I'd like to remind everyone that some of our meeting presenters may participate via Zoom. Miss Zylinski, may I have a roll call, please? Trustee Basquiat? Yes. President Feaster? Here. Trustee Mohammed? Here. Trustee Schmidt? Present. Trustee Wilkerson? Present. Trustee Wilkerson? Present. Thank you, miss Ozescu. I would like to introduce the non voting member at the table, Jazz Park, superintendent of schools. Good evening. Thank you, president Peterson. Trustees, you should have all received the agenda. Is there a motion to approve the agenda? So moved. Moved by Trustee Wilkes for the support. Support. Support by Trustee Schmidt.
Any discussion? Seeing none. Miss Ozieski, please. Trustee Basquiat? Yes. President Feaster? Yes. Trustee Mohammed? Yeah. Trustee Schmidt? Yes. Trustee Wilkerson? Yes. Trustee Wilkerson? Yes. Trustee Wilks? Yes. Motion carries. Well, that brings us down to public commentary. The board would like to remind everyone that individuals who have signed up for public commentary will have their name called and will be given an opportunity to speak. Commenters will receive up to four minutes in the for for the public commentary period, which will be forty five minutes. 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 Anabra public school district matters. Comments about any individual or individuals are expressly prohibited. Also, please understand that board members do not respond to public comments, but we will listen carefully and will follow-up as appropriate. Ms. Solinski, how many sign ups do we have for this evening? We have 10 signed up this evening. Each person will get four minutes. Thank you, miss Ozinski. First is Karen Anderson Brown. Hello. My name is Karen Brown,
and I wanna thank the board for your engagement on this critical issue of phones in schools. I wanna express strong support for a district wide first bell to last bell phone free policy with secure device storage. I'm an AAPS parent with twenty years of experience in health education and special education, and I now work in private practice as an executive functioning coach. I work with students who struggle with planning, organization, memory, self regulation, and time management. Excuse me. Many of the students I work with have ADD or a learning difference.
And I see referrals from families whose children are simply overwhelmed by digital distraction and need some skills and systems to help. Students who already struggle with attention and self regulation face even greater challenges when personal devices are present for any part of the school day. For these students, phone free schools are essential for learning and social emotional development. We know that working memory is crucial for learning and the research is clear. The mere presence of a smartphone, including just having it in a pocket across the room or in their backpacks,
just having it nearby reduces working memory and cognitive capacity. Even when students successfully resist the urge to check their phones, the effort to do so consumes cognitive resources. These effects are most detrimental for students who are already struggling to pay attention. Taking phones out for the entire day is critical for unlocking students' full potential for learning. I've heard the argument that allowing phones in schools for part of the day, let students practice self regulation, But we are talking about children and teenagers whose brains are still developing. The prefrontal cortex,
which governs decision making and impulse control, doesn't fully mature until age 25. And we all know how hard it is for adults to manage digital distractions. So expecting a teenager to regulate themselves around a device designed to capture and hold adult attention is simply not developmentally aligned. Teens need to build self regulatory skills in the absence of devices before they can hope to manage them in a healthy way. With an all day policy, not with a classroom van or storage and backpacks. Social emotional development involves building skills and habits too.
Time between classes and breaks offer daily opportunities to practice social skills that students will rely on in the future. When phones are allowed between classes and at lunch, resisting the pull, especially when everyone else is on a device is incredibly hard. Kids want to connect, but they're still developing impulse control and wanna be a part of the crowd. And if you haven't already, I encourage you to observe what hallways and cafeterias look like when phones are permitted. Social skills require practice, small talk, empathy, tolerating boredom, advocating for yourself, simply smiling at someone new. These skills look different in real life than they do online,
in both on how they're practiced and how they're processed in the brain. In face to face conversations, students must take in facial expressions, language, tone, and respond in real time. These are skills that need to be practiced through life. A consistent district wide phone free policy sends a powerful message to our students about what we value during the school day. It protects those with learning differences who are the most vulnerable to distraction. I'm also involved in a working group on state legislation around this issue, and I think AAP AAPS would benefit from being prepared to roll out this ban,
rather than being on its heels trying to catch up. And for all these reasons, I respectfully urge you to support a district wide first bell to last bell phone free policy, including secure device storage. Thank you. Ernesto Carjaro. Beth Barclay. Hello. My name is Doctor. Beth Barclay, and I'm a primary care pediatrician. I've been practicing in Ann Arbor for twenty five years. I'm here today to express my strong support for a bell to bell phone free school policy that includes secure device storage. Having students go without phones during a seven hour school day is smart public health
we know that kids will still use their phones at home but this plan allows a public health approach called harm reduction Harm reduction recognizes that unhealthy behaviors exist and focuses on reducing their negative effects rather than ignoring or judging the behaviors. Research shows that even small changes in a behavior can lead to real positive results. For example, someone who cuts half of their cigarettes and doesn't use them for half the day is closer to quitting than someone who makes no change at all.
Others have spoken, one other has spoken and other people will speak about how cell phones disrupt focus and diminish healthy social interaction in the classroom I also want to address another concern cyberbullying during school hours many of my patients tell me about being harassed via their phones during the school day I often think of phones as tiny bullying machines even when a victim blocks a bully's number, the harassment continues from new numbers as bullies strong-arm other kids into lending them their
phones and cyberbullying the victim further in pre phone times a bully had to wait for lunch or a break to target someone now they can target others immediately throughout the entire day and especially during class time this rise in real time in school cyberbullying comes at a time when kids mental health is under tremendous strain early in my pediatric career it was maybe once a month that I would take care of a child with significant anxiety or depression Now, caring for kids with anxiety and depression is half of my clinical day.
Given this landscape, it's clear that our current piecemeal approach is not working. We are in many ways caught in what social scientists call a collective action trap. Individual efforts are no match for the scale of this problem. This is why I believe we need consistent school system wide bell to bell cell phone control through secure device storage, not just locker or backpack policies because students are gonna violate those frequently. Any adult who has spent time with a typical human child knows how diligently they
search for loopholes in any boundary that we set. To be effective, we have to set a clear meta message. Phones are not compatible with learning and focus. A unified secure storage policy would not only provide a school day where students can focus, but also reduce opportunities for easy access cyberbullying, ultimately making the school day a safer, healthy environment for all students. Thank you. Mike Epstein. Hello, members of the board. It's great to be back. My name is Mike Epstein. Tonight,
I'm gonna share with you feedback from principals and administrators whose schools are currently using the Yondr free phone system. I'm not affiliated with Yondr. I'm not employed by Yondr. I'm simply an enthusiastic parent of children in the AAPS system who has researched this, and I hope the board will come away tonight equally enthusiastic about using some type of secure device storage system in our schools. Yondr is not the only system. Members of the petition are researching locker systems and other ways of securing devices. We ultimately want to be a resource to the board on the pros and cons
of all approaches. Yondr is used nationwide across all 50 states. It's been a solution for almost a decade. I've brought samples to share with you, and I'm gonna pass these out when I'm done demonstrating. To help me explain the Yonder system, I'm going to read to you a letter written by principal Aaron Millet to parents of students at Annapolis High School in Dearborn, Michigan when his school implemented the Yonder system last year. So I'm gonna try to demonstrate as I read. Dear parents, each student is assigned a Yonder pouch. Students are responsible for bringing their pouch to and from school each day and keeping
it in good condition. Upon arrival, students place the their phone in the pouch and lock it. This is locked. I can't open it now. They keep the then you they keep the, pouch in their backpacker locker. The onus is on the student. At dismissal, students unlock pouches at designated stations that have been used unlocking bases that have been installed in the school at exits or entrances by simply tapping the device like this. Unlocked. Super easy. Students with medical needs use a Velcro patch so they can access their phones as needed for those situations.
If a student forgets to unlock their phone when they leave school, there are special unlocking bases out installed outside the school so the student can come and unlock their phone. Yonder recommends roughly one base per 100 students. To close, principal Millett wrote, with student safety as our top priority, we will follow our standard safety protocols in the event of an emergency. If you need to reach your child during the school day, please contact our office. Other nearby Yonder users include Novi Meadow Elementary and Novi Middle School, Avondale Middle School in Rochester Hills,
and Toledo Public Schools. Last week, I spoke to principal Robert Baker at NoFi Middle School and principal David West at Northside High School in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Their schools have been using the Yonder system for almost two years. They've offered to be a resource to the board members. Both principals spoke very highly of the Yonder system and confirmed the positive data we've all heard when schools implement a bell to bell system with secure device storage. What struck me most though was what Principal Baker from Novi Middle told me about how the system has changed the culture in his school. He said his students now demonstrate full responsibility and ownership for making the system work.
Quote, when a phone is out, we hear about it. The kid turns it in. The parent must come pick up the phone. This works as a deterrent. Both principles stress to me the importance of instituting a zero tolerance system. If you're found with your phone out, it's taken and a parent has to come pick it up. Otherwise, teachers end up playing phone police again. How much does the system cost? Generally, $25.50 unless we take advantage of an offer by January 12 where the pricing drops to $15 per student, probably a little bit much to hope for. Lastly, I wanna illustrate the difference between a phone free school with secure device storage and
one that is simply labeled as phone free. Here, I share with you feedback from Brenda Reyna from Jefferson High School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Her district is phone free, but without secure device storage. Her message to me, we use an honor system, and it is not working. I wish we had secure device storage. Thank you, guys. Can I hand you that? Christopher Brown. Oh, the Velcro? The Velcro. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Good evening. Good evening. My name is Christopher Brown, and I'm an AAPS parent with two daughters in first and third grade at King Elementary. I'm here tonight in strong support of a district wide first bell to last bell
phone free policy using secure device storage. Look, I'll admit my family has leaned on connected devices at times. My wife and I are working parents with kids in after school care. The smart devices occasionally helped us assess our kids' real time whereabouts and communicate directly on days when schedules are not aligned. I can envision a variety of scenarios where it could feel like peace of mind to have at least have my older kid, who could probably handle the responsibility, have some access to a phone to communicate with us. But, look, this whole thought processes that I just articulated only exists because there's no policy in
place. And that's exactly why I'm asking you to act because the available research, which many have discussed, shows that what feels like a convenience for my family right now could easily become a runaway disruption for children when multiplied across classrooms. And I'm frankly terrified of what this all looks like when my children reach middle school. Even a handful of devices available during the school day can change the culture of learning. Focus drifts, social pressures ramp up, and learning takes a back seat to whatever could be happening on the phone.
In this moment, it feels sort of like we're standing in a tunnel, and the light ahead can be sunlight or an oncoming train. A phone free school is the daylight. It's the sunlight. It's a clear path to curiosity and connection. Phones in pockets during math or lunch, that's the train. And once it's moving, kids can't get out of the way fast enough. So, yes, this policy may create short term headaches for my family. You know, maybe a perception that we're losing something, but, it protects the long term health of our learning culture,
and that's most important. It levels the playing field so every child can be fully present, fully engaged, and free from pressures they're frankly not ready to handle. So, this, you know, this won't solve everything, but it's a foundational step toward making sure that our schools offer the culture of learning that we want for our kids. Please do the right thing here. Choose sunlight and not the train. Thank you. Thank you. Other Esper. Other Esper. Hi. Thanks for having me here tonight and the opportunity to speak. Tonight, I wanna offer you a contrast. On the one hand, the experience in our community in Ann Arbor through the comments on the petition that
we have now. And on the other hand, experiences of students, teachers, and principals from schools have already gone phone free all day and have seen real change. The first concern, phones are destroying focus and learning. An Ann Arbor parent wrote, I am dismayed at the impact of phones on our child's life and the children in our community. I hear from numerous teachers, and I can see with my own eyes the fragmenting of attention, the addiction, and the impact this has had on my child's ability to concentrate and his interest in learning in a school environment. My child is highly affected by peer groups,
and it's hard for me to address the issue of phones in isolation. It needs to be a collective action. Removing phones during school hours will do wonders for the restoration of our children's focus and intelligence and social lives. That's Ann Arbor. Now let's look at San Mateo High in California that has an all day phone free policy. Assistant principal Adam Glubb said, I think it makes students more present. I think that teachers will tell you they can get more accomplished in a half an hour. They can turn their backs on a group of students and let them work independently. Concern number two, teachers can't teach and police phones at the same time.
