Mr. Hussey led the Pledge of Allegiance

Cheryl Dorries -04:35

………………I'll call it TAP- Transparency, Accountability and Professionalism. For the sake of our children, it is important to address our concerns and understand how essential ECR stakeholders are. The ECR school board should continue to foster dialog to welcome guardians, and all stakeholder’s questions, suggestion, and concerns without questioning their intention. I support ECR, and this board and continue to look forward to stronger stakeholder partnerships.

Regarding agenda item six C, about upgrading the Visitor Management System for improved safety. When you vote on a new system, please replace it with a system that continually screens visitors to prevent potential safety risks such as sex offenders or other criminal backgrounds not allowed for school grounds. Thank you for your time.

Avi Yeahizkia 6:15

So, last week on Saturday, we had an attack on Israel. 4,200 people got slaughtered, 200 people got kidnapped, and 100 people were still missing. Four days after, there was an email that was received from the board to the school to let them know that there will possibly be a walkout-pro Palestine protest happening in El Camino.

The board emailed the school, the school emailed the teachers, but nobody informed the parents, which is part of this whole system. Our children go to this school and this was a very important event that we were supposed to know about, and I'm asking the board, how is it possible that we didn't know about it. There was chaos outside because of the situation. We are asking for the school to inform us when something big like that happens and putting our children in risk when the kids are at school. Teachers shouldn't give their opinions about anything that has to do with politics our children come to school to learn English, math, history, and be safe. 

This should be a priority right now of our children and communication with the parents. We should have metal detectors. Any way to stop weapons going into schools. We should prevent hate speech at school and in classes.

Barlev Pazit 8:36

I am a retired educator. I've sat on your seat many times, and I know how you’re feeling right now. Two weeks ago, I witnessed how the parents were frightened about the miscommunication. What I would like to stress is that the communication between the school and the reporting about such issues should be improved. 

People who don't pledge allegiance to the U.S flag and hate us, will want to kill us.

Two names that you might want to know: Brigitte Gabrielle? She lectures on the history of Islam, and if you want to learn about it, why Islam hate Jews, go and Google her out.

Emerson had warned about 9-11, but nobody listened to him. 

Those haters might come to this school. They will attack wherever a school is

vulnerable. I don't think El Camino is protected.

Therefore, I'm asking not only that you act, but I'm asking to see your plan in the next

meeting or two meetings, what is it that you're going to do to protect not only our kids,

but all the kids.

David Hussey gave the update

Events Tonight - So tonight we have this board meeting. We also have, the VPA showcase that features our students in their visual performing arts.

We're participating in Anderson Hall. We also have a football game at Cleveland High School tonight, So it's our senior night where senior football players, senior cheerleaders, and senior color guard will be recognized for all their efforts that they've put in over the years.

Sports Updates - On to sports. Our volleyball team is in the semi-finals in the open division, the highest division that we can compete at. The tennis team made it to the semi-final round before losing, but at the highest level of the open division.

The football team will be going into playoffs, and then our cross-country team will also be going into the playoffs.

Safety Survey - Next, I hope all the parents that are here tonight filled out the safety survey that was sent out to parents, students, and teachers. In the next couple of days, the administration will be compiling that information and sending out something to all the stakeholders to let them know that their voices were heard, and we will focus on the major aspects of that safety survey.

Grad Nights - And then I want to announce that Grad nights. El Camino does have a date for Grad nights. It will be Sunday, June 9th, and we have approximately 725 tickets for our students to buy. So if you have a senior, don't wait until the end because those tickets will sell out fast. I don't know the price yet.

Field Construction Update - The other thing, and there will be an email sent out today to keep all of our stakeholders informed. I got an email from LAUSD late yesterday, and basically, what they're saying is there's going to be a setback to the field construction because of the soils. The soils around the perimeter need to be excavated and then replaced with the proper materials before they put down the field. LAUSD is going to be working with senior management to determine the best solution for El Camino, and then as soon as I'm informed, I will inform all the stakeholders.

