Lily Kaplan spoke on behalf of Mr. Jorge Gracias. She provided sentiments of his integrity and his participation in the club One Hand on the Other. She felt his departure is unjust.

Catherine Von Ruden, a parent of a current student provided feedback on her interaction with Mr. Jorge Gracias. She expressed how he collected clothing, sporting equipment for Guadalajara. She asked the school to bring back Mr. Gracias.

Gina Kornfeind - parent of two students spoke regarding Mr. Jorge Gracias. She gave accolades to Mr. Gracias and asked for fairness. Mentioned it is easy to take shortcuts to deal with allegations in current climate. 

Alexander Siliezar, a PCHS student, spoke on behalf of a parent of another students regarding Mr. Jorge Gracias. The message the parent wanted to convey to the Board-how respected Mr. Gracias was and wants further investigations done.  Speaking on his own behalf Alexander spoke positively regarding Jorge Gracias. 

Maria Giribaldi -  a retired PCHS Teacher spoke regarding Mr. Jorge Gracias. She referenced allegations of his release and said she never saw him be unprofessional.

Ari Bushooki - parent of current student spoke of Mr. Jorge Gracias. She has had one-on-one personal interaction over the last three years and feels he is a hard worker, loving and caring.  She asked PCHS to reconsider decision. 

Lauren Rojany - spoke for a few mom's who are seniors at PCHS. She expressed that the community will be willing to help in any way to provide more security for Pali.

Maureen Rowles - a new PCHS parent spoke regarding the need for further support and fundraising to protect the students  and help be them feel safe while they are in school.

Carly Friedberg - parent of student is concerned with safety at school. The parents woiuld like to see more security. She said thank you for all the communications (text/emails) this morning.

Taylor Torgerson reported the following events will take place: 

• March 10th Spring Fling Dance
• Spirit Week
• Pep rally on the 22nd

 

Deanna Hamilton announced Senior Parents are having a mixer to raise money for Senior's events on Friday, March 2nd. 

 Andy mentioned Classified employees would like some system where information for benefits etc., woiuld come out in a monthly email or newsletter.

Nothing to report.

Stands as submitted.
A lunchtime retirement meeting will be conducted for Classified Staff. 

Don Parcell - report stands as submitted. Issues for campus safety is emphasized. Operations is positioned to postpone capital expenditure (CapEx) projects to help fund safety needs. 

 

Mike Rawson stated stands as submitted. Highlighted  "March Gladness" a week of giving. The campaign will focus on a PCHS success story every day during the week of March 26-30. The goal is to raise $15,000 for school safety.
 

Greg Wood report stands as submitted, but highlighted current activity for 2017/2018:

• Cash Balances for PCHS at the end of 1/2018 --$7.4 million 
• Six month enrollment and ADA report attached. ADA tends to be going down as we get down to the last few months. Greg feels confident with our ADA projections previously provided to the Board.
• Cafeteria participation is up 25%.
• We are hitting our targets for revenue. We are on course with our budget for Civic Service Permits.

To kick off the 2018/2019 budget process, the budget packets were sent out last Friday to employees. We need to address increase in expenditures, we know there will be increases with Health Benefits and Transportation.

Dr. Magee provided a safety update. ASB Leadership and Justice League are coordinating a school-wide event to raise awareness on school safety and to show solidarity with schools that have experience tragic losses of life.  Safety is optimal and we are focusing heavily to work together and control any issue that could pop up on campus. Dr. Magee asked that everyone keep thinking about how to keep our school safe. Big shout out to our Virtual Enterprise Class - CTE type classes They are doing a great job! Community safety - we have a community safety townhall on March 6th in Mercer Hall.

Booster Club online auction is up and March 17th is the live auction.

Add to the agenda next Board Meeting, a vote for two new committee members. 

Christina reported the committee discussed WASC data and action plans; closing achievement for Black and Latino students; reviewed demographic data: 80% of 504s are white students, 60% students in Pali Academy are Black and Latino, 78% of students in special day program are Black and Latino.  Committee will review why some students are not in the classroom, but in alternative programs and discuss with Board in March.
 

Charter committee met on Feb 15, 2018.  Union representatives for both UTLA and PESPU were invited. Brown Act Training were reviewed and roles and responsibilities of the committee. June 30, 2020 - our charter will expire.  We will be submitting our new Charter for approval in early fall 2019. There have been multiple bills introduced in the California Legislature that would prohibit employees from participating on the Board. Governor Brown has so far vetoed bills when they have passed, but when his term is up there is no guarantee future bills will not be passed. There were three bills discussed as recently as January 2018. It was agreed that employees as Board members in the future is likely to become prohibited in not too distant future - by law and/or by our authorizer.  The importance of finding a way to maintain employee voice in governance was discussed, as was allowing time for stakeholder input regarding governance changes.  Restrictions on employee participation on many Board items due to legal and regulatory changes over the last few years were also noted, which impacts employees' ability to participate in many items currently.  There was also a discussion surrounding parents as Board members. It has been problematic in the past when parents had more of a self-interest surrounding an issue. This could be a conflict of interest.

