AUSD/City Council Subcommittee Meeting
Minutes
2/15/23
Start - 4:00 pm
Via - Zoom (recorded)
1 Call to Order/General Introduction
Heather Little, AUSD Board of Education, President
Jennifer Williams, AUSD Board of Education, Trustee and Chair of the Meeting Tracy Jensen, Council Member
Tony Daysog, Council Member
Present:
• Heather Little, President, Board of Education (AUSD)
• Jennifer Williams, Trustee, Board of Education (AUSD) • Tracy Jensen, Council Member, (City)
• Tony Daysog, Council Member, (City)
• Amy Wooldridge, Assistant City Manager, (City)
• Jennifer Ott, City Manager (City)
• Pasquale Scuderi, Superintendent (AUSD)
• Shariq Khan, Assistant Superintendent, Business Services (AUSD) • Jodi McCarthy, Coordinator of Student Services (AUSD) • Kirsten Zazo, Assistant Superintendent Student Support Services (AUSD) • Brian Addicott, Maintenance and Facilities Manager (AUSD) • Lisa Maxwell, Community Development Director (City)
• Kerri Lonergan, Senior Executive Assistant (AUSD)
2 Minutes
A. Motion to approve minutes of October 19, 2022 Meeting:
Heather Little moves/Tony Daysog seconds
Vote: Jennifer Williams: Yes
Heather Little: Yes
Tracy Jensen: Abstain
Tony Daysog: Yes
Approval of Minutes passes 3-0
3 Oral Communication Non-Agenda (Public Comment)
There were no public comments under this agenda item.
4 City/Alameda Unified School District (AUSD) Issues
4-A: Swim Center Update (City/AUSD)
➢ Shariq Khan, AUSD Assistant Superintendent Business Services gave Subcommittee members an update on the status of the Emma Hood Swim Center rebuild. There are four options ranging from a straight repair, a swim center that is similar to the one that is at Encinal Jr. & Sr. High School, and on the other end of the spectrum a competition swim center.
➢ Amy Wooldridge, Assistant City Manager gave the Subcommittee information on the new City Aquatic Center to be built on the Jean Sweeny Park site. ➢ Brian Addicott, Maintenance and Facilities Manager gave the Subcommittee an update on the repairs at the Emma Hood Swim Center. Currently, there is a boiler issue that would cost over $10k to replace but staff has done a temporary fix that will allow the Emma Hood Swim Center to be back online by the end of next week. ➢ Board President Heather Little asked when the new locker rooms would be done at Encinal Swim Center. Shariq Khan stated these locker rooms were a part of the redesign of the Encinal Gymnasium. This work is slated to be completed within the next 4-5 years.
4-B: Update on AUSD Mental Health Programs:
➢ Kirsten Zazo, Assistant Superintendent Student Support Services, explained that Alameda County will no longer do EARMS services. Alameda County is the only county to move away from providing these services. Ms. Zazo stated she is okay with the services goi ng away but the problem comes with the Medical billing portion of this program. The county is the only agency which can Medical bill for services. Ms. Zazo and her team are currently looking at another way to provide these services and it seems there is a way to have more robust services we can still bill Medical for (for qualifying students). Ms Zazo and her team are also looking at providing these services in-house – from hiring staffing and finding an AUSD facility for the program, to working with a cons ultant to see how we can internally build these services into our District.
➢ Jodi McCarthy, Student Support Services Coordinator explained that Alameda Education Foundation subsidizes CareSolace for AUSD. CareSolace has served 700 families in AUSD. Ms. McC arthy stated we have had 293 students in the month of December who have said they have had suicidal ideation, which is very scary and shocking to hear. Ms. McCarthy explained that ACCYF did a survey and our students stated they would like to have more access to mental health services. Ms. McCarthy also shared that every 10 th grader in AUSD has been trained in Teen Mental Health First Aid.
➢ City Council Member Tracy Jensen asked Ms. Zazo if Alameda Family Services would be able to take on the Medical billing that the County will no longer do. Ms.
Zazo stated this is a very big ask of Alameda Family Services and we will continue to work with our city partners to find the best solutions for our students.
4-C: Wood School Modernization and Middle School Enrollment (AUSD)
➢ Mr. Khan explained that the Wood School modernization project is getting started, which is very exciting. Mr. Khan stated AUSD would like to do some easement work, along with help on traffic flow in order to make safe pathways to school at Wood during the modernization project. This project is due to be started by September of 2024.
➢ Board President Heather Little asked when portables would be put on the former Lum site. Mr. Khan stated the order would go as follows: the current Lum buildings would be demolished, portables would be dropped onto the former Lum site, Wood students would go into the portables while their school is being build, when the Wood project is complete, students would go back to the Wood facility and the portables will be used for Otis School so that Otis students could be housed in the portables while Otis gets a new building. When these two projects are done, the Athletic field project would be started.
4-D: Update on City and AUSD Plans and Coordination o n Narcan and Fentanyl Overdoses
➢ This agenda item will be moved to the next meeting of the City/School Subcommittee. Jennifer Ott, City Manager stated the City is just starting to gather preliminary data on this issue.
4-E: Update on Unhoused Families/Children and City and AUSD Support System Coordination (AUSD/City)
➢ Lisa Maxwell from the City of Alameda shared infor mation on how the City and AUSD collaborate to serve Alameda’s unhoused families and children. Most recently, two families were placed in housing that was located close to the school sites where the children attended school. Cassie Ferguson and Jodi McCar thy from AUSD have been integral to this process. Other programs that fall under this umbrella are the Season for Nonviolence, the City/AUSD Job Fair, etc. ➢ Ms. Maxwell explained that the City’s Warming Shelters are now able to operate through the end of April. Ms. Maxwell also explained that Alameda residents will be the first people placed in dignity village.
5: New Business:
There was no new business discussed.
6: Adjournment:
The meeting was adjourned by Jennifer Williams at 4:38 pm (Zoom meeting was recorded to the cloud)
Respectively Submitted,
Kerri Lonergan
Senior Executive Assistant
Alameda Unified School District