##VIDEO ID:https://ctnvideo.a2gov.org/CablecastPublicSite/show/10182?site=1## Thank you. Trustees, you have received the agenda. Are there any changes? I see 2 hands. You can. Trustee Vasquez, please. Yes. Thank you, president Easter. Under information, I would like to add is item d from the bond team, clarification regarding staging. That is under information. You're adding a d. Yes, please. So that will shorten my report from the committee and allow the experts to speak more on that. Okay. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Any any questions on that one from anybody? Any discussion? Okay. Trustee Mohammed, did you have something separate? Well, I was just gonna add some, like, board discussion about the bond, but we can I mean, we can discuss it during the information? Okay. Alright. So after adding well, I guess I need a second, don't I? Mhmm. Trustee is there a second for trustee Vasquez's motion to add, Stacia? 2nd. 2nd by, by trustee Schmidt. Any additional discussion? Alright. Seeing none, may I have a roll call vote on that? Trustee Mohammed? Yes. President Feaster? Yes. Trustee Gainer? Yes. Trustee Busquette? Yes. Trustee Dupree? Yes. Trustee Schmidt? Yes. Motion carries. Thank you. So So would it won't, would it help to have board discussion about, or should we just discuss it during the informational session? I think we can probably answer most of my questions during the the the added letter d that trustee Vasquez has added, but whatever the board pleasure. Is your if I may. If the question is off the topic of staging, that may be an issue and concern. I'm not quite sure if we're ready for whatever. Okay. But, again, as I've asked trustees in the past, if you have any questions on anything related to the bond committee to please communicate with me so that we can better prepare the team to either bring it to the board or we could probably clarify it in a conversation amongst our selves. So I'm not quite sure what the trustees are looking to discuss. Well, Southlake, if you wanna add something broader than Stacia, now is the time. I think adding board discussion on about, Thurston. So that would also be under Just I guess it would be under information? It would be before board action. Yes. That would be under information that we added a d by trusted. No. No. It has to be a separate d. I think board discussions usually is separate. Is is that what you want so you want I think it can be under information as long as it's defined as a discussion. That's fine. Okay. That's fine. Alright. So it's been moved by trustee Mohammed. Is there support to add more more discussion under information as a letter e? Any support? Support by trustee Gainer. Thank you. It's been moved by trustee Mohammed, support by trustee Gaynor. Any additional discussion on an added letter e? Yes, trustee Schmidt Schmidt? I do. Since I don't really know what it is we're gonna talk about, I think the unfortunate thing is, as, trustee Baskett just said, anytime we're gonna talk about things, if we can let people know ahead of time so that they can come prepared with whatever that inform that discussion is going to be. Miss Trusiakan? I think if you've been keeping up with email and my questions over the last 2 months, you would have a good sense of what the discussion issues are? Well, I have been keeping up with my email, actually. But it would be nice to have stated that before to our staff so they know what's up. There's nothing new here. Trustee, Mohammed? So the reason why I wanted to add it, just so us as a board can discuss. I know that the information part is primarily focused on staging, but this would be a good opportunity for us to discuss the Thurston, project, maybe have some additional questions that we can take to the bond committee, because we haven't really had that discussion yet Okay. As a as an entire board. Trustee Vasquez? The opportunity to have that discussion has always been there. So I'm not quite sure, again, the intent or the timing, but, so be it. So it's been moved by Trustee Mohammed. It's been supported by Trustee again, and we've had discussion. Seeing no additional half of discussion, miss Soderbergh, would you please do a roll call on adding the letter e, further discussion on, Thurston? Trustee Mohammed? Yes. President Feaster? Yes. Trustee Gainer? Yes. Trustee Carahara? Yes. Trustee Vasquez? Yes. Trustee Dupree? Yes. Trustee Schmidt? Yes. Motion carries. Thank you. With the added letters, d and e, is there anything else that any trustee wants added? Seeing none, do we have a motion to approve the agenda with the added letters d and a? So moved. Moved by trustee Schmidt. 2nd. 2nd by Me. By trustee Dupree. Here. By trustee Dupree. Any discussion? Alright. Miss Soderbergh, please. Trustee Mohammed? Yes. President Feaster? Yes. Trustee Gainer? Yes. Trustee Carahara? Yes. Trustee Vasquez? Yes. Trustee Dupree? Yes. Trustee Schmidt? Yes. Motion carries. Thank you. I would now like to introduce the nonvoting member at the table, miss Jazz Parks, superintendent of schools. Thank you, president Feaster. Good evening. Thank you. And I believe that brings us down to number 2, special recognition, recognition of our departing trustees, Gaynor and Dupree. Excuse me. Thank you, president Feaster. We would like to take a moment to express our gratitude and best wishes to vice president Dupree, trustee Gainer, and trustee Carahiro as their board service is coming to an end. We'd like to thank you for your leadership and your service during, where our have been some unprecedented days, in our district in times in our district. The role of a board of education trustee is one of service, and we appreciate the personal sacrifices that you and your families have made to serve as members of the board of education. So we have prepared a short video, just to acknowledge and recognize, as an expression of our thank you for your years of service. School board members are ordinary people who have an extraordinary dedication to our public schools. Through countless board meetings, committee meetings, and formal and informal meetings and discussions with Anark Republic Schools' teachers and staff, families, and other community members, trustees spend 100 of hours every year focused on the education of our students. Trustees Jeff Gaynor and Crystal Dupree have spent a combined 12 years in service on the board of education. For trustee Gaynor, this came after decades serving as an AAPS teacher. Their service to the Anarbor Public Schools came to the expense of spending time with family and friends. Their work on behalf of the more than 17,000 students, our teachers and staff, and the whole Ann Arbor community will be felt for decades to come. Their decisions on the curriculum, maintenance of our schools, and budget led to APS students having educational opportunities that set them on their way to lifelong success. The success of the programs put in place by the board of education can be measured in many ways. It can be shown through a host of statewide and national recognitions, such as schools earning national blue ribbon designations and these main students to watch. These are highlighted by students earning the opportunity to participate in statewide fine arts programs and athletic teams winning individually and team titles, and accolades won by students in home of the death and other career check education programs, and oh, so much more. The success of the work of the board of education can also be seen seen every June as more than 1,000 students receive their diplomas and enter adulthood well prepared for whatever comes next. These many success stories come thanks to decisions made by the board of education. These are often difficult decisions. Trustees must make choices that have harsh privilege of every option, where funding limits what they can do. Sometimes, trying to choose the best will be less than ideal options. For their years of service to the students, staff, and community, we thank Jose's crystal degree and Jeff Lehner for their work in the honorable tools for education. Thank you both, trustee Gannon, trustee Dupree. Mister president Feaster Yes. Before we go on, it looks very awkward and unexplained why we did not recognize a third trustee who is leaving us. Yes, ma'am. But as I understand it, the 3rd trustee does not want any recognition or participation. But so through the viewing audience, it's not that we have slighted anybody, but it was at that person's request. Fair. Thank you. Trustee Quijaro? Yeah. You know, thank you for saying that. I generally don't think this is a celebratory sort of, celebratory moment for me. This is a moment of service. I see that very much as what this is supposed to be. And I kind of somewhat in our current time with our budget and how things are and the temperament of our community. I just don't think it's time to celebrate anything. I have a lot of issues that are very very tenuous, I think. And when I think about my service over the years, one thing that I think about in particular is the difficulty in serving in the role, which I think we we can all sit here. But in particular, for someone like me who's a non white and a non black, Asian American, Filipino American, that has been particularly challenging, in this role. Over the past 4 years, I've been everything from misidentified to misunderstood to mischaracterized. And so to me, it's not celebration, quite frankly. It's just a very eye opening experience to see how public system and public education works. Tremendous amount of sacrifices on the heart of my family. We've had everything in our family from being flyered in our neighborhood to, you know, social media platforms just slandering me and my family name out there without any regard to anything. So to me, it's not a moment of celebration. Definitely a moment of reflection for sure. There's a lot that this district needs to do, and a lot of it hasn't moved a whole lot. So I'm just gonna leave it at that. Again, I I I left I reflect on the experience as definitely a personal one that has been out. I don't think it's hard to say traumatic, but definitely, professionally speaking as a teacher, very eye opening to how public education works, and doesn't work quite frankly. And I'll just leave it at that. Well, if nothing else, trust if nothing else, trustee Carroll, thank you for your service. I believe that brings us down to the public commentary section of the agenda. Miss Soderbergh, how many do we have for this evening? We have, first of all, 4, special recognition, comments. Okay. I'm sorry. Please. The first is from Colin Brook, and then next, Kristen Fraser, followed by Praveena Ramaswamy and Jennifer Oltham. And I'm happy to read those if Please. If they're not here. Okay. This is from Colin Brooks. I want to thank Jeff Gaynor for all of his service on the board who cared so much about actually communicating with the voters and AAPS families, he was good trouble. The new board should work hard to be as dedicated as much as he did to improving education and thank for teaching my older child at CLEG twice. Kristen Fraser, thank you to the 3 of you. You have offered insight, context, connections, support, and most importantly, an avenue for the people's voice, my voice. I appreciate the countless and undoubtedly exhausting job you have done as trustees. My hope moving forward is that you will continue to advocate for underserved populations and pop into Mitchell after a break for a visit. As a parent, I would love to have you out. And Praveen Ramaswamy, Board of Education Trustees and Superintendent Park, I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to trustee Gaynor, trustee Caraharo, and trustee Dupree for their dedicated service to our community. Please find attached my public commentary, which I submitted as a community member. I urge you to take time to listen deeply to the voices of the community with proper stakeholder engagement. Consider all the newly learned factors and carefully evaluate the trajectory ahead in this uncertain future. Pause and reflect to ensure that the strategy presented is on the right path and that as a full Board you understand the long term impact of your decisions. Thank you for your attention and thoughtful leadership. And lastly, from Jennifer Oldham, I'd like to offer my heartfelt thanks to trustees Gaynor, Dupree, and Kara Harrell for their service and dedication to AAPS students and families. Trustee Gaynor has shown a special commitment to transparency, and his unwavering willingness to communicate with everyone is sometime sometime I am especially grateful for. Thank you. Alright. Does that offer special recognition? A special comment. Let me do this in first. The board would like to remind well, now we're at the public commentary session. The board would like to remind everyone that individuals who have signed up for public commentary will have their name called and are given an opportunity to speak or have comments read by members of our staff. Commetrics will receive up to 4 minutes with a total of no more than 45 minutes allowed for the public commentary period. When your name is called, please come forward and speak at the microphone. To help manage your time, a clock will be placed on the screen in front of you. We would like to remind everyone that public comments generally pertain to Ann Arbor Public School District matters. Comments about individuals excuse me. Any individual or individuals are expressly prohibited. Also, please understand the board members do not respond to public comment, but we will listen and will follow-up as appropriate. Miss Soderbergh, how many times do we have tonight? Pardon me? We have 135 comments. Thank you. Yes, trustee Guerrero? I respectfully request that everybody get at least a minute. Thank you, trustee Guerrero. Same situation of last week for me. I I guess I'll do 30 seconds, please, for everyone. Oh, I'm sorry. Trusted friend? Possibly, the 40 second. Is that a third? Trusted, Vasquez? As I've mentioned before, we do have a policy of 45 minutes divided by the number of speakers. If we're going to make continue to make exceptions to this, then we need to review the policy. And, again, given the time and the full agenda, I think if you wanna go with 30 seconds, so be it. But, again, acknowledge the time Right. On the other topics. And so, no, I would not support 40 seconds. Trustee Mohammed? And just to clarify, the policy does allow the president to make any exceptions. We are fully aware of that. Thank you, trustee. So it would be 26 18 seconds 20 seconds a person, I assume, 20. So I'll give everyone 30, the round number, and, we can try to get through. Thank you. Okay. The first will be Jim Ballham, Sarah Thompson, followed by Luke Bunnell. And Jim says, even with the most recent changes, the current Thurston plan is still suboptimal for the district and the kids. If you haven't watched the videos at the Thurston play site, please do. The second video lays out a better plan with many improvements. Construction costs, only 2 years of demolition and construction with nothing in the way, greatly reduced grading and landscaping, less rainwater handling infrastructure, evens out major construction across the district, and students' safety and learning, play spaces will not be between active roads. Students will be there. Sarah Thompson, followed by Luke Bunnell and Praveena Ramaswamy. 1, they are teachers before we lose all of them. 2, you're gonna hear a lot about 1st and Nature Center tonight, and you're probably going to tell yourself that we just don't see the big picture. But we see what you're doing to the entire northeast community. We see how you are forcing Logan's entire walking community across a busy street. There's only getting busier. We see how you are leaving Plagg with a single soccer field and a single ball diamond when their existing athletic facilities are barely adequate, and we see how you are making Thurston students and staff sitting ducks by putting the majority of their play space in front of the room where your secure welcoming entrance doesn't mean a thing. Luke Bunnell, Praveena Ramaswamy, and then Ben Badalamente. Luke says, I'm an APS student and Thurston alum. Please protect the Thurston Nature Center. And then, he attaches some handwritten letters from, students, and they are going to be they are already posted, on the agenda in BoardDocs. And then Praveena Ramaswamy, Ben Badalamente, and Renee Ring. Praveena says I'm speaking today as a community leader and resident, one of many who is deeply invested in the future of our neighborhood, city, and environmental education. I urge you to stop, collaborate, and listen, and then come back with a district wide addition that reflects the current market and has a due diligence process. The Board of Education is currently in a unique position with a newish superintendent, a new BOE coming in, newly announced survey on student attendance decline, an uncertain fed state funding political landscape, and the reinstatement of internal advisory committee of experts. Ben Fadlemente, Renee Ring, and Christine Tavegia. So Ben says, our educators have been hit very hard in multiple ways over the last several years, insufficient non existent raises, a global pandemic, district budget crisis lay off. And they deserve a school board who will act in their best interest and start to treat them better and repair relationships. Instead, your actions thus far have served to prove that money is more important than well-being. It is not a good solution to raise costs for those who who serve to solve the budget crisis you've created watched unfold. An increase in the cost of health care will cause more damage to the UPS. Renee Ring, Christine Treveggia, and David Hutchinson. Renee says, I had hopes that Ann Arbor would be 100% committed to biodiversity keeping delicate ecosystems within the city intact. However, here we are yet again, it takes time many years even decades to establish biodiversity and countless hours from volunteers. I do hope alternate plans are created and considered in great detail before disturbing what has been created in Thurston, longtime park adopter, rain gardener, and native plant enthusiast. Christine Treveggia, David Hutchinson, followed by doctor mark doctor Margaret Baker. Please postpone the plan for Thurston and be responsive to the community. We trusted that you would look at each school individually and make the best decision for improvement and include community input, which you didn't. Instead, you implied a formula, enough land, no staging. It doesn't work for Thurston. It ignores that you're putting a building in a nature center that the community has tended for over 50 years and cared for. And the Anarbor School Board has taken care of, and it's nationally recognized. Slow down and take a look. David David Hutchinson, doctor Margaret Baker, followed by Sarah Schreiber. Please slow down. There's no hurry. The only hurry is your agenda that you had set up. Everything that we've heard since we first learned about these plans is that you wanna keep going. We don't understand it. We try to get feedback, but we don't. The, problem is the Nature Center. What we've had for 60 years is this what we're gonna have is this with the externalities. You seem to ignore the fact that the heat, the light, and the trash in the back of a school board school. Doctor Margaret Baker followed by Sarah Schreiber and Pam O'Neil. Jeff Bondridge reading this on behalf of doctor Baker. I am mystified. You, the board, are inexplicably downplaying very clear and obvious danger with regards to the wrong head wrong headed decisions on Thurston Elementary. Have you surveyed teachers who would have have to supervise children on a construction site for 4 years? What about children with learning, differences in all that noise? Where is the survey of Logan parents regarding their response to allowing Thurston students into new Logan first? It is your job with our constituents. Do one thing. Watch a ill advised, destructive plan. Sarah Shriver followed by Pam O'Neil and Kelly Sager. Sarah writes, board of education members, it is your job and your duty to represent your community. Please listen to us. Thurston is located near a large pond. Not only is it a potential flood risk or a future building, it is not ideal for students. There is already a shortage of outdoor monitors during recess and moving the school closer to the pond increases the risk of kids drowning. Staging the school avoids these safety risks and potential litigation. Staged Thurston. Pam O'Neil, Kelly Sager, and then Eleanor Freeland. Having lived in the Bromley neighborhood for 19 years, I've experienced firsthand how deeply our community values Thurston Elementary and the Thurston Nature Center. I strongly urge the board to adopt the Let Thurston Play staging plan. This approach minimizes the impact on our neighborhood's cherished green space, preserves the nature center as a safe and inspiring environment for children to learn and play, and supports community engagement and exploration. Kelly Sager, followed by Eleanor Freeland, and then Tiffany Walther. Hello. I'm a parent of 2 kids at Thurston. I love the new plan that Let Thurston Play has submitted. If we don't stage Thurston, the students' access to outdoor recess will be reduced by over 60% for 4 years. It's not fair to destroy their recess when we could stage the school and prevent this. Children need recess and fresh air. It is crucial for their ability to pay attention for 7 hours a day. Thurston is located near a large pond. There is already a dangerous shortage of outdoor monitors during recess, and moving the school closer to the pond increases the risk of being drowned. Next is Eleanor Freeland, Tiffany Walther, and Gina Schneider. Hi. I'm Eleanor, and I'm a 13 year old student at Clegg. I graduated from Thurston. I love the Nature Center, and it had a big impact on my time at Thurston. Even now, I play at the Nature Center and on the Thurston Playgrounds with friends. I think you should stage Thurston and try to save the Nature Center. Tiffany Walther, Gina Schneider, and Lindsay Burrell. We, the 4 members of the King PTO board, call for community engagement around the bond proposals for the redesign of APS Schools in the form of regular meetings, open houses between community members of APS, the APS BOE, and the design company of Gilbane, as well as regular surveys for community input. We also call for the formation of a bond oversight committee, which would include parents, stakeholders from all elementary schools, in addition to members from the district in Gilbane. In conclusion, we are asking for full transparency prior to any decisions being made. Gina Schneider, Lindsay Burrell, and Melissa Villanueva. There are so many issues with the district wide Project Gilbane and the bond company cooked up. It's hard to choose one to talk about in my time limit. It's not just Thurston getting the short end. It's Lawton and it's Mitchell, Carpenter, and it's Clegg via the weird plan for Logan. Those are just the ones I know about. The bond committee and their builder are not engaging with people in the communities where these schools are being built, not in any meaningful way. They're running this project in an undemocratic manner, then doing all they can to ignore or cast dispersions on those standing up and calling for them to do better. Lindsay Burrell, Melissa Villanueva, and then Allison Carey. Bond timeline. As a staff member at King Elementary, I want to express my strong support for the current plan and timeline for bond construction. While I appreciate the concerns raised with Thurston and Logan, I am confident that our board, builders, and district staff have thoroughly considered these issues prior to deciding on the published timeline. King Elementary is a large school with a population that continues to grow consistently. With the current building along with the modular, King is bursting at the seams. This construction is vital to accommodate our growing student population. Next is Melissa Villanueva, then Allison Carey, and then Hannah Fox. Hi. My name is Millie Villanueva, and, today, I continue with why I love working at Pittsfield. Yesterday, I received a handle with care message for a student that was on my EL case load for 5 years that exited this year. The student doesn't technically work with me anymore, but she came to my office for a quiet space to write. While she was in my office working, she began talking about what was bothering her, and we spent about 20 minutes working through strategies for how to get through this stressful situation. At the time she left, she was laughing and ready to rejoin her learning space. Being able to be a student's safe person is another reason why elementary school. Please help to keep me here. Next is Allison Carey, then Hannah Fox, then Carey Lord. The Ann Arbor board needs to honor the 1967 pledge to preserve the Thurston Nature Center for outdoor and conservation education. Is such a large asphalt footprint really necessary? The proposal encircles children play areas with asphalt and traffic. It chops up the whole green space. Additionally, all this asphalt backs up to an assisted living facility in Georgetown. I'm really concerned about the Arden as it's a main artery that there's enough kids that are gonna have to cross the street that Next is Hannah Fox, then Carrie Lord, then Shelly Salant. Unnecessary urgency, not listening to the community, destruction of nature, please stop. Let Thurston play. We are in the midst of climate crisis, and your priorities are so backward. It's been a joy to be able to walk to and through the Thurston Nature Center, and it's one I want to protect and be able to share with generations to come, not destroy because of an allegiance to profit over children over nature. Next is Carrie Lord, then Shelly Salant, then, Jessamay Green Husted. Keep our teachers here and hold district staff accountable for a safe and supportive learning environment at Mitchell for students and teachers. Our schools are nothing without our teachers, and Mitchell is losing more excellent teachers than any other school to industry transfers because of the lack of support. I'm frankly scared as a Mitchell parent of what the school environment will be like in coming years if we lose even more teachers over pay issues on top of our current losses. Please stop the hemorrhaging of staff, pay and support them properly, and let Mitchell learn. Shelley Salant, followed by Jessamine Greenhustad, and Margaret Delaney. Shelley states, I'm an AEPs alum, excuse me, Huron High School Class of 20 2007, and I'm very distressed to hear about what's been happening at Mitchell Elementary. I'm asking you to take a stand for equity in our district, support Mitchell Elementary School, support our title 1 schools, and keep our teachers here. Jessamy Green Houston, Margaret Delaney, and Julie Boster. Jessamy says I'm a parent of a child at Mitchell Elementary, and I'm asking the board of education to hold the district accountable. Mitchell students deserve a safe, supportive environment, and keeping our teachers here is essential to their success. Please make retaining our incredible Mitchell teachers a top priority. Thank you. Margaret Delaney, Julie Boster, and Madhan Ramaswamy. Margaret said, I'm writing to urge you to preserve the entire Oak Savannah in the Thurston Nature Center. This unique and rare ecosystem is not just a beautiful part of our natural landscape, but also a vital resource for local wildlife and the health of our environment. Most oak savannahs are extinct in Michigan. This one was created by Thurston students in 2008 with written support from the Anar Republic Schools. It is home to a wide variety of species, including rare plants, ground nesting birds, and insects that rely on this habitat. Julie Boster, followed by Mattan Rameshwami and Betty Kerski. Julie writes, keep the current green spaces for Thurston students and our neighborhood community. Staging is the best option for all of us. Madhan Rameshwamy, Betty Kirschke, and Missy Plag. Madhan says, as a neighbor and former Thurston parent, I am writing to express express my concern about the current plans for the new Thurston building. While each revision to the site plan due to community pressures been demonstrate has demonstrated improvement in the landscaping aspects, it is still a suboptimal plan for the overall Northeast Ann Arbor community to not stage the construction and balance the needs of all constituents. Please show with clear facts what are Gilbane's constraints and cost to adopt the staging proposal involving all of these in King and Thurston. Betty Kirschke, followed by Missy Plaeg and Chian Yuan. Betty writes, as a former Mitchell School teacher and longtime Ann Arbor community member, I am distressed to hear about the current conditions at the school. Please find a way to support our students and staff there. It can be done. Missy Plagg, Chian Yuan, and Amy Ekadwalader. Missy writes, please take care of our title 1 schools and take care of our teachers. Send Mitchell Elementary School the resources they need to provide a safe and supportive learning environment. My children attended Mitchell Elementary for the past 4 years until we had to make the heartbreaking decision to move them to a different AAPS school this year. This decision was made based on a variety of reasons, all of which stemmed from the same basic issues, the lack of support, resources, and attention given to this community by the district. My children had to leave their friends and loving children. Chian Yuan, Amy Cadwalader, and Anne Cox. Chian Yuan writes, it is crucial to protect and preserve Thurston Nature Center. Please do not prioritize the misguided vision of a developer over the needs of a community and children's safety. The design for the new Thurston School clearly falls on both accounts. Amy Cadwalader, Anne Cox, and Shunashi Rose. Amy writes, keep students at Mitchell safe. Hire a principal who knows how to engage with the title 1 community. Excuse me. Bring back the IB coordinator in order to keep the school IB compliant. Incentivize teachers positions so they want to stay. I believe that the district has let us down and needs to address leadership and staff turnover as well as a lack of equity in our school. I'm looking for consistent staffing across the entire building, leadership, teachers, and support staff. Anne Cox, followed by Shunas Shunashe Rose and Laura Ganzil. Anne writes, I grew up in the Thurston neighborhood and now live across town. I was educated in the AAPS. My children have gone to AAPS. I believe in the ability of the AAPS to create high quality learning environments. I very much enjoyed my childhood in the Thurston neighborhood and feel that it contributed to my current world view. This controversy regarding the sit citing of the new Thurston School has definitely caught my attention. I developed a critical thinking framework for my AAPS education. I went on to be trained as an architect. Shunashi Rose, Laura Ganzel, Sandra Buma. Let this in play, the habitat surrounding the pond and nature center is precious and there is no excuse for acting as if it's expendable. The cost of compromising it is far beyond monetary. Ann Arbor should be sincere about keeping our 0 carbon goals. To be serious about it, we need our trees. None of the many developments that are happening in Ann Arbor are happening in a vacuum, nor are your decisions as the board or bond committee. These actions have a cumulative impact. Please do the right thing and make your decisions with the future of the planet in mind. You owe it to our children. Laura Ganzel, Sandra Buma, and then Andrew Vane. My name is Laura Ganzel, and I'm an alumni of and current neighborhood of Thurston Elementary School. I am writing to express concerns about the school board's plans to move forward with building a new Thurston on the same site as current students learning on a known flood plain and right next to a large pond that will pose drowning risks when students do enter that building. I'm proud to come from such an educated, engaged, and caring community. Please listen when we come to you with valid concerns and a possible solution. Keep our spaces green, keep our kids safe, and keep our kids learning. Sandra Buma, Andrew Vane, and Van Van Higdon. Hi. Your invitation, I watched the December 9 staging video, so I get some information about it. And one of the first questions was, is there room to build a school on the existing property? The answer to that question is no. There's not because we have promised to preserve Thurston Nature Center. And if you draw a line around the acreage that you need to do that, there's no room. There's simply no room there. It's not the same kind of school. We had the father of, education that founded us years ago. We need to protect Thurston, and please, please, finish our experience. Take the long view. Andrew Vane, Ben Higdon, and Sarah Winter. I'm a registered engineer in 20 states and have been engaged in forensic engineering for 10 years. During this time, I have professionally evaluated 100 of flood damaged buildings. I am thus deeply familiar with the disastrous nature of functional and financial damages that water and flooding can impart on a building. The current site plan for New Thurston is a known floodplain, and and as a neighborhood resident for more than 11 years, I'm very familiar with the marshy wet areas associated with the Thurston Nature Center and its surroundings. It would be unbelievable to be responsible. Ben Higdon, Sarah Winter, Anita Goldstein. Let Thurston play. Sarah Winter, Anita Goldstein, Jaden Boster. When will Mitchell staff and students get a stable, safe, supportive environment? They deserve so much better. I'm a Mitchell teacher who left. At the beginning of my career with AAPS 17 ish years ago, I taught art at Mitchell. It was and still is a very special place. The diversity of perspectives and cultural influences my students brought to their art making was deeply inspiring. I love the Mitchell community, and they showed me much love in return. While there with the encouragement of one principle, I developed some vibrant integrated programming. In Anita Goldstein, Jaden Bouser, and Leah Rose. I'm opposed to the current plans for Thurston School for educational and environmental reasons. There are alternatives to such drastic plans that would create a much better learning climate and protect the community's interest in maintaining such a unique area of natural beauty. We have waited for so long. Why not wait a bit longer and revise things to better serve this wonderful city? Jaden Boster, Leah Rose, and Corey Williams. Stage Thurston and keep the green spaces intact. Leah Rose, Corey will oh. In September of this year, the first public access to the site plans for New Thurston were presented by Gilbane at a community meeting. We were told point blank that it wasn't an input gathering meeting and that plans were completely unchangeable. In the last few months, we've actually seen some changes made, but that experience has made it hard to trust what we are told about what is and isn't possible. At the last BOE meeting, the claim that staging wouldn't result in a better site plan for Thurston was made. This cannot possibly be true and has only served to further alienate and fan the flames of mistrust in our community. We sent an email with new markups and just of just one possibility about how staging could allow for a better site plan. Sage Thurston. Corey Williams, Jeff and Nikki Bonovich, and Christy Watkins. I am an AAEA member at Slauson and a parent of 2 APS students. I want to begin by addressing the recent finance meeting where 2 board members made comments that reveal a deep disconnect between the board and the realities faced by APS teachers. First, one board member chose to blame elementary teachers for not agreeing to extend the bell schedule by 5 minutes. Let's be clear, teachers were at being asked to sacrifice yet again without any promise of fair compensation for the extra work. This is part of a long pattern in this district asking teachers to do more while refusing them to pay for it. Leah did was was that Jaden or Leah that spoke? Thank you. That's what I thought. Next will be Jeff and Nikki Bonovich, Christy Watkins, and Jane Taylor. Jeff and Nikki Wright Jeff and Nikki Wright Thurston Elementary School. Christie Watkins, Jane Taylor, and Pelham Baron. Christie Watkins writes, as a homeowner who lives 500 feet from the current school, I respectfully ask that the BOE and the bond committee reconsider the current Thurston School construction plan. The new school's current site plan is on a known floodplain, building there would be fiscally and environmentally responsible. In addition, these are community dollars, not the funds of BOE or Gilbane. The board has a moral and fiscal responsibility to listen to the community residents and taxpayers even though this wasn't done at the start. It is not too late to listen to the call. Jane Taylor, Pelin Baron, and Stacy Davis. Jane writes, I'm Jane Taylor, a recently retired AAPS teacher who spent the majority of my career teaching at Logan and Thurston Schools, English language teacher k through 5. I also have lived in the Thurston neighborhood for 26 years. My daughters attended the neighborhood schools using the Thurston playgrounds and the Thurston Nature Center while participating in school programs before and after school with friends and family. How do we begin to estimate the value of these experiences? Like many, I have a very special place in my heart for the Thurston Nature Center. Pelham Baron, Stacy Davis, and Jill and Terry Rineheimer. Hello. My name is Pelham Baron and I live near Logan. Even with recent Thurston plan revisions, there is still an unacceptable loss of green space and a continuing lack of transparency. This week, virtual office hours were announced with less than 48 hours notice offering limited 10 minute slots and no public viewing. I watched all the recommended YouTube videos including the staging one posted just 5 days ago and I still have questions. It's very possible my questions were addressed in the office hours, but I guess we'll never know. Stacy Davis, Jill and and Terry Reinheimer, and Leila Leila Ramaswamy. Stacy writes, as a nearly 20 year resident of the Thurston neighborhood and a parent whose children attended Thurston, Clague, and Huron, I implore you to halt the current plan for the new Thurston Elementary School and develop a new plan that is not that is not only is better for the children, but is also better for the citizens and the ecosystem that surrounds the schools. Do not let short term gains cause permanent damage an area that is invaluable to students and the surrounding community. The community has had a vested interest in this area since the 19 sixties, and the Ann Arbor School System. Jill and Terry Reinheimer followed by Leila Ramaswamy and then Meera Ramaswamy. Jill and Terry write to the Ann Arbor School Board regarding the proposal for the new Thurston Elementary School. Frankly, we are baffled by why we as a community must continue to fight must continue this fight to be heard. 