In Ann Arbor Public school teacher wrote, even with building wide policies and classroom rules, phones are still being used and are a huge distraction. It's taking a lot of my teaching time to enforce the phone rule every day, where I stand by my door and check every student's name with their phone slots. They still lie and tell me they don't have their phones or they wait for me to get distracted and get them. It's simply not feasible to enforce a truly phone free classroom in a way that lets me teach and not babysit the phones all class. After San Mateo High implemented lock pouches all day, principal Adam Gleb said,
for the most part, teachers are loving it. They feel like they got their classrooms back from all these distractions. Concern number three, phones destroy social interaction and increase anxiety and depression. An Ann Arbor parent shared, my daughter says many of the boys in the lunchroom at Tappan Middle School do not socialize during lunch. I think it's a shame for the social emotional development of our boys. And I would like the district to consider no phones during lunch so they can socialize to practice and learn the social skills necessary for a successful life. After implementing an all day phone free policy at Newberg Free Academy in New York,
teachers have noticed changes as at school, where students walk with their heads up in the hall and socialize and laugh in the lunchroom. It's a game changer. It's night and day. I see kids faces again, said Dennis Mayer, an English teacher. Concern number four. Kids are being exposed to inappropriate or disturbing content during the school day. In Ann Arbor, Forsyth parent wrote, my middle school son was shown Charlie Kirk's murder on a classroom's phone during passing time. He came home very disturbed. He also had a classmate who was recently suspended for looking at pornography on that classmate's phone during class. The story is backed by data.
A 2022 common sense media report on teens pornography teens and pornography found that one third of teens have seen pornography during the school day. A majority of teens, fifty one percent, said they accidentally encountered pornography via clicking a link, a search engine result, an online ad, or social media. Concern number five. Phones are driving bullying and social drama. In Ann Arbor Public School teacher shared smartphones and watches are being used to bully keep drama going through the day. Kids can no longer leave social issues at school and are a major distraction that
cannot be monitored. In contrast, Ebony Clark, assistant principal at Newburgh Free Academy says banning schools help banning phones has helped cut down on online bullying. All I'm doing is giving the opportunity to engage in school and leave the drama outside these doors. Every concern that the petition addresses has already been solved somewhere else, including neighboring districts. Everywhere we look, the stories are the same. When phones go away, kids come back to learning, to friendship, and to themselves. Thank you. Amiel Handelsman. Good evening, and thanks for again for the opportunity to speak. Amiel Handelsman, Angel Elementary, class of '81.
We We actually did have a graduation ceremony and my stepmom made me wear a three piece suit. I have the pictures. I'd like to update you on our, petition drive tonight, say a few words about angry parents and also describe a few ways we'd like to be a resource to you. As of last night, 755 people have signed the petition. That's just APS parents past, present, and future or teachers. If you don't fit in that category, we told you don't sign the petition, and the number continues to grow. By signing this, they weren't just saying we have a problem. Please do something about it. And they weren't saying please take phones out of classrooms.
That will satisfy us. What they were asking for was I think you know the rest of the words I'm about to say, so I will skip it. Now in the full letter, we get a little bit more detailed. We request that you apply this to all electronic devices, phones, smartwatches, earbuds, AirPods. I don't even know what some of these words mean. Now did all 755 people read this fine print? I don't think that they did. However, I would guess that many of them will support this and all of them support applying these principles to phones. Now how else might you interpret these signatures?
Let me offer a couple of interpretations. First, this is a measure of community support. So you basically got 705 55 people saying, if you do this, we'll have your back. We know they're gonna be parents are gonna show up. They're gonna be upset about this. And I'll tell you for every parent that comes up here who's upset at you, we'll produce two or three who say, we wanted this and we're glad that you did it. And by the way, as folks have said, every parent, every teacher knows this is not a panacea. We all have our parts to play. In fact, our group is talking about ways to engage parents in supporting each other in working
with our kids on their phones. Second, interpretation. Maybe it's time to figure these people into what I'll call the angry parent equation. I think you know what I'm talking about. How many parents will be angry if we vote for what the petition asks? How many parents will be angry if we don't? Now, of course, you'll make a decision like this based primarily on what's best for students and what's best for teachers. That's your focus. And yet, we all have this reptilian brain that gets afraid of things, fight, freeze, and flee. And that can overrule our rational thinking brains. It happens to me just as well.
So here's the question. Who is that lizard brain afraid of? I'm gonna guess, for many of us, it's afraid of the parents who will be opposed to the policy that we're proposing. So you might be tempted to try and satisfy them, understandably. Maybe to water this down, maybe classroom only, maybe let's let kids keep phones in their backpacks. That will let that will keep those angry parents off our backs. And as for the parents who support this policy, look at them. They're so respectful, so diplomatic. They'll understand. Let me just say as someone who has been hearing a lot from parents who are frustrated and even furious,
I would hold that assumption very lightly. So we have many ways we wanna support you. We've got, a representative from Yonder who is the person that would actually come and walk through all the entrances and hallways and do all the logistics. We're gonna set up some time and invite you all in groups of two or three to come talk to her. We've got people from the phone free schools movement, people who have done phone lockers. Just as Mike said, you can understand the pros and cons. I met yesterday at pioneer with mister Smith to hear his his thoughts, and I told them that we're thinking of having a focus group group that will
organize and facilitate a middle school and high school principals so they can talk about this together. And his response was, and I paraphrase, just give me two days notice and tell me when and where. One thing, I understand you've done a survey of the principals. My guess is it'll want it to be classroom only. And question is, what will they say after they've learned all the things that you're learning? Thank you. Amy Vail? Here are the comments. Amy Vail? Thank you. Thanks, Mike. Nice to have. Hi. Thanks for the opportunity to speak today. My name is Amy Vale, and I'm a pioneer teacher.
I'm also a parent of three AAPS students, and I am also speaking today in favor of an all day cell phone ban with secure storage. I really encourage everyone to look at the research if you haven't already, But I actually just wanna talk today about my experience as a teacher of about twenty eight years and what I've seen and what I'm seeing now. I have two main reasons I wanna talk about why I'm in favor of this ban. So for many years now, I've actually done a still at the door cell phone policy, when a lot of my colleagues weren't doing it.
And I kinda do it. I really enforce it. I expend considerable energy doing it, and it's energy I would much rather spend on teaching. I'd rather be on the kid to finish a paragraph than to stow their phone. And if you've ever struggled with your own children's or your spouse's phones, think about doing that with 33 teens, five hours a day, five days a week. I'm tired, and I wanna spend that energy just on teaching. And even with the stow with the door classroom, approach in place, when I see my students, rush to reclaim their phones at the end of class,
and I encourage you all to witness this for their like, really, with the urgency of addicts, scrolling to see what they missed. It makes me realize that I am probably not only just as their mind with their phone during class, but I think I miss out on the first five minutes, the last five minutes of class too. But more importantly today, I think I wanna talk about why I'm in favor of this band because of all the in between times, not just the learning that goes on in my classroom because I've seen firsthand how this has really changed our schools. Here are just a few personal observations.
I've gone into e Hall at Pioneer for twenty eight years now, and I remember the year when the halls went silent. There used to be kids talking, used to be kids doing homework, reading books, horsing around, and they are now quiet. I remember the first time I witnessed kids outside of my portable, we had portables then, sit in silence together on their phones at lunch and not talk, and it felt like a dystopian nightmare, and now it is just life. I have 15 students who eat in my room every day, and I adore them. Most of them are hunched over their phones. If they interact with each other,
it is filtered through their phones. I've taught the same class, a big lecture class called humanities first hour, and I remember the year that before school started, my class went silent. There are so many skills not being learned here. How to start and maintain a conversation, how to listen, how to meet new people, how to tolerate social discomfort, how to tolerate your own thoughts, or even, god forbid, a moment of boredom. And now more than ever, what they see on their phones is determined by algorithms that do not have our children's best interest at heart, and not to mention increasingly what they see on their phones isn't even true.
I read this to my family before I came here, and my 15 year old daughter said, this is depressing as hell. She didn't live the life that I live. She didn't see what I've seen when the halls weren't silent. And I believe that every kid deserves the opportunity to re to live a real embodied existence, at least for eight hours a day that we can control. Thank you for your time. I appreciate your attention. Jonathan Terhorst. Hi. Good evening. I'm Jonathan Terhorst. I'm a parent of a Buck kindergartner and a statistician at I talked to you
two weeks ago about my personal experiences, teaching students and talking about these bands. And for this week, I was motivated to go look at the research. Like so many people have already commented very eloquently. I'd say the research on the mental and health and well-being effects of phones on children is basically, there seems to be no debate when you read the papers, everyone agrees that these devices are not good. Instead, what I wanted to focus on today is some of the research specifically targeting school phone bans and what it's telling us. Now, we're in very early stages, we don't have a lot of data, and there aren't that many studies.
So I want to cover a few of the ones, for example, that have made headlines. So one large peer reviewed study, took place in The UK in 2023. And made headlines because it found that a restrictive cell phone policies did dramatically cut in school phone and social media use. However, they did not find a statistically significant effect on mental health. And this got picked up in the press as evidence that phone bands don't work. However, if you read the study carefully, what they actually find is that the students simply made up the time on the phones outside of school, and the phones remained personally accessible during school because they were not actually locked away,
they were in bags. So what was interpreted as sort of a failure of this policy was really just sort of a broader commentary on the fact that this will take a large effort that's coordinated not just with schools but also with homes. So I don't think any of us are arguing that phone bans are a panacea. But on the other hand, this debate and the way it was covered in the press kind of feels like we're talking about sort of why would we ban smoking in schools when students will just go smoke outside of school? Well, clearly, if we have this thing that's horrible for students, then we should consider banning it anyways. So that's one study that got a lot of attention. Now add that later studies have started to emerge.
In particular, there was a very recent meta analysis of five studies conducted in Europe, and they in fact did find small but consistent improvements in scholastic performance, and also reduced social problems such as bullying. And more recently in The Netherlands, there was a preliminary study. Seventy five percent of children reported that it was easier to concentrate after a phone ban. They reported that the school environment was better, and some noted that school results had improved, some school administrators. This is after they instituted a countrywide locker or leave at home cell phone ban. I also have references to all these studies that I'll be happy to give to
you later. The other point I think it's important to address is equity. So of course, any policy should be equitable. And there was a recent noteworthy study on the Florida state wide band, so Florida band phones in 2023 was the first state to do so. And a recent working paper from NBER, that's the National Bureau of Economic Research, found the following. So they found that in Florida first year suspensions rose by 12% and in school suspensions by 20%. And distressingly these increases were mainly concentrated among black students, with in school suspensions for black students rising by 30% and no change for white students.
