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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016-06-23 City Schools Liaison Committee Summary MinutesPage 1 June 23, 2016 City School Liaison Draft Transcript BIG CREEK ELEMENTARY Special Meeting June 23, 2016 The Special City School Liaison Committee met in the Community Meeting Room at this date at 8:37 A.M., 250 Hamilton Avenue, Palo Alto, California. Present: City of Palo Alto Tom DuBois, Council Member, Committee Chair Cory Wolbach, Council Member Khashayar “Cash” Alaee, City Manager’s Office Palo Alto Unified School District Melissa Baten Caswell, Board Member Cathy Mak, District Chief Business Officer Absent: Terry Godfrey, Vice President Oral Communications Chair DuBois: I don't think we have any Oral Communications. Agenda Items 1. Approval of Minutes - May 26, 2016 Chair DuBois: This first item is Approval of the Minutes. Board Member Baten Caswell: I have some handwritten changes in here. Should I just pass this over and say that I move to approve the Minutes with my handwritten changes? Chair DuBois: I will second that. MOTION: Board Member Melissa Baten Caswell moved, seconded by Council Member Tom DuBois that the City School Liaison Committee approve the Minutes from May 26, 2016 with the written changes provided by Board Member, Melissa Baten Caswell. Chair DuBois: All in favor. MOTION PASSED: 3-0 Godfrey absent City/School Liaison Committee Draft Transcript Page 2 June 23, 2016 City School Liaison Draft Transcript Chair DuBois: You even changed the (inaudible). Board Member Baten Caswell: No, no. It was just some places where it said crosstalk. Chair DuBois: We're going to move Item 2 to the end, which is a review of School Board and City Council meetings. We'll go right to discussion, Item 3, impacts of the new kindergarten schedule. 2. Review of Recent City Council/PAUSD Board Meetings. Chair DuBois: I think is our last item to discuss, which is sharing recent news. Board Member Baten Caswell: I believe so, unless you have something else that we don't know about. Do you want me to share? Chair DuBois: Sure. Board Member Baten Caswell: What do you care about? We already shared kindergarten, so we don't need to go there. The reason I brought it up is because there's still probably people in the community that are saying this is weird, that we've offered this. It is the standard. I was back East this weekend for my reunion. My friends were aghast that we didn't have full-day kindergarten. It's just sort of interesting when you're in your own bubble. Other things that we have particular community interest, that we've been talking about is the text book exploration for mathematics for K-5. This might not be a City thing that you care about. I'll tell you it's of deep community interest, because mathematics is a deep community interest in this community. We have a process that the Board asked to be slightly modified at this past Board meeting. We would like to have some more community input into the books that are being evaluated. Chair DuBois: Didn't we recently switch to this new math? Board Member Baten Caswell: Not so recently, 2009. It feels recently. Once you get older, time moves faster. In 2009, we moved to a new elementary math curriculum. It was a progressive curriculum, and it was significantly different than the curriculum we had had before. Now, we've used it for this many years. We have a survey that went out, that seems teachers are heavily supplementing that math curriculum. It's not meeting—that particular version of the book is not meeting their needs with the new curriculum demands of the Common Core standards. Common Core standards has very particular demands, not just overall but grade by grade. The books we have right now don't match what you're supposed to cover during those grades. We have to move to something new to support Common Core. The teachers have been Page 3 June 23, 2016 City School Liaison Draft Transcript exploring eight different potential curriculums. They came to the Board with three that they'd like to do as a pilot next year. The community members on the Committee did not feel part of the winnowing down. The Board direction was we would like to have a process where community members' needs are considered in the winnowing down. If we're only going to pilot three, that's fine. Actually no Board Member had a problem with that number to pilot. We need to make sure that the community requirements are being considered when those books were chosen. That's what's going on. I'm not sure I have more to say about that, except that we do have a process that's documented. Chair DuBois: I have a brand new question on books. Has there been any discussion about moving to iPads and electronic books? Board Member Baten Caswell: We've had constant discussion about that. The problem is the publishers aren't there yet with the curriculum that we're looking at. I think when the publishers get to that point, we can move. At the high school, you may know, there is a math program that a lot of the high school teachers are trying right now. That's completely online. Chair DuBois: I didn't know that. My nieces and nephews, almost all of them are ... Board Member Baten Caswell: Do they live in California? Chair DuBois: No. Board Member Baten Caswell: We have State curriculum standards and then the Common Core standards. We have to pick a curriculum that's aligned. Our County office has given us a group of curriculum that they believe is aligned, which is different than being compliant. None of those are just an iPad. Chair DuBois: You're saying California is different than other states on this aspect. Board Member Baten Caswell: Every state gets to decide how they do this. Right now, there are elementary teachers that are supplementing what we have today, which is Every Day Math Version 3, that are supplementing with other things. Some are supplementing with physical things, and some are supplementing with online things. We're moving towards that, but to move towards that, just to get everyone online, doesn't meet the needs of—I'll just tell you. I talked to a teacher who was frustrated right now. She's a longtime teacher, and she's actually good at math. A lot of elementary school teachers are not that comfortable with math. She's regularly going out to see what she can use to supplement, because she teaches a grade level where there's certain requirements at the end of the year. The books are old books; they just don't Page 4 June 23, 2016 City School Liaison Draft Transcript cover some of those things. She has to find content. If you're a less comfortable teacher with math ... Chair DuBois: You just follow the book. Board Member Baten Caswell: ... it's just really hard to know what to go look for. We need a curriculum that has the ability to expand and contract as teachers need it. They shouldn't have to be—if they're going to be supplementing, we should tell them there's this thing you can supplement with that has these things in it that will help you hit the requirements. Right now, we're not there. It's sort of a grab bag of things. We did a survey, and there's a grab bag of things that people are using to supplement. You don't want to know that your child at El Carmello is using different materials to get to the end of fourth grade than my child at Duveneck. I think we're in a good place on that. What else is going on? We're moving to make sure that our—next year, our Title I schools and two other schools that are close to Title I will be getting a breakfast program for kids below a certain income level. For kids that are on free and reduced lunch, it'll be free breakfast. That's a new thing for us. Chair DuBois: How many kids do you expect? Board Member Baten Caswell: How many kids do you expect in the breakfast program, Cathy? Cathy Mak, District Chief Business Officer: I'm sorry. Board Member Baten Caswell: How many kids are in the breakfast program or will be in the breakfast program next year with our new program? Ms. Mak: We'll provide breakfast at seven of our elementary schools. The target are the free and reduced kids. Typically, let's see. On average 10 percent, but for those schools maybe 15 percent of the population is free and reduced. We're actually open that up for all students, even though the target is ... Board Member Baten Caswell: If you're not on free and reduced lunch, you still get free breakfast? Ms. Mak: If you walk up to the table and say I didn't have breakfast ... Board Member Baten Caswell: This is new. I don't think most of the ... Ms. Mak: You can't turn kids away. Page 5 June 23, 2016 City School Liaison Draft Transcript Board Member Baten Caswell: You can't turn kids away. I thought what we were doing is we were putting it on their card. The kids that are free and reduced lunch just got it free. Kids that are not have to pay. No? Ms. Mak: No. Board Member Baten Caswell: That's different than I understood. Ms. Mak: The target for those kids, particularly because we have that so early in the morning when the Voluntary Transfer Program (VTP) kids come in from the bus, they offer breakfast. Board Member Baten Caswell: We added this at a request from community members and teachers, who felt that kids weren't ready to learn, that we had enough kids coming in who hadn't eaten breakfast. They're not ready to learn, so teachers and Parent Teachers Associations (PTAs) were providing breakfast bars and stuff. It wasn't consistent; some kids were getting it, and some kids weren't. To add some consistency to it. We probably won't know, even if we are only providing it for free and reduced lunch kids, we don't know what that number is until the school year starts because parents sign up for it. When you fill out your back to school packet with all the stuff, that's when you fill it out. I don't think we have anything else that we've discussed recently that's particularly interesting to you. Chair DuBois: