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MPSCD  SPECIAL  BOARD  MEETING  -­‐  OCTOBER  25,  2016,  6:00  p.m.    NOTE:  Transcripts  for  input  sessions  were  typed  from  audio  included  in  video  filmed  at  the  Hillview  PAC.  Due  to  a  technical  malfunction,  not  all  of  the  audio  was  working.  MPCSD  reached  out  to  all  speakers  for  written  comments  to  print  in  transcript.  Not  all  responded;  the  comments  of  those  who  did  respond  are  included  in  this  transcription.    BILL  QUARRE:  (Did  not  submit  written  comments.)    GWEN  SOLOMON:  Hello,  my  name  is  Gwen  Solomon.  I  am  employed  as  the  science  instructional  aide  at  Oak  Knoll  School  and  have  worked  in  the  capacity  since  the  2003/2004  school  year  when  MPCSD  adopted  a  hands-­‐on  science  program  for  the  elementary  schools  called  FOSS.  I  am  here  to  address  the  Board  as  both  an  employee  of  the  school  district  with  a  position  that  is  on  the  chopping  block  and  as  a  homeowner  and  resident  of  Menlo  Park.    David  Ackerman  and  I  collaborated  on  a  vision  for  a  dedicated  space  at  Oak  Knoll  that  became  the  science  lab.  With  the  financial  support  of  the  PTO  I  created  a  place  of  wonder  and  discovery  for  our  inquisitive  young  students.  I  designed  a  space  I  would  have  loved  as  a  child!  It  became  a  place  where  children  could  come  at  recess  when  the  schoolyard  was  too  chaotic  or  noisy.    I  was  on  the  design  team  that  created  our  Learning  Garden  nine  years  ago.  Our  design  year  culminated  with  drawings  and  with  the  proceeds  from  that  year's  Otter  Run  we  broke  ground  during  that  following  summer.  The  garden  has  been  a  place  for  peace,  learning  to  respect  Nature  and  a  place  to  dig  during  recess  to  name  just  a  few.    Adjacent  to  our  science  lab  is  another  outdoor  space  called  The  Nature  Zone.  It  was  the  vision  of  a  former  teacher  named  Tara  Hassett  that  originally  carried  the  name  The  Wild  Zone.  Tara  and  I  worked  to  develop  that  space  so  that  our  children  had  a  natural  wooded  space  in  which  to  play,  discover  and  learn  and  once  again  have  another  recess  option  for  the  kids.    Speaking  to  you,  the  parents  of  the  children  of  our  school  district,  with  the  Next  Generation  Science  Standards  or  NGSS  rolling  out  over  the  next  couple  of  years,  this  would  be  a  very  difficult  and  inopportune  time  to  be  without  funds  for  teacher  professional  development  and  frankly,  without  an  aide  to  help  with  the  new  program.    It's  my  opinion  that  the  NGSS  is  a  very  valuable  new  way  to  teach  science.  With  anything  new,  as  teachers  we  need  the  chance  to  attend  courses  and  go  to  conferences.  We  need  the  opportunity  to  meet  with  colleagues  to  collaborate  to  share  lessons  and  strategies.  To  diminish  any  of  our  science  programs  and  staffing  and  to  reduce  the  funds  allocated  for  the  training  of  our  instructional  staff  at  this  or  any  time  would  be  a  disservice  to  our  children  and  their  future!    In  summary,  my  position  as  science  aide  is  on  the  list  of  reduced  personnel.  This  is  not  the  first  time  as  my  position  was  also  on  that  list  in  2010  when  the  last  parcel  tax  was  on  the  ballot.  Luckily  for  both  the  children  of  our  school  district  and  myself,  as  I  believe  that  I  have  the  best  job  in  the  district,  the  parcel  tax  passed  and  science  instruction  went  on.  Let's  work  to  pass  that  new  parcel  tax.    

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As  a  homeowner  in  this  school  district  with  3  children  who  have  attended  only  public  schools  and  are  in  or  graduated  from  the  UC  system,  I  am  willing  to  vote  yes  for  a  parcel  tax  of  $400.00  -­‐  $500.00  as  long  as  there  is  a  Sunset  clause  included  in  the  writing  of  this  tax.      JAYD  ALMQUIST:  My  name  is  Jayd  Almquist  the  students  refer  to  me  as  "Mr.  A".  I  have  had  the  privilege  of  teaching  elementary  art  for  the  past  thirteen  years,  six  of  those  wonderful  years  have  been  spent  at  Oak  Knoll  Elementary.  When  I  read  these  proposed  cuts  the  first  thing  that  comes  to  mind  is  OUR  KIDS.  OUR  KIDS  would  be  the  ones  who  suffer  from  these  'massive  cuts,  and  OUR  KIDS  deserve  a  well-­‐rounded  education  provided  by  highly  qualified  teachers.    I  would  like  to  clarify  a  potential  misconception  about  art  education.  Art  education  is  more  than  creating  "finger  paintings"  and  making  "popsicle  stick  sculptures".  Art  education  is  a  way  to  build  CONFIDENCE,  fine  motor  skills,  and  promotes  creative  independent  thinking.  For  example,  this  painting  (show  painting)  was  created  by  a  first  grader  under  my  instruction  at  Oak  Knoll  elementary.  To  provide  more  clarity  this  painting  was  made  by  the  hands  of  a  6  yr  old.  Over  75  first  graders  created  THIS  painting  THIS  year  and  had  similar  results  under  my  instruction  and  direction.      

   This  guitar  was  built  by  a  third  grader  age  8  (show  guitar).  This  8  year  old  could  tell  you  about  Pablo  Picasso  and  he  could  explain  and  identify  the  cubist  style  Picasso  developed.  He  could  also  explain  how  contrasting  colors  work,  how  to  properly  use  sandpaper  and  a  handsaw.          

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   I  teach  and  touch  the  lives  of  over  750  kids  per  week.  This  is  not  the  job  of  an  aide  (as  proposed  in  the  budget  cuts)  this  is  the  job  of  a  highly  qualified  art  teacher.  Art  education  leads  to  better  test  scores  and  also  encourages  students  to  put  forth  their  best  effort  in  other  academic  subjects.  Denying  OUR  KIDS  the  opportunity  to  play  music,  read  with  a  certified  librarian,  and  create  art  would  deny  OUR  KIDS  the  opportunity  of  working  towards  their  full  potential.      So  tonight  I  ask  you  NOT  go  forth  with  ANY  of  these  preliminary  cuts.  These  cuts  will  only  dilute  and  weaken  the  strong  education  infrastructure  the  teachers,  parents,  and  community  members  have  worked  so  hard  for.  I  ask  that  COLLECTIVLY  we  turn  our  attention  towards  creating  positive  solutions  and  ways  to  develop  a  reasonable  reconstructed  parcel  tax  that  will  continue  to  secure  the  exceptional  and  excellent  education  OUR  KIDS  deserve.

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   CARYL  BREWBAKER:  Because  I  see  this,  especially,  as  a  revenue  device  for  the  district,  I'm  including  a  "cut  and  paste"  showing  how  other  school  districts  have  achieved  this.    I  sent  the  same  paragraphs  to  Joan  Lambert,  who  had  emailed  me  her  thanks  for  the  idea.      You  will  see  the  words  written  in  red,  down  below.    If  you  don't  mind,  I  would  like  to  mention  one  other  revenue  device  that  might  have  potential.    Schools  are  so  poorly  funded  that  I'm  thinking  outside  of  the  box  for  steady  income,  but  here  goes...    In  Mountain  View,  there's  a  highly  profitable,  non  profit  coffee  shop  by  the  name  of  "Red  Rock".    It  is  owned  and  operated  by  a  church,  and  provides  steady  income.    They  also  use  the  money  to  reach  out  to  the  community.    Can  a  school  set  up  a  non-­‐profit  such  as  that?    If  you  visit  the  shop,  you  will  be  impressed.    My  schools  (growing  up)  always  had  a  snack  shack  set  up  for  games  and  concerts,  etc.    Might  something  larger,  be  a  possibility?    It  seems  that  local  residents  might  be  willing  to  invest  in  a  district  "start-­‐up".    Thank  you.    I'm  looking  forward  to  the  up-­‐coming  years  under  your  guidance  as  superintendent    Community-Owned Power Purchase Agreements

Community-owned PPAs are similar to traditional PPAs, with the exception that members of the community create a third-party entity to own the system on behalf of the school in order to take advantage of tax incentives. This third-party entity (made up of community members) owns and operates the solar system and the school pays this entity for the electricity produced by the panels on its building.

The benefit of a community-owned PPA is that members of the community can support a solar project financially while still earning a modest return on their investment. Walnut Gulch School in California was one of the first schools to pioneer the community- owned investment approach and many others have since followed. Sidwell Friends School in Washington, DC teamed up with Common Cents Solar of Chevy Chase to install 120 solar panels on its gym roof.

To fund the $200,000 cost of the project, membersof Sidwell Friends Community were invited to purchase solar bonds in increments of $5,000, on which they earn a modest rate of return for about 10 years. Sidwell Friends will purchase the solar-generated electricity at fixed rates that protect it against inflating energy costs. After the investors are repaid, the school will reap solar energy at no cost for the rest of the predicted 30-year life of the system. The solar panels will also offset approximately 1 million tons of greenhouse gases, fulfilling the school’s commitment to a reduced carbon footprint.

This approach was also used to install solar on a church in University Park, MD. If your school is interested in this model, the University Park Solar LLC can provide technical assistance and some of the documents necessary to create the third-party entity.