Special Education Compliance - One last thing, from the California Department of Education, our special education compliance monitoring system for policies and procedures review, we were approved and for student legal review, we were approved. we are compliant according to the State Department of Education.

Mr. Solkovits: Governor Newson signed a bill last week that basically is attempting to strongly discourage statewide artificial turf. I'm wondering if we might find a way to put real turf in because artificial turf can be so hot and it's not going to be as durable? Maybe using Governor Newson signing that bill as leveraged.

Mr. Wright: Keep in mind too that we are tenants on this property. So we can ask them, but we're a tenant on this property and we don't own it, so that means that the decision will go to the Los Angeles Unified School District, but yes. We will send something out.

Gregory Wood presented the update highlighting the following:

Cafeteria - The cafeteria has new offerings and tonight's meal was sponsored by our cafeteria. We're still generating revenues that can be used to improve our cafeteria. 

Because of our decline in enrollment, our meal service is actually down. I know that shows up 1% through August, in September, we're actually down and we'll probably continue down a little bit until we get more buy-in from the students. 

Enrollment and Attendance - Our enrollment's up. It's slightly improved. It normally continues to go down, but in the second month of the year, we're up by one student.

Our ADA percentage is 94.2%. That's average daily attendance. And our monies come to us as a result of the number of students that attend our schools, so in the month of September, 94.2% of our total of student attended in that month.

CARES Act - So, with the COVID, there's a number of different grants that we received, which you can see here in the middle of the spreadsheet, how much we've been allocated. It's almost $13.7 million. The next column, shows how much we spent, which is $5.8 million, the next column is how much is left on all those grants, and then most

importantly, the business office is tracking all these grants by the spending deadline. As can see, we've spent all our grants to September 30th, so the next round of grants spending will be due, by September 2024.

And then ultimately, the last one that we've received, we haven't received all 

the money, that we're eligible for, so we have some categorical monies through 

September 30th of 2028. 

So, we're in good place. We're keeping an eye on the ball and our budget has 

been designed to make sure we take full advantage of the funds we've received.

Budget updates - We revised our budget at the last board meeting, but you can see through September, we've received about $10.3 million of our funds. Some of the initial funds for like federal and state coming later in the year, so it's slightly down, so the here today, we've received about 20% of our funds.

Expense - Which includes salaries and benefits. All of those spending areas are basically on target, meaning three out of 12 months, we should expect our spending levels to be about 25% of our total, and pretty much every one of our spending areas are within a percent or two of the budget.

Investment  - We're talking about new investments. 

Audit - Our last year is being audited we do it every year by outside CPA. We're in contact with them. Our audit report is due by December 15th. So, our auditors are in the process of completing it, so probably by the end of next month, we will have some draft audit reports ready, and we'll be sharing those with both the finance committee and the board.

Brad Wright provided an update with the following key points:

Board Chair Updates are for members of the board that may have any kind of news they'd like to relay to the public. 

Email Communication - I want everybody to understand that I do receive your emails, and I do return all emails as possible within 48 hours.

School Security - We're a school that believes in being equitable to all students of all races, all religions, but most of all, in the safety of our kids that are in the school and our teachers and administrators. And understanding that I believe we have one of the top security schools so far in the state of California. Mr. Camp,23:39 one of our administrators, has tightened up the school. We have over 20 security guards, and we have not only the police but we also have patrols within our staff. 

Controlled Campus Access - This year, as he has made it, we don't have kids or anybody just walking around our campus. You have to have a reason and you must have a pass. 

Acknowledgment - And also, I'd like to thank one of our chief security, Mr. Jones.24:03

Commitment to Safety and Education - It's very important for the parents to understand that we're here for the safety and the education of our kids first. And we're going to make sure that happens.

 Open Communication - So if you have anything you'd like to say or add, please send an email to any of the board members.

Request for Material Revision - This letter was prepared by our legal counsel and serves as the request for a material revision. It is addressed to Mr. Cole-Gutierrez and covers all the necessary details mentioned in the cover letter. It will be signed by me if the board approves it.

