Embedded Files
Past Board Meeting Highlights
The Board took action to approve a Board Policy addressing student board members. In the last few years, we have had a student liaison from the San Mateo County Youth Commission sit with the Board. This new policy continues this practice but now provides a path for students from County Office of Education school programs to serve in this capacity as well, which is exciting. Here is the policy. County Office of Education programs include the court and community schools, such as Gateway, Canyon Oaks, and Hillcrest. These schools serve students who need a special support to reengage with formal education or address behavioral or mental health needs, or are engaged with the juvenile justice system. More on these schools is here. It's great to give them a pathway to serve in in this role.
We celebrated the employee of the month, reviewed the investment policy, received a report on the implementation of the enterprise resource planning financial system, and approved the formation of an ad hoc board governance work group. The Board appointed President Torres, Vice President Gerard, and me to serve on this work group. I look forward to participating in this work as an effective Board with a good working relationship with the Superintendent is essential to serving students well.
The Board reviewed the results of a Board self-evaluation, acknowledging what is going well and what we need to do to improve our effectiveness. Fundamental to our success is building trust among ourselves. With three new trustees, this process will take some time. After the meeting, I felt like we were on a sound path forward. We have some homework to do, including creating an ad hoc work group to carry the work forward between meetings and reading a book about teams. Thanks to Board President Hugo Torres for making time for his leadership on this and making time for this work.
Meeting agenda and packet. No meeting recording.
Tonight we held a hearing on the Oceanlight Charter School petition. The room was packed with people passionate about this school - both in favor and against it. Here is a summary of the key parts of the hearing:
Receive Opening Statement from SMCOE Staff
Receive Presentation from the Oceanlight Charter School Petitioners
Receive Presentations/Responses from Districts
Questions from the Board to SMCOE Staff, the Petitioners, and the Districts
Public Comment
We will now have time to study the petition, including receiving a report from the staff on the petition.
Here are documents shared at the meeting. Here is a link to the Oceanlight Charter School petition.
Financials
We received a report and acted on the County Office of Education's 2024-2025 Unaudited Actuals Year-End Closing Report. The Unaudited Actuals report represents actual revenues and expenditures recorded for the prior fiscal year. The staff's conclusions were the following:
Recording gain on investments overstates revenues by $ 1.77 million
Improved accuracy in budgeting salaries and benefits expenses
Negotiated implementation of Classification & Compensation Study for bargaining units.
Completed successful implementation of new ERP system
Spent all one-time funding related to COVID Recovery
SMCOE is financial healthy
The budget team has been doing an excellent job keeping the County Office of Education in healthy financial shape. There are a lot of dollars in various reserve funds. It would be good to see that money working to support students in our county.
School Funding Task Force
I provided the Board with an update on the School Funding Task Force's work. We recently released a report that highlights findings from four task force meetings, research by interns in Senator Becker's office, and other school funding work. The Board adopted the report and gave the task force the green light to continue this work. Here are three potential areas for legislation the task force proposed:
Cost of Living Adjustment – Adjust LCFF funding to reflect the high cost of living in counties like San Mateo
Excess Property Taxes – Allow County Offices of Education to redistribute excess property tax revenue back to local schools
Housing Solutions – Align affordable housing requirements with educator salaries in high-cost regions
The Task Force will continue to work with local legislators, with the goal of introducing a bill in the 2026 legislative session. More information can be found on the County Office of Education website.
Board of Education with facilitator Dr. Dave Patterson at its retreat on September 17.
This week's meeting was held as a board retreat. We were joined by Dr. Dave Patterson, a trustee of another county board of education, who facilitated the meeting. Given that the board has three new members and has experienced conflict in recent years, this meeting was welcomed by everyone. The session provided the opportunity to air some frustrations and get on the same page about next steps, which included conducting a board self evaluation and begin setting shared goals. Board President Torres did an excellent job summarizing keep points and next steps, and I appreciated his arranging this session. The minutes from the meeting will provide more details.
Meeting agenda and packet. this meeting was not recorded.
