to be healthy um and the fact that he's actively advocating for the health of our community and you know to know that my siblings are still um um exposed to pesticides and there's in the schools um i really value that he's actively doing that we not only need experience but we need people that care and i think adam really does that thank you all right hello trustees um my name is bobby march assault i live in uh trusty dodges district i have three students in the district parent of a watsonville high student go wildcats and i'm also a teacher a music teacher in the district here so mr scow I thank you and appreciate your advocacy there i look forward to hopefully getting to know you at some point um i am here today to ask you uh to appoint mr lullhurst uh to this seat uh i commend you for not paying for a special election we all know what that would have taken um we did however in that take that choice away from that community and that's important to recognize and i want to point out that over the years uh that miss uh your former colleague miss irosco has been uh elected over and over again with a community that trusts her judgment and i know that she is supporting mr hurst and i think that needs to be taken very seriously uh in moving forward considering the situation um that she carry a lot of weight um i would love for you to appoint mr hurst to that seat and then i would actually love to see this four-way race play out in 2024 i think it would be a great race and i'd love to see it happen um personally about uh mr lullhurst i know that 32 years of teaching is an asset asset um i also have seen him on my own in his both policy and personal life i've seen him advocate for vulnerable communities and i appreciate that um and i have not always agreed with lull on everything but i have found that he is willing to listen uh and thoughtfully and critically consider the other side so i think he would be a great person to finish out uh miss maria roscoe's uh seat and then see what happens in elections at the end of next year uh whoever gets appointed this morning i do look forward as a teacher and advocate in the district to working alongside you whoever that is um and i do need a fiddle player for st patty's day so if you're interested you know let's talk have a good one thank you so we're going to go on to item 3.3 and it's the public comment on um item 3.1 so we're going to take a brief recess to allow board members a chance to review the 14 comments provided by the public so we're about 15 we'll take 15 minutes so we'll come back well let's say yeah well so 12 how was the 12 our 12 25 let's just make it 12 25 we're going to go ahead and reconvene so we're going to go ahead and get started again and so the board will now discuss possible nominations and vote the majority of the board members under ed code um three five one six four which means four votes must agree on one candidate and our six member board requires the majority of four regardless of the numbers of members present so even though you know we have an absent seat it's the four um just as a reminder from the update that i gave on wednesday one way that we might consider you know this process is to hold nominations until members you know trustees have had a chance to make comments and you know express you know their preferences if there's a nomination and we don't achieve a majority then we you know the then the vote fails right and then we go to an appointment process we can go through like a people who have cast a dissenting vote can rescind and we can revote but in the interest of streamline in the process if we wait until we get a sense of how things go that might make it a little bit more streamlined what we can do is if we narrow it down to you know top candidates we can decide on some additional questions to ask those top those final candidates okay so with that i'll open it up for the deliberations um are there any trustees who would like to make comments trust okay trusty dot junior so just to clarify if we don't come up with any decision and it goes to a special vote we're looking at november that is correct that's a long time so i just wanted to send it out thank you and trusty to serve it look like you had a you wanted to make a comment ma'am um first of all i feel so grateful that we have four excellent candidates today um we are so fortunate to have the field that um put their hat in the ring they're all um they all have excellent qualifications having said that i really appreciate lizette zuniga mostly because she has children in the school and she's boots on the ground she's served on a site council on delac committees um and as a community volunteer and i think that she would do a great job and i think marielle said it beautifully that she would grow with the board so um so i think she is maybe not the most experienced candidate that we have or decorated but definitely somebody that would do a beautiful job so thank you for putting your name in the in the ring and thank you to everybody who's here today you're all incredibly qualified and i'd be happy to serve with any of you thank you anyone else want to make a comment trusty soto oh yeah i just want to comment uh and concur with trusty to serpa that you know the candidate pool is very strong across the board uh everybody has their unique and individual qualities um i'm still bouncing around in my head right now but uh i just want to wish each and every one of you luck and we'll see how this turns out um and thanks again for throwing your names in the hat and stepping up i think uh actually had a bigger turnout than what i personally expected for this so that's good so that means people are involved and want to get involved and um you know everybody's talking about progress you know hopefully you know we can get somebody that that wants to move forward with progress and newer ideas so thank you i want to thank all four candidates um it's amazing that you guys are willing to step up and want to be here to serve your community um i you know wish that area six was here and had their voice to be heard i feel like we had an overwhelming amount of support for um adam today and of course you know that's gonna play into my decision we are left with you know the public comments and the comments that were here and then also you know i appreciate all of your applications um and so i i think first from what i've read from the applications and from what you know we've um seen today here and read with the comments um i think um adam scall you would would be great on our board thank you just yes um i want to chime um i think what's been said by at least three of my colleagues at this point that um this is a great diverse pool of applicants and i'm just grateful to all four of you for applying and being a part of the process and um i am also grateful for all the input we've had from the public people who have given up a saturday morning um to be here and to give their input those that put in their input comments on the google doc um you know there was i think a bit of a backlash that we the board made this decision to move in this direction to not hold a special election but to appoint um the cost of the election sure maybe that was part of the factor um but also there was um i know for several of us up here we didn't want to see trustee area six go unrepresented until november