Cupertino City Council
March 15, 2022

CC 315
#
Farmers
Market
Written Comments
From: Kirsten Squarcia
To: City Clerk
Subject: FW: City Council Meeting Information
Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 6:13:15 PM
Attachments: farmers_market.pdf
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Written communications for special meeting item #1 Farmers Market.

Kirsten Squarcia​
City Clerk
City Manager's Office
[email protected]
(408) 777-3225

From: Andy DeBaets <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 4:50 PM
To: Kirsten Squarcia <[email protected]>; Steve Schmidt <[email protected]>; Becky Smith <[email protected]>
Cc: Jon Robert Willey <[email protected]>; jerry lami <[email protected]> Subject: Re: City Council Meeting Information

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Hi Kirsten,

I thought I had attached this. Sorry! Hope it's not too late

Thanks,
Andy
Farmer’s Market Donations
• A small Cupertino based volunteer team runs the interface between the WC Farmers Market and WestValley Community Services
• 35 year residents
• Working ourselves, and coordinating the work of many other volunteers • About 10 volunteers each Sunday 1:00-3:00 PM gathering 1-3000 lbs produce • What we do:
• In our eighth year working with Steve and WC Farmers Market Weekly produce donations
Monthly in-kind donation receiptsFarmer’s
Market
0 100000
200000
300000
400000
500000
600000
700000
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
Cumulative Farmers’ Markets Donations for WVCS Pantry
Over 650,000 lbs of produce provided for WVCS clients
More Background: Volunteers & Trucks
• We arrange the volunteers each week & weigh / record donations • Much help from other community volunteers!
• I pack produce and drive the small WVCS box truck
• I park in the senior center parking lot, ideally close to the farmers • The farmers have 3 very large trucks, 3 large box trucks, and a larger number of small box trucks like mine, or large pickup trucks / vans. • Multiple food trucks are present as well

Direct Impacts of Proposed Location Change
• Street parking, so I need to be able to park the box truck close to the farmers, not 3-4 blocks away.
• Hauling produce to and from the box truck will block pedestrian traffic on the sidewalk (shoppers and residents)
• Ability to setup and tear down large truck arrangements • Associated impacts on the overall Farmer’s Market
Potential Impacts of Proposed Location Change
Memorial Park
Turnaround
loop
Due to parking
lot shape /
aspect ratio, the
largest truck can
be located
anywhere
There is a
turnaround loop,
which is not
present at Monta
Vista Park
The red rectangle
represents one of
the largest three
trucks.

Scale is approximate
Monta Vista Park
For the largest 3 trucks:
• No turnaround area
• Width of entrance is 5’ narrower than
Memorial parking lot
• Unclear if entry / exit is possible
• 2/3 area likely not practically accessible
Other trucks
• Unclear how well the 3 large box trucks
(the next largest size down) can
navigate the space
Largest trucks = “Anchor” farmers
Monta Vista Park: Detail
For the large trucks:
• Street parking near entrance will
prevent large truck entrance/exit
(red: large truck, green: car on street)
Zoom in
Backup
“Anchor” Farmers
• The large trucks represent some of the “anchor” booths:
• Carlos (White refrigerated truck)
- Best general produce
• Sunrise
- Large fruit booth
• Sweet Tree
- Large fruit booth
• If the location change causes loss of the “anchor” farmers, there is risk to the viability of the whole market

CC 315
#0
ELI and
BMR
Housing
Units
Written Comments
From: Neil Park-McClintick
To: City Clerk; City Council; Cupertino City Manager"s Office; Kerri Heusler; Housing Cc: CFA Steering Googlegroups
Subject: Support for Mary Ave. ELI housing RPF
Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 4:27:14 PM
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Dear Mayor, Councilmembers, and Staff,
Advocates and supporters of housing opportunities in Cupertino have long pressed this council and its predecessors to utilize public land to meet the housing needs of those ill-served by the market and its incentives. For years, the Mary Avenue site presently under consideration for an RFQ/RFP has been eyed as a site for potential extremely low income (ELI) housing which can serve the housing needs of those living with developmental disabilities. We join our voices to those of Housing Choices and others in urging your full and swift support for an appropriate RFQ/RFP.

As you are aware, as part of Cupertino's Housing Element update, the city must analyze and reform city policies to demonstrate how it will meet ELI housing needs as part of its strategy for addressing the housing needs of very low income households. Good faith and consistent city action that leads to the actual development of ELI housing will go a long way toward demonstrating the capacity of city policies to meet these needs and achieve a state-certified Housing Element.

Everyone deserves the basic dignity of a place to call home. Please move forward with a RFQ/RFP process for the Mary Avenue site.

Sincerely,
Neil Park-McClintick
President, Cupertino for All
From: Orrin Mahoney
To: City Clerk
Subject: FW: Slides for item #10
Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 2:37:36 PM
Attachments: Mary Avenue Housing Project.pptx
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Sent this to the city council email. To you now as well.

Orrin

From: Orrin Mahoney [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 2:34 PM
To: Citycouncil ([email protected])
Subject: Slides for item #10

I would like to also be the first speaker.

Thanks,

Orrin
From: Orrin Mahoney
To: City Council
Subject: Slides for item #10
Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 2:35:09 PM
Attachments: Mary Avenue Housing Project.pptx
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I would like to also be the first speaker.

Thanks,

Orrin
From: Sarah Verity
To: City Council
Subject: Agenda Item #10
Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 9:13:20 AM
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Good Morning,

I am writing in support of agenda item #10

Please lend your support to the "Mary Avenue Project" which is intended to offer Cupertino residents with intellectual and developmental disabilities an opportunity to live along with other community members in affordable housing within Cupertino, where they grew up and have community connections.

Sincerely,
Sarah Verity
(she/her/hers) Learn more about pronouns
Director, Board Relations and Legislative Affairs
Cell: 650-766-1344 | Office: 650-259-8538
350 Twin Dolphin Dr., Suite 123, Redwood Shores, CA 94065 abilitypath.org

​
Gatepath and Abilities United have a new name – AbilityPath – that more effectively conveys our mission of acceptance, respect, and inclusion! Learn more at AbilityPath.org/FAQ.

From: Amy Chan
To: City Council
Cc: Cupertino City Manager"s Office; City Clerk; Gian Martire Subject: 3/15 Council Meeting Agenda Item #10 - Mary Ave Future Development Options Date: Sunday, March 13, 2022 4:39:50 PM
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Dear Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council Members:

I am writing to urge the Council for your support to initiate a RFQ/RFP process for a City owned property along Mary Avenue for a very much needed affordable housing development.

I have heard all of you, many many times, expressed passion and priority to provide more affordable housing in Cupertino. Mary Avenue site offers an unique opportunity to help address this need. Also, this site offers shopping convenience as well as having other mental and medical support services close by.

More importantly, it helps to address a population that had fallen out of attention - the intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) community.

I applaud the Council for your commitment to build more extremely low income (ELI) housing on this site. I ask you to consider not to allocate 100% of its use as ELI. The reason is a project that has 100% ELI with focus on I/DD will not be operational/financial feasible.

Furthermore, having a more diverse mix of residents, such as very low, low to moderate low income along with I/DD, helps to support a more inclusive, cohesive, and supportive community.

Thank you again for your strong leadership to create more below market rate affordable housing in Cupertino. I ask for your consideration to support the following:
- Direct staff to circulate a RFQ/RFP to qualified developers as soon as possible. - Direct staff to include in the scope of the request for proposal that 50% of the affordable units be ELI/IDD, with the balance of units be in the low income/moderate income level so to achieve a zero operational subsidy for the project.
- Direct staff to retain the City title to this City owned parcel and enter into a lease agreement with a qualified developer. Also to require all units to be rental rate restricted for at least 55 years. - Direct staff to initiate the next steps process as stated in the staff report.

Thanks again for your leadership on affordable housing arena and consideration of this Council item.

Best,
Amy Chan
408-858-4588
Sent from my iPad
From: Kirsten Squarcia
To: Josh Selo
Cc: Gian Martire; City Clerk
Subject: RE: Letter of Support, Item #10 - March 15, 2022 City Council Meeting Date: Friday, March 11, 2022 9:33:14 AM
Attachments: Letter of Support - ELI & BMR Housing for Adults with Developmental Disabilties.pdf image001.png
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Good morning Josh (Council Bcc’d on this email),
The City Clerk’s Office has received your comments for the March 15, 2022 City Council meeting.

Your comments will be included with the written communications for item 10.

Regards, Kirsten
Kirsten Squarcia​
City Clerk
City Manager's Office
[email protected]
(408) 777-3225

From: Josh Selo <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, March 11, 2022 8:40 AM
To: Kirsten Squarcia <[email protected]>
Cc: Gian Martire <[email protected]>
Subject: Letter of Support, Item #10 - March 15, 2022 City Council Meeting

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Good morning Kirsten and Gian. I hope you are doing well.

Please find attached a letter of support for Item #10 at the upcoming city council meeting scheduled for March 15, 2022.

Let me know if you have any questions - thanks so much! Josh
(Pronouns: he, his, him)

Article: Why I Put Pronouns on my Email Signature

--
Josh Selo, MBA, CFRE
Executive Director
West Valley Community Services, Inc.
10104 Vista Drive, Cupertino, CA 95014
Direct: 408.956.6113 | Main: 408.255.8033 | Fax: 408.366.6090

Join us at our 11th annual CHEFS OF COMPASSION
benefit gala! Gourmet chef's creations and
wine will be delivered to your doorstep!

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | LinkedIn | WVCS Blog Chefs of Compassion | WVCS in The News

From: Joseph Fruen
To: City Clerk; City Council; Cupertino City Manager"s Office; Kerri Heusler; Housing; Darcy Paul; Kitty Moore; Liang Chao; Hung Wei; Jon Robert Willey
Cc: Kirsten Squarcia
Subject: Re: Item 10: Progress on Work Program item to develop ELI housing on public land along Mary Avenue Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 5:07:11 PM
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Mayor Paul and Councilmembers:

I am delighted to see this item receive time on the council agenda. Cupertino, like most jurisdictions, has struggled to find means for developing extremely low income housing.

Advocates have pointed to the Mary Avenue site for many years as a potential location for housing affordable to this population. I urge you to examine what policies you may need to modify or set aside to enable such housing, and to proceed with RFP/RFQ for an ELI housing project at this site.

Many thanks,
J.R. Fruen
Cupertino resident
CC 315
#2
Consider issuing a
request to CUSD for
reconsideration of
the future closures of
Regnart and
Meyerholz
Elementary Schools
Written Comments
From: Roberta Hollimon
To: City Clerk; Cupertino City Manager"s Office; City Council; Darcy Paul; Liang Chao; Kitty Moore; Hung Wei; Jon Robert Willey; Cupertino Union School District
Subject: Letter against proposed action on Agenda Item 12 Date: Friday, March 11, 2022 1:54:42 PM
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Roberta Hollimon
11155 La Paloma Drive
Cupertino, CA 95014
March 11, 2022
Cupertino City Council
re: Letter against proposed action on Agenda Item 12
Dear Council Members,
I have read your letter to the Cupertino Union School District Board. I ask that you not send this letter. I believe the operations of the City of Cupertino and the Cupertino Union School District should be kept separate. One should not try to influence the other. The city should not be telling the School District how to run its business, likewise CUSD should not run the City’s business.

In the 1970’s, I chaired the committee that studied enrollment in CUSD and the necessity of possibly closing some schools and advised the board of its findings. I know this is not an easy process. We struggled with our decisions. In the end it was necessary to close many schools but we lived through that process and the district continued to be a great place for educating our children. I have followed the process this board has taken in the current situation and feel they have done everything necessary to come to their decision.

I think the city’s letter is improper and includes information not supported by fact. Please do not send it.