And then in second year the disciplinary action subsided towards the pre band baseline and the test scores significantly improved, probably driven by significantly improved student attendance. So of course, this is very troubling. And it's actually part of a larger story. So the broader literature shows that indeed, discretionary discipline disproportionately affects black and brown students. So there's published research and educational research that shows this consistently. And therefore policies that rely on classroom by classroom enforcement or on teacher warnings inherently will create more discretionary enforcement. And that is exactly why it's important from an equity standpoint to have a uniform
first spell, the last bell secure storage policy that does not place this enforcement in the hands of teachers. So we want to take this out of the hands of teachers and give the district a consistent policy. And that will lead to something that is more equitable, I believe. Just to summa summarize, there's basically universal agreement that phone use is bad for kids and mental health. We don't have a ton of data on the conclusions about effectiveness of the policies, but early results indicate that the type of policy matters and also the way that it's rolled out matters. And equity is a concern, but the research suggests paths forward that ensure equity and fairness and enforcement.
Thank you, sir. David Samfield. David Samfield. Happy to be here. My name is David Samfield, and I'm a parent of 13 year old boy girl twins in the district. One's currently in Green Hills. One is at Tappan. It's a social experiment. But next year, they'll both next year, they'll both be at Huron's. And I'm speaking in strong support of a belt to belt band. I said it's not as somebody who's opposed to all technology, but as a father who sees clearly that something vital is being lost. Recent national data already shows that about seventy two percent of high school teachers say
that cell phone distraction is a major problem in their classroom. In another study, teens average about one and a half hours of smartphone use during a six and a half hour day, roughly a quarter of the school day. A children's classroom time, their chances to learn deeply, to engage with their peers and teachers, to develop inner focus, they're all under threat. And let's make no mistake, this isn't just about kids being distracted. Research shows that simply having a smartphone present, as has already been discussed, reduces attention to others and decreases engagement all around.
My twins don't have phones. They're almost 14. It's been very hard, to manage that. And I see how differently they move through the world because of it. They're present. They look up in class. They aren't being sold time by algorithms whose only lifeblood is our children's attention. Schools should be one of the last places where children are protected from the always on demand of these phones. It should be a place where they can be still, be curious, connect, reflect, not bombarded by push notifications, social media hits, or the next dopamine ping.
A clear, enforceable ban on personal smartphones during the school day isn't a burden on students. It's a boundary of care in my estimation. And it's a commitment to giving our children the chance to be fully here with each other and with their teachers and with themselves. Thanks for considering this. Thanks for doing everything that you guys are doing to protect the conditions in under which our children can actually grow. Thanks. Thank you. 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.
Miss Parks, are there any points of clarification? That's it. Simply that we, as we've shared, we will be discussing this in the conference meeting that is this Friday. Miss Parks? Trustees, I would like to call to your attention the community feedback for this meeting. It's there's a hyperlink at five point one, and I believe that brings us down to reports of association. Miss Zelzynska, do we have a representative here from the AAE? We do, mister Fred Klein. Thank you. As always, good evening, trustees, superintendent Parks, Anhega Public Schools community. My name is Fred Klein, and, I was gonna skip over this intro part,
but I'm in my thirty sixth year in the Anab Republic Schools. I spent half my career at least pre cell phone and pre social media. So those were the good old days, and it sounds like we may need to go back to the good old days. Let me start tonight, though, with my brief report with some bragging. Under the guidance of AAAEA superstar educators, Tracy Anderson from Community High School, Sarah Beth Badalamente, Sarah Nevill, and Linda Corlew from Huron High School. Students from Community, Huron, and Clegg Middle School earned top national honors at the Journalism Education Association's national conference
in Nashville this past week. Community high school brought home major awards including a pacemaker win for the communicator magazine, multiple best of show first place finishes, and several top national individual awards in writing, design, photography, and leadership. Huron students led conference sessions on reporting, diversity, leadership, and earned excellent and honorable mention recognitions across writing, photography, and yearbook categories. Clegg Middle School was named a pacemaker finalist for the Cougar Star, earned top individual photo and writing awards,
and won first place best in show for their website, their fourth consecutive year as the best middle school journalism site in the nation. So congratulations to all student journalists for an outstanding showing on the national stage, and thank you to the AAAEA educators and teachers for providing these incredible opportunities to the students of those schools. Thank you. Yeah. I'd also like to give a big shout out to everyone who worked to help pass the Washtenaw County CTE millage earlier this month.
The dollars coming into Anhebor Public Schools will support the outstanding work AAEA educators are already doing with CTE, and it will free up money from the general fund that can now be prioritized for salaries and benefits. Let me shift to some of the work we've been doing with the district. Last night, the AAEA bargaining team met with the district's team for our monthly collaborative counsel. The work centered on contractual language around safety, and the work and conversations were insightful and productive. Earlier this week, the AAAEA bargaining team met with the district's team for our second financial bargaining session,
which ran from 09:30 to three. This session focused primarily on the distribution of the 27 l state allocated one time educator compensation funds that's a mouthful, which are intended to be part of our broader financial package. At this time, you may know the state has not released these funds to districts nor provided any communication regarding the timing or method of distribution, whether the funds will arrive all at once or in installments. We will release more specifics when we conclude the financial bargaining portion of the contract
cycle. Our next bargaining session is scheduled for Monday, December 1, again from 09:30 to three. As you probably remember, we are utilizing interest based bargaining, IBB, as we work toward a successor agreement. A key component of IBB is that each side tells its story. Our story is not simple, and it stretches back for nearly two decades. The last time teachers received a raise that aligned with cost of living increases was in 2006, a long time ago. Since then, teachers have experienced wage and step freezes,
partial step advancements, and the occasional 1% increase to the salary schedule. Over those same years, AAP has shifted from being a district with competitive wages and benefits to one that now lags significantly behind comparable districts. Today, veteran teachers like myself in Anhear Republic Schools earn between $10,000 and $20,000 less per year than peers in similarly situated districts. Compounding the issue is the structure of the district's health care cost sharing model.
Teacher out of pocket cost for health care doubled last year and again this year. These increases are simply unsustainable. And because of the district's cost sharing design, the excessively high premiums paid by teachers are effectively subsidizing reduced health care costs for the highest earning administrators. This is a deeply inequitable and unacceptable system. The result is stark, but despite stagnant wages and ballooning health care costs, teachers continue to show up and bring their best to their students every single day,
often at great personal and financial sacrifice. Tonight, you are reviewing the district's budget audit. I wanna share what our members reported in our most recent compensation survey because their financial real realities must be part of this conversation. 60% of our educators report that their salary does not cover their basic living expenses. 35% report that they are only breaking even. Together, that's 95% of our members. Because of this, 60% of Anhebor Public Schools educators work second or third jobs to make ends meet.
62% are considering or actively seeking employment outside of Ann Arbor Public Schools. Sixty six percent find current health care plans unaffordable. And unfortunately, sixty four percent do not have access to a cash in lieu option. This data should raise alarms for everyone in this room. These are not abstract numbers. These are your educators, the professor professionals responsible for delivering the education our community expects and our students deserve. Yet year after year district budgeting has not reflected the prioritization of teachers,
and that must change. You must make the necessary and difficult decisions to begin fairly compensating educators and providing affordable health care with significantly reduced out of pocket costs. Our current contract expires on December 31. Time is of the essence. We do not want to return from winter break without an agreement in place. Educators have continued to put students first even as their working and living conditions worsen. But when teachers are forced to work multiple outside jobs simply to survive,
the time and energy they can vote to lesson planning, grading, and family communication inevitably diminishes. As I've said before and must say again, you cannot claim to put students first when you continually put teachers last. The AAAA remains committed to reaching a fair and sustainable agreement. We need the district to demonstrate that same commitment through both words and action. Thank you. President Feaster, I missed someone from public commentary. May I call her up, please? Yes, sure. Would, Ms.
Mary Crossan please come? Thank you. Thank you very much. I'm here as a parent of two children in the district. One of them is an alum, and the other one is still in high school. And I'm here to advocate for world languages in general and for the German program at the Huron High School in particular. Planned phase out of German at Huron High School is just another of many cuts that reduce opportunities for our kids. As our country wanes in international power, we must gift our children with the ability to navigate new global structures,
and language instruction is essential to that preparation. Despite all the talk of the demise of the humanities and the technological takeover of languages, I can assure you that no program, platform, or invention will replace millions of years of human evolution that necessitates human personal connection. That still remains at the heart of our survival, and language learning, one on one communication is the main source of that connection. Our schools are highly regarded throughout Michigan.
Let's keep it that way by providing the one thing many other school districts do not, and that is access to the world through as many languages as we can teach as possible. So I ask you today to please do not continue with the phase out of German at human at Huron High School. Thank you for your time. That concludes the public commentary. Thank you. Miss Parks, did you have what you wanna say now? Yeah. I do have a clarification. We are we are not phasing, German out, of our school district.
Our commitment is obviously to offer rich and diverse, of world language programs, which includes six world languages. We have talked before about the one of the primary drivers for courses is student requests. And when student requests are low, then we do look at do can we continue to offer those courses? But it is not the intention to phase German out of our district again. We offer, six languages in the district. That's a a a pretty healthy offering of world languages for a school district and
we're proud of that. But because the enrollment is lower in some classes, we do have to make decisions at times, which we've talked about, before. Thank you, miss Parks. I believe we were at a reports of association. One one second, please. Miss Ozinski, did we have anyone here from Quad a? Nope. I had just APAC. Okay. Alright. Just wanted to make sure. And you are? I am Claire Arthur. Claire Arthur. Thank you. Please come forward. Hi. It's nice to see everyone again. I'm Claire Arthur. As a reminder, I'm the president of AEAP. In case there's a refresher, and I know there's new guests in the audience as to who that is,
it's so great to see all of you today. I forgot that part in my slight nervousness. It's really great to see everybody. I'm grateful you're here. I'm grateful for all the work you do. AEAP covers many education support professionals working in our schools. In addition to theater technicians and vocational instructors, we're composed of community assistants who keep our building safe, teaching assistants who do a variety of positions to support students in special education, head start teachers along with preschool and childcare professionals who take care of Ann Arbor's youngest. The after school and before school programs that parents rely on for child support are
staffed with vital AEAP professionals. My goal is to provide an update on AEAP and to inform you of an initiative I want on your radar. Since I spoke to you in August, there have been some more hiring, mostly individuals who work in after school childcare. We've also seen departures with folks leaving either for higher paying employment or because they found a better otherwise better opportunity. Several have called and explained to me they just can't take it anymore. Last account is three thirty seven staff who tirelessly serve the APS school district. We have the privilege of working with your students in ages infant through senior.
Members in our buildings work with some of our most fragile students. In addition to learning life skills and academics, many in our unit go beyond that. They're physically using their bodies to help students walk. They're toileting students with dignity, as well as breaking up fights or helping students calm down when they're a little dysregulated. Morale continues to be fairly low. We're tired of seeing our colleagues leave. There's a national shortage of education support staff, and it's felt here in AAPS. I'm gonna move this to be less awkward. Hi, guys. Yeah. I feel much better now. Sorry. As I fight for my unit,
I would like to do so without It's a creeper. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks. Thanks, team. After after APS discontinued the higher pay of teaching assistants who are in self contained classrooms and one on one supports, the majority of those teaching assistants, they've left. They had been with the district, some of them dozens of years, literally. With that change, many teaching assistants who have never been in self contained classrooms have been transferred into these locations, which are substantially more exhausting physically, emotionally, mentally. There's been a large increase in students with IEPs, particularly students who have higher needs than we're used to seeing.