EMILY  CHIET:  After  last  week's  board  meeting  I  went  straight  home  and  talked  to  the  smartest  person  I  know:  my  husband,  Joshua  Chiet.  In  2002  we  were  newly  wed  and  destitute,  so  he  decided  that  he  would  become  a  software  engineer.  The  only  problem  with  this  was  that  he  had  a  BFA  in  drawing  and  printmaking,  a  far  cry  from  software  engineering.  We  spent  the  last  of  our  precious  dollars  on  a  few  books  and  he  set  about  his  task.  In  the  time  since  that  decision,  he  worked  his  way  up  through  the  tech  world  and  was  working  for  Google  by  2007,  then  at  YouTube  for  four  years,  and  now  works  for  Dialpad  where  he  was  the  lead  software  engineer  on  UberConference,  the  project  that  won  them  TechCrunch  Disrupt  in  2012.  When  I  told  him  about  the  potential  cuts  to  art,  music,  and      

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   library,  he  reminded  me  of  how  his  art  education  paved  the  way  for  his  ascent  in  the  world  of  tech.  I  quote  an  interview  he  gave  to  his  alma  mater.    Q:  What  is  the  most  profound  change  you  experienced  at  Dreyfoos  (SOA)?  A:  ...  I  painted  a  silver  spoon  in  William  Walter's  class.  He  stood  over  my  shoulder  and  told  me  to  look  closer,  that,  if  /  broke  it  down,  every  reflection  that  seemed  impossible  to  render  was  actually  just  a  series  of  greyscale  shapes  that  could  be  easily  translated  to  2  dimensions.  It  was  a  moment  of  extreme  clarity,  where  I  realized  that  the  ability  to  solve  a  problem  is  directly  proportionate  to  your  ability  to  really  see  what  the  problem  is.    My  mentor  in  college,  Robert  Rivers  always  said  drawing  is  a  tool  for  seeing...  I  find  computer  code  to  be  similar:  a  tool  for  thinking.  Having  learned  to  investigate  my  own  drawings  for  insight  into  my  seeing,  I  love  turning  to  my  code  for  insight  into  my  thinking.    Art  is  a  tool  for  seeing.  Music  is  a  tool  for  listening.  And  we  can't  ignore  the  role  of  reading  in  this  story.  Art,  Music,  and  Library  are  vital  to  the  development  of  critical  thinking  and  we  often  don't  understand  the  full  impact  of  what  we  teach  until  the  moment  has  long  passed.  When  we  discount  these  subjects  as  mere  niceties,  we  deny  unknown  numbers  of  children  their  personal  moments  of  clarity.  The  outpouring  of  support  at  this  meeting  and  the  meeting  yesterday  heartens  me  because  I  know  that  there  is  a  child  just  like  Joshua  who  will  have  his  or  her  moment  of  clarity  thanks  to  the  decisions  that  we  make  as  a  community  in  the  coming  months.    VINCE  LOPEZ:  Hi  my  my  name  is  Vince  Lopez,  I  teach  third  grade  at  OK,  ninth  year  in  the  district,  I'm  also  president  of  Menlo  Park  Teachers  Assoc.  I  wanted  to  thank  the  more  than  30  teachers  that  are  here  tonight  especially  in  light  of  the  fact  that  is  one  of  the  busiest  most  demanding  weeks  of  the  year  as  we  have  parent  /  teacher  conferences  this  week.  The  Board  has  heard  from  the  public  the  desire  to  put  another  parcel  tax  on  the  ballot.  I'm  here  to  advocate  that  that  measure  be  put  on  the  March  2017  ballot.  I  want  to  share  my  experience  of  getting  a  pink  slip  from  MPCSD  in  March  of  2010,  at  that  time  I  was  a  2nd  year  teacher  in  the  district.  I  can  tell  you  it  was  terrifying  and  demoralizing,  I  knew  my  pink  slip  was  not  personal,  or  based  on  my  performance,  but  you  can't  help  but  internalize  it.  What  did  I  do  wrong,  why  is  my  employer  telling  me  I  won't  be  back  next  year?  What  does  my  future  hold?  The  first  thing  I  did  the  day  I  got  my  pink  slip,  was  go  to  Edjoin.org  to  begin  a  new  job  search.  The  Board  and  Public  must  believe  that  if  you  hand  out  pink  slips,  the  teachers  that  have  received  them  are  going  to  put  their  families  first,  and  start  looking  for  employment  elsewhere.  And  they  are  going  to  be  able  to  look  elsewhere  with  Menlo  Park  City  School  District  on  their  resume.  As  we  move  forward  hopefully  with  a  March  parcel,  I  want  to  also    urge  you  to  harness  the  power  of  the  teacher.  Let  teachers  put  a  face  to  your  message,  to  your  campaign.  Let  teachers  talk  about  the  programs,  curriculums  they  know  best.  You  talked  about  needing  around  80  volunteers  to  run  a  successful  campaign,  you  have  30  here  tonight  and  you  had  50  here  last  Tuesday  night.  Teachers  are  tough,  they  are  smart,  they  talk  to  people  for  a  living,  let  us  help  you  pass  a  parcel  tax  in  March.    ANDREA  BOUTRIGHT:  (Did  not  submit  written  comments.)    RICHARD  VAUGHAN  (Did  not  submit  written  comments.)      

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       TRACY  PIOMBO:  I'm  Tracy  Piombo  and  I'm  in  my  12th  year  as  Teacher  Librarian  at  Hillview.  Replacing  Teacher  Librarians  with  aides  may  seem  like  a  smart  financial  move,  but  it  will  terms  of  the  quality  of  our  program.  Finding  someone  to  do  the  work  of  a  teacher  librarian  on  an  aide's  salary  will  be  a  challenge;  keeping  them  may  be  even  harder.  My  daughter's  school  in  Mountain  View  be  a  disaster  in  has  only  library  aides.  She  went  through  FOUR  aides  in  four  years,  and  the  library  was  closed  for  long  periods  in  between.  I've  heard  about  this  all  over  the  Peninsula.  I've  heard  that  district  librarian  isn't  a  particularly  appealing  job  either.  Please  consider  the  hidden  costs  of  recruiting,  interviewing,  hiring  and  training  a  constantly  revolving  library  staff.      With  teacher  librarians,  you  get  professionals  who  are  making  Menlo  Park  their  home.  We  all  started  as  classroom  teachers.  Our  position  requires  not  one  but  two  teaching  credentials.  Professional  librarians  without  a  teaching  credential  are  not  eligible  for  our  jobs.  We  are  teachers  first  and  foremost.  At  the  middle  school  we  run  a  comprehensive  three  year  research  program  that  prepares  students  for  high  school,  college  and  beyond.  We  collaborate  with  Social  Studies,  English  Language  Arts,  Science  and  World  Languages.  We  teach  kids  how  to  evaluate  resources  for  credibility  and  where  to  find  reputable  information.  How  to  take  notes  to  avoid  plagiarism.  How  to  cite  their  sources  in  a  bibliography.  We  curate  materials  for  each  research  project,  sifting  through  databases  and  websites  to  find  the  right  mix  of  reading  level  and  appropriate  content,  and  finding  print  resources  when  the  digital  ones  don't  go  into  enough  depth  at  the  right  reading  level.  Here's  a  sample:    -­‐  Current  Events  -­‐  D iseases  -­‐  Revolutionary  War  -­‐  Regions  of  France  -­‐  Ancient  Americas  (Maya  Aztec  Inca)    Teacher  librarians  teach  research  skills  that  build  upon  previous  projects  -­‐  we  have  an  intimate  knowledge  of  what  skills  the  students  were  already  taught  and  what  they  need  to  know  next.  If  the  library  is  staffed  with  an  aide,  individual  teachers  will  need  to  take  on  research  instruction.  This  plan  would  mean  collaborating  across  grade  levels  and  subjects,  and  teachers  already  have  to  cover  so  much  in  their  limited  meeting  time.  Inevitably,  some  teachers  will  dedicate  more  class  time  to  research  than  others  will.  Some  teachers  may  find  it  difficult  to  work  research  into  their  curriculum.  We'll  lose  the  consistency  of  a  unified  research  program.  Also,  both  the  classroom  teacher  and  the  Teacher  Librarian  currently  spend  most  of  the  research  periods  working  directly  with

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students.  Someone  without  a  teaching  background  lacks  the  experience  and  the  expertise  to  truly  support  this  work.  

When  our  former  students  come  back  to  visit,  they  tell  us  that  they  were  better  prepared  for  research  than  students  from  other  schools.  Some  of  them  even  report  back  that  they're  using  the  research  strategies  in  college!  They  also  say  they  really  miss  the  library  itself  -­‐  their  high  school  libraries  don't  feel  like  the  safe  haven  the  Hillview  library  is.  They  miss  the  fun  we  have  here  -­‐  the  book  clubs,  class  visits,  weekly  book  talking,  summer  reading  programs,  and  countless  individual  conversations  about  books.  At  an  age  when  many  kids  stop  being  readers,  we  make  reading  cool.  It's  true  in  the  elementary  schools  and  true  here  -­‐  the  library  is  the  heart  of  the  school.  

For  over  a  decade,  Menlo  Park  has  been  my  professional  home.  I'll  do  what  I  can  to  help  pass  a  parcel  tax.  But  I  know  that  even  with  additional  funds,  we  may  lose  our  Teacher  Librarians.  I  hope  this  makes  clear  what  Hillview  stands  to  lose  if  that  happens.    CAROLINA  WHITTY:  Below  is  a  summary  of  my  remarks  at  the  meeting:    I  am  an  Encinal  parent  of  a  1st  grader  and  an  incoming  Kindergartener  (2017-­‐2018  academic  year).    I  am  an  involved  parent  at  Encinal  serving  on  the  Board  of  the  Encinal  PTO  as  the  financial  secretary,  and  as  Co-­‐Head  Room  Parent  for  my  daughters  1st  grade  class.  I  am  also  a  Menlo  Park  City  homeowner  and  resident.      I  have  experience  in  the  educational  sector  as  the  CFO  of  a  Private  High  School  in  the  area  and  understand  the  financial  difficulties  that  most  schools  face  in  this  area,  with  the  high  cost  of  living.      I  did  not  vote  for  the  parcel  taxes  when  they  last  came  up  for  a  vote  because  I  did  not  believe  that  the  parcel  tax  should  be  an  Evergreen  parcel  tax.  There  should  be  a  term  limit  on  parcel  taxes.    I  would  vote  for  a  parcel  tax  that  has  a  term  of  5-­‐7  years  and  is  approximately  $350  -­‐  $400  per  parcel.      I  do  not  believe  in  funding  the  entire  ask  of  $515  as  I  believe  that  we  can  find  savings  without  cutting  programs  or  teachers  we  must  just  get  creative.    I  personally  have  had  to  do  the  same  each  day  at  my  own  job  and  I  do  know  it  is  possible.    I  also  wanted  to  thank  the  teachers  in  the  room.    They  are  great  teachers  and  work  hard  in  educating  our  kids.    Additional  thought  that  I  did  not  mention  at  the  meeting:  The  increase  in  teacher  pensions  to  19.1%  of  Gross  Pay  is  extraordinarily  high  and  is  what  is  causing  57%  of  our  budget  deficits.    While  I  understand  this  is  a  requirement  under  AB  1469,  and  that  teachers  don't  pay  into  social  security,  it  is  an  incredible  burden  on  our  district.    I  would  like  the  Menlo  Park  City  School  District  to  keep  this  in  mind  when  renegotiating  the  agreement  with  the  MPEA  in  2017.    Some  ideas:    Perhaps  a  slight  decrease  in  employer/district  paid  health  insurance  contributions,  increasing  the  requirement  to  60%  for  an  employee  to  be  eligible  for  benefits.    These  are  just  a  few  thoughts,  but  I  do  believe  the  district  can  get  creative  in  the  negotiations  while  keeping  the  impact  to  the  faculty  to  a  minimum.      CLAIRE  BANDET:  (Did  not  submit  written  comments.)        

