Julie Benke - Biology teacher. 29 year teacher has been here since charter conversion. She is concerned with the school's trajectory and decision making processes. Overfilled classes. Contract provides that classes can be up to 40 but 36 has been the historical max because of lab functionality. We need enough classes to stay in that lower range. The recommended level is usually 32. She is also seeing faculty departures.

Paul Mittelbach - English teacher. 23 years at Pali. The Sears relocation was heroic. Now we are seeing elimination of systemic supports. Class sizes are excessive and compensation is too low. Our community needs to stand up for the vision in the original charter. 

Stephen Berger - 19th year at Pali. He has never felt so devalued and disrespected as this year. He has over 50 more students than last year with no additional compensation or consideration. He doubts his ability to do his job as effectively. The parents and students and teachers deserve better. 

Rick Steil -Palisades resident who lost his home. Building back. He has been teaching and coaching here for 19 years. He is so invested in this school and community. But now that we are back he is disappointed that his true income is actually lower than before because of inflation and cost of living. Worried about the direction of the school. His kids succeeded here but now with packed classes and lower services we are going to lose students. The teachers are what make this place amazing.

David Carini - 12 years, social science department. Was impressed with how teachers advocated for their kids and how the administrative supported these efforts. Over the last few years he has seen a decline in the school. Teacher enthusiasm has turned to burnout. Class sizes, resources like printing and copying, less compensation now than LAUSD peers. He wants Pali to get back to the amazing place it was. 

Shirin Ramzi - She is so grateful to be back on campus and working in person. She's been here for 25 years. Is so disheartened by the circumstances and the rift between teachers and admin. She believes everyone wants the best for our students. She thinks we are too reactionary not proactive enough. Schedules, planning, things are not organized enough. School needs to listen to the people who are working the most closely with our kids.  We also need to do better with what we assume about each others intentions. 

Steve Klima - English dept, 34 years at Pali. His own kids went through all the local schools and Pali. What has always stood out is quality of our teachers. Students were excited for these teachers. They don't come here for the administration. Teachers are what get enrollment up. It's shortsighted to have a compensation dispute now. 

Michael Friedman - Dean. Issues that are not being handled properly. Copy machines. He has brought this up to the board and it's a bigger issue than ever with teachers going back to paper among oncerns about cheating. Insulting compensation offers. No reduction in admin personnel when AI could do their jobs. Security issues with keys being handed out. Class size issues set up kids for failure. 

Rob King - teacher here since 1996. Was among the founders of the charter conversion. Our goal was to be a better school and we were promised by the first executive director that we would have salaries above LAUSD because we were above that but that's not the case anymore. We have had hard transitions with zooms, sears, coming back. We have been with the kids through all this to make sure they felt safe and could learn and we are just being told thank you. The compensation offer does not feel like a thank you. 

Steve Engelman - Since 1995. Attended the school himself and his kids went here. What makes the school amazing and great is the teachers. That's what keeps the kids coming here. Attracting and retaining teachers has a lot to do with how they are treated and compensated. Comparisons to other conversion charters are shocking. We are trending in the wrong direction. 

Alex Van Name -Biology and Anatomy and Physiology. Angry and concerned about the school's future. Admin always telling how much teachers are valued but it's just words not action. The offer we got is not a sign of value. Basic respect is also missing, gestures like meals during PD days matter. Operational breakdown and classroom management. We don't have basic administrative planning. Scheduling failures. Just to get our kids to fulfill their basic reqs. We need copy machines and basic resources. We have quantity over quality. 

Yash Pujara - He wants to share another angle. When you have too much on your plate, you don't do it well. We need to know things in advance to plan and prepare. We have a situation where we can't teach and support the kids. Poor planning by admin. If he new there were more kids he would have asked to rewire his class to provide more computers. We need funding to support computer science and tech since it's so important as a career path.

Brad Kolavo - 11 years here. He was always proud of this school. As of right now he doesn't feel appreciated or supported. Admin won't acknowledge him or his needs. Actions speak louder than words. He takes pride in everything he does and his teaching. He connects with his students and families. We have lost the pride in ourselves as a country and a school. He felt supported before when he started the business program but now he's thinking about leaving the school. Our students are the ones who will suffer at the end of the day. 