These students deserve our full respect and dignity as we help them thrive in their least restrictive environment. As teachers and administrators work together to assess if we're adequately supporting the students, AAP professionals are often the staff that spends the most face to face time with these students when they are dysregulated. Our members are tired of being physically punched, kicked, and body checked. We're tired of hearing violent threats against us or our family, or hearing sexually lewd comments by secondary students. We keep doing it because we're professionals and we want to support our students. Our students are the reason we show up every day.
There's a limit to just how drained we can become before burnout. We recently had our first collaborative council with the district, which went well. The first I'm sorry. The first that I have been a part of, not the first that AAP has had. First of the year. It was understandably pointed out, I'm sorry. When I brought up reports of feeling unsafe from repeated assaults at school, it was understandably brought up by the district to point out that they hadn't seen as many incident reports. So valid. So valid. When I followed up with the TAs involved, they shared that assaults at their school were just a daily occurrence. They stopped reporting assaults that weren't urgent care worthy because they were told it's just
part of their job, and they had to get used to it. Imagine being told that's that's an expectation of your job is to just be physically assaulted or sexually harassed, potentially endlessly. Imagine doing it for $22,000 We're working together to make sure incident reports are filed so that the district can be better aware of our working conditions, because together we can solve these problems and no one can fix things if they don't know what's going on. Juxtaposed against an increase in demands on our positions, many feel the weight of more students with fewer resources. Increased class sizes combined with the elimination of intervention behavior specialists and community assistants have
led to a very predictable uptick in behaviors and concerns across the board. AEAP members have shared with me they felt unsupported and felt unsafe having so many roles of their team be substitutes who aren't trained. Through the Office of Special Education, teaching assistants are trained to support some aspects of students' well-being ourselves, but to triage larger concerns appropriately to the student's case manager. At at least two schools this year, TAs have reported almost all year, both at the case manager positions of over half the special ed teachers in their buildings were filled with substitutes.
At one school, I believe there was only one certified special ed teacher. I've heard of members across the district trying to advocate for students legally granted rights and sending repeated messages to building subs who are covering for these special education teachers. These emails are not replied to or even acknowledged. When we ask about them in the hallway. Our unit feels somewhat left out to the wind in supporting the legal rights and and dignity of our students. While we are professionals and we deserve the level of respect, we're not trained to do the work of special education teachers nor of social workers.
Placing these demands on us feels somewhat unreasonable, and we worry that at some times we might be failing our students. One of the most concerning day to day experiences is that many of our team are working with seemingly year after year the same building substitutes as teaching assistants. Last time I was here, I spoke with you, and I misspoke. I said that a long term sub was paid $150 a day, and that was incorrect. I wanted to let you know. It is actually $200 a day. The district doesn't pay for these benefit these members' benefits or retirement. While this sounds fiscally responsible in the short term,
I worry about the long term, unsafe, and invalidating environment it is for us to work alongside them. The other aspect is that many of our because we have been trained by the district, AAP professionals under have gotten undergone countless hours to understand our neurodivergent populations as well as our students who are emotionally impaired. I want you to picture anytime you've been on a sports team. Please picture it patiently as I am terrible at sports metaphors, but I think this will work. The best team ever prepares in sync. They all have the same training. They all have committed countless of hours,
possibly years, to being experienced players. Then at the time of the game instead of playing with other professional players trained in the same way you have who have the same perceptions you have and the same understanding of special education law they're now being put in a game that's filled half with substitutes who vaguely understand that a ball is involved That's what it feels like to work with subs who do not seem to truly understand neurodivergence and emotional impairment. These are real disabilities, and our students with them deserve to be treated with compassion, respect, and dignity, which I know is vital to AAPS' mission and vision statement.
Our unit, our staff I do want to share some wins. I want to try and balance some of our wins to share, in the most broadest FERPA compliant way. Because as I mentioned, many of us are working individually with students, and I can't break that, confidants. I can update you that many AAP professionals are celebrating the beautiful moments that come with quarter two. There's potty training awareness. In middle school, we're seeing suddenly fractions click, and they understand how decimal places work. More importantly, across the board, we're seeing a greater self awareness and a growing self confidence and an embracing of
growth mindset. These lessons are important for our students to learn, and we truly feel honored to be some of the people helping them learn these lessons. I agree with everything Fred said wholeheartedly. I can't endorse or cosign that more. I really can't. As he talks about the fiscal difficulties that teachers are facing, I want you to know that 83% of the staff in AEP's unit earn $29,000 or less. Many of them have been there for ten years, fifteen years, some longer. Many of the people in my unit,
it's rare to find someone. They're not here tonight because most of them have two or three jobs. It's rare to be able to get them all together because they have to work so many jobs to make ends meet. Some of our unit have regularly been unhoused and still shown up to work every day, not letting the students know anything about what's going on behind the scenes. Many of our unit, applies for food stamps and housing vouchers and has similar really significant fiscal limitations as we talk about finances. They were also hit not as much this year, but last year with a $3,000 increase is what many of us felt happened with our insurance for less good insurance
to to simplify matters. There are many parts that I am very optimistic about. I know it sounds terrible, but there are many I I try not to visit you guys every meeting, and so I have to sort of hit all my bases. We're optimistic of this newer chapter of partnership between the AAP and the district. We're grateful to have started the brainstorming process between collaborative council. We're hopeful that everyone is taking safety a little bit more seriously this year and finding ways that we can work together to solve these problems to make our students feel safe, to make our students feel supported, and get the help that they need. Besides our work in bargaining,
there's a free way that you can help, which is part of the reason why I came today. You might not know I didn't hear much about it elsewhere but today's National Education Support Professional Day. You might notice I never use the word paraprofessional because paraprofessional really means someone who works alongside professionals. And to me, that just feels insane. We are professionals. So to say anything otherwise to me feels a little bit derivative. Today's national happy educator support education support professional day to you all. I I wanted to take a minute to remind you of the hard work of the education support professionals or ESPs in our district and to thank you for,
to thank them for what they do. In addition to AAEAP's unit, our sister unit of office professionals are essential in supporting our buildings. The schools simply would not run without them. Other education support professionals, your students and staff depend on daily include custodial, cafeteria, and bus driver professions. These positions have been outsourced over the years, but they are still a vital part of our school communities and we thank them for their hard work today and we celebrate them as education support professionals. Education support professionals are the mortar between the bricks of a school. Unfortunately, despite our enormous responsibility,
often education support professionals are not given the respect and support that they deserve. The reality is is that our schools would absolutely crumble without us. There is a current movement nationally, the Education Support Professionals Bill of Rights. It's started by the NEA, and three states are farther along than Michigan. It's building momentum. It's creating huge legislative wins. Maryland, in particular, has had profound legislative wins in increasing worker safety and support for ESPs. Michigan's ESP, Bill of Rights has six key points. We are looking forward to reform education for a thriving wage that can support a
middle class family for for health benefits, which fortunately in the district we are grateful to have. Not all districts have that. For workplace safety and a workplace free of physical, verbal, and emotional abuse, for secure retirement, for job advancement, including onboarding assistance and regular trainings for job security and protections against job privatization. Endorsing the ESP Bill of Rights, both ideally individually, but then also collectively formally as a board, may seem a symbolic act, but it is a step towards furthering your support of education support professionals. I understand that it's not going to do it's not going to fix all of
the problems that we have. But it is something that this board can do to take a stand on is to endorse the the education support professionals bill of rights. I have flyers for all of you. And if you sign it, I'll give you a sticker. We're gonna keep showing up for our students. We love our students, and we love our schools. We love coming to work every day. This is just another way that you can support your staff is the ESP Bill of Rights. So thank you for this time in both sharing updates on AAAP. There's more I could have gone into, but I wanted to keep time brief and I feel like you understand the key points.
If you have any questions, please let me know. I thank you for your time. Thank you. And I think that brings us down to community group reports. And I believe, well, miss Ozinski, what groups do we have signed up for this evening? We have the APAC, signed up. Karen Gerke. Thank you. Good evening. My name is let me turn this over. My name is Karen Gerke, and I'm the president of the executive board of APAC this year. Good evening, board members and administrators. We recognize the privilege in having access to your time and attention, and we are grateful for the opportunity to speak to you tonight.
Our goal is to represent and advocate for the families who have children with IEPs and five zero fours, which is approximately 2,200 children in this district. As a committee, we aim to collaborate with the district to ensure that every child, regardless of ability, has equitable access to learning and meaningful inclusion in each of our schools. Last June, we shared with you our achievements from the previous school year and our goals for the current school year. We would like to present a short update on our progress so far this academic year. We had a goal of establishing student and family listening sessions,
and we have hosted these one day each month so far this fall at two different times during the day, both in person, and we plan to add a virtual option soon for accessibility. We bring these care this caregiver communication directly to our monthly collaborative meetings with OSE and teaching and learning. We continue to ask for stronger training for educators on inclusive practices and supporting diverse learners. We also advocate for improved communication around PD so that all families are aware of the work that the district is doing. Promoting inclusive practices. Ensuring inclusion is not just a placement,
but a meaningful experience for all students. Parent education workshops. We have hosted two, two caregiver meetings already this fall with six more meetings planned for the school year. The upcoming topics are already laid out on our website. These sessions are recorded for accessibility and they feature both district and community experts. These meetings are open to the public, and everyone is invited to attend. Resource development. We launched our new APAC website this August, which centralizes key information and resources for our families, which goes along with also increased visibility and improved communication from us.
We continue to work on consistent updates for our families. We published our website with the slate of caregiver meetings for the entire school year, in August, and, we provide summaries for, from our meetings with administration. We are reconfiguring the role of building liaison to be more integrated into the school community. And we have a our last goal, was improved collaboration with administration. We just met with superintendent Parks last week. We value our partnership with her and her readiness to listen to the concerns of our families and the families we represent. We meet with assistant superintendents Lewis and Linden monthly and truly appreciate their continued willingness
to work with us as we advocate for those families we represent. So I just wanted to show a couple of slides from our new website. This is the front page of it, and we have several, sub options. So this is under community conversations. Under APAC monthly meeting topics and meeting days and topics on the bottom left, we have all the meeting topics, laid out in the dates of those meetings for the entire school year. We keep up running agendas, with conversations we have with district administration. All of the board reports, go up there too so that families have access to that. And then these are a list of some of our resources,
and then we'll go to the next slide. And some of the resources we have, you know, things I wish I knew, and this gives you like a short this keeps scrolling to, it gives you a short thing. And then these are state and federal education law and resources, just trying to give our families more information and easier access to information in a single spot. I have one more spot in there. Yeah. There we go. Perfect. And then more information about the IUP and five zero four process, the difference between the two, accommodations, all sorts of things that our families can easily access and find information on. Thank you. We are aware and have discussed concerns from families about potential changes and uncertainty,
uncertainty at the federal department of education level. Many families have expressed fear and confusion about what this could mean for their children's rights and supports. We are looking to the district for continued reassurance on this front. Families also have expressed deep concern about staff absences, service disruptions, and unfilled positions, and the communication relating to these openings. While families currently receive a notification if a certain service provider is unavailable, this is new and we really appreciate this happening. There is little to no follow-up on timelines or information on how or when those
missed services will be made up in a timely manner. The impact is that missed services directly affect our most vulnerable students, delaying progress towards goals, widening achievement gaps, and limiting access to the curriculum. Families would appreciate creative solutions to compensatory services, and discussion with administration has been happening around offering after school or virtual services when appropriate. We would love to see this happen, and we would and we really appreciate the creativity there. We continue to hear from families about inconsistency in how IEP and five zero four services and multi tiered system of support services are implemented across schools,
and often among classrooms within the same building. We do appreciate the administration's ongoing efforts to rectify these inconsistencies. APAC remains deeply committed to collaborating with district leadership to ensure that our students with IEPs and five zero fours receive consistent, equitable, and high quality services across all schools. We are grateful for the partnership and responsiveness we have seen so far, and we believe that through continued open communication, data transparency, and shared accountability, we can make meaningful progress together. Thank you for your time and continued support of our families and students.