Cory, did we have anything last month? Cory Wolbach, Council Member: What have we not done in the last month? Chair DuBois: I don't think there's been a lot of school-related things. We did our budget overall. Board Member Baten Caswell: We did ours too. Council Member Wolbach: We have discussed in this Committee before the Transportation Management Agency that we've set up for primarily Downtown and our increasing effort to encourage Transportation Demand Management and improve mobility for employees and also for residents. We had a really good Study Session with our Transportation Management Association (TMA). Actually not a Study Session, an Action Item session with our TMA recently. I think that was since the last meeting of this Committee. A couple of things, I think, that have come out of that, a couple of things to keep in mind, is that our TMA is not just for employees, it's not just limited to Downtown. That's its current focus, but we discussed it in the future may expand beyond that. We provided some funding for some current programs, around $100,000. We also heard concept plans from the TMA for over the 3-5 years in the range of—if I'm Page 6 June 23, 2016 City School Liaison Draft Transcript remembering off the top of my head—around $2 1/2-$3 1/2 million investment in what they can do to improve mobility, again for employees and residents over the next few years with more substantial funding. We discussed maybe expanding it to other parts of the City, bringing in more partners. I just hope that both with the TMA and also with the Stanford Research Park Transportation Demand Management working group, which is kind of a parallel effort that Stanford's taking the lead on, I just hope that the City and the School District each continue to reach out and work closely with those two groups. I think there's a lot of potential benefit for our organizations as we both, as organizations, try to improve mobility options for own employees. Board Member Baten Caswell: You're reminding me of something that is probably of interest to you. This summer staff is working on an analysis of whether we should open another elementary school, not because of enrollment issues but for other reasons. We will have a presentation in August from staff about what the recommendation is. It's not for enrollment issues. Chair DuBois: The secondary schools? Board Member Baten Caswell: We have invested in reducing class size at the secondary level. Chair DuBois: You've decided not to? Board Member Baten Caswell: For right now, we're doing, because we believe what's happening is just a bubble moving through, short-term solutions for the bubble, which is not opening other schools. Chair DuBois: You closed the door on middle and secondary and just focusing on elementary potentially? Board Member Baten Caswell: For right now. We did close the door on high school for sure. We are investing. Actually we have money to invest next year in some innovative things at the high school level. Keep going. I'm sorry. Chair DuBois: No problem. Board Member Baten Caswell: It just seemed to be related to transportation potentially. Council Member Wolbach: There's actually one other transportation thing that we were just talking about this week, that might be interesting to keep an eye on. We were talking about this mixed-bag project that we've been looking at for a while of maybe adding a bike lane, a bike and pedestrian lane, next to Matadero Creek, which isn't a natural creek. It's essentially a concrete culvert Page 7 June 23, 2016 City School Liaison Draft Transcript at this point. We saw a lot of problems with that. This week, we directed staff to really shift its focus away from that, leaving the door open a little bit for that but really focusing more on Loma Verde and making Loma Verde more of a bike boulevard, maybe even doing what's called a Class 4 bike lane on Loma Verde potentially. Chair DuBois: A separated bike lane. Board Member Baten Caswell: Separated. I was just in Vancouver, and they have those all over town. Council Member Wolbach: It might be other less dramatic changes or it might—on the side of the street where there's currently a bike lane during the daytime and parking that's not heavily used at night, that might get turned into a two-lane, separated bike lane. We're looking at other options there too. The idea here is—it's still within the realm of the idea of a Midtown connector to get basically from Bayshore over to Alma for bikes in a safe way in the Midtown area. Another part of this that I don't think was well covered in the press was we also are asking staff to look more into putting a bike and pedestrian underpass at or around Loma Verde under Alma and the Caltrain tracks. There would be a crossing across Alma and the tracks midway between Cal. Ave. and Meadow, where currently there's a 1.3-mile stretch where you can't get across the tracks. Chair DuBois: We had a bit of a debate. Meadow was carved off of this. They are going to do separated bike tracks on Meadow. Board Member Baten Caswell: They will do that? Council Member Wolbach: Yeah, we're already doing that. Chair DuBois: (crosstalk) Board Member Baten Caswell: I was going to just say just from a priority standpoint for us, I think Meadow is a much bigger priority. Chair DuBois: I was arguing for a grade separation on Meadow, because I just think it would be used much more. If you guys think that's a good idea, it might be worth speaking up. Board Member Baten Caswell: I think that's certainly something—obviously we don't know the pros and cons of it. I mean, I know pros of it; I don't know what cons would be. Page 8 June 23, 2016 City School Liaison Draft Transcript Chair DuBois: It's a question of how many undercrossings we're going to be able to afford. Board Member Baten Caswell: How many do you think you'll be to afford? Chair DuBois: We don't know. We're looking at separating the at-grade crossings, and we're talking about this additional $20 million for potentially a Loma Verde undercrossing. Board Member Baten Caswell: Obviously Churchill is a mess. Chair DuBois: That's on the list. This is a south of Palo Alto focus, because we have two bridges in north Palo Alto at Homer and Cal. Ave. Board Member Baten Caswell: From a school perspective—obviously I know there's other priorities. From a school perspective, East Meadow and Churchill are two big problems. Chair DuBois: That was my feeling, but it was a hard argument. Board Member Baten Caswell: How would we communicate our interest in that? Chair DuBois: I don't know when it's coming back. Obviously when the topic comes back, it's a good time to send in emails and comments. Board Member Baten Caswell: How will we know when that is? You'll alert us? Khashayar Alaee, City Manager’s Office: We can let you know. Council Member Wolbach: Staff can probably work together on this. Chair DuBois: We had a meeting, Council of the Whole, which is kind of a special Council meeting. We kind of went over all the priorities. Did you guys have a retreat? Board Member Baten Caswell: We did too. Our priorities are coming back. The Superintendent is working them into his goals for the year. In August, we will share with you. Chair DuBois: It might be interesting if you guys have a process that's working. Part of ours is we had a good talk about priorities. It's very difficult to—we vote on items and say we're going to do them. How do you actually manage your work plan and your priorities? I know some other cities have been trying some other ways to manage that process. Page 9 June 23, 2016 City School Liaison Draft Transcript Board Member Baten Caswell: We did that much more systematically last year, where everybody gave a value to each priority, and then we said we could only do this many. We just added it up with everyone's value. This year, we did it a little more organically but with a facilitator. Do you use a facilitator for that? Chair DuBois: No. Board Member Baten Caswell: It is helpful. It was less systematic. Chair DuBois: If you draw the line and the Board has voted to do something that's below the line, are you then voting not to do it? Board Member Baten Caswell: We're voting not to do it this year. That's what we did last year. This year it was a little more organic, and there was more— were you in there all the time? You were. It was pretty organic this year, wouldn't you say? Staff shared all the things they were working on, and it was like a scary list. The Board said we'd also like these things. We sort of said is that more important than what's already on the list. It was more of an organic discussion. Every year, we end up with more than actually is able to be done. Council Member Wolbach: Sounds familiar. We're also, as you probably know, exploring the possibility of some kind of a transportation funding tax measure, perhaps an employee tax that would not apply to schools, I believe. We're exploring that as a potential ... Board Member Baten Caswell: For the November ballot? Council MemberWolbach: For the November ballot. We'll be having a discussion about that on Monday, this coming Monday. We'll see how popular that is on Council on Monday. We've had a committee of four Council Members working with staff on that. Chair DuBois: Just polling to see how it would do. Council Member Wolbach: We've had some—we've done two rounds of polling. Board Member Baten Caswell: You've done some polling? Council Member Wolbach: It'll be interesting to see how the discussion goes. There's been some discussion about doing it this year versus 2018 and what there are ... Board Member Baten Caswell: This wouldn't be a business tax; this would be an individual employee tax? Chair DuBois: (crosstalk) Page 10 June 23, 2016 City School Liaison Draft Transcript Council Member Wolbach: It would basically be a business tax. Board Member Baten Caswell: Who would pay it? Would the businesses pay it or individual employees pay it? Chair