Kevin Kung - 30th year as a teacher, 23 at Pali. He was willing to commute here because he thought the salary and community and school were better. But all these conditions have deteriorated. Class size issues. Special education issue because one student's aide does not fit in the class. Very disheartened. We know there are funds available. 

Charlotte Kamdar - Second gen student. Her mom graduated in 2000. The teachers are what makes Pali. We thrived even at Sears because of our teachers. We need our teachers to be fairly educated. They are what makes our future. 

1. Anonymous - A community member describes a wide divide between the current administration and teachers and urges administrators to be more visible on campus rather than staying in their offices. They call for negotiations to wrap up soon and for better communication, particularly about why classes are over-enrolled and when that will be fixed.

2. Anonymous (long-time teacher) - school morale has declined over the past ten years and that the current administration has made Pali a toxic place to work, causing teachers to stop volunteering and tutoring after hours. Strong academic leaders have left for other schools, which the writer blames entirely on administration, and asks the Board of Trustees to act. They sign as “one of the lowest paid teachers in the Los Angeles area.”

3. Anonymous - A parent notes that classes are so overcrowded that many students must sit on the floor or stand in the back of the room, which they consider unacceptable. They warn this may lead them to withdraw their children from PCHS if the problem isn’t fixed soon.

4. Anonymous - describes UTLA as manipulating teachers with misinformation and using students as pawns, and blames the union for bankrupting LAUSD. They express concern that the union will do the same to Pali and ask UTLA to stop what they characterize as hurting students.

5. Danna Rosenthal - parent says she supports fair teacher pay but believes UTLA’s tactics — withholding letters of recommendation, pulling back clubs, and discouraging homework help — punish students rather than pressure the district. She is concerned about misinformation regarding PCHS’s finances and reserves, and asks UTLA to negotiate in good faith using the school’s actual numbers rather than risk a LAUSD-style financial crisis.

6. Anonymous - support for fair teacher pay paired with criticism of UTLA tactics (withholding letters of recommendation, pulling back clubs, discouraging homework help) as harmful to students. It raises concern about misinformation on PCHS finances and asks UTLA to negotiate based on the school’s actual budget.

7. B. Ramin - new Pali parent, supporting fair teacher compensation while criticizing UTLA’s tactics (withheld letters of recommendation, reduced clubs, discouraged homework help) as punishing students. The writer asks UTLA to negotiate in good faith using PCHS’s actual financial numbers rather than risk a LAUSD-style crisis.

8. Anonymous (Pali parent) - support for fair teacher pay combined with criticism of UTLA’s tactics (withheld recommendation letters, reduced clubs, discouraged homework help) as harmful to students rather than to the district. The writer asks UTLA to negotiate in good faith and base demands on PCHS’s real finances.

9. Anonymous teacher (fears retaliation) - says the proposed raise is drastically low and would make Pali the lowest-paying conversion charter school in the LAUSD area, falling below the 4.3% LCFF funding increase despite the school’s reserves. They also cite rising commuting costs and copiers that have remained offline since the school returned to campus in mid-January, saying morale is the lowest they’ve seen in over ten years.

10. Lisa Saxon - reports being repeatedly paid incorrectly — including a three-month wait for conference travel reimbursement, incorrect summer school pay, and no correct paycheck since April — and says Dr. Monahan has not responded to her requests for information needed to reconcile her account. She cites California Labor Code Sections 226 and 210 (as amended by AB 673), which set statutory penalties for inaccurate wage statements and late payment, and says she is still awaiting resolution.

11. Nick Albonico - the administration’s offered 1.5% raise is less than half the rate of inflation since 2021 and feels inconsistent with administration’s stated appreciation for teachers, especially given the school’s strong finances. He notes that teachers who lost homes in the Palisades Fire still came to work, and urges the board to reconsider the offer, clarifying that by “administration” he means those who created it.