Sincerely,
Roberta Hollimon
CC:

City Manager Jim Throop: [email protected]
City Clerk Kirsten Squarcia: [email protected]
City Council: [email protected]
Mayor Darcy Paul: [email protected]
Vice-Mayor Liang Chao: [email protected]
Councilmember Kitty Moore [email protected]
Councilmember Hung Wei [email protected]
Councilmember Jon Willey: [email protected]
Cupertino Union School District [email protected]
From: Pengkai Zhao
To: City Council
Subject: Comment for item 12 on 3/15/2022 agenda: please save Regnart Date: Monday, March 14, 2022 8:23:34 PM
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Dear Sir/Madam,
My name is Pengkai Zhao, I live at Elmsford Drive, Cupertino. I have a comment for item 12 of 3/15/2022 agenda:

Please save Regnart Elementary and DO NOT close the school! It is an important part for our community. Also moving students to Lincoln Elementary has traffic and safety concerns. So please do not close Regnart!
Thanks,
Pengkai
From: Nancy Mak
To: City Council; Darcy Paul; Liang Chao; Kitty Moore; Hung Wei; Jon Robert Willey; Cupertino City Manager"s Office; City Clerk
Subject: Letter to Cupertino City Council
Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 9:26:40 AM
Attachments: Letter to City Council.pdf
CUSD FACTS re School Closures 2022.pdf
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Dear Mayor, Vice Mayor, Honorable Council Members, City Manager, and City Clerk:

We have enclosed the following documents in reference to Agenda Item #12 of the March 15, 2022 Regular City Council Meeting:

Letter from CUSD to the Cupertino City Council, dated March 15, 2022 CUSD Facts re: School Closures 2022
Best,
Nancy Mak
Administrative Assistant to the Superintendent
Cupertino Union School District
Tel: 408-252-3000 x61-200 | Direct FAX: 408-343-2801 Office: 1309 S. Mary Avenue, Suite 150, Sunnyvale, CA 94087 | Mailing: 10301 Vista Drive, Cupertino, CA 95014

Statement of Confidentiality: The information in this email is confidential and/or legally privileged. If you received this email in error, you may not review, use, copy, or disseminate it and any of the information it conveys. Please notify the sender by reply email and delete the message and any attachments, if any, from your system.

Kindly consider the environment before printing this email.

Claim (FALSE) FACT
Urge CUSD to Reconsider
School Closure Design
versus

Claim FACT
CUSD Elementary Schools currently average 497
students.

Effective the 2022-23 school year, this average
will drop to 480 average per Elementary School.

The 575 on this chart is the average of K-8th, NOT
K-5th, in CUSD.

Our five Middle Schools have an average of 967
students per school.

Claim FACT
CUSD schools have the capacity to grow and are
NOT overcrowded.

Basic Aid is not predicated on student
enrollment alone; it is a combination of
enrollment and property tax.

Our 25 schools accommodated all students
within their capacity when enrollment peaked at
just over 19,000 students.

Claim FACT
The Ending Fund Balance is NOT surplus
money.

This Ending Fund Balance includes:
● Board and State reserves
● PTA donations to designated school sites
● Restricted dollars
● One time money
CUSD, as did all school districts, received
additional COVID money to assist schools with the
impact of the pandemic. This COVID-related
money is one time money and is not renewable.

The money has specific purposes that it may be
used for.

Claim FACT
The Ending Fund Balance is NOT surplus
money.

The Ending Fund Balance is comprised of funds
which have spending restrictions.

Claim FACT
Regnart’s enrollment has been affected by declining
enrollment.

Schools in the Southern Quadrant of the District
have experienced a higher and faster student
decline in the District.

The attendance area of Regnart has experienced a
significant decline in families with school age
children over the last two years.

Claim FACT
CUSD did NOT “block” students from attending
Regnart.

Families can apply through open enrollment to
attend any of the neighborhood schools.

Students are able to open enroll to the school site
when there are available vacancies at the
school/grade level.

If there are not any vacant seats available, the
District does not hire additional teachers and
incur an additional cost to add to the school;
parents must wait until a seat is available.

The open enrollment and waitlist process is
consistent across the District and applies to
ALL neighborhood schools.

Claim FACT
The CUSD budget and declining student
enrollment and related data was discussed for
the last three years.

The 2020 CAC analyzed all data.

The data was updated and discussed throughout
Board meetings prior to the final decision made in
October 2021.

Ten criteria were established and used to determine
final recommendation for school closures.

Claim FACT
CUSD created a Community Advisory Committee
that was comprised of 33 community members
who analyzed enrollment data, budget and other
information to guide them to create a final report
that was shared to with Board of Education in
October 2021.

This committee was a broad representation of
all of CUSD.

Currently, the 7-11 committee has been developed
that is comprised of 11 representatives of the
District and Community and are determining the
use of the surplus property.

The 7-11 committee will share their
recommendation with the Board of Education at the
conclusion of their work in late May 2022.

Claim FACT
The Community Advisory Committee (CAC)
comprised of 33 members of the community
performed the work of the DAC.

Claim FACT
The Community Advisory Committee (CAC)
provided a broader representation to allow
more community voice than the 7-11
committee which restricts the number of
members.

The CAC analyzed enrollment data, budget
and other information to guide them to a final
report to the Board of Education in October
2020.

Claim FACT
Expanding class size reduction is an additional
cost to the District and does NOT address declining
enrollment.

CUSD actively pursues leasing of available classes
and sites to generate ongoing revenue.

CUSD currently has joint use/partnerships with our
Cities as well as outside vendors that generate ongoing revenue for CUSD.

CUSD has offered full day Kindergarten since 2015.

CUSD currently offers 10 TK classes and will be
adding 3 additional classes in the 2022-23 school
year as we phase in Universal TK.

Universal TK is NOT fully funded by the state and
does incur an additional cost to the District.

Claim FACT
CUSD offers open enrollment choice to families
to any of the neighborhood schools.

In addition, families may apply to the lottery for
attendance in one of the four alternative schools.

The “ideal” school size consists of 3-5
Kindergarten classes and allows for an effective
learning environment, efficient funding of per
pupil spending, and provides collaboration for
teachers.

Claim FACT
The Ending Fund Balance is NOT surplus money.

The Ending Fund Balance is comprised of funds which
have spending restrictions.

The 2nd Interim Budget does NOT include any salary
increase for employees for the entire five years.

A 6% salary increase equates to 8.5 Million dollars
compounded each year.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER
March 15, 2022 Sent Via Email City of Cupertino City Council 10300 Torre Avenue Cupertino, CA 95014-3202 Dear Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Honorable City of Cupertino Council Members: On behalf of the Cupertino Union School District (“District”), I write to address recent rumors circulating within our community regarding the Regnart and Meyerholz elementary school closures. We understand concerns have been raised and that there may be some incomplete information regarding the District’s decision-making process in general and the timeline of the school consolidation and closure decision in particular. Accordingly, we wanted to take the opportunity to provide you with a more complete picture of the District’s process along with an overview of the associated timeframe for the District’s decision. Although there may be ongoing efforts to reframe the District’s October 2021 decision to consolidate and close schools as a hasty decision with insufficient notice to the community, nothing could be further from the truth. By way of background, the District has been grappling with declining enrollment at its campuses and the associated financial impacts across the District for many years. In fact, in response to concerns initially raised in the 2015-2016 school year, the District convened a Superintendent’s Citizens Advisory Committees (“CAC”) to thoroughly investigate the emerging issue and provide informed recommendations to the Board of Education (“Board”) to help blunt the financial impacts of the continuing decline forecasted. Specifically, the CAC empaneled in 2017 (the “2017 CAC”) was asked “to resolve declining enrollment issues across the District through creative solutions and out of the box thinking, and not necessarily limited to school closures and boundary changes, resulting in a thoughtful set of recommendations to the superintendent.” The 34-member 2017 CAC was comprised of 18 parents, 2 community members at large and 14 District employees. Meetings were held from March through August of 2017 and culminated in the 2017 CAC’s August 24, 2017 presentation to the Board of Trustees. In consideration of, and response to recommendations from the 2017 CAC, the District implemented new programs and strategies to increase enrollment. Despite such efforts, and well in advance of the COVID-19 pandemic, the District continued to experience a significant decline in enrollment. Accordingly, between November of 2019 and January of 2020, the District’s Board held five distinct listening sessions wherein the Board members received information about the enrollment trends and projections for the District (“Board Listening Sessions”). In response to the Board Listening Sessions and, in an effort to facilitate community engagement and input, District staff recommended the formation of a second CAC (the “2020 CAC”) to be led by a third-party neutral facilitator. The approved plan included the enplanement of a diverse and representative committee which would meet at least five times over the course of ten weeks, in adherence with the Brown Act, and present Superintendent Stacy Yao Board of Education Lorien Cunningham Sylvia Leong Jerry Liu Satheesh Madhathil Phyllis Vogel Cupertino Union School District
10301 Vista Drive • Cupertino, California 95014-2040 • (408) 252-3000 • Fax (408) 343-2808 Office Address: 1309 S. Mary Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94087-3050 • (408) 252-3000 • Fax (408) 343-2801 Mailing Address: 10301 Vista Drive, Cupertino, CA 95014-2040 Letter to Cupertino City Council March 15, 2022 Page 2
the Board with a concrete plan to address the District’s urgent and ongoing budget and enrollment concerns. District staff members, parents of current District students, and community members at large submitted applications for the 2020 CAC and each applicant was interviewed by an outside consultant. Final selection of the 2020 CAC membership was reviewed by a retired officer of the Court, Judge McAdams, to ensure neutrality and diverse representation. The 2020 CAC met five times between August of 2020 and October 2020 wherein the group analyzed information including, but not limited to, the following topics: (1) the District’s history; (2) school funding and property taxes; (3) enrollment projects; (4) the District’s budget and multi-year projections; (5) reflections and considerations of feedback from Board Listening Session; (6) staffing; (7) cost of running schools; (8) District properties; and (9) school maps. On October 22, 2020, the 2020 CAC presented its final report to the Board which included, among other items, six possible school closure scenarios. The recommendations included in the 2020 CAC’s final report provided sufficient information for District staff to move forward with a recommendation for school closures and consolidation. However, in response to community feedback to the 2020 CAC’s recommendations, and in hopes of delaying a decision to close schools, the District elected to pursue a Parcel Tax to generate additional revenue. Upon the failure of the Parcel Tax passing in May of 2021, the District resumed conversations regarding the consolidation and closure of schools. More than five and a half years after it convened the first CAC to investigate declining enrollment, and in the face of a total loss of 4,900 students from 2015-2016 through September 2021, the Board adopted a resolution to close the Regnart and Meyerholz school sites at the end of the 2021-22 school year. While the District can appreciate that some community members are disappointed by the closure of the school sites, any suggestion the Board’s decision was either hastily made or ill-informed is inaccurate. As the sole elected body entrusted with responsibility for public education in the District, the Board understood the gravity of this decision and made it only after years of deliberation and community input. We hope this letter clarifies any misconception that the District’s school consolidation and closure decision was not thoroughly vetted by the Board and substantiated with empirical evidence. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Sincerely, Stacy Yao Superintendent From: Amy Pang
To: City Council; City Clerk
Subject: Comment in tonights City Council meeting
Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 11:39:10 AM
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Hi City Council,
I would like to submit a comment for the City Council meeting for agenda item 12. Can you please let me know what you will need from me?
--
Thank You,
Amy Pang
From: Kay Tiff
To: City Clerk; City Council
Subject: Comment for March 15 City Council Meeting Item#12 Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 12:13:30 PM
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Dear Mayor Paul and City Council members,
We moved into the City of Cupertino last year. Our main reason to move here was to send our kids to a good school in a nice and friendly neighborhood.

We would like you, our City leaders, to urge CUSD to revisit its decision to close the schools.

The CUSD board members based their school closure decision on low enrollment and financial issues. However, we found that Regnart elementary's enrollment was intentionally manipulated to lower it. As one of the many examples we know of, even before the school year started last Fall, my daughter's home school is Regnart but we were told from our next door neighbor (who moved into Cupertino a month before us) that CUSD overflowed their daughter, same grade as my daughter, to Steven Creek already for the upcoming school year because they were told there was no space at Regnart. Also, the financials of CUSD have been found to be in much better state compared to what CUSD board members' claimed for school closure. Hence, CUSD's decision to close Regnart Elementary is wrong, and needs to be re-visited through a re-vote.

