Destiny Williams: I'm concerned about our continued use of Acellus, as the California Department of Education sent a letter to all schools (https://www.cde.ca.gov/nr/el/le/yr20ltr0921.asp) noting:

"Acellus lessons may contain highly inappropriate content and may not meet state legal requirements surrounding instructional materials.
Examples of objectionable content brought to our attention include:
Racist depictions of Black Americans.
At least one question that perpetuates Islamophobic stereotypes.
A lesson that uses words and images associated with a firearm."

The racist depictions of Black Americans included photos of a single black mother and her child, and then a white mother and father and their child, with the question, “Which is a family?” The answer was the white family rather than the black family. There was a slide noting how important slavery was to the economy. There was a depiction of Harriet Tubman as a thief due to her rescue missions to save slaves. There was a lesson where the teacher pulled out a gun and noted “G is for Gun.” There was a multiple choice answer about terrorist group names including “Towelban.” These were not simply mistakes, rather a full systemic racist program developed by a cult leader, Roger Billings, who created his own school to give himself and others honorary doctorates to act as developers of educational content.

Why do we continue to support this organization?

Anonymous: I am the parent of a current Pali High student. I object to the use of a new program, e-Hallpass, due to its privacy implications. This program is offered by Securly, Inc., doing business as Eduspire Solutions. Eduspire's privacy policy states they collect a lot of information about students, not just location information. I do not consent to having my student tracked. I do not consent to the collection of additional data about my student. 

According to Eduspire's privacy policy, in addition to collecting students' geolocation information, Eduspire also collects mobile device ID, device name and model, and collects student data through cookies, web beacons, and other technologies: information regarding a student’s personal computing device, browser type, browser language, operating system, Internet Protocol (“IP”) address, and the actions a student or user takes while using the Services including while online (such as the web pages viewed or blocked, the length of time a student visited a website, links clicked, and messages sent or posted). Eduspire also collects students’ Social Networking Site activity including students’ public and private posts on Social Networking Sites and other messaging activity. The company also stores social networking activity with other student information. Eduspire specifically states they use this information to track students’ online activities, including the information a student distributes, displays, or shares. The company also collects information about parents. 

Per Eduspire's privacy policy of deleting student information at the direction of the school, what is Pali High's deletion policy/schedule?

Securly's privacy policy does not match Eduspire's privacy policy. Which privacy policy will govern? 

EdSurge reported in March 2022 (https://www.edsurge.com/news/2022-03-25-the-school-hall-pass-is-going-digital-is-that-a-good-thing) various privacy concerns. A senior fellow at Sesame Workshop questioned, "once we start tracking kids throughout their day, is there already in place specific guidelines for what is considered worthy of disciplinary action and what is not?" She worried that absent clear guidelines, the new data could be used to unfairly target students based on the biases of officials. "For the most vulnerable populations in schools, what are the unintended consequences? Are there usual adolescent things that teens engage in that are now going to be penalized [more harshly]?" 

Vice reported in August 2022 (https://www.vice.com/en/article/dy73n7/ehallpass-1000-thousand-schools-monitor-bathroom) that e-Hallpass's system of monitoring resembles the monitoring that Amazon conducts on its workers, which tracks for how long its staff goes to the toilet, and is used to penalize workers for "time off task." The use of these automated tools have led to increased surveillance of students in schools, and employees in places of work. A director of a cybersecurity non-profit was quoted as saying that, "While the problems they purport to solve are real, they also introduce other risks to students - including the risks of spurious accusations and targeted harassment by school officials and law enforcement." Further, "the increased scrutiny offered by surveillance tools has been shown to be disproportionately targeted against minorities, recent immigrants, LGBTQ kids, and other marginalized groups." (This potential disproportionate targeting is also concerning because Eduspire's team members do not appear to have a single minority represented, see: https://eduspiresolutions.org/about/. Securly's leadership team seems to suffer from the same problem of lack of representation, see: https://www.securly.com/about-us.)

The National Cybersecurity Alliance has specifically reported that data privacy for the LGBTQ+ community is vitally important, see: https://staysafeonline.org/online-safety-privacy-basics/data-privacy-crucial-lgbt-community/. "A privacy data breach that exposes someone's sexual orientation can have far-reaching effects, including the loss of employment, loss of familial relationships and friendships and even the potential for physical harm or death." The NCA goes on to state that, "Coupled with the heightened risks that LGBT individuals face from a data privacy breach is the fact that LGBT community members tend to be earlier adopters and heavier users of the internet and online services than their heterosexual counterparts." LGBT individuals may have heightened risk because "...the internet is often the first tentative step for seeking both information and community." 

