Hello everyone – This is going to be a lengthy and important update on 3 items. Please bear with me!  

1. Not publicized March 22 Public Board meeting
2. Our questions at the last LCAP advisory committee
3. Next steps: Mark your calendar -  April 16 (Tuesday) Board meeting at 6PM at District Office (15600 Concord Cir, Morgan Hill, CA 95037)

Item 1: Not publicized March 22 Public Board meeting

Some of us found out this evening that the board had a public meeting last Friday 3/22 at 10am under the radar with no prior publicity. Topics on the agenda included superintendent’s performance review and budget timeline. I wrote an email to the board tonight. Please feel free to use this and email the board as well (body of the email at the end of this section). Link to the trustees emails here.

Also for those of you who may have a stronger legal background, I would be interested to hear your feedback on whether the Brown Act, Govt. Code section 54950 was violated given lack of prior publicity for March 22 public meeting.

Additionally, please see link here to County Office of Education. I will be reaching out regarding lack of transparency and budget concerns as well.

And link to the State Auditor Whistle Blower compliant form here.

Email: Dear MH Board, 

The district page “Agenda and Minutes” (link here) was just updated today with a March 22 “Board of Education Special Meeting - Board Retreat” meeting agenda (link here). This public meeting was held with no prior publicity at 10am at Britton Middle School FACE Center | 80 West Central Ave | Morgan Hill, Ca 95037. Zoom link has not yet been posted. 

Noteworthy topics discussed at this meeting where the community could have had the opportunity to provide comments were:

1. Superintendent Performance Evaluation 
2. Progress toward board goals/protocols
3. Budget timeline 

While the community remains outraged over utter lack of transparency especially with this public board meeting and its publicity, we continue to specifically request the following regarding this March 22 public board session:

1. Why was this special public meeting not advertised in any capacity prior to March 22?
2. Why was this meeting scheduled for 10 a.m. on a business day (Friday), intentionally excluding working parents, teachers, and staff from participating?
3. Could you please provide the exact time and date when the meeting agenda was posted prior to March 22? The agenda was not posted prior to March 22. 
4. When will the Zoom link or audio be posted? We are now past 72 hours from March 22, and the Agenda and Minutes page has not been updated as of 3/27 at 9:40 p.m.
5. We request the immediate release of the superintendent’s performance evaluation document, as it was part of the public session.
6. Could you provide details regarding the board’s goals, protocols, and budget timeline?
7. Has the superintendent’s contract (ending in June 2024) been renewed or renegotiated? If so where can the document be found?

Thank you and we are eagerly looking forward to hearing from you. 

Item 2: Our questions at the last LCAP advisory committee

Some of us attended the LCAP advisory committee – total participants on Zoom were about 23-24 majority MHUSD staff. The focus of the discussion was on FACE center and its strategies to address one of the required 8 State priorities “Family Improvement”. Link to the deck here on my personal Google drive. Important to note the district has not yet posted this deck on MHUSD website to my knowledge. 

It is important to note that the district has discretion in how it addresses, evaluates and interprets some of these priorities through LCAP (Local Control Accountability Plan). One could argue, however, that the FACE center is excessive when addressing only the ‘Family Improvement’ priority of the State.

We posed the following questions to Dr Jimenez and her team, pending a formal response:

1. I would like to better understand where in this presentation you will be explicitly addressing implementation of the strategies that you mentioned? (building, sharing, aligning etc). What are the resources deployed at school sites to address the specific needs of each school (eg. early math an English intervention for those families who need it, additional Yard Duty resources etc)?
2. Quantitative way of showing the return on every dollar invested in FACE (percentage increase in math and English improvement, test scores, etc). So the community can provide feedback on whether or not this was a good investment of our funds.
3. Overall dollar value associated with each LCAP goal and what percentage of each goal addresses each state priority.
4. Transparency on the finalized plan before approval by board and appropriation in June.
5. Last board meeting Ms Timboe mentioned the budget plan for next year has been sent to County Office of Education however the board has the ability to disapprove by June should they decide to. Is the district planning to modify this plan with County Office of Education post all feedback received from these LCAP meetings or are these discussions formality? Meantime can the community have a copy of this plan that was submitted to the County Office of Education last week?
6. Can we get the percentage of families accessing FACE services and at what frequency?
7. What are the participation percentages on FACE surveys?

Item 3: Next Board Meeting on April 16.

Please mark your calendars for Tuesday April 16 at 6pm at the District Office (15600 Concord Cir, Morgan Hill, CA 95037). Many of us will be there to express our concerns and requests. I will be posting the link to the speaker card (you can provide public comments at the beginning of the meeting - 6pm either in person or via Zoom). 
I will update with link to Zoom and agenda closer to date when MHUSD posts it on this page.

Lastly, I will be posting some talking points that some of us will be addressing during public comments.

Thank you again for your support!

Anahita