Back into session at 5:33

Nancy Frachiolla - traveling students. We focus on equity and inclusion. Thank you for listening.  Our bussing program has impacted kids. Leyla Johnese - The Johnese family pays $280 to use bus. She needed the 7th period bus. When that bus was canceled, it means Leyla stays from 3:48 until 6. Two busses went to 1, and it's chaotic, full, and busy. She's getting home at 8-8:30 at night. Kids are being lost to 7th period because of bus changes.  Nancy here on their behalf. Work with parents to find a solution.  It's complex, but we can do better. Also Dr. Ngo is excellent.

Kelly Johnese - here to advocate on behalf of bus system. Johnese - the situation is untenable. She wants to be here at Pali, but the bus situation is unacceptable. It's poorly planned and kids are suffering. This is negatively impacting the kids' lives. She's home after 8 PM.  She has a 14 hour day every day. 

Finn Nance - Hello everybody, My name is Finn Nance and I am here to speak about the survey that was taken by Pali parents concerning the satisfaction of the math department. I have taken math at Pali high for 4 years now and though I cannot speak for everyone I will say my experience with math has been more than satisfactory. 
 

I am here to specifically talk about Dr. Ngo who was my teacher for math analysis and now high school calculus. I believe that she is the best math teacher that I have had at this school and I would not have taken high school calculus if she had not been the teacher. Some of the complaints regarding Dr. Ngo have been that her class is too difficult and that she grades too harshly. I would like to state that all mathematical classes that Dr. Ngo teaches are electives as math is not required beyond algebra 2. Any student in Dr. Ngo’s classes should be prepared for the course work and should be challenged and tested by it. I’ve found math to be a doable and enjoyable challenge. Needless to say Dr. Ngo is truly and incredible teacher and I would truly consider the source and credibility of the survey before taking any action.

Ingrid Knap - My name is Ingrid Knap, I would like to build upon Finn's statement regarding Dr. Ngo, who is my current teacher for High School calculus. Calculus is reputable for its difficulty and rigor, and I strongly believe Dr. Ngo has done an excellent job so far at thoroughly explaining each lesson and doing her best to make each concept comprehensible for her students. Although her office hours are limited, she makes it very clear that she is happy to schedule additional times to meet with any student to ask questions, extra tutoring, or just a place to do homework.

This course is by no means "easy," one must put in time at home to practice the concepts in order to succeed-- something that Dr. Ngo made us all aware of at the start of the school year. Dr. Ngo gives her students all of the information and resources needed to succeed in her assessments, which I do not find unreasonably difficult as long as one has put in the effort to master the concepts. 

Calculus is not a required course, and it is one whose rigor is meant for motivated students. It is also one that requires a very specific kind of teacher to break down and explain the complicated material. For this reason, I know I am lucky to have Dr. Ngo as my teacher because she does exactly this and more. 

Willa Browne - My name is Willa Browne, and I have the honor of being president of Pali ambassadors, but my biggest honor has been having Dr. Ngo as my teacher. About an hour ago, I had my first in person college interview. One of the first questions asked was who is someone you really admire. While I could have said either of my parents or sisters, the first person who came to my mind was Dr. Ngo. When I think upon my last 4 years at Pali, I truly feel that she is one of the largest reasons my time has been filled with warmth, rigor, encouragement, humor, and unwavering support. She is the entire reason that someone like myself, a theater and English lover, signed up to take AP calculus last year. It was simply more time to spend learning from a teacher whose classroom environment is filled with every resource possible to succeed. I am proud to be part of Dr. Ngo's extensive Pali fan base, and can only hope that I will have teachers half as life-changing as she has been for me. 

Viola Browne - Hello, my name is Viola Browne, and I am a junior currently in Dr. Ngo's AP calculus class. My statement serves more as a testament to character, as I do not believe that the surveys of the math department reflect who she is and what she stands for. 
Dr. Ngo showed me the standard that I should be holding myself to, and showed me that I owe it to myself and my teachers to hold myself to this said standard, improving my work ethic and overall effort in my schoolwork. 
we go to public school, there are about 3000 kids at this school, so there is little to no expectation that individual attention with a teacher is a given. Dr. Ngo makes that attention a given, in fact, it is just a lack of seeking the opportunity that causes students to not  receive this attention.  Dr. Ngo’s door is always open, and she is always happy to help, so it is up to her students to take her up on that opportunity. 

On a final note, the kindness and patience she has shown me has shown me is unmatched, and she truly believes in her students.

Paul Mittelbach - Will Pali be following the LAUSD Board's lead on reaffirming its commitment to immigrant students, family, and staff and protecting the LGBTQ+ community?

Fati Adeli- Both my daughters had Dr. Ngo.  I have a daughter at Caltech, and every time I talk to her, she talks about Shalek, Ngo, and Smith.  She wouldn't be where she is and she wouldn't excel without them. Both my daughters had Dr. Ngo.  She's an amazing teacher. 

Dr. Minh Ha Ngo's comment: 

I have received recent criticism that accuse me of being too hard of a math teacher. As a
mathematician who has studied statistics and an educated consumer of information, I should not put any stock in data from a survey with responses totaling less than 5% of our parent population that was not randomly sampled but instead based on voluntary responses. Even more so, not all of the respondents are or were my students, although the results were portrayed as such.

I always welcome an opportunity to reflect though, so here are my thoughts:

• People who believe I am too hard of a math teacher underestimates how capable my
students are. My students meet and exceed my expectations every year. They rise to the
challenge, learn to persist, and do succeed.