100 of us have told you that we do not approve of the proposed location for the new school. We have provided valid reasons for why we are opposed to the proposed site and have advanced reasonable and very doable alternatives. Simply put, just stage Thurston and situate the building the new building on the current school footprint. Leila Ramaswami, Meera Ramaswami, followed by Michael Nicks. Leila writes, I'm a current Huron student and a Thurston alum who has grown up with the Thurston Nature Center my whole life. The Nature Center has been a formative resource that has sparked and nurtured a passion for the environment in my community. Growing up, the Thurston Nature Center was a place for my friends and I to learn about the environment and habitats as well as to play outside and enjoy nature. Each generation should have the same access to these amazing opportunities I had growing up that helped shape me to into the person I am today. Please do not destroy the evil spot. Meera Rameshwamy, Michael Nicks, and Kathleen Peavody. Meera writes, I'm a recent former AAPS student who attended Thurston, Clegg, and Huron. I was proud to grow up in a district with exceptional teachers and green spaces that shaped my education and values. The Thurston Nature Center was critical to my learning and environmental appreciation and my teachers transformed my life in countless ways. I am no longer proud to be an AAPS graduate. AAPS disregard for their teachers livelihood is driving incredible educators out of the district or the profession entirely. The plans for a new Thurston building will support their needs. Michael Nicks, Kathleen Peabody, and Peter and Druskovich. Michael writes, as a longtime resident, the Thurston neighborhood and current Thurston parent, I feel strongly that the current plan for the new construction does not adequately take into account the effect it will have on the existing Thurston Nature Center and Pond. It is an important resource for both Thurston Elementary and the surrounding neighborhood, and moving the school and its added impervious surfaces will certainly have a negative effect on both the pond and Nature Center as well as the quality of life of residents in the surrounding neighborhoods. Furthermore, the encroachment on the pond and nature center has shown to be Kathleen Peabody, Peter Andruskovich, and Vivi Vivan Chamas. Kathleen writes, the overly secretive plans regarding Thurston School negatively affect the natural environment of the school grounds and the whole school community. The board needs to reconsider the inadequate process this is followed and and respond to the community, not the developers. Peter Andruskovich, Vivian Shamas, and Amy Fergus. First, I'd like to thank Kevin and Jason for their hard work putting the videos to thus far together, posting the office hours and the improvements to the Thurston site that were shown at the last meeting. The site changes are definitely a step in the right direction at least. However, they don't address the difficult, distracted learning environment that is bound to happen when you have construction less than 40 feet from a school, and putting this on the teachers to just deal with on top of everything else they are already doing is just an application of your responsibility when this is something that you can solve. You can say that the kids will remember the construction from their time at school all you want. Vivian Shamas, Amy Parkes, Michael Withers. Thurston Nature Center was developed from Marshland as an officially designated conservation effort under Lady Bird Johnson while I was a student at Thurston. The current site plan for New Thurston is part of this marsh area and is a known flood plain. Documentation of water in this area dates back to before the designation of the pond as a conservation effort. It would be irresponsible to place a multimillion dollar building in an area that builders have no voided in the past for its groundwater infiltration problems, a lack of due diligence by the board of education, and lack of community involvement. Amy Farkas, Michael web Withers, and Andrea Nance. The plan for the new Thurston to be built upon an existing flood plain not only destroys the beautiful habitat, it has the potential to create many expensive potential problems. Stage thirsty. Michael Withers, Andrea Nance, and Ari Rauscher. My name is Michael Withers, and I'm a proud member of the AAEA at Slauson Middle School. Some recent comments from board members show a lack of respect for AAPS teachers. Saying elementary teachers refused unpaid schedule changes and calling fair pay demands greedy is both wrong and hurtful. We deserve respect. Fair pay, and a board that prove proves through actions, not just words, that they value our work. It's time for the board to show they care about the teachers who support our students and schools. We deserve cost of living adjustments. We teach. We care. We fair. Andrea Nance, Ari Rauscher, Nadia Robinson Meyer. I'm writing to acknowledge steps in the positive direction being taken at Mitchell Elementary. I'm also writing to ask for this support to continue and for future steps to be taken. An interim principal must be named ASAP. If the assistant principal is put in this position, she must be provided with the support of an assistant principal. IB needs to be made a priority. IB is what brought people to Mitchell years ago, and the lack of IB has dramatically changed the school's atmosphere. Mitchell needs a long term plan. This plan must be made public so families can make informed decisions for their children. Ari Raucher, Nadia Robinson Mayer, and Young Yong Soon. Good evening. On Monday night at a committee meeting, one of the trustees comfortably referred to teacher request for raise raises and rate wages and health care contribution increases as gimme, gimme, gimme. This characterization by the trustee was insulting and degrading to the hundreds of AEPF staff and employees who have who have to hold 2 jobs, sell their plasma, lead student clubs, plan and grad grade papers at nights and weekends, and still can't afford health insurance. Perhaps that trustee would be comfortable saying, gimme gimme gimme to these teachers directly, if not a public apology. Thank you. Nadia Robinson Mayer, Yong Yoon Soon Son, and Tim Rittenger. As a taxpayer and parent of a student in the APS school district, I'm asking that you adopt an alternative to the Thurston building plan. Our students need and deserve a safe place to learn, and we need to APS to collaborate with the community around Thurston Nature Center. The current site plan for New Thurston is a known flood plain. Documentation of water in this area dates back to even before the pond. It would be irresponsible to place a multimillion dollar building in an area that builders have avoided in the past for its potential problems. A lack of due diligence around understanding Young Young Yoon Son, Jim Rittinger, and Jacqueline Pringle. Regarding new construction plan at Thurston, one, the current site plan for New Thurston is a known floodplain. Documentation of water in this area dates back to even before the pond. It would be irresponsible to place a multimillion dollar building in an area that builders have avoided in the past for its potential problems. A lack of due diligence around understanding the environmental history and impact could very possibly lead to the district spending tons of money to fix these issues in the future on top of potential litigation. Staging solves this problem. 2, students' access to outdoor recess will be reduced by over 60%. Tim Rittenger, Jacqueline Pringle, and Johnny Thompson. I'm in my 3rd year of teaching, and I am exhausted, not by my teaching, not by my students, not by the parents. I'm exhausted by the constant fight to be respected by our administration. This week, it was most clearly demonstrated in a public meeting when a board trustee described our ask for fair pay as a gimme gimme attitude. The trustee went on to say that this attitude doesn't reflect the realities of this situation. So here are the realities. This district in which this trustee sits on the financial committee has failed to honor the salary schedule 10 times in the last 6 days. Johnny Thompson, Deborah Wood. Oops. Sorry. Okay. Jacqueline Pringle, Johnny Thompson, and Deborah Wood. And Jacqueline writes, it is disheartening to be a teacher in this district asking you to honor the contract you put in place. And and here, we have a gimme gimme attitude. It is deplorable how you refer to teachers in this district. We already don't have enough teachers for classrooms, and now the looming exodus that will happen is not enough to make you see the need for competitive wages. I have worked in this district for 5 years. Fresh out of college, I jumped into pandemic teaching. I love my school colleagues and my work. Asking for the standard of living increases and decent benefits is not a gimme gimme effort. Johnny Thompson, Deborah Wood, and Emma Packard. On Monday, a trustee made comments that implied teachers are greedy, lazy, and possibly stupid, and this is in alignment with how our pleas are being responded to. While there's staunch community support for teachers in general, not to mention Mitchell and Thurston, the board doesn't seem to be willing to problem solve or display flexible thinking. The one thing that is certain is that teachers have never had the power to create the mess that we're in. We didn't do this, and so we ask that you please get out of your fixed mindset and work with us to make some changes whatever that takes. We're willing to work with you. Deborah Wood, Emma Packard, and Destiny Taylor. Deborah wrote, I'm imploring you to protect and preserve the Thurston Nature Center as it stands today. K. Emma Packard, Destiny Taylor, and Amy Griffiths. Emma writes, it is iconic that again ironic, excuse me, that again teachers are being gaslit as selfish and gimme gimme gimme when we ask for livable salaries and benefits, when the only thing we've been given in the past year are valid reasons for intense anxiety and distress, distress higher health care rates and less support. Yet again, why are we gaslighting the people who are doing on the ground work with our students day in and day out? Please fact check and edit your narrative, AAPS BOE. Destiny Taylor, Amy Griffiths, and Ali Hassani. Destiny writes, I am a student at Mitchell Elementary. I am coming today to ask that you please help keep my friends and I safe. Students have been fighting and bullying. This makes me scared. Students are running away from the school. Staff are running all over the place. Teachers are leaving, and I am scared my teacher is going to leave too. Who is going to teach us? It's hard to learn already. A lot of people have left. The staff at Mitchell have been working hard helping every day, but things are staying crazy. Please don't wait for something to happen to my friends or the staff. Mitchell used to be the coolest people on earth. Amy Griffiths, Ali Hassani, and Adena Shom. The plan for New Thurston puts it on top of a historic and beloved nature center and in a known floodplain. This decision was made before getting input from subject matter experts or anyone at Thurston. Why are decisions being made by only 2 board members without relevant expertise in construction management or financial planning We're now trying to stubbornly push issues under the rug. We want to see we as a community want to see new leadership in the bond committee in 2025. We want New Thurston in a better location. We want staging for Thurston. Ali Hasani, Adena Shom, and Jill Diamond. Hi. I just want people to see what less Thurston plays about. So if you look at the current design, it is better, but it's like taking a beautiful house, dividing it into a 100 different rooms, and then sticking it between busy. That's our play space. And we can try to stick the 4th graders in that tiny little bubble, or we can stage and have a contiguous space. Somewhere where it's safe to be. Somewhere where it's greed. Somewhere where we can preserve what Thurston stands. So all we're asking is for go to let Thurston play dot com, work with us, and just come up with some good safe and dream. Adena Schrom, Jill Diamond, and Laurie Vander Roost. Adena writes, I urge the board to work with the many Thurston community members who have advocated for a more collaborative and transparent process in building the new Thurston. As a Thurston parent, I hope a staging solution will be considered with input from the full northeast Ann Arbor School community and that our kids will not have to attend school just feet from an active construction site for 4 years. I appreciate that some changes have been made to the building plan to protect more of the nature center and other green play spaces. Clearly, change is possible. I hope that willingness and possibility. Jill Diamond, Lori Vander Roost, and Kelly Gilbert. Jill writes, regarding New Thurston site plan, the habitat surrounding the pond and Nature Center is precious and there is no excuse for acting as if it is expendable. There are fewer and fewer protected wildlife habitats. The cost of compromising it is far beyond monetary. Ann Arbor should be sincere about keeping our zero carbon goals. To be serious about it, we need our trees. None of the many developments that are happening in Ann Arbor are happening in a vacuum, nor are your decisions as the board or bond committee. These actions have a cumulative impact. Laurie Vander Roost, Kelly Gilbert, and Kristen Neal. Laurie writes, as a homeowner in the Thurston School neighborhood and as a taxpayer in the Ann Arbor School District, I must register my request for the Ann Arbor BOE to implement a staging plan for the replacement of Thurston School. The current plans will endanger an historic decades old nature center, which is precious to the school in an entire community. It will greatly reduce the playing areas and outdoor learning areas of the school, which are enjoyed by this community. It will isolate Thurston School from the neighborhood by the expansion of driveway areas. Kelly Gilbert, Kirsten Neal, and Tarun Jahanee. As a current Thurston parent and a family nurse practitioner working in school based health, I have several concerns. Students rely on schools to provide for their safety, physical well-being, and educational needs, and this current plan puts all of these things at risk. Trying to learn so near to a construction site can compromise a student's ability to learn without distraction or overstimulation and poses a serious threat for students with health concerns including asthma and allergies. If the proposed staging option is not considered, families will be forced to make difficult choices Kirsten Neal, Tarun Jahanee, and Mauro Beauchamp. There once was a board of ed who ignored what the teachers plead. They cried, you're being so needy, blame teachers for being too greedy, so the other districts, the teachers of Ann Arbor fled. Taran Jahan, Maravosha, and Laura Berry. The current site plan for New Thurston is a known floodplain. Documentation of water in this area dates back to even before the pond. It would be irresponsible to place a multimillion dollar building in an area that builders have avoided in the past for its potential problems. A lack of due diligence around understanding the environmental history and impact could very possibly lead to the district spending tons of money to fix these issues in the future on top of potential litigation. Staging solves this problem, stage Thurston. Mara Beauchamp, Nora Berry, and Sue Shrink. The habitat surrounding the pond and nature center is precious, and there is no excuse for acting as if it is expendable. The cost of compromising it is far beyond monetary. Ann Arbor should be sincere about keeping our zero carbon goals. To be serious about it, we need our trees. None of the many developments that are happening in Ann Arbor are happening in a vacuum nor are your decisions as the board or bond committee. These actions have a cumulative impact. Please do the right thing and make your decisions with the future of the planet in mind. You owe it to our children. Nora Berry, Sue Shrink, and Erin Griffiths. Shrink. Shrink. Sorry. Protect our Thurston community. As someone who has been a resident of Ann Arbor for my entire life and a previous student within AAPS, I feel very strongly about the new Thurston project and how it will compromise the children's experience of these very formative years and be detrimental to their learning. The habitat surrounding the pond and nature center is precious, and there is no excuse for acting as if it is expendable. The cost of compromising it is be far beyond monetary. Ann Arbor should be sincere about keeping our zero carbon goals. This is a matter of helping the children. Sue St. Schenck, Darren Griffiths, and William Walther. Thank you for your service. I'm here to ask you to preserve the Thirston Nature Center in its entirety and to pursue historic landmark status for the space. I offer to be helpful in the endeavor as your state senator. The nature area was developed by Bill Stepp who actually ended up being the 1st chief of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO Environmental Education Section. He also was involved in planning the 1st Earth Day. This Thurston Nature Center is the birthplace of environmental education, not just in America, but the entire world. Please preserve it for the jewel that it is. Aaron Bridges, Liam Walton, and Sarah Shea. You folks here on all of these comments because I'm not sure why I even have to be here after I've heard all. But anyway, I'll give mine. Criteria for staging starts with the question, is there room on the existing site to build a new school? The answer for Thurston is no. There isn't. Sure. You can draw lines on a plan. You can tear into the nature center. You can turn the landscape upside down. But why would you do that? Community members have independently shared alternative plans that include staging without major major repercussions on the overall schedule. Please don't approve the Thurston plan without staging. If the incoming board member can answer this question with fresh eyes. Thank you. William Walter, Sarah Shea, Michael Zelinski. I'm writing about the project to upgrade and or rebuild several AAPS elementary schools. Due to the significance of the project, it is vital that AAPS take the time to complete this process in the best way possible for current students and future students. I'm deeply concerned with the planning of this project, especially with regard to Thurston Elementary and Logan Elementary. It does not seem that APS has taken into account the input of the families that go to these schools, leading to, for instance, the unnecessary destruction of nature areas, the impact of going to school in a construction zone for 4 years. Sarah Shea, Michael Zielinski, and Emma Smith. As a Mitchell parent, I appreciate the increased community attention to Mitchell that highlights the district's inequities. Our children are not the problem. Our teachers and staff are not the problem. The problem is inadequate staffing, lack of viable supports, and leadership instability. The problem is a combination of district inaction and superficial bandages. I asked the 2025 board to dig deep and consider how they can take action that invests in equity. What would Mitchell look like if there were true equity in AAPS? All of our children and staff would feel safe coming to school. Michael Zielinski, Emma Smith, and Amber Phillips. I'm dismayed to learn that plans to build a new Thurston School on-site and concurrent with old Thurston's use remain full steam ahead even in the face of overwhelming public opposition. We want staging. We want the preservation of our beautiful nature center and our vast playground field. Choosing to force a new school in this corner of the property is the height of hubris. Dismissing the sound plans of the past, ignoring the many valid concerns of residents who live in this area, I am left to wonder what kind of deal. Emma Smith, Amber Phillips, and Greta Niethhammer. I continue to be disappointed and distressed by the board's lack of engagement with the community or willingness to address the legitimate significant concerns of parents and community members. Why is some arbitrary rushed not comprehensively developed plan taking such priority over our kids' well-being and desires of the community. The board, especially now, needs to be listening to those they serve. They have proven their oversight is fiscally incompetent. Why should we support a plan that not only has huge financial impacts, but more so the environment in which our children are growing and learning? Amber Phillips, Greta Niedhammer, and Catherine Archibald. Amber writes, we're writing to express our concerns about Anarbor Public Schools' most recent plan to rebuild Thurston Elementary School. The plan will expose Thurston students to 4 years or longer given likely delays to construction of learning adjacent to a construction site. This is unacceptable. The effects of noise on children's learning outcomes are very well documented, and then they they cite the document here. A short review on noise effects on cognitive performance in children. Frontier oh, excuse me. I'll just read further. To Summarize the peer reviewed article, construction noise can be significantly disrupt learning by causing distractions, impairing concentration, increasing class levels, and negatively impacting cognitive abilities. Greta Niedheimer, Katherine Archibald, and Raphael Jackson junior. Greta writes, the audacity to paint teachers as greedy and shortsighted for wanting what we are owed is deeply insulting. We pinch pennies to survive, and you dismiss us. We take second jobs to make ends meet, and you disparage us. We do everything we can to help our students be successful, and yet you won't do the same for us. Is that equity? Is that treating us with dignity? Or are these just buzzwords you throw around to trick our community into thinking you stand for something other than yourselves? Kathleen Archibald, Rofael Jackson junior, and Beau Bunnell. Hi. I'm Catherine Archibald. I live near Logan. I have 2 kids that went to Logan and now go to Clegg. I'm here to oppose the plans for the new Logan building on Clegg property. Logan is a great school. It doesn't need a new school. The the school where it is is great. My kids went there. The new plan is a busy road, smaller area, and will cause massive construction on Clague. Clague just went through massive construction. I don't want my kids to to live and learn through construction and have 2 schools now where there's only 1. It's already crowded with 1. Please halt. Slow down. Listen to the camera. Rafael Jackson junior, Beau Vannell, and Amber Horwood. Hi. My name is Rafael Jackson, a senior attending Ann Arbor Huron High School. I'm here today to share my thoughts about implementing a 4 day school week instead of the traditional 5 day schedule. Research and experience show that a 4 day school week can greatly benefit both students and teachers. It allows for improved mental health, better work life balance, and increased time for rest and extracurricular activities. Many students and teachers find themselves overwhelmed with stress and burnout during the traditional 5 day schedule, and a shorter week can reduce these classes while maintaining academic standards. Beau Bunnell, Amber Horowitz, and Barbara Ygosh Friedman. Beau writes, I am commenting for the first time to please reconsider the current plan for Thurston Elementary. After following this topic since the September public meeting at Thurston that I attended and talking to my kids, all Thurston graduates, I decided it was time to speak out. I appreciate the recent amendments to try and improve green space, but it simply isn't enough. Please listen to the consistent and overwhelming community outcry. This space has been recognized for its uniqueness since the 19 fifties. Amber Horowitz, Barbara Fagash Friedman, and Julia Savage. Amber writes, writing in for the 4th time, Mitchell Elementary needs a comprehensive plan for rebuilding. An open letter to Ann Arbor Public Schools Administration was shared last week stating the emergent need for safe staffing at Mitchell and was signed by 100 of Mitchell community members. We want a response to this letter, a plan our amazing teachers are leaving at alarming rate. In the last 2 years, my son has lost a teacher midyear, 2 social workers, a speech therapist, his OT, and his resource room teacher. He will also be on his 3rd principal. Barbara Fagash Friedman, Julius Savage, and Jennifer Oldham. Barbara writes, one of the things we love about Thirston is how great it is that kids get to play in such green space and are so connected with the environment. I understand the need of a new building, but doing this at the expense of their quality of life is not acceptable. Construction covers the rest of their elementary years with noise and dangerous materials and reduced playground areas is not conducive to learning. Furthermore, placing the new building close to water is dangerous and I hear that the area is not even fit for building. Let let's prioritize the business. Julia Savage, Jennifer Oldham, and Julie Lerman. Julie Savage writes, hello. I'm a parent of to 2 children at King Elementary. I also support a delayed rebuilding of the schools to further ensure appropriate planning. My concern in regards to King students going to the old Logan location during rebuilding of King is that Logan is a much smaller school. Logan houses 3 62 students while King houses 525. How does one fit almost 200 more students into that same space? Are there plans for modular classrooms to be built in the interim? It would upset a lot of their loved teachers. Jennifer Olten, Julia Lerman, and Lindsay Lieber. Jennifer writes, you have my sympathy. The need for both financial and human capital is acute. Teachers are warning they are at a breaking point with drastically increased health care costs, current salaries and benefits are not sufficient for modest secure lives in Ann Arbor. Merely offsetting the increased health insurance cost would take $6,600,000. I will grieve every loss that comes with this because I know how restricted the rules around general fund sources are, but you must find the money. The teachers are the bedrock of every school. Mitchell is sending out a list of messages. Julie Lerman followed by Lindsey Lieber. Julie writes, keen feedback on Thurston proposal. I'm a keen parent and support Thurston's proposal that will delay King's construction. As a family, we value nature and a big part of living in Northeast Ann Arbor is is the nature areas and focus value of preserving our environment. I am hopeful that we won't lose sight of that in voting favor of Thurston's proposal. Next is Lindsay Lieber, followed by Laurel McGuire and Kristen Mahler. I'm greatly concerned about the proposed plans to move King's students to Logan during the King rebuild. King currently has 525 students, and Logan only has 3 162. Would APS bring in multiple portable classrooms to Logan property? Would some students go to Logan and the rest of the King community be scattered to other buildings? Would class sizes increase from 20 to 30 per class to squeeze our district school into a building that is not equipped to hold us? Will our 525 King students also share the building with Logan students who do not want to move? We moved from California to Ann Arbor, Laurel McGuire, Kristen Mahler, and Carolyn Gross. I'm an AAAA union member, a librarian in the district for 19 years, and a parent of 2 kids who graduated from the Ann Arbor Public Schools. Ann Arbor Public Schools have been a draw and asset to the city, and that is due to our teachers and the programs we offer carried out by our teachers. We are not on the precipice of eroding that reputation beyond repair, but we are on the precipice of eroding that reputation beyond repair. Do better and come up with solutions that do not ask teachers to make concessions again. Treat teachers with dignity and respect so you do not lose them in all districts. Kristen Mahler, Carolyn Gross, and Katarzyna Wesparoska. As a parent grandparent of APS students and a 40 year tax paying resident of Ann Arbor, I'm frustrated and extremely disappointed by the management decisions made by APS and the school board in recent years. First, there was a huge budget mistake from last year, which falls in the backs of the teachers and ultimately the students, Mistake which no one has ever been held accountable for. Now there is talk of not honoring raises for our teachers and staff along with expecting them to pay more for their health insurance. APS has always talked about equity, but actions speak louder than ours. Caroline Gross, Katarzyna Ushvowska, and Anton Hill. Trustees, thank you for your attention. I'm a parent of 3 Thurston students, and I'm writing for the 3rd time about the concerns raised by the group Let Thurston Play about the proposed plan to construct new Thurston adjacent to existing Thurston. I'm concerned that your plan would subject Thurston Elementary students to 4 years of attending school within feet of an active construction zone, during which time their outdoor recess will be reduced by 60%, and they'll be exposed to dirt, dust, hazardous equipment, and extensive extremely distracting noises that will make learning difficult. Terzina Rishkova, Anton Hill, and Allison Riccardi. Why are the teachers who have been working many years in AAPS not provided with appropriate step raises when working for so long in a district? Teachers are not able to meet daily needs of paying bills and common necessities, food, etcetera. Teachers work beyond their hours and stay for clubs and not paid for this. Teachers should be given appropriate step raises based on experience and time within the district. Anton Hill, Allison Riccardi, and Ingrid Ingrid Racine. My name is Anton Hill, and I'm a 4th grader at Mitchell. Most of the teachers I've had already have have I've had have already left Mitchell, and I'm worried that my teacher will leave in the middle of the year. So I hope you will do something to keep our teachers from leaving. Allison Riccardi, Ingrid Racine, and Padmini Inveskaran. We need more transparency and representation from the bond committee. The current committee is not acting in the best interest of the schools and community, nor are they managing our money the way it was originally intended. The taxpayers are clearly not happy with the proposed developments. Both Thurston and Logan have created petitions for APS to rethink their current plans. Together, these petitions have amassed over 1,000 signatures, but this is only because there has been some communication and parent investment to get the word out. What about communities where there are fewer resources to organize? Ingrid Racine, Padmini Embase Embasekren, and James Freeland. I'd like to extend a thanks to the outgoing board members for their service. I especially want to recognize Jeff Gaynor and Ernesto Carrijaro for their willingness to engage meaningfully with the Mitchell community over the past year. Trustee Gaynor, in particular, has consistently kept an open line of communication with parents and spoken up on behalf of our school. Mitchell Elementary, like all of our title 1 schools, desperately needs the Board of Education to champion equity. Sometimes that means holding the school district accountable, particularly when they fail our most vulnerable families and students. I hope you will all be down here at Huntsville Elementary. Padmini Mbasqueren, James Freeland, and Joshua Skodak. Please don't start a new construction in Clay Campus. James Freeland, Joshua Skodak, and Michael Oswald. Thank you, sir. It's your time. Joshua Skoda, Michael Oswald, and Tracy Mathewson. Good time. Excuse me, sir. The battery is dead. We're gonna change out that mic so you can start over. And, sir, are you are you Michael or Joshua? Michael. No worries. Just wanted to make sure Joshua Joshua. We'll see Joshua. Go ahead and go. We'll Apologies. Come back to Joshua. I was just saying I and many of my neighbors on Yorktown really support the most recent plan for the new Thurston County Playgrounds and fields. Our kids are gonna have even more green space than we have now, which is great. I do not support staging. I think continuity for our children is really important, which many studies support. I also think it is inequitable to Logan and King families who deserve a voice. On to construction, Dickon is building a same site new school that seems to be going well. Lake Orion is doing the same thing and the local paper has reported it's been really fun for the kids to see their new school being built. Teachers are lesson planning around it. The reports quote excitement among both students and staff seems to be nearly impossible. Joshua Skodak, Tracy Mathewson, and Elena Felix. Joshua writes, dear members of the Hanover board, Ann Arbor Public Schools Board of Education, I'm writing to you today as a dedicated educator who has spent over a decade working in this district, providing our students with the education and support they need to thrive. It is with deep concern and frustration that I address the urgent need for the school board to recognize the critical importance of compensating teachers fairly with a living wage and providing adequate health care benefits. Currently, I am forced to work a second job due to the inadequacy of my teaching salary and the poor quality of the health benefits provided by the district. Tracy Mathewson, Elena Felix, and Philip Hartman. Tracy Tracy writes, my name is Tracy Mathewson, and I'm an AP science teacher at Skyline High School. I'm writing to express my profound disappointment and outrage regarding recent comments made by made about teachers by board members. These statements of blame not only undermine the professionalism and dedication of our educators, but also reflect a fundamental misunderstanding of their roles, responsibilities, and value to our community. 