As a CUSD parent, the closure of Regnart without a reasonable cause will damage the reputation of the city and the school district!
Please take immediate action to demand a CUSD special board meeting to revote on the school closure.

Best Regards,
Betty (concerned Cupertino resident)
From: CUSD Parent
To: City Council
Cc: [email protected]; Fang Liu; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; Jimmy Zhang; [email protected]; Amy Pang; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; Benjamin Lu; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; Zuoping Cai; cusd parents; Jimmy Zhang; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; Kevin Yang; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; Kelly Tong; Nirupama; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; Bing Liu Subject: Public comment for Agenda Item #12
Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 12:31:53 PM
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Dear City Council,
Below is my public comment for agenda item #12. I will raise my hand during that period to speak.
__________________________________
Thank you Cupertino city councilmembers for urging CUSD to keep Regnart OPEN.

I speak to you as a Cupertino taxpayer. We have put in countless dollars to CUSD for parcel and bond measures. We are tired of seeing tax dollars siphoned out of Cupertino, to go to schools in other cities.

What happened with Bond Measure H? Per
https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?
url=http%3A%2F%2Fcusdbond.org%2FAR2021%2Fbyelementary.html&amp;data=04%7C01%7CDebraN%40cupertino.org%7Cf2c621800e304a2aef9908da06ba72c8%7C19e13f83dce947c3ae6712c6a63e2ed6%7C0%7C0%7C637829695126262231%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&amp;sdata=kSyBzIXq3ciXUidl%2BfnIjt%2B1y3csKiYZS1aAAcb%2Fhi0%3D&amp;reserved=0, CUSD spent a total of
$210M, including
- $6M to renovate Regnart, which it voted to close
- $7M to renovate Meyerholz, which it voted to close
- $5M to renovate Dilworth, which was considered for closure - $8M to renovate Lincoln, which was considered for closure - $9M to renovate Stevens Creek Elementary, which was considered for closure Did we pay to fix up Regnart, just so it could be sold to a private school? Our taxpayer dollars are not meant to help create an attractive portfolio of "lease sites" for CUSD. They are meant to create better learning and educational environments for our students.

If we, the taxpayers, had known that we were paying hard-earned money to renovate schools that would either be sold or considered for closure, we would not have supported this ballot measure. To hear CUSD to ask for even more bond funding after closing our schools simply adds insult to injury.

In an email obtained via PRA request, the CUSD board named Saratoga and Los Altos schools as “anchor schools”. What does that make Cupertino schools? Second-tier? Did we pay so much in taxes to hear CUSD insist that Los Altos and Saratoga “ballot support” is important, while they ignore the entire city of Cupertino, over half of its voter and funding base?
We, the residents of Cupertino, refuse to put more into a system that not only takes our money for little return, but subsequently PENALIZES us by closing our schools and redirecting our enrollment and resources elsewhere.

We, the taxpayers, paid for better schools -- not to have children crammed into overcrowded schools. It is painful to hear of students sitting on the floor at lunch because there aren't enough benches for them to sit on. It is painful to hear about the bumper-to-bumper traffic in front of schools that is about to worsen. It is painful to hear that schools must have staggered lunches, and can't even socialize with other grade levels because the school is too crowded.

This is, quite frankly, a worse educational experience than the one I grew up with in CUSD 20-30 years ago.

Cupertino City Council, we thank you for your efforts tonight in helping to keep Regnart open.
__________________________________
Many thanks,
Tracy
From: T Dowdell
To: City Council; City Clerk
Subject: Agenda Item:12: Consider issuing a Request to CSD to Reconsider: Comments for the Record Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 12:47:40 PM
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.

Dear Mayor Darcy and Members of the Cupertino City Council, I would like to respectfully request that you investigate fully, the information contained in the letter you are considering sending to CUSD regarding its decision to consolidate schools. It is my expectation when you review official public records, you will recognize that your letter contains factually inaccurate information that not only promotes a false narrative to the community but also endangers yours / and the city of Cupertino’s reputation.

I am an active and engaged parent in the CUSD district; whose children attended Meyerholz as the neighborhood elementary school, and who now attend Miller Middle School and Lynbrook High. I have attended the CUSD board meetings for years. I am well informed about the decision making process, what was considered, why and how we arrived at this point. Let me also assure you that I care about education and our children because I am a frequent volunteer on school campus and within our community, supporting children other than my own. This is important to me. It has always been important to me.

Since 2016, some members of our community have not accepted the realities of declining enrollment and the need to be fiscally responsible. They have pushed back on fact-based public discourse on this topic and now because they don’t agree with the decisions being made - they are creating and sharing misleading information. They have cherry picked items to create emotional, biased and opinionated arguments which serve only to further division and strife within the community.

As a registered CUSD voter, I am a believer in the process and due process. Facts matter and I should hope that you feel the same way as elected officials representing the community. The decision to close schools was not taken lightly by the trustees. No-one wants to close schools
but all this misguided, negativity by this group of dissatisfied parents would be better spent trying to create a positive, embracing environments for our children at school and for those moving to a new campus in the fall. Change is hard but our children will follow our lead.

Instead of taking an adversarial position, we should teach them resilience and empower them to embrace this change (though sad), positively.

I urge you to decline the request to issue this letter and avoid making false allegations. Support due process, meet with the district administration, learn the facts and advocate for unity within the community to accept the change and the decision of the CUSD school board of trustees.

Many thanks.

Sincerely,
Tara Dowdell
From: C Z
To: City Clerk; City Council
Subject: Please request CUSD to revert Regnart and Meyerhozl school closure decision Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 1:27:13 PM
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.

Dear Cupertino City Council,
As a CUSD resident, I strongly urge CUSD to reconsider their school closure decision last year. The decision has been made on questionable data and assumptions the decision was based on has drastically changed that is no longer valid.

Please put my email in public record.

Thank you.

CZ
From: Nelson & Sana
To: City Council; City Clerk
Subject: Reconsider Regnart closure
Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 1:44:23 PM
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.

Please reconsider not closing down Regnart. The Regnart families found updated data that shows CUSD has the budget to keep the school open. Also, there should be an investigation towards one of the female CUSD board members because she is personally biased and driven in keeping Blue Hills open instead of Regnart. Our daughter has adapted to Regnart culture and made great friends, but they'll be parting ways next school year if Regnart is closed.

Thanks.

From: GMAIL
To: City Council; City Clerk
Subject: Strongly Opposing CUSD"s School Closure Decision Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 1:45:40 PM
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.

Dear Cupertino City Council,
Thank you so much for your time.

I am a resident in San Jose, but my kids used to attend CUSD schools. We have been expressing all our opposing in closing schools during pandemic. CUSD members are not working for the benefits of our community.

CUSD did not form a 7-11 committee with public meetings to gather facts BEFORE the decision on school closure was made. They made the decision during pandemic, when we could not express our opposing freely. They easily cut our call, or disable the Chat function. They did not provide a 2 way communication. Whenever we asked a key question, they would round about and did not answer directly. Then we had not chance to ask again.

It has been 40 years since the last closuring of schools. Why they need to rush so hard to close 3 schools during pandemic. If they do not have money, why they trouble that much to move Clip program to be an independent school. If they do not have money, why they spent a lot of money to renovate Blue Hills?! I could hardly understand CUSD’s logic. If we defeat one of their reasons to close schools, they form another one.

Please, Please do keep my email in the public record.

Again, I strongly oppose CUDS’s vote to close 3 schools! Best regards,
Li
From: Li Liyun
To: City Council; City Clerk
Subject: Public comments for agenda item #12
Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 1:58:13 PM
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.

Dear City Council,
Below is my public comment for agenda item #12. Please put my email in public record. __________________________________
Thanks to city council members for urging CUSD to keep Regnart open.

I speak to you as a parent of two pupils. We moved to Cupertino 4 years ago mainly out of the consideration of its good schools. We chose Regnart as we see it forms a close community around it. The decision to close Regnart hurts the feelings of our children. They would be forced to leave the school they love and friends they made there. We have sent our concerns to CUSD many times. We questioned their decision on taking much more open enrollments at their preferred schools than Regnart. But they never replied us with a clear answer. We need the city to standup for us and urge an open and fair process from CUSD. We really appreciate your effort on saving Regnart.

Thanks,
Liyun
From: Santosh Rao
To: City Council
Subject: Public comment for agenda item 12.

Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 2:08:26 PM
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.

Hello Cupertino City Council,
I am a resident of the city of Cupertino as well as a CUSD parent with 2 kids in CUSD.

I want to commend and greatly appreciate the council putting agenda item 12 (CUSD) on the agenda.

The hasty closure of Regnart as well as Meyerholtz by CUSD is going to cause a horrid traffic nightmare on Bubb, McClellan, DeAnza, Bollinger and other city roads.

No traffic study was done prior to CUSD voting on this closure. Should a private school be opened at one or both sites traffic conditions might get even worse.

To compound matters the Santa Clara county sheriffs are constantly ticketing helpless parents in the morning hours on school drop roads. Parents are being hit from all sides, closed schools, increased density per school, increased traffic, more challenging school drops and then traffic tickets from Sheriffs as parents try to navigate clogged roads around schools.

The city of Cupertino is renowned for good schooling. For decades new residents have moved here due to its reputation of good schooling. Not any more. The cities of Los Gatos, Los Altos, Palo Alto all have better schooling than Cupertino. Soon Santa Clara will have better schooling that Cupertino. The decline in quality of education in CUSD will impact property values in Cupertino.

I urge the city to raise these matters with CUSD. I hope the city will raise traffic as a priority item and insist on a traffic study by the city as an input into the decision to close schools.

Thank you for placing this item on the city council agenda and raising this matter with CUSD. Thank you for protecting property values in Cupertino and maintaining the quality of life by stemming declines in schooling, increase in traffic and further rise in tickets issued by Sheriffs to parents.

Thanks,
Santosh Rao
From: Mohan C
To: City Council; City Clerk
Subject: Please reconsider the closure for Meyerholz Elementary School - Do Not close please! Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 2:43:08 PM
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.

Hi city council members:

I am writing this email hoping you can think about revoting the school closure.

This time, three schools are closing in CUSD, two of them are in West San Jose. For myself and all the residents in the neighborhood here, that means two walking distance elementary schools are closed, which is so unfair and doesn't make any sense.

The Declaration of Independence states “All Men are created equal", so I would think all schools are equal in CUSD, then why 2 out of 3 is closed in West San Jose? We pay such a high property tax here, but what we get is our kids and parents have to drive all the way to another elementary school and even have to sit in the traffic. If you are thinking about enrollment, lots of efforts are made for all the other schools in CUSD, but why just abandon us, schools in West San Jose?
Elementary school is the basic and the beginning of every people's education, it is the first place that our kids go when they step out of the home. It takes more than 10 years to grow a tree, and it takes longer to make a man. A good elementary takes years and years to develop, deciding to close a school shouldn't be that easy. It definitely needs more deliberation. Please think for the future and consider for the West San Jose kids, think about this again and revote.

Please put my email in the public record.

Hopefully, you can hear the voice from students in Meyerholz elementary school, and hope you have a wonderful day.

Thanks,
Mohan
From: Tony Zheng
To: City Council; City Clerk
Subject: please help keeping Regnart and Meyerholz elementary school open in our community Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 3:02:30 PM
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.

Dear Honorable Cupertino City Council members,
Thank you very much for the agenda to discuss the impact of school close to our community. Please do request on behalf of the City to CUSD that they reconsider their decision. Their financial situation is much better now, and the State now requires to add Pre-K class.

