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Coffee and Connection with the Community hosted at Don Day Community Center

To open the meeting, Superintendent Miki Inbody provided a district update:

• Canyon Crest Play Area was updated with a larger grass area. We are also working with the city to increase space use of the park next door.
• Safe walking and bike routes grant were received through school police. This will help us continue to increase the safety of crosswalks in our community.
• We have updates on the new Middle and Elementary schools in the north side of Fontana. We broke ground on the new Middle School last year and we believe it will be open for the 2025-26 school year. We expect the Elementary School will be open in the 2026-2027 school year, and we should be breaking ground soon.
• Measure I Bond is on the ballot for November 5. This bond's goal is to provide funding for improvement and modernization of facilities and resources for students and schools. Additional information can be found on our website: 
• We had a few exciting news reports on our first day of school highlighting Back to school activities. News reports broadcast from Sierra Lakes Elementary and Southridge Tech Middle School on the 1^st day of school were shown.
• We kicked off our Recycled Water project on the south end of Fontana, providing recycled water for our fields, flowers, and plant irrigation at 6 schools on the south end of town. This project will provide $190,000 per year in savings.
• Jurupa Hills Silver Senior Connections program has begun. This program will connect our Senior Citizens in the community with Jurupa Hills theater program. Seniors will be given transportation to come watch the plays and have a meet and greet with the cast after the show. Casting for the fall play began Wednesday, August 28.
• The Local Control Action Plan (LCAP) is crucial to move our main goals forward. The two main goals in this year’s plan are academic achievement and social-emotional support. We are working hard to finalize the plan with the county.
• Our Dual Language Immersion (DLI) program has been expanded to include Jurupa Hills HS, making it a K-12 program. Our other DLI schools include Dolores Huerta International Academy, Redwood Elementary, and Sequoia Middle School.
• Sage Pathways is providing twice a week tutoring and mentorship for our African American students at Southridge Tech MS and Kaiser HS. The program started last spring, and we are looking to continue it for the full year.
• Our after-school programs through the city and boys and girls club have been expanded to accommodate more students who need after-school care.
• FUSD’s Equity Task Force kicked off with their first meeting in August. The Task Force is comprised of District staff, school administration, teachers, parents, community members, and will soon include students.

Open to dialogue with the community portion included the following comments and discussions: 

• A parent from Redwood Elementary Comment: Cafeteria facility at Redwood is very small and cannot serve all students, how will bond support the improvement of that facility?
  • Response: The school was built in 1950, so we understand the facilities are not meeting the needs of today. We know that is an expensive project and we need to make that money stretch and grow as much as possible. Redwood is one of our older schools, which are on the list of schools needing work. However, many of our schools will need some of the money from the bond, so our main priority will be to leverage the funds to maximize the ability to make these improvements.
• A community member wanted to share that last time, someone mentioned the safety of the crosswalks and safety. The community members thanked the district for making that improvement. He sees an improvement in safety on the crosswalks for our students.
• A new Parent to the district commented they noticed Parent University is held at one location, not at specific sites.
  • Response: Parent University is a district-wide initiative at the District Office in the evening but is also available on TEAMS to offer the hybrid online option. School sites do have community aides who can also create workshops for their specific school site. We can also consider moving the location to various sites in the future.
• Parent has a concern regarding her son’s evaluation for special services.
  • Response: Outside of mediation you do have alternatives to elevate the situation to our SELPA and Student Services department. We would refer your specific concerns to that department for personalized support and assistance.
• A parent with three students at Date Elementary shared that she wants to make sure Date gets more protection from the elements during recess. That is a need for the Bond at Date Elementary. The parent feels it is worth $30 a month to improve our students' schools.
• If Measure I is approved, how will the money be distributed? There are a lot of apartments in the middle of town, so our central schools have a lot of needs. How will we make sure central schools receive funds?
  • Response: We have a master plan which identifies needs for every school, which we will link to our website. This plan includes many projects already. We are looking at the development of new homes and apartments throughout the entire city to meet the needs in the future. Our older schools may have more funds allocated than newer schools.
• What if the bond does not pass?
  • Response: We will have to place some of our projects on hold until we can save the money to proceed, but we will also have to use general funds to pay for the immediate needs. That is not an ideal situation. Many of our surrounding school districts, like Etiwanda, have passed bonds for their needs in recent years.
• If the bond does pass, when can we get the funding? Will we have a guarantee that our students will receive the benefits of the bond?
  • Response: Usually, there is a delay on the receipt of the bond funds, but we can get the specific timeline and place it on the website as to when we should expect to receive funds. Once we have the passing of the bond, our board can approve projects that have been identified for each school in our master plan. Then we will have an oversight committee to conduct audits to ensure the money is being used properly. Also, something to consider is that the bond will improve property value. To remain competitive with other surrounding districts, we need the funding as they have from their bonds.
• A parent says they have a student at Almeria, where there are traffic safety problems regarding pick up and drop off.
  • Response: Our Chief of Police Services will look further into the situation to ensure we have safe paths to arrive and enter our schools for our students.
• A parent states that she is concerned about the need for a bond when she sees that salaries for cabinet continue to increase. She feels that we could do some of the repairs needed if administrators were not paid so much. Also, she does not understand why a Special needs student is denied a program they need when administrative salaries are so high.
  • Response: Last year, the district worked with an outside company to conduct salary studies with the goal of moving our employee compensation into the 60% percentile of surrounding districts. This year, a classified study is underway. To recruit and retain employees, the district’s salaries must be competitive. An accommodation or specific program request for a special needs student is always carefully considered and based on meeting the needs of the individual student.
• A Summit HS parent reports that the AC is out in her student’s classroom. They brought in loud swamp coolers for air conditioners in some classrooms. It is too loud to hear the teacher with those. How long will it take to get fixed?
  • Response: We will need to investigate it and will follow up with our facilities team.
• Parent reports that near the district enrollment center there was a skeleton mural which students painted in response to drug awareness that was painted over, and the building is currently two-toned now. Why is that?
  • Response: We are painting the district office buildings.  It is a cycle that we follow and the paint colors available have changed. Eventually, the entire district office will have the same single-color scheme. Regarding the mural, we do not know who or when it was done, but we did want to preserve it. It was photographed so we can make a print to capture that history. We plan to put it on canvas and find a perfect spot for it.
• A parent asked about a status update from the board meeting request for an update to the FOHI pool. She would also like to see a pool at Jurupa Hills finished.
  • Response: Currently, we only have 1 pool at a school in our district. The FOHI pool is one of the items to address in the bond. Summit must use the city pool. We are also looking to work with our local legislative leaders to work with us on helping us to get funding for these types of projects.
• We have limited parking at our Redwood DLI school, so we are getting tickets if we park somewhere to get our kids. There is a traffic and safety issue, so what is the district doing to correct it?
  • Response: Chief of Police Services shared that they are working with Fontana PD to get issues improved to ensure we can get traffic in and out as quickly and safely as possible. This is something we are working on currently.
• A special education parent says our special education program is failing our students by not providing them with the help they need. How much more money do we need to support them correctly? Have you considered a program that can take into consideration their needs that is fair to students?
  • Response: Special education is an extremely complicated situation.  But you are correct; we need to improve the outcomes for our students.  We would like to invite all our Special needs parents to join us at CAC (Community Advisory Council) meetings so we can work together to improve. We have committees that are working with our teaching and learning department, but we need to hear from parents about how we can work together to improve first instruction. Also, we are working on a new preschool program to bring students with disabilities into our classrooms with students without disabilities starting in January 2025. This will help us start early on with improved academic support and outcomes throughout their education. Lastly, we are advocating for more money for our special needs students because we have yet to receive funding from the federal government as promised.

