Youth and Family Action Committee

LA VERNE YOUTH & FAMILY ACTION COMMITTEE Minutes of the Regular Meeting January 24, 2023 1. A meeting of the Youth & Family Action Committee was called to order by Chair Crosby at 6:30 p.m. Executive Board Members present: Executive Board Rick Crosby, YFAC Chair, Mayor Pro Tem Wendy Lau, YFAC Vice Chair, Council Member Denise Fisher, Resident Greg Palatto, BUSD Board Member Don Kendrick, Resident Chris Dransfeldt, LVPD Ryan Lehotsky, LVPD Carlos Flores, LVPD Eddie Burgos, LVPD Hollie Savage, LVPD Joy Lindsay, BUSD Mark Rodgers, BUSD JR Ranells, City of La Verne Erin Beilstein, City of La Verne Robin Carder, Resident Patti Latourelle, Resident Isabelle Huber, WCUSD 2. Review of Minutes Minutes for the December 6th meeting were approved. 3. Intro of New City Manager Ken Domer, City Manager, introduced himself sharing that he enjoys seeing the community from different perspectives. He is interested in meeting with any group in the community who wants to talk. Don Kendrick shared with the group and Ken the history of YFAC over the past 30 years, noting that YFAC is adaptable and creates programs to respond to community needs. 4. BUSD Report Mark Rodgers, BUSD, talked with the group about the return to normalcy as compared to last year given that January 2022 the district had over 700 cases of COVID-19 and this January only saw 55 cases. Though COVID isn’t over, the school year and whole world is not like it was last year. The district is bringing back the Spelling Bee after a 2 year hiatus which will be on February 6th at 5pm. New student registration is Youth & Family Action Committee Minutes January 24, 2023, page 2 coming up including an expanded TK program at all elementary schools. There is an interdisciplinary team on crisis response this year and the district is addressing how to see the signs of crisis, notice risk, and provide care for students as soon as possible. Additionally, Mark shared that the educators are working on responding to the ChatGPT program and what it means to have academic honesty and how they can teach the students and monitor the work. 5. SRO Report School Resource Officer, Eduardo Burgos has completed SRO training and is enjoying the role, while getting to know the staff and students. SRO Burgos and Tobacco Education Compliance Officer Ryan Lehotsky have been doing walkthroughs and vape education at Bonita High School and Ramona Middle School. They are developing relationships with students and working on building trust. They shared that vaping seems to be going down from what it used to be and are working on educating the students who are caught with vapes and their parents on safety and prevention. 6. Youth Internet Safety Detective Carlos Flores of the La Verne Police Department shared a presentation on Youth Internet Safety. Detective Flores is part of the Internet Crimes Against Children task force and shared his expertise on how to keep students safe online. He stressed that it is important for parents and students to monitor connections, what they share, and the communications that are sent. A lot of the online internet abuse is aimed at getting money and blackmail the child, and the interactions end in money transfers via Zelle or CashApp to overseas accounts. It's important that the youth feel safe with adults and that adults focus on listening and not judging when situations arise. Detective Flores also shared that it is important to teach students to be assertive when something doesn’t feel right and that anything put on the internet can affect their future paths and careers. There are also signs of students who are being bullied and adults should educate themselves on what those are. Lastly, Detective Flores shared that he will be doing an internet safety presentation at Ramona Middle School as well. 7. Public Comment Don Kendrick shared with the group about the bullying article that he attached to the agenda. The group Youth & Family Action Committee Minutes January 24, 2023, page 3 discussed what it would look like to bring forward restorative solutions in our community. 8. Next Meeting The next YFAC meeting was scheduled for February 28, 2023. 9. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 7:24 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Erin Beilstein Management Analyst