DuBois: Businesses. (crosstalk) Council Member Wolbach: The business would. Chair DuBois: (crosstalk) employees. It'd be a different rate for under 100 or under 50 or something. Council Member Wolbach: That'll be on the agenda for Monday. Chair DuBois: The idea is it would be a head tax with the money to go to transportation. There's a correlation to (inaudible) employees, you're causing more traffic. Board Member Baten Caswell: The employees have to work in Palo Alto. If you're HP, it's not all their employees. It's just the ones that work in Palo Alto. Chair DuBois: Right. There are some business taxes that differ if your headquarters are not—this is a pure, I think, headcount in Palo Alto. Board Member Baten Caswell: Headcount of Palo Alto. NO ACTION TAKEN 3. Discussion Regarding Impacts of new Kindergarten Schedule. Chair DuBois:: I'm not sure who was going to ... Khashayar Alaee, City Manager's Office: I think Cathy was going to talk about that a little. Cathy Mak, District Chief Business Officer: Yes. We have Dawn here. Dawn is Principal of our preschool programs. Maybe you can talk a little bit what the schedule will look like next year. Dawn Yoshinaga, Pre-K Principal: My school doesn't have—we have transitional kindergarten, but it's not going to affect our schedule per se but the elementary sites. We have that—all of the schools are going to be staying 'til the primary day. All of the bell schedules are, of course, different at the 12 elementaries. It's supposed to go to that time, and then Wednesdays would stay the same at the minimum day. Whatever the primary day ends at each site is a little bit different, but ... Page 11 June 23, 2016 City School Liaison Draft Transcript Board Member Baten Caswell: At some schools, the kindergarten day will end maybe 15 minutes before the rest of the primary day. It might not be every school; we don't have that schedule. We need to get that schedule to the traffic people and to the Palo Alto Community Child Care (PACCC) people so that they know for every school. How do we do that? Ms. Mak: When the principals get back in August, then we'll know the schedule at each school. We post that onsite, and then we'll send that to whoever needs that schedule. Board Member Baten Caswell: The extended day will not start until October. We get them used to the shorter day—to being in kindergarten before we roll into the longer day. Just to say something that I think I said at the last meeting, almost every school district in the area has a full day of kindergarten. We're not doing something weird. 75 percent of the kindergartens across the country have a full day of kindergarten. Chair DuBois: Is there any idea of aligning the end times of the different schools? Are they going to be very ... Ms. Yoshinaga: They'll have different start times as well. That complicates ... Board Member Baten Caswell: The reason that we have different start times and end times at every school is for traffic patterns across town, so that we don't end up with a mess. That was done in collaboration with the City. Unless there's a reason to address that, we don't have a plan to change that. Chair DuBois: Every school day will be the same length or they'll be different as well? Ms. Mak: They'll be close. One of the goals is to minimize the gap in instructional minutes (inaudible) the 12 elementary schools. Board Member Baten Caswell: Honestly, we have in the past had a gap in instructional minutes, not just in kindergarten. We have hit the legal required number of minutes at every site, but there's some ... Ms. Mak: Some has had a little bit longer. Board Member Baten Caswell: There's some differences of how things are done. Wednesday will continue to be a shorter day at every school. That won't be extended; that'll continue to be 1:00 P.M. at every school. Ms. Yoshinaga: We have a couple of schools that will get out before the primary day, because their day is long enough. There's a 15/50-minute per Page 12 June 23, 2016 City School Liaison Draft Transcript week maximum. I think it's Escondido and one other school site that will kind of be a little different. Board Member Baten Caswell: What will that mean for the City? That will mean that the traffic patterns at the end of the day will be slightly more cars coming in at the end of the school day. Cars might be parking for a while because—we're going to have to figure this out site by site. For the schools that have that 15-minute gap, I would assume we're going to have to figure something out, because for some families they're not going to leave. A 15- minute parking shouldn't be an issue, I don't think, with any (inaudible) we have. I think that needs to be known so that there's not a surprise there, that suddenly there's a bunch of cars parked for 15 minutes. That does mean that weird times of the day, the 11:45s, you won't have a bunch of cars coming to school. Ms. Mak: The pattern will still continue in August and September. Board Member Baten Caswell: Until October. That's a good point. It'll be the same until October, and then we'll go to this new pattern. This actually should be easier from a traffic standpoint. Ms. Mak: Yeah, I would think. Board Member Baten Caswell: Obviously with some (inaudible), but hopefully we've been having these conversations so we're not surprising with this conversation right now. Female: No, no, no. Not at all. Not at all. Chair DuBois: Any other impacts in terms of budget? I guess, you guys have ... Board Member Baten Caswell: The budgetary impact is we've put some more money against it, because we're going to have some more Physical Education (PE) and aide time and music. It'll be a more enriched program. It should be a great, enriched program. Anybody who's been nervous about it, I think, will change their mind once they see how much more is going on in the classroom in terms of the fun stuff. A lot of people complain that the ... Chair DuBois: If it's going to be the whole school ... Board Member Baten Caswell: ... academic thing has just pushed down into kindergarten, and we haven't had any relief to put more fun stuff in. This is going to give some relief to the teachers to spread the academics out and it's going to give the teachers some more resources for the fun stuff. Page 13 June 23, 2016 City School Liaison Draft Transcript Chair DuBois: Will you be looking for more volunteers for the kindergarten? (crosstalk) Board Member Baten Caswell: Yes. For some of the sites, just giving more hours to the existing aides will be a realistic plan. Some sites will be looking for some more aides. Maybe helping us promote that. We actually could use some help promoting substitute opportunities as well. I don't know that we work together on promoting these things. Ms. Mak: We're also working with PACCC ... Board Member Baten Caswell: To give some more hours to the PACCC teachers. Ms. Mak: Right, yes. Board Member Baten Caswell: I think we're going to have more supervisory needs on the playground as well. Lisa Rock, Palo Alto Community Child Care Executive Director: Campus supervisors, yeah. Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) reached out to us right away and was very proactive about trying to solve this problem for us and help in some way. We really appreciate that. Our HR department is working with PAUSD's HR department to see if we can get some staff some more hours. It's greatly appreciated. Ms. Mak: That helps us as well. Board Member Baten Caswell: I think it's a win-win. Ms. Rock: Yeah, it's a mutual kind of thing. Chair DuBois: Why don't we just transition, have you talked about the impacts on kindergarten. Ms. Rock: I'm Lisa Rock. I'm the Executive Director of Palo Alto Community Child Care and have been for about a month. I've been with PACCC for over 20 years. I don't know how much you guys know about PACCC. Board Member Baten Caswell: Pretend we know nothing. Ms. Rock: Pretend you know nothing. We've been in the community since 1974. As the story goes, there were five strong community leaders who said we need quality child care in this community and sort of spearheaded the development of PACCC all those years ago. Over the years, we've grown quite a bit. Currently, we operate 19 child care programs in Palo Alto. We Page 14 June 23, 2016 City School Liaison Draft Transcript are a private nonprofit, and we are the largest provider in Palo Alto. We have afterschool programs at 11 of the 12 elementary school sites. We were very pleased also to meet these guys from Kids Choice; it's my first time meeting them. They are at Nixon Elementary School. Lorene Scatena, Kids Choice Co-Owner: We start in August. Board Member Baten Caswell: I knew we were getting new people, but I didn't realize we had them (crosstalk). Minka Van der Zwaag, Community Services Department: I was going to introduce them, but Lisa can do it for me. Ms. Rock: We've just met, so I (crosstalk) introduce yourselves. We also have eight infantile and preschool programs in Palo Alto as well. We also receive City subsidies, and we subcontract with the School District to receive State funds to provide child care to low-income families in Palo Alto. We're currently serving approximately 60 school-age children through State funding. Chair DuBois: I'm sorry to interrupt. Is State funding only for school age or can it be for infant? Ms. Rock: No. It's for all age groups that we serve. We probably serve about 120 overall, and half of those are at school age. Do you guys want to introduce yourselves or (crosstalk). Ms. Van der Zwaag: I was just going to start—Minka van der Zwaag, Human Services—just by introducing our providers. The City oversees the contract for the provision of care after school along with having a sublease for one of the portables that's on all of the 12 school sites. The District supports portables on 12 of the sites. We subcontract for care to these two great providers, PACCC and this is Kids Choice, Lorene and Nery. We recently