President Julie Korenstein called the meeting to order at 5:04 p.m.
The following Members were present: Mrs. Barbara M. Boudreaux, Ms. Victoria M. Castro, Ms. Valerie Fields, Mr. Jeff Horton, Mr. George Kiriyama, Mr. David Tokofsky, and President Julie Korenstein.
Superintendent Ruben Zacarias was present.
The President led the Pledge of Allegiance.
Ms. Camelia Perez, in place of Mrs. Martha Villalpando, representing the District Bilingual/Bicultural Advisory Committee
Ms. Becki Robinson representing United Teachers Los Angeles
Mr. Howard O. Watts
Ms. Roselva Ungar
Ms. Kathleen Kepfer
Ms. Rocio Tello Barbosa
Mr. Paul Huebner
The following speaker was given an opportunity to address the Board on the motion:
Ms. Silvia Argueta
Mr. Richard K. Mason, General Counsel, explained the actions to be considered by the Board at today's meeting. The Board of Education will consider, and act upon, the following Motion, which was partially adopted at the public meeting of July 21, 1997, with respect to implementation at the grade 3 level. The Motion is printed below in its original form, with strike-overs indicating changes which were not adopted at the July 21 meeting. Staff will be requesting clarification of the motion as it relates to the implementation of class size reduction affecting third grade.
If the Board were to eliminate the implementation of class size at the third grade level, a motion for reconsideration would have to be introduced by a Board Member on the prevailing side. The amendment that staff is requesting on the implementation for third grade keeps what is in place for the schools that can so implement it and allows those schools that cannot implement Option I to consider Option II.
Finally, the Board may act upon a Board report implementing the recommendations being presented today.
Ms. Castro moved:
Whereas, The Los Angeles Unified School District has successfully implemented the Class Size Reduction Program in grades 1 and 2 during the 1996-97 school year;
Whereas, School district staff used a process which involved all stakeholders at local schools;
Whereas, The Board has the opportunity to further reduce class size for the 1997-98 school year; and
Whereas, The Superintendent has already authorized elementary principals to hire a pool of up to four
teachers each, in anticipation of class size reduction for third grade and kindergarten classrooms;
therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Superintendent direct staff to begin meeting with elementary school staff and
community members to develop local plans for implementation of the Class Size Reduction Program by
utilizing Option I, to the extent feasible, to reduce class size in grades 3, and by utilizing Option II to
reduce class size in a.m./p.m. back-to-back kindergarten classes, or by utilizing a divided day schedule
for single kindergarten classes, so that the District and the individual schools will be prepared to
implement the Class Size Reduction Program when the California Legislature adopts the State budget
which includes the $800 per child funding for Option I and the $400 per child funding for Option II
with $40,000 provided for each new classroom created.
Mr. Horton seconded the motion.
President Korenstein passed the gavel to Ms. Castro and moved the following amendment:
Whereas, The Los Angeles Unified School District implemented class size reduction for 98 percent of its grade one and two students in 1996-97;
Whereas, All classes at grade one and two are organized for 20:1 for the 1997-98 school year;
Whereas, Last year's second graders are this year's third graders;
Whereas, Third grade is a critical grade level for redesignation to English
Whereas, Third grade is a critical grade level for standards based instruction; and
Whereas, Third grade is a critical year of transition from learning to read to reading to learn, so that
students are more successful in content areas; therefore, it is recommended that the motion be amended
as follows:
0
Resolved, That the Los Angeles Unified School District begin the planning process to expand the
implementation of the Class Size Reduction Program to include kindergarten and grade three as follows
for 1997-98:
Further, it is recommended that beginning in 1998-99, after full implementation of Option I or II at third grade in all schools, schools with available classroom space may implement Option I at kindergarten.
Finally, it is recommended that the Board of Education adopt as a goal, full implementation of Option I at all schools in grades K-3 within three years.
Mr. Horton seconded the motion. The maker and seconder of the original motion, accepted the changes as a friendly amendment.
Ms. Fields moved an amendment to the motion as follows:
€Utilize Option II in kindergarten at all schools; when grade three Option I or II is completed and
as teachers are available, schools which have classrooms available may utilize kindergarten
Option I.
The mover and seconder of the motion accepted the amendment as a friendly amendment.
Mr. Tokofsky moved to eliminate the second bullet and all references to kindergarten from the amended
motion with the following amendment:
On roll call the motion as amended was adopted unanimously, 7 ayes.
The final motion as amended reads as follows:
Mr. James V. Weber, in place of Sam Kressner, representing United Teachers Los Angeles
Ms. Gloria Soto representing the Belmont Community Advisory Council
Mr. David Koff representing Local 11
Mr. David Lugo representing United Neighbors of Temple Beaudry
Mrs. Diana Dixon-Davis
Ms. Korenstein moved:
Whereas, The construction of the Belmont High School Learning Complex will be essential to the population growth in the Temple-Beaudry area;
Whereas, The school is a part of an overall effort to relieve overcrowding and enable children to attend classrooms that are in their neighborhood;
Whereas, The Board of Education of the City of Los Angeles has approved an agreement with the Temple/Beaudry Partners for the construction of the high school;
Whereas, The Board of Education must be assured that all moneys spent in the construction of the complex be fiscally prudent;
Whereas, The Board of Education has the responsibility of overseeing the use of taxpayers' money; and
Whereas, The Board of Education must make sure that the project is wisely managed; now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Board of Education of the City of Los Angeles authorize the Superintendent of Schools to retain the services of a qualified, independent construction management services firm to conduct an independent assessment of the cost of construction of the school portion of the Belmont Learning Complex. This assessment should be based on a broad review of existing documents and records to be provided by District staff and, where appropriate, the developer, including the current architectural documents, the District's programmatic objectives, and the terms set out in the Disposition and Development Agreement between the District and developer, Temple/Beaudry Partners;
Resolved, That the results and findings of any independent review shall be made available to the Superintendent of Schools and the Board of Education by no later than 45 days after selection of the independent firm by the Superintendent. District staff shall be instructed to cooperate fully in providing all necessary information so that the report may be timely delivered; and
Resolved further, That this construction management oversight firm shall continue to monitor and
review the actual construction of this project through to completion and shall provide periodic reports to
the Superintendent and the Board of Education as appropriate.
Mr. Kiriyama seconded the motion.
Mrs. Boudreaux moved the following amendment:
To delete the last sentence in the second Resolve:
Ms. Castro seconded the motion for the purpose of discussion.
On roll call, the motion to amend the second Resolved was adopted, 4 ayes, 3 noes, Mr. Kiriyama,
Mr. Tokofsky, and Ms. Korenstein.
On roll call, the amendment to delete the last Resolved failed, 5 noes, 2 ayes, Mrs. Boudreaux and
Ms. Castro.
On roll call, the motion as amended was adopted unanimously, 7 ayes, with the exception of the last resolve on which Mrs. Boudreaux and Ms. Castro voted no.
APPROVED BY BOARD: June 8, 1999
_____________________________________ __________________________________
JULIE KORENSTEIN JEFFERSON CRAIN
PRESIDENT EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF THE BOARD
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