El Camino Real Charter High School
Minutes
Special Board Meeting
Date and Time
Wednesday August 16, 2023 at 5:30 PM
Location
Grieb Theater
REGULAR BOARD MEETING
For meeting materials, please go to the school's main office, or call (818) 595-7500. Some board meeting materials are also posted in the school's website (https://ecrchs.net - click the ECR Board tab).
ATTENTION:
WE HAVE RETURNED TO "IN-PERSON" REGULAR AND SPECIAL BOARD MEETINGS AND COMMITTEE MEETINGS.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR PRESENTATIONS TO THE BOARD BY PARENTS AND OTHER MEETING ATTENDEES:
El Camino Real Alliance (“ECRA”) welcomes your participation at ECRA’s Board meetings. The purpose of a public meeting of the Board of Directors (“Board”) is to conduct the affairs of ECRA in public.
Your participation assures us of continuing community interest in our charter school. To assist you in the ease of speaking/ participating in our meetings, the following guidelines are provided:
1. Agendas are available to all audience members at the door to the meeting.
2. “Request to Speak” forms are available to all audience members who wish to speak on any agenda items or under the general category of “Public Comments.”
“Public Comments” is set aside for members of the audience to raise issues that are not specifically on the agenda.
However, due to public meeting laws, the Board can only listen to your issue, not respond or take action.
These presentations are limited to two (2) minutes and total time allotted to non-agenda items will not exceed thirty (30) minutes. A member of the public who requires the use of a translator, in order to receive the same opportunity as others to directly address the Board, shall be permitted twice the allotted time to speak.
The Board may give direction to staff to respond to your concern or you may be offered the option of returning with a citizen-requested item.
3. You may also complete a “Request to Speak” form to address the Board on Agenda items. With regard to such agenda items, you may specify the item(s) on your “Request to Speak” form and you will be given an opportunity to speak for up to three (3) minutes before the item is addressed, and total time allocated to agenda items will not exceed six (6) minutes for a Discussion item and nine (9) minutes per Vote item.
A member of the public who requires the use of a translator, in order to receive the same opportunity as others to directly address the Board, shall be permitted twice the allotted time to speak, and the total allocated time shall be appropriately increased as well.
4. When addressing the Board, speakers are requested to state their name and adhere to the time limits set forth. In order to maintain allotted time limits, the Board Chair may modify speaker time allocations or the total amount of allotted time for an item.
5. Any public records relating to an agenda item for an Open Session of the Board which are distributed to all, or a majority of all, of the Board members shall be available for public inspection at 5440 Valley Circle Blvd., Woodland Hills, California, 91367.
IMPORTANT NOTE REGARDING PUBLIC COMMENTS:
Effective September 2022, public comments presentations at all ECRA Regular and Special Board Meetings and at Committee Meetings must be made in person.
There is no obligation on the part of the school to have a school official read public comments during in-person Board Meetings.
A member of the public is welcome to appear at the Board meeting to make a public comment or make arrangements with another person in attendance to speak on the person's behalf.
Consent Agenda: All matters listed under the consent agenda are considered by the Board to be routine and will be approved/enacted by the Board in one motion or more motions in the form listed below. Unless specifically requested by a Board member for further discussion or removed from the agenda, there will be no discussion of these items prior to the Board vote(s) on the Consent Agenda item(s). The Executive Director recommends approval of all consent agenda items.
In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and upon request, El Camino Real Alliance may furnish reasonable auxiliary aids and services to qualified individuals with disabilities. Requests for disability related modifications or accommodations shall be made 24 hours prior to the meeting to David Hussey, in person, by email at comment@ecrchs.net, or by calling (818) 595-7500.
Directors Present
Alexandra Ramirez, Brad Wright, Daniela Lopez-Vargas, Steven Kofahl
Directors Absent
Danielle Malconian, Linda Ibach
Guests Present
Ryan Guinto
I. Opening Items
A.
Call the Meeting to Order
B.