had an RFP process, and they were chosen as the new providers at Nixon Elementary. It's kind of an interesting relation, one provider at 11 schools and one at Nixon. Lorene and Nery are just starting out. Lorene and Nery were also the longtime leaders at the program when it was with the former provider. They are used to being at the Nixon site and have been so for years. Board Member Baten Caswell: One of the questions that I have gotten from community members is Escondido and Nixon are on Stanford property. We have three-way arrangements so that Stanford agrees that the City of Palo Alto manages this. How does that work? Page 15 June 23, 2016 City School Liaison Draft Transcript Ms. Van der Zwaag: We don't have a relationship with Stanford on this. This is primarily with the City and the School District as far as this contract is concerned. As I mentioned, we support one of the portables, and the District supports one of the portables that are on these campuses to provide care. It's primarily ... Board Member Baten Caswell: Because it's the PAUSD school (crosstalk). Ms. Van der Zwaag: Since it's PAUSD, that is the way it has happened. This care is provided and started because it's part of the Cubberley lease agreement. Extended care is included in that lease agreement. Chair DuBois: Is there a reason PACCC doesn't do Nixon? Is that historical? Ms. Van der Zwaag: It's interesting in how it started. When we started this in 1989, there were different providers at different schools. PACCC had some of the sites. Some other programs had other sites. There was a State-funded program that was at one of the sites. They were actually taking kids that were on the State funding and busing them to one of the sites where the State-funded care was. Over the years as the providers on the sites didn't want to do it anymore, the City would open up a Request for Proposal (RFP). PACCC and others would apply for those RFP. PACCC has slowly acquired more sites. When we did the RFP this time, we got several applications. PACCC, I think because of a change in leadership or other internal business reasons, chose not to bid on the Nixon site. We got three other bids for the Nixon site, and we carefully reviewed them with representatives from the School District and a community committee and City folks. We were very pleased with the application from Kids Choice, and we went with them. That's how it's worked. It's an interesting way that just slowly over the years PACCC has picked up more sites. It was never that one provider had all the sites over the years. Ms. Rock: If I could add to that. One of the things that we look at—we're not really in the business of just acquiring more sites. That's not really our goal as an agency. We really look to see whether or not there is a need. We go through a strategy screening process to evaluate any opportunity that comes our way. Certainly being a new Executive Director (ED), that was a major consideration in thinking about taking on a new project. There's going to be some work done at the facility where we're housed in this coming year, which was an impact. More significantly, from what we understood, families were happy with the leadership that was there. We aren't in the business of kind of moving in and trying to incorporate programs that are running well and that families are happy with. There was a whole host of things that came into play there as part of our decision-making process, to not pursue that site. Page 16 June 23, 2016 City School Liaison Draft Transcript Chair DuBois: Do you have any questions? Council Member Cory Wolbach: Nope. Chair DuBois: Could you just clarify on the portables, are you saying you just split the cost of portables or are there actually two portables at every school? Ms. Van der Zwaag: There are two portables at every school except two. At Escondido and Juana Briones, there's only one portable, the one that the City sponsors. The City leases the land and one portable from the School District, then we sublease to the providers. The providers pay us, in a way, a discounted rate back to the City, and then we make a fuller payment to the School District. The City is subsidizing the cost of quality afterschool care, because over the years we have felt that was an important thing to do, to keep quality and affordable care for parents. Chair DuBois: It's a little more complicated structure, but it's just a way for the City to funnel funds in essentially, rather than cutting out the middleman and (crosstalk). Ms. Van der Zwaag: Right. This is part of the covenant to lease for the Cubberley campus. This was negotiated in 1989 as part of that agreement. I'm not sure a lot of the reasoning why we ... Chair DuBois: That's again, in 1989 the District needed funds and we were looking for a way to help. Ms. Van der Zwaag: It could be. Ms. Mak: That was what was going on. Ms. Van der Zwaag: I can't speak to that exactly. The City just has been really committed to afterschool care and just child care in the community as evidenced by the subsidy dollars through Human Services that we give to PACCC for low-income children and the subsidized rent for one of the campuses that PACCC is on right now. It's the way in which the City has supported child care in the community. Ms. Rock: I'd like to add to that that the subsidies we receive from the City match dollar for dollar the true cost for care, which is hugely beneficial to members of our community who can't afford quality care. Chair DuBois: With the all-day kindergarten ... Ms. Rock: A few things that we're going to have to adjust to as an agency, one of the more significant ones being we're estimating about a $240,000 loss Page 17 June 23, 2016 City School Liaison Draft Transcript in revenue and a reduction in hours of quite a number of our staff at the school-age program. We had directors and assistant directors at each site, both of which were full-time positions. We have to reduce our assistant director positions from 40 hours to 30. We also had kinder teachers. These were teachers that would come in when kinders were dismissed and support the program. They were 30 hours; we need to reduce them to 22. One of the challenges that I don't think I thought to put in here is that the mid-October switch will be challenging too, moving forward. We're a little bit adjusted to that because there are a couple of the elementary schools who had already adopted full-day kindergarten. It's not that we're totally unfamiliar with that. From a staffing viewpoint—maybe you guys have something to add to that— it's very difficult because we're going to need folks to be more full-time for a while, and then we're going to have to drop their hours. It's very difficult to hire staff who are interested in that. Board Member Baten Caswell: Those should be the staff, assuming they have the right qualifications, that would make sense to get extra hours. As we go in October to a higher number of hours, it would make sense. Actually then they already know the kids as well. Ms. Rock: My understanding too—the elementary schools are probably going to need these folks before October. I don't know exactly what the need is. I think we're all still trying to figure out what our needs are. We have communicated to all our staff the opportunities for aide positions and campus supervisor positions, not substitutes. I think that may have been discussed, so that's something we could also ... Board Member Baten Caswell: Just across the District, we have a shortage of substitutes. This is a national issue. This is not specific to us. Ms. Rock: You would need credentialed folks for those positions? Board Member Baten Caswell: Yes. I believe so. Do we always need credentials for substitutes? Ms. Mak: Only for teachers, not for instructional aides. Chair DuBois: Are these people going from full-time with medical benefits to essentially two part-time jobs now? Ms. Rock: None of our employees will lose their benefits. We don't hire employees at less than 20 hours. All of our employees, except for our substitutes who are not regular employees, are benefitted. Nobody is losing their benefits. Page 18 June 23, 2016 City School Liaison Draft Transcript Chair DuBois: It's just the amount of income from (inaudible)? Ms. Rock: Correct. I think for some, I think, they're trying to figure out what they want to do. We didn't have as immediate reaction to these opportunities through the School District as we thought we might. We're still trying to sort of figure why that is. We do have some full-time positions that have become available. Some of our folks are interested in pursuing those opportunities. I think others are still trying to figure out what the impact is on them and what they want to do. Board Member Baten Caswell: I just want to make sure that you heard what Cathy said, that you only need certification if you're being a teacher. If you're an aide, you don't need certification. Ms. Rock: Yes. We've already talked with our staff about aide possibilities. Board Member Baten Caswell: For substitutes, right? Ms. Rock: Yeah. Ms. Van der Zwaag: Is there anything you wanted to add to that conversation? Lorene Scatena, Kids Choice Co-Owner: The good news is that, being the one just starting out, we were aware of this potentially happening, and we've set up for that. In agreement to the fact that it's still really hard to hire quality staff for such minimal hours. That's where the key is. We're always looking— the key word here is quality, and that's where it becomes difficult. Board Member Baten Caswell: One of the things that I've noticed in my time in the District is that we do have this cadre of parents whose kids have gotten a little older, mostly moms but some dads, who are looking for opportunities. I don't think these opportunities are well promoted to them. When I talk to parents, they don't seem to know that these opportunities exist. I know even with our aides, it seems like