Resolution - The next document is the resolution itself, and it will require a board resolution number. After consulting with legal counsel, I suggest that we use today's date. The board resolution number will be 23-10-26, reflecting today's date, so we can track when it was passed. Again, this resolution includes all the language and material required for the resolution. As we proceed, you'll notice that it needs to record the votes, including 'Aye,' 'No,' and 'Abstentions,' which will be filled in after the vote. To clarify, this vote is to align our bylaws with the existing charter regarding the elimination of board terms. The ECR board will need to vote on this resolution to submit it to the district

Mr. Brad Wright asked the board if they wanted Ms. Centman to be the authorized signer. 

Gregory Wood, and Mike Breller from Beacon Pointe provided the Investment  reports and Updates

Mr. Gregory Wood

Investment Portfolio Update - So I'll kick it off with the monthly investment results for both our OPEB trust and our general investments. What's on display on the screen is our OPEB account at the end of September is $25.1 million in it, our general account which the school controls has about $6.9 million in it. When I last tracked the OPEB account, there's been some deteriorations in the market. It's now about $24.8 million as of the 23rd. So that's what's happening with the school's account. Two of our annuities have just changed-Midland annuity that used to be like 2%, we have renewed it for three years at 4.8%, and Athene annuity as of October, will go off. We had a 1.95% on it so as of September, it basically reached its maturity and so we replaced it with 4.9% T-bill for two years as was discussed with the finance and investment committee. Those two events have changed some of our portfolio in the general investment category.

Introduction of Mike Breller - he's been our investment advisor for 2 years. He's with Beacon Pointe. He basically oversees or coordinates our investments with Beacon Pointe.

Mike Breller's Remarks - Thank you board for allowing me on the agenda. What we attempt to do with the OPEB account, we have the job to make sure that we are growing these assets so they can meet the future liabilities and the health benefits of all of your employees into retirement. That means that there's a growth element, there's capital preservation element; We never want to take the full brunt of the market’s losses, or something like the permanent loss of capital. And so we take that very seriously. 

General account- The general account that we invested; second part of the report, is a short-term portfolio. It's not meant to be long term type of thing or long-term employee benefit. It has assets that are more preservation-oriented and different asset mix for that reason.

Market Performance and Economic Perspective - Slide 2 here is the investment market performance to give some perspective on how your managers and how the portfolios are doing. In the quarter, what we had was a pullback of about 3%. If you look at most of the markets, the S&P 500 in the second row, is kind of a general gauge for markets, is down 3.3%. It was up 13% this index for the year and date period, the nine months of the year, and for the rolling 12 month period, up to 21%.

So that's the perspective on what the challenge in the portfolio is today. Oh, by the way, what's affecting those markets?, Why are we bouncing around like this? 2022 was the year that the Fed decided to tackle inflation. What you had was a market where we were dealing with the expected inflation, and what the Fed was expected to do in anticipation of that inflation and then what actually happened.

And in dealing with that, you saw that the Fed acted swiftly, strongly in 2022 markets were down. 2023, There was a general feeling that maybe what the Fed did, got it right. It tackled inflation, they maintained their inflation fighting credibility, and we might orchestrate a soft landing because job losses aren't picking up, unemployment is still below 4% so with that thought that we might have a soft landing, not a hard economic slowdown, not a recession. So that's the perspective when you see things bouncing around in this portfolio that's affecting the market and the portfolio today is inflation, the Fed, and what happens to the economy from that. It’s widely accepted that that recession that might have been expected this year is pushed out to maybe a 2024 event. And it's mostly thought of that it could be a slider or shallower recession than what we went through in a great financial crisis.

Discussion on the OPEB Account - We will now discuss the OPEB account. It's our fiduciary responsibility and the committees' to make sure that the assets are invested as described in the investment policy statement. At the left bottom of the page, you can see asset classes defined in the IPS. You see the balance to the right of that, what that represents as a percentage of the total assets to the right of that, and the policy. So we don't have to be spot on the policy. We have discretion to look at what's happening in the marketplace. Maybe we want to shade towards growth or value, large cap or small cap international to US, we'll do that for you. We have the discretion to shade around that. Our guide post though, is that policy range. We need to maintain within the policy range.