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 MICHELLE  OLSEN:  Not  exactly  what  I  said,  but  my  notes...    I'm  not  a  teacher,  I'm  a  mom  and  home  owner.  I  have  2  kids:    one  went  to  laurel,  Encinal  and  hillview,  and  one  who  has  attended  Encinal  since  kindergarten.  I  chose  this  area  because  of  the  schools  These  teachers  are  amazing.    Dedicated.    The  cuts,  any  and  all  of  them,  are  not  acceptable  to  me.    They  will  have  a  huge  impact  on  the  kids.    I  voted  against  the  parcel  tax  because  I  didn't  understand  it  and  prop  tax  etc  is  so  expensive.    But  if  a  teacher  had  talked  to  me  about  it,  and  if  I  understood  the  impact  of  the  cuts,  I  would  have  voted  for  it.        I  think  we  need  to  vote  in  March.    $500+.    Expecting  the  teachers  to  perform  after  receiving  pink  slips  is  unrealistic  and  unkind.    We  need  to  educate  the  public  about  the  tax  and  what  led  to  the  deficit.    Personally,  I  feel  I  am  getting  a  private  school  education  for  the  cost  of  mpaef  membership,  pto/pta,  prop  tax  and  parcel  tax.    It's  a  bargain.    I  want  my  kids  in  public  school,  but  I  want  a  quality  education.    None  of  these  cuts  are  ok  with  me,  and  I  don't  think  they  will  be  acceptable  to  the  other  parents.  I  will  vote  for  the  parcel  tax.    I  will  cut  my  budget  somewhere  else  if  necessary,  because  education  is  a  priority.    Lastly,  I'm  sure  this  has  been  considered,  but  I  think  we  need  to  think  long  term  and  maybe  we  should  consider  endowments  and  /or  corporate  sponsors.    JOHANNA  WOLL:  My  comments  of  Tuesday  night  to  the  Board  are  below.  I  failed  to  preface  my  remarks  by  thanking  you  for  your  commitment  and  hard  work  on  these  difficult  issues.  I  encourage  you  to  turn  to  the  community,  including  the  kids  in  the  district  (a  parcel  tax  parade  perhaps?!),  to  preserve  our  programs  and  retain  our  fabulous  teachers-­‐-­‐no  one  has  more  at  stake.    Parent  of  2  children  (Oak  Knoll)    Re  the  Parcel  tax:  I  am  in  favor  of  pursuing  a  new  parcel  tax  In  March  It  must  be  done  well;  with  simple  language  and  an  expiration/sunset  date  I’d  need  more  information  to  make  a  recommendation  on  the  amount,  but  would  caution  against  scaring  people  away  with  something  too  high.    Re  proposed  reductions:  I  have  been  fortunate  to  volunteer  in  my  kids’  school—in  the  classroom  and  the  library.    I  have  to  admit  that  I’ve  become  a  better  parent,  having  learned  from  observing  our  wonderful  teachers..    The  point  I’d  like  to  make  is  this:  

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Quality  teachers  offer  intangible  value  that  is  not  easily  captured  or  reflected  in  test  scores,  and  this  is  especially  true  where  specialists  are  concerned.  As  an  example,  I’d  point  to  the  time  the  kids  spend  in  the  library  with  Ms  Bennion.  She  no  only  feeds  their  enthusiasm  for  reading  but  also  brings  them  together  around  traditions  she  has  established  that  are  no  part  of  the  fabric  of  the  school:  birthday  cheers,  Books  Come  Alive,  and  the  Summer  Mega  Party  as  a  “prize”  for  kids  who  complete  N  book  reports  over  the  summer.    I  would  argue  that  taking  this  away,  you  risk  ripping  the  heart  our  of  the  school.    Education  and  learning  are  all  about  how  kids  feel  about  being  at  school.    Most  of  them  don’t  come  home  gushing  about  the  matrix  method,  but  they  to  tell  us  all  about  art  and  music,  library  and  PE,  the  garden  and  science  activities.    It’s  the  wonderful,  professional  teachers  who  make  kids  love  school  and  we  should  make  every  effort  to  preserve  the  invaluable  asset  they  represent.    ALEJANDRA  HERNANDEZ:  (Did  not  submit  written  comments.)    SCOTT  SAYWELL:  Comment  related  to  timing  of  a  new  parcel  tax:    Important  to  characterize  the  competitive  market  for  good  teachers  when  we  discuss  impact  of  pink  slips  on  the  district  organization  and  teacher  retention.    Referenced  report  on  CA  teacher  shortage:  Addressing  California's  Emerging  Teacher  Shortage  

• 2013:  teacher  to  student  ratio  in  CA  lowest  in  nation  -­‐  1:24;  National  Ave  -­‐  1:16.    • For  California  to  bring  student-­‐teacher  ratios  back  to  pre-­‐Recession  levels,  districts  would  need  

to  hire  60,000  new  teachers  beyond  their  other  hiring  needs.  To  reach  national  average,  districts  need  to  hire  135,000  teachers  

• Increased  demand  for  K–12  teachers  in  California  comes  at  a  time  when  the  supply  of  new  teachers  is  at  a  12-­‐year  low.    

Pink  slips  would  lead  to  loss  of  teachers  for  the  district  given  the  competitive  labor  market.    This  would  have  a  significant  impact  on  HR  in  the  district.    So,  we  should  do  everything  we  can  to  get  the  parcel  tax  to  a  vote  in  March.    SCOTT  HINSHAW:  Hello,  my  name  is  Scott  Hinshaw,  I  am  a  community  member  and  I  am  not  running  for  election  to  the  school  board.  I  apologize  for  appearing  on  the  ballots  and  not  being  able  to  serve  and  any  confusion  it  may  have  caused,  but  I  still  want  to  help.  I  am  a  father  of  a  seventh  and  eighth  grader  at  Hillview  and  a  third  grader  at  Encinal.  Without  going  into  a  lot  of  detail  I  will  say  I  have  a  good  amount  of  experience  volunteering  with  the  school  district  and  probably  most  pertinent  to  today’s  discussion  was  recently  co-­‐chair  of  the  Committee  to  Support  Menlo  Park  Schools  for  Measures  A  &  C  and  Co-­‐Chair  for  the  Committee  to  Support  Ravenswood  Schools  for  Measure  H.      

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I  know  this  is  not  a  review  of  A  &  C,  but  I  would  like  to  start  by  reminding  everyone  a  vast  majority  of  our  community  voted  for  these  measures.  It  was  not  the  super  majority  needed,  but  I  truly  believe  our  whole  community  still  steadfastly  supports  our  schools.  I  have  never  met  of  heard  from  anyone  that  voted  against  the  measures  that  they  did  not  support  our  schools,  just  that  they  had  a  problem  with  some  of  the  structure  or  communication.    I  know  the  fundamental  question  put  before  the  public  tonight  was  “What  alternative  options  we  might  have  to  avoid  reductions?  And  should  MPCSD  pursue  a  different  parcel  tax?”  Let  me  start  by  saying  both  sentences  are  ugly.  No  one  likes  to  talk  about  reductions  when  it  comes  to  education  and  no  one  likes  to  talk  about  taxes.  I  believe  we  can  find  a  compromise  in  our  community,  but  it  is  going  to  require  a  bit  of  belt  tightening  and  sacrifice  on  all  our  parts  –  parents,  the  schools,  the  Board,  the  teachers  and  the  community.  Unfortunately,  I  feel  like  the  belt  tightening  has  to  come  first,  before  we  can  reestablish  the  community’s  trust  in  delivering  more  financial  support  i.e.  parcel  taxes.      As  a  father  of  three  daughters  a  phrase  I  have  to  often  repeat  when  it  comes  to  battle  over  the  tv  remote  control  is,  “don’t  come  to  me  with  problems,  come  to  me  with  solutions,”  so  in  that  spirit  here  it  goes  throwing  some  stuff  against  the  wall  and  you  can  take  it  for  what  it’s  worth.  I  know  looking  at  a  $5M+  deficit  in  four  years  is  a  daunting  task,  but  I  was  encouraged  by  one  of  Maurice’s  statements  that  if  we  are  able  to  reduce  costs  by  $1.5M  over  each  of  the  next  three  years  we  will  be  able  to  do  that.  Everest  was  not  conquered  in  a  day,  it’s  conquered  one  step  at  a  time.      I  mentioned  we  are  all  going  to  have  to  do  some  belt  tightening,  we  all  the  parents,  schools,  Board,  teachers  and  community  give  so  much,  but  belt  tightening  we  must,  so  I  hope  we  can  lead  by  example  and  since  I  am  a  parent  will  start  with  the  parents.    First,  we  finally  combine  our  school  community’s  fundraising  efforts  through  one  source  and  that  being  the  MPAEF.  While  doing  so,  we  raise  the  per  student  ask  from  $1750  ($1500  for  MPAEF  and  $250  for  the  PTOs)  to  $2000.  Not  only  is  this  a  nice  round  number,  but  that  $1500  mpaef  ask  has  stayed  flat  for  awhile  while  school  costs  have  increased.  From  the  total  amount  raised,  $250  per  student  will  still  be  allocated  to  the  individual  PTOs  to  support  their  individual  school  programs.  As  of  now,  between  my  wife  and  I,  I  could  not  tell  you  to  what  PTOs  we  have  given  what  amount  or  what  we  have  given  to  MPAEF  and  a  few  years  ago  I  actually  co-­‐chaired  the  MPAEF  campaign!  Besides  eliminating  that  confusion,  what  this  will  also  do  is  eliminate  the  duplicity  and  abundance  of  asks  we  make  on  our  parents,  businesses  and  community  so  that  when  the  serious  asks  come  (like  for  another  parcel  tax),  our  message  will  not  be  an  overabundance  of  “the  sky  is  falling,”  but  instead  this  is  vital  to  keep  our  schools  running.  This  will  also  help  to  lessen  the  strain  put  on  our  volunteers  and  the  burnout  we  all  tend  to  feel  after  trying  to  do  some  good.  If  we  are  able  to  do  this  and  70%  of  our  families  participate,  this  will  add  $500,000  in  revenue  to  our  schools  every  year.      Next,  per  the  district’s  reduction  presentation  on  Oct  18  elimination  of  the  Hillview  mini  course  programs  would  result  in  a  savings  of  $80,000  per  year.  Instead  of  eliminating  the  programs  we  shift  the  cost  of  these  programs  to  just  those  parents  of  the  students  who  elect  to  participate  with  only  7th  and  8th  graders  eligible.  The  6th  graders  could  receive  a  modified  mini  course  program  which  would  consist  of  a  day  or  two  of  onsite  career  days  or  go  to  work  days  filled  by  parents  or  businesses  from  different  occupations  that  could  lecture  or  show  what  they  do.  7th  graders  could  be  offsite  but  would  be  limited  to  starter  programs  while  8th  graders  would  be  rewarded  with  more  extensive  programs,  like  the  Washington  D.C  trip.  Each  program  would  come  with  its  own  cost  that  would  have  to  be  covered  by  that  particular  student’s  family.  In  partnership,  the  Hillview  PTO  and  MPAEF  would  institute  a  campaign  to  7th  