people who know people are the ones that end up getting those opportunities. We could do a better job as well with our aide positions and our substitute positions. I think probably that's true. When you say well qualified, I think we have a lot of well-qualified parents who aren't looking for full-time things. Ms. Rock: We have some licensing requirements (crosstalk). Ms. Van der Zwaag: Licensed child care. Page 19 June 23, 2016 City School Liaison Draft Transcript Board Member Baten Caswell: Communicating what those licensing requirements are ... Ms. Rock: They're minimal (crosstalk). Ms. Scatena: (crosstalk) but very specific though. Ms. Rock: They are very specific. We could certainly help anybody who was interested in that opportunity understand what the requirements are, what they needed to do. Chair DuBois: Just so I'm clear, Kids Club is from after school until when parents can come get their kids, and it could be any elementary age. Ms. Rock: Yes. Our programs are open until 6:00 P.M.. Ms. Scatena: The same with us. Chair DuBois: Is there any need to extend that? Any demand beyond 6:00 P.M.? Ms. Rock: It's a good question. I think there are some families who might appreciate a longer day. It, again, is also hard to find people that want to work those later hours in the day. To be honest, that 2:00 P.M. to 6:00 P.M. is not very desired. To 6:30 P.M. probably wouldn't be all that desired either. Chair DuBois: Just a way to make up hours, you're just going to shift it a little bit. Ms. Rock: One of the other things that we try to make sure that we understand what families' needs are is before school care as well. We do survey our families periodically to determine what the need is. I think that's something that we haven't done in a while, in a few years. It's time for us to do that again. Board Member Baten Caswell: Where do you have before school hours? What schools? Ms. Rock: We don't. We used to years ago. There were some sites where we did. The problem is that typically there might be a small handful of parents who have that need. Talk about difficulty staffing ... Board Member Baten Caswell: Because you need at least two. Ms. Rock: Yes, we need at least two. We don't like staff to be alone with children, and they need to be a support to each other if there's an emergency Page 20 June 23, 2016 City School Liaison Draft Transcript or something happens. You need two staff, and that's expensive. If you only have five families who have the need, it's not cost effective. Ms. Van der Zwaag: Often it's just a parent who said, "This week I have one before work meeting. Can I just drop her off for today?" It's not a consistent group of children. Board Member Baten Caswell: How many do you need for it to be worth your while? Ms. Scatena: The contract is (crosstalk). Ms. Van der Zwaag: The contract says eight. Board Member Baten Caswell: Is that cost effective? Ms. Scatena: No. Board Member Baten Caswell: When is it cost effective? Ms. Scatena: Twelve, 15. Ms. Rock: Yeah, probably. Board Member Baten Caswell: It's good for us to know this. I get questions on this kind of thing, and it's good for me to have accurate information. Ms. Scatena: Just if I could plug in for the teachers. I know they would really appreciate before school. It's a little challenging, just when I've been talking ... Board Member Baten Caswell: Kids come early, you mean. Ms. Scatena: Yeah. They have to find a neighbor or somebody to walk their—that's just a challenge for teachers. Ms. Rock: The only thing there is it's hard to say whether or not for the children that are being dropped off early their parents would be interested in paying for before school care. We don't know how much that would alleviate that problem or not. Board Member Baten Caswell: I would suspect, if there is interest, it would be certain sites more than other sites. Ms. Rock: The other issue that we then would find ourselves in is, in essence, it might get some more hours for somebody, but it would also mean ... Page 21 June 23, 2016 City School Liaison Draft Transcript Board Member Baten Caswell: It would be split hours. Ms. Rock: ... it's a split shift, which is super undesirable. Who wants to work from 7:00 A.M. or 7:30 A.M. to 6:00 P.M. or 6:30 P.M.? Nobody. Chair DuBois: Are you limited to what you can do in the portables? Is it only for afterschool care? Actually the other item today was supposed to be talking about child care capacity. Has there been any thought ... Ms. Rock: That's all we're licensed for, to provide child care. Did you have some specific thoughts (crosstalk). Ms. Scatena: Do you mean preschool in the morning? Chair DuBois: Could you do (crosstalk) or something from 8:00 'til noon? Ms. Scatena: It is an option actually, but again I think it's also hard for the working parent to have half-day preschool, which is all we could do. Ms. Rock: The other thing is that you have to have dedicated outdoor space, 75 square feet per child. We can't just use the school facilities for that, because they aren't age appropriate. That's a pretty complicated—we do have that model at one site, Barron Park. We do run a preschool there. They have their own separate, dedicated yard that's all fenced in. Chair DuBois: We have a shortage of preschools, and now you have all these empty portables most of the day. Board Member Baten Caswell: That's actually interesting. Ms. Rock: As after school, when you say empty portables, I know it's not easy to move portables. I know it's a complicated issue. At Escondido and Juana Briones, we have just one portable and a need for more, particularly at Escondido. Board Member Baten Caswell: Have we had this—Escondido is our biggest site. Isn't it our biggest site or Ohlone? I don't know. It's one of our biggest sites. Have we had a conversation about putting another child care portable over there? Ms. Mak: Yes, we had conversations, but the answer always comes back no. When we had enrollment growth, there's just no empty room in Escondido that we can delegate for that. We have to bring in a portable. That would take up either play space or grass, plus the cost. Page 22 June 23, 2016 City School Liaison Draft Transcript Board Member Baten Caswell: I understand the cost. Escondido is a big site with a lot of space. If you told me Addison, I'd be totally on it. Of course, we have no room for another portable at Addison. Ms. Rock: Juana Briones is pretty small too, I think. Ms. Mak: I want to add during the day, most of the schools use their portable for music program for a period of time during the day. Ms. Rock: That's true. Sometimes meetings take place in the portables in the morning as well, school meetings. Board Member Baten Caswell: I'd say most of our sites—Escondido is not one of them—are fully utilized in their yard space too during the day. They do different things. They do PE outside. They do recess. Chair DuBois: You have this $240,000 gap. What's the plan? Ms. Rock: It's going to be a big learning year for us. Board Member Baten Caswell: That's a revenue gap. If you change your hours, is that an income ... Ms. Rock: That includes the change of hours. Board Member Baten Caswell: It's not really a revenue gap. This is an income gap. Ms. Rock: Yes. This is money that will no longer be coming into PACCC that was coming into PACCC. This dollar amount accounts for the reduction in staff hours. Board Member Baten Caswell: It's a net amount. Ms. Rock: Yeah. Board Member Baten Caswell: It's the net loss. I'm sorry. I'm just trying to make sure I understand. Ms. Rock: You're right. Board Member Baten Caswell: It's the net loss that you have even once you've reduced the number of hours. Ms. Rock: That's correct. Page 23 June 23, 2016 City School Liaison Draft Transcript Board Member Baten Caswell: I know somebody said to me that you get a certain amount from the State for subsidized students. The amount you get doesn't fully pay for the cost of those students. Ms. Rock: Does not even cover half. The last bullet here actually addresses that. That is a concern for us. The concern around that gap, that funding gap has been building over the years, but it's reached a point where, as an agency, our Board is having a lot of discussions about whether or not we can continue to sustain that. Board Member Baten Caswell: That subsidy money comes in per child. Is that how it comes in? Ms. Rock: It comes in per child. There is no particular reimbursement rate per child which is less than half the true cost for care. Board Member Baten Caswell: Having less subsidized kids doesn't help this problem. Ms. Rock: Nope. Board Member Baten Caswell: Does providing less of a subsidy help this problem? Ms. Rock: There are State guidelines for how families qualify. Some families do have a small copay, but in most cases families that qualify are making— we're talking about really low-income families. The State limit is (crosstalk). Board Member Baten Caswell: It's fully subsidized. If I'm a low-income ... Ms. Rock: In most cases, yeah. Board Member Baten Caswell: That's interesting. Chair DuBois: You said less subsidies doesn't help? Board Member Baten Caswell: It sounds like less doesn't help, because ... Ms. Rock: It doesn't. It's a per child rate. We get a lump amount, so there's a certain amount of dollars that we receive each year. Board Member Baten Caswell: But you have to do a certain amount of kids. Ms. Rock: Correct. Board Member Baten Caswell: If you do less kids, you get less money. Page 24 June 23, 2016 City School Liaison Draft Transcript Ms. Rock: Correct. There is some advocacy at the State level. It's also the same reimbursement rate per child across the state. The cost for care in Fresno, as an example, is not the same as it is here in Palo Alto. There is some advocacy work to allow—I should say it's from Santa Clara County— more flexibility within the County, so that we could have a higher reimbursement rate per child. Board Member Baten Caswell: This seems like one of those horrible situations where you're told to give free child care to a group, but you're not given enough money to do that, and you're told to go find the money. In any logical kind of scenario, you'd say if we have less money, then they just have a subsidy. They wouldn't have full reimbursement, but you're telling me that is not a possibility. This seems sort of like a losing proposition for a lot of the players. Ms. Rock: Yes. I think there are child care providers who now are no longer taking on the State program for that very reason. They simply can't afford to. That's the crossroads that we're at as an agency too. Any additional loss in revenue makes it all the more difficult for us. We can't continue to place the burden of this on the backs of full-fee families and our staff in terms of the salaries that we can provide. It's become a critical issue for us. Board Member Baten Caswell: If your Board decided that you no longer wanted to participate in this program, you just would not have subsidized child care? Ms. Rock: We have the subsidies from the City. Board Member Baten Caswell: There is subsidies from the City. Ms. Rock: It would be a loss of about 120 families in our community that need care. Chair DuBois: You don't want to do that. It's the people that need it the most. Ms. Rock: It's a major part of our mission. This is a huge issue for us. Very, very concerning. Council Member Wolbach: How many families in the community was that again? Ms. Rock: About 120 through the State program. Chair DuBois: You laughed, but do you have ideas on bridging this gap? Page 25 June 23, 2016 City School Liaison Draft Transcript Ms. Rock: We're always fundraising, but we don't have a fund development director, and we are not a fundraising board. We raise about $80,000 a year. That doesn't go very far towards that close to $500,000 gap. Of course, we would love to have conversations with anyone who would be able to help us figure out this problem. Chair DuBois: Do you currently get Human Services Resource Allocation Process (HSRAP) funding? Ms. Rock: I think we used to. You might be able to speak to this better than I. Ms. Van der Zwaag: They used to receive HSRAP funding, and then we pulled both PACCC and Avenidas out of the HSRAP program. They are just direct service providers with the City now. That means they don't have to compete as part of that HSRAP process with all the much smaller agencies. They receive a little over $450,000 of just General Fund money for the child care subsidy program that the City offers. Ms. Rock: One thing to consider too is that if it got to the point where PACCC or there wasn't a provider that could manage the State program and still survive financially doing so, once we give that money back to the State, we probably won't get it back. It's a serious consideration along those lines too, if those funds get released. We're having conversations. We're working on the problem, but it's a big one. Board Member Baten Caswell: What's the profile of the 123 families? Where do they live? Ms. Rock: They live and work in Palo Alto. Most of them are working families in the area, and many of them do live here. I can't tell you the exact numbers off the top of my head, but I could probably get that information for you. Board Member Baten Caswell: I'm not sure that changes how we look at it. I'm just sort of curious. Ms. Van der Zwaag: You're thinking if it's one school base or ... Ms. Rock: For all the schools ... Board Member Baten Caswell: If there's some pattern there. Page 26 June 23, 2016 City School Liaison Draft Transcript Ms. Rock: For the 60 that are in the school-age programs, they're Palo Alto residents—some may be transfer students—because they're in the school-age programs. They have to be ... Board Member Baten Caswell: Sixty of the 120 families are in the school-age program. Ms. Rock: They have to be within the School District to attend our afterschool (crosstalk). Board Member Baten Caswell: How many kids does the 60 families represent? Ms. Rock: Sixty kids. Ms. Mak: Lisa, the State funding, is that for the whole 120 kids or just the 60 school-age kids? Ms. Rock: The 120. It's also preschool ... Board Member Baten Caswell: Which would include some preschool. Ms. Rock: ... and some infant/toddler. We try to minimize the infant/toddler. The other thing is there are two reimbursement rates, one for what is considered preschool and school, and another one for infant/toddler. I'm sorry; I said that wrong. For preschool and another one for infant/toddler and school age, the reimbursement rate is a little bit different, but still not close to what the true cost for care is. Infant care is more expensive. If we have children enrolled through the State program in our infant programs, we're losing even more money. Chair DuBois: Is there much demand for preschool, for 4s and 5s, that's again not all day necessarily, but maybe three-quarters of a day? Ms. Rock: I don't know that I have specifically that kind of information. Most of our families are seeking full-time care. Most of the families that we serve are dual-working families. I have to assume that's probably (crosstalk) or single-parent families who need full-time care. Board Member Baten Caswell: I know that when we used it, we could have gone part day. My son saw his friends get to stay the whole day, so we ended up signing up for the whole day. He stayed sometimes the whole day. I bet we weren't the only family who had that. Ms. Van der Zwaag: With our providers in town, we have on the child care list that the City manages over 90 providers, home-based and center-based. Page 27 June 23, 2016 City School Liaison Draft Transcript Several of those do have part-day programs. The City is looking into, through our recreation department, having a non-licensed, maybe three-day-a-week, half-day program that meets some of the needs of socialization but doesn't really fall into the description of preschool. We had some of those type of programs in the past and actually had really good enrollment. Chair DuBois: I'm thinking more about filling in the gap, using these portables and having staff there for a longer period of time without kindergartners, say 5s. Ms. Van der Zwaag: Like I said, if it's non-licensed—it's very hard for us to run an ongoing, I think, non-licensed program within a licensed facility. Licensing really does not like that. During the summer months, the City—in our lease agreement with the providers, we have the ability to use some of those portables during the summer. Obviously, that's not a year-round program. Chair DuBois: I'm sorry. You're losing me on the licensing. PACCC is licensed, right? Ms. Van der Zwaag: Right. If another provider ... Chair DuBois: No. I'm saying if PACCC handled 5-year-olds and had extended hours, would that fill your revenue gap? Ms. Scatena: Like transitional kindergarten? Chair DuBois: Yeah. Ms. Rock: Again, I think there are certain space requirements, outdoor, dedicated space requirements outdoors that could be extremely problematic there. Ms. Yoshinaga: Currently, we have all of our transitional kindergarten kids at Greendell, which is where I am, which is a free program. Board Member Baten Caswell: This third item here should become much less of a problem, because we're not going to have multiple release times. Ms. Rock: I'm hopeful I don't have misinformation here. It was communicated to us that at Ohlone and Hoover there will be one or two days a week when the kinders are actually going to get out—maybe this is the amount of hours they can be there issue, 15/50 or whatever. Chair DuBois: Didn't you just say it was ... Page 28 June 23, 2016 City School Liaison Draft Transcript Board Member Baten Caswell: I think we need to check on that. If that's true, I would say the Board would be surprised. Ms. Rock: Our understanding is that there are a couple of programs where kinders will be getting out around 12:30 P.M. or so. That required a couple of days a week or ... Board Member Baten Caswell: Let's check on that. Ms. Rock: Not a couple days a—that's my understanding. We could be completely wrong about that. Board Member Baten Caswell: Let's check on that, because we were told that it would be a 15-20-minute gap. We weren't told that it was going to be ... Unless somebody that's here knows this for sure. Ms. Yoshinaga: I did try to get Nicky—I did get Hoover on the texting this morning. I have that schedule, but I didn't get Nicky for Ohlone. For Hoover, for instance, the kinders get out at noon until October 10th. After that, they will go every day until 2:00 P.M., except for Wednesday which is 12:00 P.M.. Board Member Baten Caswell: It will be a consistent time. Ms. Rock: Wednesday, it's 12:00 P.M.. Is the rest of the (crosstalk) 12:00 P.M.? Board Member Baten Caswell: Every school's Wednesday. Ms. Rock: The rest get out at 1:00 P.M.? Ms. Yoshinaga: On all sites, the minimum day, whatever time that ends on Wednesdays will stay the same. Board Member Baten Caswell: The 1:00 P.M. on Wednesday is true of every single ... Ms. Rock: Is it 1:30 P.M.? Board Member Baten Caswell: It may be 1:30 P.M. at some schools and 1:00 P.M. at others. There's a shorter day on Wednesday for every school for every student. That's not going to change. Ms. Yoshinaga: Hoover's is 12:00 P.M. because they start at 8:00 A.M. It's much earlier. Page 29 June 23, 2016 City School Liaison Draft Transcript Ms. Rock: It just is another staffing complication for us. It's a couple days a week we have to have staff there longer than the other days. Board Member Baten Caswell: It's only one day a week, and it would be the same as what we've been doing. I'm sorry (crosstalk). Ms. Rock: For Wednesday. Our understanding is that—this is probably where we need to get some clarity around whether or not there are a couple of sites where kinders might be getting out a little earlier. Maybe that was just until October. I'm