Closing Comments including the following from Board President Mars Serna: 

Board President Mars closed with a recap about the bond and what will happen if it does not pass. If the Bond is not passed, we are not sure the vehicle will fund the needs of the schools across the district, but if needed we will look at other options.

Comment Cards that were received included the following questions:

• Bright Stars Literacy Connection is interested in providing literacy services at the elementary and middle schools in Fontana. Is it possible to submit a proposal for these services that would be best done after school?
  • Response: Yes, we are open to quality partnerships that support student achievement and growth. Bright Stars’ contact information and comment card will be shared with our Extended Learning Opportunities Program (ELOP) staff. 
• Money is needed now, repairs and improvements to our school are needed now. Why not use the money that is set aside as superintendent mentioned and not wait until bond is approved, if approved. If a homeowner wants to build or add to their house they pay taxes to the district, what about all the new warehouses built, how much they paid in taxes to the district and where all that money is?
  • Response: There are two reasons why districts have reserves; one is a board requirement for fiscal solvency; and two, ³ÉÈËÊÓƵ needs to be able to respond to potential emergencies. While the district does collect developer fees, this revenue assists with the costs of smaller repairs and renovations. All businesses within school district boundaries are part of the tax base and will contribute to the bond cost.
• Many parents at Hemlock Elementary have concerns regarding the crosswalk between Miller and Hemlock. We would like to see a crossing guard on the crosswalk. How do we go about it so that we can get a crossing guard on that side of the school?
  • Response: Crossing guards are provided by the City of Fontana. The Chief of School Police meets regularly with city representatives from traffic control and can express the need for a potential crossing guard. The city would evaluate the need and make that determination.
• Redwood Elementary needs a new MPR/Cafeteria. Is Redwood one of the schools on the bond plan?
  • Response: Our current bond language highlights the types of projects that would be funded by its successful passage. Based on the needs identified in the Master Facilities Plan, a committee would make a recommendation for Board approval.
• Redwood needs improvements made prior to students going back to school such as repairing the AC, more portable classrooms, an enlarged cafeteria, and additional parking. We need a larger cafeteria along with shade and where more students can have lunch. Also, more portable classrooms since after-school students are on the waitlist. Our school is denied afterschool programs due to no classrooms. Can students receive counseling classroom meeting/training how to behave every day?
  • Response: These facilities issues will be considered if Measure I is successful and passes. The district can consider additional portables and other strategies to offset the overcrowding at the school.
• I hope you can get Almeria Middle School drop off and pick up fixed. So many drivers speed, make U-turns, and drop off their students in the middle of the street. Also, it would be great if the middle school could have a career day and have different people come to the school site to offer the different opportunities there are for them to prepare them for their future. It is a good idea if the students do not use their phones at school.
  • Response: We will ask our School Police to partner with Almeria administration to review the drop off and pick up areas. Many of our middle schools do have career days as it is an invaluable opportunity for students to start to explore options after high school and post-secondary opportunities. Our schools all have rules regarding cell phone use, and they should not be used while in class and at schools.