We welcomed a few new staff members, all who are top of their fields and commited to serving youth in our county. We received a back-to-school report on County Office of Education school programs. We also received an excellent report on the countywide charter petition procedures and standards from Deputy County Attorney Lisa Cho. She took us through the process of reviewing a countywide petition - as opposed to one the Board would hear on appeal - as we may be receiving a petition at some point.
I also provided an update on the work of the Adequate School Funding Task Force. Notes from my report are in the advocacy section below and on my Advocacy page.
We celebrated an Employee of the Month, received a report on the opening of schools, and acted on a resolution addressing Prop 28 addressing arts and music funding for schools. It sounds like we are off to a good start with new leaders for the school programs. We also received the Superintendent's response to a Grand Jury report addressing Career Technical Education in the county.
Attorney Cho provided us with a lesson on countywide charter petition review procedures, which was very informative. These are very rare, but it sounds like we may receive one. They are not handled the same as a district charter appeal. During my seven plus years at the County Office, the Board did not receive a countywide charter petition, so this is all new for me and other members of the Board.
We welcomed back a staff member who is rejoining the County Office and celebrated an Employee of the Month, both which were great celebrations. The key work of the meeting was to conduct hearings on initial proposals of the employee union 887 and the superintendent for the 2024-2025 Successor Collective Bargaining Agreement and hear and act on two interdistrict transfer appeals. Both appeals were filed on behalf of students in the South San Francisco School District who were requesting to attend school in the San Mateo Union High School District. The Board denied both appeals. Here is some information on the interdistrict appeal process.
We also discussed the retreat in September and provided Board reports. Notes from my report are on my Advocacy page.
LCAPs and Budget
This week we took action on the Proposed Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) for the county's Court and Community Schools and the County Office of Education Budget, both important responsibilities of the Board of Education. We have received regular briefings on the programs, so there were no new or very few surprises at the hearing we held last week. Both were adopted with unanimous support.
We received a thoughtful report on the local indicators for the Court and Community Schools. I appreciated the details on what was working and what needs revisiting. I asked about family engagement, which was quite low. They shared how no caregivers attended back to school night. I wondered if a new approach is needed. I also inquired about this statistic from the slides: a drop in student-reported feelings of safety from 60% to 45.5%. Why are our students feeling unsafe at school? Is it the environment, staff, other students, or the world outside that is impacting our communities? The staff didn't have these details, but they are going to dig into that a bit more. Finally, the LCAP mentioned referred to "high staff absence rates," which I asked to learn more about in a future meeting. If we're trying to have a stable and supportive environment for students and address their absenteeism, we need to first make sure our staff are present.
We also received a report on the County Office of Education's work to help districts develop and implement their own LCAPs.
Housing
We received a presentation from partner agency HEART of San Mateo County about its efforts to find a property that the County Office of Education can use for educator housing. The most recent effort fell through, so they will continue to look.
We had another busy meeting; this one addressing several of the Board's key responsibilities.
LCAP and Budget
First, we received and held hearings on the County Office of Education's 2025-2026 Proposed Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) and the 2025-2026 Proposed Budget. We will act on these fundamental documents at our next meeting. I was curious about how well the budget reflected the priorities of the strategic plan as opposed to just maintaining the status quo. We heard that more funding was directed at early learning, which is a priority. I think we should continue to hear about how the plan is directing the budget. Here are the slides for each presentation - LCAP and budget.
History and Social Science and Science Curricula
We also reviewed and adopted the proposed History and Social Science and Science Curricula for the Court and Community School Programs. It looks like this curricula takes a hands-on approach (learning by doing) and can be modified to reflect the reading and language levels of students, ensuring that all students get the grade-level content they need.
Interdistrict Transfer Appeal
A key role of the County Board of Education is to serve as an appellate body for interdistrict transfer, expulsion, and charter school appeals. At this meeting, we heard and acted on an interdistrict attendance appeal filed on behalf of a student currently residing in the Hayward Unified School District, but requesting to attend school in the Menlo Park City School District. The hearing and discussion of the appeal takes place in closed and executive sessions. The Board approved the appeal for a limit of one year with a vote of 5-1 (one Board member was absent). You can learn more about this process here.