not sure about that. (crosstalk) ... Board Member Baten Caswell: Let's clarify that. My understanding ... Ms. Rock: ... school-age program coordinator is out there. Board Member Baten Caswell: ... is once October hits, four days a week is the same time, and that should make it more consistent. It definitely will make it more consistent, since we've had a different time every day. Ms. Rock: It'll still provide us ongoing challenges each year, but these are challenges we've had at a couple of sites already, that we've kind of adjusted to, a need to staff longer for the first couple of months of the year and then not as much. I don't know if that's an issue for you guys too. It is what it is. We just wanted to be sure you knew. Board Member Baten Caswell: We certainly want to work with you. You guys have been fabulous support for our schools. We're very lucky that we have child care onsite. I know that there are other places where that's not the case. Since my kids have gone there, I've seen as a parent how great that is and how great you run your program. Let's continue to work with you. Ms. Rock: We are so grateful for our partnerships with the City and the School District. Both groups are a huge support to our agencies and also help us meet an important mission, not just for our agency but for the community, to provide accessible care. This is a community that that's very difficult to do. We appreciate all of that support. Chair DuBois: Minka, we have this thing where we were leasing land and portables for an extended period of time for afterschool care. Now, we're doing it for a shorter period of time. Does the lease actually specify how many hours? I'm just wondering if we need to route more money to PACCC. Ms. Van der Zwaag: That's a good question. I'll have to check with real estate on it. They handle that aspect of it. I can check with them on that. Page 30 June 23, 2016 City School Liaison Draft Transcript It's a certain dollar amount per square footage. I'm not sure if the time factor is in there. I hear where you're going in trying to support the organization. Chair DuBois: The (crosstalk) and the City kind of supporting this. Since we're renting it for less time, then we can all agree we'll route less money there and more money there, and see if we can make it work. Ms. Van der Zwaag: Subsequently, I think the payment to the School District would have to be reduced. Chair DuBois: That's what I'm saying. Ms. Van der Zwaag: If we're getting less money from the provider, that would be a greater ... Chair DuBois: We're renting it for less hours a day, so we'd pay less to the school and pay more to child care. I don't know. Just an idea. Ms. Van der Zwaag: I hear you. I will check with real estate on that as far as the intricacies of that part of the lease agreement. Chair DuBois: We've had kind of a free-flowing discussion here, which has been great. NO ACTION TAKEN 4. Discussion Regarding Early Education and Childcare Capacity and Needs. Chair DuBois: The fourth item, at least for me, was more about toddler care, infant care and preschool. I don't know if you guys are prepared to talk about that. I was hoping to have a discussion about the level of demand we're seeing versus supply and where we are as a City. Lisa Rock, Palo Alto Community Child Care Executive Director: We always have wait lists, and pretty healthy ones. I would say there's a demand at all age groups. Infant care tends to be the most impacted, because there are fewer spaces. The reason ... Minka Van der Zwaag, Community Services Department: The staffing level's lower. Ms. Rock: It's a 1:4 ratio. The State requires a 1:4 ratio. Council Member Wolbach: The facilities have to be different too. Right? Page 31 June 23, 2016 City School Liaison Draft Transcript Ms. Rock: The indoor space requirements are the same, but the types of furniture and materials that you would have would be different. You'd also need cribs and things like that. Chair DuBois: Do you need outdoor for infants? Ms. Rock: You do. Yeah, you do need outdoor space for any age group. Chair DuBois: Is it less for infants? Ms. Rock: No, it isn't. Is there a need for more infant care in the community? I would say probably. It's also the most expensive care to provide as a provider. It's a money loser. We don't make money; we lose money in those programs. Chair DuBois: Probably, not definitely? Ms. Rock: If it weren't for our school-age programs, that are the ones that bring in actual profit, then we wouldn't be able to run them at the quality that we do. Let me put it that way. Board Member Baten Caswell: There's a complication too, just a demographic complication. That is the number of children in this area is going to shrink for a little while. It's shrinking across California; it's shrinking across the Bay Area. We believe it's shrinking in Palo Alto. Whatever you think about here, you have to think about something that's flexible, so that you don't end up staffing up for something that you don't have the need for. Chair DuBois: I'm asking—not that you would take this on, so don't do it with your mindset of running it. For instance, in the City side, if we're approving office buildings, if we know there's a demand for infant care, should we be thinking about putting preschools into offices and things? Ms. Van der Zwaag: The interesting thing is—this is related to what you're saying—we are trying to start discussions with the City Manager to have a child care master plan and complete that in the next year. I think that will really help in answering some of the questions that you're raising about accessibility, availability of quality child care along the spectrum. It's been a long time since we did a child care master plan. We did kind of an assessment of wait lists about two years ago. That was the last time we did that. Wait lists are a difficult thing to measure, because many parents in our community are able to pay some of those registration fees. They may be on five, six, seven wait lists, but when you start working through it, they've found another spot. I think it's a real good question to look at how that affects our agreements with some of the developers. Years ago we tried to Page 32 June 23, 2016 City School Liaison Draft Transcript set up some guidelines for requirement of child care space. That did not happen, but that could be part of the master planning document, to look into what can we do as a community to increase the space and how might that work and benchmark other communities how they have done that. Board Member Baten Caswell: That certainly can be a benefit for a company to be able to offer that, as long as they have people with school-age kids. Ms. Van der Zwaag: Some companies contract with providers. That's how the Children's Preschool, which is on the Cubberley campus, started off years ago as a contracted provider for a large local company. Mostly now that doesn't happen unless Dawn has more information than I do. The Googles and the Facebooks still do that. I know Google does; they have a site, GeoKids. Primarily it's not done as much, because it's expensive, very expensive to do. Chair DuBois: We don't have a clear idea of demand is what I'm hearing. Ms. Van der Zwaag: At this point we ... Chair DuBois: It used to be as soon as you got pregnant, you get on waiting lists because there was a nine month waiting list. Ms. Rock: That still happens. Ms. Van der Zwaag: That still happens. Ms. Rock: For PACCC, we actually don't charge a wait list fee. I think most providers do charge a wait list fee. Part of the reason we don't is philosophical and because so many families who are on the wait list don't actually end up getting a space at all. We don't feel right about charging a fee for that. We charge a registration fee when they're offered and accept a space. Chair DuBois: Do you ever have a space that goes unused? Ms. Rock: Yeah, we do. Sometimes it's a timing issue, when one child leaves and another child is ready to come in. Chair DuBois: You don't call through the whole list and nobody wants that slot? Ms. Rock: Yeah. Maybe it's a couple of months out (crosstalk). Ms. Van der Zwaag: Sometimes you might be waiting for a child who's in the younger age group that's aging from maybe infant/toddler to the preschool Page 33 June 23, 2016 City School Liaison Draft Transcript room. There's that little bit of gap, but you're keeping it for that child that's already in your cycle. Chair DuBois: There you know. I'm really trying to get to demand here. Is there ever a time when you don't have demand? Ms. Rock: No. Chair DuBois: That's what I thought. Ms. Yoshinaga: Our program at Greendell which is Preschool Family is slightly different because it's through the Adult School. It is tuition based. We also have wait lists for all the classes usually, except for the baby tiny ones because they're still being born. Board Member Baten Caswell: That's a go-up program, so you actually have to be ... Ms. Yoshinaga: You have to work at least once. It depends on the schedule. We certainly do have to maintain those wait lists and opened up another class because I had enough to open another class. Board Member Baten Caswell: For us—it sounds like for you too—it's not viable to open up another class unless we have enough—the ratio—enough kids to make the ratio work. I guess you have the other issue. You need another classroom, but we do too. Chair DuBois: I was under the impression that there was a huge, unmet need for preschool care, infant care. Ms. Rock: Huge, I don't know. There's an unmet need, I think. I feel like a couple of years ago that unmet need was probably maybe bigger than it is now, but I don't have any specific data to prove that. I can tell you that our wait lists do remain long. There are families that never get into our programs, because we simply don't have the space available for that. That could be (crosstalk). Board Member Baten Caswell: Then, the question