Regards,
Tony W. Zheng
From: frances hu
To: City Council; City Clerk; Darcy Paul; Liang Chao; Jon Robert Willey; Kitty Moore; Hung Wei Cc: CUSD Parent; [email protected]; Fang Liu; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; Jimmy Zhang; [email protected]; Amy Pang; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; Benjamin Lu; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; Zuoping Cai; [email protected]; Jimmy Zhang; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; Kevin Yang; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; Kelly Tong; Nirupama; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; Bing Liu; frances hu Subject: Re: Public comment for Agenda Item #12
Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 3:07:39 PM
Importance: High
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.

Dear Mayor Paul, Vice Mayor Zhao and all city councils:

Thank you for your consideration of issuing a request to the CUSD board for reconsideration of the future closure of Regnart and other CUSD schools, We Regnart parents here truly appreciate your effort!
As a CUSD parent and long-term resident of city of Cupertino, I can't agree more with Tracy's comments. CUSD has abused Cupertino taxpayer's money by closing Regnart while $$supporting schools in Los Altos and Saratoga, though Cupertino residents account for over 50% of CUSD voter and funding base. CUSD's redirection of enrollment and resources elsewhere is total discrimination against city of Cupertino schools and violation of educational equity rights of our children and our families.

In addition, packing the Lincoln Elementary with more Regnart students would create more traffic burden on some of our city's already overcrowded roads at peak time, and bring more traffic safety concerns to our children, our families, and our community. It is painful to hear of students sitting on the floor at lunch because there aren't enough benches for them to sit on. It is painful to hear that schools must have staggered lunches, and students can't even socialize with other grade levels because the school is too crowded. It is even more painful for parents to worry everyday about the safety of their children while on the roads/parking lots next to their school. We, Cupertino taxpayers, deserve better school environment for our children and our community.

A safe, great NHS is one of the most valuable assets of our city, and one of the major reasons for families to move and live here. For the sake of our city and our children/families, pls take immediate action to save Regnart, the long-term beloved NHS for Cupertino families and residents! Many thanks.

All the best,
Frances
From: CUSD Parent <[email protected]>
Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022
Subject: Public comment for Agenda Item #12
To: [email protected]
Cc: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, Fang Liu <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, Jimmy Zhang <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, Amy Pang <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, Benjamin Lu <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, Zuoping Cai <[email protected]>, cusd parents <[email protected]>, Jimmy Zhang <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, Kevin Yang <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, Kelly Tong <[email protected]>, Nirupama <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, Bing Liu <[email protected]> Dear City Council,
Below is my public comment for agenda item #12. I will raise my hand during that period to speak.
__________________________________
Thank you Cupertino city councilmembers for urging CUSD to keep Regnart OPEN.

I speak to you as a Cupertino taxpayer. We have put in countless dollars to CUSD for parcel and bond measures. We are tired of seeing tax dollars siphoned out of Cupertino, to go to schools in other cities.

What happened with Bond Measure H? Per
http://cusdbond.org/AR2021/byelementary.html, CUSD spent a total of $210M, including
- $6M to renovate Regnart, which it voted to close
- $7M to renovate Meyerholz, which it voted to close
- $5M to renovate Dilworth, which was considered for closure - $8M to renovate Lincoln, which was considered for closure - $9M to renovate Stevens Creek Elementary, which was considered for closure Did we pay to fix up Regnart, just so it could be sold to a private school? Our taxpayer dollars are not meant to help create an attractive portfolio of "lease sites" for CUSD. They are meant to create better learning and educational environments for our students.

If we, the taxpayers, had known that we were paying hard-earned money to renovate schools that would either be sold or considered for closure, we would not have supported this ballot measure. To hear CUSD to ask for even more bond funding after closing our schools simply adds insult to injury.

In an email obtained via PRA request, the CUSD board named Saratoga and Los Altos schools as “anchor schools”. What does that make Cupertino schools? Second-tier? Did we pay so much in taxes to hear CUSD insist that Los Altos and Saratoga “ballot support” is important, while they ignore the entire city of Cupertino, over half of its voter and funding base?
We, the residents of Cupertino, refuse to put more into a system that not only takes our money for little return, but subsequently PENALIZES us by closing our schools and redirecting our enrollment and resources elsewhere.

We, the taxpayers, paid for better schools -- not to have children crammed into overcrowded schools. It is painful to hear of students sitting on the floor at lunch because there aren't enough benches for them to sit on. It is painful to hear about the bumper-to-bumper traffic in front of schools that is about to worsen. It is painful to hear that schools must have staggered lunches, and can't even socialize with other grade levels because the school is too crowded.

This is, quite frankly, a worse educational experience than the one I grew up with in CUSD 20-30 years ago.

Cupertino City Council, we thank you for your efforts tonight in helping to keep Regnart open.
__________________________________
Many thanks,
Tracy
From: Xiangchen Xu
To: City Clerk; City Council
Subject: Please send request to CUSD. Thank you!
Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 3:40:30 PM
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.

Honorable City Councilmembers,
I am a resident in Cupertino for more than 10 years.

As I know, many residents have concerns regarding CUSD's decision on school closure.

School closure is a big issue which may hurt our community deeply.

I can't understand why CUSD board decided to close schools in such a short time.

And I believe using the enrollment data during pandemic is inappropriate.

After this special time, the enrollment data may change a lot.

Thank you for adding CUSD school closure discussion in tonight's agenda! I really hope our city can ask CUSD board to reconsider it.

Sincerely yours,
Xiangchen Xu
From: frances hu
To: Kirsten Squarcia
Cc: City Clerk
Subject: Re: Public comment for Agenda Item #12
Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 3:41:11 PM
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CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.

Pls also keep it in the public record too. Many thanks!! From: Kirsten Squarcia <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 3:39 PM
To: frances hu <[email protected]>
Cc: City Clerk <[email protected]>
Subject: RE: Public comment for Agenda Item #12

Good afternoon Francis (Council moved to Bcc on this email), Your comments have been received for the 3/15 City Council meeting, Agenda Item #12 CUSD. Your email will be included with the written communications for the meeting and added to the public record for this item. Regards Kirsten

Members of the public wishing to comment on an item on the agenda may do so in the following ways:
1) E-mail comments by 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 15 to the Council at [email protected]
. These e-mail comments will also be forwarded to
Councilmembers by the City Clerk’s office before the meeting and posted to the City’s website after the meeting.
2) E-mail comments during the times for public comment during the meeting to the City Clerk at [email protected]
. The City Clerk will read the emails into the record, and display any attachments on the screen, for up to 3 minutes (subject to the Mayor’s discretion to shorten time for public comments). Members of the public that wish to share a document must email [email protected] prior to speaking.

Kirsten Squarcia​
City Clerk
City Manager's Office
[email protected]
(408) 777-3225

From: frances hu <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 3:07 PM
To: City Council <[email protected]>; City Clerk <[email protected]>; Darcy Paul <[email protected]>; Liang Chao <[email protected]>; Jon Robert Willey <[email protected]>; Kitty Moore <[email protected]>; Hung Wei <[email protected]> Cc: CUSD Parent <[email protected]>; [email protected]; Fang Liu <[email protected]>; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; Jimmy Zhang <[email protected]>; [email protected]; Amy Pang <[email protected]>; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; Benjamin Lu <[email protected]>; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; Zuoping Cai <[email protected]>; [email protected]; Jimmy Zhang <[email protected]>; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; Kevin Yang <[email protected]>; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; Kelly Tong <[email protected]>; Nirupama <[email protected]>; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; Bing Liu <[email protected]>; frances hu <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Public comment for Agenda Item #12
Importance: High

CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.

Dear Mayor Paul, Vice Mayor Zhao and all city councils:

Thank you for your consideration of issuing a request to the CUSD board for reconsideration of the future closure of Regnart and other CUSD schools, We Regnart parents here truly appreciate your effort!

As a CUSD parent and long-term resident of city of Cupertino, I can't agree more with Tracy's comments. CUSD has abused Cupertino taxpayer's money by closing Regnart while $$supporting schools in Los Altos and Saratoga, though Cupertino residents account for over 50% of CUSD voter and funding base. CUSD's redirection of enrollment and resources elsewhere is total discrimination against city of Cupertino schools and violation of educational equity rights of our children and our families.

In addition, packing the Lincoln Elementary with more Regnart students would create more traffic burden on some of our city's already overcrowded roads at peak time, and bring more traffic safety concerns to our children, our families, and our community. It is painful to hear of students sitting on the floor at lunch because there aren't enough benches for them to sit on. It is painful to hear that schools must have staggered lunches, and students can't even socialize with other grade levels because the school is too crowded. It is even more painful for parents to worry everyday about the safety of their children while on the roads/parking lots next to their school. We, Cupertino taxpayers, deserve better school environment for our children and our community.

A safe, great NHS is one of the most valuable assets of our city, and one of the major reasons for families to move and live here. For the sake of our city and our children/families, pls take immediate action to save Regnart, the long-term beloved NHS for Cupertino families and residents! Many thanks.

All the best,
Frances
From: CUSD Parent <[email protected]>
Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022
Subject: Public comment for Agenda Item #12
To: [email protected]
Cc: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, Fang Liu <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, Jimmy Zhang <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, Amy Pang <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, Benjamin Lu <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, Zuoping Cai <[email protected]>, cusd parents <[email protected]>, Jimmy Zhang <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, Kevin Yang <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, Kelly Tong <[email protected]>, Nirupama <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, Bing Liu <[email protected]> Dear City Council,
Below is my public comment for agenda item #12. I will raise my hand during that period to speak.
__________________________________
Thank you Cupertino city councilmembers for urging CUSD to keep Regnart OPEN.

I speak to you as a Cupertino taxpayer. We have put in countless dollars to CUSD for parcel and bond measures. We are tired of seeing tax dollars siphoned out of Cupertino, to go to schools in other cities.

What happened with Bond Measure H? Per
http://cusdbond.org/AR2021/byelementary.html, CUSD spent a total of $210M, including
- $6M to renovate Regnart, which it voted to close
- $7M to renovate Meyerholz, which it voted to close
- $5M to renovate Dilworth, which was considered for closure - $8M to renovate Lincoln, which was considered for closure - $9M to renovate Stevens Creek Elementary, which was considered for closure Did we pay to fix up Regnart, just so it could be sold to a private school? Our taxpayer dollars are not meant to help create an attractive portfolio of "lease sites" for CUSD. They are meant to create better learning and educational environments for our students.

If we, the taxpayers, had known that we were paying hard-earned money to renovate schools that would either be sold or considered for closure, we would not have supported this ballot measure. To hear CUSD to ask for even more bond funding after closing our schools simply adds insult to injury.

In an email obtained via PRA request, the CUSD board named Saratoga and Los Altos schools as “anchor schools”. What does that make Cupertino schools? Second-tier? Did we pay so much in taxes to hear CUSD insist that Los Altos and Saratoga “ballot support” is important, while they ignore the entire city of Cupertino, over half of its voter and funding base?
We, the residents of Cupertino, refuse to put more into a system that not only takes our money for little return, but subsequently PENALIZES us by closing our schools and redirecting our enrollment and resources elsewhere.

We, the taxpayers, paid for better schools -- not to have children crammed into overcrowded schools. It is painful to hear of students sitting on the floor at lunch because there aren't enough benches for them to sit on. It is painful to hear about the bumper-to-bumper traffic in front of schools that is about to worsen. It is painful to hear that schools must have staggered lunches, and can't even socialize with other grade levels because the school is too crowded.

This is, quite frankly, a worse educational experience than the one I grew up with in CUSD 20-30 years ago.

Cupertino City Council, we thank you for your efforts tonight in helping to keep Regnart open.
__________________________________
Many thanks,
Tracy
From: Liu Wei
To: City Council; City Clerk
Subject: Please do not close Meyerholz and Regnart elementary schools and save the school for our kids Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 3:43:29 PM
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.

Hi Cupertino council members:

I'm writing as a Meyerholz neighborhood community
member and I'm copying our concerned community members
as well.

As Frances outlined below, there is no valid reason to close any CUSD schools and we're urging the CUSD Board
members and San Jose district council members to revoke the decisi
on, as it was rushed and divided (3 vs 2 and both the
president and vice president of the CUSD board voted no on closing Meyerholz) in the first place. The data is outdated and there has been no traffic study done.