This agenda was packed! The highlight was honoring volunteers and award recipients, including many students. It was a joyful evening.
Celebration of Volunteers and Award Winners
The beginning of the second meeting in May is focused on honoring those who volunteer to support County Office of Education programs and recognizing schools and individuals who have received awards. It is a truly joyous celebration. You can find the complete list of those who were honored on the meeting agenda.
Consent Calendar
There were several interesting and important items on the Consent Calendar. One item that is required by the Board is a resolution authorizing the Superintendent to make bridge loans to districts with fewer than 902 students. These bridge loans cannot exceed $2 million and must be repaid by June 30, 2025. These bridge loans help very small districts address emergency cash needs before they receive funding from the State. Passing this resolution ensures the Superintendent has the authority needed to support a district in case they require an emergency bridge loan.
Oxford Day Academy
Oxford Day Academy is the only charter school authorized by the County Board of Education. As part of the memorandum of understanding with the charter school, the principal provides the Board with an annual update that addresses progress made toward educational goals, student progress, and areas for growth for the upcoming school year. Latrice Bennett, Head of School at Oxford Day Academy, provided a thoughtful report on the school's successes and challenges over the past year. The school, which has a high percentage of newcomers, sends many students on to success in college. These students not only graduate at high rates, they come back to the school to support current students and lead the graduation. She shared that truancy has been a challenge and they have made some progress in addressing. Apparently, the issue is many of these students are leaving school to work to support their families or guardians. She also shared how they reconcile differences in their satellite data and street data, which was very useful. Here are Ms. Bennett's slides from the meeting.
Gateway School
The Board serves as the governing body for the County Office of Education's Court and Community Schools. At this meeting, we received a report that highlighted topics such as curriculum enhancement and adoptions, a cell phone policy pilot, transition services, library services, and the status of the Gateway design prototype. I asked about the relationship between the new cell phone pilot and the data we received in April that the largest number of infractions at the school is related to cell phones. Did these increase because of the pilot or is the pilot addressing this and infractions are declining?
LCAP Discussion
We picked up our discussion from the April 25 study session about the LCAP for the Court and Community School programs. Executive Director Sarah Notch did a skillful job fielding the questions. I shared that I was really disappointed that apparently not all staff have embraced the school's efforts to better serve students. Some staff feel the same way and shared this comment in a survey: It's really sad to have such great goals and the promise of something better for our students be negatively impacted by staff decisions. Hopefully, the administrators can get the staff on the same page with respect to supporting and improving outcomes for our students.
On the consent agenda for the meeting was a resolution honoring Bethany Zhao, the San Mateo County Youth Commission Liaison to the Board of Education. Bethany has served for two years in this role and has been an active participant in Board discussions, offering insights and asking questions. She is off to college next year, and I look forward to hearing about her future adventures. A big thank you to Bethany for her service!
Winnie Hardie, the County Office of Education's Executive Director, Teacher and Administrator Development, provided a thoughtful and informative presentation on the County Office of Education's Teacher Residency and Induction programs. These programs play an important role in creating and strengthening the teacher workforce in San Mateo County and are closely aligned with the County Office's strategic plan.
The County Office partners with Alder Graduate School of Education on the Teacher Residency program, which although new, is responsible for adding more teachers to classrooms in the county, most of whom share the same backgrounds as many of our students. There is a full cohort ready to start in June. The slides for the presentation can be accessed here.
We also addressed other Board business, including discussion and approval of a protocol for providing Board letters of support, approval of a resolution to compensate Trustee Arias for her absence at the last meeting due to illness, and a Advocacy Subcommittee report, which I provided at the meeting and is addressed on my advocacy page.
Graduates of Teacher Residency Program
Board Study Session on the
Budget and Local Control and Accountability Plan
This short meeting was a Board study session on the budget and LCAP. We did not get to our discussion on the LCAP, so we'll pick that up at the next meeting.