A discussion regarding the make-up of a future Board Trustee and other options included:

• Community Member-Only Board
• Reducing the number of members
• Longer Board terms, perhaps 3 years with fewer ending at the same time (as we have now)
• Allowing UTLA and PESPU representatives the opportunity to address issues on the agenda during the meeting (as is permitted currently)
• Parent Liaison to the Board versus elected member
• Challenges/Benefits of nominating versus electing Board members - often people run unopposed now, so whoever runs gets elected without regard to skill set or Board needs
• Recruiting Board Members with specific skill set: Finance, Fundraising, Law, etc.

Emilie Larew has agreed to research the makeup of Board of Trustees of similar organizations.

Other topics included: Briefly discussed exploring whether changing the criteria for the PCHS enrollment lottery is needed to assure continued student diversity. To confirm the theory that the students attending PCHS from Revere contribute heavily to the diversity of PCHS, Dr. Lee will provide a breakdown of current PCHS students that attended Paul Revere for a future meeting.
 

Rocky Montz outlined the current Board Members positions that are up for election:

• Community Seat (Currently held by Leslie Woolley) – 2 year term
• Parent seat (Currently held by Robert Rene) – 2 year term
• Traveling Parent seat (Currently held by Deanna Hamilton) – 2 year term
• Administrative/Mgmt. Seat (Currently held by Rocky Montz) – 2 year term
• Faculty Seat (Currently held by Emilie Larew) – 2 year term
• Faculty seat – Voted in by Students (Currently held by Mystic Thompson) – 1 year term

Election Timeline Highlights:
March 1, 2018:    Board candidate applications available through PCHS Main Office and PCHS website
March 16, 2018:    Deadline for candidate applications due via email to Shelby Ladnier, PCHS Administrative Staff, by 4:00PM. Deadline was extended. 
April 3-7, 2018-   Open for candidate forum
April 9, 2018-   Voting window opens at 8:00 am.
April 16, 2018-   Voting window closes at 11:59pm
April 18, 2018-   Election results posted. 

Committee recruitment recommendation:

• Currently seated members may want to run again.
• Recruit current constituents.
• Email blasts, social media, schoology, infinite campus to let people know they can run. 
• Pali Post, Pali News - to recruit the Community seat - will mostly reach Pali community. We could market with Santa Monica newspapers to get the word out there. 
• Students will try to recruit parents
• PTSA

The Board materials includes two candidate packets for interested and non-interested candidate forms. Candidate resume, which is needed to present to the Board members.
 

In process of meeting. More dates at the next Board Mtg.

Current Auditor Contract has expired.  Committee will have a new contract for Board to vote on by March Board Meeting. 

We have many models for students to use to get what they need to have to graduate. How do we make students smarter in technology and other subjects?

We should explore providing students with more access and flexibility in graduation requirements. There are 13 graduation requirements for the State of California and 23 graduation requirements for PCHS. Once we meet the State of CA requirements what is important. Items discussed: More computer classes.  Most students take computer classes outside of PCHS. Heath is 5 credits and continues to be an important required course. Align English with UC/CSU English requirements. Currently, count dance and marching band as Visual Arts and PE credit consider having them Visual Art.

Sixty 63% of our students meet A-G requirements and 37% do not meet the requirements. We have a 99% graduation rate. Most students do not meet the A-G requirement, because they passed a class but received a D in a required class like Algebra 2 and foreign language. 


 

Dr. Magee focused on Goal 4 this month.  Goal 4 states PCHS will continue to foster a positive school climate by maintaining a trust among students, parents, faculty, staff, administrators, and Board members by educating all stakeholders about the needs and concerns of other stakeholder groups, demonstrating respect for all types of diversity, and increasing cohesion, connectedness, and compassion at all levels.
Focus - Outreach and Involvement for School-wide Equity

• Recent well-attended Saturday morning meetings for parents hosted by Fuerza Unida and TVN (program focused on ways parents can support student success at PCHS and beyond, Pali technology training, counselor presentations, college applications, financial aid applications, and much more).
• Development of the WASC School-wide Action Plan for Equity that is being vetted in various stakeholder meetings including LTSP and Math Success Task Force.
• Preparing for a campus-wide equity study with Joaquin Noguera supported by a team of UCLA researchers and Pedro Noguera . They will train a team of six PCHS teachers to accompany the consultant team to go into all classrooms looking for specific areas designated on a rubric for equity. The group will develop recommendations to be incorporated into the WASC Action Plan for Equity.
• Preparing the Columbia Stakeholder survey and will be seeking parent input regarding funding priorities for the LCAP development.

