City-School Liaison Committee
MEETING AGENDA
November 12, 2025
11:45 AM
Location: Santa Clara City Hall Council Chambers │ 1500 Warburton Ave, Santa Clara, CA 95050
City Committee Members
Councilmember, Raj Chahal (Chair)
Mayor, Lisa M. Gillmor
Councilmember, Albert Gonzalez
Councilmember, Suds Jain (Alternate)
School District Committee Members
Board Member, Jodi Muirhead
Board Member, Dr. Michele Ryan
Board Member, Andy Ratermann
Superintendent, Dr. Damon Wright
City Staff in Attendance
City Manager, Jōvan D. Grogan
Director of Parks and Recreation, Damon Sparacino
Police Chief, Cory Morgan
Assistant Police Chief, Wahid Kazem
City Librarian, Patty Wong
Assistant City Manager, Paulina Morales
Assistant to the City Manager, Elycia Knight
Community Development Planning Manager, Lesley Xavier
Management Analyst, Aimée Escobar
School District Staff in Attendance
Director, School Bond Projects, Larry Adams
Deputy Superintendent/CBO, Mark Schiel
Director, Facility Development & Planning, Michal Healy Director/PIO, Jennifer Dericco
CALL TO ORDER & ROLL CALL Chair
PUBLIC PRESENTATIONS
GENERAL BUSINESS
1. Approval of Minutes: September 3, 2025 Minutes
2. City of Santa Clara: Update from City Manager Jōvan D. Grogan
3. Santa Clara Unified School District (SCUSD): Update from Superintendent Dr. Damon Wright
4. Santa Clara Unified School District Updates:
a. New Valley High School Relocation
Mark Schiel, Deputy Superintendent/CBO
b. Construction Update
Larry Adams, Director - School Bond Projects
c. Facilities & Capital Development Update
Michal Healy, Director - Facility Development & Planning
1. Strategic Energy Management (SEM) Project with SVP
2. Townsend Field Improvement Project
Chair
City
SCUSD
SCUSD
5. City of Santa Clara Updates:
a. Community Development Department Update
Lesley Xavier, Community Development Planning Manager
b. Winter Reads
Patty Wong, City Librarian
c. Community Engagement Efforts for 2026
Paulina Morales, Assistant City Manager & Elycia Knight, Assistant to the City Manager
6. Discussion of the potential addition of a crosswalk and/or traffic light on the corner of Cabrillo & Scott (near Scott Lane Elementary School)
Board Member Andy Ratermann
7. Proposed 2026 Meeting Schedule
• Wednesday, March 4, 2026 (11:45am – 1:15pm) SCUSD • Wednesday, May 6, 2026 (11:45am – 1:15pm) City • Wednesday, September 2, 2026 (11:45am – 1:15pm) SCUSD • Wednesday, November 4, 2026 (11:45am – 1:15pm) City
City
SCUSD
All
ADJOURNMENT
DRAFT MINUTES
City-School Liaison Committee
Santa Clara Unified School District Board Room
Wednesday, September 3, 2025
MEMBERS IN ATTENDANCE:
CITY OF SANTA CLARA
Councilmember, Raj Chahal
Mayor, Lisa M. Gillmor
Councilmember, Albert Gonzalez
SANTA CLARA UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
Board Member, Dr. Michele Ryan (Chair)
Board Member, Jodi Muirhead
Board Member, Kathy Watanabe
Superintendent, Dr. Damon Wright
CITY OF SANTA CLARA STAFF
City Manager, Jōvan D. Grogan
Director of Community Development, Afshan Hamid
Director of Parks and Recreation, Damon Sparacino
Assistant Police Chief, Wahid Kazem
City Librarian, Patty Wong
Management Analyst, Aimée Escobar
SANTA CLARA UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT STAFF
Director, School Bond Projects, Larry Adams
Deputy Superintendent/CBO, Mark Schiel
Director/PIO, Jennifer Dericco
Executive Assistant, Jean Burrell
CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order by Chair Michele Ryan at 11:27AM
PUBLIC PRESENTATIONS
There were no public presentations.
GENERAL BUSINESS
Item 1: Approval of Minutes: May 7, 2025 Minutes
Board Member Muirhead made a motion, seconded by Board Member Watanabe to approve the Minutes.
The motion passed unanimously.
Item 2: Santa Clara Unified School District (SCUSD): Update from Superintendent Dr. Damon Wright Dr. Wright stated that he is looking at areas of potential growth within the schools in addition to determining what is working and what isn’t. He is looking forward to building relationships within the community and is hosting coffee and virtual chats to assist in forging new relationships.
Item 3: City of Santa Clara: Update from City Manager Jōvan D. Grogan • The initial implementation of Measure I will be presented to the City Council at the 9/16/2025 Council meeting.
• Staff is consistently organizing community events related to both FIFA and Super Bowl. • Reminder that the State of the City will be held on September 24, 2025. All are welcome to attend. • The Benton and Lawrence housing grant has been approved by the State and will be administered by the County. Anticipated to be heard at an October City Council meeting. o Interim supportive housing project, family units only.
o $6-7 million funding contribution from the City of Santa Clara. Other entities are also contributing funds to the project.
o City is working on final documents/language with the County and operations of the units. County run project with 7 years of contributions from Santa Clara but expect the County to take it over after 7 years.