New Budget Ideas
Deputy Superintendent Kevin Bultema provided information on what big changes to the budget the office is exploring. These include using interest from Fund 17 for operational expenses, using reserves to purchase a new building for a school and/or educator workforce housing, and building staff housing for the Outdoor Education program that had been planned for a while. He also shared updates on the changes to the budget coding system, such as linking expenditures directly to goals, which would help educators can make informed decisions about utilizing SMCOE financial resources to best realize our vision of “Excellence and Equity in Education” in San Mateo County. Here are his slides.
I once again asked about using some of these reserves to fund an endowment for a countywide education fund to serve students. It doesn't look like funds 17 and 40 can be used for that. But, something to continue to explore as it is part of our strategic plan. I asked about what the target was for the reserves, which are currently $82 million in fund 17 and $50 million in fund 40. We don't have a number for that yet. I also asked about what the new site they had in mind was and learned it was for a new school site for the Gateway community school program. I didn't ask about educator housing plans due to time, but more will come on that. I shared that I will do a little more reading on the goal-aligned budget codes since that sounds like a good change.
Local Control and Accountability Plan Update
Associate Superintendent Kris Shouse and Executive Director Sarah Notch provides reports on the current LCAP as well as the LCAP Process, Timeline, and Goals. I have found these LCAP reports to be extremely informative - there are clear metrics and data aligned to strategic plan goals. For example, there has been notable progress in staff supporting students for positive behavior. (Goal: Implement a PBIS incentive system, such as 5-Star, with fidelity across all school environments, as measured by points awards data.) The team report that 100% of students were recognized for Positive Behavior at least once, and of that, 93.6% were recognized two or more times. This is an improvement over the last data reported. I highly recommend reviewing the slides linked to above. I look forward to the discussion at the next meeting.
Data above from survey of students before and after completing a Career Technical Education (CTE) course. Data from slides presented as April 25, 2025, Study Session.
Receive Bids for Lease of 1800 Rollins Road Site
The County Office of Education's site at 1800 Rollins Road in Burlingame is available for lease. We were to review bids at the meeting. However, no bids were received. We will revisit this at a future Board meeting. You can learn a bit more on this process here.
Resolutions
There are several commemoration resolutions on the consent agenda this month. Board members commented on several of them during the meeting, which was unusual. I commented on the Deaf History Month and Foster Youth Awareness Month. The Deaf History Month resolution was one way to celebrate the amazing County Office of Education staff who so skillfully work with our students who are hearing impaired. The Foster Youth resolution shines a light on youth in our county who need to be seen and supported. The Lost Childhoods exhibit and events are ways to do both of those things.
Do any of the resolutions resonate with you? Any you would like to see considered? If so, please let me know here.
No. 25-23 Recognizing May 2025 as Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month
No. 25-24 Recognizing May 5-9, 2025, as National Teacher Appreciation Week
No. 25-25 Recognizing May 2025 as Mental Health Awareness Month
No. 25-26 Recognizing May 2025 as Jewish American Heritage Month
No. 25-27 Recognizing May 2025 as Foster Youth Awareness Month
No. 25-28 Recognizing April 28 - May 2, 2025, as Workforce Readiness Week
No. 25-29 Recognizing April 2025 as Deaf History Month
Protocol for Those Seeking Letters of Support
Community members and organizations periodically ask board members for support on a particular issue. They may want a letter from the trustee of the full board. We reviewed a draft protocol intended to streamline this process, while making it more transparent and consistent. Read more here. We made some suggestions and will review it again at a future meeting.
Board Policy Regarding Student Trustees
The Board has been interested in how we might add a student or youth trustee to the Board. Ideally, a student from a County Office of Education program would fill this role. Recent legislation provides a pathway for doing this. However, that may not be necessary for our programs. Deputy County Attorney Lisa Cho provided us with a great overview of the Board policy and legislation related to students board members. Here are her slides from the meeting. I had the chance to talk about this with county trustees from Sacramento and Santa Clara counties. They have different approaches - in Sacramento, a former student serves as a trustee and in Santa Clara, a student from their court school program holds that position and joins without their camera on. I think it would be great to have a student who has some experience with our programs. Let's see what we can do on this.