Thank you very much, miss Skirkey. And I believe that brings us down to number eight, board committee reports. And I'll turn it over to trustee Wilkerson as chair of the finance committee and ask him about, any report he may have. Trustee Wilkerson? Yep. I can kick us off there. The finance committee met on Monday, November 17 at 9AM. They covered the October monthly monitoring report, which we'll see come before the board tonight. The 2019 bond issuance authorization was brought forward as well, which we'll see in December. And then, the district wide integrated pest management services,
which will be coming before the Board for first briefing today. Thank you, trustee Wilkerson. We also looks like we also had a planning committee meeting, and I'll turn it over to the chair of that, that committee. That's trustee Wilkerson again. Actually, we'll have to look for the date for that really quick. Second. Planning Committee met, November 7. Was it 11/07/2001? Okay. Yep. We met on November 7. We discussed the strategic planning process and kind of laid out a plan for that to come before the full board.
We'll see those vendors come forth in December and should have more details going out to the board soon. Thank you, Trustee Lucas. And if there's no questions, well, that brings us down to number nine, which is the superintendent update. Thank you very much, President Feaster. Just a brief update this evening. As miss Arthur's pointed out, today is national the National Education Association recognizes, today as the Education Support Professionals Day. Our education support professionals perform so many roles and often assist teachers in classrooms with
students, in small groups and in one, one circumstances. And their work is incredibly vital to the students that they serve and the teachers that they are working with on a daily basis. So we proudly recognize and support and celebrate our Ann Arbor Public Schools education support professionals who help to keep our keep our students safe, healthy, and ready to learn each day. Trustees, we are rapidly approaching our winter giving season. And our Republic Schools winter giving is our district wide way of supporting our families
in need during this winter season. To give help to AAPS families and students in need by donating a gift card, organizing a drive, or supporting the school, you can go to the gift help, get help link in a website and find food, winter clothing, and other needed resources for local families. So you could visit that link on our website there. Lastly, trustees, the Karen Thomas Fund Awards literacy grants each year to teachers. And this year, five of our, Ann Arbor Public Schools received literacy literacy grants to support reading initiatives in their schools.
The recipients of those grants are at King Elementary School, Evangeline Burgers, Katie Burrell, and Katie Russell. At Ann Arbor STEAM, Elizabeth Clark. At Pittsfield Elementary School, Jen Dumond, Taylor Hudson, Kai Mason, Stephanie McKinney, Britney Pavlik, and Phoenix Perman. At Patton Gill, Maggie Rohde. And at Allen Elementary, Christine Walmer and Chelsea Froening. So we congratulate them on being the recipients of this year's Karen Thomas Fund Awards for Literacy Grants. For seventeen years,
the Karen Thomas Fund has awarded over $120,000 to APS teachers to fund innovative projects to improve literacy outcomes. This year's awards emphasize providing more current nonfiction materials and emphasizing multicultural inclusion and learning in support of our model, the greatest gift is a passion for reading. So we thank, the Karen Thomas Fund for that. And lastly, we have mister Almond coming forward with a brief update for trustees on our 99 d grant.
Some exciting information to share. Alright. We're gonna get his there you go. Alright. Mister Almond, whenever you're ready. Good evening, president Feaster, superintendent Parks, trustees of the board, community members. My name is Jared Almond. I'm the district chair for secondary social studies. As you know, November is National Native American Heritage Month. And this evening, I have the honor of introducing the new native authored book collections in our district schools. As you remember from the spring, my colleague, Jocelyn Hunter Young at Community High School, she and I have been the directors of a now concluded state grant project funded
by the Michigan Department of Education's section 99 d teaching diverse histories grant, which focused on our project focused on Michigan indigenous histories, cultures, and governance. And the project had multiple initiatives. Some of these were covered back in the spring, including our educator learning cohort series, curriculum development, educator presentations at our state social studies conference, and an indigenous artist series free to the community. One of the highlights of the work since the spring was our educational summit that was held in August. In front of you,
you have one of the versions of the poster from this summit. At our summit, the title of it was amplifying Michigan indigenous narratives. We had 215 attendees, including all of the secondary social studies educators in our district, all of our secondary ELA educators, all of our school librarians, and community members, many from organizations at the University of Michigan. For this summit, there was a there was a poster that was designed by Jasmine Culp and Stacy Sheldon. In the middle of that poster, you can see the quote by Richard Wagamese Spa that says, magic's born of the land,
and the ones who go places in life are the ones who take the time to let that magic seep inside them, sitting there all quiet and watching, listening, learning. That's how the magic seeps in. And Stacy Sheldon, who we'll see in the next slide, mentioned to us that it's the relationships that we have with the humans around us, with the nature that provides the stories that we then tell. And so how fitting is it that we have relations, we have stories, and we have amplification? Well, there was a welcome song and honor song by Siganath Nagamojig, who was one of our artists back in the series in the spring.
They held songs of honor for Angeline Bully, and our keynote was by Angeline Bully, the New York Times best selling author of Firekeeper's Daughter, Warrior Girl on Earth, and Sisters in the Wind. Miss Billie talked about her own Ojibwe background, her own personal stories that led to the creation of Firekeeper's Daughter. And she raised the quote by Rudine Sims Bishop, alluding to her essay on Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors. She emphasized how important it is for children to read literature from diverse authors, how children are able to see themselves in that literature, how they might peer into another's world,
or even for a moment, imagine what it might be like. Later that morning, we also had a panel, of discussing Michigan specific narratives between Angeline Boulley and Eric Hemenway, who's one of our principal advisers on our project and who is the a historian for Little Traverse Bay Bands, Odawa. From this, summit, it was very clear to us that we were doing some of the correct work. As we had mentioned before, we had a generous amount of funding inside of our state grant that we were able to dedicate towards native authored book collections. And so starting in August, shortly after that event,
we put forth months of work in our warehouse, through purchasing, sorting, all these class sets that you can see on these slides. They included class sets of 11 different titles that we were able to purchase, for elementary arts and letters. And so our elementary arts and letters, that literacy curriculum, as you know, has core texts. We were able to purchase 11 different titles from their volume of reading, which is the supplemental text. In the end, we purchased all 11 titles that were native authored from that volume of reading. We purchased upwards of 10,000 books for our secondary ELA department, including 25 different titles for our middle schools and high schools.
Those include, whole class editions from Firekeeper's Daughter to Elatsoe, Eagle Drums, Stealing Little Moon, I Can Make This Promise. We also were able to purchase reference maps and books for our secondary social studies teachers at both middle and high school levels, 25 different titles for all of our Native American studies courses. But, really, in the end, the major lift was this one. We purchased 34 new titles for our preschool at Westerman. We purchased 215 titles for every single elementary school in our district, and two copies of each book feature those schools.
A 138 new titles at middle school and 215 new titles at high school. Taken together and given some of the overlaps of some of our titles, we have over 500 newly new, titles in our school libraries, that are native authored. In total, this now accounts for 27,000 native authored and themed books across our school districts. In front of you, you have a list that includes all of those titles that you can peruse at your own time. But you also have in front of you, a few of the materials that we've used to promote these books to all of
our students and our teachers. One of those, resources is posters that we created to put up in all of our school libraries. And so here's an example of it to give you sort of the size and scale of these posters. We have three different posters, for elementary, middle, and high school levels. Each of them has 10 different books that are in those collections as well as a QR code for checking out the list that's in front of you to all of those hundreds more. While November is Native American Heritage Month, we see this as a very sustainable approach to teaching the native past, present, and future. I wanna impress that these titles include board books,
picture books, chapter books, graphic novels, nonfiction. They include topics of Olympic heroes and superheroes, stickball, resball, fry bread, ribbon skirts, pow wows, but also boarding schools, repatriation, missing and murdered indigenous women, issues of identity, and above all, communal sovereignty. Additionally, to promote these, we've created some bookmarks for all of our students, for our librarians to hand out. On that bookmark, you will see a quote from Angeline Bully from that educational summit, where she specifically told us that whenever you hear a land acknowledgment, you should go buy a book by a native author. We think we've heeded her call in that regard.
So, to wrap up here, a few images that you can see from around the schools. That's open on the left. That's community high school on the right. There's also one from Slauson there on the left and Tappan on the right. As you can see, our school librarians have really staged this. They've promoted this. And so, none of this obviously could be done without a lot of help from a lot of people. And so we are very grateful to Joanna Johnson, Corey, and Savannah in the grants office. We had an entire book committee of teachers, that was guided by Becky Hill, who is Cayuga, the Six Nations Reserve of Ontario,
who is our consultant for all these book selections. We partnered with many bookstores in the area in order to purchase some of these titles. That includes Blackstone, BookSuite, Literati, Schuler Books, Serendipity, as well as Birch Park Folks in Minneapolis, Min Minnesota, which is owned by Louise Erdrich. We had teachers who spent evenings in the Ballast warehouse sorting these, packing them up, labeling them. We shipped out hundreds of boxes worth of books to our schools. We were also able to purchase library binding materials and labeling materials so that our librarians also had materials when those books arrived.
In addition to all of that, it was a massive lift to get these into the schools. And so, John Frazier at Arvallis Warehouse, Jay Flynn and Lucas and the ABM crew, really literally did all the heavy lifting for us. And then we also need to be very thankful to all of our school librarians, who, very graciously, obviously, they are excited about this, but to receive hundreds of books, right, and to get those onto the shelves and to start to promote those and to get their heads around what we now have, was a major task. In these slides, there's a QR code, that anyone can use in order to go to that list. We've created a tiny URL at tinyurl.com/aaps-native-books.
In conclusion, I just wanna state that it's our hope that our approach to teaching the native past, present, and future, is an approach that is dignified, that is informed, that is grounded in our relations. We want this to be sustainable. Right? This is not something just for the month of November. We think of having these kinds of resources, in Ann Arbor Public Schools as a very sustainable approach, to having classrooms where we are not the ones that are teaching others stories. Instead, we are the ones that are able to create the space and create the amplification so that native voices, can tell native narratives and that we can use those as the sources of our
information and social studies, motivation, and literature class. And also just to note, Ms. Hunter Young and I continue to present about our work, and are very proud of our work. Last week, we presented at the National Place Based Education Conference, where we focused on aspects of our teacher cohort and learning series. At that conference it became very clear to us, that there is a belief in the power of place among place based educators, and we think that we saw that both within our teachers and taking them to place, but also understanding the relations that we have with humans, with nature, with the fauna around us.
We are also excited to announce that we will be presenting at the annual conference of the National Council for the Social Studies. Our presentation titled Developing Our Relations, the Responsibilities of Non Native Educators Who Teach Indigenous Topics has recently been featured as one of the feature presentations of the conference by NCSS. And so we are proud of our work. We are also humbled by our work. We hope that we are have expressed our dedication to carry this work forward, not just through our grant window and not just in the month of November, but in perpetuity. And, again, happy Native American Heritage Month, everyone.