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and  8th  grade  families  specifically  to  raise  this  money.  For  those  families  unable  to  contribute  but  still  want  to  participate,  MPAEF  will  have  a  scholarship  program  to  allow  them  to  do  so.  No  student  would  lose  any  opportunity  for  not  being  able  to  financially  contribute.  Goal  here  would  be  to  save  the  district  $80,000  per  year.      And  lastly  for  the  parents,  I  would  ask  the  MPAEF  Board  to  consider  approving  a  drawdown  of  the  Endowment  by  $100,000  per  year  over  the  next  three  years.  I  mentioned  we  are  all  going  to  have  to  do  a  bit  of  belt  tightening  and  we  are  all  going  to  have  to  squeeze  a  bit  to  preserve  the  schools,  programs  and  people  we  love.  The  MPAEF  endowment  currently  stands  at  around  $2.9M  and  also  authorizes  the  MPAEF  to  withdraw  up  to  $100,000  per  year  to  a  certain  percentage  of  the  endowment  for  school  support.  The  last  couple  of  years  we  have  not  actually  done  that  which  is  great  because  the  purpose  of  the  Endowment  is  to  preserve  the  long  term  viability  of  the  district  programs.  I  would  make  the  case  that  in  the  face  of  this  deficit,  now  is  as  good  a  time  as  any  to  put  some  of  those  funds  to  work  to  preserve  school  programs.  We  could  do  this  at  a  minimal  amount  without  sacrificing  the  long  term  goals  and  preservation  of  the  Endowment.  This  would  result  in  $300,000  in  additional  revenues  to  the  district  over  the  next  three  years.    Belt  tightening  for  the  schools  and  district  administration  –  in  finance  there  are  typically  two  types  of  analysis  we  will  look  at  on  a  subject  –  one  would  be  top  down,  the  other  would  be  bottom  up.  In  much  of  the  analysis  that  I  have  seen  so  far  it  seems  that  much  of  it  is  top  down.  I  would  encourage  the  schools  and  administration  to  conduct  a  similar  financial  analysis  from  the  bottom  up.  Or  to  put  it  in  educational  terms,  let’s  not  only  follow  the  spreadsheets,  but  let  the  dollars  follow  the  child.  For  example,  in  a  recent  study  by  Marguerita  Roza  who  is  a  Senior  Scholar  at  the  Center  on  Reinventing  Public  Education  and  Professor  at  the  University  of  Washington  College  of  Education  she  conducted  a  study  of  small  western  school  districts  to  determine  the  cost  per  pupil  across  different  subjects.  http://educationnext.org/breaking-­‐down-­‐school-­‐budgets-­‐2/  One  small  sample  of  this  analysis  concluded  that  while  math  cost  $328  per  student  on  average  to  teach,  electives  cost  $512.  This  is  not  an  indictment  of  electives,  just  serving  as  an  example  of  perhaps  a  bottom  up  approach  following  our  children  might  help  our  analysis.      I  will  give  you  another  example.  My  eight  grader  –  who  will  now  remain  nameless  but  now  everyone  knows,  recently  told  me/whined  to  me  –  “Dad,  why  do  we  need  these  ipads,  why  can’t  we  just  have  laptops.”  Her  issue  was  not  that  she  did  not  like  the  ipads,  just  that  laptops  might  be  more  suitable  for  the  work  8th  graders  were  doing.  For  the  record  when  I  told  her  the  school  district  was  looking  at  budget  cuts  and  what  she  might  recommend  getting  cut  she  did  say  homework  so  not  sure  if  there  is  any  cost  savings  there.  But,  when  she  told  me  about  the  ipads  I  was  reminded  of  our  3rd  grade  open  house  this  year.  Over  in  the  corner  of  the  classroom  I  saw  this  big  metal  cart  that  almost  looked  like  its  own  air  conditioning  unit  and  I  had  no  idea  what  it  was.  It  was  after  this  that  the  teacher  explained  not  only  how  the  kids  would  be  sharing  ipads,  but  they  also  had  this  laptop  cart  available  and  another  cart  of  chromebooks  they  shared  with  the  other  third  grade  classes.  Again,  this  is  not  an  indictment  of  any  of  this  or  anyone,  but  I  hope  is  an  example  of  some  of  the  bottom  up  analysis  the  leadership  can  do  with  our  dollars  actually  following  our  children’s  experience,  in  conjunction  with  the  top  down  analysis  we  have  here.      Moving  on  to  other  belt  tightening  and  in  this  case  the  Board.  We  know  that  due  to  an  enormous  growth  in  enrollment  exceeding  revenues  the  past  few  years  we  have  had  to  dip  into  our  reserves  otherwise  called  our  “economic  uncertainty  funds.”  We  know  these  funds  are  vital  to  the  long  term  stability  of  the  schools,  but  the  case  could  also  be  made  with  the  defeat  of  any  parcel  tax  renewal  we  

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have  encountered  a  period  of  “economic  uncertainty.”  I  think  with  this  as  a  basis  of  thought  a  drawdown  of  reserves  to  meet  the  district’s  needs  for  now  below  board  policy  of  20%  proportional  savings  is  warranted.  I  think  it  may  be  prudent  however  for  the  board  to  consider  a  specific  resolution  that  the  $1.9M  drawdown  projected  for  16-­‐17  only  occur  after  $1M  in  savings  or  additional  funding  is  achieved  by  the  district,  its  parents  or  the  community.  By  having  a  specific  resolution  before  the  fact  rather  than  after,  demonstrates  to  all  involved  our  greater  need  and  requirement  for  strict  fiscal  discipline.  I  couldn’t  tell  you  if  is  the  exact  right  number(s),  but  I  think  a  specific  statement  leads  by  example  around  the  management  needed.    This  specific  drawdown  would  allow  the  district  to  conduct  the  necessary  teacher  retention  and  recruitment  needed  for  the  upcoming  school  year  with  confidence  and  hopefully  without  layoffs,  enables  our  new  Superintendent  to  begin  his  career  without  one  arm  tied  around  his  back,  and  also  buy  us  some  time  to  demonstrate  to  the  greater  community  the  fiscal  discipline  they  would  like  to  see.  This  would  also  hopefully  buy  us  some  time  before  needing  to  put  anything  on  a  ballot  before  the  community  until  the  spring  or  fall  of  2017.  I  think  the  greatest  risk  our  district  has  is  not  when  to  put  a  parcel  tax  on  the  ballot,  because  I  think  we  can  get  by  in  the  short  term,  but  making  sure  it  passes.  The  drawdown  and  temporary  stay  would  also  allow  our  new  superintendent  to  establish  his  footing  and  lay  out  a  long  term  plan  for  the  community  we  can  all  rally  behind.    Belt  tightening  for  teachers  and  staff.  Our  fortunate  reality  is  our  district  is  blessed  by  its  people.  Our  unfortunate  reality  is  this  also  the  greatest  portion  of  our  cost  that  we  now  know  we  cannot  fully  afford  like  we  have  –  for  now.  Our  teachers  and  staff  are  very  well  compensated  in  salary  and  benefits  and  I  think  this  is  something  on  which  they  would  all  agree.  I  think  we  would  also  all  agree  that  measuring  that  compensation  is  difficult  when  compared  to  the  high  cost  of  living  in  our  area.      We  recently  hired  a  new  Superintendent.  What  you  may  not  have  noticed  is  what  I  thought  was  a  tremendous  illustration  of  leadership  by  example  where  Erik  agreed  to  0  salary  increases  over  the  next  three  years.  I  would  offer  that  the  rest  of  our  teachers  and  staff  give  a  similar  consideration  to  agree  to  flat  salary  increases  over  the  next  three  years  to  help  the  district  become  more  financially  sound  over  the  long  term.  This  would  potentially  provide  the  district  with  over  $700,000  in  annual  savings  (1.75%  off  of  $40,000,000  just  summary  numbers)  and  when  combined  with  the  extra  contribution  from  parents  would  go  $1.2M  to  addressing  our  annual  deficit  and  hopefully  avoid  any  layoffs.  However,  two  clauses  could  be  written  into  any  agreements.  One  would  essentially  be  a  cost  of  living  adjustment  buffer  that  would  say  if  by  chance  any  change  in  the  cost  of  living  would  exceed  the  current  cost  of  living  percentage  or  an  agreed  percentage  of  anywhere  between  1-­‐2.5%,  teacher  salaries  would  go  up  to  cover  the  difference.  So  for  example,  if  a  freeze  was  agreed  to  to  a  max  line  of  2%  cola  and  coal  went  up  to  3%,  the  teachers  would  get  a  1%  raise  to  help  cover  the  difference.  This  would  only  be  temporary  and  could  be  for  a  year  or  three.  The  second  clause  would  be  the  allocation  by  the  district  of  a  housing  credit  to  teachers  and  staff  of  $200/month.  The  advantage  of  this  to  teachers  is  obviously  no  real  reduction  in  compensation  and  instead  addresses  perhaps  their  greatest  financial  concern.  The  advantage  to  the  district,  and  someone  can  correct  me  if  I  am  wrong  but  I  think  I  am  reading  California  Ed  Code  26139.5  correctly  http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-­‐bin/displaycode?section=edc&group=26001-­‐27000&file=26100-­‐26145,  ((b) "Salary" does not mean and shall not include: (11) Any employer-provided allowance, reimbursement, or payment, including, but not limited to, one made for housing, vehicle, or uniform) that  this  teacher  benefit  would  not  mean  a  pension  funding  requirement  on  behalf  of  the  district.  The  net  present  value  of  this  benefit  to  teachers  now  would  be  greater  than  that  to  them  in  the  future.  (If  for  example  we  are  talking  about  260  teachers,  a  $200  month  housing  stipend  for  example  would  cost  the  district  $624,500,  but  result  in  $89,856  in  