New Board Member
The Board held a ceremonial swearing in for our new colleague, Trustee Edith Arias who represents Area 3 and will serve out the remainder of former Trustee Hector Camacho's term.
Earth Day and Month
On the Consent Calendar was a resolution recognizing April 22, 2025, as Earth Day. There is a lot going on in the climate-ready school space at the County Office of Education. In fact, I just attended the ten-year anniversary celebration of the Environmental Solutionary Teacher Fellowship, a program that builds teachers' capacity to design and deliver learning experiences that are student-centered, project-based, and solutions-oriented. This is exactly what youth need as so many experience stress around climate change. A big thank you to Julie Hilborn for leading this important work. Also, on March 31st, the County Office of Education released Seeds to Solutions with its partner Ten Strands. Funded by a grant from the California Legislature, Seeds to Solutions is a set of free instructional resources on climate change and environmental justice for every grade level from kindergarten to 12th grade. I worked on this while at the County Office of Education and am so proud of what has been accomplished.
Impact of Recent Federal Policies on County School Districts
Deputy Superintendent Marco Chávez provided a well-researched and informative update on the impact of recent federal policies on schools in San Mateo County. I requested this presentation at an earlier meeting as I didn't have a good sense of what was going on across schools and districts with respect to the impacts of immigration, diversity, equity, and inclusion, Department of Education, medicaid, and other funding and policy changes. The short of it is, many families are frightened of separation and some are keeping their children at home from school, causing chronic absenteeism to rise. There remains a lot of uncertainty around funding and the impacts of changes at the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services on children. We will continue to receive updates and advocate for children and youth. You can find Mr. Chávez's slides here.
County Office of Education School Programs
The talented principals of the school programs in the Anne Campbell Center for Children and Families and Special Services Program provided updates on the schools, including progress on implementing the strategic plan. Heather Logan and Ellen Paulino also shared about the positive reviews the programs have received and increasing enrollment. Many of the staff from the school programs attended the meeting online to show their support. That was a first in all the years I have been attending board meetings and reflected the wonderful communities that are are being developed at the school sites. Congratulations and thank you to everyone.
You can learn more by viewing the meeting video or checking out the agenda and reports shared.
Employee of the Month
The Board celebrated Employee of the Month Natasha Dinis, Executive Assistant III. These celebrations are joyful parts of the Board meeting. Several staff, many of whom I worked with, came out to celebrate Natasha, making the well-deserved recognition even more special.
New Staff Introductions
The introduction of new management staff was particularly exciting this week. Former Trustee Hector Camacho joined the County Office staff as Executive Director, Equity, Social Justice, and Inclusion. I learned even more about Hector's amazing journey and commitment to children. Also introduced was Ian Bain, Executive Director, Strategy and Communications, which was my former role at the County Office. I am excited about his appointment and all he will bring to the role.
From the Consent Calendar
From the Resolution Recognizing March 31, 2025, as César Chávez Day, a wonderful quote from the American hero himself, Real education should consist of drawing the goodness and the best out of our own students. Yes, indeed!
Comprehensive School Safety Plans
Staff provided a good summary of their work to help school districts develop these important safety documents. Over the last couple of years, they have streamlined the process and expanded participation. We also heard about the plans for the County Office school sites, including new signage, traffic control measures, and door card readers.
Second Interim Financial Report
The County Office has an excellent budget team. Deputy Superintendent Kevin Bultema, who leads the team, provided a great report. He has done an amazing job bringing transparency to the budget process and holding managers accountable for their program budgets. The Board approved with positive certification the interim budget report. The big issue remains - the County Office sends 31 percent of its budget - $36 million - to the State. This is county taxpayers' money going to help fund the state judicial system. Isn't that sad? Our Advocacy Subcommittee has made addressing this a priority. Stay tuned.
You can learn more by viewing the meeting video or checking out the reports shared.
Budget
We received the timeline for the development of the County Office budget. Our new budget subcommittee will be engaged in the process and will report back periodically.
Appointment of New Trustee
We interviewed two excellent candidates for the open Trustee position and selected Edith Arias for the role. She has years of experience as a parent advocate, community organizer, special education teacher, board member, and leader at the state level. I am excited to have Ms. Arias join the Board. Welcome!
