Eastside Union School District Packet Summary — 2026-08-27
Meeting: 08/27/2026 - 10:00 AM Eastside Union School District Board of Trustees Special Board Meeting/Governance Study Session Board Meeting
Location: Eastside Union School District, Conference Room 105, 44938 30th Street East, Lancaster, California 93535
The Eastside Union School District Board of Trustees is scheduled for a special meeting and governance study session focused primarily on the superintendent evaluation process and Board governance. The open-session study session includes reviews of Board bylaws governing standards and censure, Board elections, and agenda and meeting materials, along with a discussion of communication under The Governance Core 2.0.
Key Items on the Agenda
- Superintendent evaluation: The Board is scheduled to enter closed session for a discussion and review of Superintendent Dr. Tinisha Hamberlin's evaluation with Board facilitator and consultant Dr. Jennifer Jeffries.
- Governance study session: Superintendent Hamberlin and the Board are scheduled to review governance topics led by Dr. Jeffries.
- Board Bylaw 9005 — Governance Standards & Censure: This bylaw is listed as a governance study-session topic.
- Board Bylaw 9220 — Governing Board Elections: The packet provides the district's existing bylaw alongside updated California School Boards Association recommended language and a new accompanying exhibit.
- Board Bylaw 9322 — Agenda/Meeting Materials: The packet similarly provides the district's existing bylaw and newer CSBA recommended language for comparison.
- The Governance Core 2.0 — Communication: Communication is identified as an additional governance topic for Board review.
Closed Session: Superintendent Evaluation
The Board is scheduled to adjourn to closed session to review and discuss the superintendent's evaluation. The packet identifies Superintendent Dr. Tinisha Hamberlin and facilitator/consultant Dr. Jennifer Jeffries as participants in the review with members of the Governing Board.
After returning to open session, the Board Clerk is scheduled to report any action that may have been taken in closed session. The packet does not state in advance that any particular action will occur.
Governance Study Session
Board Elections — Bylaw 9220
The packet sets up a comparison between Eastside Union's existing Bylaw 9220: Governing Board Elections, last revised and reviewed August 11, 2014, and CSBA's recommended language revised August 1, 2026.
Eastside Union's current bylaw addresses Board-member eligibility, trustee-area elections, candidate statements, campaign conduct and tie votes. Among its existing provisions, Board members must reside in and be elected by voters within their respective trustee areas, candidate statements are limited to 200 words, and a tie vote is resolved by lot.
The newer CSBA model is substantially broader and includes updated provisions or guidance covering:
- Board-member qualifications and legal disqualifications.
- Confidentiality of candidate residence addresses, telephone numbers and email addresses recorded with county election officials.
- Board-member recalls and the process for ordering recall elections.
- Consolidation of Board elections with municipal or statewide elections.
- Election certification and trustee-area election methods.
- Redistricting and procedures for changing election methods.
- Campaign finance and candidate statements.
- Options for resolving tie votes either by lot or through a runoff election.
The packet also includes a new Exhibit 9220-E(1) containing a non-exhaustive list of offenses that can disqualify a person from holding public office, including service on a school district governing board.
The agenda characterizes this as a governance review and discussion; it does not identify adoption of revised Bylaw 9220 or the new exhibit as a proposed action at this meeting.
Agenda and Meeting Materials — Bylaw 9322
The Board is also scheduled to compare Eastside Union's existing Bylaw 9322: Agenda/Meeting Materials, last revised and reviewed October 18, 2023, with CSBA recommended language revised February 1, 2026.
Both versions address how Board agendas are prepared, distributed and made available to the public. The newer CSBA model contains updated and expanded language in several areas, including:
- Opportunities for public comment on agenda items.
- Disability-related accommodations and modifications.
- How members of the public and individual Board members may request matters for future agendas.
- Distribution of agendas and related materials to Board members.
- Public access to regular-meeting agenda materials.
- A separate framework for dissemination of special-meeting agendas and materials.
One notable addition in the CSBA model is a more detailed process for Board-member agenda requests. Under the sample language, a Board member may request that a matter be placed on an upcoming agenda; the Board president and superintendent would provide a response within 30 days, and a denied or disputed request could be appealed to the full Board for a decision about whether, when and how to agendize the matter.
The recommended language also specifically addresses special meetings, providing that the dissemination requirements described for regular meetings would generally apply to special meetings with a 24-hour requirement instead of the regular-meeting 72-hour requirement.
As with Bylaw 9220, the packet presents these materials for comparison during the governance study session rather than identifying a final bylaw adoption as an action scheduled for this meeting.
Governance Standards and Communication
The agenda identifies Board Bylaw 9005: Governance Standards & Censure as another study-session topic and lists the district's Board Policy Manual version of Bylaw 9005 among the materials for the session.
The Board and superintendent are also scheduled to review The Governance Core 2.0 — Communication. The packet does not provide additional substantive detail about the specific communication issues or changes that may be considered, so the scope of that discussion is not further defined in the materials.
Public Participation
The special-meeting agenda includes public comment on agenda items. Individual speakers are generally allotted three minutes, and the Board states that it will conclude receiving information on a specific agenda item after a 20-minute timeframe.
The agenda says individuals wishing to comment on specific items may do so once the item has been moved, seconded and placed on the floor for discussion. It also states that the Board will hear speakers but will not respond to public questions during public comment; speakers may request a written response.
What to Watch at the Meeting
The central open-session question is how the Board approaches potential updates to its governance rules after comparing existing district bylaws with newer CSBA model language. The packet provides particularly detailed comparison material for Bylaw 9220 on Board elections and Bylaw 9322 on agendas and meeting materials, but the agenda describes the session as a review and discussion rather than presenting those revisions for adoption.
The study session may therefore help establish which governance provisions the Board wants to retain, revise or examine further. The packet itself does not specify what revisions, if any, will ultimately return for formal Board action.