Good stuff. Thank you very much, doctor Almond. And that concludes the superintendent's report. Yeah. Just Oh, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Doctor Almond, you and Jocelyn Hunter, I I just wanna say, like, thank you so much for the care and effort that you put into this program. Mean, it was truly felt by the native community, just the due diligence. You know, I I saw you at various events, really trying to learn the culture and approaching it with respect and, you know, really a lot of due diligence and care, like I said. The the community felt very open and welcoming,
and the feedback throughout the community has just been phenomenal. So I appreciate all all that you put into this programming. HSA means a lot. Thank you. I believe that brings us down to 9.2, our fiscal year twenty five annual financial audit. Thank you, president Feaster. At this time, we are pleased to, have Jennifer Chambers and Corey Reinhart with Plant Moran, come forward, to, walk, trustees of the community through our, fiscal year financial fiscal year twenty five financial audit.
Alright. Good evening. Good evening. Thank you to the Board of Education for having us here tonight to present the results of your 06/30/2025 audit. You wanna advance one slide for us. Before we provide an overview of the financial results, I did wanna discuss the deliverables that you would have received, in advance related to the audit. You would have received three items in the board packets, the basic financial statements, which would have been labeled financial report, the federal programs audit,
and the letter entitled report to the board of education. All school districts in Michigan are required by state law to have an annual audit. As a result of our audit work, we have rendered an unmodified opinion and the financial statements, and we have performed the federal audit, awards audit, for the district's federal grants. However, we have left that report in draft form. So I'm gonna I'm gonna leave that and and make a quick comment about, why that remains in in draft. The district's financial statements have been issued,
and, as I mentioned, that has, had a clean opinion, and, we have performed that audit. And along with that audit, the district was also subjected to bond and sinking fund compliance requirements. There's a footnote within the financial report, that indicates that we have performed that, and, that is specific, to the bond expenditures and the sinking fund expenditures. We did not identify any compliance issues associated with those costs. Specific to the federal awards audit or the federal programs, this year, we tested the title one program and the grow your own program.
And as a result of our testing, we did not identify any compliance issues or any question costs. That report remains in draft, not because of anything related to Ann Arbor Public Schools. The, federal compliance supplement, which is a, government issued, report, that governs auditors, in terms of how we audit. And, that remains in draft form. Has not been issued in final form. And as a result, any entity that receives federal funding, that's subjected to audits,
cannot have this in the actual audit issued in final form either. And so we don't expect anything to change. The the district has done everything they need to do. We as the auditors have done everything we need to do. It's just in a holding pattern. So, for all intents and purposes, that audit's complete, but it does just kinda remain in in draft at this time. But we don't expect anything to change. But as it relates to both of those audits that we have performed, the financial statement audit and the federal awards audit, we've performed those audits in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in The United States
Of America and in accordance with government auditing standards. The district, more specifically, the finance department, is responsible for the preparation and fair presentation of the financial statements in accordance with the accounting principles. Our responsibility as the auditor is to render the opinion on the financial statements. As part of performing the audit, we perform a thorough evaluation of independence to ensure there are no threats to impair the independence. This is something we take seriously and monitor throughout the year to ensure that objectivity is maintained as part of this process. As part of the other deliverables that I mentioned that you would have received,
you would have received that that letter entitled report to the board of education. This is more of a qualitative report that accompanies the the financial report and that federal programs audit. And this just goes through various required communications to the Board of Education that talks through different aspects of the audit process. It reinforces what the auditor's responsibility is, talks through the different aspects of the audit, but also conveys to you whether or not there were any audit adjustments identified as part of the process,
whether or not we encountered any difficulties, which we did not. We did not identify any audit adjustments either. And, we also did not identify any material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in internal controls. Also, as part of that letter that you would have received, there is an informational section that just includes various pieces, that's just meant to be, for your reading. Just helps to inform you about different aspects related to, the landscape within state funding, upcoming accounting pronouncements, and other aspects that we just feel in your role,
as the governing body that that you should be informed about. So just meant to be informational. So before we get into, into the graphs themselves, and you'll see that the graphs primarily focus on the general fund, we did want to just take a minute to, provide some overall highlights. And so, you know, as it relates to the year ended 06/30/2025, you know, we observed overall that there were, you know, significant efforts made towards, focusing on financial stability and an accuracy in budgeting.
And we'll see that depicted in some of the graphs that we'll we'll take a look at. And as I mentioned, with the graphs focusing primarily on the general fund, there's a lot of other things going on within the district's overall financial picture. And one of that, those areas is in the capital investments area that that's being made. With the district's bond program along with the sinking fund, there is, approximately $60,900,000 of capital outlay expenditures or capital investments being made in the infrastructure and and all
of, the buildings and and everything within the district just in this past fiscal year. And so that's that is meaningful costs that is not being borne by the general fund. That's that is, able to really elevate the district's overall, you know, infrastructure system. So we just did wanna make that, mentioned as a highlight. But then also taking a look as well on the other other side, just recognizing that there's there's, challenges that that you're also continually evaluating and considering as as the overall,
you know, financial structure as well. So taking a look at how to balance investments in staff and services within the overall fiscal structure and and taking a look at that responsibility along with that in the current funding structure that you have, upon you, balancing the investment in the funding for staff resources, as well as looking at the district's fund balance and trying to achieve a desired fun love it fun balance level in accordance with your board policy as well as
what is required by certain state law requirements or thresholds. I'm gonna turn it over to Corey now. She's gonna take us through some of the the actual graphs. Thank you, Jennifer. So now we will get into some of the numbers. This first slide focuses on the general fund budget to actual. So we have revenues on the left, expenditures on the right, and within each chart there, the teal bar on the left represents the amount from the original budget that occurred
in June 2024. The red bar represents the amounts from the amended budget from June 2025, and then the actual audited results are shown in yellow there on the right hand side of each chart. One thing to point out here is that these numbers do include some additional funding that is received by the district from the State of Michigan related to the retirement system, and the these amounts are to be paid directly back to the retirement system.
And so because of that, they are essentially a pass through mechanism. So these amounts are included in both revenues and expenditures for the district. And for the current year. These are referred to as Section one forty seven c funding and amounted to about 19,000,000. So in both revenues and expenditures there is 19,000,000 of this funding included. So looking on the left hand side of revenues, the original budget, expected revenue to be about 318,500,000.0.
The final budget had revenue of 317,200,000.0 and actual revenue was 306,400,000.0. And then looking over on the right hand side for expenditures, the original budget was for 307,100,000.0. The final amended budget was for 306,400,000.0, and then final expenditures came in lower than planned at 302,100,000.0. And then the one thing we do like to point out when we are talking
about budgets is that the original budget from June 2024 is done so or it's created before the state approves their budget. So final revenue numbers are not yet known at that time of the budget moving along. This side focuses on again general fund budget to actual and examines the impact on the expected results to fund balance compared to what actually happened. So along the left hand side, we have a timeline starting with the beginning of the year,
06/30/2024. We have revenues expenditures to come to the change in fund balance and then ultimately the ending fund balance at 06/30/2025. And then along the top, the first column is the amended final budget. The second column would be the actual audited results, and then we have some variance information along the right hand side. So, this graph shows that the final amended budget plan to increase fund balance by approximately
10,800,000.0. And then the actual audited results resulted in an increase to fund balance of about 14,500,000.0. And then along the bottom of this chart, we have some, key metrics that are often looked at in terms of evaluating the appropriate level of fund balance and really helping put it to put it into perspective when we're dealing with large numbers. So those metrics include fund balance as a percentage of expenditures and fund balance as
a percentage of revenue, which we do have a little more information on those measures here shortly, and then at the bottom we have days of operations. So this is a helpful metric when we're dealing with such large numbers. And so, ending fund balance at June 30 was 21,600,000.0. And, it's helpful to look at this, in terms of operating costs of the district. So if we were to, equate that fund balance to operating cost per day on average,
if the district were to cease receiving any revenue, they would be able to operate for about twenty six days. So this is a a measure that's helpful, when evaluating the district, and it really highlights the importance of cash management, especially in the two months of the year where the district does not receive state aid, which would be September and October. Moving along, this slide Okay. That there we go. Thank you. Before we move on from this slide, can you just talk a little bit about the percent variance and,
you know, how how significant that is for a district our size and the amount of, you know, materiality we kinda have with a $323,000,000 budget. Yep. So we we do include the variance columns. And, one thing we like to point out here is that even when there are times that the variance in terms of dollar can be large, in this case, the largest variance was 3,900,000.0 when looking at expenditures. Something that's really helpful to look at is the percent change.
So even though some of those dollars could be a large, the actual percentages is quite small. So that's really helpful too to look at when looking at these large numbers. So moving along, this slide shows the fund balance as a percentage of expenditures over the last ten years for the general fund. So, as you can see, this percentage has fluctuated over the years, and along the left hand side we do highlight, the board's policy for which this percentage they where the board hopes this percentage is each year.
And so that ranges from 7% to 15%, which is noted on the left hand side and within the last five years or so, this this percentage has ranged from two point two percent to eight point two percent with the lowest, two point two percent being as of 06/30/2024. And that was due to, having to utilize some fun balance in the previous year and then looking at 06/30/2025
fun balance as a percentage of expenditures increased to 7.2% and that was due to a decrease in expenditures and an increase in fund balance. So this slide here again focuses on the fund balance and it provides some additional context, when looking at fund balance. And we've included a few, measures that are helpful when evaluating the appropriate level of fund balance. And so there really are three that we've included here.
The first is the red bar at the bottom, and this is what is referred to as the early warning trigger threshold, and this relates to legislation that was implemented several years ago ago, called early warning legislation, whereby districts that have a fund balance less than 5% of revenue for two consecutive years would be flagged and subjected to heavy scrutiny by the state, which would include increased reporting and really,
a lot of a lot more documentation than what would normally be required. The second bar is in green, and this shows what the fund balance would need to be in order to reach a 15% fund balance level. And this is a target that many state associations such as Would recommend fund balance to be at. And then at the top, the blue bar shows what the fund balance would need to be in order to be consistent with the statewide average. So the statewide average included here is 24.7%
that is based off of 2024 data since 2025 is not yet known. But that is where the state average was for 2024. And as you can see in yellow, an arbor's fund balance falls between the early warning threshold of 5% and that 15% target, with their fund balance percentage being about 7.2. Do you just wanna add, obviously, trustees, it's important to keep in mind, the 7% board policy was for last year,
and that's why it's included in the audit results. But, obviously, we've increased our policy to 8% for the current year. Thank you. Moving along to the next slide. This slide focuses on general fund revenue for fiscal year twenty twenty five and total revenue for the year was about 316,300,000.0. The largest, the largest source of that revenue was the foundation allowance, which represented about 58% of total revenue for the general fund.
And as you are aware, that revenue is is driven by two main things. The first component being enrollment, which is something that the district does have ability to influence over their ability to attract and retain students. And the second component would be the state allocation of the foundation allowance, which is something that the district has no direct control over. So then moving counterclockwise around this graph, the second largest source of revenue at 21% would be revenue received from,
other sources such as state categorical revenues, federal grants, special education funding received from the state, and other local revenue. In yellow, 6% of revenue related to, the pass through funding, section 147c that I mentioned earlier. So again, this is funding that is received from the state, but then, remitted directly to the retirement system. So it's also recorded as an expenditure. And then coming in at 14 would be the, amounts received from the county for special
education. So next we have a couple slides that really highlight those two key components of the foundation revenue and the first being, foundation allowance. So this slide here gives a historical look at where that per pupil amount has where what it has been over the last several years. So as you can see, the early years show that that amount, had pretty nominal increases for quite a while. And then in more recent years,
the foundation allowance increases were more substantial for districts. One thing worth noting though, is that the amount per pupil that the district received for fiscal year 2324, was the same as the amount received in the following year, fiscal year '25. There was no increase that year. However, looking at the current fiscal year that we are in, fiscal year twenty five-twenty six, the per pupil amount is 10,921 per pupil plus a 130 per pupil for hold harmless funding.