12. Dr. Woodward- files a formal complaint about overcrowded Honors Biology sections (38–41 students) in Room G-105, exceeding the National Science Teaching Association’s recommended cap of 24 students per lab instructor and raising safety concerns around lab equipment and evacuation. He proposes teaching an additional section during his open 4th-period conference period to reduce class sizes, and separately reports the room reached about 92°F after a portable AC request was denied, asking the board to review both issues promptly.

13. Anonymous (read on behalf of a summer school teacher) - this comment details payroll errors in the 2026 summer program — checks issued late and with incorrect rates, still uncorrected after HR follow-up — as well as rosters of 130–200 students given only limited instructional and prep time. It also describes inconsistent student drop/reinstatement policies and an administrator who was out of state during part of the program, and asks the board to formally review summer payroll, staffing ratios, and oversight practices.

14. Anonymous - This teacher’s biggest concern is inadequate air conditioning and ventilation, noting their classroom stayed at 80°F all week despite Dr. Magee’s claim that ventilation systems were running continuously; they cite California Education Code § 17002, which requires schools to maintain HVAC within normally acceptable ranges, and ask for portable or window AC units until permanent AC is installed. They also describe suffering heat-related illness in the same classroom as a first-year teacher and call the proposed 1.5% raise inadequate against a 4% cost-of-living increase.

15. Kevin Kung - In his 22nd year at Pali, Kevin Kung describes unmanageable class sizes — 39 students in a room with only 27 desks — that prevent an instructional aide from reaching the student they’re assigned to support, in a room that reached 86°F amid a heat wave. He says Pali’s traditional pay and working-condition advantage over LAUSD has disappeared, creating a retention crisis unless compensation, respect, and classroom conditions are addressed.

16. Steve Klima - a 34-year English teacher at Pali, argues that the quality of its teachers — not its administration — is what draws families to the school, citing years of praise from parents and students. He calls entering a contract dispute while trying to boost enrollment shortsighted and asks the board to offer a contract that shows teachers are valued.
 

 17. Anonymous (withholds name to avoid retaliation) - sharply criticizes administrators by name (Pam Magee, Martha Monahan, and Diana Kim), calling them self-interested and describing an acronym (“Administrators are Bullies and Cunning”) to characterize their leadership. They say the toxic environment has made Pali a school people no longer want to attend and call for the administrators to be replaced.

18. Paula Anderson - Special Education teacher and department co-chair, calls the pay increase insulting and says Pali pays the lowest salaries among LAUSD conversion charter schools. She describes unsustainable special-education caseloads (22–28 students per teacher), understaffed resource-specialist positions, and one AP English class with 56 students, and asks the board to reevaluate compensation and reduce class sizes and workloads.

19. Anonymous - objects to how the Special Education department is shifting paraprofessionals into Registered Behavior Technician (RBT) duties without the consent of the classified union (PESPU). They say HR required a mandatory 40-hour RBT training but is refusing to adjust pay or job titles even though staff are now expected to perform RBT-level work.

20. Julie Benke - National Board Certified AP/Honors Biology teacher in her 26th year at Pali, describes a pattern of poor administrative planning — delayed lab supply orders, a copier that was promised but not working at the start of the year, and Honors Biology sections of 39 students exceeding the prior 36-student cap — that pulls teacher time away from instruction. She calls the proposed 1.5% raise inadequate against roughly 4.5% cumulative cost-of-living increases and warns that continued administrative dysfunction is driving experienced teachers away and threatening the school's ability to recruit and retain talent.

21. Anonymous (Pali alumna) - says the school’s once close-knit, community-oriented culture has given way to something more transactional, and credits teachers like Mr. Klima with inspiring her toward a career in education. She asks the board to remember that teachers and staff are the heart of the school and the reason students want to be there.

22. The Counselors - The Counseling Office describes rising workloads since being displaced by the fire, including losing two counselors (only one replaced), eliminated intervention positions, and a lost front-office role, leaving roughly 350 students per counselor versus the American School Counselor Association’s recommended 250. They ask the board to recognize their sustained effort under difficult conditions and support a cost-of-living increase, framing counselor support as part of supporting students.