Record Attendance and Guests
There are 4 board members and have reached a quorum.
C.
Pledge of Allegiance to the United States of America (USA)
Wr. Wright asked if Ms. Gruen could lead the pledge of allegiance.
D.
Public Comments
1. Beth Corbett - The problem that she has is when HR reached out to her and she was asked what is her plan for healthcare next year and she was told that you have to start paying for your own dental insurance in 2024. There was a discussion in the past about the health and dental benefits in the past with Mr. Hussey and it was implied at least verbally -- not legally, that this something that will continue to move forward granted that the union will agree and the contract will be ratified and accepted in hopes that it will happen. But she doesn't understand why they were being told that they have to pay now as opposed to wait until the negotiations are over and it sets a bad taste in her mouth because she spent so much time being an employee of ECR. It's very insulting and why now? There are also other retirees that are for the first time paying as well. She believes that there should be some sensitivity to the contract which has always been temporary and get delta dental 1000 for all of us.
2. Gary Asarch - First charter petition says that ECR should be comparable to or better than LAUSD. Second charter renewal came up it was the same thing and on the third one, it changed right when it was COVID when no teachers were on campus. LAUSD dental insurance has a lot of options and like the first charter petition says, ECR should be comparable to or greater than LAUSD and after that, everything is similar, too. Preferably the same. Now, everything is changed and he is now asking the ECR board to change this to reflect what was originally was on the first charter petition as this is the main reason why teachers signed up for that petition to begin with.
3. Anita Gruen - She is a retired teacher since 2022. She is very disappointed with the changes that had happened with the dental insurance. Right now, there are teachers who retired in 2023 that are not covered by Delta dental insurance and she considers this a disappointment because now there is a two-tier types of coverage in retired teachers. When she signed up for the charter petition back in 2011 she agreed to the lifetime benefits which includes health and dental ppo benefits. As she recall, this should have been taken care of then we will not talking about this issue. Just conservatively, it is a $1 million dollars a year and she thinks that it can be covered and she believes that ECRA board will do the right thing.
Mr. Wright mentioned that he knows how hard it is to collect payment for HMO and he is requesting that Mr. Hussey would setup a meeting with him and Mr. Kofahl so they can understand more the situation.
Mr. Hussey agreed.
II. Governance
A.
Discussion and Vote to install the two (2) Certificated Representative Board Positions
Mr. Solkovits won the election and will now be the new teacher rep and Mr. Kofahl will now be the LAUSD board representative. Mr. Solkovits was not present during the board meeting.
Mr. Ronald Laws was present on the board meeting and was called upon by Mr. Wright. Mr. Laws was voted as the new certificated representative. So the board will now confirm the new representatives.
B.
Discussion and vote on proposed 2023-2024 ECR Board Meeting Date Change for August
Mr. Wright proposed that the August 2023 board meeting, which was set for August 24th, be moved to August 30th due to the back-to-school night. He would like for the teachers to be able to have the option to attend the board meeting if they so choose.
III. School Business
A.
Discuss and Vote on 2023-2024 Bus Contract with M.G. Express Inc.
Mr. Wright made a deal with the bus company a private company to wrap at least two buses and the school can use it for the entire year.
Mr. Wood said there was a contract that was put together by the lawyers including insurance requirements which puts us in a category where we should be the talk of the town and advertise which also serves as marketing for our schools. This will pay dividends to the quality of the school we are in. As the CBO he supports this for field trips, acadeca, varsity games, etc.
IV. Closed Session
A.
Conference with Legal Counsel - Anticipated Litigation
Closed session began at 5:51PM August 16, 2023
V. Reconvene to Open Session
A.
Report on Actions Taken in Closed Session
Mr. Wright said that there is nothing to report on the closed session.
VI. Closing Items
A.
Adjourn Meeting
Meeting was adjourned at 6:18PM August 16, 2023
Meeting called to order by Mr. Wright at 5:33PM August 16, 2023