So, that amounts to a total of $11,051 per pupil. Mister Schmidt? So, there was a comment today, during public comment about our teachers and their pay not, getting the cost of living for a decade or whatever. You can look at this graph and you can see that schools have not been fairly funded for decades. I don't know. How far back does this go? Yeah. It hasn't kept pace. So what the state is giving us to work with has not kept pace with
cost of living. And I think if you look back to when I came on the board in '22, I believe, I'm looking at this when it was at 10,000 or maybe it's '23, The 10/2009, if you adjusted it for inflation, it should have been 14,000 a child. So, I mean, we're so far behind what the state is giving to us to be able to do our job. So I just wanted to point that out. Alright. We can move along to the next slide. This slide focuses on the other piece of that foundation, equation,
which would be enrollment. So this slide shows the enrollment over the last several years, and the amounts in this slide are the fall FTE count each year. So as you can see, enrollment was relatively consistent from 2015 through 2019 and then did increase in 2020 through 2025. And the figures included in this slide represent all students for which Ann Arbor received
The foundation allowance and are included in the accounts that are audited by the ISD. Yes. Another thing just to cut some context for this one. So I know, sometime this year, we were shown enrollment figures. And this is a problem countywide, statewide, actually, but countywide also. This is not unique to our district, which is unfortunate, because that's our main source of revenue. Great. Thank you. Now I will turn it back over to Jennifer who will walk us through the expenditure side of things. Okay. So switching gears from revenue into expenditures.
So continuing to look at the general fund. Here we have general fund expenditures broken down by type of expenditures. The total expenditures for the general fund were 302,100,000.0. Of that total, the combined salaries, benefits, and retirement pass through funding represents approximately $240,500,000 So that would be the the teal section of the pie plus the orange section of the pie. That approximates approximately 80% of the total expenditures for the general fund
next there's approximately 16% related to purchase services and about four percent related to supplies and materials. And the majority of that is really, utilities costs, actually. I'd like to make one quick comment here, trustees. I think it's important to look when we look at this graph and we add up what's, you know, on salaries, retirement, and purchase services, that's 96% of our expenditures for the year. I know those of you that were following last year, we were talking about 92% of our expenditures go into those same categories.
So we have, you know, increased our intention to fund those types of categories in in our budget and through our actual expenditures. Yep. We said definitely, like, you know, that level of expenditures really in people costs. Right. It's a people organization and, then that is is really, substantially all of the operating costs of the district are are in in people. And and that that's a great point to illustrate. The next graph takes, that $240,500,000
of general fund salaries and benefits that I mentioned. So taking that population of costs and now breaking that down a little bit further into the various different components of salaries and benefits. So here we're highlighting, individually what each of those sections represents. So we have 60% of that total or approximately a $143,900,000 for salaries and wages. Excuse me. The next largest component being approximately 24% of that total for retirement contributions.
And then the next largest piece in the in the gold or about 9% of this total population for health care costs at about 22 and a half million dollars. The next graph, again is continuing to look at salaries and benefits. So that that same population of the $240,500,000 but this time we're taking a look at it from a functional distribution. So this is looking at where within the district are those salaries and benefit costs being incurred. And I wanted to mention that the breakdown that we're using here is really,
taking that breakdown based on how the state chart of accounts or the the state reporting is, is broken out. So we're we're being consistent in terms of what those categorizations are. So you'll see here that, the largest component of the salaries and benefits within the district at 88% is an instruction and instructional support. Office professionals who who support them. Of the total salaries and benefits and that school based salaries and benefit costs. So those are,
you know, in the building, you know, those who are really, you know, within the building impacting the the student experience day to day. Obviously, everyone impacts the the student experience to some degree. And so the the remaining costs, you know, are are those, within, you know, the the other operational aspects of the district. But 95% of the total salaries and benefits are school based, with the instruction instructional support and school administration. The the next graph is taking a look at the largest benefit category that I
mentioned when we were talking about the salaries and benefits pieces. So this is taking a look at the historical, expenditures for, the retirement costs or the MPSERS expenditures for the district. As a reminder, it is a requirement that that you participate in the MPSR system. So any district that has collective bargaining agreements are required to participate in the statewide retirement system. You have no input into the the contribution rates,
or how the statewide system invests and, handles the system. But you are required to contribute and, in in and make, the payments into the system based on the contribution rates that are are determined. As you can see, this this cost has been steadily increasing over the eight years that we have presented here. And if we were to go back further, you would see that that has been the trend for quite some time. I did wanna just mention the the cost or or the breakout in terms of
how the the graph is is set up. So this is meant to just illustrate, the different components from the cost. So we got the total expenditure cost at the at the top of each bar. The different colors represent in in blue what the the actual cash, requirement or outlay for for the district is. The orange and the gold section would be those pieces funded through state aid. So you've heard us talk about this pass through funding or the one forty seven
c's. That's the component that's getting provided to you and other districts through state aid, and then you immediately remit it back into the retirement system. In it it is still part of the overall retirement cost. It is still an expenditure to the district. If that mechanism through state aid were to get removed, it would still be your cost, and you would still be required to fund it. And so it's just meant to provide that, information to you so you understand at this point in time how much is is
getting currently funded, through that through that mechanism. So over time, when we when things are privatized, is that less money going into this account because you don't have those bargaining groups anymore? And so then our costs go up? Do you follow me? So well, the the if they're if they're fewer people paying in, So you if if they're not a direct employee of Ann Arbor Public Schools, then you would not be paying on that salary. However,
you know, what you're paying in at at the current rates are are based on those as well who are, you know, having to fund retirees as well who are needing to draw from it. So thinking about the whole state. So if you have more and more groups that are privatized, then you have Less people who are funding paying in. Somebody's gotta pay. Right. Less people who are paying into a system to fund retirees. So we pick up the difference. The schools have to pick up the difference. So just for an example, so we no longer have bus drivers.
So what exactly does that mean that we have to make up for that difference? Our bus drivers are now privatized, so they're not a part of our district. So are our MIPS or Oh, they're not. My point is and I'm not trying to talk specifically to an Ann Arbor. But, what districts in general think privatization is the way to save money, but we end up we may save money there, but we end up paying more here. Yes? Where am I off? It it's one component of Okay. Of the system. Because in the, given the fact that, you know, the current employee base is what's paying into a system,
that also has to fund those who are retired. Right? And so currently, the retirement system is underfunded, which means it it does not currently have enough assets, to fund those who will ultimately need the retirement benefits and so it is kind of in this I you know catch up game like that that's what the state retirement system is trying to do is trying to play catch up to those recognizing it needs to ultimately cover those retirement benefits. And so if you do have less people paying into a system,
that's in part why those rates continue to increase. We don't the people that are privatized, they've got their own retirement system. But at least what I'm saying is that on a statewide scale, it's not necessary to the panacea to save money because you end up paying some anyway even though you say privatized. Well, we can move on. We don't need to go on. But And so, that would that was the last kind of numerical, kind of chart and graph that we had. And so, it's kind of a good good segue to just kinda go,
you know, into kind of the the overall kind of key takeaways and and kinda looking forward. And so you can move on to the next next graph. And so, you know, just from a high level kind of, you know, summarizing things in in terms of of the year and and kind of the key takeaways from the audit process. You know, from our vantage point, you know, the district continues to demonstrate its focus on operating fiscally responsibly, as evidenced by the clean opinion, which is the highest form of assurance,
from the auditor that that we can provide that that the the district's financial statements are, fairly presented. You know, going back to, you know, what we showed from the budget slide, you know, that budget to actual net percentage variance. You know, when you when we think about some of those those numbers, you know, the revenue number was, like, point 26% when you when you try to equate that to you know, if I had a $100 to spend, that would mean I would be off by 26¢. You know, on the expenditure side, if I if I had a $100,
that might means I I was off a dollar and 28¢. So that that's very, very, very close. And and so given that the operating budget of the district to be that precise really does, I think, show, the efforts made, in in terms of this continual monitoring that you're doing on on a monthly basis and all the efforts made by, you know, the finance team, to really put that diligence in into that process. So, just wanted to acknowledge that. And as we noted, you know, I know the the board had made some modifications to the fund balance policy.
And as was noted, that's kind of in a, in a in a range that that's kinda moving up. So where it was, like, 7% to 15%, now 8%, in in fiscal twenty six, you're now in range, for the target target fund balance policy. And so the the efforts being being made, you know, acknowledging acknowledging the efforts there and that that you're, you know, committed to the long term viability, of the district. So looking forward and into the future, you know, just some some areas to continue to monitor just from a macro level.
You know, continuing to monitor your fund balance levels. It's fine. You know, keeping a close eye on that, you know, monitoring, things such as the the state economy, the politics, state funding, where things will go. Obviously, there's going to be some changes, you know, governor coming in, those types of things, you know, looking number of years ahead, managing health care costs. I know it's something that is a challenge across the board, not just not just here locally. We talked about the, you know, future retirement contribution rates.
So keeping, a close tab on those as I know you are, will just continue to to be challenges that, you'll have to continue to to monitor, as you evaluate, you know, the funding structure and and the and the related costs. So at this point, I'm happy to turn it over to any questions or if superintendent parks would like to add any additional comments. Trustees, are there any questions? I just have a statement. Trustee Schmidt? I just wanna commend thank you very much. That was a great presentation. But I wanna commend, our superintendent and our financial team,
for their their hard work and for moving us in the right direction. When the superintendent came on board, it was a very challenging time, and, you know, this is good. This is this is, all good stuff. But I would implore all the members of our community to join us, the board, to continue to advocate for more funds from the state because that's where the log jam is. And, you know, the increased cost just keep coming. The health cost just keep coming, and we have to absorb it. And, the state has to set this as a priority.
They want the quality schools that people are demanding. So good work, Secret Tenpark and her team. Thank you. There's no additional questions. Mister Wilkins? This might be a long way back, but we're talking on slide nine. I don't know if we have to go back, but it's just showing the general fund for each year. And when we got down to the 2.2%, I thought I heard you say because we had to spend some of last year's balance or something about the previous year.
Can you explain that or I didn't hear that correctly, I don't think. 2024, there was there was a utilization of fund balance. So, you know, expenditures exceeded revenue, and that that really caused the the decline in that percentage as well as, you could see the actual dollar value of of the fund balance. And so that that just really contributed to the decline with the expenditures just being that much greater than the right amount. Spend some of that balance, and that's why it got lower. Yep. Okay. Thank you.
Well, it was a very great presentation. Thank you all for all your hard work. We greatly appreciate it. Looking forward to seeing you again next year. Thank you, miss Chambers and miss Reinhardt. Trustees, as we transition to, the monthly monitoring report that mister Zasky is gonna do, I do wanna, talk a little bit about, the the general fund currently. So we know that the audit, it it captures where we ended last school year. So the 2425 school year. And I do wanna talk, some about where we are now,
the 2526 school year. I appreciate the the acknowledgment for the work. We made a lot of difficult decisions and so did this board of education. Right? In order to get the fund balance to be 7% ending the year up from where we ended the prior year again at the 2.2%. And so we are consistently doing our work to try to ensure that the district remains on solid financial ground, and that work is ongoing. It's not once.
