Good afternoon, and welcome to the special education partnership committee meeting of Monday, September 22nd, 2025.

The time is now 331 PM, and this meeting may come to order.

Before getting started, I will go over instructions on how to provide speaker cards for items on this agenda.

If you're here with us in chamber and would like to submit a speaker card, please fill one out and turn one into myself or a clerk representative no later than ten minutes after the start of this meeting or before the item is read into record.

Registering to V to speak via Zoom is now due twenty-four hours prior to the start of this meeting time.

This meeting came to order at 3 31 PM, and speaker cards will no longer be accepted ten minutes after, making that time three forty-one p.m.

We'll now proceed with taking role.

Maximus Simmons.

Thank you.

And before we begin, Chair, do you have any announcements at this time?

Yes.

So first, it's my absolute pleasure to welcome everyone to the first education partnerships joint committee meeting with OUSD school board for 2025.

The first thing that I would like to do is just go over some logistics.

And so the first thing I would like for everyone to do, there's a prompt for you to enter the meeting.

So if you can please enter the meeting on your microphone panel.

And then when you press the green button in the middle, you will be you will be in cue to speak.

When you are in queue to speak, the mic will flash red.

Feel free to give it a try.

And then when your mic is green, that means that it is on.

You want to do an example.

Right.

And then lastly, and maybe most importantly, when we are doing roll call votes, our city clerk will turn your mic on so you don't have to press the button.

And of course, please let us know if you have any questions.

My team will be on standby to help and assist.

In addition to another announcement, I did just want to note just for the public, thank you so much for being here.

And you can sign up for public comment to speak on any on the agenda items that are related to the subject matter.

However, if you have a comment not on the agenda, please be sure to sign up for open forum.

And so today is a significant milestone because we're bringing together both the city council and the OUSD school board, as well as our student leaders.

We're creating an important space for collaboration.

And to me, this committee is not just about meetings, it's about ensuring Oakland's young people and families see a stronger, united commitment for their leaders.

And so I think that our purpose is simple but vital to build equity, transparency, and alignment across city school policies and to provide students with the resources and opportunities they deserve.

Whether it's student safety, health, funding priorities, or pathways to college and careers, we're here to listen, learn, and act together because we know that strong schools are the foundation for a thriving city.

And so it is my hope that this body will reflect Oakland's values of partnership, accountability, and the belief that every student should thrive.

And so my commitment as chair is to ensure we meet regularly, work transparently, and always send our center student voices in our decisions.

Lastly, I did want to make a note that it is our goal to conclude today's meeting between 5:30 and 6 to ensure those who will be observing Rosh Hashanah can attend those services.

And so, you know, thank you all for being here and for your commitment, and I look forward to the work at hand.

And so now I would like to invite school board vice president Bachelor as well as student school board representative Maximus Simmons to give some opening remarks.

Okay, I was paying attention, I promise.

Um, so thank you for uh for joining us today.

Uh it's been a while since we've gathered, and I just want to take a special moment to thank Chair Brown for kickstarting uh these meetings once again and excited to see us holding regular meetings so we can have these conversations.

The relationship between OUSD and the city is a valuable asset for our school students, staff, and our families.

The issues our city faces are often the same challenges presented in our schools, and by working together, we can make a strong impact.

As we move forward, I look forward to collaborating on issues such as school safety, affordable housing, and violence prevention, and I'm sure other topics will be will emerge as well.

On the issue of school safety, there are many opportunities for collaboration.

First, there are questions around safe passages to schools.

Some of our schools are located in high traffic areas where students must cross without crossing guards, signage, or traffic lights.

It would be beneficial to have a representative from Oakdot uh present uh to the full body.

Um many of our schools are frustrated by the length of time that it takes to implement some safety improvements and having KDOT explain the funding cycle and the processes would be really helpful to figure out how we can make those changes quicker.

We also know that many students walk through trash line streets to get to our schools, and I want to thank Mayor Barbara Lee for her work on cleaning areas around our schools.

It has made a real difference, especially schools like CCPA and my community for our students and families.

Um, and I welcome other cleaning opportunities that we can work on together.

Um USD currently has 10 vacant sites, and it would be beneficial for us to work with the city to explore the possibilities of measure of using measure W funds to build affordable housing on those sites.

This is only an exploratory, this is only now in the exploratory stages, but we want to have this opportunity between the two governing bodies to create real housing for Oakland families.

Another area of collaboration, of course, is violence prevention in both the city and our schools.

We must also work together to ensure immigrant families who are often under attack, know that our schools are safe places for their children to be.

By working together, we can help students and families travel to and from school safely.

I hope that by the end of this meeting, we can identify at least three key areas of collaboration and work together to move those forward to support our students and families in Oakland.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, everybody.

My name is Maximus Simmons for those who did not hear.