I found this assignment fascinating and valuable to my understanding as a future administrator

in my district. I know that all districts are different, but I didnt realize HOW different they would
be as a neutral bystander in this process. There are eight areas I want to structure my narrative
around to give a glimpse of both meetings. I attended the board meetings of Compton Unified
School District, CUSD (May 24, 2017) and Los Alamitos Unified School District, LAUSD(June 6,
2017).

Tone of the meetings: There were significant differences between the tone of the meetings. As
approached the CUSD, I quickly saw that police cars were present and parked in the front of the
building. I wasnt sure what to make of this but as I entered the building about 30 minutes before
the meeting I was met with a full house of audience members. Everyone was very civil and I
noticed some attendees with identically printed yellow shirts that said Obama Charter School.
There were about 10 in attendance. There was also a blue shirted group that said, Compton
Education Foundation I believe from the CUSD teachers union. There was a tone of us
against them from my point of view but everyone was polite and sat quietly before the meeting
began. In stark contrast was the LAUSD meeting.

When I attended the Los Alamitos School Board Meeting there was a notable difference in the
tone of the meeting. First of all, I arrived about 30 minutes prior to the meeting starting and no
audience members were there. As I sat I noticed some of the board members preparing their
notes for the meeting but no audience members. They would start to trickle in about 10 minutes
before the meeting began. It would never be a full house but the room was also smaller than
CUSD. There was an anticipation of the awards that would be recognized this evening. Many of
the audience members were athletes in uniforms or dressed formally with ties and slacks. There
was a celebratory air as people chatted before the meeting started.

Content of the meetings: When I downloaded the meeting agendas I noticed how similar they
were in agenda items. Both had Call to order, Workshop sections, Open sessions, and closed
sessions. Both meeting had recognitions of achievements in their districts. The CUSD meeting
started late and the president said she would change the agenda and start on item I. It was the
part where they would give out the awards. This went on for and hour and a half. At approx.
7:30 they convened at their chairs and the president said that there were no public items and
they should meet in private. At once they got up and left the room for a private session. The
room was still full of people and they wanted to be heard. They would have to wait until they
came back from their private session in closed chambers. One thing that was done at the
LAUSD meeting was the grouping of all of the approval items. It was quickly moved, seconded,
and approved. I dont know if this is a common practice but at this point in the meeting I was the
only audience member left. Yes, everyone had already left the meeting.

Board Members: The job of these board members is to advocate for the students, families and
staff members of their districts. Both Boards lacked a certain amount of diversity in the makeup
of the members. In the CUSD board there was a student member that was not present but he
was the only hispanic representation on the board. All the rest were African American. Ironically,
an attendee made a comment during the public comments section about the non-diversity of the
board and was not sure if there would be anything that would happen to him by pointing this out
to them. Similarly, the LAUSD board lacked in diversity as well. All of the members were
caucasian including the student member. Among both board members from the districts, I
noticed that they were polite towards each other and the professional atmosphere also showed
that they liked working with each other.

Attendance: I have only attended a handful of board meetings in my district but I dont
remember the attendance being a big factor in the agendas. It seemed the agenda was a big
concern in CUSD but not in LAUSD. It was evident in the attendance. First of all, I arrived about
30 minutes prior to the LAUSD meeting starting and no audience members were there. As I sat I
noticed some of the board members preparing their notes for the meeting but no audience
members. They would start to trickle in about 10 minutes before the meeting began. It would
never be a full house but the room was also smaller than CUSD. There was an anticipation of
the awards that would be recognized this evening. Many of the audience members were
athletes in uniforms or dressed formally with ties and slacks. There was a celebratory air as
people chatted before the meeting started. In contrast, I drove up to the building I noticed police
cars parked. There were a lot of people waiting outside for the meeting to start. As I walked up
to the entrance I noticed that there were people in similar shirts, Barack Obama Charter School
and Compton Education Foundation. There were many families, mostly hispanic, in the full
capacity audience.

School Area and demographics:

Elementary Schools 24 6

Middle Schools 8 2

High Schools 3 1
 Total Students 21,800 10,000

Students Served: Ethnicities according to the CDE

Historical Budgets: according to the CDE 2015-2016

You can immediately notice the significant differences in each districts budgets and revenues.
Value of the Board Members: I noticed in both meetings the passion of the members and their
commitment to helping their districts. I was pleasantly surprised. There was a clear goal and
direction both boards were taking to help their districts. For example, during one of the
presentations of the awards given was to two young ladies in high school from the Compton
Administrators Group. They gave $200 each to them. Then one of the board members offered
to match the funds and add another $200. He looked at the audience and said, Who else wants
to add? Another two people added. Now the total was $800 each for these students just from a
plea from the board member. This board member put his money where his mouth was and got
others to join. It was exciting to see this. In LAUSD, The board members spoke with such high
regard for the classes they would visit during the day and you could honestly tell they were
proud of their district.