• People who believe that I teach too much are not preparing students for subsequent math
classes and future careers. I can not give students a grade that does not reflect their
academic knowledge only to have them fail later. That, actually, would mean I am failing
them now.

• People who believe that I would just let my students “sink or swim” are not in my
classroom. They do not see the copious notes I give my students, the assignments I
provide for practice and review, or the duty-free times I sacrifice to work with students
who just drop in or cannot attend office hours.

• People who believe their child needs a tutor to pass my class just disempowered their
student. Now, the child believes that they are less capable. They just gave the student
permission to give up in class and wait to learn it later.

• People who believe that I have biases do not realize how much I need to prepare ALL
students to pursue STEM majors and careers. I know how difficult it is to ask my
students to believe they are capable even when they don’t see reflections of themselves in
the classroom. I need them to succeed in class, in college, in their careers so that those
who come after them will believe they can too.

The irony in all this, though, is that I am harder on myself. So, in order for me to get an accurate evaluation of my performance as a teacher, I look at the anonymous evaluations my students submit each year. I would be happy to share this data with my administrators, the Board, and the community. These students are the people who have actually been in my classroom. These are the people who I teach, I help, I encourage. These are the people who know I see their worth regardless of their grade. They don’t want me to underestimate them or to enable them or to disempower them. They want me to educate them. And so, I will.

Working on revising student Bill of Rights.

Student concern meeting - school computers.

Nothing to report.

Nothing to report.

Nothing to report.

Raising class sizes second semester.

Confusion on final exams and getting grades in on time. We were told to grades need to be in as early as possible so do we need to give meaningful finals.

There are many changes that are coming that have not been vetted or discussed with the faculty and we are hoping to have that done before second semester.

Report stands as submitted.

James Buckman is listed as an assistant and he's a teacher.  He was honored as time at Pali.

There is a contract to vote on.

Stands as submitted.

Stands as submitted.

No updates.

No report.  We're ahead of where we were last year.

Stands as submitted.

Closing classes with a good reason.

Finals news coming soon.

Pali passed a Safe School Zone resolution in 2017 to address that Mittelbach comment.

Surveys and information are taken and we take what's valuable, and perhaps it will allow us to do a better job as a school.

Stands as submitted.

We need to approve the members.

Students: Jiwon Kim, Casey Scaduto 

Parents: Ghazal Yashouafar, Melissa Harris, Roger Crystal as a parent and Trustee Rep, Stewart Wilson Turner (unanimously voted)

Faculty: Paul Mittelbach, Michael Friedman, Randy Tenansnow, Steve Klima, Nicole Newble, Evelyn Rivera, Scarlet Rojas, Gregg Strouse (new faculty unanimously voted)

Administrative Seat: Tyler Farrell

Committee Roles 

Chair: Michael Friedman 

Vice-Chair: Paul Mittelbach

Recorder: Randy Tenansnow

Trustee: Roger Crystal

Stands as submitted

No update.

Trying to pick a date for the beginning of January to start working on Charter.  We should start with governance.

Audit Committee - no update

Grade Appeal Committee - Summary 

• Heard 12
• 10 grades were upheld
• 2 were overturned

Risk Management - Approve committee.

Sara Margiotta, Amir Ebtehadj, and Kuimars Arzani

Survey Committee - needs to meet

FYI that we are trending on budget, but a little bit low. 

First interim is coming up and we'll have a more complete vision next week.

Stands as submitted.

FYI - Liability increased 1.87% from last year to this year.  How much more do we need to plan for? There's a plan asset that we have of the healthcare plan, and it increased 5.55%.  Most assets are in T bills.  We need to shift them moving forward. 

12 million is the total liability, and 5 million is funded.  We haven't funded 7 million.  We are putting away a certain amount each year.  It's about $500,000 each year.  We have budgeted the contribution and we will do it.

Minh Ha asked about it, and we discussed what's happened historically and what the plan is for moving forward.

We put the money with an investment banker. It's in a trust and it's been invested and we're committed to our obligations regarding lifetime benefits.

As of 9/30/2024 - we spent all of the money that we were supposed to spend.

The amounts are in the Board Materials.

Minh Ha Ngo - are these funds subsidizing or supplementing our general fund? 

Joe Lin - Depends.  Mostly they were supplementing, but some were subsidizing (Covid supplies.)

Sara M.- the rules were different by category.  Mostly supplanting.

Minh Ha Ngo - the Homeless Children.  We spent the money on technology. We bought laptops that they would have gotten or did we buy them cell phones that they would not have had?

Joe Lin - we distributed funds as needed. We can change how we distributed it.  

Sara M.- We bought and paid for hotspots.  

Minh Ha Ngo - would rather show that the money bought them things that they would not have had. Not show it that we used it to buy stuff that we would have bought them anyway.

Also, where can I get details on this.

Sara M. - It has been vetted by Budget on an ongoing basis. The details are in the Budget minutes.

Minh Ha Ngo - has questions about the specifics, but understands this is a summary.

FYI update.

Funds that we have to promote positive school environments. Have been used to pay for PD. There is roughly $492,000 as of 10/31/24.

Must be spent by June 30, 2026.

Kolavo taking DECA Socal Career Deca Conference.

Kolavo taking DECA to State Conference and Exhibition

Newbill and Sharfi to Catalina for Marine Biology

Nothing to report.

Next meeting is Tuesday, December 10th, at 4:30 PM for photo and 5:00 PM for the meeting.