1st, the suggestion that teachers should be responsible for combing through financial data and ban balance fund sheets as part of their duties demonstrates a troubling disregard of the nature of their work. Elena Felix, Philip Cartman, and Lynn Perry. I am an Anarbor Public School teacher, Anarbor resident, and parent of a student who attended AAPS k 12, and I'm shocked and outraged by the comments our trustees made at the recent finance committee meeting. School board members and teachers should be partners in making the best, most sustainable education possible for our students, but some of our elected officials are treating teachers as adversaries claiming that teacher demands for reasonable and deserved increases in pay are greedy or selfish. Many Ann Arbor teachers are taking on multiple jobs just to keep up with the rising cost. Philip Cartman, Lynn Perry, and John Campbell. Dear board is one of are your teachers and community members so rudely referred to as those people yelling gimme gimme at the last board meeting. I'm writing to say yes. Give me give me give me. Give me the steps I've been cheated out for the last 10 years and give me the respect the teachers of this community's youth deserve. Give me reasonable prices for my health care when central administrators are paid 2 to 4 times what teachers are paid and pay 1 third as much for their health care. The district's irresponsible financial mismanagement and toxic attitude towards its teachers is driving teachers away. Lynn Perry, John Campbell, and Taylor Morgan. For years, educators in APS have been operating on an outdated pay structure that does not reflect the rising cost of living. In fact, AAPS educators have gone 16 years without a cost of living adjustment. Promises of steps and percentage pace scale increases assumptions from last year remain unfulfilled. These broken commitments compound an already dire situation where many of us are forced to make difficult, even heartbreaking decisions about our futures. I am one of those educators. Since joining AAPS, my income has consistently fallen short supporting me. John Campbell, Taylor Morgan, and Amy Genowitt. John writes, a lot of people say that as teachers do it out of love. I love having my son in one of my first grade music classes. I love the community we built with his classmates and their families, and I love my colleagues and admin who who burned the candle at both ends to keep the sinking shift afloat. But I don't love that we lost yet another 5th grade teacher this time midyear to a district that pays teachers a fair wage. She'll get a 20,000 yearly pay increase by leaving AAPS this week. A mass exodus is upon us. Make it right and keep us here. Taylor Morgan, Amy Janowicz, and Jillian Morgan. Dear board members, I'm a proud parent of 2 Thurston Herons, and I'm strongly in favor of hearing to the bond schedule as is and building building Thurston now. But, frankly, you're losing this battle to a vocal minority fueled by misinformation surrounding the Nature Center. Urg we need urgency now to convey your message at scale. Logan, Thurston, King, and apparently, Clay can now need to all be in the room to to understand where we are with things, what's at stake with schools, and, frankly, I think parents need to get a larger voice because we're the ones that are feeling disrupted by this whole thing. Amy Janowicz, Jillian Morgan, and Kristen Fraser. Amy writes, my oldest daughter just finished 3 years at Clegg. During those years, her education was noticeably disrupted by the constant construction in the building and on the ground. Now, my younger daughter is in 6th grade and it looks like her years at Clegg will be plagued by the noise and disruption of trying to learn on a construction site as well. Also, the green space, including athletic fields, is already much smaller at Plaig than at the other middle schools in Ann Arbor. Building a new elementary school on this site will shrink their fields to a frankly pathetically small area. Kids need room to run. They need trees and water. Jillian Morgan, Christian Frasier, and Alvin Hill. Jillian writes, I enthusiastically support the planned rebuild of Thurston Elementary starting in spring 2025. I am the parent of 2 Thurston students and deeply appreciate the board and staff listening and applying community feedback in the latest iteration of the Thurston plan. We are extremely lucky we have had this funding, which affects our school system as a whole and many of our city communities. I urge the board to not delay Thurston's timeline so that we ensure all students in the district have much needed resources and facility improvements in as soon as in essence. Next is Kristen Fraser, Alvin Hill, and then Maria Murphy. As an AAPS parent and staff member, I'm asking you to hear us, see us, and stand alongside us. Fight for equity at Mitchell and keep all AAPS teachers, TAs, and staff members here. Encourage admin to follow through with step increases, negotiate fair competitive pay with opportunities to grow, and reduce the burden of these insurance increases by paying more on your end or simply reducing the options. Keep us here, teachers, staff, and families. Alvin Hill, Maria Murphy, and then Justine Anthony. I've been a parent at Mitchell Elementary for over 5 years. When we started in 2019, it was a vibrant, warm, and exciting IB school, serving the needs of one of the most diverse student populations in the district. In the past 3 years, it has been shocking to witness the turmoil caused by a constant turnover of administrators and staff. Mitchell needs leaders who will work collaboratively with our teachers and parents to correct the course and make it a great place to learn and teach once again. Please be the leaders we need and make a plan to keep teachers at Mitchell and in the Alamo Schools. Maria Murphy, Justine Anthony, and David Schneider. I've been a teacher in APS for 34 years. In all of that time, I have never seen teachers asked to be given anything unreasonable or have a gimme gimme attitude. It's been quite the opposite, much more of a take take situation. Over these years, adequate prep time has been taken away. Pay steps have been taken or stalled. New programs continue to be prioritized, but we do not have enough funds to give teachers cost of living raises. The district's priorities are clear. You want to be seen as a district to watch, but you aren't willing to willing to treat your teachers the fact they deserve. Justine Anthony, David Schneider, and Ginny Morgan. My name is Justine Anthony, and I'm a former Mitchell parent and still an AAPS parent. It is appalling that we have to fight for Mitchell Elementary to get the same attention that other schools in the district get without question. Why is Mitchell the forgotten school? The students at Mitchell are just as deserving as any other students in the district. Is the board not concerned about the loss of staff at this school happening at an alarming rate? There is so much talk about equity in this district, but children are being left behind and teachers are crying out for help. Mitchell deserves that better as do our teachers. David Snyder, Ginny Morgan, and Cathy Murphy. I'm a tax paying resident of Ann Arbor and a grandparent to 5 former, current, and future APS students. One grandson is currently at 3rd grade at Thurston and another soon to be there in 2 years. I'm very concerned that the current plan for the new Thurston Elementary School that the bond committee has promoted will negatively impact these kids. For the 3rd grader, his remaining years at Thurston would be beset with distracting construction issues, including noise and safety concerns right next to the school. My grandson has sensory issues and concentration issues that will be negatively impacted by the noise. Ginny Morgan, Kathy Murphy, and Katie Richter. As a grandparent of 2 Thurston students and an active volunteer in the school, I'm voicing support for the planned rebuild of Thurston Elementary without delay. With more green space added, it's clear community input was thoughtfully incorporated into this latest revised plan shared last week. This bond funding is a rare and invaluable opportunity that will benefit not only Thurston, but the entire district and city as a whole. I urge the board and other Thurston parents and neighbors to check out the overwhelmingly positive process had by the Lake Orion community, the rebuild of Blanche Sims Elementary. Next is Kathy Murphy, then Katie Richter, then Bill Hanna. As a staff member, parent, and community member, I am repeatedly disappointed in how staff are treated by the district and BOE. My family includes 4 APS staff and 6 APS students alumni. My 10 year old daughter used to want to be a teacher. She's changed her mind in the past year, seeing the impact of others' decisions on her family and the teachers that she loves. At that young age, she sees the stress your decisions and financial misuse have placed on the people that mean the most to her. The ones who see her and help her every day. She still loves her or teachers. She just no longer wants to be one of them. Katie Richter, Bill Hannah, and Noah Archibald. The Thurston community believes staging will provide the best short and long term results. We ask for a serious proposal to stage Thurston so the board and the community can weigh specific trade offs and make an informed decision. Gilbane's responses to the community's questions about staging are glib. 1st, they said it would be costly to bust Thurston students, which let Thurston play debunked. Now Gilbane says, New Logan won't have the right number of classrooms. The third the current Thurston building doesn't have the right number of classrooms either, but they have been creatively managing to make it work. Bill Hanna, then Noah Archibald, then Alexandra Taylor. This is a 7 member board with each member having an equal vote. There are loud voices on this board that strongly resist change to the current plan for Thurston. Trustees, both current and new, do not surrender to the loudest voices on this board. Community reaction has been strong and thoughtfully presented to this board many times. Trustees, consider the public input, not just committee input, as you form your own independent conclusion. Your actions will affect the future beyond your tenure. Noah Archibald, Alexander Taylor, and Gabby Park. Noah writes cutting down trees. Alexandra Taylor, Gabby Park, and Adrienne Jagonde. Thirst and Design places the primary play spaces surrounded by cars, which is a safety concern. The other playgrounds mentioned on the map are not only adjacent to the car traffic, but are fragmented into small non continuous sections. The young fives and kindergarteners get to play fence next to the bus loop. Do the 1st and second graders get to be on an island between the building and the parking lot? How do young kids use the field when the 3rd 5th graders are in the primary playground and teachers need to watch both section sections. Thank you. Gabby Park, Adrienne Jagande, and Elizabeth McGrearty. Gabby writes, reading through the AAPS website info regarding the 2019 bond proposal, it states the bond proposal would support the following AAPS goals. 1, teaching and learning continue the tradition of academic excellence 2, safety, health and well-being focus on development of the whole child 3, sustainable environmentally responsible infrastructure, create resilient schools for climate change 4, efficient and effective support systems and services, continued technology and transportation replacement and renewal and keeping up all events that have unfolded. Adrienne Jagonde, Elizabeth McBrearty, and Jill Stuecker. Hello. My name is Adrienne, and I'm a former Mitchell Elementary student. I understand that the educators at Mitchell and other schools are getting their take home pay lowered again. Do you people have no empathy for these hardworking people? I have seen students at this school throw chairs out windows, punch teachers, and scream for 10 minutes straight. You then reward these teachers by taking away their income and spending the money building these schools. Sure that makes sense. Who here thinks that makes sense? Boss for people to boo. Vote BOE. Exactly. Me and many other kids I know have left the district. Elizabeth McBrearty, Jill Stucker, and Jackie Moylanan. I'm writing to express my support and excitement for the new Thurston Elementary School. I have 2 children who attend Thurston who are also excited to watch the new school being built and to get to learn in the new school when it is complete. We love walking to and from school each day, and I want to provide continuity to their learning experience during the new school construction. For these reasons, I oppose any staging and support our students staying in their current school while the new school is built. Thank you for your consideration. Jill Jill Stuecker, Jackie Moylanan, and Nicholas Burtzes. Jill writes, looking at the 2024 student enrollment report that the district has posted, I see that Mitchell has lost about 100 students since its enrollment peaked in 2021. What is being done to better support students and staff to remedy the situation? Mitchell students desperately need stability and an environment conducive to learning. Mitchell teachers and staff need more support and better pay so that they can continue to work in such a challenging environment. Also, I'd like to point out that this report is completely inaccessible to anyone with a disability. Jackie Mullenen, Nicholas Burtzes, and Jennifer Victory. Pay the staff. We were supposed to hear about raises and steps in November. Instead of good news that we were going to be paid what we deserve, we get bad news that we will have to pay more for insurance instead of getting our well deserved raises. Do better, pay our teachers, help Mitchell staff. Nicholas Burtzis, Jennifer Victory, and Erin Perry. I'm a math teacher in the AAPS district. I have a second job to pay for housing, food, and as of recent inflated health care. My job is to teach, inspire, and assist all students. I also have to take care of 25 individuals' needs at a time and also keep the train on track for our class as a whole. I also have to create and grade intricate assignments usually after specified work hours. What part of my job is it to understand the budgetary spending of the entire district? What part of my job is looking at bus routes? Jennifer Victory, Erin Perry, and Megan Stark. My name is Jennifer Victory, and I'm writing to you as a teacher in the Ann Arbor Public Schools with over 20 years of experience in education. I'm also a parent of 3 children, 2 of whom are graduates of this district and one who's currently a high school student. Last year marked my 1st year in the Ann Arbor District, and I was excited to join this community and contribute to the success of our students. The relationships I have built with my students and the joy of watching them grow have always been a heart of my work in education. However, my 1st year in this district has been fraught with challenges. Erin Perry, Megan Stark and Kristen Ochomogo. Lead, care, inspire, every child, every day. These are the words on the homepage for the AAPS website. This is it the logo of the district and the message sent to the public. Who exactly do you think is leading, caring, and inspiring every child every day? Who do you want to be doing this? And who do you think will be left to do this when you essentially refer to your teachers as greedy poppers begging for seconds? Hearing that you believe we are selfish and have this gimme gimme gimme attitude when the teachers here are facing difficult choices clearly. Megan Stark, Christian Ochomogo, and Sandra Bobaroff. I'd like to ask for clarification from the board. When one of the trustees called, said on Monday that teachers asking for raises was selfish, greedy, and shortsighted, was this the view of the entire board itself? I did not realize that asking for what I deserve so I can continue to do a profession that I love in a district that I love was selfish or greedy. In fact, I feel like it's the bare minimum. What you said was hurtful, dismissive, and disrespectful, especially when I take time away from my own family to make sure the needs of yours are met. I did not create this problem. Keep me here. Kristen Ochimogo, Sandra Bogaroff, and Kathy Anne Mullinan. Kristen Kristen writes, Ann Arbor Public Schools' lack of concern for teachers is evident in the situation at Mitchell. As we've heard many times over the course of the last year, teacher working conditions are and our student learning conditions. We, as a community, are standing up demanding to be heard. Support your wonderful teachers at all buildings. Provide equitable experiences to disadvantaged students, especially those concentrated in title 1 schools, establish a plan to address the severe gap in test scores, release discipline data, and fully staff Mitchell, including incentives for all of you who work here. Sondra Bobraf, then Kathy Anne Mullenen, and then Alison Eshlin. I'm a longtime home homeowner on Prairie Street, Thurston neighborhood. Stage Thurston, to avoid potential litigation from the risk of being so close to an open body of water and a wooded area where predators can lurk. Don't build on a flood plain. Don't trust Gilbane. They have a history of violations, including in October of this year in Palm Beach on a school project. How will we enforce contract violations? Where is our money to add the county roll? I have spoken, let me restart the clock. I have spoken to you a lot over this last year. I'm unable to make it in person tonight due to family obligations. I've been teaching at APS for 5 years, a teacher for 17 years, and have a master's degree. I teach government and politics at Huron High School, and I love being a teacher. It is a job, but it is also my passion. I am tired of the board and HR relying on our passion for teaching to keep us at AAPS. I don't want you to give me anything. We are asking for what we deserve and need as your employees. I want you to request to HR that a min at a minimum the with a 1.5% raise. Monica West Jones, what what you say, you should have better manners than you've demonstrated during Monday's public meeting. And that concludes public commentary. Thank you. We appreciate hearing from our community. The board would like to thank everyone who spoke and shared their comments tonight. We would like to note that all written comments are publicly available on board docs in the public commentary section of tonight's agenda. Miss Parks, are there any points of clarification? Thank you, president Feaster. No clarifications that we have not previously offered, on some of the topics in particular, Mitchell. We, updated board and community, a couple weeks back, about the steps being taken at Mitchell. We continue to do those in our, because the district staff is there not not occasionally, but pretty much daily. We are able to note some of those improvements that we have made, in terms of staffing, as well as addressing those student behaviors that we heard about this evening. And then, some other the other clarifications the board has added, some discussion on there since I believe we will get into those. And, regarding the other comments, we are again in our active negotiations with our employer resource group. So we will let those groups continue to do their work together collaboratively. And I won't kind of speak on anything regarding negotiations here at the table. Thank you, superintendent Parks. Yes, Trustee Gaeta? Thank you. I would like to excuse me. I would like 2 clarifications and comments made, both involving members of the finance committee. The first one was that one member criticized elementary teachers for not giving up 5 minutes to save the district money on transportation costs. Could I could I ask what the elementary teachers were being offered as compensation for their extra work time? The clarification that I would offer is that it was not 5 minutes extra. It was a shift in the the start and end times. So it was shifting the start time back by 5 minutes and ending 5 minutes later. So it wasn't an additional 5 minute. K. Thank you. And the other one was there were several comments about one trustee saying teachers were, I don't know, selfish, greedy, saying give me give me give me, and I'd like that trustee to have a chance to clarify that comment as it stands. I'm as a board member, I'm very embarrassed to hear that a trustee would say that. Is there any trustee who wants to address that? If not, we'll we'll keep moving. Alright. Before we move down to reports and associations, I wanna tell everybody why we're crowded here tonight. We do have our trustee elects present here at the board table today. We have less Leslie Wilkins. We have Don Wilkerson, and we have Glenda Wilkes. Thank you all for being here with us tonight. My understanding is that although you all cannot vote, you all could definitely join our discussion and weigh in on and give your comments and thoughts on things. And then, in January, you'll be able to vote as well. So thank you all for being here. And if I would add, mister Yes. President Feaster, we are crowded here because, again, my insistence, it was a tradition in the past that the newly elected trustees be invited to the table at a meeting before they start. So you have that perspective of looking out versus looking in here. We are a little crowded, and I really appreciate your willingness to join with me in making this reviving this tradition that we had lost over the years. So again, I know Ms. Sissinski probably wanted to picture perfect with you guys over there. But again, Board service is not picture perfect. Welcome to the table. We're glad you're here. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, trustee Baskett. And with that, we'll move down to reports of associations. Miss Sonneberg, who do we have? I believe we have the Asian Pacific Islander South Asian American group to report. That's PISA. Evening, everyone. Good evening. My name is Caroline Simro. I'm an EAS parent, a teacher at a team, and a member of PISA, which is the Asian Pacific Islander South Asian American parent group. On behalf of the advisory group, I want to extend our heartfelt thanks to this incredible community for your continued support of our efforts. 1st, we'd like to highlight an exciting opportunity for our students who identify as Asian Americans. The very Asian foundation as part of their May book project is hosting its inaugural essay competition, which invites students to reflect on the importance of representation in their lives. It's a wonderful chance for our Asian American students to share their voices and perspectives on diversity, and we strongly encourage participants. The details can be found on the website, very asian foundation.org. Next, we want to draw attention to the Zinn, that's c I n n, education project as a valuable resource for our educators. This initiative provides tools to teach about racism, a challenging but critical topic. Classrooms remain one of the most powerful spaces for students to engage in meaningful conversations about race and equity, and we encourage educators to utilize this resource. This past May, during Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, we hosted 3 author events that were warmly received. The featured authors, all with Michigan ties and diverse cultural heritages, inspired our children to explore their cultural identities and gave them the language to express their inner voices. These events would not have been possible without the support of the board and the district. A special thank you goes to assistant superintendent Dawn Linden and social studies teacher, miss Jocelyn Hunter Young. Miss Hunter Young not only organized and hosted the workshops, but also designed the promotional materials and edited event videos. Additionally, she has developed a groundbreaking course on Asian American history, which will be available to students next fall, the first of its kind in our district. We are incredibly excited and deeply grateful to her and the social studies department leadership for making this possible. We are also grateful for the district's willingness to engage and collaborate with us in the new social emotional learning SEL curriculum trails. During our focus group meeting, our members shared lived experiences, concerns, and hopes for the future. This dialogue is critical, and we look forward to continue Communication between the task force and our group as we strive to enhance these programs together. We would like to express special gratitude to trustee Ernesto Carajero for his remarkable contributions to our projects. His tireless efforts connected us to speakers and partners who were essential to the success of our events. As a parent and community member, trustee Carajaro and his family have volunteered countless hours of service in addition to creating and donating T shirts and books to enrich our community. As a board trustee, equity has always been central to his decision making. While we will miss his leadership on the board, we are excited to see the positive impact he will undoubtedly continue to make in the next chapter of his journey. Thank you, trustee Kara Kerihira, to you and your family for your dedication and service to our community. Finally, thank you to the board for your attention and commitment to diversity. Diversity is not just about how we look or how we perceive one another. It is about recognizing what is missing from the table, listening to silence voices, and acknowledging unseen struggles. We support your efforts in the recruitment and retention of a diverse workforce that reflects the diversity of our own student population, recognizing that an important way to maintain representation is through fair and equitable compensation for teachers who work hard every day to provide inclusive and equitable spaces for our students. When we all value diversity, we approach with humility and patience, avoiding assumptions while opening our hearts and minds. In doing so, we create countless opportunities to grow and move forward together. Thank you. We also have the AAEA. Okay. Thank you. Good evening, trustees, superintendent Parks, Anhebrey Public Schools community, and as always, fierce AAEA members who are tuning in tonight probably at home and the few that are here tonight and came to speak. Thank you. Again, I wanna say thank you to Ernesto, to, Crystal, and to Jeff for your years of service on the board. Thank you for that, and I'd like to welcome our new faces, Leslie, Glenda, and Don. Thank you for being here tonight. Appreciate that. I stand before you tonight to give you an update on several critical issues regarding our ongoing negotiations and the current state of affairs in the Ann Arbor Public Schools. Earlier today, the AAEA bargaining team and the district's bargaining team met to continue discussions surrounding our financial reopener. Getting a tentative agreement or a TA for this reopener is a critical first step on the road back to the Anab Republic Schools becoming a destination district again. We did not reach the TA, but we have another date scheduled. Unfortunately, it's not till the week after we come back from break, January 15th. But I'm optimistic that we are close to and will probably have, I'm hoping, a TA at the end of that day. If we do, we'll let everybody know right away. Additionally, as you know, our contract is set to expire on December 31, 2025. We will begin bargaining the successor agreement later this year and into next year. And this upcoming round of negotiations is critical for the future of this district. The AAEA's top priority is to ensure that the pay and benefits of our educators are competitive with those of our comparable and neighboring districts. This is a matter of fundamental importance. We are experiencing a troubling and ongoing exodus of talent from the Ann Arbor Public Schools classrooms and the only way to stem this tide is to offer competitive compensation packages that reflect the value of our educators. If this Board is serious about retaining high quality staff, this issue must be addressed immediately. We are alarmed as you know by the disparity between what AAPS offers and what neighboring districts and comparables some with lower per pupil funding are able to provide in terms of compensation. Despite these lower funding levels, these districts have managed to maintain healthy fund balances and offer superior compensation to their educators. It is deeply concerning and frankly unacceptable that AAPS through its fiscal irresponsibility is failing to provide the same for its teachers especially considering the caliber and the reputation of our district. The argument that we cannot afford competitive wages because of the district's financial mismanagement is becoming increasingly untenable. Teachers in the Anhebor Public Schools are already sacrificing to remain in this district. We have seen colleagues leave not because they don't care about the students or our wonderful community but because they can no longer afford to stay in a district that fails to value them appropriately. Recently troubling is rhetoric coming from some trustees specifically the character raise characterization of teachers as greedy. The words gimme gimme were used this week to describe educators who are simply asking for fair wages and benefits that align with those offered by comparable districts. This characterization is not only inaccurate, but it is deeply disrespectful to the teachers who have dedicated their careers to the students of the AAPS. Let us be clear. AAEA is not asking for more than what is fair. We are asking for competitive wages through yearly steps, raises, and affordable health care. Basic needs that are being denied to the educators who work tirelessly to support our students. We reject the notion that teachers are being unreasonable and asking for what they deserve. It is unconscionable that trustees would mock the sacrifices our members are making in order to continue teaching in the Anhev Republic Schools. This behavior is disgraceful and further erodes the trust between the board and the teachers working on the front lines every day. This anti teacher rhetoric will not be tolerated. You are not seeing or listening to us, but please know that we are watching and listening to you. While we understand that the district needs to work hard to rebuild its fund balance, this should not be done on the backs of teachers denying teachers the steps, the raises and the benefits they deserve while continuing to prioritize fund balance over staff welfare is a dangerous and short sighted approach. We cannot allow the district's financial priorities to result in further harm to those who are responsible for educating the children of this fine community. The outrage you saw witnessed and expressed by our members at the last board meeting, that was only the beginning. We are letting you know now that if steps are not taken to address the issues of teacher compensation and respect, you will see further escalation from our membership. We will not stand idly by all the very educators who have given so much to this district continue to be disrespected and undervalued. This is a turning point. If this board fails to take the necessary actions to ensure that our educators are treated fairly in our next contract particularly, the consequences will be far reaching. Our teachers are the foundation of this district and without them there is no future for the Anhebor Public Schools. The choice is yours. We expect to see tangible progress in the next round of bargaining. And if you want to return to the days of quiet and boring board meetings, you know what you must do. Thank you, to AEA and for presenting this evening. It is now, 902. I'm sorry. Yeah. Yeah. Claudia? I'm not aware of the other group. I'm sorry. I heard that before. Okay. I don't see anyone out any other groups here to, present. There's been a request that we take a 5 for 5 minute break. So we will take a break and come back at 9:10 PM. Thank you. Right now. Right away? Right now. Yeah. Yeah. That's fine. So we're there. We heard from the takers. Right? We don't have anything, so I should be next. Alright. We we recall this meeting