Coachella Valley Unified board meeting, Aug 13, 2026
1 h 53 min · 10 public speakers
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What happened
What happened at this meeting
Coachella Valley Unified board adopts revised phone-free school day policy 1:37:57
- District staff presented a summer school recap, reporting that close to 5,000 students attended. 8:27
- Several speakers at the closed session public comment period raised classified employee health insurance costs and a one-time payment of $345 offered in negotiations. 22:22
- The board adopted revised board policy and administrative regulation 5131.8 on mobile communication devices and a phone-free school day, and the motion carried. 1:37:57
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Item by item (15)
- Opening and agenda approval 0:03
- The meeting was called to order at 5:37, and Alena Callimanis led the Pledge of Allegiance. 0:07
- A district staff member corrected an added board meeting date to December 1st and noted the annual organizational meeting would move from December 10th, 2026 to December 17th, 2026. 2:21
- Staff also corrected personnel report items and asked that a duplicated storage structure item for North Shore Elementary be removed from the agenda. 3:00
- The agenda with corrections was approved unanimously. 5:37
- Summer school program recap 5:42
- A presenter said close to 5,000 students attended summer school, including over 1,400 English learners, and high school students made up over 2,150 credits. 8:27
- A staff member said over 400 staff were trained in crisis prevention and intervention. 9:12
- A presenter said this was the first year the dual language program participated in summer school. 11:44
- Year-end budget update 16:26
- A district staff member said the district was closing out its 25-26 budget and had sent 26-27 site allocations to sites. 17:41
- The staff member said unaudited actuals would be presented in September, the onsite audit would take place in October and the first interim would be presented in December. 18:03
- Closed session public comment 18:58
- A speaker at public comment said parents of special education students had been on a waiting list for the after-school program for over a year. 19:46
- Several speakers at public comment said classified employees were offered a $345 one-time payment while seeking an ongoing increase toward health insurance costs. 22:22
- A speaker at public comment said teachers were being asked to choose between options reducing recess to 10 minutes and that 7 teachers were not paid on time for summer school. 41:01
- The motion to enter closed session carried. 47:23
- Report of closed session actions 53:03
- Open session public comment 56:59
- A speaker at public comment said volunteer documents had not been updated since 1996 and asked for a bullying policy update before school starts. 1:01:35
- Speakers at public comment raised school placement changes for students with IEPs and training for yard supervisors working with special education students. 1:02:47
- A speaker at public comment said elementary combination classes grew from approximately 32 last year to at least 67 this year. 1:06:04
- Board member reports 1:10:21
- Jocelyn Vargas and Valerie Garcia thanked those who gave public comment. 1:11:28
- Alena Callimanis asked staff to define acronyms in agenda materials and to report on plans to improve attendance. 1:14:55
- One board member thanked maintenance staff for summer projects and asked that cones be put up during projects. 1:22:33
- Superintendent report 1:28:46
- A district staff member announced a resource fair and backpack giveaway on August 17th from 4:30 to 6:30 at the district office, with buses available for students to try the new Easy Access Pass. 1:29:10
- Additional December board meeting 1:33:16
- Middle school memorandum of understanding 1:34:10
- The board considered a memorandum of understanding between Exception and the district's middle schools. 1:34:10
- A staff member said the program would run through cohorts, one for females and one for males, and a speaker said each cohort would be 8 students on a rotation. 1:34:52
- The motion carried. ~1:35:33
- Item 1:35:33
- Family engagement program contract 1:37:21
- Mobile device and phone-free policy 1:37:57
- Trinidad Arredondo asked whether glasses were included, and a staff member said Meta glasses and any wearable technology that records are not allowed under the administrative regulation. 1:38:30
- Alena Callimanis asked why middle school was combined with elementary, and a staff member said principals and families gave feedback and the rule would apply K-8. 1:39:07
- A staff member said a family webinar was scheduled on the 17th. 1:40:34
- The motion carried. ~1:41:20
- Administrative hearings agreement increase 1:41:20
- Consent calendar and pulled items 1:42:01
- The board approved the consent calendar, with items M1, L2 and M2 pulled. 1:43:28
- A speaker asked about the cost of $256 multi-park passes for a trip, and a staff member said workshops are scheduled at each park. 1:44:04
- The meeting adjourned at 9:22 PM. 1:52:37
- Item L2 passed 6-0, item N1 passed, and item M2 carried 5-1-0. 1:48:44
Written by software from the meeting's transcript and checked sentence by sentence against it.
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Video: posted by the district as “CVUSD Board Meeting 08/13/2026”