The two highly arguable/debatable reasons for closing
Meyerholze are low enrollment and CUSD's
financial status.

However, right after the decision was made, the two originally highly debatable reasons became completely unfounded and groundless.

Financial Status:

From: Jean Bedord
To: City Clerk
Subject: Agenda Item #12 CUSD reconsideration March 15, 2022 Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 3:51:41 PM
Attachments: Bedord-Council 2022-03-15.pptx
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.

I'd like to present this PPT for public comment tonight.

Thank you.

Warm regards,
Jean Bedord
From: Xiaochun Li
To: City Council; City Clerk
Subject: Fw: Please do not close Meyerholz and Regnart elementary schools and save the school for our kids Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 3:52:53 PM
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.

Hi Cupertino council members:

I'm writing as a Meyerholz neighborhood community member and I'm copying our concerned community members as well.

As Frances outlined below, there is no valid reason to close any CUSD schools and we're urging the CUSD Board members and San Jose district council members to revoke the decision, as it was rushed and divided (3 vs 2 and both the president and vice president of the CUSD board voted no on closing Meyerholz) in the first place. The data is outdated and there has been no traffic study done.

The two highly arguable/debatable reasons for closing Meyerholze are low enrollment and CUSD's financial status.

However, right after the decision was made, the two originally highly debatable reasons became completely unfounded and groundless.

Financial Status:

Now CUSD's Financial Status is healthier than ever. There are no funding issues at all! Below is a chart from the most recent 2021-2022 second interim budget of five-year projection file that illustrates the MY projection and we can see clearly that CUSD's projected fund ending balance for 2025-2026 is at
$72M
<image.png>
Low Enrollment - What caused it and why closing Meyerholz will exacerbate the problem and why it's no longer an issue
What caused it?
1) CUSD focuses on Alternative schools and Alternative schools draw attendance from NBH schools like Meyerholz. See below chart for details

2) CUSD helped Montclaire and Blue Hills stabilize their enrollments, and these efforts started in 2017.

However, CUSD has not provided any support to Meyerholz to stabilize enrollment, and in fact, some of the Meyerholz neighborhood students were turned away and overflowed to other schools.

3) Why it's no longer an issue
New Legislations are not taken under consideration, which will lead to a positive impact on the enrollment issue.

AB-130 was signed by Governor Newsom on Oct 5, 2021 :
https://www.gov.ca.gov/2021/10/05/governor-newsom-signs-early-childhood-legislation-highlights-transformative- investments-in-early-learning/
Governor Newsom Signs Early Childhood Legislation,
Highlights Transformative Investments in Early
Learning | California Governor
AB 1363 develops procedures to identify and report data on dual-language learners at state preschools, and SB 393 improves access to child care for migrant agricultural workers by aligning voucher…
www.gov.ca.gov
“The California Comeback Plan includes investments to transform public schools into gateways of opportunity. As part of the Governor’s $123.9 billion Pre-K and K-12 education package, California will provide free, high-quality, inclusive pre-kindergarten for all four-year-olds, beginning in 2022-23 with full implementation anticipated by 2025-

26. The plan also reduces class sizes, cutting adult-to-child ratios in half with at least an average of 1 adult for every 12 children, down from one for every 24 children.”
CUSD will add one grade to each elementary school to provide free PreK for all four-year-olds; if kids attend PreK, it is very likely that they will attend the same elementary school. The enrollment in CUSD schools will potentially increase by ~20%.

SB9 and SB10 (high-dense living, signed into law on September 16, 2021) and Proposition 19 (inheriting property from parents, approved in Nov 2020) will increase school enrollment as well.

CUSD’s decision on school closure is based on the old enrollment projection, which was conducted before the above legislations took effect; and the new legislations weren't considered at all when the decision was made.

If Meyerholz is closed, CUSD will have the largest enrollment compared to all neighboring school districts, and young pupils will need to cross dangerous intersections like Bollinger to get to school.

So we're strongly urging all the board members to revoke the CUSD Resolution No. 21-22-07. and start a motion to revote!
Closing Meyerholz and all other NBH schools will have a long lasting negative impact on the community members, especially young pupils, so please listen to the community's voice and do the right thing!
Please put my email in public record.

Thank you!
Wei
From: makshum
To: City Council; City Clerk
Subject: Letter Request for Public Record
Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 4:18:19 PM
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.

Dear The Honorable Cupertino City Council Members,
Thank you for considering the impact of school closure on our community including traffic congestion and the safety of children in over-crowded school facilities.

Please request on behalf of the City to CUSD and ask them to reconsider their decision.

CUSD's financial situation has improved and the need for school closure should be re- evaluated.

Thank you,
Karen Shum & Ernest Mak
(Cupertino residents since 2006; parents of children attending Eaton elementary and Lawson middle school)
From: Jie Xun
To: City Council; City Clerk
Subject: Please revoke school closures!
Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 4:20:48 PM
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.

Dear Sir/Madam,
I'm from the Meyerholz neighborhood. Please add my email to the public record.

I'm writing to strongly urge you to revoke school closures in CUSD.

As residents in CUSD, we are helpless and hopeless without your help. We paid very high tax to live in CUSD primarily for the education. We've tried everything we could to save our schools. But the heartless board members and the Superintendent don't want to hear our voices. I use OUR here because I'm not the only one who's fighting. We have hundreds of Meyerholz residents here that don't want our schools to be closed. They may not have time to email or make a public comment today.

Closing schools is not the only solution. It's going to bring very bad influence to the community. If you do care about our kids, care about the future of Cupertino, Please, please help us to stop closing schools!
Thank you!
Hundreds of residents from wechat group "Meyerholz Home Owner" From: Amy Xie
To: [email protected]; City Clerk
Subject: Please help stop closing Cupertino schools
Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 4:23:19 PM
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.

Dear City Council Members,
Since 2020, the Cupertino School district has made decisions regardless of hundreds and thousands of objections from parents, community and children, to close multiple schools. The school district quoted the following reasons to support their decisions, whereas all of them are groundless:

1. Deficit: turned out to be the school district has $45 millions of surplus;

2. Declining enrollment: the fact is that the CUSD schools are the most crowded compared to neighboring city schools;

3. saving costs: the fact is that the district will not save much from closing schools as the class size at each closed school is already at the upper limit for maximum.

I strongly urge Cupertino city to step up to represent our voters to say no to the school district's decision.

Calling for no closing schools are based on the following:

1. Crowded schools cause negligence to kids' development and education. Studies show that small sized schools are better for kids mental and emotional health. It has been a trend for moden educators to advocate smaller sized schools to help kids develop individualized and personalized growth paths. An example of this belief iis in: https://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/school-size/

2. Neighborhood schools help connect communities. The decision CUSD made moved kids out of their own neighborhood to cluster in large schools far away. This not only creates local traffic but also increases the time kids spend commuting, which can be invested more wisely on other activities; increases risk for traffic accidents and makes it less likely for kids to make friends in school that they can hang out with after the class.

3. Under the current covid situation, it is definitely better to have smaller sized schools as a defense for spreading of the virus. This will also help prevent spreading of future potential outbreak of virus.

4. Our neighborhood is heavily populated with senior residents, which leads to short-term declines in certain schools. However, this will not be a permanent fact pattern as the younger generation will eventually move in. It takes years for a neighborhood school to be established but only a stupid decision to tear it down over one night. These schools are there because of the education needs from the community. When younger generations move in, when this needs ramps up, we will not have schools to serve and schools take years to build.

In sum, please stand together with thousands of the Cupertino voters to say no to CUSD decision to close schools.

Please put my email in public record.

Thanks!
Helen
From: Yung Chen
To: City Council; City Clerk
Cc: Yung Chen
Subject: Please revoke school closures!
Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 4:26:00 PM
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.

Dear Sir/Madam,
I'm from the Meyerholz neighborhood. Please add my email to the public record.

I'm writing to strongly urge you to revoke school closures in CUSD.

As residents in CUSD, we are helpless and hopeless without your help. We paid very high tax to live in CUSD primarily for the education. We've tried everything we could to save our schools. But the heartless board members and the Superintendent don't want to hear our voices. I use OUR here because I'm not the only one who's fighting. We have hundreds of Meyerholz residents here that don't want our schools to be closed. They may not have time to email or make a public comment today.

Closing schools is not the only solution. It's going to bring very bad influence to the community. If you do care about our kids, care about the future of Cupertino, Please, please help us to stop closing schools! Thank you!
Hundreds of residents from wechat group "Meyerholz Home Owner" From: Leon Zhu
To: City Council; City Clerk
Subject: Don"t close any CUSD schools!
Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 4:27:34 PM
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.

Hi Cupertino Councils,
It is wrong to let the CUSD board close any school. We haven't closed any schools for forty years.

Their enrollment projection is old and not considering the new universal pre-kindergarten (UPK) program; their financial projection is old and not considering the new funding from the CA and CUSD have $45million balance this year.

School closure should NOT be a rushed decision; it should not be based on the old enrollment and financial projection. Many housing projects around here and enrollment will surely go up! We cannot let our kids to play in overcrowded schools Please put my email in public record
Leon
From: Jie Xun
To: City Clerk
Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 4:29:01 PM
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.

Dear Sir/Madam,

I'm from the Meyerholz neighborhood. Please add my email to the public record.

I'm writing to strongly urge you to revoke school closures in CUSD.

As residents in CUSD, we are helpless and hopeless without your help. We paid very high tax to live in CUSD primarily for the education. We've tried everything we could to save our schools. But the heartless board members and the Superintendent don't want to hear our voices. I use OUR here because I'm not the only one who's fighting. We have hundreds of Meyerholz residents here that don't want our schools to be closed. They may not have time to email or make a public comment today.

Closing schools is not the only solution. It's going to bring very bad influence to the community. If you do care about our kids, care about the future of Cupertino, Please, please help us to stop closing schools!
Thank you!

Hundreds of residents from wechat group "Meyerholz Home Owner"

Sent from Mail for Windows

From: Alan Tsui
To: City Clerk; Alan Tsui
Subject: request to the CUSD board for reconsidering school closures Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 4:30:34 PM
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.

Hi Officer,
We agreed NOT to close schools (Regnart, Meyerholz, Muir) because they are good schools and have high ranking on usnews.com. If closure is unavoidable, the low ranking schools (blue hill) should be closed.

Thanks
Alan
From: Yan Yu
To: City Council; City Clerk
Subject: Please do NOT close CUSD schools
Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 4:31:14 PM
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.

Dear city council and city managers,
please do not close any CUSD schools. I would like to keep this email in public record.

Thanks!
yan
Sent from my iPhone
From: huang Amanda
To: City Clerk; City Council
Subject: Cusd
Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 4:31:15 PM
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.

Dear Cupertino City Council,
As a CUSD parent, I strongly urge city to reach out to CUSD asking them to reconsider their school closure decision last year.

Please put my email in public record.

Get Outlook for iOS
From: Shi Cheng
To: City Council
Cc: City Clerk
Subject: Re: Public comment for Agenda Item #12
Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 4:31:25 PM
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.

Dear mayor, vice mayor and city councils,
Please help save our neighborhood schools. Please help to request CUSD reconsider the decision. It is ridiculous that how early they set Los Altos, Saratoga and Santa Clara schools out of the discussion for closing. The message was address by former superintendent a few years ago, simply because they were the single school of CUSD located in their city. I am not sure if this is reasonable and there are all kinds of conflict of interest from our CUSD board members.

Please help them to make right decisions.

Regnart parent
On Tue, Mar 15, 2022 at 3:07 PM frances hu <[email protected] > wrote:

Dear Mayor Paul, Vice Mayor Zhao and all city councils:

Thank you for your consideration of issuing a request to the CUSD board for reconsideration of the future closure of Regnart and other CUSD schools, We Regnart parents here truly appreciate your effort!
As a CUSD parent and long-term resident of city of Cupertino, I can't agree more with Tracy's comments. CUSD has abused Cupertino taxpayer's money by closing Regnart while $$supporting schools in Los Altos and Saratoga, though Cupertino residents account for over 50% of CUSD voter and funding base. CUSD's redirection of enrollment and resources elsewhere is total discrimination against city of Cupertino schools and violation of educational equity rights of our children and our families.