New form must be completed every year by Board members. Shelby has the hard copy and at a minimum everyone needs to sign the top form. Non-interested Board Members with potential conflicts need to attach supplemental statements. Interested Board members - who receive interest Money from the school  need to fill out the second section.

Emilie Larew outlined the draft of the Board Member Recusal Policy.  Only possible issue with policy, if PCHS Management is seated in the Board Admin. seat per the policy they may need to recuse themselves from administrative personnel matters. 
 

Emilie Larew reviewed the Board Member Code of Conduct as a refresher for Board Members to understand their role.
Emilie reviewed some items all Trustee's must abide by:
Trustees must avoid conflicts of interest with respect to their fiduciary responsibility. In circumstances where the existence of a conflict of interest may be unclear, Trustees are encouraged to discuss the matter with the Board Chair or full Board in order to ensure that the Trustee fulfills his or her fiduciary responsibilities.If things are unclear, please discuss with the Board or Board Chair. Exercise in good faith and come prepared for Board meetings. Attend meetings regularly. Make no personal promises. Must not attempt to exercise own authority over the Board. Only the full board can give directive to Dr. Magee. Must maintain confidentiality. No one Board member speaks individually. All interactions with press are to be conducted by Dr. Magee only. Trustees shall volunteer to participate on standing and ad hoc committees as necessary to fulfill the Board’s obligations. Trustee's must be respectful,  judicial, and respect to Brown Act.
 

Board Members Emilie Larew, David Carini, Rocky Montz, Andrew Paris and Mystic Thompson recused themselves and left the meeting during the update on Post-Retirement Healthcare Benefits. 

PCHS requested assistance from Nyhart in order to measure the impact of PCHS contributions towards eligible retiree health benefits. Currently, the health coverage is paid for entirely by PCHS except the retiree PPO plan.. The proposed changes to PCHS contributions to the Post-Retirement Health include:
Option 1. Exist eligible employees will no longer receive a PCHS contribution for spouse and dependent coverage.
Option 2. Existing eligible employees will no longer receive future increases , the PCHS contributions  will be fixed based on the amounts from the prior valuation.
Option 3.  Existing eligible employees will receive a PCHS contribution based on the premium cost for the Kaiser HMO. 
These options excludes current retirees

Compared to current PCHS benefits contribution levels, Option 2 will decrease PCHS  liabilities, but this option does not lower the PCHS contribution liability to an affordable level.  Other options will continue to be explored in order to reduce the liability for retiree health cost.  Other Stakeholders will be included in the discussions surrounding the Post-Retirement Health Benefits. 

 

Greg Wood is recommending converting the Track & Field loan through Cathay Bank to a loan from the Lifetime Benefits Account. 
Looking at the original Board approved Cash Borrowing Resolution for the pool loan, it would be a cleaner transaction  to pay off the pool loan and finance both loans under a new Cash Borrowing Resolution. The idea of consolidating both loans will be floated to the faculty and brought back to the Board in March.

Robert Rene mentioned we do not have a contingency in our budget. For future budgets should have a contingency plan in case we have a short falls.  Can we bring back in March discussions about the possibility of using Transportation moneys elsewhere?

Form 990 - has been provided in the Board Materials, any questions or changes to the form should be directed to Greg Wood.

Twice a year we have to file with the State and provide interim report on how we spent  money for ELA. This is a standard report. An obligation and we generally spend all the money within school year.

Don Parcell recommended we tighten security. There are fencing quotes from multiple vendors and we can proceed as soon as we have the funding. Purchasing breach alerts fencing can also buy us more time during school hours. It can save us tremendous time.

Other Safety Ideas: More push bar gates, college campus style emergency statements to help get communications out regarding an emergency, multi-layer communications, new voice over IP phone (Being able to communicate to multiple people in multiple tiers), potential contract with a local security company to get a quick response within our neighborhood ( a local security company is  5 minutes away, could be very helpful), social media monitoring -to review potential threats, during the school day, we could use more security guards.
 

Board Members Emilie Larew, Rocky Montz, and Andrew Paris recused themselves and left the meeting during the closed session. 
Mystic Thompson, Robert Rene and Dave Carini were absent.There were two Close Session: one at 5:31pm and a second session at 8:48pm

Returned to Open Session at 9:15pm

The Non-interested Members of the Board took action to issue a notice of dismissal for an At-Will Employee # 100014 during the second close session