back to order at 9:9:9:20 PM. We left off after the committee, with student reportable associations. Now we are down number 5, board committee reports. And under a is the bond committee. Thank you, mister president. The board committee last met Friday, December 13th. We had guests and as always, we welcome them. Our new next meeting is in January. The date has not been finalized. We'll have to get everybody's, schedules together, but it will be posted in accordance to the law. So the team continues its very robust work. First, the committee was in agreement to reactivate the bond advisory group. So we will start reviewing and, the past documents and guidelines to see if we want to make any recommended changes that we'll bring before the Board. And as I've shared with the rest of the trustees, the team created, yet another video. This was on the concept of staging, temporarily relocating a school community in order to complete a construction project, in their original building site. And as I mentioned in the email to each of the trustees, we hope that the trustees have viewed the video before tonight's discussion on the impact of staging for the Thurston School community. So last night and tonight, members of the bond committee and the capital programs team sat and received questions and comments from committee community members who chose to sign up for this. So, again, after viewing the videos, they were invited to, have some time with the team. We offered 2 dates last night and earlier today. So we had the the opportunity to do it at evening, after work, or during the day. So trustee Schmidt and I kinda divided each of those sessions and that we were in attendance. And as you may remember, trustees, we asked that before signing up the for that, that community members were asked to watch all 3 videos regarding the project. So due to the interested additional time was allotted to those wanting such. So we had assigned short time periods. Again, we're experimenting here with this. There was a lot of interest. We did go over time at least last night. I can't speak for today. So some community members got to come back and speak with the team today. We very much appreciate addressing the post questions and comments. It was helpful to correct false assumptions and to hear what was on the minds of the community members who spoke with us. So we definitely will reflect on all that we've heard, and we thank those who made the time for us, and we'll report back to the board if there's anything additional, anything new that you haven't heard already. So after tonight's, review regarding staging, another video regarding the impact of the staging for the Thurston community will be released so that we have consistent accurate information that is available. Again, the date of the next committee a bond committee meeting is in January. It'll be published as soon as all relevant schedules, have been consulted, and the public is welcome. As a reminder, trustees coming for tonight's approval of the contracts for the Mitchell project. We very much support your request your support on this so we can keep the project on time for a new building for our Mitchell families and the greater community. To our new trustees, let's schedule some time to learn more about the comprehensive bond program. It is more than about 1 school. And I wish to say thank you to, representative Jennifer Conlon and senator Sue Schink. You did we did receive letters regarding support of the Thurston Nature Center, and we invite them to speak with us regarding the facts and the broader understanding. We, as a board, also support the Thurston Nature Center. After all, it's nearly 50% of that particular project property. And if I remember, new trustee Wilkes, you had mentioned during the campaign that you'd like to expand, and, strengthen the support with other elected officials. So perhaps, in your role to the board, you can initiate that conversation of inviting our elected officials to come, learn from us, and again see where we may have some collaborative work together in the future. So thank you, mister president. That completes the report of the bond committee. As as we've already put on the agenda, we'll hear more from the rest of the bond team. Thank you, sir. Thank you, trustee Basquiat. Are there any questions on the report of trustee Basquiat? Okay. Then we'll move down to b, which is the governance committee, and that will be me. We met also this week, Monday, December 16th at 5 o'clock. During that meeting, we discussed the resolutions committee that trusted to Pria spearheaded. She did present language to the governance, committee that, miss Ozinsky, had also done some work on and tinkering on. Obviously, she was not available for the meeting this past week. Our hope is that she will complete, her her review of the language presented by trustee Dupree, and we can bring that, resolutions committee language, which is actually for a it's gonna be proposed as a task force or as an ad hoc committee, and we're hoping to have that brought forward in January. We then went on to discuss the board recognized groups and bringing that to the to the full board's table so that we can discuss the possibility of how we wanna address that in January as well. We wanted to make sure that all the new trustees were gonna be coming on to the board and access to all of the relevant, closed session materials, before they were able to, to to cast a vote. And so we're hoping to have that done so we can address it at one of our 2 January meetings. We then went on to discuss, a bright idea about the organizational meeting. The idea was that it will be helpful for new trustees and all trustees to have a great idea of what the different roles entail, president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer, as well as the committee chairs, for all the different groups so that people would then be able to have a more educated opinion as to what role they might wanna fulfill, what the time commitments were, what the training, responsibilities would be. And so we wanna bring that to our January meeting so that we can make sure that all trustees are educated on what each role actually entails by someone who has previously served in those positions. And, there was a a section for agenda planning, and there was a request that we address public commentary, in our at one of our January meetings. And that is what we addressed in the governance committee. Are there any questions? Seeing none, we'll move down to the finance committee. Trustee Schmidt, please. Uh-huh. We met on December 16th, and all the information that was, we went over, the board will see this evening. Thank you, trustee Schmidt. That brings it down to the executive committee, which is me again. That meeting started on Monday at 6:32 PM. That meeting basically consisted of setting our agenda for tonight as well as addressing addressing some of the issues that we're contemplating for our January meetings. Those in included, moving the January 15th meeting to January 22nd and the potential for moving the organizational meeting from January 15th 22nd to that January 29th date. And so we're looking into the feasibility of those alternatives as well as potentially having that January 22nd meeting be a a board retreat where we can, address a few things, including, our our midyear valuations. And so that's what we discussed in the exec executive committee. Any questions on that? Alright. Seeing none, we'll move down to number 6, which is the superintendent update. For that, I turn it over to superintendent, Jazz Parks. Thank you, president Feaster. I a few of you have already done so, but I would also like to welcome our trustee elect, to the table today, knowing that their term will begin on January 1st, but we are happy to have you there here this evening, and begin working with you during this transition. Community and board. In addition to our theater performances that our schools have had over the past few weeks, our AAPS students have also had opportunities to participate in some additional arts related events. Our Pioneer Choir students had a master class with Christian Simmons, who's a bass soloist for the upcoming UMS production of Messiah. 3 students will sing for mister Simmons and receive feedback and coaching on their performance. Pioneer has collaborated with the UMS learning and engagement team for over a decade on these master class opportunities for our students. In addition, the MSU Credit Union presents its artists in residency programs and world renowned bassist John Clayton and MSU Jazz professor extraordinaire Rodney Whitaker spent time with our Jazz students from Community Huron and Pioneer. Ann Arbor STEAM at Northside held its winter arts market on Saturday, December 7th, and nearly 100 students, alumni, staff, parents, and other a two STEAM at Northside community friends sold their handmade goods. The date the date included sweet treats and student led music. For our families, upon the return from winter break, families will be able to find information on young fives and kindergarten roundup, as well as, transition for rising 6th 9th graders, the dates of those opportunities at all of our schools. So, again, for our students who will be entering young fives in kindergarten and our students who will be entering 6th 9th grade, the dates and times for those transition nights in kindergarten and young five round updates, are on the website and those were will occur upon our return from winter break, as we enter 2025. Community High School has been a loyal contributor to the Food Gatherers Food Bank consistently raising more annual funds than any other school in the Ann Arbor Public School. Each fall, the student staff students and staff launch a friendly competition with every form setting individual goals to raise money in creative ways. This year, they collected $87,633, the most money that the school has ever had collected, and raised in support of our food gatherers food bank. Huron's multicultural night show, which they refer to as multi culti, is gearing up to showcase their cultural cultural heritage to performances, including song, dance, and music at the multi culti night show. This annual event is a celebration of diversity, culture, and unity and takes place tomorrow, Thursday, December 19th, beginning at 5:30 PM. And our our last little detail here is, as we head into winter break, we, myself and the cabinet team would just like to, extend all of our families and our staff, students, and community a restful and joy filled winter break. And with that, president Feaster, it concludes the superintendent's update this evening. Thank you, superintendent Parks. Seeing no questions. Numbers, we'll move down to letter b. Monthly budget monitoring report for November 2024. Thank you. We have mister Dimitriou coming forward. He's standing in for miss Frank Korr this evening, to deliver the monthly monitoring report for November. Good evening, Trishis. Bill. He's waiting for the presentation to show up. Can you hear me? Yes. Yeah. Speak again. Sure. You ready? There you go. You're ready. Tonight, we're presenting November, and, what's special about November is that we have 3 pays. Last year, we only had 2 pays. So when we do comparisons, it will look a little different. Okay. So looking at our cash, this November, we had 31 almost 31 and a half 1000000, whereas last year, we had 9,900,000. So we have approximately 20, $2,500,000 more. Most of it is in the general fund. And the the major reason is that we last June, we borrowed $15,000,000, so the cash is is there. I'm also happy to report that in December was our first opportunity to pay back the loan, and on December 11th, we paid the loan back. And that's saving. If you remember last year, the cost for the loan was 800,000. So now the cost for the loan is only 400,000 because we paid it at the 6 month level. So you see our our expenditures were about approximately $33,200,000 for the month, whereas the general fund was 31 points, $31,700,000. If you remember last month, it was, approximately 24,000,000. So the additional 7,000,000 is because of that extra pay. An extra pay is usually 8,000,000, but the 3rd pay of the month, there is no health care. We pay the health care for the first two pays, so that's a little it's approximately about $1,000,000. That's why 7,000,000. So looking at how much, in revenue we call we're comparing, the the 2 years last year to this year. So you see our revenues. So last year, we collected 93 a half 1000000, whereas this year is approximately 96, 1,000,000. And the difference, is about 2,800,000, which most of it is, again, is in the general fund. And, primarily, it's due to taxes. At tax base, this year, it's about we're generating about $7,000,000 more from the local taxes. On the, on the expenditure side, last year, we spent 97, $97,400,000. This year is about 98,000,000. Now keep in mind that in this year in this year, we have that extra pay, which was about about $7,000,000. So, it is about 654,000, more than, we spent last year. So as far as additional reductions to the fund balance, last year, we used approximately 3,900,000, whereas this year, we're about 1,700,000, which is about $2,000,000 better off than than last year even though we have that extra pay in there. So, the beginning fund balance, this year, we're starting at about 9,800,000 because last year, we lost $5,700,000 in the general fund and and 470,000 in the community fund. That's, so we have a different starting point this year than we did the year before, which is about $6,000,000 So going down to the bottom line, last year, at this point, we were at 12,000,000. This year, we're at about 8,000,000, which is 4,000,000 when $4,000,000 worse off. But, again, keep in mind that extra pay that we talked about, that was 7,000,000, which is so this looks where we are as far as the budget is concerned. So for the month, we added, 18, almost $19,000,000, 18,900,000, which brings us, year to date at 96 96,300,000 in, in in the revenue. In expenditures, we actually spent 33,000,000, and our expenditures are, at this point, at 98,000,000, which is about 30% of our budget in the expenditure side. And, also, on the revenue side, it's about almost 29%, so pretty close. So, month to date, you can see, the, we use approximately $14,300,000 of bank balance, this month. And year to date, we're about 1.7. So there are there are 2 things that are happening also in November. We had that extra pay. And, also, on the revenue side, we only had state aid. We didn't get any any other money. So we only received about $70,000,000 if I'm not mistaken for the month. So, usually, we get money from the ISD. We get taxes. There's other money that usually comes. So, it's a combination of having that extra pay and also not receiving as much money as as as in a normal month, I would say. So but it's expected, so no need to worry. So at the beginning fund balance, again, we were at $9,800,000, and then we are about, $8,000,000 $8,000,000 at the end of fund balance as of November, which is in the general fund is approximately 1 point 8%. If you remember last week, we were at 6%. For the October, I can assure you December is gonna be much higher, because we're gonna have 2 pays, whereas last year, we had 3 pays. Also, we're gonna get a lot of money from the ISD. Well, we already received it, 15,000,000. We're gonna have a state aid, plus we're gonna collect a little bit of taxes as well in December. So it's gonna be a a much better month, next month when when in January when when you see this. I'm gonna put my glasses because I can't. Oh, I didn't bring it. Well, I have to wing it. So, on the November, we were expecting to collect about $15,700,000. We actually collected 17.5, which is approximately $1,700,000 more. Part of the reason that we have more, if you remember last month, in October, we did not get paid for portion of the state aid. So and they made it up most of it, they made it up in November. That's why we have more than what we expected, whereas last time we had less than what we expected. On the expenditure side, we're expecting to spend about 33.9, and we spent 31.6, which is a couple $1,000,000 less than what we expected for the month. So now going to, the year to date where we expect it to be, we expect it to be approximately $91,000,000. We're about 91.6, which is about 600,000. So we're almost right on to what we expected on the revenue side. On the expenditure side, we were expect we were expecting to be at 95 point 8, if I can see that correctly, and we're at 93, 93.1. So this we're better off by $2,700,000, than where we expected it to be. And then as far as the bottom line, we expected it to be at negative 70,000, and we're actually up, $5,600,000, better off than where we expected to be at this point. So So I'll say this also. Don't get too excited because, we have negotiations. So when we budget, we budget for the whole year. So any raises, we haven't given anything yet. So when we settle the, we're gonna have to go back in back to July 1st and so forth. So there's gonna be some of that. It's gonna come close to our expectations. So, this is our revenues, and and the blue is where we expect it to be, and the actual is in in the orange. And you can see we're a little bit better. We have we collect a little bit more than where we expected to be at this point. And then looking at the expenditures, we spent less than where we, where we expected to be. I just explained a little bit why, but that's what we like to see, to be receiving more and spending less than than expectation. So when we look at the fund balance, you see that it's there are 3 months in a row that were better than where we expected to be. So that's that's a good thing. I think that's the last slide. I'll be more than happy to answer any questions. I know I have a question. I I was trying to understand what you were saying as as it relates to the loan, the $50,000,000 loan. Yes. Were you saying that we have paid that back in full? Yes. And we've saved about $400,000 by paying it back in full early? Yes. And so the numbers you reflected, the 30 some odd million. This is that do we subtract 15,000,000 from that, or is that So the cash that we have is 30,000,000. This is November. Right. The first chance we borrowed the money on June 11th. Right. The first opportunity that we had to pay back was at the 6 month level, which was December 11th. Okay. So on the 1st day that we were allowed to pay back, we paid it back. Okay. So it will not be reflected. The cash will not be the payment of the loan will not be reflected until December, which will be it's not the the cash in November is still there. Right. Because we didn't pay till December. Next month. Yes. Okay. Alright. That's what I was Yes. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions? I have a question as well. Related to the 3 months where we're projecting higher, revenues rather than expenses and fund balances higher. Yes. Is that due to timing or are there other explanations for those projections whether it's, not filling positions or part of it is, it's a combination. It's just just it's not just one thing. Part of it is because we haven't given any raises yet, and the raises are included in the budget. That's part of it. Part of it is, we're doing whatever we set we set out to do is actually happening. Part of it is we have, when we built the budget, we reduced the budget by 146 positions. At this point, we have been consistently a little bit higher than that, maybe closer to 180, 30 or 40 positions. So all of those things help out on the expenditure side. On the revenue side, is part of it is timing because of taxes. We're gonna do an amendment next, and you're gonna show that we're gonna add 3 more $1,000,000 how much we're getting from, from locally from from the local taxes. And we've already collected 50%. So there's approximately 1 and a half $1,000,000 more there, but we're getting reduced from the state as far as that's concerned. And the state didn't start until October, so that will go till August. So so there is some timing in there as well. Okay. And if we do fill open positions, that would bring us back closer to our projections. But Yes and no. Alright. Because time has already passed. Right. So the savings have already happened. So when when we hire them, then the the club starts ticking down. Correct. Partial. We just did an amendment. Tonight, you're gonna see an amendment, and all of those things are getting, basically, cleared out. Because we have when we show the amendment, it is the latest and greatest information that we have, including everything that I just talked about. Go ahead. One follow-up question on that. Just stating it in a different way. Yes. So for 2 years, when we had lost enrollment but didn't reduce staff, we were getting $6,000,000 annual deficits. Yes. We've fixed that. I mean, we've trapped the staff. Well, again, I he may have addressed this, but, does that get us to level, or will we keep seeing the benefits of, that reduced staff? So, So, like, what if we do that, I think I I think when we do the amendment, there's there's gonna be a lot of information that probably will help with the answer with your question. Okay. So I'll I'll say I'll say this. In the amendment, you're gonna see that this year now with the latest information that we have is that we will be adding to fund balance over $9,000,000 The original budget was adding $11,000,000, but a lot of things change at the state level. We'll go through it in the amendment. And you see that we'll be adding $9,000,000 to the fund balance this year. As far as the budget is, that's what we're projecting at this point. So I'll save the question or repeat it, but so should we save another $9,000,000 next year if things stay the same? Of course, they will stay the same. You know, we, depends. And if the state comes and gives us money, right, if the tax base goes up higher, and so we we will start with $9,000,000 to the positive. Right? And then we can add all the increases that we'll get if we get increases. Right. And then we'll, depending on negotiations, what we give away, so there will be this, you know, this net net thing that, that we do every year when we build the budget. We'll have retirements. We'll have hiring. All of those things we take into account, and then we'll see what happens. At this point, it's it's very early to, to see what's happening. And and and even last year when they we we we had these three plans that we built a budget on, and then the state came in September, October and did something. You know, they went left, and we were we were left. We couldn't figure things out until a few weeks ago. Any other questions? No? Last question I had. Yes. When you did the monthly monitoring last month, you said we were waiting on some money to come in that did not come in. And you said, tonight, we got some of that money. We didn't get all of it. We didn't get okay. That's my question. There was more that came in December. Okay. For example, HoHumless Right. Which last year, we got from the state about 2,200,000, whereas this year, it's only 1,100,000. K. And so they were caught up. So we go pay for in December, we will get paid on this on December 20th, but we have access to what we're gonna get paid already. Okay. So we we basically, they catch up. So it'll be October, November, and December payments in December, and then it start, you know, monthly until August after that. Okay. So we so So it's about a 100,000 each month. So what you're saying is we should be caught up after next month and then it starts over? Is that what I what I heard you say? Yes. Yes. Alright. Alright. That's all I have. Any other questions, trustees? Thank you, mister Michelle. Thank you. Appreciate it. And I believe that brings us down to letter c, the 2024, 25 staffing and recruitment annual report. Thank you, president Feaster. Trustees, at this time, we have, our HR team, miss Langford, miss Hagans, and miss Scherer coming forward with our 24/25 staffing and recruitment annual report. And so miss it looks like miss Langford is going to, get us started with the report here. So I will turn it over to Yes. Thank you. Good evening, trustees, trustee elects, staff and community that's left here this evening and those watching. We are here this evening to present to you our annual recruitment and staffing report. And, superintendent Parks has already introduced the staff that are here with me this evening. So I know many of you are very familiar with this, graph. We use it every year in our staffing report. But I think it's so important that we use this because it really centers around what is important and why we're here, and that's our students. So this, concentric circle is what it's called. But what we what I'd just like to illustrate on this is that our students are kind of the circle, and then it just shows how we all impact them. And those of us who are in central leadership, for me, this is just a reminder of how why I'm here and why I do the work that I do because I may not get into buildings as often as some, you know, others do. I know our teaching and learning team and leadership team, are out a lot, but I I really love this graph, so we always like to use it. Alright. I'm gonna talk just about a few of our diversity core values. These are not new. These are things that you've seen before. We will respect diversity, celebrate, and benefit, from a diverse culture. I believe that learning and about other cultures is just really, explores and and gives us cultivates our talents and, things that we haven't recognized before. My favorite, bullet on this slide is that we know that students who learn, grow, and succeed in diverse k twelve environment will be much better prepared to take the next steps into a diverse world. And that is that just speaks volumes to me. This is what we're preparing our students for. Our staffing goals. Our staffing goals are very similar to what they probably were last year. Even though I was not here, I'm sure that we were working on the same things. We know that there's a national shortage with our special education staff. We continue to work in that area, working with consultants and, anyone that we can really to get special education through. We're later gonna talk about our grow your own plans, which is another path that we have to get, more staff in our special education team. And we'll talk about that later as well. We want to retain our valuable employees. I know that's kind of a theme and we keep talking about that over and over again. That is a staffing goal for us. And we want to expand our efforts for recruitment of highly qualified staff and continue to to work on a diverse and highly skilled staff. Alright. So staff totals by group. So you can see here, we have 4 different groups that we've kinda sparse out here. The teachers and professional staff are our first bullet there. Under that, I list some of those individuals that are included in that. Our teachers, counselors, I don't need to read them all to you, school psychs, and so forth. And that total right now and and I need to state this because I know this is always confusing. This is FTE or full time equivalent. It's not head count. So that's a little bit of a difference in in what you're saying. So our FTE, for teachers and professional school staff is 1349.23. Our paraeducator and other school staff, which you see there, listed our community assistance, some of our rec and ed coordinators and other staff, It's 486.5. Our building leaders, which includes our principals, assistant principals, assistant deans, anyone who's kind of, you know, our building leadership staff, is at 60. And then our central leadership, is at 20, giving us a total of 1915.73. And then I believe our next slide will kind of go through a little bit of history. So over the past 5 years, this breaks out, that slide that I just previously shown that was previously shown. If you look back in 2020, 21, we are kinda stagnant. And then you see, like, a rise in staff in 21, 22. A lot of that was due to the hybrid learning that we had to do at that time during the pandemic, doing some of the social emotional things that came about with our students. And so we kinda held really steady for 2021, almost all the way up till 2024, of this past year. And then in 2024, 25, we all know that we had some cuts that we did, and it brought our numbers down a little bit. And so right now, the difference between last year and this year, again, FTE, not head count, because I know mister Dimitrile just said a 180, so that's probably head count, is about 229, FTE. So I just wanted to distinguish that portion for you. And then we always just like to show you kinda where we are this year, with our hiring. So this year, we hired 48 new teachers. This is from July first, and then you can see through November 11th this year, 48 teachers is pretty low for us to have hired. But if you recall, we were able to bring back every, employee who was available off our layoff list or off our recall list, I should say. So that was that helped us to not be able or not have to hire so many teachers. If you look at the demographics, you can see, most of the staff, 67% were white, Caucasian, 19% were African American, 13% were Asian, and then, 2% Hispanic. So we were proud, of seeing this because this does show some of our recruitment efforts that we'll talk about a little bit later, are paying off. Even a low number of staff being higher, we still saw higher numbers of a a diverse staff. So we're we're pretty proud of that. Alright. And over to miss Higgins. Good evening. I'm gonna talk to you about the student teacher race, ethnicity data looking at, State National and Ann Arbor Public Schools. For the student comparison, you will notice that the slide is broken down into 6 categories, and this is a little different than the information you heard last week at the enrollment presentation. For comparison purposes, we have taken the enrollment data and reported based on the same 6 categories used for the staffing report. Other in this slide includes Arab American, Hawaiian Pacific Islander, multi multi ethnic, other 2 and more races. And you will see from the slide that in terms of white Caucasian, we are more similar to the national numbers than we are to Michigan. African American, we are at 12%. American Indian, Alaska Native, less than 1%. Asian, we're higher than both Michigan and national at 13%. Hispanic, we are much lower than the national numbers. And other, we're at 15% compared to 4% and 6%. Looking at the teacher comparison, you will notice again that for staff, we do not list Arab American or multi ethnic groups separately. Due to the nature of the federal state reporting for employees, staff is not surveyed for Arab American and multi ethnic groups. They are falling under the white or Caucasian group. And you will see on this slide that we're at 83% white or Caucasian, more compatible to Michigan numbers than the state. African American, we're at 8%. American Indian, Alaskan Native, we're at 1%. Asian, 4%. Hispanic, we're at 2%, much lower than the national rate. And other, we're at 1%. Next, we're gonna look at the student and staff race race and ethnicity data, a 4 year comparison. You will see that this is and this will be a little different than the enrollment presentation also as you heard in the last board meeting. In looking at this comparison, we're looking from 2021, 22 school year to the current school year. You will see that white Caucasian has stayed pretty consistent. Asian at 13.3%. African American has gone down slightly. Multi ethnic is at 13.8%, gone down a lot. The Hispanic number will stand out to you as at 11.4%. And there's in this one, there was a issue with, our PowerSchool enrollment data, but that 11.4% is correct for this year. Arab American, Native American, and other are at points 0.70 and 0%. Next, we will look at the teachers and professional school staff, and you'll see those numbers those individuals listed below. In 2021 to 2020 2021 to 2022 school year to the current school year. And with teachers and professional staff, 83% majority are white, Caucasian, Asian populations at 4%, African American at 8%, Hispanic 3%, American Indian, Alaska Native, and other are at 1%. And you'll see our, FTE count is listed at n equals 1,349 listed on the slide. Next, we have a pair of educators and other school support staff, and they're listed below in the orange. We have a slight decline of white, Caucasian at 59%. Asian has been 55%, pretty consistent. African American's gone up slightly at 27%. Hispanic is 7%. American Indian, Alaska Native, and other at 1%. And I believe we have 2 more categories, our building leaders. And you heard miss Langford earlier speak to who the building leaders were. Caucasian has gone down. It's at 52% now. Asian population has stayed pretty much at 0%. African American has risen over the years to 43%. Hispanic at 5%, American Indian, Alaska Native, and other at 0%, and that is with 60 people that we're surveying. And finally, the central leaders central office leaders, white Caucasian at 60%, and that has gone down. Asians at 0%. African American have gone up to 35%. Hispanic is 0. American Indian, Alaska Native at 5%, other at 0, and that is with 20 people surveyed. And I will be back for more in just a bit. Good evening. The, next set of slides that we're gonna show to you this evening talk about our student and staff race and ethnicity comparison. One of the goals that we have is that we want to try to mirror our staff population to our student population. So these are the data, that we collect for that information. The first slide is our white caucasian representation. As you can see, our, groups are well represented in this area. The next slide that you're going to come across is our African American representation. Again, pretty well representative of the group compared to our students. Our teachers are a little bit lower than students, the 8%. The Asian representation, we are still underrepresented, but one of the things that we did wanna point out, one of our goals from last year, this was an area we were focusing on. If you recall on slide 7 that miss Langford presented, we did increase our, new hires in that area this year. And also, again, on slide 12, you'll see that our overall percentage in that area has increased. So this is one area, where we do think some of our recruiting efforts have helped to increase our population. And then our history, Hispanic representation does still remain a little bit low and underrepresented. So that is one area that we will continue to focus on with, all of our population being under our students. And with that, I'm gonna turn it back to miss Langford. Alright. So talking about some of our teacher and staff recruitment and hiring, initiatives and what we've done this year, what we plan on doing this year. We've already hosted our AAPS teacher and support staff virtual fair. We've had 2 this year. We've had a lot of people sign up. We have had, many people show up and and some not show up, but we have been able to, do interviews on-site or on virtually, and recommend candidates to our principals, and those candidates have been hired. So we do believe that they've been successful. We've had a very diverse group of, applicants apply, and we look to do more of those. We're trying to switch the times from doing some during the day, some in the evening just so that we can, get a better group or or accommodate better schedules. We hold weekly new hire orientations, every Tuesday. If necessary, we hold them on Fridays also. We've hired a 187 employees since July 1st. Again, 48 of those have been teachers. Our new hire orientations average about 6 to 10 participants a week, and we take them through a complete orientation process. We attend annual teacher job fairs. Most of them are held in the spring or in the late winter. I believe we've already been to 1 this year. I think we were at Washtenaw County, for a job fair, and I know you have them have something coming up, and we're just starting to get all the information from other the all the other colleges. We do try to attend a historically black university as well. We haven't been able to do that, in the past couple of years, but hopefully, we can get back to that. We continue to follow and assist our student teachers. We look at our substitutes, as well. And if if principals are recommending those candidates, to possibly be teachers, we we track them so that we can get them to apply for positions and and interview them. Expanding our grow your own programs for outreach, for paraeducators, and I'm gonna talk more about that in some upcoming slides, so I won't go into it. I think it's the next slide, maybe. Yeah. There we go. Alright. Our grow your own program. So I just wanted to talk a little bit about what we've done with grow your own. For those of you who were here, may recall way back in 2019 because that seems like way back now, 5 years ago. We tried to do something internally with our Grow Your Own program. So what we did is any, support staff that were interested in going into the teaching field, we wanted to make sure that we could provide them with, time off to do so and also provide them with an opportunity to have a student teacher placement, within the district and then allow them to go through the interview process. Make sure they were at least granted an interview, and then could be hired. So I always highlight my my favorite, person here who went through the program. She was our very first person. You may remember me bringing her forward to you previously, miss Peoples, who is now a teacher in the district, who has now a master's degree, and who is now, also getting her admin certification because she's interested in becoming a principal. So we're really, proud of her, but that was one of our grow your own efforts. The second that's listed there is the, current program that's done through the ISD for paraprofessionals, where they are paying for them to get a certification in special education, emotional impairment specifically, through EMU. So we are now about to head into our 4th cohort. As you can see there, we had our 1st cohort back in 2023 December. We had 6 candidates, and 4 were hired into the district. The second was graduated in May of 2024. 