Item 4: Santa Clara Unified School District Updates:
a. Budget: Mark Schiel, Deputy Superintendent/CBO
• District budget is being planned for the 2026-2027 school year. There is a decline in enrollment (300 Student decline) leading the District to look at “right-sizing” the budget as a result. o There has been a slow decline over the years, the regression analysis is being reviewed from kindergarten thru 6th grade – 30% reduction from kinder class to 6th grade. Birth rates and residents moving out of the school district and State are also contribute to the decline. *Can only track those who have registered in the district’s schools at some point. All other cannot be tracked (such as charter/private school students)
o The District has not looked at a correlation between the lack of affordable housing and the decline in enrollment thus far but it is to be considered in the future when reviewing data.
There isn’t a large turn over in housing within the district that would allow for new families/students to move in and attend the District’s schools. The affordable housing units coming online are not primarily family units, therefore, no new students to attend the District schools.
• Acknowledged the loss of pandemic dollars that also contribute to the deficit. b. Construction: Larry Adams, School Bond Projects Director • There are multi-year modernizations of multiple elementary schools in the District currently in process that include adding classrooms, kitchens, etc.
o Bracher: Toxic soil has been identified that is being removed along with air monitoring and consistent cleaning of the playground equipment.
o Briarwood: replacing 2 classrooms and portables with a focus on childhood education.
Construction to begin shortly. Right of Way on Townsend is an issue affecting pick up and drop off that is being worked out with Public Works.
o Westwood: A classroom wing was demolished and will be replaced with a cooking kitchen and classrooms. Storm drains system has also been added to the back half of the campus – none previously existed.
o Laurelwood: Beam signing occurred and ribbon cutting will be next August (2026). o Wilcox & Santa Clara HS: Pool renovations to occur and restrooms will be added to the Wilcox pool.
Item 5: City of Santa Clara Community Development Department Updates: Afshan Hamid, Director of Community Development
a. 1400 Coleman Street
Approved by Planning Commission in August and is moving forward to City Council. 142 Condominiums with 20% affordable. Developed by City Ventures. b. Benton Lawrence Project
90 interim family units with an amphitheater, dog parks, and game areas. Students may be placed at Pomeroy and can remain there upon move out if they remain in Santa Clara. c. Moonlite Project (El Camino & Bowers)
• 601 units in 3 buildings. 159 Town homes. Some units will be 3 bedrooms to allow for families.
One building (161 units) will be completely affordable. • Still in the entitlement process to be completed early next year. Current proposal does not have a lot of ground floor retail. Staff is working with the developer to increase ground floor retail in the line with the commercial plan for El Camino.
• Should be going to Planning Commission in the next several months and City Council early next year. Developer is Toll Brothers who is partnering with USA Properties as an affordable housing partner.
Item 6: BRAVE Program Deployment to all SCUSD Campuses & MOU: Assistant Police Chief Wahid Kazeem
• BRAVE program to be rolled out district wide this school year. • Working with KTVU to do a segment on the program.
• Trademark and logo will be completed by the end of the year. • No expansion to Sunnyvale schools just within the City of Santa Clara. Meeting with private schools and Cupertino toward the end of October to present them with the idea and cost.
• 15mph School Zones: Mayor Gillmor inquired about the implementation of the 15mph school zones that were approved by City Council earlier this year. Assistant Chief Wahid and City Manager Grogan deferred to City Engineering and will provide an update later regarding its implementation.
Items 7 & 8 (Combined): Student Library Cards – Continued Discussion & Reduction of Access to Databases at SCUSD Sites: Patty Wong, City Librarian
• Rachel Schmidt, Program Coordinator for Youth Services is collaborating with the District on the student library partnership.
o Student Success Cards: The library’s goal is to issue library cards to all students in the District.
Goal has been to get all 3rd graders library cards, approximately 1/3 did not have a card. Now, all 3rd graders have been issued library cards.
▪ Homework help is offered online 24/7 in multiple languages but can only be used with a library card driving the need to make sure as many students obtain a card. ▪ Goal is to onboard all districts in obtaining student library cards. • GLUE (greatest library users ever) Program:
o Children may check out 5 items and use all electronic resources. o No charges for items checked out and not returned and no fines. o Library cards are tied to their student ID cards; no physical library card issued. • Bookmobile is still issuing library cards; these programs are in addition and are another way to try and capture all the student body by going through the schools/District. • Multiple free online resources have been lost, and the library is working hard to fund them to keep them accessible to library patrons.
Item 9: Remaining 2025 Meeting Schedule
Wednesday, November 12, 2025, 11:45AM – 1:15PM, Santa Clara City Hall Council Chambers
ADJOURNMENT
Meeting was adjourned by Chair Ryan at 12:19PM.
City-School Liaison Committee 2026 Meeting Calendar
DRAFT
Meeting Date Time Location
Wednesday, March 4, 2026 11:45am – 1:15pm SCUSD
Wednesday, May 6, 2026 11:45am – 1:15pm City
Wednesday, September 2, 2026 11:45am – 1:15pm SCUSD
Wednesday, November 4, 2026 11:45am – 1:15pm City