23. Alexander Van Name -25-year classroom teacher argues that the 1.5% raise offer and the removal of small perks like meals on Professional Development days contradict administration’s stated appreciation for staff, and says Pali salaries lag more than 15% behind comparable charter conversion schools. He cites overcrowded classrooms (up to 41 students), a scheduling failure leaving a student unable to enroll in a required chemistry class, and broken copiers, and asks the board to livestream meetings for parents who can’t attend in person.

24. Anna Ghaemi - current student says students are increasingly filling roles meant for paid staff, citing freshman orientation being run largely by roughly 80 student volunteers after no Link Crew coordinator was hired — which she says raised supervision concerns given she is sixteen. She reports that teachers’ uncompensated extra work, such as clubs and letters of recommendation, is disappearing and falling onto students, and asks the board to negotiate a fair contract so students aren’t substituting for staff.

25. Michael Friedman - raises a range of grievances: copier problems unresolved for over a year that force staff to make off-campus trips to FedEx, another school year starting without a faculty contract with an offer well below LAUSD’s, and accounting he characterizes as designed to make funds appear scarcer than they are. He also flags security concerns (an outsourced company able to issue keys broadly), inadequate crowd-safety planning at football games, overcrowded classrooms and stadium seating, and unaddressed facility issues such as J-area shade and emergency egress.

26. Brad Kolavo - 11-year Pali teacher says he is now considering leaving the school for the first time, citing a lack of appreciation and support. He describes classroom sizes as intolerable for both students and teachers, with students being reassigned to classes they didn’t choose, and says he feels helpless about the situation.

27. Anonymous - teacher says morale has steadily declined over the past three to four years and that staff feel undervalued and voiceless despite going above and beyond for students. They call the 1.5% raise proof that administration’s stated appreciation is just words, pointing to still-broken copiers and unanswered emails, and note several colleagues have resigned or retired early due to the stress.

28. Angelica Pereyra- warns that failing to acknowledge the truth invites manipulation by those responsible. She asks the board to recognize and compensate staff contributions based on their collective effort and professionalism, not the lowest common denominator.

29. Ramona Bostic - 23-year Pali employee says classified staff — including PESPU members and Special Education instructional aides — feel undervalued, and that promotion decisions have often seemed influenced by favoritism rather than experience or merit. She asks the board for a fair, transparent hiring process and for classified employees to be recognized with the same respect, fairness, and compensation as other staff.

30. Taiyana Ballard, PESPU President - says employees have repeatedly raised concerns about poor communication, micromanagement, disorganization, and staff being placed in roles without adequate qualifications, and that these concerns have often gone unresolved, creating a stressful and hostile work environment. She calls for transparent dialogue with classified employees and their union on compensation, job classifications, and workloads, noting she has spent five years encouraging staff not to quit.

Jackson - excited to be back for his last year. First football game was last Friday, great turnout. Back to school night coming up 

Negeen, Azadeh and Pemra -

• Class size issues are the biggest issue
• Scheduling challenges, frustration about counseling
• Would like improved communication especially for 9th grade families
• Would be helpful to have more info about team tryouts 
• Concerns about the heat and availability of AC and fans. 

Amir - Happy for everyone to be back. 

The football game last week was a big milestone. The school is a great beacon of hope for the community. 

Fati enjoyed the new parent breakfast 

Andy - nothing to report 

Jeff - nothing to report 

Ed Sugden - shout out to Robert and Andrea King who are in the 35th year of their careers. Also several of our other longtime teachers including Mr. Burr. Also Mr. Steil who lost his home and to Jordan Justice whose family was just able to move back into their home.

Would like to highlight 5 issues

1. Exorbitant class sizes. Many classes with 40 plus students.
2. Payroll errors over the summer - multiple employees have ongoing issues
3. Excessive heat in the classrooms - this is harmful especially in combination with the crowding 
4. No working copy machines - This has been an issue since before the fire. Ed says in a recent meeting Jeff said he will address this.
5. Textbook and materials delays - still waiting on items ordered last spring 