2 candidates, and both were hired into the district. And then miss Higgins recently, and and miss Linden as well recently attended, the graduation for the December 2024 class where we had 5 candidates, and 5 of 5 of those candidates were all long term, subs currently. So we're hoping that we'll get those 5 candidates interviewed and hopefully into into the field. So then they're planning on starting cohort 4 in the spring and then cohort 5 in the fall. So that's just continuing to increase, and it's it's really a great opportunity for our staff. And then the 3rd grow your own program, Joanna Johnson, who handles our grants, goes out and and gets grants wherever she can find them. She is amazing at that. So she, we were awarded a grant for our through MDE, for a partnership with WMU that, teachers are able to take advantage of, excuse me, for an opportunity to get a master's of arts, in teaching English speakers of languages. So TSOL is what it's referred to. So core cohort 1 was in fall of 2023. There's cohort 2 in spring of 2024. And then they've extended some of the offerings where they're now gonna look at, offering a learning disabilities, certification, autism spectrum as you see there in emotional impairment. And then miss Higgins is just gonna introduce, one of our we were hoping she could make it here this evening, but she's not able to. We just wanna make sure that we're spotlighting some of our employees who have been through our grow your own program. So I'll just let her talk briefly about the candidate. Grow your own, the one from EMU and WISD. Is there financial help for tuition Yes. To do that? It is. Their their tuition is covered, I believe, completely. Just wanna make sure I'm right. Yes. It's completely covered. They're yeah. They paid for it. Yes. Okay. Thanks. So as miss Langford said, we're gonna spotlight Viviana Bogratzky tonight. She sends her regards. She's unable to make it. And she is, in cohort 3 with the partnership with EMU and WISD. Last Thursday, when myself and miss Linden went to the graduation, it was a lot of excitement. Everyone was excited. The students were excited. The EMU staff was excited. Other, partners across the county were excited to be there. So miss Vygotsky started her career in the medical field, and she's worked with patients all over Rome and Italy. She She has a master's degree. She also has a PhD, and she's worked in medical genetics in Temple University. She, actually, after having her third child, started working at Clague Middle School, and she thought that was a very rewarding experience. She enrolled in a pair of teacher education program and graduated with a 4 point o. I did not graduate with 4 point o, but she did. So that's pretty amazing at being a mom working and having a 4 point o. Today, she's a resource room teacher here on high school, and she has biology classes. She said her job is super cool. She loves working with teenagers, which is amazing also, and she feels like it's magic teaching at Huron. So we'd like to present her with just a a hand clap to congratulate her. In terms of our additional staff and teacher retention and engagement, we hold our HR roadshow every Friday, and we go into the buildings, various buildings on Fridays. And we give out prizes and talk to staff in the building. We have evaluation HR drop ins, and that's for administrators to be able to come and ask us evaluation HR questions. We introduced a resourceful HR newsletter that comes out monthly, and that is, from the HR department. It's nice because it spotlights individuals, but it also spotlights longevity of our staff. And we collaborate with the AAAA minority affairs committee to support and rate retain minority candidates. This fall, we also started exit interviews and stay interviews. I'm gonna talk a little bit about the stay interviews on the next slide. What is a stay interview? It's a 1 on 1 interview with employees to learn about job satisfaction or job dissatisfaction and improve their experience. We started those in the fall and will continue them throughout the year. The staff was initially selected based on the resourceful newsletter where we highlight the 5, 10, 15, 20 year, and it's for all staff. It's not just for teachers. It's not just for administrators. Interviews are face to face. They're about 10 10 minutes long, and they're all voluntary. And I have asked some people who said, no. I'm not interested in participating. Classifications, are are all reached out to, and we periodically will pop back in with staff to talk to them. The other nice thing about it is the staff will tell other staff and say, hey. I did this interview. You should do one too. So staff has been reaching out to me. We've had feedback from staff saying that I started as a volunteer in my students in my kids' school, and now I'm working, And I like the team that was built. We have staff that said they enjoy the leadership in the building. They like working in the community. And we have received staff, like I said, who said, I don't wanna do that. I'm not interested. And there have been staff that have been 20 and 25 years that said, I'm not interested in doing that. So we're gonna follow back up with those staff to see what those comments may include. Thank you. I was just gonna ask something they're gonna ask. Just for stay interviews. So as, miss Hagan stated, we just started doing this this fall as well as our exit interviews. So we do plan on bringing back data. I mean, I know what she's just giving a few comments that were made, but we do plan on bringing back data. We wanna have more people participate. We wanna hear what more people say and then maybe do something where we can kind of put the responses in columns for you just so that it makes a little bit more sense. But we wanted to let you know that this is just one of our retention and engagement efforts, that were started that we just started and we're pretty excited about it. A quick question on that topic. For those that might not be interested in hosting a state interview, do we have another means to collect data from them anonymously? Well, current I mean, anonymously, I guess not would be my answer. I don't know if we have an anonymous way. And other than maybe our surveys that we send out, to the community and to our staff, the climate survey. And I know that that's coming up, pretty soon here. Okay. Oh, they have last Another question. And thank you for presenting all of that information. So you mentioned the stay, interviews, and you also mentioned the exits. When will that data actually be available for us to to peruse and just kinda get an idea of why, folks are leaving? So, hopefully, it's just a matter of collecting it. With everyone that exits, we're offering this exit interview. It can be anonymous. You could put your you know, if you wanna put your name on it, you're welcome to. But it's just that right now, we just started rolling it out in October, so we just don't have the data. So, hopefully, 6 months, maybe, you know, we could at least give an update on what we've received thus far. Thank you. Trust again? Given the statements and concerns expressed in the community, I would recommend that you include in this presentation the, class of employees and the schools, those are 2 separate things that are relatively fully staffed and those that are on the other end. I don't know how the data can be collected, and I know there's some shift. But I I would I would think that would be of interest and and be helpful to the board. Okay. And I'm sorry I interrupted miss Higgins, and we still have more slides. I'm sorry. Definitely. Actually, the next one's mine. We also wanna talk to you tonight. One last piece of our report is about our guest teachers. Yes, ma'am. So we do continue to, partner with EduStaff, which is a company that provides guest teachers for us. If you wanna go to the next slide, we have some data on that. So as we partner with them, they help us to recruit and market for guest teachers. They also, to date, we have 588 guest teachers working in the district. In an effort to continue to fill vacancies, we also, in addition to EduStaff, we recruit our retirees. So we bring back our retirees who would like to continue working in the district. We have 17 retired teachers actively working in the district this year. We have identified paraeducators who are qualified to sub. That means they have 60 credits or more, and we have 43 paraeducators who are, working as subteachers. We do that in accordance with a memo of understanding with that union. And then we also offer our Ann Arbor our own teachers opportunities if they would like to get additional hourly work, that they can step in and sub during their planning. So those are some different ways that we're, addressing our sub needs across the district. We partner with our technology committee or, I'm sorry, our technology department. Every week when we do our new hire orientation, it's morning with HR, afternoon with technology. In the afternoon, they're also inviting subteachers along with our new hires, and they're averaging 8 to 10 new guest teachers participating in that Schoology training. And then new for 24 25, we have a new pilot program. EduStaff has initiated, has a new initiative, I should say. And they're working with us to recruit and train, train being the key part of this pilot, those that are interested in being paraprofessional subs. So we've always focused on subteachers, but we also see a need for subs in our paraeducator department. And this pilot program, we currently have 3 people working, and what EduPath is doing is recruiting and helping doing the training on the front end. So that's been a new initiative. So we've got 3. It's still new, brand new this year, so we're gonna see how that works out in the future. I will turn it back. So as miss Sheer stated, we're, trying to implement as many new ways and new programs, to get more teachers in, to get subs more subs in, to really make sure that our students are, covered and be able to be successful in their learning. So some of our next steps are, in in increasing diversity is just continuing to widen our partnerships. We need to collaborate. We already do with you of them, and they give us a lot of their different diverse groups that they have there. We also still reach out to EMU, to MSU, to anyone where we can post some of our job postings. In the spring, we have mister Johnson does a college tour, HBCU college tour. And so he has been taking packets, and we'll just get back to that this year where we put all the packets together with our job postings with, you know, how to apply everything that we have in it, and he actually takes it when he's out there. So that's really been helpful to us. And he's brought back contact information for us because if we don't have it, we're not able to reach out. We wanna continue to work with, our minority aid committee, who help us with some of their our minority staff, not just getting them in the door, but also once they're here, what can we do to keep them? You know, how do they feel included? Those kinds of things. We're gonna continue our virtual job fairs. Again, I think that they have been successful. Maybe at some point, we'll do an actual in person job fair. But, again, the virtual ones virtual ones have been successful. And then we're just gonna continue to, with our staff, make sure that every year we're giving them training, on annual diversity training and sensitivity training and then continue to, again, work with our minority aid committee, provide professional development on equity throughout the district. And those are just some of the some of our next steps in HR. And I think that may be our last slide. Much for the great presentation. If you don't mind taking a few questions. I saw trustee Mohammed's hand first. Yeah. Thank you for thank you for presenting that that information. And I do appreciate that there's exit interviews and and, what is it? Say it again. Interview? Sorry. I was like, I don't know. I don't wanna call it something different. So I do appreciate it. I agree with, you know, what Don just said about the having some anonymous opportunities, especially those stay interviews. Mhmm. I think you might get more, more feedback from people. It may help. But my question is something or maybe a suggestion if if the data is available. But, you know, we've seen the staffing report with, you know, looking at, you know, the race, ethnicity, all of that. But what I think is also important to see is where shortages are, where there are exits, in in district transfers. Because I think that also kind of tells the picture, of, like and again, I don't know if you would easily get that data, but it would just tell the picture of, like, where where are the problems. Like, a staffing you know, the staffing report is pretty comprehensive, but also, like, it's important for us as a board to know where the shortage is. And it could be a regular report. You know, one thing we hear a lot we end up hearing it from the public, but, like, what's happening in Mitchell, you know, but maybe that is something, like, that we can get as far as, like, critical areas where there are shortages or in district transfers and and the impact that these schools. But not just schools, but also, like, special ed. I know that data has been presented before, different programs, language. Because, again, I keep hearing feedback from, you know, from the community about language programs or special ed. So just a suggestion that might help. I don't know if that data is readily available. You're meaning by building sort of, like, what trustee gainer? So building, but also but also areas, like special ed, language programs. Because then we can kinda look at, do we even have enough staff? I mean, special ed's different. But, like, for example, I don't know. I'm trying not to pick one particular, program, but, like, languages. Do we have sufficient support? And then one question I had is, I think it's slide 6. It's of the all slide 6, I think, the first few slides. Do we have first of all, for slide 6, do we have pre COVID numbers? Because I know you compare you looked at it for the past 5 years, but that was, you know, during a time where it was, like, COVID and post COVID. But it'd be interesting to see and I know we have these numbers. How are numbers now compared to before the pandemic? Mhmm. And are we getting to that point? Are we getting back to where it was before? Because I know the pandemic did during those years, we did have an significant increase in, the number of staff. So I'm sure we have the I don't know if you know those numbers. I don't know them off the top of it yet. That'd be something I had to get. Are you asking them instead of producing the 5 year graph to do a 10 year? Or Just to see because, you know, during COVID, it was a special time. Right. So we did have to have an increase in that. So if it doesn't have to be 10 years, but just to get an idea of, like, are we back to where Right. Where? So I guess that she's leaving it at your discretion as to how far back we should go. Yeah. But she's asking you to go forward. Yes. And we have the data. We just need to get it. Okay. It would just help because it you know, 5 years, it's a very different time, than before. And then one last question is do we have for the big buckets, hold on, which and I think it's slide 5. Do we have because these are big buckets. Do we have sub, like, data at the level of subgroup? So, for example sorry. I like I like detailed data. Sorry. I'm I'm a little bit of a pain with that. But, for example, with with teachers and pair or professional school staff, that's a big number for FTEs. Do we have an idea of, like, you know, how many are teachers? You can group counselors and social workers. Does that make sense? It doesn't have to be very specific. And, again, that might help just understand if we're seeing trends, like, where, you know, again, I hear from the community saying, oh, school nurses. We're not having enough school nurses. Or, you know, just to see the trends more of at a at a subgroup level. I don't know if, again, if that date data is available readily. Not to create more work, but if it is available. Yeah. I mean, it's data that we can get. We normally break down by group, so most people are all in the same AEA, so that is just broken down that way. But, yes, that that's data that we could get. Oh. So I trusted the pre and then trusted best care. Yeah. I just had a a few quick questions, actually. One question I had is, when we're looking at, race and ethnicity of students and also staff, how do you categorize a person who may be black but does not identify as African American? So we don't categorize. They do. So, yeah, they self report. So it's whatever that they report. Okay. So that would be the only thing available would be African American. The the reason why I asked that, like, for example, somebody may identify as black, but they may be Jamaican or Haitian or, you know, West African, but doesn't necessarily identify as African American. So we put them in that ethnicity box, and we will be looking at that data. Would that be accurate considering that they're not African American? What is it identified as African American? Yeah. I think I can't remember which of the 2 of them went through it, but we use what we have to use for the rep, which is the state report. Right. So we use the same categories that they use, and so they don't have, like, a separate, you know, category for that. So a person would have to choose that or or other. Right. Okay. That's fair. That's fair. And then when we're looking at I know you put percentages up. I'm kinda looking at the number of staff in comparison to students along the lines of race and ethnicity. I will not admit to being someone who's very good at math. I'm not. So, like, do you have any, like, clear ratios? Like, for every 10 African American students, we have one teacher who is African American and things like that. Did it kinda stand out? I I don't. K. That's something I would have to look at. You you did show the graph? Well, I showed the graphs for the like, how many we have that she was saying kind of for every 10 students, how many African American teachers we have. I mean, I guess we could divide it. Yeah. And figure it out. Yeah. I will never say that I'm that good in math to where I'll be able to do it on the spot like that. No. So, and then I guess my last question, I'm always asking about the quality of data. Have you gotten any feedback from students or parents about how, impactful it is for them to have, staff, teachers that reflect their identity so they're able to see what they can achieve moving forward? So the only data that we would have back is what would go out in our climate survey. I mean, we don't send anything to staff or students specifically from HR. Right. Cool. Thank you. Trustee Baskin, please. Yeah. So I would remind trustees that we get this information, the reports, some board docs a few days before the meeting. So we ask that people review the information, and any questions or concerns, we funnel it back to our superintendent, who then can speak to the staff about either providing what we have asked or wanted or to give us give them guidance that we are seeking such information so that they could add to the presentation or clarify the presentation. Does that make sense? So something like student if you wanted staff to student ratio, that's something that they could prepare ahead of time. So, again, spend the time when it gets to board docs, review the documentation that's there. If it's not there, reach out to doctors sorry, to miss Parks. And, again, ask your questions so that she may quickly, easily answer that question, but that question may be on the minds of other trustees as well. So share that questions with her so that, again, she can alert staff to bring that forward. Thank you. Thank you. I saw trustee Carroll then trustee Schmidt. Sure. Thank you for the information. Appreciate it. You know, I, I haven't seen a staffing report in a while, for our district with all our changes. So I think it's important that we have one now. You know, I referred to this particular, report that I've seen every year as the slide of 3 zeros. And I called the slide of 3 zeros because on, slides 15 and 16 there there used to be 3 categories but they were roped into to 2 after our discussion at the performance committee which is that the n 60 and the n 20 for our building, principles and vice principles and our central leaders is still 0% on Asian American representation. That was true when I got on the board. And if we look at the slide, it's been 0% every year since I've been on. And so that's why I called the slide of 3 zeros. And, I think it behooves us upon this board to, yes, receive the information is a snapshot of our stock at this particular moment, particular year. And I do see that at the end, you have some action steps at the end to to do a little bit about the recruiting and stuff. I do think though, the missing part here is the greater equity conversation in length that I I feel has been missing in our district for a long time, because that has far reaching, far reaching consequences and touch points across of our district, not only with our staff, but with our students, with our PTOs, with our para pros, and all of us. And I think, even when I look at the language of of the final slides with what what our next steps were, none of them are really that concrete. I know we're gonna do training with staff. I know that we're gonna enhance our programs. I saw some of the language around that, but I would love to see a little bit more in the future. And I'm I'm saying this mostly for the benefit of trustees and for our district, to move forward in a more intentional direction, rather than to say to improve the systems we have because the systems we have haven't done unnecessarily the task, the exceptional task that we want them to do. So I just think that this is just another manifestation or reflection of what happens when we don't have a greater equity picture, in mind. And so that's kinda how I received the report. And I know it does it's not on any one person's responsibility to do that. It's us as a whole, and that's something that I feel like, I've seen that reflected in a lot of different reports. This is just one of those that I've seen that just manifests the data in a different quantitative way. So, I definitely hear what trustee Vasquez said as we have a chance to look at these reports ahead of time to ask for specific kind of data points that we have. The question is, what do we do with them when we have them? And I think that's the part that when I look at these presentations, that's the next step. It's not a box I'm checking off. Oh, we got this we got the report this year, but we're we're doing our job. We're listening, but but actually to be engaged and to be a little bit more proactive about making the changes in those slides, that'll make a difference. It it would be nice to see some of those zeros not be zeros. Trustee Carroll, I agree with you heartily. You're not gonna find someone advocate for that for more than myself. Yeah. Yeah. Well and and I don't disagree with you at all either, but I I don't you know, we the efforts that we have made, like I said, I think we did at least see a rise in teachers this year. It's not like it's not for lack of trying or trying to go out there, but that's at the tip of our list as well. And those teachers may, at some point, transition into some of the schools. Let me talk. I'm not placing blame on anyone. I didn't hear you. Yeah. Yeah. I I appreciate it. I just wanna clarify. What I am saying is that if I was a student in this district and I was a freshman in high school, I would have gone through my whole fear of years of college. And our district will not have one building leader, vice principal, principal that was identifying as Asian American. That that's my only points. And perhaps our grow your own program can help to grow some of those teachers into those building leaders in the future. So Yeah. You I But you had Because you because you said it, I'm I'm just gonna say, you know, I I love grow your own. I get the idea. It does fill the needs for those specific tasks that we need. We need para pros. We need special ed teachers. Right. But because of the demographic of our internal population, our grow or your own can only take us so far in making a movement on that demographic. Agree. Agree. Trustee Schmidt, did you still have something? I know one of the emphases, in the district, and now the law will make us move even quicker, is that we're moving reading instruction to be evidence based and based on the science. And I'm hoping that we are tuning into the universities, not just in Michigan, because they're kinda behind, but different universities around the country that they're training their teachers with that. So we can bring in that expertise. Because I can tell you, just from speaking to some teachers at MSU, they want to go to a district that that's what's happening. They don't wanna go to a Troy who's stuck in reading recovery, for instance. So, is you know, and I'll keep looking for those places because I've been kind of following what's happening, and, hopefully, we can get some of those teachers in here. 2 I'm sorry. Go ahead. I I just didn't wanna I forgot to mention one follow-up point on what trustee Mohammed said. Was that a mobility report within our district of that of our own staff would be great. In the same way that we get the mobility report of students across our district across the county, a similar report for us to look at the mobility of our staff whether they be voluntary or involuntary transforms or whatever they are to know where our teachers are and why they're moving, I think, is important too. I have a couple questions. One is I'm still kinda new at this, but you had a slide entitled guest teachers. Is that just the new terminology or substitute teachers? Just wanna be sure. Okay. It sounds better. It sounds great. It's it's lovely. It is flowery. I love it. I just wanna make sure I'm on the same page. Yeah. 2nd question. You said you try to have the the the the teachers and leadership reflect the demographics, and that's you presented a bunch of slides. That's the goal. And and to trust the Carole Point, we need we have to work to work to do. What I did notice as it relates to African American students and staff that we are doing well in the recruitment and building of leaders and teachers, and we were above the numbers. But for teachers, we were below the numbers. And I guess and I heard you mention that we had stopped going to HBCU career days and career fairs. Is there something we can do to help? Because that is a a a specific pool of people who can fill those roles, who we know where they are, then we can go find them. Yeah. So how can we help you all accomplish that? Well, this year, we just just due to the budget, we didn't want to Okay. You know, spend the money to to go. So we'll see what happens in 2025. Yeah. But but it's not we definitely wanted to go. I always enjoy going to those, so that was the only reason we didn't get this past year. That makes sense. Alright. Thank you. I saw trustee Mohammed say oh, I'm sorry. Trust, trustee elect had a question. Please. Yeah. Thanks. Actually, quick question along the lines of what, president Feaster was asking around our strategic recruiting. Do we have any do we try to leverage alumni networks or anything to that nature, or identify teachers in our district that can speak to what the education was like at that school and what it's like to teach down in AAPS? So alumni, yes. Absolutely. Speaking to teachers, we normally hear about that through some of our surveying, through some of our, relationships with unions and and things of that nature. But we do. Like, any and anything that you can suggest, we will definitely go out and try to, you know, see what's out there. Okay. If there's nothing else, thank you all so much for the great presentation and all the information. You. We appreciate it. Ladies. Thank you. Mhmm. There's no reason to go. Alright. I believe that brings us down to our added letter d, which was added by Trustee Baskett, for the staging, if I'm not mistaken. Really quickly, I'm so sorry. Please. We have a letter missing, an item missing. It was a budget amendment that mister Dimitrio referred to. Somehow that had been has been left off, this final iteration of the agenda. Is is there any objection to adding that here? Correct. I see it in the Superintendent Parks, it's down in board action. Oh, I see. I see. My apologies. Because we didn't do the amendment yet to take action, the presentation take action, but we could do it there. Okay. So I gotta Sorry, Trust Moham? A quick, so do we have to go through briefings for the amendment? No. No. Not for the budget amendment. So should we put it maybe in one of the brief I mean, one of the brief I think she's saying we can do it right there in the board action, if I'm not mistaken. Typically, it would be up towards information. But we can leave it in board action if you want. But we Okay. It's usually, in information, so then it can be voted on in board action. Okay. Do you want is that fine with Well, I was just wondering if, like, for any budget amendment, does it need to be briefed? Like a first and a second Yes. They're asking. I see. Okay. Information. Information. But I guess it could be briefed in that, I mean, board action, but I just wanted to make sure for amendments. Typically, we would've we would've done it in a as an information. Do you want us to move it up to letter f? It doesn't matter. Yes. Okay. I would support doing that. So the will of the board, then, yeah, that would be the problem. Information session to be to be, Okay. Why that's motion that we move Or we can do it now. Yeah. You wanna do it as okay. So we're gonna now. D and e and move them down and move this to d. So moved. Alright. Support? I support it. Any discussion? Alright. Miss, Soderbergh. Trustee Mohammed? Yes. And, president Feaster? Yes. Trustee Gaynor? Yes. Trustee Carahara? Yes. Trustee Busquets? Yes. Trustee Dupree? Yes. Trustee Schmidt? Yes. Motion carries. Thank you. Thank thank you, trustees, for, for agreeing to that. So we're at letter d, which will be the amendment to the budget. Mister Dimitrio, please. We wanna have him present it before he gets to the action part. Sounds perfect. Good evening again. We're waiting for the presentation. Sure. It won't be a long presentation. It's pretty short. Okay. So point of clarification. I'm sorry. This is Feaster. So for the team behind us, the the great minds, they will, update the board docs, and this document will be part of board docs. Alright. Thank you. So we just need to refresh once they've done that. You can actually right now, if you go down into board action, the document is already there in that place. Yeah. We'll we'll add it as well, but just for the time's sake, for you, you can find it that way right now. Thank you, sir. Thank you, mister Cooley. Whenever you're ready, mister Israel. I'm ready. Alright. So this is, like, the 2 minute elevator speech. So it has all the information that we need right on the slide. So on the left hand side, we have the original budget that was adopted in June, and then this is our amendment next to it and then the difference on on on the right hand side, the difference between the amended versus so you can see our revenues went down by $3,400,000, and you see that it's due to the state. Expenditures went down by $1,700,000 And then, overall, we originally budgeted to make $11,000,000, 11a half. Now we're down to 9,700,000, which is 1 point $1,600,000 less. But we also budgeted that our beginning fund balance, which will be the ending of last year's, will be approximately 4,800,000. And now we know, based on our audit from last year, that is 7,100,000, which is $2,300,000 better off. Therefore, we expect to end the year at 16,900,000 versus 16,200,000 dollars more. Our fund balance, we expect it now to be 5 point 54 of