In addition, packing the Lincoln Elementary with more Regnart students would create more traffic burden on some of our city's already overcrowded roads at peak time, and bring more traffic safety concerns to our children, our families, and our community. It is painful to hear of students sitting on the floor at lunch because there aren't enough benches for them to sit on. It is painful to hear that schools must have staggered lunches, and students can't even socialize with other grade levels because the school is too crowded.

It is even more painful for parents to worry everyday about the safety of their children while on the roads/parking lots next to their school. We, Cupertino taxpayers, deserve better school environment for our children and our community.

A safe, great NHS is one of the most valuable assets of our city, and one of the major reasons for families to move and live here. For the sake of our city and our children/families, pls take immediate action to save Regnart, the long-term beloved NHS for Cupertino families and residents! Many thanks.

All the best,
Frances
From: CUSD Parent <[email protected]>
Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022
Subject: Public comment for Agenda Item #12
To: [email protected]
Cc: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, Fang Liu <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, Jimmy Zhang <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, Amy Pang <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, Benjamin Lu <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, Zuoping Cai <[email protected]>, cusd parents <[email protected]>, Jimmy Zhang <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, Kevin Yang <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, Kelly Tong <[email protected]>, Nirupama <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, Bing Liu <[email protected]> Dear City Council,
Below is my public comment for agenda item #12. I will raise my hand during that period to speak.
__________________________________
Thank you Cupertino city councilmembers for urging CUSD to keep Regnart OPEN.

I speak to you as a Cupertino taxpayer. We have put in countless dollars to CUSD for parcel and bond measures. We are tired of seeing tax dollars siphoned out of Cupertino, to go to schools in other cities.

What happened with Bond Measure H? Per
http://cusdbond.org/AR2021/byelementary.html, CUSD spent a total of $210M, including
- $6M to renovate Regnart, which it voted to close
- $7M to renovate Meyerholz, which it voted to close
- $5M to renovate Dilworth, which was considered for closure - $8M to renovate Lincoln, which was considered for closure - $9M to renovate Stevens Creek Elementary, which was considered for closure Did we pay to fix up Regnart, just so it could be sold to a private school? Our taxpayer dollars are not meant to help create an attractive portfolio of "lease sites" for CUSD. They are meant to create better learning and educational environments for our students.

If we, the taxpayers, had known that we were paying hard-earned money to renovate schools that would either be sold or considered for closure, we would not have supported this ballot measure. To hear CUSD to ask for even more bond funding after closing our schools simply adds insult to injury.

In an email obtained via PRA request, the CUSD board named Saratoga and Los Altos schools as “anchor schools”. What does that make Cupertino schools? Second-tier? Did we pay so much in taxes to hear CUSD insist that Los Altos and Saratoga “ballot support” is important, while they ignore the entire city of Cupertino, over half of its voter and funding base?
We, the residents of Cupertino, refuse to put more into a system that not only takes our money for little return, but subsequently PENALIZES us by closing our schools and redirecting our enrollment and resources elsewhere.

We, the taxpayers, paid for better schools -- not to have children crammed into overcrowded schools. It is painful to hear of students sitting on the floor at lunch because there aren't enough benches for them to sit on. It is painful to hear about the bumper-to-bumper traffic in front of schools that is about to worsen. It is painful to hear that schools must have staggered lunches, and can't even socialize with other grade levels because the school is too crowded.

This is, quite frankly, a worse educational experience than the one I grew up with in CUSD 20-30 years ago.

Cupertino City Council, we thank you for your efforts tonight in helping to keep Regnart open.
__________________________________
Many thanks,
Tracy
From: Liu Rui
To: City Council; City Clerk
Subject: Plead to request CUSD board to reconsider closure of Regnart and Meyerholz elementary schools Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 4:32:51 PM
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.

Dear city council,
As an elementary student's parent of CUSD, I plead with you to issue a request to CUSD to reconsider the decision to close Regnart and Meyerholz elementary schools.

Thank you!
Best, Rui
P.S.

Please put my email in public record
From: Alan Tsui
To: City Clerk; Alan Tsui
Subject: Re: request to the CUSD board for reconsidering school closures Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 4:35:44 PM
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.

Hi Officer,.

We agreed NOT to close schools (Regnart, Meyerholz, Muir) because they are good schools and have high ranking on usnews.com. If closure is unavoidable, the low ranking schools (blue hill) should be closed..

Thanks.

Alan.

On Tue, Mar 15, 2022 at 4:30 PM Alan Tsui <[email protected]> wrote:

Hi Officer,
We agreed NOT to close schools (Regnart, Meyerholz, Muir) because they are good schools and have high ranking on usnews.com. If closure is unavoidable, the low ranking schools (blue hill) should be closed.

Thanks
Alan
From: 邓超
To: City Council; City Clerk
Subject: oppose closing schools in CUSD
Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 4:40:57 PM
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.

Dear council members,
I strongly oppose closing schools in CUSD. Some board members used insufficient financial resources as an excuse to propose closing schools like Meyerholz. However, based on the public figures, we do not see a financial problem with schools in CUSD. In addition, the proposal is premature and completely ignores other potential issues like traffic, and children's safety, Therefore I am strongly against closing schools in CUSD. Thank you for your time.

Please put my email in the public record.

Best,
Chao
From: frances hu
To: City Clerk
Subject: Re: my written comments for item #12
Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 10:39:46 PM
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.

I fully support city council to send official letter to request CUSD to reconsider the school closure decision.

The CUSD financials today is totally different from the Oct. 14th when CUSD voted to close REgnart and other CUSD school. As CUSD move to basic aid school district starting next school year, the decline of enrollment would not have any impact of the total funding from state. So the cited reasons for CUSD board to close Regnart and other CUSD school, ongoing budget shprtfalls and decline enrollment, are no longer valid today.

While closing Regnart, CUSD has allocated a lot of funding and resources to school outside of Cupertino, such as CLIP in WSJ and BH in Saratoga, this is terrible abuse of Cupertino taxpayer' money. in addition, CUSD's redirection of REgnart enrollment and resources to schools out of Cupertino is total discrimination of Cupertino city school, and violation of educational equity rights of our children and our family.

Pls take immediate action to stop CUSD to close our beloved NHS Regnart!!! From: Joseph Fruen
To: Cupertino City Manager"s Office; Kirsten Squarcia; City Clerk; Darcy Paul; Kitty Moore; Liang Chao; Jon Robert Willey; Hung Wei
Subject: RE: Item 12 - Proposed Letter to CUSD Board re the Closure of Regnart and Meyerholz Elementary Schools Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 9:52:08 PM
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Mayor Paul and Councilmembers:

I write to you this evening to highlight a number of inaccuracies in the letter the Vice-Mayor has proposed for your consideration.

In particular, as someone who sat on the Superintendent's Citizens Advisory Committee in 2020 ("2020 CAC"), I was very surprised to read the series of assertions that the Vice-Mayor makes at page 2 of the proposed letter. These claims appear to ignore all of the work that the 2020 CAC performed. I address each assertion in turn based both on publicly available materials and my personal knowledge from having served on the 2020 CAC:

The Vice-Mayor writes that the District "did not did not fully consider alternatives outlined in the Best Practice Guide to ensure that school closure is the last resort." On the contrary, by the time our CAC had formed, our purpose was to pick up where a 2017 CAC left off after its recommended strategies failed to resolve the District's enrollment-related budget concerns, and in respose to the Board's intervening "Listening Sessions." The 2020 CAC's initial meetings consisted of a deep examination of enrollment trends, the District's budget, and prior efforts at addressing enrollment and budget trends. The 2020 CAC also examined the feedback from the Board's Listening Sessions. The materials the 2020 CAC received were available for public inspection. Only after reviewing all of this information did the 2020 CAC proceed to look at school consolidation or closure as means for closing the District's projected budget gap. This was an especially emotional and difficult point for the 2020 CAC members.

The Vice-Mayor writes that the District "did not assess and compare the various costs associated with consolidating schools with the savings in the operating cost of one school ($400,000)." This claim is inaccurate. The 2020 CAC looked specifically at the cost of running schools in its examination of the budget. It did so both as a whole and in smaller working grouops. Indeed, it had to examine such costs in order to be able to present coherent closure and consolidation plans at the conclusion of its mandate. The 2020 CAC looked at a variety of different closure scenarios involving a variable number of school sites prior to presenting them to the Board and the public on October 22, 2020 for examination and comment.

The Vice-Mayor writes that the District "did not fairly assess enrollment trends of all schools under consideration." The 2020 CAC looked at the enrollment trends at all sites. Equity, including geographical equity, was an agreed-upon guiding criterion for evaluating each site.

To the extent that the Vice-Mayor intends this statement to mean that the 2020 CAC itself was not fair, then I direct Council to review the District's letter, submitted today via email from Nancy Mak, on how the 2020 CAC was formed. Members were chosen by a third-party neutral facilitator with successive vetting by a retired judge in order to ensure that members could take a fair-minded approach and that they would represent a wide assortment of interests in the District--interests that the Education Code suggests for a District Advisory Committee for school closures and the disposition of surplus property. The approach was modeled on a similar CAC constituted by the Fremont Union High School District to address enrollment concerns affecting Lynbrook High School. The Lynbrook enrollment CAC is largely regarded as a success. It is hard to see how a fairer process could have been created for constituting the 2020 CAC.

The Vice-Mayor writes that the District "did not gather facts to disclose assignment strategies causing enrollment declines in some schools and increases in other neighboring schools." The Vice-Mayor is mistaken. The 2020 CAC examined the history of enrollment trends at all schools, as well as the District's policies that influenced enrollment both district-wide and on a site-specific basis.

The Vice-Mayor writes that the District "did not take into account the temporary effect of the pandemic." The 2020 CAC received data that relied primarily on pre-COVID-19 trends. CAC members raised the issue of the pandemic's impact and were informed that the data in projections assumed that the pandemic's impact would be temporary.

The Vice-Mayor writes that the District "did not consider the adverse educational impacts of larger elementary schools." The 2020 CAC was given direction on ideal school sizes developed by the Board and District staff in relation to both large schools and small schools.

The Board engaged in that process in 2018-2019 and established a target of a minimum of three kindergarten classes per school. The 2020 CAC worked to stay within those parameters.

As such, the District did consider the adverse education impact presented by school sizes.

The Vice-Mayor writes that the District "did not consider the regional trends to smaller schools with smaller classes." The 2020 CAC examined regional enrollment trends, especially regional declines in enrollment as part of its process. This issue arose multiple times, including in discussions of opening enrollment to people living outside the District.

The Vice-Mayor writes that the District "did not take into account the effect on enrollment of significant housing-production mandates being adopted by every city government." Multiple members of the 2020 CAC raised the issue of 6th Cycle RHNA requirements and the fact that each city in the District's jurisdiction would have to undertake an update of its Housing Element. As such, the District did examine the potential for new enrollment associated with new housing.

In addition to these points that are internal to the 2020 CAC process, contrary to the Vice- Mayor's claim, did consider traffic impacts as part of its process, as noted in the materials for the Board's September 9, 2021 materials. I would also add that the Board considered the budget over 30 times from August 2019 leading up to the October 2021 decision to close and consolidate schools, as noted in the District's CUSD Timeline of Historical Resources: Board Meeting Agendas (Items) and Recordings. The Board separately considered enrollment an additional 22 times during that period. It is therefore very hard to conclude, as the Vice-Mayor does, that the District "did not fully consider the improved conditions of the School District finances to evaluate the necessity of school closure." If the city, speaking through the council had wanted to voice most of the concerns in the Vice-Mayor's letter, any one of those meetings would have provided a suitable forum rather than transmitting this letter now, after a decision has already been made and many people have made important personal and financial decisions relying on that decision.