Martha - 

• Summer payroll issues - We transitioned payroll system this summer. It was a major shift and they discovered some errors that were made in this process. 
• July 10 paycheck was the first one sent to all certificated and classified staff. All certificated employee paychecks were correct. 40 teachers were missing 3 hours of auxiliary pay from that paycheck. That was fixed and paid on July 15. 
• They also had not processed the June summer school hours and could not get those done in time so those went onto the July 15 paycheck. 
• The payroll processed them at the wrong rate - 10 month versus 12 month rate. This was rectified on the next paycheck. 
• July 25 payroll- all employee paychecks were accurate
• August 10 payroll - 26 employees did not have their rate go up to the correct 26-27 rate. Martha discovered this immediately and communicated to all employees that this had happened and their paychecks may not be correct. Each impacted employee was paid the missing amount to make them whole.
• They also rectified the summer school hours issue for the 3 teachers who were impacted by about $50 each. 
• Looking ahead, they have also discovered the step/column payrate that was printed on the paychecks was incorrect. The actual pay rates are currently correct, this is just the printed display information. It will be correct on the next paycheck. 
• Some employees were overpaid. They are doing an analysis through the collective bargaining agreement to see how that will be handled. The agreement allows teachers 3 years to repay. 
• Martha thinks the new system will be much smoother and also empower teachers to control their paychecks more including for auxiliaries. Auxiliaries now will be automatically added to their paychecks when they clock in. This will reduce mistakes. The system will track attendance and employees can see the system. 
• Minh Ha asks if they won't get paid for the periods they teach if they don't clock in. Martha says they will have to fix it to get paid. 
• Jane asks about the system - Martha says there was a slow rollout last year. Now they are trying to use it for all employees and impose some organizational discipline. This will help keep track of absences, vacation days earned, etc. System is called INOVA
• Amir asks what was the biggest challenge in this transition. Can we pinpoint the source of the mistakes. Martha says we moved from 10-15 different documents/sheets that were tracking all these different things and it all got moved into 3 spreadsheets. It's much more clear now and there's more accountability. They know now what particular compensation is tied to - the date, the activity, etc. 
• Amir asks if Charter Impact has been helpful with this on the back end. Martha says it's been bumpy. The old system was not set up well. Part of the challenge was that this transition started while we were at Sears and dealing with so much other stuff. The new people at Charter Impact are much better to work with now than the original team. 
• Minh Ha -we should have done some unofficial test runs to identify issues before it actually impacts the employee paychecks. We should have been more proactive not reactive.  
• All non employee board members need to complete mandated reporter training

Rafael Negroe - his report was inadvertently omitted from the agenda. It's an 8 page report covering all aspects of the campus.

1. Impact of the proposed Sole Occupancy Agreement. 

• This is essentially the standard agreement being offered to charter schools. He is just here to discuss operational impact
• Pali will assume greater responsibilty for maintaining an aging campus. 
  LAUSD will retain ownership and is handling some capital projects but Pali will have to handle several major items now that we did not previously including fire sprinklers, roofs, electrical, plumbing, building systems. This will be an ongoing challenge as the campus continues to age.
• We cannot provide a long term cost analysis because we don't have a good inventory of existing items and systems or their age or condition. LAUSD was maintaining and monitoring all of this before. 
• We have to build a system to document and track equipment history, condition, replacement needs, maintenance and replacement forecasting, etc. We cannot speculate as to these items now.
• This does not include IT equipment, tech infrastructure or low voltage systems that will be Pali's responsibility but are outside Rafael's purview.
• LAUSD is going to have broader oversight that will impact our long term planning.
• We need a long term asset stewardship program.
• We need to understand these impacts before moving forward

2. Parking

• Currently in talks with LAUSD regarding campus improvements including the new building construction. We will have impacts including loss of parking spaces. Stadium parking and upper ramp of student parking area will be unavailable. LAUSD as the property owner has the right to do this. LAUSD also does not provide student parking at most high school campus and approaches this project with that in mind. Rafael has made the parking concerns clear to them. We need to find practical solutions to minimize these parking impacts. 
• We will have only 201 spaces. That's enough for staff members only. We usually have around 450. 
• ASB has sold parking permits only through December. 
• Ed - the Pali Academy location is designated as contractor parking. Can we negotiate to have that for students? Rafael is negotiating and has proposed to have the construction people shuttle instead of students. 
• Rafael says it will help to have community support. LAUSD may not agree to any of our proposed solutions. 
• Ed - confused about Pali's assumption of costs for future capital improvements if LAUSD is the owner. How are they shifting this onto us.