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pension  contribution  savings  at  the  current  14.4%  required  contribution  rate).  Again,  I  could  be  off  on  this,  but  for  illustration  purposes.    On  the  subject  of  housing  and  our  bay  area  cost  of  living,  there  is  no  doubt  this  is  the  greatest  financial  challenge  for  our  teachers  and  district.  I  would  encourage  the  board  to  consider  an  exploratory  committee  to  address  this  present  and  long  term  challenge.  One  consideration  frankly  would  be  the  district  developing  and/or  providing  housing  for  teachers.  This  may  not  be  a  discussion  for  now,  but  it’s  a  never  ending  issue  and  one  that  is  not  going  to  go  away  and  if  we  don’t  address  it  sooner  rather  than  later  the  growth  in  cost  of  living  may  always  exceed  the  amount  of  revenues  our  district  could  generate.  I  could  make  the  case  for  considering  this  actually  is  now  as  we  see  a  tremendous  amount  of  development  already  going  on  around  us,  the  district  has  just  completed  a  number  of  building  projects  with  contractors  in  place,  and  it  would  be  one  way  for  the  district  to  take  advantage  of  its  AAA  bond  rating  and  interest  rates  being  low  in  the  case  we  would  ever  consider  issuing  a  bond  to  finance  any  purchase  or  development.      Both  of  these  ideas  many  other  school  districts  and  municipalities  are  already  either  using  or  considering  so  partnering  and  leverage  may  exist.      Two  additional  considerations  for  teachers  and  staff  in  short  would  be  for  those  teachers  and  staff  that  live  outside  the  district  but  enroll  their  children  there,  a  consideration  of  $1500  per  student  be  given  to  the  mpaef  to  help  our  community  with  our  per  pupil  deficit  which  is  the  same  amount  we  ask  of  any  parents.  This  could  be  in  good  faith  or  written  into  a  contract,  but  would  be  a  tax  deduction  for  the  teachers  and  also  address  any  negative  criticism  of  the  perception  of  our  dedicated  teachers  and  staff  receiving  any  extra  undisclosed  benefits.  I  feel  in  no  way  should  this  benefit  to  our  dedicated  teachers  with  families  be  taken  away.    Lastly  in  regards  to  teacher  and  staff,  it  has  already  been  mentioned  that  an  early  retirement  package  could  perhaps  be  offered  to  teachers  over  50  years  of  age  with  over  5  years  of  service.  One  reference  for  this  was  a  2014  study  that  I  can  send  along  from  the  National  Bureau  of  Economic  Research  and  Policy  Analysis  and  Management  at  Cornell  University  that  showed  in  short,  early  retirement  incentives  were  not  only  great  incentives  for  any  teachers  who  did  want  to  retire,  but  did  not  result  in  any  loss  of  student  achievement  and  also  allowed  school  districts  to  save  money.  http://educationnext.org/early-­‐retirement-­‐payoff/    And  finally,  to  our  community,  of  which  I  am  a  part.  I  would  only  ask  two  things  –  your  time  and  your  consideration.  Your  time  to  look  at  these  issues  under  a  fresh  lens,  not  the  lens  of  10  years  ago,  or  the  debate  over  A  &  C,  but  a  fresh  lens  for  the  present  and  future  of  our  district.  Along  with  that,  I  would  ask  all  of  us  for  your  consideration.  Numbers,  budgets,  etc.  can  be  dissected  and  resected  with  translations  across  all  kinds  of  mediums  and  town  forums  and  parking  lot  scuttlebutt.  The  one  known  however  is  that  no  matter  what,  our  community  has  accumulated  a  staggering  amount  of  wealth  in  property  values  over  the  last  10-­‐20  years  in  the  hundreds  and  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars.  While  this  is  not  solely  due  to  the  reputation  of  our  great  schools,  there  is  no  doubt  workers  around  here  have  many  choices  and  while  Palo  Alto,  Woodside,  Mountain  View,  may  be  among  them,  NONE  of  them  has  had  the  growth  we  have  and  a  very  big  reason  for  that  is  that  when  new  home  buyers  evaluate  the  public  schools  they  choose  ours  over  others.  While  property  taxes  have  grown  with  it,  they  have  not  grown  enough  to  keep  up  with  enrollment  outpacing  our  neighbors  and  proportionally  for  the  education  we  provide.  Out  of  the  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars  in  appreciation  we  have  had,  I  don’t  think  it’s  a  big  ask  for  a  few  hundred  dollars  for  our  schools.    

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 Thank  you.    (As  an  addendum,  my  rough  math  without  any  deficit  spending  and  any  additional  bottom  up  resource  analysis  the  main  aspects  of  the  ideas  above  would  net  the  district  +$935,000  and  teachers  would  receive  only  a  sliver  of  an  adjustment  in  their  comp  with  the  housing  credit  offset)      JANE  BENNION  (COPY/PASTE  FROM  SUBMITTED  STATEMENT):  SOO  glad  we’re  holding  these  input  meetings  so  I  have  the  opportunity  to  get  up  here  and  brag!!!  ;)        Jane  Bennion,  Oak  Knoll  teacher  librarian.  I’ve  called  this  beloved  community  my  professional  home  for  19  years.  This  is  my  9th  year  teaching  in  the  library.  I  speak  on  behalf  of  the  credentialed  library  teachers  in  this  district  and  in  defense  of  the  critical  work  we  do  in  our  schools  supporting  students,  teachers,  staff  and  parents.        *yes,  I  will  be  talking  this  fast      The  library  is  the  heart  of  the  school.  We  support  every  curricular  and  extracurricular  activity...you  want  the  reader’s  digest  ;)  of  WHAT  is  going  on  in  a  school?  HEAD  TO  THE  LIBRARY.    Students  see  themselves  reflected  in  the  library  through  the  materials  carefully  selected  by  qualified  teacher  librarians…  One  day  a  new  student  recently  arrived  from  Japan  came  in  with  her  class,  you  could  see  tears  and  exhaustion  on  her  face..  She  saw  a  Japanese  book  on  display  and  the  look  on  her  face  I  will  never  forget  as  she  found  herself  reflected  and  included  in  her  new  home  and  in  the  library.    Library  is  where  students  come  to  read,  study,  research,  collaborate,  decompress,  find  sanctuary  from  the  playground,  draw,  do  origami,  play  games,  and,  yes,  play  the  piano.    Because  of  the  freedom  for  self-­‐directed  learning  that  is  uniquely  available  in  the  library,  we  make  a  huge  difference  in  the  lives  of  students  who  are  struggling  behaviorally,  academically  and  emotionally-­‐-­‐  and  they  often  choose  to  spend  extra  time  in  the  library.      A  school  library  without  a  credentialed  librarian  is  a  classroom  without  a  teacher.  BUT  WORSE..  We’ve  got  MORE  information,  resources  and  materials  than  ANY  classroom,  but  without  a  qualified  guide  there  is  no  way  to  access  it…  we  are  sitting  on  treasure  troves  without  a  map  or  a  shovel  when  we  are  WITHOUT  credentialed  librarians.    Classroom  teachers  and  aides  do  not  have  the  TIME  or  expertise  to  do  what  librarians  do,  if  they  did  we  wouldn’t  be  sending  librarians  to  school  for  39  additional  credits  to  get  special  degrees  in  library  SCIENCE.    Teacher  librarians  are  experienced  classroom  teachers.    We  use  our  expertise  to  plan  and  implement  instruction  for  the  wide  variety  of  diverse  students  needs.  We  teach  information  literacy  and  skills  instruction  at  every  grade  level.  We  purchase  resources  with  reluctant  readers,  second  language  learners,  and  diverse  learning  styles  in  mind.  We  carefully  choose  resources  that  support  teacher  projects  and  curriculum  enrichment  for  every  grade  K-­‐5.    We  collaborate  with  teachers,  getting  them  exactly  what  they  need  AND  more!  We  support  their  academic  goals  for  each  student  and  work  with  students  on  their  behalf.  Faced  with  a  reluctant  reader  we  love  the  challenge  of  finding  just  the  RIGHT  BOOK…  We  are  the  in-­‐house  experts  getting  books  in  their  hands  and  creating  readers.  We  know  each  and  every  child,  teacher,  and  staff  member  at  the  school  and  create  motivational  learning  experiences  in  the  library  tailored  to  individuals.  The  special  events,  the  summer  reading  celebrations,  the  book  talks,  read  alouds,  poetry  reading-­‐writing-­‐reciting  and  publishing..  reader’s  theater,    scavenger  hunts,  class  competitions,  the  voting  books...  Not  to  mention,  the  resources  for  parents  who  come  into  the  library  daily  after  school  to  check  out  these  materials  and  hang  out  reading  books  with  their  children.  