So on a quarterly basis, since it's the committee's job to say, did anything fall outside of that range? If it's outside of the range on the quarter, that's okay. Our job is to make sure that we've taken the action and invested the assets accordingly to get back into the policy range. So market values may take you across, we don't have to track it on a daily basis. The policy writes that on a quarterly basis, we've reviewed that and brought back within the guidelines. Everything is right on the guidelines, you can see we have a majority of assets in stock-related types of investments at 55% and 30% bonds.

Portfolio Manager Changes - And in the Alternatives, there are a mixture of kind of stock and bonds that are there to give somewhere in between the spectrum of the risk and the returns of the stock and bond mixed portfolio. You can see the outcome of that at the top of the page down 3.2%. As I mentioned, looks like the stock and bond markets that I pointed out are up 6.3 for the year-to-date, which was versus a Policy index of 5.5. And for a one-year period, 13.1 versus a 12.5. So what does that tell you? Looks like the markets that we are supposed to represent, will put the assets in those types of managers. The managers are doing their jobs effectively. We've outpaced that policy benchmark we've done so with the right amount of risk. And on a full-term basis, there's no necessary red alert items or red flag items in the portfolio.

Outlook and Strategic Decisions - On the next slide, you can actually see some of those managers. One thing that we will be addressing with the committee, we have discretion to turn from these managers, replace managers, add managers in the portfolio, report back on after we've done that in this portfolio. So this isn't a come to the committee for a vote type of relationship. We have a discretionary account. We're likely to see a couple of manager changes in this. We're discussing this at a firm level today. All of our accounts where we have discretion get traded together, so there's no treatment different from any of our other accounts that we manage. And so you would expect to see some trading happening in this portfolio to our current best view

Mr. Wood provided the report.

Every year, we look to try to update for any changes and edits  to our fiscal policies and procedures that have been in place for a number of years. Just as an example of the edits in this handbook, we don't have a director of human resources and compliance anymore. It's a Director of Human Resources now. So we've updated for things like that. 

Travel – On page 18, shown in red, it’s been updated to have an administrative director and/or a designated authorizing person involved with the travel arrangements. 

Subsidized Tuition - Page 21, under Tuition Cost, we did add an item number two that's a new item. It's that the employee must be employed a minimum of one year before they can become eligible to receive benefits since they're probationary employees that we do want to encourage, help in professional development, but until a person kind of leaves their probationary status, they are not eligible. 

Failling Grade Penalties - And also item number four was that classes need to be taken for a grade or a pass/fail. We added that if they received a failing grade, they would have to wait for 36 months before taking another subsidized class. 

Contracts - On Page 29, every year the state puts out public bids. The public contracts code changes the rate in which we are required to put out the bids for equipment and materials. So that number was like $99,000 last year, so we've updated the handbook to reflect that it's now $109,300. 

Fundraising - On page 32 under Fundraising. Donations or fundraising secured by Parents

Groups (e.g., the ECR Royal families) will be tracked separately and reported on a monthly basis. These funds will be deposited in a separate Trust account within ASB Bank Account and they'll observe the same receipt and disbursement procedures as outlined in the handbook. So those are the primary changes to our fiscal policies and procedures. We would ask the board to accept and adopt those changes, and we would then share that with all our employees groups and post it on our website.

Unknown Speaker 51:09:

That last paragraph about Donations and Fundraising secured by Parent Groups, will that sufficiently resolve the problem we had with fundraising accounting previously?

Mr. Wood: Yes.           

Mr .David Hussey and Mr. Wood gave the report  

There's another grant with an end date of 2026, and we collaborated with Mr. Bennett, focusing on the Visual Performing Arts program. Input was gathered from various departments, including music, stage group, theater, and general art classes, to outline needs for the next three years. The main areas include:

Music Instructional Materials - New guitars, Symbols, Drum line stands. 