3. AC Units and Fans

• All window fans installed during covid were discarded in the fire cleanup. All portable AC units. All floor fans.
• Insurance reimbursements provided for those to be cleaned not disposed, but the cleaning company threw them out. We are stuck in the middle. We have purchased new AC units and installed all but 4. We want to order another 20 for new requests beyond what we had before the fire, and insurance has agreed to pay. Issues are that portable units are not designed to cool rooms in extreme heat with windows or doors open, and only meant for 500 sq ft. Also issues of electrical power overload that are already showing up. We are actively mitigating the heat wave. 
• Maggie - When will central AC be installed in all rooms? Rafael -This winter they will start trenching, installation of electrical systems, and install the system over the next 2 years. They will start on the west side buildings and move east.

Ed asks about classroom security and how we can secure doors in an emergency. Rafael has a proposal for it. 

Amir - do we have mitigation strategies for El Nino if there's flooding? Rafael is already meeting with the city and LAUSD about mitigation of the Sunset hillside. 

Report stands as submitted.

Ed - wants Jeff to provide info about the copier room problems. Jeff says he dropped the ball. He did not prioritize this because there were issues he thought were more urgent and there was a backup plan in place for this.  Is there an anticipated timeline? Jeff says ASAP. 

Rene Rodman -  

We have raised $23,000 from 20 families. This is a great start compared to all the uncertainty last year after the fires. We were at $18k this time last year. Our best year was 2024, we had $86k.

New parent breakfast was a great success with over 300 attending. We had information tables with admin teach and staff there to answer questions and meet the families. This always helps with fundraising and also helps answer questions before they flood the office. 

Back to School night, booster club

PCHS Fund allocations - counseling office, math support, team competitions, transportation, AP prep, Naviance for the college center. The goal is $400k. 

Fundraising Policies - Budget and Finance committee is asking for a legal review. Looking at best practices at public, private and charter schools and universities - 3 main areas to improve are gift acceptance policy, guidelines for ASB fundraising and for affiliated non-profits. They also want to create more detailed procedures that will be more efficient. We will have more detail about these items next time. 

The policy was requested in the spring to help organize efforts. 

Minh Ha requested a visual report with the numbers. Referenced the PCHS fund balance transfer from the June 9 meeting, Rene will follow up directly with Minh Ha. 

Minh Ha - Asking where the minutes are accessible on the website. 

Dr. Magee - 

• Thank you to all who have come and who have stayed to hear the reports and budget information. 
• There were lots of comments tonight about Pali in the past. There have been huge changes in the world and huge challenges to our school over the past few years. There is no question that our students are at the heart of our school.
• Our admin team is only 7 people. We are spread very thin. We own up to mistakes as Jeff and Martha both shared tonight and we will work to get things better. 
• We are facing uphill battles going into charter renewal and some of our issues in budget and finance are tied to our charter authorizer. We have extreme circumstances that we will have to address.
• We had a budget freeze and then an unfreeze and these issues impacted materials coming in on time for the school year. 
• Class sizes and enrollment are very closely linked. We have a new admin Joe Clausi. We are trying to increase enrollment but also daily attendance. 
• We are in the 5th day of school. We always have balancing to do at this point but it was exacerbated this year. We had 200 additional kids enroll unexpectedly but now we are seeing student losses. It's a seesaw that makes things very challenging. People says be prepared and plan ahead which we did, and we decide to be conservative instead of having to collapse classes later because they are under enrolled. 
• We know this is straining everyone and that is not the intent but there is a method to the madness. We will not leave classes at these extraordinary sizes. Thank you for being patient while we work through this. 
• Upcoming parent and community events including back to school night. 
• We are all working to make Pali the best it can be. 
• Ed - several department chairs feel cut out of the loop with the master schedule building. They anticipated some of the issues that have arisen but were not heard. They blame this on Amie Whitely. Dr Magee says yes we have had a change in the process.  This contributed to having overly small classes in the past. It's a pendulum that has swung too far the opposite way this year. Amie has heard this and is working to level everything out. 