expenditures versus 5.27, which is approximately 0.27 better off. And then we can go to a little bit more detail. The next slide. So our revenues decreased by $3,400,000. As we mentioned earlier, taxes went up by $3,300,000 more than what we originally budgeted. Our, state revenue was decreased by $7,700,000. It actually went down by approximately 30,000,000, but, some of it doesn't affect the bottom line, because as our taxes go up, which went up by 7, then the state revenue goes down by 7. Also, our retirement, the in and out that we had last year was about 28,000,000, whereas this year is only, 15,000,000. So there's a $13,000,000 difference there. And and there was, several other changes that we're we put in the budget that we will receive approximately $217 increase in our foundation. That was 0. Our mental health, that was last year, we got 4,000,000. We were expected to have 2,000,000 this year, but, we're down to 300,000. We did have some carryover. The whole harmonies I already talked about. Last year was about 2,200,000. This year is only 1.1. In, the retirement, which we have several categoricals, including the unfunded actuarial accrued liability. It was overall decreased by 2 a half 1000000. Special educational funding was reduced by 600,000 because we spend less. You spend less, you get reimbursed less. The 700,000, was actually eliminated, the 27 educator compensation, and then we received, an additional grant of $1,200,000. So that that's pretty much the changes in the state revenue. On the federal grants, we were reduced by 1,500,000. Approximately 800,000 of that was due to head start, and in head start, the number of students that we can have in head start was reduced. So then that's that's why. In the end, because the tax base of the county went up higher than originally projected, we are the we're again, we are going to be receiving $25,000,000 more in act 18, which is special education reimbursement from the WISD. And this is not an exhaustive list. Just to give you an idea, it took us, like, 3 weeks. We, we looked at everything. We went back and forth. Everything. We'll make sure that when when we count in front of you that that we have really good numbers for you. So this is what has happened on the revenue side. We can look at the expenditure side. So you can see on the revenue side that, the local sources, which was the taxes, is $3,200,000 more. Our state sources are down by 7.7. Our federal sources down by 1.5. And then, interdistrict sources, which is basically the WIC, is is is up by $22,600,000 almost. So, overall, our revenues are down by $3,400,000. So now we can move to our expenditures. So our expenditures, the state did reduce our retirement rate by 5.75%, which is a reduction of $7,800,000. Then we had another $5,500,000 in increases in expenditures, and and you can see some of it there. A lot of it is because, at the end of last year, we get paid in June, June 20th, July 20th, and August 20th for the previous year with for the year that ends June 30. So during those times, we received approximately $5,700,000 of money. Some of it was for, for summer school. Like, on June 20th, we got a 1,000,000 and a half of summer school. We were only we had, like, a few days to spend it. We only were able to spend, like, $80,000. We weren't able to. So, like, it's carried over into this year. So, also, we got $2,100,000 in August for electric buses. So, again, we we we kind of went into this year. So so there was, those things. And then we had, I talked a little bit about the mental health grant that was reduced additionally. So that means we have to take the expenditures out as well. And and then we received another grant for curriculum about $1,200,000. So then we we put that in revenue and expenditures. The next item is the transportation. If you remember last year, we wanted to go to a 3 tier system versus a 2 tier system. In order for us to achieve that, we needed to negotiate agreement with the teachers union to delay elementary start time by 5 minutes and then also the ending time by 5. There wasn't any additional time added. It was just moving it up so it would allow the buses from the high school, you you know, from the high schools and middle schools to be able to get to the inventory on time so they wouldn't be late. We couldn't get an agreement, so then we have we couldn't get the savings. So now we have to put that back into the budget. So the the numbers, they're they're up and down. The green are reductions, and primarily, the green ones is because the retirement rate went down. And then primarily, the red ones is because of all the the ones that will cut it over from last year into this year and so forth. So overall, our expenditure is down by almost $1,800,000 So we can move to the next slide. As far as the fund balance is concerned, the fund balance, we're adding about $707,000 overall. A big part chunk of it is because, we're adding, to the beginning fund balance, $2,300,000. Our overall operations are going down because the original we were supposed to make about $11,000,000 Now it's $9,700,000 that we're adding to the fund balance instead of the $11,000,000 So the difference between the that 1.6 and the 700,000, it's basically what's happening. So our undefound balance, we're expected to be 5.54% of expenditures or 5.36% of of revenue. So that is approximately $1,009 per student. The original budget was 967, very close. Not much of a difference. And then they, it will cover about 14.4 days, which originally was the original budget was 13.7 days, and we need to be at a 45 to 60 days. So we've got a long way to go. So the next slide is just the first slide that you saw. I'm gonna go through it again, but, it's just yes. So we're pretty basically, after all the ins and outs, we're we're almost at the same place. Okay. Thank you, mister Dimitrile. Thank you. Any questions? Alright. Well, I'll see you back for board action. Thank you. And I believe that now brings us down to our new, letter e, which is the staging, the trustee basket, motion that we add to the agenda. Did you want to start us off, or did you want or did do you want Trusteezy to jump in and ask questions? No. Why don't I mean, I was gonna defer to miss Parks as far as introducing the the team, if you'd like. And then let's have the team, present and Okay. Then take it from there. Sounds good. Thank you, trustee Basquiat. And president of Easter, at this time, we have coming forward, mister Bing, mister Rice, mister Sandbury, and miss Corona, who will, talk through some clarifications on staging. Thank you. Good evening, trustees, president Feaster, superintendent Parks. Special thank you to our departing trustees, and welcome to the incoming trustees. The AAPS Capital program really appreciates this opportunity to outline safety and security, consideration, site logistics, and construction timeline, and why the team does not recommend staging for the new Thurston Elementary School. Last week, the team attempted to address the perceived impacts on play spaces and habitats and we've heard many comments this evening and throughout this week with many suggestions for improving our process and our plan for Thurston Elementary School and across the district. We welcome and appreciate all of this feedback and continue to direct our technical experts to provide recommendations given the constraints of constructing the highest quality learning environments for our students and staff while meeting all of our regulatory requirements and staying consistent with the BOE approved, phase 2 roadmap. So our bond program managers, Gilbane Building Company, who have been awarded a contract to represent the Ann Arbor Public Schools for this phase of bond implementation, which utilizes input from construction managers, licensed architects, engineers, and expert consultants to make recommendations for the district, is here tonight to present and share our updates. So I will turn this over to Stephanie Corona, our project executive from Gilbane Building Company. You did it. Thank you. So we'd like to give a presentation. We were asked to come back, have additional information about staging and logistics regarding, Thurston. We did, in the meantime, this past week, release a general information about general staging. This is more specific to it. The we always put this at the beginning. It's just a reminder of the vision. It's also a reminder of, thank you, to transform student learning experience. We also remind everybody about the 4 pillars, about the enrollment pressures and the facility condition assessment. And I say enrollment pressures, I'm not saying district wide. I'm saying there are enrollment pressures at individual schools. So I'd like to start with safety and security first. There's 4 sections we're gonna cover here. For Thurston Elementary School, our construction manager is Christman Company. They were selected through an RFP process, did come to the board of education for approval, and they were selected to oversee this project. Chrisman, construction company or Chrisman the Christman Company has been doing k through 12 schools. On the left hand side, you'll see a list of, their recent school experience in the last, I believe, 5 years. More specifically, their experience in constructing on active school campuses are noted on the right hand side. So more specifically about safety and security, not just for this project, but for all of our projects that we are requiring our construction managers and that is that there will be barricades and barriers, 8 feet tall with mesh fabric, fence post driven into the ground so the fences do not fall over and additional, barricades between temporary walks and playgrounds to, give additional protection. Rolling gates at entrances to prevent gates from swinging open inadvertently. Construction spotters, that is, work people that are there physically to spot for any material delivery. We're crossing any sidewalks or driveways to for additional safety. In addition to that, we're looking to do safety security cameras during, construction. That safety security camera would just be focusing on the construction site itself, and that would provide another layer of protection for us, during off hours, weekends, and at night. So in addition to those items, we're also looking to reduce construction site access during school and arrival dismisses. Those are actually baked into, contract agreements. Dust control will be an effect on-site to mitigate, minimize dust migration. The project this project's typical construction hours of operation are from 7 AM to 4:30 PM. And in compliance with the city of Ann Arbor noise ordinances, which is 10 PM to 7 AM or yeah. 10 PM to 7 AM. All of our workers go through site specific safety program prior to working on the site. That means that they'll be made aware of any issues specific to the site, things that they need to be concerned about, any, just site specific items specific to that site, not just general safety. All workers will have background checks prior to working on the site in accordance with the state of Michigan and Ann Arbor Public Schools. It is important to note that the health, safety, and security is a top priority for all people. Best practices are utilized and limit to limit learning disruptions during the school year. Opportunities for teaching and learning about construction and the different activities and student inclusion is encouraged and and available. So just a quick, showing of some opportunities for students. We do encourage that when the site becomes safe enough to let kids take them on, guided tours, have them to be involved in things like groundbreaking ceremonies, topping ceremonies where you put the, everybody signs the last beam, and then it gets put in place forever. Their signature is there forever. They love that. But they also get to know about steam and stem opportunities because our industry is really advanced significantly in those categories. So just to see what the opportunities are and how they are applied to this project. Next. Thank you. So the anticipated site activities by month, we wanted to sit there and explain or show a visual construction duration is two and a half years. It is not 4 years. I'm not even sure where 4 years came from. It is 4 years, by the way, for a project from beginning to end. We've said this for many years. 2 years to for for planning and design, approximately 2 years to construct. That is that has never changed. But this project is two and a half years. Thank you. Oh, I'm sorry. Go back one. I apologize. One of the things I wanted to highlight here is I've broken out the construction activities by month. During, the at the beginning in the spring, it'll be very light. School will be in session. You're gonna see a graphic coming up. In the summertime, during spring break or summer breaks when school is not in session, that's when the heaviest, work is going to occur. A lot of outdoor work, a lot of noisy work. The 1st school year, you'll see that there'll be periodic to medium noise or disruption. It's gonna be pure periodic. Again, heavy in the summer next summer, but light in the 2nd school year. And why? The building is enclosed at this point. We're not doing work outside anymore. We are now inside doing drywall, ceilings, carpet, paint, lighting. That's a whole year's worth of work that needs to happen on the inside of the building, which everybody will be inside working, not outside. Then when summertime comes again for the last, break, that's when we're looking we will be moving into the new Thurston, and that's when we start taking down the old Thurston, putting in the parking lot over the summertime, and then, continuing with the installation of the geothermal. That will be done by December. So but in the meantime, and we're gonna get to the the logistics plan. So let's go to the next one. So I've broken down, this is a draft. But, in talking with the construction manager, they've indicated that the only work that would be happening during this school year would be periodic, tree felling, tree location. We have several trees to relocate, relocation of plantings, and that would be in conjunction with, the Thurston Nature Center. Next. Oh, by the way, that fencing area that is temporary. So when we're not doing that work, that fencing comes down, the areas open back up. So we're talking for maybe a week or 2 of this work occurring. Next, this is actually during the 1st summer. During the 1st summer, the red outline is the construction fence. Again, 8 foot tall with, with screening on the exterior of it. The pink is indicating where there's currently, either walks that will be maintained or that where we're gonna relocate, walks for students to come from the northeast or the northwest. We are also relocating the playground, a couple playgrounds that are currently in the footprint. We'll do that that summer, so it'll be up and ready for the beginning of the school year. And then I've also put the construction activities that will be happening. So during this time, you're gonna start seeing the structural steel coming out of the ground, and foundations will be in place. Next. So this is when the school year starts. We'll be putting up structural steel, wood timber decking, exterior wall enclosures, enclosures, roof, glass glazing, basically starting to enclose the building for that school year. Again, the fencing still remains the same. The egress paths continue to stay, stay available. There is a distance between, 30 foot distance minimal between where the new building is and the existing school. There is egress paths that continue to be maintained all around the existing school, and there are paths to, for students to be able to come back and forth. So that second summer, we are actually will be doing some site utility work, but most everything will be starting to head into the building at this point in time. Next. So that second school year, these are some of the items that will all be happening, for a year. And then at the end of May, we'll be ready to start doing tours for people to start seeing what their what their inside of their new building is gonna be like when they start the next school year. And as soon as school gets out, we will be moving into the new Thurston Elementary School, allowing staff and, to be able to get acclimated to their new spaces and, just get to to be familiar with it. In the meantime, we'll be taking over the southern half of the site. We'll be demoing the building, putting in the new parking lot and the driveway. Next. And then heading into, the September through November, we'll be putting in the new bus loop and then continuing with the geothermal field, And then we'll be finishing, by November, the bus loop will be completed, and then we'll be just finishing up geothermal, restoring the site for the play area, and, putting in the new stormwater rain gardens. That is it. So next part I'd like to talk about is staging. Hopefully, everybody saw the video of an on general staging. Next. So one of the things that we looked at for evaluating and you've heard this reference for those who watched the video, there were 3 things that we looked at, for stage and priority order. The first thing we looked at was could we construct a new building next to an existing building? In this case, Thurston met that requirement. Next. So then we looked at, is the room on the existing site? Can the construction of the new building be built safely on the site with manageable disruption to school operations? Can the new building maintain 30 feet of distance from an existing school? And can a separation between construction and the occupied school be maintained? All those things can happen at Thurston. Next. So when doing this evaluation, Thurston is one of the schools that do not require to be staged, in addition to Mitchell, Logan, Dickon, Lakewood, Lawton, Wines and Carpenter. So a lot of people ask, we've heard this a couple of times. We've asked we've answered this many times during our office hours the last 2 days, but a lot of people remember, hey, what happened to the staging school that you're going to get property and and build 2 schools and stage back in 2020? Let me for those who were not here during that time, we'll explain what happened. So we came on board in 2020. We saw that was the plan. We did not develop the plan. That plan was was already set in place prior to us coming on board. We went to an the district and ourselves, we're looking for property. The district had hired somebody to help assist in finding property. We found out very quickly over a 2 year time frame that it was difficult to find any property. Any property we found was either not large enough or big enough to accommodate, elementary school and give it the play areas that it was needed or, wasn't zoned for it or the site was contaminated. So, we obviously cannot move students on a contaminated site. They're great for retail, may be good for commercial, but not good for students. So in in 2022, we said, okay. We've exhausted. We're not gonna find or the property was located outside of where there was, public water or sewer. That means you're trying to put a large elementary school on a piece of property that doesn't have water and sewer. That means we're depending on well, and we're depending on basically a septic system. But that property, we did find some property, but that property would not perk, meaning it would not drain. So that means if we had septic, it wouldn't go anywhere. It would just sit there and we wouldn't be able to build on it. So that's when we went back and looked at in 2022 and said, okay. What are our other options? So we said, let's look at schools that do not require staging first. Let's look at properties that could potentially allow us to, host a staging school. We came up with 4. Unfortunately, we're down to 3 now. So we're down to, Logan, Mitchell, and, Wines. Logan and, Mitchell, along with Thurston and King, were high on the facility condition assessment priority. In addition to that, they also had enrollment pressures. Mitchell, not so much. Mitchell was just in bad shape. I mean, we we just we needed to they were bursting at the seams over there, and and that needed a new school. It was number 1 on the on the, facility condition assessment report. But, we knew that there was enrollment pressures up here in this sector. We also knew that King, Logan, and Thurston were high on the facility condition assessment, and we also knew that the only place at this point that we could find to to have a host school would be Logan. We tried to put Logan on the existing site. We tried to acquire property around the existing Logan. It just was not available. We've been we've asked. We tried. There's there's just not enough in order for us to build a new school over on the existing Logan. But in the meantime, prior to us coming on board, there were, purchase acquisitions over by the Clegg site that allowed us to put a new school on that campus. But that is not an unknown entity in this district. Clague sorry. Scarlett shares a campus with Mitchell. Wine shares a campus with Foresight. So that that it is very common right now in this district. So then we looked at, we looked at, could Thurston, stage at Logan? No. It can't. It's too big. Could King stage at Logan by itself? No. It cannot. It's also too big. But there are is a modular at Thurston and a modular at King. If we built new Thurston on the existing campus, a new Logan across the street, then when those two schools are done, then we could grab the modular at Thurston, move it to Logan, and grab the modular at King, and move that to Logan, and there is enough room for that, and we do meet the regulatory requirements for it that we could, and we already own own this, by the way. We already own the portables. Then we could move those 2 over there and it would be enough for King. It is not enough. Well, we need the the portable for Thurston, so they can't stage over there. So then we I've heard about people asking, can we stage Thurston at new Logan? No, Thurston has and you can go to the next slide by the way, Thurston has a different is unique. It has a different program than Logan. New Logan was designed for Logan's program. New Thurston has additional programs that Logan doesn't have. When we did classroom counts and did and tried to lay the program out, it would require us to, after we built new Logan, to renovate, spend more money, renovate Logan in order to accommodate the additional classrooms needed. And then for 3 years because, Thursday would not stage for 2, they would have to stage for the 3. Because keep in mind, we have to demo a building first before you can put a new building on top of it. So in our current plan, we're demoing the building after they've moved in. But now we've got to demo the building before we can even build it. That's 3 years that Thurston would be at new Logan, not 2. Now that displaces Logan for 3 years and displaces King for 3 years. In addition to renovating a brand new building to accommodate one school there, the cost to go with it. And then when we're done, we'll have to renovate it back to accommodate note Logan. So it's not simple to just say just take the school, There's transportation. There's moving staffing, administrative costs, escalation costs, renovation costs, redesign costs for us to do an alternative program that keeps being recommended out there. Next. One moment, please. So in summary, this project is part of an overall district plan. The project team does not have access or is aware of any board approved document indicating the extent of the boundary for the design nature area, which complicates the planning, by the way. Because from what I've heard, everybody thinks that the Thirsty Nature Center is at a different location. Some people believe it stops at the at the, tree line. Some people believe that it goes all the way to the backside of the school. Some people believe that it it it only incorporates the, the tree line plus the, oak savannah. Some people feel that it actually goes all the way to the south. There is not a consistent we have not found any documentation. We we do not know where this boundary line is. And because of this, everybody has a different idea about what is part of the Thurston Nature Center. But what it is is is it does there is a designated area for nature. It is on the school property. The whole thing is on school property. The one thing to point out is that I keep hearing about flooding and stormwater. The new plan addresses all store new stormwater regulatory items. It also does not impact the pond. It actually helps the pond because it now redirects the water that was inadvertently going to the pond and now puts it where it's supposed to go, which is not there, but in a storm management system. In addition to that, construction is contained within the fenced in area and maintains a physical separation from the school at all times. Delays made a higher cost, jeopardizes our bond obligations, a significant impact on other school communities in the northeast sector. It delays students and staff from accessing high quality learning environments to support teaching, learning, health and well-being. And right now, the Thurston staff and students, they just told me tonight in a we went to the staff meeting to show them the new plans, which they they seem pretty pleased about. But I was surprised to hear that their teacher's lounge is an old janitor's closet. That is now we're gonna ask them to wait again. So it's, it's frustrating because I see kids that are in need, and they they need a new building. The only other thing I'd like to add is, if mister Demetrius could explain what does it mean for the bond, if we do delay because he could say it better than I can. Good evening again. So with, with the bond with the bond money, there are certain regulations, and and then there are some other things that we try to accomplish. So, with with with bond money, once we issue the money, so far, out of the 1,000,000,000, we've issued 290 million so far. And, we have 3 years once we issued the money, we issued a the first one was 140, the next one was, 50, and then the next one was a 100. And then in the spring, we're gonna issue another 200,000,000 that was already approved. So, once we issue those bonds, then we have 3 years to spend the money. And, we cannot issue the bonds and then sit on the money and put it in an investment vehicle and make investment income, basically, because every year, we we audit our construction. So for the system calculations, And then if we have too much investment income, it's called, arbitrage, where we have to fill a whole bunch of forms and deal with the IRS. Stepping back, the bonds that we issue are tax exempt, meaning the the the people or financial institutions that buy our bonds, basically, they we pay them back the money that they paid for the bonds plus interest. The interest that they earn, they don't have to pay taxes on. It's tax exempt. So if we delay in to do something different and if it's 2 years, and this project is 60, $70,000,000, So you can imagine that we will be earning investment income because we already planned this to spend this money, and we will have that money sitting there for an extra 2 years or whatever it takes. So then we're gonna get in trouble for these arbitrage issues. It is not easy to say, okay. Don't do this. Go do something else. It takes 2 years to plan to do something else. So number 1. Number 2, when we campaign, we said that a mileage for the bonds is gonna be 4.1 mills. So what we do, we work with the construction managers, what is the construction schedule, work with the financial advisers, what's happening with the tax base, and we're trying to make everything match that when we go out, that our millage is 4.1 mills. When we start messing with delays and so forth, what we're gonna have is 1 year is gonna be 3 mills. The next is gonna be 5 mills, and you're gonna have all this, and you're gonna start upsetting people. You know, my taxes, when it goes up to 5 mills, people are gonna be upset that it's not 4.1, and it's 5, and it's more and and so forth. When it goes down to 3, they might not be so upset. But when it goes up, the next year, they're gonna be upset. So there's a lot of things to consider, but my recommendation is to stick to the schedule because of all these complexities that we have. With the fundings, it's what is it to say? What happens if you don't spend it in 3 years? Well, depend how it depends how much it is. If you're at 90%, then you just need to provide a plan of, you know, that you know, in the next month or the next year that you're gonna spend it. There are exceptions. Like, when COVID happened, you couldn't do construction. But when it's now it's regular, and let's just say you're you're not at 85 or 90%, you're down to 50 or 60%, we're gonna have some issues. And I talked about the arbitrage, and then it is possible that if we overdo it extensively, that our bonds are not tax exempt anymore. We lose the status, which is the worst thing that could happen to us. I'm I'm not sure if it's gonna affect the rating, but it's not gonna it's not gonna help it. Let's put it that way. You might you might hurt it, but I'm I'm not a 100% sure. Was that the end of the presentation? We can start a question. Okay. Thank you all for the presentation. Let's let's talk a little bit. Are there any questions? Okay. Let me comment. Comment real quick. Well, thank you so much for that presentation. It really helps clarify, I think for me, for sure, and for I'm sure a lot of people. But I guess I'm thinking about our efforts to to obtain future bonds. And I just think that it's really important for us to to handle this in a responsible way, because I know that there will be future bonds, efforts to obtain future bonds. And I think that, that we really need to think about that and what this, the outcome of this, how that would impact the district. Thank you. Missus Mamma? So I know you went through this, and I was trying to follow. But why has it been looked at to move, for example, Logan earlier or, King earlier and then using the old building? Like, has that been looked at? And can you explain that again? And why is it small? Because you were saying it's smaller. It's too small, but what is the difference between really these these buildings? Sure. So Logan is is the smallest of the 3 schools. I think I'm starting to am I dying? Okay. Logan is the smallest of the 3 schools. The next is King is the next largest school, and Thurston is the largest. Thurston has more classrooms, more program space that's required more classrooms that require for their program space. So they have a different program which requires more classrooms versus King versus Logan. Now Logan is, Logan's new elementary school is based on, 4 section school, if you wanna call it that. So 4 sections means 4 classrooms, per grade. King has the same thing for no. King has that now. The existing Logan doesn't have that capacity. That's why we're moving him to a new Logan. In order for King to stage it, old Logan, we need the portables from existing Thurston and the portables from existing King, which we have moved during the summertime to go to Logan to make Logan whole old Logan whole enough to stage King. But Thurston still can't stage there. And Thurston cannot stage at, the new Logan because it does not have enough classrooms for Thurston's existing program. So when we build the Thurston new school, it will have more classrooms than the new Logan School because of their programs. If that makes I I saw Trustee Gaynor and then Carriero. I just wanna ask how much of the classroom. Well, go ahead. Yep. Yep. Go ahead. How much of the number? Currently, we are short, at least one. At least one classroom. So the problem is it's not like you're cramming a bunch of kids into another because now you're you're overcapacity on your classroom counts. Right? So you can't just cram kids in there at any grade level. And we do have, kids with IEPs. We have several closed, closed classrooms. We also have preschool that also has a different set of requirements. So, it's just different. It's different than our other schools. It's our largest it's our largest elementary school in the district. We have 46 sections for Thurston. And third of all What does Logan only has, like, 17. And then what about King? King is right up there. I don't know about King. I can't give you a number on that one. I thought firstly that great. I can talk about it. Well, King is different from Thurston by 3 classrooms because Thurston has preschool and 2 special ed classrooms that King doesn't have. So they have roughly the same enrollment, but their programs are different by preschool and special ed. It's why King can fit at Old Logan with 2 modulars, but Thurston can't. We'll be short 3 classrooms at old Logan with the modulars, and we're short a classroom at new Logan as well because new Logan's program is different than new Thurston's program. And I'm sorry to follow-up. What about use doing the modulars at King? Has that been looked at? We already have a modular there. I'm not sure. To create more space to for Thurston? Like, staging at King versus I'm just I have no I'm just asking. Yeah. There isn't a a plan in place to use King to stage at because we need to take we need to renovate King while King is staging. So it it we're making use of a building that would be vacant Old Logan, but that's not the case for King. King is occupied or under construction, but not otherwise available. We have space. No problem. We have spacing issues on the existing property, and we also have, you you have to have like fire hydrant coverage and just like a whole bunch of regulatory things that need to happen. King's a very tight site. So but again, we would have to King hasn't even started the planning yet. We start that in 2025. So, that would just put Thurston off by 5 years now. Yeah. Did you have something? Plus, again, did you have something? Yeah. I've got a few things. First, thank you for finally addressing the questions about the proposed staging plans I've been asking for 2 months and it helps to get some specific things. Before I get to that, or maybe it's part of that, I I absolutely hate when special ed classrooms get moved from one school to another. Sometimes it gets moved across the district, but we have done that. And I'm not sure all of the reasons. Just posing theoretically, again, I'm not favoring this. Would it be possible for another school to take on the special ed program at Thurston so that the rest of the school would fit? We don't recommend it, but a I I don't recommend it either. We don't recommend splitting up a community, any more than we do recommend using a school design for 1 community, for another community. Those can be recommendations we make, but, obviously, this is I mean, I again, I don't like when it happens, and it's happened several times in the past. But, one piece of new information that I didn't catch, and it seems, you know, apparent in the staging plans. It would delay things by 2 years that Thurston would go into the new Logan for 2 years, and you're explaining why it's 3, which, you know, is is significant. The bond issues yes. I hear you. But it leads to a more systemic question because people are questioning, how do we give public input? Is this the best plan over 20 years or now 15 years, whatever? For future projects, is there still a space for a systemic look at what we're doing? Can we stretch this out and adjust the bonding? If if that's decide, like, I understand there's gonna be a bond oversight committee, which is probably long overdue. But or are we gonna be at the point where when we get to this point where a school and community is aware of the issues that so much has been done that there's no reason or no way to practically change it. Am I not saying that clearly, but you understand my point? Yeah. I think there are 2 questions there. 