You can learn more by viewing the meeting video or checking out the agenda and reports shared.
Good-bye to Trustee Camacho
Welcome to Trustee Arias
Honoring Hector Camacho, Jr.
The Board and Superintendent celebrated former Trustee Hector Camacho for his dedicated service. He has moved on to the County Office of Education staff. He will be missed on the Board. I wish I had more time to serve with him as I have learned a lot from him over the years. (As a staff member, I attended the Board's meetings.) Check out the nice presentation for Trustee Camacho in the meeting video - starts around minute 11.
LCAP Budget
Executive Minette Manio reviewed expenditures related to the LCAP. I was curious about any impacts stemming from the February 14th letter from the US Department of Education. Apparently, there will not be any budget impacts this year.
Appointment Process
The Board received 9 applications for the open Trustee seat. There were some very strong candidates, but the Board agreed to bring in three candidates for interviews at its next meeting.
You can learn more by viewing the meeting video or checking out the agenda and reports shared.
Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP)
Executive Director Sarah Notch provided a mid-year review on the implementation of the Court and Community School LCAP. I appreciated the transparency and clear and relevant metrics to demonstrate the progress being made and opportunities for improvement. I was happy to see the work on credit recovery for students in foster care in County Office and school district programs. GPAs are up at Hillcrest, but not at Gateway. Why is that? Attendance at Gateway remains a challenge.
Pathway to an Alternative Diploma
Under state law, Local Educational Agencies are required to offer a pathway to an alternative diploma for all eligible students. Dr. Zoni Boyer, Coordinator, Center for Access and Engagement, provided an update on the County Office’s role in supporting the implementation and development of a course of study that facilitates this alternative diploma pathway for students with significant cognitive and developmental disabilities. The County Office has been a leader in this work in the state.
Applications open for Trustee Area 3! They're due on February 17. Learn more and apply here.
You can learn more by viewing the meeting video or checking out the agenda and reports shared.
We spent time tonight discussing the process for filling the vacancy created with Hector Camacho's departure from the Board. We also had a working session on the Governance Handbook. It takes work to come to consensus, but we're getting there. I hope we can keep it simple and focused on the key work at hand - supporting children and youth.
Approval of School Accountability Report Cards
The Classroom Instructional Improvement and Accountability Act, also known as Proposition 98, provides California's public schools with a stable source of funding. As part of the Proposition 98 mandate, Local Educational Agencies are required to prepare an annual School Accountability Report Card (SARC) for each of their schools and to disseminate the prepared report to the public. Tonight we received reports on and approved the County Office of Education SARCs for its programs. You can find copies of the SARCs here.
Governance Handbook
We began work on a governance handbook tonight and expect to do more on it over the next couple of meetings. A focus of the handbook and our work will be on improving our shared governance with the Superintendent. It can be tricky have an elected superintendent and elected board. However, the children on our county come first, so we are committed to working together to support them.
Ad Hoc Subcommittees
We approved the members of our subcommittees and partner representatives tonight. Here is a list of our subcommittees and representative positions. I will report on the committees and positions with which I am involved.
Big Announcement
Trustee Camacho announced he was leaving the Board to join the staff of the County Office - heading where I left a month ago. He has been an excellent Trustee, respectful, wise, and always putting the interests of children and youth first.
You can learn more by viewing the meeting video or checking out the agenda and reports shared.
Wednesday, December 18, 2024
I was sworn in tonight as the San Mateo County Board of Education’s new Trustee for Area 6 and am excited about this new opportunity to serve our youth. During the oath, I choked up as I affirmed my commitment “to support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” Public service is a big responsibility, and I take it very seriously. Thank you very much to the voters of Area 6 who put their trust in me.
We also received a report on the 2024 California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress and the 2024 California School Dashboard, reviewed and approved the First Interim Financial Report (we're in good shape), and took action to join the nascent Association of California County Boards of Education (ACCBE).
You can learn more by viewing the meeting video or checking out the agenda and reports shared.
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