Randy Tenansnow and Michael Friedman - first meeting is this Thursday. 

Will select officers and committee members

Have requests from families for a zoom option for this committee and for electronic public comment. 

Department chairs have to give their reports Friday to help see how they will address issues that came up in the process last year. 

Board will give the committee some direction about what to focus on this year. Board retreat will set some items. 

Sara Margiotta 

Health benefits trust monies were transferred and are being invested with Merrill Lynch

Budget this year had additional $1 mm for OPEB funding.

Income for 2026-27 includes an arts and music grant which is restricted. We need to look at how to allocate those monies so we don't have to return them. 

Nothing to report 

We have to begin working on the renewal. 
Greta Proctor will guide our board in how to approach this. 

LAUSD will tell us when everything is due, but it will be early in the fall next year.

Renewal is normally 6 year cycle but we had 2 one year extensions because of COVID and then the fire.

We have to begin working on the renewal. 
Greta Proctor will guide our board in how to approach this. 

LAUSD will tell us when everything is due, but it will be early in the fall next year.

Renewal is normally 6 year cycle but we had 2 1 year extensions because of COVID and then the fire.

Dr Magee - this is a renewal of something we have in place every year. 

Pemra - would be helpful for new students to receive more info about this and other dual enrollment options. 

Discussion of dual enrollment options and how cumbersome it is to sign up. West LACC rep is coming out to talk to the kids soon.

Diana Kim - 

• Summer Dolphin Leadership Academy - 9th grade bridge program. 114 students participated. 99 completed the program and received an elective credit. 
• 17 incoming 9th graders took accelerated geometry over the summer. They will all be in Algebra 2 now.

Testing - 

• Fall NWEA scheduled week of September 14.
• Winter will be week of January 26
• Spring will be week of March 15, that will also be CAASPP week for Juniors. 

3 years of test results to review trends. 

• Negeen - Trends in several areas are negative. Diana attributes much of this to challenges from the fire, lack of resources at Sears, loss of teaching materials.
• Minh Ha asks if these trends are showing up in grades and AP pass rates too? Diana does not have the data on hand. She thinks it was less of an issue with the kids in AP classes who are stronger academically overall. 
• Maggie - many kids just don't care about these tests because it doesn't have any impact on them if they do well or poorly. 
• Diana says they will work with ASB to find ways to improve engagement. 
• Maggie asked about comparison of virtual students compared to those who attend in person. Diana doesn't have that data but says virtual students came in person for these assessments. 
• Pemra - we need more data to identify causes of these declines and strategies to improve this. 
• Negeen - We had discussed last year that we need to improve academic admin engagement with the departments. Is there a plan now for that? Diana says they are having meetings and doing classroom observations. Dr. Magee instructed all the academic admins what they need to do. Dr. Magee says there's a meeting tomorrow to work on developing metrics to track progress so department chairs and admins have a common system. 
• Math department data shows continuing issues in getting kids comfortable with using math in life and in class. 
• Achievement levels dropped last spring when we came back to campus compared to the fall in Sears. Diana has no explanation. Maggie says it ties back to the instability of our school last year. 
• Dr. Magee says now that we are back in a stable environment we can dig into issues and see what needs attention and improvement. 

Intervention Planning -
 

• Professional Development in MTSS Intervention
• In class Tier 2 & 3 intervention in small groups and 1 on 1
• Pali Period
• Teachers' Office Hours
• Study Center J104 with a teacher and peer tutors
• Math Lab - paraprofessionals Ethan & Leyla are back. Before school, lunch and after school. They will also be in the Algebra 1 and Geometry Classes 
• Will explore offering some online support options

IB Program 

• We have certificate only students and we have Diploma Program. 7 teachers, 7 courses.
• The classes are relatively small now.
• We anticipate the program will continue to grow. 
• Minh Ha - how many students in the diploma program? Diana says 9. This is significantly lower than we anticipated and we had a whole year to prepare for this. Diana says the certificate only students customarily make up a bigger portion of these programs.  And it takes time to ramp up new programs. Minh Ha says we are closing other classes outside the IB program that are small and it's disappointing that this program is not carrying the numbers we thought it would. Pemra says there's a lot of parents who need more communication about IB. 
• Negeen asks about how long we will invest in this program under the financial constraints we are experiencing now. Diana says it's a 2 year program, Dr Magee thinks we will have an uptick in enrollment and the training has been good for the teachers. 
• Azadeh asked for an overview of the program and methodology. Diana gave a summary