I understand the desire to give voice to the deep feelings of residents and community members who are losing their neighborhood schools. All of us who served on the 2020 CAC experienced those feelings. I think it's a tragedy that even a single school would have to close.

However, before you consider sending any letter to the CUSD Board, I would ask that you carefully vet each of the claims it presents as those in the Vice-Mayor's proposed letter find no support in the record. Aiding the community and the District in this difficult moment requires reliance on accurate information. The Vice-Mayor's letter--in its current form--does not pass that test.

Many thanks for your consideration,
J.R. Fruen
Cupertino resident
From: Jingjun Shu
To: City Clerk; City Council
Subject: Re: 3/15 City Council Meeting: Agenda Item #12 (CUSD) Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 9:40:18 PM
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Please put my email in public record. Thank you!
Joan
On Tue, Mar 15, 2022 at 6:53 PM Jingjun Shu <[email protected]> wrote:

Dear Honorable City Council,
My son is a 5th grader at Meyerholz. According to the school's bell schedule (attached below), there is a total of EIGHT(8) lunch bells. To accommodate the large student body, the students are divided into 4 lunch groups, stacked with distinct start and end bells. To work around the inappropriately large number of lunch bells, Meyerholz limits breaks, so the students stay inside for 2 hours straight, 3 times a day.

The campus also has an alarmingly large number of portable classrooms.

Our school, and most of the schools within CUSD are already too crowded, and the infrastructure of most campuses can't hold more than 500 students. Closing schools make this matter worse.

Please treat our young students with respect and dignity. Thank you.

Joan
From: Deyun Han
To: City Clerk
Subject: Public comments topic #12 March 15 City Coucil Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 9:12:44 PM
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Dear Cupertino City Council,
Below is my public comment for agenda item #12. We request CUSD to reconsider the closure of Regart. There are many concerns from the closure of school that have not been properly addressed. For example, one concern is that the closure of Regnart will make the Lincoln area terrible traffic even worse.

Please make my comments public.

Thanks,
Deyun
From: Howard Huang, Resident
To: City Clerk
Subject: Fwd: Public comment, Agenda Item 12., “Consider issuing a request to the CUSD Board for reconsideration of the future closures of Regnart and Meyerholz Elementary Schools” Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 8:58:24 PM
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I sent this last night but it doesn't appear to have been added to the written communications.

Please add it to the public record.

Thanks,
Howard Huang
CUSD Parent
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Howard Huang, Resident <[email protected] >
Date: Mon, Mar 14, 2022 at 11:53 PM
Subject: Public comment, Agenda Item 12., “Consider issuing a request to the CUSD Board for reconsideration of the future closures of Regnart and Meyerholz Elementary Schools” To: <[email protected]
>
Cc: [email protected] <[email protected]>, Stacy Yao <[email protected]>, <[email protected]>
Please add my comment to the public record for Agenda Item 12 Dear Mayor Paul and Cupertino City Council,
As a CUSD parent, Regarding Item 12., “Consider issuing a request to the CUSD Board for reconsideration of the future closures of Regnart and Meyerholz Elementary Schools,” I urge you to decline to issue the request and instead meet with the district staff and Superintendent Yao to become educated on the facts of why the decision was made. I am concerned that the City of Cupertino is taking an adversarial position in this matter by sending this letter that does not rely on unbiased information from the district and having the Staff Report issued from the “City Attorney’s Office.”
I also encourage you to read the district’s FAQ page that addresses much of the speculation that has been stated on social media and Google groups, here
(there is also a link on the district’s
homepage).

For example, it has been repeatedly claimed that over 100 students are on a waitlist for Regnart, usually leaving out what grades. However, when looking at the district’s FAQ, one sees that this year (2021-2022) some grades only had 7 or 8 waitlisted students, which is obviously not sufficient to open another class when normal classes are 24 or 33 students.

Another important point is in regards to the cost of running a school, which is $1.34M per the FAQ, a substantial amount.

You have previously received my communication regarding average CUSD elementary school sizes and the errors stated at that time. Again, elementary school enrollment this year is 8943 students (https://www.cusdk8.org/Page/8733
), and assuming enrollment doesn’t decline next year the average school size will be < 500 students per school (8943 / 18 schools). It is important to note that class sizes are not changing.

Regarding community involvement and a 7-11 committee, it is important to note that the district did have multiple Citizens Advisory Committees over the years, each with more than 7 to 11 committee members (the members of the 2020 CAC are listed here https://www.cusdk8.org/Page/8878, and the group is described here https://www.cusdk8.org/domain/3718). In my mind, they involved more members of the public than a 7-11 committee would have required.

As far as the budget is concerned, I don’t think the district and board should be faulted for increasing reserves and pulling levers to improve future finances.

Please also remember that it is important to invest limited resources in people, not buildings.

Thank you for considering my thoughts regarding this important matter.

Regards,
Howard Huang
CUSD Parent
From: Lijian Liu
To: City Clerk
Subject: Public comment on topic #12 on March 15 City Council Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 8:50:15 PM
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Dear Cupertino City Council,
We don't agree with CUSD to close Regnart. We bought our house in Cupertino because of the excellent school district. The closure of the excellent schools will create such a huge damage to the community and make parents lose their confidence in the school district.

Eventually the closure of school will hurt the image of Cupertino schools.

Please help to request CUSD to reconsider the closure of school.

Thank you!
Lijian Liu
From: Jingjun Shu
To: City Clerk; City Council
Subject: 3/15 City Council Meeting: Agenda Item #12 (CUSD) Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 6:54:18 PM
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.

Dear Honorable City Council,
My son is a 5th grader at Meyerholz. According to the school's bell schedule (attached below), there is a total of EIGHT(8) lunch bells. To accommodate the large student body, the students are divided into 4 lunch groups, stacked with distinct start and end bells. To work around the inappropriately large number of lunch bells, Meyerholz limits breaks, so the students stay inside for 2 hours straight, 3 times a day.

The campus also has an alarmingly large number of portable classrooms.

Our school, and most of the schools within CUSD are already too crowded, and the infrastructure of most campuses can't hold more than 500 students. Closing schools make this matter worse.

Please treat our young students with respect and dignity. Thank you.

Joan
From: Aegean Lee
To: City Council; City Clerk
Subject: Cupertino Unit School District is going off the education path - Parents and Children are suffering their crazy power
Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 6:45:42 PM
Attachments: Meyerholz_enrollment.png
alt_enrollment2.png
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Dear Cupertino council members,
Our San Jose Meyerholz neighborhood community members are requesting for a special board meeting for school closure revote.

CUSD is on a downward spiral if we don’t act NOW!
• More families will choose other districts with smaller schools and smaller classes. • More families will choose private schools which value customer feedback. • More neighborhood schools will be closed since these three recallees treat schools as valuable real estate to sell / lease
• More families will leave CUSD as decisions are dominated by these three recallees who put student learning and wellbeing LAST
• Future parcel tax and bond measures will fail since the CUSD school board has lost voters’ confidence.

CUSD did not conduct the open 7-11 committee BEFORE the decisions were made on school closures, as done in most other school districts and is the intent of the Education Code.

Decisions were made without sufficient transparency and community engagement while leaving many unanswered questions on potential favoritism or backroom deals.

The two highly arguable/debatable reasons for closing Meyerholz are low enrollment and CUSD's financial status. However, the two originally highly debatable reasons became completely unfounded and groundless.

1. Financial Status:
1) CUSD holds a $45 Million budget surplus which is the highest in Santa Clara. 2) The five-year projection shows CUSD's projected fund ending balance for 2025-2026 is at $72M.

Now CUSD's Financial Status is healthier than ever. There are no funding issues at all!

2. Low Enrollment:
1) CUSD focuses on Alternative schools and Alternative schools draw attendance from NBH schools like Meyerholz. Three of four alternative schools in CUSD are in West San Jose. 2) CUSD helped Montclaire and Blue Hills stabilize their enrollments, and these efforts started in 2017. However, CUSD has not provided any support to Meyerholz to stabilize enrollment, and in fact, some of the Meyerholz neighborhood students were turned away and overflowed to other schools.

These are the enrollment of each school and Meyerholz enrollment since 2016.

3) Why enrollment is no longer an issue
New Legislations are not taken under consideration, which will lead to a positive impact on the enrollment issue.

AB-130 was signed by Governor Newsom on Oct 5, 2021:
https://www.gov.ca.gov/2021/10/05/governor-newsom-signs-early-childhood-legislation- highlights-transformative-investments-in-early-learning/ “The California Comeback Plan includes investments to transform public schools into gateways of opportunity. As part of the Governor’s $123.9 billion Pre-K and K-12 education package, California will provide free, high-quality, inclusive pre-kindergarten for all four- year-olds, beginning in 2022-23 with full implementation anticipated by 2025-26. The plan also reduces class sizes, cutting adult-to-child ratios in half with at least an average of 1 adult for every 12 children, down from one for every 24 children.” CUSD will add one grade to each elementary school to provide free PreK for all four-year- olds; if kids attend PreK, it is very likely that they will attend the same elementary school. The enrollment in CUSD schools will potentially increase by ~20%.

SB9 and SB10 (high-dense living, signed into law on September 16, 2021) and Proposition 19 (inheriting property from parents, approved in Nov 2020) will increase school enrollment as well. CUSD’s decision on school closure is based on the old enrollment projection, which was conducted before the above legislations took effect; and the new legislations weren't considered at all when the decision was made.

If Meyerholz is closed, CUSD will have the largest enrollment compared to all neighboring school districts. Three West San Jose school kids will be packed in one campus. Every child deserves a good and equal learning environment.

So, we're strongly urging all the board members to revoke the CUSD Resolution No. 21-22-

07. and start a motion to revote! Closing Meyerholz and all other NBH schools will have a long-lasting negative impact on the community members, especially young pupils, so please listen to the community's voice and do the right thing! Please put my email in public record
Thank you
Aegean
From: Punam Verma
To: City Council; City Clerk
Subject: Fwd: Public Comment - Agenda Item #12 of March 15 Council Meeting Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 6:33:57 PM
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Could you please add my forwarded email as well to public comments for agenda item #12 Thank you.

Punam
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Punam Verma <[email protected]>
Date: Tue, Mar 15, 2022 at 4:15 PM
Subject: Public Comment - Agenda Item #12 of March 15 Council Meeting To: <[email protected]
>
Dear City Council members,
Thank you for listening to our concerns, and asking CUSD to reconsider the closing of Regnart Elementary school.

CUSD's decision to close Regnart Elementary has been very disheartening. The school is being closed for no justified reason. The financials of CUSD are in great shape, which do not require any school to be closed in the district. Regnart elementary is one of the best elementary schools in California, ranked 8th in schooldigger.com. In fact not just the parents in our neighborhood, but also parents from outside want to send their kids to Regnart through open-enrollment. However, in the last two years, CUSD has for some unexplained reason denied enrollment to many kids wanting to enroll in Regnart Elementary. And, then the board made low enrollment as the reason to close Regnart. And, on top of that they decided to not close a school that had lower enrollment than Regnart Elementary, and worse infrastructure.

The motivation of most young families to move to Cupertino are good schools in a friendly neighborhood. We are paying high taxes so that our kids get a good school environment.

However, over-crowded schools and playgrounds, scenes of kids not having enough lunch tables, traffic safety issues around the school will discourage new families to move into Cupertino. School closure will definitely lead to decreasing enrollment in our city.

The CUSD board has been making decisions based on favoritism rather than facts. The board did not care for our community, and ignored hundreds of our requests and pleas to not close the school. Their wrong decision is going to impact our kids and our City. Our kids need our neighborhood school. We would like our City leaders to stand with us and fight this unjustified closure of Regnart Elementary school.

Thank you.

Punam Verma

From: Marieann Shovlin
To: City Clerk; Darcy Paul; Cupertino City Manager"s Office; City Council Subject: Comments on March 15, 2022 Agenda Item 22-10586 Request to CUSD Board Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 6:30:53 PM
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Re Agenda Item 22-10586
The comments specifying the objections to the CUSD School Board decision do not appear to be verified by actual events, meetings and CUSD investigations and decisions. Based on the inaccurate information in the letter, I would strongly object to having the School Board mandated to review their decision.