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More  than  60  major  studies  produce  clear  evidence  that  school  libraries  staffed  by  qualified  librarians  have  a  positive  impact  on  student  academic  achievement.  (clsa)  AND  the  reverse,  student  achievement  suffers  when  schools  lack  libraries  staffed  by  full-­‐time  librarians  (slj)  (*happy  to  provide  research)  Parents  in  this  community  understand  the  value  of  having  credentialed  teachers  in  art,  PE,  music  and  library  programs.  That's  why  the  Menlo  Park  Atherton  Education  Foundation  highlights  these  credentialed  teachers  in  order  to  encourage  parents  to  donate  money.  They  understand  that  having  a  credentialed  teacher-­‐librarian  in  each  of  our  school  libraries  is  an  essential  part  of  schools  with  strong  test  scores.  And  parents  donate  because  they  believe  they  are  providing  their  child  with  these  cred  specialists.      IN  CONCLUSION-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐  (Jagen’s  note)  “Dear  Ms.  Bennion,  Thank  you  for  showing  me  the  way  to  Middle  Earth.  I  am  now  on  my  way  to  Mordor.  HELP!!!!  Yours  truly,  Jagan”    This  is  the  magic  and  the  gift  that  credentialed  librarians  bring  to  EVERY  student.  .  …this  PARENT  community  is  incredible  beyond  words..  We  couldn’t  do    our  work  without  them.        Menlo  Park  is  one  in  a  million..  And,  as  yet,  I  am  HERE  to  work  with  all  of  you  to  KEEP  it  that  way.  Thank  you.    SARAH  SOBEL:  I  wasn't  planning  to  speak  so  I  don't  have  complete  notes  on  what  I  said,  but  this  is  the  gist:    I'm  a  community  member,  parent  and  homeowner.    I  fully  support  putting  the  measure  on  the  March  ballot  to  minimize  disruption.    We  moved  here  for  the  schools.    When  we  came  here  5  years  ago  we  weighed  PA  and  MP  equally  because  both  had  great  schools.    Great  schools  that  include  a  lot  of  enriching  activities  like  those  that  are  on  the  chopping  block  due  to  Measure  C  not  passing.    I'm  sure  a  lot  of  people  move  here  for  the  schools.    My  oldest  son  started  Kinder  this  year  at  Oak  Knoll  and  he  is  LOVING  it.    He  is  excited  about  going,  he  loves  his  homeroom,  he  has  a  great  time  in  grade-­‐level,  but  what  I  hear  the  most  about  is  the  specialties  -­‐  Art,  Music,  PE.    He  is  truly  fired  up  about  these  classes  and  reducing  any  of  the  offerings  would  diminish  his  experience.    My  second  child  will  start  at  Oak  Knoll  in  2  years  and  my  baby  in  5  years,  so  we  are  looking  forward  to  a  long  relationship  with  the  district.    I  do  worry  that  with  the  proposed  reductions  our  schools  can  not  be  as  vibrant  ,  successful  or  desirable  as  they  currently  are.    I  think  maintaining  the  programs  offered  at  our  schools  is  important  not  only  for  maintaining  our  schools  themselves,  but  is  also  critical  for  maintaining  our  property  values.    Through  that  lens,  even  the  highest  proposed  parcel  tax  of  an  additional  $515  looks  like  a  phenomenal  investment.    Let  go  for  the  full  parcel  tax  in  March  and  keep  Menlo  Park  on  par  with  PA  and  others.    BEGINNING  OF  WORKING  AUDIO:    CHRISTA  WEST:  I  have  three  children,  two  currently  at  Oak  Knoll,  and  one  will  be  incoming  as  a  kinder  in  the  fall.  I  am  also  a  community  member,  and  I'm  on  the  PTO  and  MPAF,  and  my  first  year  doing  either  of  those,  and  I  decided  to  jump  full  force  in  it  this  year  because  I  cannot  believe  the  amazing  impact  that  the  Menlo  

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Park  Schools,  Oak  Knoll,  have  had  on  my  children.  I  have  a  reluctant  reader  who  has  thrived  with  the  close  attention  that  he's  been  able  to  get  from  the  reading  specialist,  who  he's  been  able  to  get  from  Ms.  Bennion.  He  doesn't  like  to  even  write,  but  she  said:  Hey,  write  a  book  about  your  favorite  subject  last  year,  and  worked  on  it  for  three  days  in  a  row,  he  couldn't  wait  to  get  it  to  the  library.  He  almost  forgot  it,  we  had  to  rush.  It  was  crazy  that  morning  but  we  got  it  to  the  library,  and  he  was  so  proud  he  made  me  come  in  after  school  and  look  at  it  because  he  was  so  excited  to  have  me  see  his  book  on  lions.  My  first  grader  adores  all  of  the  opportunity  she's  been  getting,  she  loves  Music.  She  thrives  in  the  multi  age  classroom  where  it  is  a  perfect  fit  for  her  personality.  My  son  is  in  traditional,  perfect  fit  for  his  personality.  And  the  teachers  they  just…you  know,  the  kids  get  to  go  out  for  PE  and  really  use  their  muscles,  which  they  have  to  do  'cause  they're  kids.  And  without  a  credited  PE  teacher,  you  know,  with  maybe  just  an  aide,  they  wouldn't  know  how  to  stretch  correctly,  how  to  use  equipment  safely.  I  wanted  to  make  my  point,  sometimes  I'm  scattered,  sorry.      I  also  support  the  full  amount  of  the  parcel  tax,  and  I'd  like  it  to  go  out  on  the  March  ballot  because  I  think  uncertainty  for  our  teachers  makes  for  a  very  difficult  setting,  and  I  don't  want  to  lose  them.  I  think  these  teachers  are  selfless,  they  give  so  much.  Besides  during  the  school  day,  they  come  out  here  and  spend  their  evenings  with  us  to  support  our  kids.  They  are  amazing  people  and  I  know  they're  not  here  for  themselves.  I  know  they  are  fighting  for  our  amazing  schools,  and  I  know  they  are  fighting  for  our  kids,  who  adore  them,  who  are  inspired  by  them,  from  Math….OK,  I  am  not  kidding,  we  were  driving  this  evening  and  my  kids  decided  to  do  Splash  Math  on  their  iPads  instead  of  watching  the  new  Miles  from  Tomorrowland  that  we  had  just  on-­‐loaded.  And  I'm  wondering  how  could  this  be  that  they  would  choose  that,  and  it's  because  a  teacher  recommended  an  app  that  gets  them  inspired.  Please  keep  our  teachers.  Thank  you.    JACQUI  CEBRIAN:  OK,  thank  you.  So  have  to  say  that  you've  heard  such  an  array  of  all  that  makes  our  schools  so  great.  And  I  listened  to  all  the  public  comments,  like  my  heart  is  so  full  of  joy  for  like  how  great  our  schools  are,  and  I  love  the  public  validation  of  what  we're  doing,  like  I  can't  tell  you  how  much  I'm  loving  this.  Except  for  the  cuts.  So  I  think  at  this  moment,  like  after  I  listened  to  all  this,  we  shouldn't  be  looking  for  ways  to  scale  on  the  programs  and  the  people  that  change  lives.  We  should  be  proud  of  what  we've  built,  and  we  should  give  the  kids  we  have  now,  and  the  ones  eagerly  awaiting  their  spot  in  one  of  our  amazing  classrooms  the  stellar  education  they  all  deserve.  So  parcel  tax-­‐YES.  March-­‐YES.  I  know  you  love  the  teachers,  so  yes,  please  do  it  all,  and  save  the  great  programs      JOSEPH  KRENSAVAGE:  Good  evening,  my  name  is  Joseph  Krensavage.  I'm  here  with  my  wife  Kate,  and  I  want  to  say  thank  you  for  all  of  you  for  this  wonderful  event.  I'm  so  glad  we  came  tonight,  I  learned  a  ton.  The  presentation  was  fantastic.  So,  we've  lived  in  Menlo  Park  for  over  13  years.  Our  daughter  Brooke  goes  to  Oak  Knoll,  she's  in  second  grade.  She's  a  special  needs  kid  (From  audience:  I  can't  hear  you,  honey.  Burmeister:  I  take  it  you  know  her?)  So,  can  you  hear  me  now?  I'm  here  with  my  wonderful  wife  Kate,  and  our  daughter  Brooke  goes  to  Oak  Knoll.  She's  in  second  grade  and  she's  developmentally  disabled.  She's  a  special  needs  kid,  so  we're  extremely  grateful  for  the  mainstream  special  needs  accommodations  that  are  made  for  her.  I  want  to  say  thank  you  to  all  the  teachers  and  the  staff.  Ms.  Ziff,  Mrs.  Howard,  Ms.  Kelly  (inaudible).  We're  extremely  grateful.  So  we  support  a  March  2017  measure  for  the  full  amount.  Probably  a  good  idea  to  have  a  sunset  provision  so  it's  not  perceived  as  permanent.  The  presentation  was  fantastic.  I  think  one  way  it  might  be  improved  is  if  you  could  communicate  how  the  parcel  tax  would  be  implemented  with  respect  to  home  ownership  vis-­‐a-­‐vis  rental  properties,  I  think  that  would  be  helpful,  because  I  don't  know  how  it's  actually  implemented.  And  again,  I  want  to  say  thank  you  to  all  

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the  staff  at  Oak  Knoll.  I've  mentioned  some,  I  want  to  also  mention  Nicole  Scott  and  (inaudible)  the  librarian.  Brooke  has  flourished.  Thank  you.      CHILD:  OK,  we've  got  two  more,  Cassidy  Morgan  and  Alli  Zeiser.      CASSIDY  MORGAN:  It's  late  in  the  day  and  there's  a  World  Series  on,  I'll  be  brief.  My  name  is  Cassidy  Morgan.  I  have  two  boys  at  Oak  Knoll,  a  six  year  old  and  an  eight  year  old.  Two  boys  who  love  sports.  They  love  soccer,  baseball,  basketball,  they  love  to  run  around  and  throw  the  football  around.  They're  boys,  after  all.  But  they  also  love  to  read.  They  love  to  draw,  right  now  lots  of  Pokémon.  They  love  to  build.  They're  crafty  and  they  make  fascinating  things  out  of  nothing.  Their  imagination  is  expansive  and  does  not  have  boundaries.  And  they  love  school.  They  love  Oak  Knoll.  And  I'm  here  first  and  foremost  to  offer  my  support  for  the  amazing  teachers  and  administrators  from  Home  Room  to  the  Arts  to  Music  to  Science  to  the  Library,  you  inspire  not  only  my  children,  but  my  wife  and  I  every  day.  I  would  offer  that  one  aspect  to  consider  is  that  sometimes  it  takes  moments  like  these  to  rally  the  community.  A  lot  of  comments  have  been  around  the  fact  that  people  did  not  know  about  the  measure  this  year,  and  that  those  who  said  "No"  complained  about  the  way  it  was  done.  It  is  clear  from  these  Town  Halls  and  other  discussions  that  there  is  a  lot  of  passion  now  that  we  have  found  ourselves  in  this  unfortunate  situation,  and  I  believe  we  should  harness  that  passion  and  energy  that  exits  to  further  activate  the  community-­‐-­‐those  who  are  for  and  against-­‐-­‐to  pass  a  new  measure  in  March.  I  will  also  say  that  with  everything,  we  should  make  sure  that  we  find  ways-­‐-­‐innovative  ways-­‐-­‐many  of  which  were  mentioned  here  earlier  today,  to  send  a  signal  to  the  community,  especially  those  who  have  said  "No"  initially,  that  we  have  heard  them  and  that  we  will  find  ways  to  act  in  a  fiscally  responsible  fashion.  Nevertheless,  we  should  take  this  time  right  now  and  leverage  the  passion  that  exists,  and  pass  a  measure  in  March  at  the  highest  level  to  ensure  that  our  kids  will  continue  to  get  the  great  support  they  receive  today.        ALLI  ZEISER:  Hi,  am  I  loud  enough?  OK,  good.  My  name  is  Alli  Zeiser  and  I  am  technically  a  new  teacher  in  Menlo  Park  City  School  District.  I'd  like  to  comment  about  the  culture  of  MPCSD  and  the  effect  it  has  on  me,  the  new  girl.  This  is  my  second  career  but  this  is  absolutely  my  passion,  this  is  what  I  was  meant  to  do.  And  I'm  actually  lucky  enough  to  be  working  in  a  district  with  my  former  teachers  as  I  am  a  graduate  of  Oak  Knoll,  Hillview  and  M-­‐A.  Heidi  Veneman,  I  love  you,  you're  amazing.  She  and  Chris  McCullough  are  the  reason  I  became  a  teacher.  I'm  also  incredibly  lucky  to  work  every  day  with  my  master  teacher,  Sue,  hi  girl,  and  Bill  Quarre,  who  are  both  here  today,  who  are  responsible  for  molding  me  into  the  confident,  questioning,  passionate  teacher  I  am  today.  Without  this  incredible  inclusive  culture,  I  might  be  lost  in  a  sea  of  new  curriculum,  everlasting  hours,  and  demoralizing  state  and  federal  budget  cuts.  These  are  the  teachers  that  encourage  people  like  me  and  my  students  to  be  lifelong  learners,  creators  and  contributors.  Please  consider  the  incredible  effects  this  district  has  on  new  teachers.  I'm  worth  it.  These  teachers  are  worth  it.  And  our  children  deserve  it.  Thank  you.    CHILD:  OK,  great.  So  that  is  all  the  public  comments.  So  again,  thank  you  to  everyone  who  provided  comment,  and  thank  you  for  everyone  for  the  way  you  handled  yourself  during  this  sensitive  topic.  So  let  me  just  now  turn  to  the  Board  and  see,  as  we  have  done  at  prior  meetings,  if  you  have  things  you  want  to  bring  up  or  items.  This  is  not  a  discussion  meeting,  per  se,  but  it's  just  if  you  have  things  you  want  to  direct  Erik  and  Maurice  to  look  at  in  preparation  for  our  November  9  meeting.    