Dear Members of the Board,
We are speaking today as the Counseling Office because we believe it is important for you to understand what our current working conditions look like and what they mean for our students.
Our school community has already endured extraordinary circumstances. After the fire, we were displaced to a department store, where 14 members of our counseling team worked together in one large room. We did everything we could to support our students, but the environment was chaotic, disruptive, and exhausting. We made it work because our students needed us.
Since then, our workload has continued to increase while our support has decreased.
This past year, we lost two counselors and only replaced one. Our intervention positions were eliminated, including the support that helped coordinate SSTs, triage students, and manage credit recovery, work that directly impacts student success and graduation. We also lost a front-office position when someone retired, leaving counselors to absorb additional administrative responsibilities.
The American School Counselor Association recommends approximately 250 students per counselor. We have approximately 350 students per counselor in a high-needs community. 
We are being asked to provide excellence under conditions that make excellence increasingly difficult to sustain.
We want to be clear: we are dedicated to our students, and we will continue to do everything we can to support them. But we do not believe that dedication should be mistaken for an unlimited capacity to absorb more.
Our students deserve counselors who have the time and capacity to truly counsel them. They deserve timely support, meaningful intervention, and adults who can be fully present when they need help. And the people providing that support deserve to be cared for, respected, and fairly compensated.
We are asking the Board to recognize the extraordinary work our staff has continued to provide and to support the cost-of-living increase we desperately need. Taking care of the people who take care of students is part of taking care of students. We want to continue giving our students the excellence they deserve. We simply need the support, resources, and respect necessary to make that possible.
Thank you.

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2026 Summer School Report stands as submitted. 

Schedule Change Requests, Counselor Availability, and Class Size Management - report stands as submitted.

Negeen - We need to find a way to use technology to make the whole scheduling process better. Take some of the pressure off of the counselors so they can focus on the kids. 

Maggie and Dr. Magee discussing the issue of summer school being online and questions about the integrity of the work completed. 

Minh Ha - Credit recovery is a goal but is there actual learning going along with it?

Report stands as submitted

Performance summaries:

• Governance - 2, Developing 
• Student Achievement and Educational Performance - 4,  Accomplished
• Organizational Management,  Programs, and Operations - 3, Proficient
• Fiscal Operations - 2, Developing

Includes review of fiscal duties and financial management. This was an area of weakness. We got penalized for a late report. We hired Charter Impact and have overhauled financial oversight. 

We were penalized on independent studies because we lost records in the fire. 

Our school charter requires that we have a balanced budget projected for 5 years out. 

Nothing to report 

Vote will be deferred because the code was not attached to the agenda for tonight 

Deferred to next meeting 

If any of us need some information about how it works and the resources it provides we can schedule to have a training. 

Maggie - there's an executive committee of the board. The main thing is you sit in on agenda setting meetings. Those meetings are not governed by the Brown Act.  She believes a good executive board should have interested and non interested parties on it. There are challenges about having an employee be the board chair because of the dynamic between chair and Dr. Magee as CEO and openness of communication and feedback. 

Budget & Finance - Jane Davis, Fati Adeli, Negeen Ben-Cohen, Minh Ha Ngo (pending confirmation that teachers can participate)

Academic Accountability - Negeen, Azadeh, Fati, Pemra 

Elections - Amir, Azadeh, Pemra 

Charter - Amir, Negeen, Ed

Grade Appeal (ad hoc) - All Faculty (alternating), Andy Paris, Amir, Fati

Risk Management - Jane, Amir, Negeen 

Evaluation - all non interested 

Bargaining - all non interested 

Survey - Maggie, Minh Ha, Jeff, Azadeh 

Audit - non interested 

Investment (ad hoc) - tbd 

goal setting board retreat September 19 on campus 

Tuesday September 22 next regular meeting