There were meetings held, discussions held with city residents and resulting difficult decisions made last year. The list of obections was addressed last year. Revisiting this situation will not change the financial and demographic facts. It is past time to face the facts and accept the consequences of changes in populations.

Marieann Shovlin
10277 Vista Knoll Blvd
Cupertino, CA
From: Liana Crabtree
To: Darcy Paul; Liang Chao; Kitty Moore; Hung Wei; Jon Robert Willey Cc: City Clerk; City Attorney"s Office; Cupertino City Manager"s Office Subject: written communication for the 3/15/2022 Council Meeting, Agenda Item 13, Chamber Services Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 6:07:36 PM
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Honorable Mayor Paul, Vice Mayor Chao, Council Members Moore, Wei, and Willey:

Please include my letter as part of public comment for the 3/15/2022 Council meeting, Agenda Item 13, "Consider report on Chamber services and payment ending 12/20/2021 and approval of Accounts Payable report".

Here are my comments and questions which I hope can be addressed as part of this evening's discussion for Agenda Item 13:
1) The Staff Report states "Only 4 out of the 10 cities surveyed have a formal agreement in place (with local Chamber of Commerce organizations)", where Cupertino is not represented in the survey findings. It seems that of the six (6) cities without formal agreements (contracts?), four (4) cities have Chamber expenses that are limited to membership fees and total $1,000 or less per year, one (1) city has a lease agreement in lieu of a "formal agreement", and only one (1) city other than Cupertino has annual payments or fees exceeding $10,000 without also holding formal agreements with the respective Chamber organizations. 2) Does a Memorandum of Understanding (referenced on p 4 of the Staff Report) have the same legal authority as any other binding contract held by the City and a third-party service provider? Who signs a Memorandum of Understanding of behalf of the City and who is accountable in the event of a dispute? 3) From the City archive: CC Resolution 19-080 Accounts Payable, April 5, 2019, Item Number 719962, Payable to CUPERTINO CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, "logo, website hosting, database subscription, website design" account payable for transaction amount $25,215.47.

What service did the Chamber provide for this fee? Was there a formal agreement approved by Council and signed by the Mayor for the services provided by the Chamber for the City?
4) The ilovecupertino.com
website advertises the Cupertino e-gift card that can be purchased via a link at the website, then redeemed at local businesses. The list of participating businesses looks terrific, but seems short--just 12 businesses total (https://app.yiftee.com/gift-card/cupertino/locations
). Could someone speak to how
the businesses are recruited to participate in the e-gift card program? For example, are participating businesses required to be current members of the Cupertino Chamber of Commerce? It seems that the City and its residents would have interest in seeing all businesses able to participate in the e-gift card program, whereas the Cupertino Chamber of Commerce might have interest in limiting participation to only its member businesses.

Thank you for your consideration of Agenda Item 13.

Sincerely,
Liana Crabtree
Cupertino resident
From: Jingjun Shu
To: City Council
Cc: City Clerk
Subject: 3/15 City Council Meeting: Agenda Item #12 (CUSD) Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 5:41:41 PM
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Dear Honorable City Council,
I have been a member of CUSD community for over 20 years. CUSD's decision to close Regnart and Meyerholz is unlawful, unethical and groundless. The decision should be revoked. The board members failed to serve the CUSD community, and I support the recall of Trustee Phyllis Vogel and Trustee Lori Cunningham.

Please put my email in public record. Thank you!
Joan
From: Alan Tsui
To: City Clerk; Alan Tsui
Subject: request to the CUSD board for reconsidering school closures with usnews.com ranking Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 5:01:12 PM
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Hi Officer,
We agreed NOT to close schools (Regnart, Meyerholz, Muir) because they are good schools and have high ranking on usnews.com. If closure is unavoidable, the low ranking schools (John Muir, Eaton, Blue Hill) should be closed..

Thanks.

Alan
Elementary school ranking on usnews.com
William Faria Elementary, 1.6miles
#3 in California Elementary Schools
Overall Score 99.96/100
Murdock-Portal Elementary, 3.1miles
#8 in California Elementary Schools
Overall Score 99.87/100
R. I. Meyerholz Elementary, 1.8miles
#52 in California Elementary Schools
Overall Score 99.08/100
Nelson S. Dilworth Elementary, 3.1miles
#66 in California Elementary Schools
Overall Score 98.83/100
L. P. Collins Elementary, 2.7miles
#85 in California Elementary Schools
Overall Score 98.48/100
William Regnart Elementary
#114 in California Elementary Schools
Overall Score 97.96/100
Stevens Creek Elementary, 3.9miles
#157 in California Elementary Schools
Overall Score 97.18/100
Abraham Lincoln Elementary, 1.8miles
#160 in California Elementary Schools
Overall Score 97.09/100
Garden Gate Elementary
#168 in California Elementary Schools
Overall Score 96.98/100
Louis E. Stocklmeir Elementary
#172 in California Elementary Schools
Overall Score 96.91/100
Montclaire Elementary
#192 in California Elementary Schools
Overall Score 96.53/100
John Muir Elementary
#215 in California Elementary Schools
Overall Score 96.08/100
C. B. Eaton Elementary
#374 in California Elementary Schools
Overall Score 93.26/100
Blue Hills Elementary
#422 in California Elementary Schools
Overall Score 92.39/100
From: yuxia sheng
To: City Council
Subject: Comment for item 12 on 3/15/2022 agenda: Please Save Regnart Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 3:58:40 PM
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Dear Sir/Madam,
My name is Yuxia Sheng, I live at Elmsford Drive, Cupertino. I have a comment for item 12 of 3/15/2022 agenda:

Please Save Regnart Elementary and DO NOT close the school! Thanks,
Yuxia
CC 03-15-2022

Item No. 14

Drone Program
Updated Attachment A

Desk Item

Small Unmanned
Aircraft System (sUAS)
Operations Policy

Citywide Policy Manual
Policy #
Attachments:

Effective Date:

Responsible Department:

Innovation Technology
Related Policies & Notes:

FAA 14 CFR Part 107 (Part 107)
California Civil Code 1708.8

Purpose
The purpose of this policy is to establish guidelines for the use of a small unmanned aerial system (sUAS) for City of Cupertino services and for the storage, retrieval and dissemination of images and data captured by the sUAS.

Definitions
As provided by the FAA, definitions related to this policy include:

Unmanned aircraft ‐  an aircraft operated without the possibility of direct human intervention from within or on the aircraft.

Small  unmanned  aircraft ‐   an  unmanned  aircraft  weighing  less  than  55  pounds  on  takeoff, including everything that is on board or otherwise attached to the aircraft.

Small unmanned aircraft system (“small UAS” or “sUAS”) ‐ a small unmanned aircraft and its associated elements (including communication links and the components that control the small unmanned aircraft) that are required for the safe and efficient operation of the small unmanned aircraft in the national airspace system.

Policy
Within the parameters of the public’s privacy interest set forth below, Small Unmanned aircraft systems  may  be  utilized  to  enhance  the  City’s  mission  to  provide  exceptional  service  including providing public services and protecting lives and property when other means and resources are not available or are less effective.

The City’s sUAS program will operate under 14 CFR Part 107 (Part 107), which are the FAA rules for small unmanned aircraft systems, or “drone,” operations covering a broad spectrum of commercial, and government uses for drones weighing less than 55 pounds. When a mission requires operating a drone contrary to Part 107 rules, an FAA waiver must be requested.

Any use of an sUAS will be in strict accordance with constitutional and privacy rights, California drone laws, and any local rules or ordinances.

Privacy:

The  use  of  the  sUAS  involves  privacy  considerations.  Absent  a  court  order  or  exigent circumstances, operators and observers shall not intentionally record or transmit images of any location  where  a  person  would  have  a  reasonable  expectation  of  privacy.  Operators  and observers  shall  take  reasonable  precautions  to  avoid  inadvertently recording or transmitting images of areas where there is a reasonable expectation of privacy. Reasonable precautions can include, but are not limited to,  deactivating or turning imaging devices  away  from  such  areas  or persons during sUAS operations. All operations shall be strictly within the law and regulations pertaining  to  sUAS.  Whenever  required  by  policy  or  law,  operators  will  ensure  that  the necessary permits or approvals are obtained prior to deploying the sUAS.   In the event of an inadvertent recording in violation of the foregoing, City shall, as soon as possible, destroy any such recording.

Required Training:

To obtain a level of proficiency and understanding to operate the sUAS safely and within the requirements to maintain public confidence, all operators shall complete the following training:

INITIAL TRAINING
• Acquire an FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot Certificate.
• City approved training covering program policies, authorizations, and restrictions. • Four hours of flight training with UAS instructors.

RECURRING TRAINING
• Maintain current Part 107 Remote Pilot Certificate
• Annual  review  of  City  approved  training  covering  program  policies, authorizations, and restrictions.
• Documented flight time via regular missions or exercises for at least one (1) hour every six (6) months.

Program Coordinator:

The Director  of  Innovation  and  Technology will appoint a program coordinator who will be responsible for the management of the sUAS program. The program coordinator will ensure that policies and procedures conform to current laws, regulations and best practices and will have the following additional responsibilities:
• Coordinating  the  FAA  Certificate  of  Waiver  or  Authorization  (COA)  application process and ensuring that the COA is current.
• Staying  up  to  date  with  federal,  state,  and  local  laws  and  regulations,  including those related to privacy
• Developing City approved training covering program policies, authorizations, and restrictions.
• Ensuring that all authorized operators and required observers have completed all required FAA and department‐approved training in the operation, applicable laws, policies, and procedures regarding use of the sUAS.
• Developing uniform protocol for submission and evaluation of requests to deploy a sUAS, including urgent requests made during ongoing or emerging incidents. • Developing an operational protocol governing the deployment and operation of an sUAS including, but not limited to, safety oversight, use of visual observers, flight hazard  identification,  establishment  of  lost  link  procedures  and  communication with air traffic control facilities.
• Communicating changes to sUAS program and policy to all operators. • Implementing a system for public notification of sUAS deployments. • Developing a protocol for fully documenting all flights. • Developing a sUAS inspection, maintenance, and record‐keeping protocol to ensure continuing airworthiness of a UAS, up to and including its overhaul or life limits.
• Developing protocols that ensure retention and purge periods are maintained in accordance with established records retention schedules. • Facilitating public records request including law enforcement access to images and data captured by the UAS.
• Recommending program enhancements, particularly regarding safety and information security.
• Ensuring that established protocols are followed by monitoring and providing periodic reports on the program to the Director of Innovation and Technology.

Use of sUAS:

Only authorized operators who have completed the required training shall be permitted to operate the sUAS.

Use  of  vision  enhancement  technology  (e.g.,  thermal,  and  other  imaging  equipment  not generally  available  to  the  public)  is  permissible  only  where  there  is  no  protectable  privacy interest or when in compliance with exigent circumstances, or court order. In all other instances, legal counsel should be consulted.
sUAS operations must comply with FAA regulations.

Pre‐authorized uses for sUAS are:
• Supporting Public Services (Tree Trimming, City Building Surveys, Utility Assessments)
• Search and Rescue Missions
• Disaster Response (Earthquake, Flood, Wildfire)
• Disaster Preparedness (Pre‐Disaster Assessment)
• Training Flights as Required to Meet FAA Certifications and any Internal Training Requirements

Prohibited Use:

The sUAS equipment shall not be used:
• To conduct random surveillance activities.
• To harass, intimidate or discriminate against any individual or group. • To conduct personal business of any type.

The sUAS shall not be weaponized.

Registration:

All sUAS operated by the City must be registered with the FAA Retention of sUAS Data:

Data collected by the sUAS shall be retained as provided in the City’s established records retention schedule.

Missions on behalf of the City of Cupertino must be logged. Information that must be documented include pilot, crew members, description of mission, date, and sUAS flown. This log shall be retained as provided in the City’s established records retention schedule.