is do they get into another program. Ms. Rock: Yeah. I don't know. Ms. Van der Zwaag: The majority of the calls that I get are about subsidized care. People have called around to the different centers in town, but they just are not able to pay the fees that are offered. Infant care is anywhere from $1,900, $2,100, $2,200 a month, and that's really out of the realm of many Page 34 June 23, 2016 City School Liaison Draft Transcript families in the community. Obviously, it's lower with home-based care. A lot of families make that or do nanny shares and so forth. Subsidized care, that is the biggest need that I hear Board Member Baten Caswell: If we go and take a look at this deeper, that is a point that needs to be looked at. Providing more options that people can afford, if there is an issue, isn't going to solve the issue. Ms. Van der Zwaag: The affordability issue—if you talk to PACCC or Kids Choice or a lot of our providers, it's just finding the staff. It's just the difficulty of finding staff that could work, that are willing to work for $15 an hour. That's what a lot of our—I'm not sure what your hourly rates are. A lot of our daycare workers are earning $15 an hour or less. Finding quality staff is just exceedingly difficult. You might find some availability just based on the fact that they don't have enough staff to run at the capacity that they're licensed for. Chair DuBois: Does the City track home-based care or is that a County thing? Ms. Van der Zwaag: We don't track it per se. We have our child care lists. On a regular basis, we look through the child care licensing website and see what other new home-based care or center-based care is available in our community, so we can add it to our list. We don't specifically do any oversight of it. Often it's just home-based providers and other providers that contact me to be added to the list. The list is heavily used as well as the services of Jewish Family Services, which does a lot of outreach in the realm of preschool in the community. PACCC, just because this is Palo Alto Community Child Care, I know their front desk staff gets a lot of calls for care that is meant to be, I think, beyond just the services that they offer. The City used to have a full-time child care person, and that was paid for with money from the Utilities User Tax. That went away years ago, so the amount of time I spend on child care is pretty small when, again, it used to be full time. Chair DuBois: If we're going to do this master plan, maybe we have the data about how many home providers there have been over time, which might give an indication of demand as well. Ms. Van der Zwaag: We have the list in Palo Alto. I do believe that there are some unlicensed home care providers, because we drive through the community. I think just outside of PACCC's back door there are two places that are clearly providing child care, and they're not showing up on the license list, which is a little disconcerting, people providing unlicensed care in the community. Licensed care, that just means you're meeting the requirements of licensing. Beyond that, we have no idea what the quality is in those kind of Page 35 June 23, 2016 City School Liaison Draft Transcript facilities unless they adhere to any kind of accreditation. For either a home care provider or for a center provider, there are accreditation processes. Chair DuBois: You said there's this planning process. Is that scheduled? Ms. Van der Zwaag: We are hoping to identify funding to be able to do a child care master plan. Chair DuBois: It's not necessarily going to happen this year? Ms. Van der Zwaag: It is the hope, but it is possible that it may not. Chair DuBois: I would certainly support it if you guys are looking for funding. Ms. Van der Zwaag: Thank you. Chair DuBois: Does anybody else have any other questions? Comments? Thank you, guys, for coming in today. It was great to get this update. Board Member Baten Caswell: Welcome to the family. [The Committee returned to Item Number 2.] NO ACTION TAKEN 5. Review Upcoming Calendar and Agendas. Chair DuBois: I know we want to get out of here in five minutes or so. We'll talk about upcoming agendas. Khashayar Alaee, City Manager’s Office: If I put it up on the TV screens, if you guys can see it, I can make it a little bigger. We have—where are we? August, right there. Tentatively right now, we have Project Safety Net teen programs, Center for Disease Control (CDC). I've highlighted this ... Board Member Baten Caswell: The Epi-Aid, will that be ready? Mr. Alaee: What is Epi-Aid? Board Member Baten Caswell: That the CDC report. Mr. Alaee: They're combined, CDC and Epi-Aid. Board Member Baten Caswell: Is it going to be ready on August 18th? Mr. Alaee: What does Epi-Aid stand for? Page 36 June 23, 2016 City School Liaison Draft Transcript Board Member Baten Caswell: That's what they call it when they come in and ... Chair DuBois: Epidemic Aid. Board Member Baten Caswell: Yeah, epidemic aid. I know we will have a draft, but I just don't know if it will be the final report. Cathy, do you have any idea? Why don't we check on that and make sure. Someone could come in and talk about the draft, but I don't know if that makes sense or not. Maybe we should check and see. Mr. Alaee: If that is not ready, do we want to hold and not talk about teen programs in Project Safety Net? Board Member Baten Caswell: No, I think we can talk about the other things. I think the Epi-Aid could be a—because that's really about where are the risks in Palo Alto and what do we do about them. That's different than reporting on what we have going on for teen programs. Council Member Wolbach: An update about Project Safety Net (PSN) would probably be good with the new Executive Director and her efforts there. I think it would be good to check in any way in August. Chair DuBois: You have traffic on there. We've been talking about traffic a lot. Mr. Alaee: Take that off. Chair DuBois: The middle school athletics was supposed to be today, and that slipped. Mr. Alaee: I think staff is still working on that. We can tentatively bring it in August again and see where things go. Board Member Baten Caswell: I was told by the traffic safety—by Penny that they're not usually ready to talk about Safe Routes and bike plan in August. I don't know if that's true or not. Mr. Alaee: You want to do that in September? Board Member Baten Caswell: Someone should just check on that. Council Member Wolbach: That would be great to know. I was inclined to request that we do Safe Routes to School in August. I was actually hoping we might get a chance (crosstalk). Page 37 June 23, 2016 City School Liaison Draft Transcript Board Member Baten Caswell: I would love to (inaudible) in August, but I know that traditionally they push back. I just don't know. Mr. Alaee: I'll check. Chair DuBois: (crosstalk) talk about bike plans. Council Member Wolbach: I was actually hoping we might do it this month because it'd give us time to think about it before the next school year starts. We'll do it when we can do it. Board Member Baten Caswell: One of the things they like to report is what percentage of the kids is biking versus driving. They don't have that information until they actually start the school year. Chair DuBois: What's the holdup with the middle school stuff? What are we waiting for? Mr. Alaee: It's attorneys talking and staff talking and getting the meeting scheduled. I think it's been very busy on our end with the end of the fiscal year, the budget and with the end of the school. Chair DuBois: I hear what you're saying, but I'm not sure we could change anything between August and September anyway. If we move Safe Routes to September, I would be up for that. Board Member Baten Caswell: The middle school athletics program is just out of the gate. We'd actually have been better to talk about it today. If we could do that earlier, that's better. Mr. Alaee: We'll work on these, at least one of these three items, for August and defer Safe Routes to September, if need be. In August we can determine the next several things. Board Member Baten Caswell: I'm just thinking if the Epi-Aid is ready, Project Safety Net and teen programs—I think this is too much stuff. Council Member Wolbach: Move out the others. Chair DuBois: I can kind of see these ... Board Member Baten Caswell: Move that to September. Chair DuBois: ... four things that you have there as pretty fungible. Even if you guys had the (inaudible) meeting, that even could—if other things aren't ready, it could be in August. The other things could be in September. Just Page 38 June 23, 2016 City School Liaison Draft Transcript kind of when they come in. I agree. I don't think the Epi-Aid is necessarily tied to PSN. Mr. Alaee: I can just put it as its own. Chair DuBois: Are you involved with PSN right now? Board Member Baten Caswell: I've been going to meetings, but I'm not an official anything. Chair DuBois: Cory's going. I'm somewhat up to date. I'm not sure we need a huge, huge update. Board Member Baten Caswell: I missed yesterday's meeting actually. Chair DuBois: I think we've all met the new director. It would be good to have them, but it doesn't need to be a really long agenda item. Council Member Wolbach: One thing I will say about St. Francis Schools is we had a really good discussion about that on Council a couple of months ago. I was just hoping to make sure that the presentation that we got, as the presentation came to us, if we could forward that to the school sites, just so they can take a look at it. I thought it was really useful to share that information (crosstalk) with you guys, it would be maybe helpful for you guys. Board Member Baten Caswell: Given that the survey you did had Safe Routes to School as one of the highest priorities for our community, I was very surprised by that. NO ACTION TAKEN Chair DuBois: With that, meeting adjourned. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 9:57 A.M.