Data breaches are common. In fact, LAUSD reported in February 2023 that approximately 2,000 student assessment records were posted on the dark web, see: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-02-22/lausd-cyber-attack-includes-at-least-2-000-student-records. This article also reported a data breach in Long Beach Unified involving at least 130,000 student names. 

Not only do students, especially LGBTQ+ students, have to worry about potential data breaches, but also direct monitoring from school officials about their bathroom use and other data collected by e-Hallpass. In addition, Eduspire states they may disclose student information to comply with the law, a judicial proceeding, court order, subpoena, or other legal process, further putting LGBTQ+ and other students at risk. 

Overall, I find this program to be intrusive and an invasion of students' privacy. I object to this surveillance of my student. I encourage Pali High to not implement this technology.

Rustin Kharrazi:

- First football game last Friday, very successful.

- Back to School Spirit week coming up

- Preparations for Homecoming game and dance

- Excited to share ideas from ASB class with Board

Melissa Schilling, Saken Sherkhanov, Kristina Irwin: Nothing to report at this time.

Andy Paris: Nothing to report at this time.

Karen Ellis: Nothing to report at this time.

David Pickard IV: Report stands as submitted.

Dr. Martha Monahan: Report stands as submitted.

Don Parcell: Report stands as submitted.

Don Parcell: Working on Pali Period safety drill for next week.

Nothing to report at this time.

Juan Pablo Herrera: Report stands as submitted.

- 2022-2023 budget, ending with a positive budget and the school is in great financial health.

Dr. Pam Magee: Report stands as submitted.

- A lot of work over the summer and hope everyone gets a chance to review the EDP report.

- Back to School Night coming up on September 14th.

- A lot of discussion about Acellus and we are working to identify alternatives. We have students that are currently in the middle of courses are looking into new contracts moving forward.

- Working with Pali Academy Director to ensure mental health supports are in place.

Maggie Nance: Have you heard anything from the LAUSD board meeting about our fence?

Dr. Pam Magee: We are waiting to hear whether they will pass the fence proposal.

Maggie Nance: We had discussed last year about keeping Acellus for the entire academic year. Is that still happening?

Dr. Pam Magee: There have been changes and it is something we are looking at as an institution. We are leaning more toward UC Scout as an online learning platform.

David Pickard IV: Nothing to report at this time.

Sara Margiotta: Nothing to report at this time.

David Pickard IV: Nothing to report at this time.

Sara Margiotta: Nothing to report at this time.

Grade Appeal Committee: Nothing to report at this time.

Survey Committee: Nothing to report at this time.

Dr. Pam Magee: Revised position has been posted in the materials and we have been looking at all of our administrative positions to ensure there is an equitable distribution of duties. Dr. Amy Onyendu has taken a principal position in Santa Monica/Malibu Unified School District and we are restructuring and will be posting the job soon.

Dr. Pam Magee: We have an approved contract for the next 4 years and do not need to vote on an agreement.

Dr. Martha Monahan: I am pleased to announce that we bargained throughout the summer and have a tentative agreement to present, which can be found in the board materials (pg. 53).

Juan Pablo Herrera: Brief updated budget was presented, which can be found in the board materials.

More updates coming at September board meeting.

Maggie Nance: DoF projected COLA is what future raises are based on, is that correct?

Juan Pablo Herrera: Yes, the contract stipulates that salary increases are based on COLA minus 1%.

Dr. Martha Monahan: This is something we have discussed last year and many times after. Our sub rate is lower than surrounding school districts. We have hired more substitute teachers, but want to be sure our pay rate is competitive. The next step is bringing the proposal to budget and finance committee.

Dr. Pam Magee presented the LAUSD Charter School Division Annual Review, which can be found in the board materials.

Juan Pablo Herrera: We received at score of 2 out of 4 on fiscal operations. We have received quality feedback and are working to improve our fiscal operations. Overall, we are in a significantly improved position of financial health. There was much positive feedback, but we do have opportunities for improvement as a school and are working towards implementing these goals.

Maggie Nance nominates Sara Margiotta as PCHS Board Chair

- Sara Margiotta accepts the nomination

Melissa Schilling nominates Maggie Nance as PCHS Board Vice-Chair

- Maggie Nance accepts the nomination.

Maggie Nance nominates David Pickard IV as PCHS Board Recording Secretary

- David Pickard IV accepts the nomination.

- Date of the Annual Goal Setting Retreat: Saturday, September 9, 2023 at 10:00am

- Date of the next regular Board Meeting: Tuesday, September 19, 2023 at 5:00pm