1 is, is there a better way to engage a school community? The school itself and the neighbors in, construction design process, and the answer is yes. We found out that there is a better way. The way we did it is not the best way. So we are making adjustments immediately for projects going forward to get to the community early, get the students and the community as early as possible and, bring them on board, talk to them, get their aspirations, understand these things early. I think the second question is, is the phase 2 bond plan locked? And the answer is, well, things change. Things change beyond our control. Things have already changed. For instance, we were expecting to use old law to stage it, but that's not gonna work. There are a few issues like that that will require us at particular intervals to revisit the plan and come back to the board with where we are today and what does it mean. So it's not locked, but we That is kind of force changes for things beyond our knowledge, but what about, you know, plans or Sure. Community input changes. Yeah. There's there's still room if we look out of ways to modify. I think the bond advisory committee could be a conduit to to understanding that and its impact. When we have forced changes because things beyond our control bring us back to the board for a revisit to the plan, we can also look at that whether the bond advisory season advantage in one particular community to do something differently. Right now, it's we're tracking the numbers. I just wanna I guess I wanna repeat something we talked about in 2022. The current plan is to in the bisector, so there's 4 sectors roughly, bisector in the order of the facility condition assessment, construct the schools that don't require staging so that we can simultaneously build the staging schools that then let us construct the remaining schools that do require staging in their order of the facility condition assessment. So that's that's the, you know, that's the system we have in place that we're following at this point. It's all about how do we get how do we strategize construction in the order of facility condition assessment. And the final question that I have is how can you convince the community that the impact on the Nature Center isn't as great as many seem to feel it is. And I have some comments about that, but I'll We may not be able to. We may not be able to convince them. There's there's Habitat to address impacts on Habitat. There's also historical and cultural connections to the area, and we're finding the line is fuzzy, what we're hearing from the community. Sometimes it's Habitat, which we think we've addressed in a week ago when we brought to you the adjustments we've made based on input. The Habitat impact has been reduced significantly, but we're still hearing from the community. I'll call it the aura of the Thurston Nature Center. You know, you're still too close to the Thurston Nature Center even if you aren't as in the Thurston Nature Center as before. So this is what Stephanie was alluding to, where does it begin and end? What is the official agreement? These are all questions that makes planning difficult because we look at the Thurston Nature Center site and see a delineation of what they consider the Thurston Nature Center. We've made every effort to step away from that, but it almost feels like it's considered Thurston Nature Center all the way to the existing building. You know? So where does the aura of the Thurston Nature Center end? Where does the actual Thurston Nature Center end? These are these are difficult questions. Alright. So I think thank you. I've got some questions. I just wanna clarify too, mister Gaynor, that Thurston is in a republic school. Period. We own the pond. We own the land. It's in a republic school. And I don't think people realize that we own everything that's there. And we're doing our darnest to stay away from it. We've done that. We've had 5 iterations that we've done. So I just wanna make that clear. So last week, I asked a question, if we were to raise this is where great presentation, first of all. Thank you all. We appreciate it. Now last week, I asked the question that if we were to raise the existing Thurston, if we found a magical staging school that hail Thurston and we raise Thurston, would there be enough space in that location to build New Thurston? And I think I was told no, And I wanna understand why that's a no. We didn't say no. Okay. Yeah. And in in all likelihood, the plan that we've seen from the community is not yet workable. In order to make it workable, we would be, I'll call it, drifting north. Mhmm. And we may very well drift just about as far north as we are now in order to make it workable. So the cost of staging based on the presumption that it would be a reduced impact on the site plan Mhmm. In all likelihood, wouldn't be as as much of a reduction, and we think we would be in the same position at that point. Very close. I'm not talking about the same physical building position, but the same position with the community. That's what I'm I guess I'm not in over my head. I'm not a construction person. I'm not an architect. So help me understand what you just said there because I'm not quite getting it. Because what I'm what I'm thinking is I I see the building further north. I see the pond and the nature center further south. And I'm saying if we were to tear down the building north and build in that exact footprint, little larger, whatever you're gonna do to make to accommodate the new space, is there space to build there? And you're telling me what exactly? We still have to push back. The building would just to clarify the the so that others aren't confused. The hand is north. The building is south. Thank you. But thank you for So, yeah, I'm not a not not a That's good. That's where we've seen suggestions for where the building can go, which is essentially on top of the existing footprint, doesn't accommodate the kinds of things we must have in our new schools in front of a building. I you know, redesigning it for you on the fly today is gonna be difficult. But in order to take the plan, which we think is interesting, and turn it into something that would work, the building is going to be drifting north. Okay. Roughly, we think to the point where it's not far from where we're showing today. And there's a lot more complexity in that description, but we just don't see a plan where the building stays where it is. And that's based works for for our requirements. And that's based on the new New regulatory new regulatory requirements? Yes. And what the aspirations are for new k fives in the district. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Alright. We talked about staging, and we talked about it, Logan, Lulogan, all this stuff. Are there any other schools to your knowledge in the district that are large enough to stage Thurston? Not Logan, not King, but any other schools that we could in theory stage at. Thurston's the largest elementary school we have. After that, we go to k eights, and there's no place to move a k eight temporarily. Right. There's no place to move a middle school temporarily. Okay. And there's no place there's not enough room at a high school. Okay. So Not enough room to pioneer. Not enough room to skyline. Looked at that. We probably looked at that. Yeah. Okay. Also the case that the the sector staging plan is intend intended so that traffic or transportation time from a home school to a staging school is limited to within the sector. So driving across the city with students there and back is not something we would recommend. Not for not for 2 years. But if we chose to do that, that is it feasible at Skyline, Pioneer, some other a APS builder? No. We just don't have the room for it. Okay. We we even looked we went way outside the box. We even looked at office buildings. Could we take an office building? Right. We did. We couldn't make that work. We did not meet the regulatory requirements needed. We couldn't make the classroom sizes work, and we couldn't meet the state of Michigan regulatory requirements. And then we would actually have to have it be certified as a school. That doesn't happen overnight. Okay. So so Skyline's out, Pinew's out, Pathways wouldn't work, office buildings wouldn't small. There was roughly 2 years of 100 of internal Understand. Bond planning before we came with what what works. Okay. We looked at Freeman with a portable village. We like Stephanie said, office buildings. It wasn't a, oh, gee. What are we gonna do? Oh, this is the first solution. Okay. This was not the first solution. This is the the first solution we found that works. Okay. And then there was some conversation. I think mister Dimitrios jumped in about the bond and spending the money in a certain time window and all those kind of things. Are are we saying that if we were to skip Thurston, we could not put another school in place in time? No. We haven't even we're not even at that point. We have a schedule. It takes, you know, it takes 2 years to plan and and design. We're just going to start King January, February having engagements with the community and starting just to kick that off in order for that to be ready in 2 years when Thurston and Logan and are done. Yeah. So and the schools that we already have, they're building on their existing sites. So they're they don't need to you know, there's not enough room to stage 2 schools on their sites. There. So, I mean, that would be like us staging 2 schools on the Thurston site. That's not even feasible. Not feasible. Yeah. Okay. Just add to that. If we were to try to pivot and make an adjustment, we would likely end up in a situation where we're accelerating a community engagement process that would possibly leave somebody, some other community behind, you know, in Okay. If you know, to try to meet some, super quick timeline to find somebody else that, you know Could be in the same situation. Yes. And we could be right back where we're k. Yeah. Alright. And the the new version of Thurston would not look a lot different than the one we have on the table today. Cecil Hance, let's go to Trustee Schmidt and Trustee Moham. One thing that was talked about was, amongst the community and such is caring about the kids and whether they have ADHD, ADD, they're on the spectrum, whatever. And when I think of equity, we can look at socioeconomic equity, we can look at, you know, ethnicity, race. But as a special ed teacher, I know all the little closets I've had teaching with my special ed kids, and we've really never felt that we were treated right. And I feel like, moving those vulnerable populations over and back, that that's harder on some kids than others, I will just say. The other thing is I think of the suggestion, and I'm and trust again, I know you didn't suggest it. I'm not talking about your comment. But that I've heard in the community of, well, you know, we can just get rid of some of the special ed kids there or maybe the school's choice kids there. This is this community deserves our respect just like any other school community. And, I I just hope I don't hear that because that troubles me. So those are just some observations. The other I have a question about, it's a 20 year bond. What does that mean, 20 year bond? Does it mean for 20 years, we have to, like, wrap it? Or do we have, like, 23 years to get it all done? Or how does that work? Marius, you're you're the you're the guy, the bond guy. I I think when we were campaigning, we said it was gonna take us 20 years to do all the construction that we wanted, but it really depends when we issue the bond. Okay. We issue the bonds, we have 3 years to spend. So so far, we issued 290. By the spring, we're gonna issue 490. So the 200,000,000 that we're gonna issue in the spring, we have 3 years to spend that 200,000,000. We issued bonds in 2019, which was a 140. So that's that's done. That that 140,000,000, we shouldn't have any money. As a taxpayer how many years you're gonna come to me and ask. Okay. So the the, and we showed that in the campaign that the bonds will, expire. The ones that we have right now is 2043. By by the time everything is said and done, it will be 2051 when all the bonds will expire. When we originally did our calculations in 2019 when we're campaigning, the bond issue was supposed to start declining from 4.1 in 2046, and then by 2051, it will be 0. Because the tight space has increased much higher than what we were estimating in 2019. We were using, if I'm not mistaken, about 20 half percent per year, and we've had years that is 9%, 10%. And and so now the 4.1 mills will probably start declining around 2035 or so, which is an opportunity for the board, to try to explain. So when we campaign in 2019, and we did all our work in 2018 and 19, all the work that we wanted to do was approximately 1,400,000,000. And the way that we were gonna get there is, we have a sinking fund, and then we also have this $1,000,000,000. So, and that's how we got to the $14,000,000,000 because the sinking fund, right now, it generates about 30 or so $1,000,000 a year. So because of COVID, because of the war in Ukraine, inflation is much higher than what we were projecting. So we might need a 100 or $200,000,000 more to do everything that we said we were gonna do before. So the border has really a choice. So they can do less, or when it starts declining, then you have an opportunity to say to the community, we would like to get back to the 4.1 for so many years, and you can raise 100 of 1,000,000 of that. But that's in the future. Thank you. Thank you very much. Trustee Mohammed? So I was gonna ask, was there because I know that was another comment or comments that I've seen is, like, was there an environmental, impact study that has been done, and what was the outcomes of it? Because I think a lot from what I'm hearing is hasn't really been evaluated, has it been studied, and what what is the actual impact? No. I appreciate that. We discussed this a little bit at our bond committee meeting, but what we're gonna try to do is package up all of the we have many required environmental studies that are just part of our regulatory requirements, and we've also taken proactive, proactive studies that we're going to then kind of bundle for folks, and try to put together an actual package of of studies that would be usable. We're trying to kinda define that. But one of one of the issues is when we get asked that, generally, it seems like folks are talking about different things, like environmental as it relates to migratory patterns or environmental as it relates to stormwater or environmental as it relates to native species or habitats. And so we're gonna take all of the different studies that we've needed to do to meet our regulatory requirements and some of those proactive, habitat studies and, you know, package those up for for folks. So that is gonna happen that Yes. Combining all of that. We're we're just kind of putting together the outline right now of it's generally, what happens is that you have, different consultants doing different reports and reporting and sort of figuring out how to put that all together in a a way that's going to be usable and digestible for folks is just kind of our next step. Okay. And then I was gonna ask, and I think this may may have asked. This is one level. Right? As no. It's 2 level. It's The school is 2 story. Okay. I just wanna make sure. Right? I'm Part of it is Part of it. 1, part of it. Okay. Last 2. So have have I'm assuming you have looked at this, but, like, the shape of the building, adjusting that a little bit. I don't know. I'm trying to figure out, like I'm I'm assuming you have, like, to be able to have you looked at even the shape of the building and being able to minimize the impact to where the community is staying and impacting the the nature center? Yes. We have. During design, we did, we actually had more, opportunity to reduce impact with the site developments that were around the building, which is what we spent the last couple of months doing and presented last week. How payments work, retaining walls, utilities, that sort of thing. The change changing the building is not likely to have much of an impact on, on the nature center. We we have to have access to windows and light and that sort of thing, and we have already maximized the parts of the building that could be 2 story. There's no making it smaller or making it more compact. Okay. So you maximize the 2 story part. Absolutely. So you can't make it. Does it see there's some parts that are one story. You can't really make it all. No. The the way it works is the classroom wing. So there are 6, 4 classroom pods in the building. 3 on the 1st floor, 3 on the 2nd, those stack. Okay. And then the rest of the building is a gym, a cafeteria, mechanical room, administrative offices, and the like. And then has it looked at because one of the concerns, again, I think I brought this up the last time, was where the play field is, you know, between two areas, the parking and the bus route. Has and I know I know that I I was what I was asking is can we move that play field area where the parking and sacrifice having that parking space for however long that needs to happen to make sure that the where the play field is more where the parking lot is. Do you know what I mean? Sure. Yeah. I I think anything is possible doing without parking for a year. We could certainly do that. But there isn't anything unusual in even in this district with how we're showing play space and playgrounds relating to driveways. I think I mentioned that the last meeting. Look at the aerials. There are playgrounds and play spaces next to roads, next to driveways in almost every one of our elementary schools. So this is this is not unusual or unsafe. This is common. Yeah. No. And I understand that, but I think that's one of the things that have come up is where that play space is. And then where also, I was I think there's neighborhoods where that parking lot is. Right? And we're gonna put trees. Yes. So because I see a big difference between how the play play you know, the current existing space and where that play space is. It's all in the back, like, in the back. It goes along, you know, where the neighborhoods are, but also where the nature center is, where this is extremely different, where the play place space is right in the middle. Yep. So can again, that I I don't know if the the community would be happy with that, but can that be looked at as well? Yeah. We we would have done that had the building not been there in the sequencing of of construction. We would have had, cars and buses together in the field next to it. But we can't recommend that the school go without parking for a year. Mhmm. So, you know, that's why the plan is the way it is. Parking and bus drop off and car drop off, they're available day 1. Yeah. And what we spend our time doing after taking the building on is constructing geothermal in the play field. So, you know, it is possible to do. We just can't recommend it. Okay. I'm just trying to find something in the middle. I mean, because we're, you know, because that is another huge change to what I'm hearing feedback from the community is that PlaySpace is right in the middle of that area. And, you know, where it was where it was before, it was a big, large land. Yep. It is a change, and we're and we are empathetic to the fact that it's a change. It is a change we're going to see in just about every one of our projects. Alright. Trustee Baskett. Thank you. To the last set of comments, thank you, trustees, for for trying to explore options and understand the options. What's become very clear to should be clear to all of us by the e mails and the various voices we've heard, it's not a matter of modifying the plan, it's a matter of don't touch the Nature Center at all. And I just wanted to remind folks that we had a school, then we added had a nature center. And to the team's point, I have asked, I have the staff has looked. We're not clear. We haven't seen. And if the Nature Center can provide this, we would much appreciate it, the requests, the communications between the work that the Nature Center wanted to do and the district, letting us know which because there are some things that were done that maybe and and and I appreciate the volunteerism and the time and commitment. Believe me, I have been a volunteer since I was 9, so I understand that. But maybe we could have advised the Nature Center, maybe you don't wanna do that right now. Okay? But we can't find that communication. We've been very clear, as I've stated, you know, in in what we've seen, it's a group that doesn't want the Nature Center touched at all. When we talk about the oak savannah and making it bigger and moving the rain garden, it's like no. No. No. No. No. Okay? So to the point where what are we talking about? Because the team can jump through hoops and move buildings here and move bushes. That's not going to be acceptable. And we have one e mail that clearly says that. And I would we all got that e mail. So that should be there in your your inbox to to review. To do without parking for a year? Oh, I'm sure staff will talk to you about that. I mean, that's just let alone the neighbors. Believe me. I live at Bryant School. There's not enough parking, and we have it every day, as I'm sure other schools. But we just have to keep in mind what we're here to do. Again, appreciate the fact that we're searching for answers. And I want to stress we, the bond team, did not want to come to the board until we had everything in place intentionally understanding and not for finality, but for clarity of what the board was asking, what the community was asking, and what she wanted to know. So here we are. We have the drawings. We will have a video. As I mentioned, we'll have a video release to further explain this. I wanted to manage expectations regarding this bond advisory group. It's not a bond oversight group. The board is responsible for the bond. So the group to to oversee this is the board with the work of the committee. Right? And that committee may change. I heard for Colin leadership, and I appreciate that. This takes a lot of time. We talked about passing the bond in 2019. You have to think about the time that went into it before we even went out to a campaign, and I can't take credit for that. That is definitely above my pay grade. Other board members spent more time in in hashing it out. I'm just now here as your bond committee chair. I have the institutional memory, and yet I have a lot of great people reminding me how we got certain places. And so I wanna appreciate that. Community input. Okay? As as others have mentioned on the team, there have been lessons learned, and we appreciate that. But there's also opportunities on this very same project in the future. You know, miss Corona talked about speaking with the staff today. You know, there are other opportunities to and talking with playgrounds and and fixtures and things like that, there's still opportunities for input with the rest of the project. And possibly even now, I mean, regarding things. Someone asked about, you know, how do we decide colors? I don't know. I I really don't care about colors as a board member. Okay. If your community wants to paint it a different color, you got my vote. Okay. I just wanna get you a building so that we can get the students in and move forward. The fact of and I've mentioned this before, separating a school is so wrong on so many levels. And we learned that from Alan, and I mentioned that before, and forgive me for some of you who've heard this story before. But the efficiency when when we had a flood, we realized we had to relocate the Alan School population. They came to us and said, please keep us whole. Okay? The efficiency person to me is like, okay. Divide them up. 40 over here, 20 over there, and boom. No. That's not fair. And to think that anyone could suggest their most vulnerable population, like our special education kids. I mean, just just the words of, well, let's just move them over here, or let's just move the kindergartners over there. Again, where's the respect? Where's the equity trustees? Trust me, it's not time to cut you off. Well, let let I'm almost finished. I I gotta cut you off. Those 11 59. Oh, gosh. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry. 56. Excuse me. So So I move go ahead. I move to extend the meeting for 45 minutes. Okay. Been moved by trustee Schmidt to support any discussion. Alright. So, miss, Soderbergh, the the motion is to extend the meeting until 12:45. It was moved by trustee Schmidt, supported by trustee Baskett. We're prepared for a roll call, please. Trustee Mohammed? Yes. Trustee Yes. Feaster? Yes. Trustee Gaynor? Yes. Trustee Carahara? No. Trustee Busquette? Yes. Trustee Dupree? No. Trustee Schmidt? Yes. Motion carried. Now please continue. Well, I I would just remind the board too. We extended the public commentary Mhmm. And that ate up into our valuable meeting. So, again, I would I I just want to I'd like to interject. I'd like to No. I'm sorry, trustee. I have the floor. I did not interrupt you. You could come next. Okay. So I I think I hope we've answered a lot of questions the team have. If you have any more questions, please bring them forth so that we can answer them in a in a respectful and timely manner. Alright. Jessica here. I'd like to also add that we added 2 items to the agenda at the start of the agenda before we we began. So, I I think the back to back meetings of going past midnight speaks to how much we're putting into these meetings at midnight and 1 in the morning making wise important decisions for our community when there's hardly anybody here. That's why I've not vote I didn't vote to extend the meeting because we're here talking about a serious issue. 5 hour ago, we had a room full of concerned people, and here we are 5 hours later having the important discussion they would have loved to heard except for it's midnight. Thank you, Trustee Carroll. Is there anything else that's replaced this Thursday stage? Please, trustee elect. Sorry. Not to add a bunch of time to this, but I would and I don't know if your team is the right people to address this, but we have heard a lot from the community about the, learning experience and kids being distracted, neurodivergent kids having a harder time with all of this construction going on. Can you speak have there been studies done about that? Can you speak to that a little bit? So in Michigan and really majority of the United States, more most renovation projects for schools cannot happen in 10 weeks. They typically happen, during a school year. That's why we gave you a sample of our construction manager. There's one of many, that's, built next to existing occupied schools. There's best practices. Those who are our sensitive learners, we've already talked to the principal. Those classrooms are actually not located adjacent to the construction. They're actually located in the courtyard and on the other side of the building. But we have also talked to staff or to the principal. And if we find that there are students that are having struggles or problems, we are looking ahead of time because we have time before this happens. But we're looking to see do we need to relocate a class with maybe move them further away. The reason why I showed the timeline of the heaviest work is when you're going to hear the most disruption. And we're saving the most disruption for when school is out. So that was on purpose. Yes. We could build the school in a little bit shorter period of time, but we're taking also into account safety, supply chain. People have said, what are you gonna do if you're over we've built so much extra cushion because we're not sure of the economy and the supply chain. It's it's a moving target. Everybody knows. I mean, I try to order something online. It's not in the stores anymore. You gotta wait. So, so we we put that into account, into the into the schedule. And so we have time to sit there and get into the nitty gritty. We're just starting to do that with the principal. And like I said, we met with the staff. We shared with them, what the building is like, the time some timelines. They're absorbing that now. We'll be meeting with them several times between now and and when, impacts are looking to occur. Trustee Schmidt? I know no. I wasn't teaching at Scarlet. I would visit, but have friends at Scarlet. There was work going on in the building, and there was a lot of thing a lot of the heavy stuff was done during the summer. But even during the school year, there would be a wall, like, built and students didn't have access to that end of the building. Things were rerouted. Classrooms were moved. I saw it was pretty amazing to watch it happen while kids were in school And things that I think were pretty seamless. Yeah. I'd like to say they're seamless, but it was not seamless. It was difficult. Yeah. You did a good Thank you. But but it's again, I put that 123 on the staging video. 1 is, can we build next to existing school and you're just there? I mean, when you're done, you move into your new school. 2 is we look at, can we stage within an existing school where we have 30% availability to move kids around or not have serious disruption, and we look at safety. So, for example, if if we're putting an addition on the school, sometimes that's that's really kind of a no brainer. That's like building next to an existing school. But if I have to renovate and demo the whole entire of interior of the building, and I gotta do that 3 classrooms at a time, that's not feasible. That is, I mean, that's a project that will take 10 years at that point. So if that's the case, then we drop down to item number 3, which is staging them at another location. And that is where we're at with some of our buildings where we can't build an existing building. They they don't have most of our schools, almost all of them don't have a 30% capacity. So that's where we're at. Well, at Scarlet, it was HVAC and things like I mean, I don't don't Much later touch. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then something at the bond committee meeting, when I think of that long timeline that you had, one was periodic medium. And it you said something about mowing the grass. And I remember that. I remember being in my classroom when the guys came to mow and blow the sidewalk off the back, you know, was I'd shut my windows and I know that until they left, you know. I know that every week at a certain time when I'm in middle middle of a Zoom meeting, I I understand that completely. So, yes. It will be similar to when the when they come and mow the grass. Yeah. That's the type of disruption we're looking at. A lot of my students had all kinds of attention issues, so I was aware of all that kind of thing. I just wanna add one thing. I've been although I'm not playing this role now, I've been an architect for the district for 33 years and except for Skyline and Roberta Clemente, which were all new schools, every one of the projects was renovations in the school. So So what we're talking about right now is a a construction next to a school. Although it is a major undertaking, it is not the same as doing renovations in the school, which happen all the time. Thank you. If there's nothing further on the Thurston station, then let's move down to letter f, the Thurston discussion that we might have just had. But, trusting, Mohammed, I believe you wanted to add this. Is there anything in particular you wanted us to address address that we have not yet addressed? Yeah. I think I think we just wanted this time to be able to discuss as a board as far as what we think is you know, we got all our questions answered, other items that still seem that are missing, that are pending before, you know, especially I don't know. I'm assuming this this project is still paused until more dead. I don't know. I don't know where it is. But I wanted to at least discuss it discuss it as a board as far as what we're feeling, that is missing here and how do we wanna proceed. Sounds like a quick comment. You know, based on the discussion the presentation we had and the discussion we had, you know, there weren't every any other dollar figures given on what it would cost to be able to actually to answer the question of staging somewhere else. Now I know that the location is an issue. We've gone through many scenarios about why it wouldn't work at certain places on certain scenarios on certain time schedules. What I'm looking for is a viable solution with a dollar attached to it so that I could go back to the community and say, hey, this is the reason why or at least this board can go back and say, hey, this is the reason why we can't do it because it costs this much money and it's going to take us this many years and we just can't do it. And if we were to do it, it would cost this much. It would take 4 years, 5 years, 6, 7 years, and then not go in with any preconceived notion, but to to just listen and say, okay. Well, what does that mean if we wait 5 or 6 years? Because we do have schools that are on a 7 year wait. Mhmm. So to me, just to get a little bit more information around around what we could go back to the community about our due diligence in exploring staging, I think, with the dollar amount, I think means something, because we are talking about bond, public money, and we know it's gonna be expensive, but expensive becomes this ominous number where how much is it how much is expensive? Is it expensive too expensive? So I think before before you can have a substantive discussion, I think you have to have some dollar amounts around this stuff. Thank you. Trustee Baskett? Once again, I don't think anything will move people off of touching the Nature Center. However, if you wanna explore dollars, you've gotta have what are you costing? What? Okay. A location. You gotta find a location. The time for the location, transportation. So you can't cost it out until you have. And then when you find your location, you've got to bid it out. That's a long process. And then, again, you're going to come back to do not touch the nature center at all. We don't care how much it costs because you know you have money if you want to. So I think that is a exercise in futility and exhausting. My understanding, what Trusted Carroll was suggesting, correct me if I'm wrong, is, like, if we put the students in another school and we bought additional modulars to go around that school You know what I mean? To accommodate No. The numbers that I did here was the the number of units that we have at those buildings. And I heard that we're one short. Obviously, there's some specialty units at these buildings. For example, the first thing that came to my head was, okay, at the old Logan, what would it cost? Is it feasible to put 2 modular? What would that look like? Like what classes would go in those spaces? How would the design to actually explore the conversation beyond, oh, they're always just going to complain about the Nature Center which we don't even can agree on what the border of that is based on the discussion tonight. So I think to just proceed and just go ahead without any pause whatsoever without any substantive discussion or real tangible exploration about what our options are, I don't think I think it's our responsibility to do that. We took the bond money, the community gave us the faith to do something with it. We've changed it a couple of times now in 2022 when we will get the site for which ones can stage, which ones not. It's gone over so many iterations. I did hear in the public commentary that you know, maybe we ought to get some community members onto some of not only this committee, but I would say some of the other committees of what we have a very involved community that wants to to participate and be involved, and I just don't see why we shouldn't let them. Alright. Trustee Mohammed. So I think one thing that I've heard is that, we're still waiting for environmental, impact data to be collected and then presented. And I think so my concern is I I didn't hear that. Wasn't that I thought that's what they were They they said they had all I mean, to put it into a report. They're just gonna bundle it to get That's what I have. To put it in a report. So not not necessarily that it hasn't been done, but to put it in a report and to present it to us. Because I don't think I mean, I haven't seen seen that information. But also, I mean, I feel like, especially because this specific project, the Thurston project, does seem like it has it had a significant a lot of significant community concern. We're hearing from not just the Nature Center people, but also, you know, students, parents, community members, neighbors. So I believe because it has a lot of concern and interest and that we do I feel like having that additional information, I do want a motion to pause the Thurston project, bring forward that information, and including potentially having the bond bond advisory committee meet, to the board for a vote at the, hopefully, the January 29th meeting. And, again, the reason why I motion this is because I feel like we have to as a board, we have to be responsible and make a decision as a board. Would you clarify for me, Trustee, Mohammed, what would be paused in between now and January? So the pause would be until we can get that data. So, for example, with the report So there's not no work or anything scheduled in between now and January. So I just want some clarification on what we would be pausing. So, well, I mean, whatever pause until we can at least we should, as a board, approve whatever final plan with the data to support it. So if it's if that information is available before January 29th, maybe we don't need a pause if there isn't work. The the project wouldn't start until March is my understanding. Yeah. Is it March, miss Krona? Refresh my memory, please. I'm sorry. Maybe I saw that wrong. Plant relocation would start in March and, tree relocation, but the construction does not start until the day after school gets out. Right. So there's Okay. Darn near small business. Okay. So I just But to bring the information forward to the board so that the board as a whole can approve the plan and we can move forward. But we'll have several meetings before Marshall, we can decide on that. Future. Yeah. So maybe January 29th doesn't have to be that that time. I see your hand, trustee Basquiat, but I did see trustee Kerrigan's hand first. Did you no? Okay. Onto trustee Kerrigan does not have a comment right now. The trustee, did you have some We started the Thurston project like we started every other project. We had no vote on Mitchell. I do not recommend there's a vote on this. The data, to be very clear, is I asked the same question about what's these environmental studies. As mister Bing, I believe, said, there are different things that people want. An environmental study is a very broad top verbiage, I guess. When I was associate when I was a nonprofit getting money for grants, I was asked for an environmental impact study before I could submit my grant. That meant what was the impact of the work that I was asking for money on my clients. Okay. Real broad. So if people what we are asking is the community is clarify what exactly you're looking for because we've probably already done it. We will put it together in one location as as we've already talked about so people can pluck and and and read and put through. So not wanting to deliver time because we have got a few minutes other things to take care of. Let's just be very clear what we're asking. So if you wanted to send an email to the board, so the bond committee can work on getting that environment There's a motion on the table. Right? Okay. So I motion so I motion that, and I modified it. So I motion that we, with the data, with the information, with the finalized plan that it can come forward to the board so that we can vote on it Oh. Regarding the Thurston project. Okay. The re okay. The reason why I'm bringing this up is because this has significant community concern, and I know based on our bylaws as well, any committee recommendation that includes the bond committee or any committee, usually we I mean, especially if it has significance, community, you know, impact or significance, it should be voted on. You know, we discussed it, you know, if there's any modification to plan. But I believe because this is has significant community concern and interest that we, as a board, should have oversight on this project and vote and vote for So trustee Mohammed has motion that we vote on the Thurston plan that was supported by trustee Kujiro. Now, we're open to discussion, and I do see trustee Dennis Adams. I just need clarification on the motion. If it's that we vote on the plan before it proceeds, I'm okay with it. I if it's it's not clear what information we want. So before it proceeds. So that there's, like, a final we have a vote. But if you want certain information, I think you need to specify what information that is. So I tried to include it, but then so environmental impact report. So I think that's gonna be because it looks like we have the information, but we're gonna gather it up. Can can we hear from, Guillaume Bain or Jason what if they can clarify what, environmental impact statements have been done or need to be done still? I think they said they completed that, but I heard I just I just been clarified one time. They're not good enough. Thank you, trustees. Whoops. Here they are. So to date, we have done, phase 1 and phase 2 environmental site assessment reports. These typically are looking for contaminants. We've done threatened and endangered species habitat reviews, phase 1 and phase 2. These identify threatened and endangered species or species that may become threatened and endangered. There's a category for that and mitigation protocols if any species or habitats that support those species are found. We do have mitigation protocols recommended to us for that. We've also done soils testing, NISHAAP reports, which are looking for, asbestos containing materials, traffic studies, background noise studies, and soil erosion and sedimentation sedimentation control studies. Are there any others that you would still be looking to do? Not typically, no. As I think Trustee Baskett mentioned and Mr. Bing here, environmental assessment are is a wide range. It's often tied to a funding source. Right. So a particular funding source like the federal government, you're building a highway. In order for you to get their money, you will do x, y, and z. We don't have such a mechanism for these for these projects. So the ones that we're doing are best practice. We wanna know this information so it can inform the designs. Are are those results ready to for us to see? They can be bundled. Yes. Okay. The reports are done. They they just need to be bundled. Before before you go, mister Kirjira, trust me, Mohammed, is there anything additional that that that just stated that you're looking for them to do? No. I mean, what I trust them. So whatever the environmental, I think that was the what you've listed are very important. Okay. I I would like to make a friendly amendment to the motion. Okay. I think my friendly amendment would be that this board determine where the Nature Center begins and ends. I I think that that is something that, you know, I I get that we I get that we have diagrams. I saw the let's let Thurston play diagram. I saw the different variations. To me, when I'm looking at those slides and the 2 the the nice the the nice folks who came in, I don't know what part the Nature Center is. I don't think anybody here if we all answered randomly, I have a feeling that we all randomly answer different. So it sounds like to me it's the responsibility and the purview of this board to determine where that Nature Center Center go since it was reminded to us that this is our property, and we we actually do have the ability. So there's nobody else to ask other than the this board sitting there. So until we actually can determine what the Nature Center is in the area, I just feel like a pause is the right thing to do. And I'm not saying that anything is gonna stop or there's gonna be great changes, but let's at least get our head around the conversation about the the pieces we're impacting and then the ones that we're saying we're cherished. But these other ones over here, there are 55 meters over here. We don't cherish those as much. So I I think that is something that the community would very much like to see, and I think it's very much on the responsibility of the board to do that. Trustee Mohammed, that was a friendly amendment to your motion. Did you accept the friendly amendment? Okay. Tell me, can you summarize the amendment for the board to make a determination and announcement on where where the actual nature center begins and ends on our own property. Yeah. I think she has well, go ahead. If this is related I I think that's a hopeless task. Yeah. I don't know how I could I I I just think it's hopeless. I I don't know where that gets us. I think You know, I I I'm not gonna explain. If you if if if you don't know where that's guess gets us, then our commitment to sustainability isn't really there. Because the commitment to that we made to sustainability when we passed the bond and we say we're a sustainability forward forward forward community and district, we're not just gonna say it doesn't matter where the Nature Center begins and ends. We're just gonna build our building. That that to me is not in line with any sustainability idea or framework that that I'm aware of on the committee that you and I both sat on. I don't think that those people in that committee would agree with, I don't think it matters. I don't have any other comment. I've made a friendly amendment. I'd like to know if it's accepted. Well, one quick question. If would the environmental impact assess that? I mean, I we're not gonna have the boundaries They won't define which is impacted No. Which is not. Yes. They won't define boundaries. It's it's a totally subjective label Yes. And this is alter the reality of the green space we're affecting. It won't be subjective if this board decides, then it won't be subjective. It would be objective and we will be able to physically say that is not part of the nature center and this part is. Understood. It's been, friendly a friendly amendment's been offered. Trustee, Mohammed, do you accept the friendly amendment? I I just feel like I we won't I don't feel comfortable. I don't even have the expertise to say this is, you know, this is the border or not. So I don't know if I would I'm not So that's a no. Yeah. You do not okay. So the motion on the table is that we vote on the, on the Thurston project and that there'd be a pause in the interim period that was moved by trustee Mohammed, supported by trustee Guerrero. Is there any discussion? I thought the pause thing wasn't on the table. That that was Oh, it's just a vote. I apologize. I don't know. I mean, I'm So the motion the motion is to bring forward the the studies that were mentioned, bring that forward to the board for us to review, and for us as a board to vote on the whatever modified, finalized plan, before they start the project. How about prior to March 1st? Prior what? Prior to March 1st, I'm suggesting. Sure. I mean, is that when they're starting whenever they start whatever the date that they start the project. They're not starting until March. So March prior to March 1st. Wait a minute. Clarification, please. Okay. What is the start date? Because I don't I'm trying to Right. We've gotta do bids. What's the best date? And I'll look at that. The work. Alright. So it's not just about the construction. We do have to publicly bid. We do have to go through a process. We do have to procure equipment, long lead items, all that needs to occur. But the start time, I said, we need to start in the spring because we have, tree felling now and tree location. We have bats. Part of the study indicated that if we're going to do any, tree relocation or remove any trees, that there's a certain period of time in which we need to do that, and that needs to occur prior to April 1st. So we need to make sure that everything's in place in order for us to remove that prior to April 1st or, you know, then we're we're not meeting the the suggestions given by the, the, Habitat, migrate, whatever. Thank you. The Habitat report. So do you have a date that would be give you enough time to do that? I I just feel like it's important for the board to approve whatever plan that moving forward, especially for the public to see that we've looked at it, we looked at the data. It's not it's taking ownership of the project so that you can move forward. If if I may be forward, it does matter to us what it is we're pausing. Because there is, for instance, there there is a whole other stakeholder group that we have to reach out to, which is the city of Ann Arbor. We do that through a preliminary plan process. There's no pull up on this. You want to keep working. Final Just to go Yeah. We just got no plan to be, like, March March 1st. Okay. Because that's the date that we would be around March 1st, we'd be bringing trade contracts for approval. We would have to move at that point. Have. Yeah. Delay it. I'm just trying to get us to get all the information and then move forward. I'm sorry. But to clarify I'm sorry. Even before we can go out to trade bids, we need to know what they're bidding on. Right? So that's before. That's way before. I mean, I appreciate we have ownership. Let me clarify. We have ownership. And I guess I'm not understanding why this project we are saying to this Thurston group, you get a vote, but Mitchell didn't. Lot so do we give a vote to everybody else. And once we get if we open that box of having to vote on everything, we may not get it it just sent the wrong signal to our Mitchell families. And and I'm not quite sure what we're trying to accomplish here. We have the studies, and and god bless you. I'm not reading through all those studies. I'm gonna trust you all, dude. But if you wanna read those and the community wants to read them, we have them, but I'm not sure how that informs or gives us any more ownership than we already have. Mister Guerrero, I will say that this is a little bit of a different case because of the historical and cultural significance of, that we heard about in the beginning about the Nature Center. I mean, yes, we didn't approve other schools, but other schools don't have an internationally known Nature Center, where people intentionally went came to be a destination spot for. So to me, I don't by default it already is a special situation. And so we ought to give it a little bit of special care as we proceed forward, whether that means going ahead with the plan that we have on the table or if it means making an adjustment of some kind. But I think it's a little insensitive to the community to say, hey, we're not voting on you because we didn't vote on anybody else regardless of your advocacy or how strong you feel about it. That's the job of the Board to respond to the community and when the community comes out and says, hey, we have this need this response obviously we're reactive otherwise we wouldn't be here at 12:15 at night talking about the Nature Center for 4 meetings in a row. So to me it's already a special circumstance and we ought to be able to take ownership and approve it and if that requires a vote then let's then the Board ought to do that. Given that we have I'm sorry, is one of the first? Yes. Well, I know I can't vote tonight, but please clarify what exactly are is the board voting on? The motion on the table, it moved by trustee Mohammed, was that the board vote prior to March 1st on whether or not the new Thurston project board or not after we review the environmental reports that come to us prior to that day. That is what the motion is ordered by trusted carrier. My personal position on it is we'd have until March 1st. We don't have to take action tonight. We we will have a new board in 2 weeks, and this can be addressed at that time. So I'm personally not gonna be supported this this motion. So, I'm ready to call I'm ready to to have the vote. Is there any other discussion? Trustee Mohammed? Yes. President Feaster? No. Trustee Gaynor? Yes. Trustee Carahara? Yes. Trustee Basquiat? No. Trustee Dupree? Oh, sorry. Trustee Schmidt? No. Thank you. It was 33, so it fails. Motion fails. Moving down. 1st briefing on recommended changes to policy 3210 general fund balance. Thank you, president of Easter. We have, mister Dimitriou coming forward again. We talked in both finance committee and executive committee, on a couple of separate occasions about, the board's will around any potential modifications to, policy 3210, which is the fund balance policy. And so, both committees felt that we should bring it forward for for board discussion to determine whether or not the board has, any, will around changing any of the fund balance policy. And so to that end, mister Dimitrios will walk us through what some of those recommended changes might be, if so. I'm waiting to, bring up the policy of the change. Currently, the the policy states that our fund balance will be between 6% and 15%. The recommendation from the Michigan School of Business Officials is 15%. The recommendation from multiple sources is to have about 45 to 60 days of operations, and it works out to about 15% again. Our recommendation is to increase the, fund balance from 6 to 15%. So this year will be 7% to 15%, next year, 8%, until we get to, basically, 10% in 4 years. So we then they will stay at 10 to 15%, and then they'll strive to stay at 15%. Currently, our budget is about 300,000,000. So 10% is about, 30,000,000 or so. And there's some I had also a spreadsheet that shows some historical historically, going back to proposal a 94, 95, you'll see that, school district had a fund balance between, below 6%, I believe, 5 times. It had between 6 10%, 11 times, and then between 10 and above 13 times. So the most time, the school district was above that 10%. In in order when he prints it up It's working. Yeah. So there's, I don't know if you also have the state aid stuff, but you see on the bottom, below 6% 5 times, between 6 10, 11 times, and then above 10%. It's 13 times, and it and it's it has the numbers above. But it's only been above 10% once in the last dozen years. Yes. What's what do we see again? I know I've asked this question. What averages are you seeing across the state of Michigan that It's 22%. The average in the state of Michigan today is about 22%. Yeah. And and I can imagine why that is. Because the way funding is yanked around, you gotta be ready. There's, I I kinda know what happened here, in in so, it took great steps last year to to correct some of those things, but there's a lot more work that needs to be done to, to get there. So by changing it, it also gives direction to the administration to make sure that the fund balance is a priority. And when we build the budget, that we build the budget to increase the fund balance so the school district can get to a point where it's financially viable, and you don't have all these people coming here and and screaming and shouting and and so forth. And that's that's where we're we're trying to get to a a place. And even 10% is is not it's not great, but it's a much better place than where we are today. And there's gonna be there's gonna be in order to get there, I'm not saying it's gonna be easy. There's gonna be sacrifices to get there, but it can be done. And the way that is structured, the policy, is basically every year, yeah, that you put about $3,000,000 into your fund balance to get you there. In 4 years, you get there, and you might get there faster. But it also gives direction and a path for us that this is a priority that that that needs to happen, and and, it's a good thing for the school district. How many days of operation? It's 15%. Excuse me. The the 10% or the 15 percent. The 15% is about, I would say, it's approximately 50 days. Okay. Over the 45 days that we're we need to get to, you said? Yes. Okay. But the minimum would be probably around 30 Okay. Days. The goal is the goal is to get to the they're on the around the 50 days or around 50,000,000. Okay. I'm sorry. That's the best thing. Yeah. As I said in the governance committee and finance committee when we looked at this, I don't think not having this clarity would have changed the behavior. I mean, the staff is working hard to get the job done to get to our ultimate goal. But I do appreciate the way it's clearly spelled out for not only us, but the community, what our goals are for each year. So I am willing to move to support this and let you know because it I'm okay with it. Thank you, sir. Appreciate that. Go ahead. 1st person. Go ahead, Troy. It's still moving. There there is nobody in this room. There's nobody in this district or community who doesn't want a higher fund balance. Clearly benefits everybody, except for I find this proposal was written performative, disingenuous, and it sends a terrible message to our employees, especially during negotiations. Who are going to interpret this as more effort from the board to get our financial situation straightened out on the backs of staff. What I would recommend is that we incorporate language that allows us as a board to do our fiduciary responsibility by being able to examine financial records, to evaluate programs, to make the decisions, which I have not had access to data in a way that helps me decide if programs are can be made more economical or are not financially sound in the first place. Unless we do that, it's it's a fairly empty gesture and will be heard very badly. I I'd like to respond to Please. Your comments, please. So, one of the comments that you made was that this is gonna be on the backs of the employees. Right? You said that this will be on the backs on the back of the employees. Okay. So 82% of our cost is actual employees, and then we have another 10 to 12% that we contract people to do custodial transportation, substitute guest teachers, you name it. So, the rest of it goes to utilities and and supplies and and so forth. So if we're under the impression that we can reduce our cost or increase our fund balance without affecting employees when 92 to 94% of your cost is there Mhmm. I think, we have much more serious problems, than that. We, I'd like to show this. Day date, please. Unfortunately, my computer just kicked me out of the system for some reason. So I'm sorry. So what has happened to you? Yeah. And I would also just I I would add that, you know, we provided the team and I provided trustees with a significant amount of information around program cost, financial information, financial data, to an extensive degree, in the spring. And so trustees have access to information to be able to assess, programmatic cost, financial cost, and we're happy to continue to do that. I'll I'll like to say a few more words. What we're proposing is good for everybody. It's not it's good for the whole system. It's good for the employees. It's good for you as a board, and it's good for the administration. It gives the administration direction what they need to do. It gives you direction as well, and also the comfort that you will have the path to get somewhere where you don't have all this chaos and strife every board meeting. Thank you, mister Shubishi. I I think it's just common sense. Any other questions? Trustee Mohammed? I don't have a question, but a comment is that with how unpredictable funding can be, I think it's always better to be safe. And, I mean, I would support this just because, again, we don't know I mean, what's gonna happen if a new administration comes to board and they slash all this funding. So I do not want to be ever in a situation that we've been this past year. So That's why I wanted to show you the state aid, what happened to us this year. You'll see that last year, we received from the state about a 165,000,000. If you look at this year, we're about a 132,133 million. There's reasons for some of it. Some is because our tax base went up. So the 7,000,000 of that, then the state will give us 7,000,000 less. Some is because of retirement, they in and out. It's about 13,000,000 of that. It was 28,000,000 last year. This year is 15. There's you saw in the budget amendment, there's about $7,700,000 that hit our bottom line, And it was completely unexpected from what the the budgets were that they were proposing, the the house, the senate, and the governor. So we are at the mercy of the state. Whether we like it or not, that's that is proposal a, and they determine how much money we get and how much money we don't get. So without us having a cushion to be able to take those blows and not having to rush like we did last year to cut $20,000,000 from the budget. This is what this recommendation does, is to provide that protection to the system. Yes, please. You took the words right out of my mouth. This is a rainy day fund, and it's a guardrail that this district needs. Whether this board exists or not, you know, we're talking, like, years from now, this guardrail will be there to protect this district. So, again, I know I can't vote on this tonight, but I am 100% behind it. Thank you very much. Any other questions or discussion? Alright. Thank you, mister Dimitri. Thank you. It's time here. We've got 5 minutes. We're gonna make a motion now. We can do this. Alright. We're at second briefing. Number 8 for n x a n 2187. New Mitchell Elementary Trent contract with, recommendations part 2. Any changes, mister Sandberry? No no changes, trustee. No changes. That brings us any any question? Okay. We must down to number 9, board action. Great. So I move. Is is there a motion to approve? We'll go individually approve a, approve annex a in 2187 New Metro Elementary Trade Contract Recommendations Part 2. Mister president, I I move. Move by second. Moved by trustee Baskin and support by trustee Schmidt. Any discussion? Seeing none, miss miss Soderbergh, please. Trustee Mohammed? Yes. President Feaster? Yes. Trustee Gaynor? Yes. Trustee Vasquez? Yes. Trustee Schmidt? Yes. Motion carries. Alright. We're down to, letter b approve, FY 25, federal fund first budget amendment. Is there a motion? So moved. Moved by trustee Schmidt. Support. Support by trustee Basquiat. Any discussion? Miss Silverberg, please. President I mean, trust trustee Mohammed. Yes. President Beasley? Yes. Trustee Gaynor? Yes. Trustee Basquiat? Yes. Trustee Schmidt? Yes. Motion carries. Letter c. Approve board meeting calendar January through, June 2025. So moved. Moved by trustee Basquiat. To support. No. Trustee Schmidt. Trustee Schmidt. I'm sorry. It's in support. I have a question. Yes, ma'am. So right now on the calendar, we have January 22nd as the organizational meeting and 29th, the regular meeting. Per our discussions and governance committee and as you have reported out, could we possibly put the 22nd as a workshop, a board workshop and keep the have the organizational meeting on the 29th slash regular meeting slash anything else we have to do meeting. That's a friendly amendment except that? I'm all about that. Sure. Moved by trustee Schmidt, supported by trustee Basquiat. What's the friendly amendment? Is, any discussion? So I got a quick question. So I think I don't know if we decided this, but I thought we were gonna do, like, a closed session on 29th, for the the super the the Let let let's do something first. I'm sorry. Okay. Hold on. Let let let's look for is there a motion to extend the meeting by Oh, no. Minutes to thank you. 5:5 minutes. Move by trustee Schmidt, support by trustee, Mohammed. Will go to 1250, hopefully. Voice vote for that or no? No. I think so. Miss Soderbergh, please. Trustee Mohammed? Yes. President Easter? Yes. Trustee Gainer? Yes. Trustee Vasquez? Yes. Trustee Schmidt? Yes. Motion Alright. The question was from trustee Mohammed about whether or not the 29th was gonna be for Closed session for the super midpoint. I thought. Wasn't that something we talked about? I don't remember. We did. Do we do that? I'm sorry. Go ahead. Go ahead. In executive committee, we discussed the possibility of making the 22nd a, a retreat, and at that point, addressing the superintendent midyear evaluation at that meeting. I'll just have a second. And then having the 29th as the organizational meeting slash slash slash purchase So with so it's the org and a regular meeting? No. So let me Sorry. I didn't hear that. So the 22nd would be a broad board workshop. Right. K. Not the organizational meeting. Right. Either the organizational meeting to the 29th slash regular meeting and anything else. I'm sorry. I left out the superintendent's midyear. That can be part of the workshop on the 22nd. Yeah. I think that's what I said. It seems that if we wanted to do that, it it would be up to you, if you would like that as a closed session. Yeah. On that end, if you would, then we'd need to vote on that separately. So that's what I was gonna add after you all were were done discussing that we could always vote for a closed session to tackle on to the retreat. Yeah. Yeah. On 22nd. The second though. The 22nd. The retreat. Yeah. And that So is that so are we adding that as a friendly amendment to or is that something we're gonna fill out separately? I thought the closed session request was a separate vote for the current this is the calendar right now. Fair enough. Well, I think I was just gonna add it as a friendly amendment. Well, but to go into closed session, have to go into Oh, we have it. Yep. Okay. That's right. Sorry. I was okay. That makes sense. Alright. Motion on table. This is a motion to approve the calendar with the changes that that trusty best the basket just sought to have the 22nd VA workshop slash superintendent. Don't do that. Just the workshop. Workshop. The 20 organized organized. Nice. It's the organizational meeting slash the rest of the calendar. Okay. We can always Any discussion? Seeing none. A solid report. Trustee Mohammed? Yes. President Feaster? Yes. Trustee Gaynor? Yes. Trustee Busquets? Yes. Trustee Schmidt? Yes. Motion carries. Thank you. And that brings us down to d, approval of the minutes of the December 11, 2024 regular meeting. Is there a motion? So moved. Moved by trustee Basquiat. 2nd. Supported by trustee Schmidt. Any discussion? Saying none. Miss Soderber, please. Trustee Mohammed? Yes. President Feaster? Yes. Trustee Gaynor? Yes. Trustee Mesquette? Yes. Trustee Schmidt? Yes. Down to 8. Approve minutes of the December 11, 2024 closed session. Is there a motion? Moved. So moved. Moved by trustee Schmidt, supported by trustee Mesquette. Any discussion? Seeing none, miss Soderbergh please. Trustee Mohammed? Yes. President Pisker? Yes. Trustee Gaynor? Yes. Trustee Baskett? Yes. Trustee Schmidt? Yes. Is this where I'd like to make a motion Yes. That on the 22nd January 2025, we go into closed session, to handle the evaluation of our superintendent. Support? Support I moved by Trustee Schmidt, support by Trustee Bancette. In a discussion. So is this gonna be after the retreat or before? It could be so if you voted in, it could be either it could be at the start of Well, that's what I'm saying. We're not gonna move this meeting to 6. No. No. Right. Okay. I don't I would not support that. We'll make it work. And Okay. That's fine. Yeah. Yeah. That's fine. Any discussion? Quick clarification on that. I believe the superintendent has to request closed meeting. She we just answered her. She said she would like that. You you can't see her because he's bugging you, but I said, would you like it? And she said, yes. That's what made me do it. Okay. Good question. Superintendents, you are requesting a closed section. Yes. Please. Alright. Yes. Super yes. Superintendent Parks did request a closed session. It's been moved by trustee Schmidt, supported by trustee Vasquez. Any discussion? Miss Soderbergh, please. Trustee Mohammed? Yes. President Feaster? Yes. Trustee Gaynor? Yes. Trustee Mesquette? Yes. Trustee Schmidt? Yes. Motion carries. Thank you. I was just told I needed to, move to add a closed session to 29th. Oh, Attorney Klein. Attorney Klein approval. So moved. Support. Alright. Moved by trustee Schmidt, supported by trustee Baskett. Any discussion? And none. Miss Sullivan Rippewitz. Trustee Mohammed? Yes. President Dieter? Yes. Trustee Gannon? Yes. Trustee Gasquet? Yes. Trustee Smith? Yes. Motion carries. Thank you. Down to number 10, item forge on the planet. Trustee Zellerin, item forge on the planet. Seeing none, down to 11. Trustees were added for the board. Yes, trustee. I'd like to thank everyone in the community who's engaged with the board, whether public commentary, email, phone calls. It's very much appreciated. And to the new board, I strongly recommend you get out into the schools to get a good as good a feel as you can to what's happening in the district. Thank you. Thank you, mister Gunner. Anything else? I just wanna say thank you to my excellent colleagues. Greatly appreciate, what I've learned working with you all. Wish you all the best in the next stages of your public service. I know it won't end here, but thank you all for everything you all have done for the dish. And now we are number 12. Motion to oh, I'm sorry. Motion to adjourn. Thank you. I second it with a happy holiday. Moved by trustee Vasquez, supported with by trustee Schmidt with a happy holiday. Any discussion? Alright. Miss Hilleberg, please. Trustee Mohammed? Yes. Trust, president Feaster? Yes. Trustee Gainer? Yes. Trustee Vasquez? Yes. Trustee Schmidt? Yes. Motion carries. Alright. Then that that address the meeting at 12:50. Oh my god. Thank you.