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THYGESEN:  I  think  that  one  of  the  areas  that  I  think  there's  some  confusion  on  in  the  public  is  our  reserves,  our  financial  reserves.  And  I  believe  that  we  probably  need  to  have  more  discussion  in  some  way,  shape  and  form  of  those  reserves  when  we  look  at  the  options  going  forward,  and  a  more  detailed  explanation  when  we  look  at  the  options  going  forward  for  whatever  combination  of  cuts  and  revenue  enhancement  over  what  period  of  time…  I  used  that  bad  word  revenue.  Funding,  funding,  I  want  to  say  funding  as  it's  more  clear.  So  I  feel  like  we  need  to  in  whatever  scenarios  staff  is  going  to  come  back  to  us  with  in  the  future,  I'd  like  to  see  a  little  bit  more  detail  explained,  not  just  for  the  benefit  of  the  Board  who  I  think  understands  this  pretty  well,  but  for  the  benefit  of  the  public,  because  I  think  that  there's  still  some  confusion  out  there  about  that.  The  other  thing  is,  we're  still  taking  input.  Tonight's  input  wasn't  the  totality,  we've  had  other  input  meetings  and  we  have  other  input  vehicles,  and  there's  still  input  coming  in.  So,  you  know,  but  in  general  the  things  that  I'm  hearing  are  not  too  dissimilar  from  the  17  or  so  input  meetings  that  we  did  prior  to  the  parcel  tax  last  fall,  parcel  tax  initiative  last  fall,  where  people  value  our  schools,  they're  happy  with  what's  going  on  for  the  most  part,  and  they  want  us  to  be  able  to  maintain  that.  They  want  us  to  maintain  the  breadth  of  programs  with  Music  and  Art  and  all  the  other  things  that  we're  doing  in  addition  to  the  core  academics  in  our  classrooms.  And  they  want  us  to  find  a  way  to  do  that.  And  so,  you  know,  the  things  that  I'm  hearing,  not  so  much  in  this  room  tonight,  but  in  some  of  the  other  meetings  though,  we've  had  people  says  things  actually  in  these  meetings  and  through  other  forums,  is  that  there  seems  to  be  confusion  about  the  district's  ability  to  keep  the  existing  programs.  So  when  I  say  programs,  I  mean  the  level  of  compensation  for  our  teachers,  our  class  sizes,  the  breadth  of  program  and  everything  that  we  do.  And  there  seems  to  be  some  confusion  out  there  about  are  there  creative  ways  to  do  this  that  don't  involve  parcel  taxes.  And  like…isn't  the  amount  of  property  tax  increases  that  are  going  on  enough  to  fund  the  increases  in  needs  from  student  enrollment,  to  the  increase  mandate  from  the  state-­‐-­‐the  mandated  cost  from  the  state  on  the  pension  front,  and  so  on.  And  I'm  continuing  to  hear  these  types  of  questions  out  there.  So  one  of  the  concerns  that  I  have  about  getting…because  I  know  what  the  truth  is,  and  I  know  that  the  truth  is  we  can't  maintain  what  we  have  without  an  increase  in  funding.  Because  the  fact  is,  is  that  we  are  already  delivering  a  program  that  is  comparable  to  Palo  Alto,  Las  Lomitas,  pick  your  district  that  has  comparable  programs,  and  we're  doing  it  with  less  funding  per  student.  And  as  a  result,  this  district  has  had  a  lot  of  cost  pressure  on  it  for  many  years,  and  so  there's  not  a  lot  of  low  hanging  fruit  out  there  that  would  just  be  easy  cost  savings  that  we're  going  to  be  able  to  get  that  are  going  to  be,  you  know,  not  felt  by  anyone  and  painless  to  everyone,  and  so  on  and  so  forth,  because  we've  been  under  so  much  pressure  for  so  long  that  we've  been  going  after  those  things.  Now  different  people  may  have,  you  know…some  people  say:  Gee,  I  think  we  don't  need  as  much  technology  in  the  schools.  You  know,  other  people  would  vehemently  disagree  with  that.  I  mean  there  are  some  places  where  there  are  maybe  some  disagreements  about  what's  most  important,  but  over…but  the  places  where  there  are  this  disagreement  are  items  that  are  not…are  going  to  get  us  this  much  of  the  $5+million  in  savings  that  we  would  need  to  get  in  order  to  close  the  gap.  So,  my  concern  is  that  this  is  a  wonderful  meeting  and  we've  had  another  couple  of  wonderful  meetings,  but  my  concern  is  that  there  continues  to  be  faults  and  misleading  information  that's  being  put  out  there,  and  what  is  our  ability  as  a  school  and  community  to  ensure  that  the  actual  truth  is  before  our  voters  this  time  around?  Because  our  newspaper  doesn't…they  do  what  they  can  to  make  sure  that  the  articles  that  they  write  are  correct  and  accurate,  and  I  think  they  do  a  pretty  good  job  of  that,  but  they  have  a  completely…essentially  mostly  unmonitored  forum  where  anybody  can  just  keep  saying  untruths  over  and  over  and  over  again,  and  it  becomes…you  know,  it's  a  real  challenge  for  us  as  a  community  to  ensure  that  the  real  information  is  out  there.  And  I  really  want  to  compliment  Superintendent  Ghysels  ,  and  Chief  Business  and  Officer  Shiekholeslami,  and  our  Assistant  Superintendent  Erik  Burmeister  for  the  tremendous  work  that  they  have  been  doing  to  put  more  resources  and  more  time  and  attention  into  trying  to  beef  up  communications.  But  I  do  believe  it's  a  big  challenge  that's  before  us,  and  it's  

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something  that  I'm  concerned  about.  It's  something  that  I'm  concerned  about.  So  anyway,  that  being  said,  I'll  repeat  what  I  said  in  a  previous  meeting  that,  you  know,  how  did  we  get  there?  This  is  crazy,  this  is  absolutely  crazy.  We  have  got  a  fantastic  that's  doing  a  wonderful  job  for  our  students,  and  is  delivering  incredible  value  to  all  residents  of  our  community  whether  they  have  children  in  the  schools  or  not.  It’s  a  treasure,  it's  something  that  we  need  to  do  everything  we  possibly  can  to  maintain,  and  we  just  need  to  figure  out  the  best  way  to  accomplish  that.  So,  that's  my  comment  and  some  of  my  questions  and  direction  to  staff  going  forward.    HILTON:  I  have  a  request,  and  Erik  I  apologize  if  you're  not  familiar  with  this  so  I'm  going  to  speak  directly  to  Maurice,  but  I  have  a  feeling  you're  going  to  get  familiar  with  it.  So  Maurice,  I'd  like  us,  at  one  of  the  next  meetings  as  part  of  context  because  there's  been  a  lot  of  interest  in  fiscal  responsibility,  and  I  would  like  you  to  review  the  work  that  the  Board  did  around  the  area  of  fiscal  responsibility  after  we  were  able  to  secure  Measure  C-­‐-­‐the  original  Measure  C  in  2010.  One  of  the  primary  objectives  of  that  was  to,  for  lack  of  a  better  term,  "true  up"  the  organization.  I  think  Richard  left,  no,  Richard's  still  here.  My  son  was  in  that  terrible  Music  class  that  had  so  many  people  in  it  and  he  did  not  last  long,  and  I  go  to  M-­‐A  and  I  see  that  fabulous,  nationally  award  winning  program  that  they  have  and  has  so  many  of  our  kids.  And  one  of  the  things  we  did  with  the  original  Measure  C  was  to  look  at,  how  is  it  that  we  true  up  our  organization,  because  we  had  been  really  bleeding  ourselves  by  not  having  adequate  staffing  as  it  related  to  all  of  our  specialty  areas-­‐-­‐in  particular,  my  beef,  Counseling,  we  still  aren't  there  in  Nursing.  But  we  engage  School  Services,  and  it  is  an  outside  organization  that  knows  schools  and  does  audits,  and  does  fiscal  responsibility.  And  in  that  evaluation  we  were  given  insight  and  analysis  into  what  we  would  be  to  be  adequately  staffed.  So  in  other  words,  how  do  you  responsibly  build  up,  how  do  you  spend  that  money  in  Measure  C,  and  also  what  is  the  responsible  level  of  reserves?  And  we  have  spent  that  down  responsibly  based  on  those  insights.  And  unfortunately  now  it  is  the  perfect  storm  of  a  responsible  spend  down  and  the  fact  that  our  enrollment  just  can't  stop.  So  I  would  like  a  review  of  what  we  have  done  and  the  thoughtfulness  that  went  into,  at  a  time  when  the  rest  of  the  state  was  gearing  for  the  LCAP  and  the  LCFF  because  the  funding  was  all  of  a  sudden  going  to  be  different.  We  knew  we  weren't  going  to  get  anything  from  the  state,  but  we  went  through  the  exercise  of  what  do  we  do  responsibly  with  the  resources  that  we  had  to  get  from  our  community  to  fund  out  district.  And  I’d  like  to  be  able  to  review  how  is  that  we  trued  up,  because  unfortunately,  one  the  thoughts  that  we  had  in  doing  that  was,  that's  how  you  also  have  to  look  at  when  you  do  have  to  slide  and  adjust  down,  what  do  you  you?  So,  I'd  like  a  review  of  that  at  one  of  our  next  meetings,  please.      CHILD:  So  specifically,  Maria,  you're  taking  about  the  SF  Squared  report?  (Hilton:  School  Services)  Yeah,  that  report,  OK.  So  another  summary  of  that  for  people  that  are  wondering,  right.  And  that  went  to  a  lot  of  different  editions,  right,  across  the  board?  Ok,  great.    Yeah  Terry,  I'm  with  you,  I  think  this  is  the  world  we’re  in.  I  mean,  you  can  see  it  in  the  Presidential…I  mean,  fact  checker,  either  candidate  talks  and  half  of  them  aren't  true.  I  mean,  I  don't  know  what  we  do.  I  know  we’ve  got  a  firm  that  has  expertise  in  the  political  arena,  and  I  think  that's  one  of  the  things  we  have  to  ask  them  is,  how  do  you  factor  that  in  to  your  recommendations  or  your  thoughts,  or  what  do  you  do  about  it?  Unfortunately,  the  district,  as  everyone  knows,  once  the  campaign  is  underway  we  are  not  allowed  to  spend  district  resources,  and  so  we're  sort  of  handicapped,  and  so  we  need  to  figure  out  how  to  get  that  information  out  there  as  best  we  can  ahead  of  time  so  people  can  make  an  education  decision  on  their  vote.    