which would and a november election which would actually be december when that person would take office so that would effectively be a whole year and that's just not fair to the constituency base of that area um so and i do feel um we have heard um a lot from that constituency area in public comment today in the google form online i have only been reached out and spoken to by community members about two of the four candidates and if it was just a personal decision for me and it was just might me as a person making it based on my own personal i think my decision would be one way um so i could say in that sense it's a little bit complicated um and there was even a question for all the candidates about your personal values and beliefs right um but it's not about me as a person right my personal values it's about me sitting up here as a trustee who doesn't represent this area but i've heard a lot of feedback from um people in that area and there has been concerns um some of those have included concerns about this um looking at swapping of seats between council member emeritus hurst and current councilwoman orosco former trustee orosco um they're not related but it's almost the feedback i've gotten it's almost an epitism feel it's sort of like the dynasty only certain people get to stay in certain roles um and then the other is obviously ample feedback we've been hearing about mr bolano scowl so as i said my decision if it were me personally would be probably one way but um hearing the community i and folks that live in trust that trustee area i think i would have to agree with um trustee floris that it seems that that slate is leaning towards mr bolano scowl but thank you again for all of you who did um come in and apply and we're part of this process and you know there will be an election inevitably um in 2024 in that area um and i hope y'all who is not for the three that are not selected today i do hope you still stay actively involved in our community and come to mother board meetings and keep us all in check thank you i know for you know myself it's like in hearing your statements um in hearing you speak um you know for for many of you i've i've had opportunities to to speak with you you know over the years or worked with you and some of you i haven't had that opportunity but i've appreciated your comments and this was again echoing what some of my colleagues have said we have a wealth of opportunity in the four of you um there are no bad choices here when i look at you know we we talk about you know the the feedback that we're getting from the community and we talk about the public comments that we have and we had 20 public comments here today we had 14 written comments but at our last board meeting we we spoke about you know one of the challenges of an appointment is recognizing that it is it is bypassing you know a democratic process it is an there is an opportunity for the public to have their say but if we're looking at you know how votes go and i appreciate the optimistic glass 41 full spin of the vote of the last election but in the last election when the when the voters of the district had an opportunity almost 60 percent of the voters chose someone else that's important that's an important factor to me for for mr scow are i think our politics aligned i think we agree on so many issues when i think about um mr hurst it's like you bring a wealth of experience and it's like i've seen your advocacy you know i've seen you out on picket lines supporting labor organizations i've seen you take action you know to support workers you know i'm i know you're out there in the community it's like you've been a teacher you know you know you could you can drop into the role miss zeneca zemuria i really appreciated how you responded to the questions you answered the question that was asked i really appreciate direct answers and it's like to me that demonstrates listening and that's really important and you know the fact that you are you know from the pvc d system that you have you know students you know in this district you have children you know you've got skin in the game you know mr revas you know your wealth of experience was impressive to me um for me it's like i you know if if i had to my top choice right now would be mr hurst followed by you know miss zeneca zemuria close second that's where i'm leaning anybody else want to weigh in does anybody any further comments yeah this this isn't an easy decision believe me i i advocated for the election initially but because of the time frame you know i i agreed to to do this process and it's like trustee acosta said it's not fair the constituents to leave them out to hang you know for another year so they need they need someone to step in um you know like i said earlier i was passing around in my head but listening to the comments from my fellow trustees and the level of support in this room today you know it's obvious that there's a connection for mr scowl in that area based on you know his representation today that can't be denied um so miss zuniga you you're very impressive and uh you know you you've got a lot a lot of years ahead of you to to make a change eventually and try to step into something at some point mr hurst you know you you've been around for a little bit and uh thank you for that mr revas if you're still in the room uh you as well you know you bring a wealth of knowledge with your experience as well but um like i said based on the support level today in this room uh you know i'd have to agree with trustee floriz and trustee acosta and uh suggest mr scowl you know like i said the the election will be inevitable this is just until the term ends and then we'll we'll find out if it's uh if someone will stick around or someone else will step in you know that that might be your opportunity so or anybody else for that matter but uh that's where i stand thank you so we're looking for a direction the majority of our direction is that what we're doing at this moment it's we're having a discussion okay well just kind of you know after hearing what my colleagues were saying um 2400 people already voted for adam he knows the issues at bradley calabasas rolling hills uh dunk and holbert meaning the arts community support adam bolano scowl many health advocates here today support adam bolano scowl many local community members here today and watching us many current and retired teachers that are here today even a former teacher of mine ron sandage who came to speak today and a lot of those not a lot but a few of those emails are from my constituents and i see constituents here that support adam bolano scowl and not all of them but you know thank you for coming and letting your voice be known and so you know i know there's a lot of people but 2400 voters said that they won an atom and i agree with those 2400 voters all right does the board feel comfortable moving forward with a nomination i'll entertain uh nominate i'll entertain a motion a motion to move forward in support for mr scowl have a first i'll second eva could you please do the roll call trusty dodge your vote trusty float is your vote i trusty to serpa your vote i trusty soto your vote hi vice president acosta your vote i president home your vote hi motion carries unanimously so um then uh i'll be sworn in at the next board meeting at on february 22nd and our meeting is adjourned at 12 43