Stage Crew Materials - Wireless communication system, especially for performances and musicals.

Theater Instructionals - Textbooks, Supplies, Art supplies.

Audio Infrastructure for Multi-purpose Room (Anderson Hall) - Sound system upgrade

Performance Equipment - Risers for music programs, Other equipment like speakers and jazz guitar for the jazz band.

Lighting for Grieb Theatre - Upgrades for better performance quality.

Sound System for Grieb Theatre - Continued upgrade for enhanced audio experience

Projector for Grieb Theatre - Projection equipment upgrade

Animation Studio 3D Printer 

Photography Dark Room Upgrade - Revitalizing the darkroom that hasn't been in use for many years.

And then the items that we would like to move until Prop 28 comes around are: Teacher for ceramics class and Assistant personnel

Explanation of Prop 28 by Mr. Wood

Prop 28 is a voter-approved measure specific to elective programs, particularly in arts and music. It addresses the deterioration of these elective programs, providing more flexibility in spending. The grant requires a spending plan format that the board needs to adopt, with approximately a million dollars to be spent over three years. Regular reviews will ensure adjustments to the spending plan based on budget changes or shifting priorities.

Mr. R. Guinto updated the board

To provide a heads up, the budgets for the next two agenda items were ready for approval at the last June 2023 board meeting. These items involve signing up for a five-year license, a multi-year commitment. A quick recap of the CCTV project includes the completion of phase one, which replaced 26 cameras, enhancing efficiency and access for deans and security personnel.

Phase two - aims to upgrade the existing camera system at the North campus, replacing 23 cameras. The goal is to standardize systems across campuses for easier connectivity and viewing. I will be showing the quote that was provided to us by the vendor (he showed the quotes). 

Integrated System - I would say the other thing with having our systems all on one system; connectivity is a lot easier and then it can be viewed by multiple people in multiple places. Future implementation also includes integration with the door access control that we are currently planning to install in the future. Also, the vape sensors in certain bathrooms, and also the integration with the Visitor Management System.

We explored both three year and five year plan and the five year plan is the most cost-effective solution.

Mr. Wright: These cameras don't violate the privacy or the rights of our students or any staff do they? 

Mr. Guinto: No, they do not.

Mr. Solkovits: Five years is a long time in the technology world. Is there a provision by which the technology that's up to date today won't be so dated in year four? 

Mr. Guinto: So the licensing for the cameras includes the warranty of the cameras themselves as well, so part of the licensing we are paying for includes any future improvements for the cameras. For instance, they just incorporated license plate recognition. So if the camera or the physical hardware cannot support that, then it's part of the warranty where they can upgrade the cameras. So the five years is not only for the license of the software, but also for the hardwares. 

Mr. Solkovits: You mentioned license plate capture. That raises all sorts of questions of privacy. Who are we sharing that with? 

Mr. Guinto: We're not utilizing that feature. I just mentioned it as an example.Top of Form

Old System - Currently, the visitor management system we use covers basic features, such as providing badges and screening for sexual offenders or individuals with prohibiting records. 

New System - Verkada, our CCTV vendor for the main campus, also offers an integrated visitor management system. This goes beyond typical functionalities, allowing us to track a visitor's movement across campus using the integrated camera system.

The system provides advanced analytics, categorizing visitors and offering data to improve visitor management efficiency. It also integrates with our student information system ensuring that when a parent comes in for an early dismissal, the security team can see exactly which child is associated with that parent, verifying the correct child is being picked up.

Mr. Wright: what about guardians? And who else has access to all this information

Mr. Guinto: If the guardian is listed on the student information system, then it should be recognized. All these information is only for the security team to verify.

Solkovits: Is it by facial recognition?

Mr. Guinto: By name

Meeting went into closed session at 6.42 p.m. on the 26th of October, 2023.

It was noted that Mr. Ronald Laws exited the meeting.

There being nothing to report,