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LAMBERT:    Can  I  just  add  to  what  Maria  said  and  what  you  just  said,  Jeff.  I  think  when  we  do  the  review  of  the  School  Services  report,  it  would  also  be  helpful  to  also  go  over  the  OpenGov  portal.  Again.  I  know  we  did  that  once,  but  I  think  a  lot  of  people  are  going  to  be  at  that  next  meeting  that  weren't  at  the  initial  one  where  Ahmad  presented  the  OpenGov.  And  for  those  of  you  that  don't  know  what  that  is,  if  you  go  onto  our  website  and  go  onto…where  is  it,  Ahmad,  the  Finance  page?    (Ahmad:  Yeah,  the  Finance  page).  Ahmad  and  his  staff,  Jill  and  others,  have  been  working  very  hard  on  our  partnership  with  OpenGov,  which  essentially  is  a  start-­‐up  company  that.  Ahmad  can  probably  say  it  better  than  I  do,  but  it's  a  platform  where  all  of  our  financial  information  can  be  shown  in  really  readily  accessible  graphs  and  charts,  there's  footnotes,  and  it's  really  much  easier  to  understand  than  looking  at  the  full  hundreds  of  pages  of  budget.  So  I  would  really  encourage  everyone  to  at  least  spend  a  few  minutes  looking  at  that,  at  least  at  the  kind  of  high  level  budget,  because  the  information  there  is  very  well  presented  and  that  should  be  easier  to  understand.    GHYSELS:  I  do  think  it  would  be  worthwhile  too,  to  punctuate  some  of  the  information  from  OpenGov  to  tell  the  story  over  and  over  again.  Detail  on  STRS  for  example.  A  high  level  view  of  where  we've  been  with  enrollment  and  the  like.  So  not  just  show  it,  but  actually  punctuate  some  of  the  more  meaningful  parts  of  the  story,  including  the  true  up,  the  study  we  went  through  with  School  Services  to  not  only  scale  up,  but  also  talk  about  the  derivation  of  what  I  think  is  a  very  responsible  and  sustainable  reserve  policy  that  the  Board  came  up  with.      CHILD:  Hey,  Erik,  I  have  one  other  question.  Do  you  know  in  the  online  feedback-­‐-­‐or  online  input-­‐-­‐are  we  getting  anything  from  outside  of  the  parent  or  teacher  community?  This  is  a  great  meeting  and  we  advertised  it  a  lot.  My  guess  is  there's  probably  nobody  here  with  kids  in  private  school.  Maybe  I'm  wrong,  but  I'm  just  going  to  take  a  guess.    There's  very  few  people  that  don't  have  either  a  direct  or  fairly  recent  tie  to  our  school  district.  And  so,  I'm  still  trying  to  figure  out  how  do  we  engage  this  whole  other  group  of  people,  which  is  the  vast  majority  of  voters,  as  we  know.  And  I  don't  know  if  you  get  that  sort  of  information  when  they…because  I  haven't  looked  at  the  form,  whether  they…and  if  we're  getting  anything  from  those  groups.    BURMEISTER:  Absolutely,  we  have  247  responses…excuse  me,  251  responses.  Of  the  251,  247  of  them  responded  to  the  question,  "Which  of  the  following  best  describes  your  relationship  to  the  district."  80.2%  are  residents  of  the  Menlo  Park  City  School  District  with  children  who  currently  attend  MPCSD.  The  next  largest  group…the  next  two  largest  groups  are,  and  obviously  much  smaller  percentages,  5.7%  are  residents  with  children  who  attended  schools  in  the  past,  and  4.9%  are  children  who  will  eventually  attend  MPCSD.  However,  it's  actually  a  great  segue,  if  you  would  indulge  me  for  a  moment,  to  let  the  public  know  that  you  guys  voted  a  few  weeks  ago  to  approve  a  contract  with  Panorama  Education,  and  in  tomorrow's  published  Almanac  there  will  be  a  short  piece  about  it;  as  well,  there  was  just  a  piece  about  it  in  inMenlo  just  yesterday,  alerting  the  community  to  the  fact  that  starting  tomorrow  they  will  be  receiving  in  their  mailboxes  a  survey-­‐-­‐an  online  survey-­‐-­‐from  the  school  district,  asking  them  many  different  questions  about  engagement,  about  what  they  value  in  schools,  about  the  value  they  think  Menlo  Park  City  School  District  offers  the  community,  about  the  job  they  think  we  are  doing  as  a  Board,  as  District  Administration,  as  teachers,  facilities  and  so  forth.  And  it  is  also  asks  them  in  two  questions  about  a  potential  parcel  tax.  I  do  want  to  just  let  the  community  and  remind  the  Board…let  the  community  know  and  remind  the  Board  that  the  community  survey  was  a  project  that  we  had  engaged  

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in  prior  to  losing  Measure  A  and  Measure  C,  so  this  is  not  intended  to  be  a  parcel  tax  survey.  However,  because  of  the  timing,  we  added  two  parcel  tax  questions.  One  was,  we  basically  talked  about  the  difference  in  funding  between  our  district  and  our  neighboring  districts  and  the  three  situations  that  are  causing  us  to  have  five  year  deficit  of  $5.3  million.  We  asked  two  questions,  one  was:  "How  supportive  would  you  be  of  a  renewal  of  the  2010  Measure  C  parcel  tax  with  an  expiration  date?",  and  then  a  follow  up  question:  "How  supportive  would  you  be  of  a  renewal  and  an  increase  of  the  Measure  C  parcel  tax  with  an  expiration  date?".  So  we  will  be  getting  information  from  that,  and  on  that  survey  it  does  ask  them  which  group  they  fall  into,  so  we  are  hopeful  that  we'll  get  a  good  number  of  respondents.  And  our  Communications  Advisory  Team  will  be  working  hard  to  get  the  word  out  to  non-­‐parent  and  non-­‐teacher  respondents  to  make  sure  that  we  get  a  good  number  of  responses  from  those  representative  groups.  And  one  of  the  options  on  the  survey  is:  "I  have  school  age  children  but  they  attend  a  private  school."    CHILD:  Ok,  and  when  would  we  potentially  expect  to  see  some  of  those  results?  We  get  results  in  real  time.      BURMEISTER:  We  will  have  Feedback  February,  which  I'm  really  excited  to  tell  you  all  about  in  February,  but  I  do  want  to  say  that  we  will  be  getting  results  as  they  come  in,  and  so  it's  kind  of  like  voting  mail-­‐in  ballot,  we  can  log  the  results  quickly.  Unfortunately,  because  of  the  timing  in  putting  this  together,  because  this  wasn't  intended  to  be  a  parcel  tax  survey,  we  will  have  probably  a  week  and  a  half  to  two  weeks  of  results  at  the  11/09  meeting,  but  we  will  not  have  the  full  results  until  right  before  Thanksgiving.  So  it  would  be  before  the  11/30  meeting  should  you  have  one,  but  it  won't  be  a  complete  survey  until  just  before  Thanksgiving.  Please  tell  your  friends  to  take  the  survey.    CHILD:  Ok,  so  the  survey  does  have  kind  of  a  closed  date  to  it  then  (Burmeister:  yes,  it  does)  so  people  have  a  sense  of  the  timing.  OK,  great.  Other  questions  or  thoughts?    Do  you  have  anything  you  want  to  close  with?      GHYSELS:  Well,  I  want  to  thank  everyone  and  their  comments  tonight.  It's  obviously  difficult  and  emotional  to  be  thinking  about  reductions,  and  I  think  people  have  articulated  so  well  about,  what  I'm  hearing,  about  the  need  for  a  parcel  tax.  We've  had  a  lot  of  lessons  learned.  And  one  thing  that  I  can  take  away  too,  is  just  how  proud  you  are  and  I  am  of  our  teachers  and  our  team  members,  and  what  we  do  for  the  children  in  this  community.  Thank  you  very  much.    CHILD:  Again,  thank  you.  Procedurally,  our  next  meeting  is  Wednesday,  November  9  at  6:00  PM,  right  here,  so  we'll  hopefully  look  forward  to  seeing  many  of  your  there.  And  again,  thank  your  time  tonight  and  comments,  and  we're  now  adjourned.