It's not just last year. It's ongoing, which means there are ongoing difficult decisions that have to be made in order to continue to trend towards, better financial health for the district. And so some of the things that impact the budget on a year to year basis that, are often unknowns until they happen are, how much time we have to plan once state aid is known to us. This year, our state aid, we learned on October 7 what our state aid was going to be.
Really, it is there's a deadline of June 30. So by July 1, we should have known. But as we all know, that didn't happen this year. So we found out, our state aid for the year very late. Also, we verify enrollment after the first Wednesday count day in October. And through the process that we have to go through to to audit and verify all those numbers, we, have our enrollment audited and known, in real terms by around the November. We also don't get our final special education funding from the year prior until,
the October. We also have this, again, this unsteady and unstable state funding. So we don't know from year to year, what our per pupil allocation is going to be. Last year, we didn't get one. We didn't get a per pupil allocation, and that's significant because that would have been recurring revenue, that we would have had to add to our revenue stream that we don't have this year. And we also will anticipate, try to anticipate as best be best we can the status of the grants that we have.
Will they continue? Will they not continue? Will they increase? Or will they not, or will they decrease? And so some of those things are factors that play into where we are currently, with our budget even though we we did the difficult work along with our our staff and our community and the the board of education to to make the the decisions to get to that 7%. We do wanna talk a little bit about where we are now given the state aid that we got this year. So mister Zask is gonna walk us through, a few of those details. Sure. Good evening. Good evening.
So what we tried to prepare as we are, I guess one other thing we do wanna say is we do plan on bringing a budget amendment back to the board in the second meeting in December. So these are kinda like our updates as they stand now, some revenue items that have since our original budget become more known. So we're getting kinda give you guys the heads up. And then like I said, we're still working back through the budget and should have that by the December 17 meeting or an amendment. If we can advance to slide three Yep. The next one. Yep.
Thank you. Okay. So, here we're trying to show we did in our original budget, we had budgeted a $400 per pupil increase that actually came in at $442. So for us, that's gonna be an advantage of around $670,000. I wanna kinda lump the two of the next three together. So the 27 l four, MPSERS health care, that is a new line item in the budget. That's gonna be about $2,000,000. And in my mind, that offsets the $1.47 a one,
which is, the MPSERS cost offset that was eliminated in the final budget. I just wanna point out on that one. The senate, the house, and the governor did not have that eliminated. And when the final budget came on October 7, that was eliminated. So that, contributes to some of the unknowns that we do face, on a yearly basis. They did, however, increase our at risk allocation. So we do anticipate getting around $875,000 more in funding for that. Now our big one is, as superintendent Parks, mentioned, is our act 18 special ed revenue.
So that is, reimbursement and that is done on a year after the year that the expenses are done. So right now we are getting reimbursement for the 2425, funding and and how much we spent. So in our initial, calculations, we had thought we were gonna be better off by about $7,700,000 So that is the red number there. With that, with the reimbursement on that one, that is affected by our current, our 2425 expenses. They were lower,
which was part of our cost cutting. And also with that with us being lower, our allocation percentage is lower in comparison to some other districts actually went up. Yeah. I'd like to make one clarification on that. So it it wasn't that we actually spent less because we had less services as well. Is that an accurate statement? So we did spend less, based on, in particular, staffing. We did still provide services for students who have special education, IEPs. So we did provide service,
but we also had staffing, as it relates to, a reduction in some of our, paraprofessionals, our education support staff. We also had as we talk about, and we'll talk about during our staffing report, the next meeting, positions like social workers, teacher consultants that are hard to fill. So so that plays into it also. Okay. Alright. And then one of the themselves as well play into it. So Correct. They're The number of students. Yep. Okay. And then one other question. Based on what we're getting for last year's expenditures,
are we still looking around the 97% reimbursement rate that we've historically had? Yep. Yes. Okay. That's correct. Yep. Okay. Yep. Thank you. And then just at the bottom of the slide, we did wanna point out, I know when it came up in the auditor's presentation as well, that the board policy is 8%. So for us to be at an 8% fund balance, that would mean our ending fund balance would need to be around $25,000,000 Oh, yeah. Go ahead. I know that this is focused more on state funding, but do we have an idea about any projections for federal funding?
I know I I know I I wanted to ask that earlier. Yeah. Sorry. If you don't have it, it's okay. Yeah. We're Go on. I was just gonna say we're still continuing on. At this point, we haven't anticipated any large increases or large decreases, but we continue to monitor all communication across all Okay. Avenues that we have to try and figure out if we are. So we have actually when the budget does come back, we have left it pretty steady because, our fear honestly is probably the next year after this year because most of this
year's funding was already kind of accounted for. So I would say that we really need to monitor next year's budget. And on this slide is just a numeric of what we talked about on that. I did want to point out, the audited fund balance there was $21,000,000 and then the potential with these, changes and updates at this point would put us back towards the 5% fund balance of about $15,800,000 Go to the next slide. And then we just wanted to point out some things that,
were in there. So steps were given in this fiscal year, as stated as our health insurance premiums have gone up by 18% this year. And then also, we wanted to just point out there is legislation out there, to change all school districts to an eighty twenty cost sharing model. And if that were to happen, that would cost the district about $2,500,000 more. That we haven't budgeted or planned for. And just to add some context to the steps,
that, cost is about $5,000,000 approximately, four steps. And so each year, staff are entitled to those steps. Teachers are entitled to those steps. So that will be an additional $5,000,000 every year because they get those step increases every year. One point of clarification on the the health insurance, the 8020 legislation. If that were to be signed into law, would that impact this year? Or we we don't currently Yeah. We were asking mister, mister Collins was looking into that for us, this week.
And so he can if he can speak to that. So there's a couple of things on that legislation. As you know, on October 27, the Court of Appeals made a ruling, sent it back down to the circuit court for a writ of mandamus to force the house speaker hall to send it to the governor. They have still have time to appeal that decision. I called his office today, and no one has gotten back to me yet, but they haven't formally appealed. If they appeal, we're looking at another lengthy time.
It's a it's a leave to appeal. They asked the Supreme Court if they would hear it. In addition to that, the legislation, in my opinion, was not drafted with specificity. There's conflicts in the, legislation. One says that it's a minimum of 80%, but in the next line, it talks about but if you're in the hard cap, it'll only be 7%, and they changed what the increase is tied to to a different CPI, and it would be whatever that CPI is or a minimum of 3%.
So in one line, it says you have to do eighty twenty. In the other line, it says, but you can do the hard cap. So that'll be another piece, that has to be decided. And there's also there's an issue as I'm hearing anecdotally of whether the governor will even sign the legislation if it goes. So there's a long answer to, the question, and I guess it would be it depends. Legal or audit response. I could've said it depends. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Alright. And so so, trustees, we just wanted to talk a little bit about the current
snapshot of our funding, because it has changed since the end of last school year. So, again, the team and I who they do all of the work. We appreciate the acknowledgement, but we also know that, it is a moving target. And it requires ongoing difficult difficult decision making, in order to ensure that we stay, on track to become financially healthier. Folks. Yes, I had a quick question on the page on the slide with the categoricals.
Yes. Potential ending fund balance as of 06/30/2026, dollars 15,000,000. So what does this $15,000,000 equate to in terms of number of operational days? I know the audit was talking about how, with, I think, a $21,000,000 fund balance, we would have twenty six days. So, do we know what obviously, this is less than twenty six days. We know it's less than twenty six. Yeah. We can unless you know off the top, we can get we can do that now. 15. Ten or fifteen? Ten to fifteen. Yeah. Okay. Alright. Thank you.
Thank you. Alright. Long story short, questions are right. We're expected to be just over the state law minimum of 5% and still 3% under Ford's policy for 268%. That's correct. Correct. And at not have the 7,700,000.0 million dollar hit patient, we'd be closer to that eight percent is what you're suggesting? Correct. We would be trending more towards the 8% depending on the rest of our analysis
on what the budget amendment will be. That's why we're so out of line. We'll projected to be so out of line. Yes. And and and just for reference, our original budget was projecting a $500,000 gain, so essentially a zero based budget. And so even the 21,000,000, we were still projecting to end around our original budget would have been projected to end around $15,000,000. The additional 3,000,003.6 that we made in the audit that they just presented is our variance.
So so when you say that, I mean, that is why you we have to build a healthier fund balance. Yes. That is why the average across the state is 23%, I think it was up there. Yep. You can't skate along the bottom like this. And because something can come up some unpredictable thing and it blows everything up. So, I mean, we've got to make tough decisions to make that happen. Yeah. Just one other comment too. I think it's important to acknowledge that legislators on both sides of the aisle really
touted this budget as an increase for districts. But as we can see, right, the allocation of per pupil funding with offsets to categoricals can have, you know, a a different impact at the local district level. Yep. Absolutely. Which is saying is it looks like it's a lot of money They're from another area. Correct. Correct. Yep. And that's And layperson. Yeah. Yeah. And that's that unstable funding. Right? That you give us a little more here, but you take some there and it cancels each other out or worse. Or worse. Yeah. Alright.
Well So thank you for allowing, for for mister Dasky and I to talk a little bit, about this current the current status of our general fund. Again, we will bring we'll we will be bringing forward the formal budget amendment in December, but we wanted to add some nuance and texture to, the current picture of our budget at the the end of the audit presentation there just because there is some difference between where we ended the last school year and where we are right now. And so with that,
I think we will transition into the monthly budget monitoring report for October, if that's okay, president Feaster. Okay. Alright. And I will if I go too quick, let me know. I'll go over some of the highlights. I know you guys have had a lot of numbers in front of you tonight. Okay. We can go to the next. So this one, main thing I do wanna point out in this is our general fund cash and investments compared to last year at this time is about $2,500,000 more. I will say, from our perspective, our, tax collections have been, quicker this year.
And so we're a little bit farther in October, than we were last year. Community service, we're up as well. I know once we get to revenue expense, more programs, more revenue. So that's a good thing. As for that food service, I do wanna point that one out as well. So that one, the stated that we are getting tomorrow, because we get it on the twentieth of every month, we do have a large chunk of food service that they did kind of a catch up for the first part of the year. So I don't anticipate hopefully, that's not gonna be negative once we get to November, but that's that's a lot of the timing with when we get state aid for
that. And we are getting about $500,000 tomorrow. You can go to the next slide. And so one thing before we do start going through this. So the October, our general fund expenses were about 34,000,000 of this, October and May this year are going going to be our three pay months. So they'll that's three payrolls. So that's why that's a little bit higher, than the normal, monitoring reports that you guys do see. So that'll be a change when we get into November because November was was our three pay last year. It's October this year. This one here,
I just wanna point out, as I said, our revenues are up in the general fund, because we've obviously had some more tax collections, than in in the past at this time. And as for our expenditure, same thing. We had three pay, this month compared to last year. It was only two pay. And also, like I said, I do wanna point out with community service. So, increased in revenue due to additional program participations and number of programs offered. And I know that also correlates in their line item to some increased expenses. So it is it's cost a little more to run the programs, but, obviously, we have the revenue to offset that.
So that's good news. This one here, you can kinda see. And and so part of this, I like to skip a little bit. I I don't wanna skip slides, but, to me, the more telling slides really showing kind of where we're at, if if you guys don't mind, is going to the graphs. The couple of four. So oh, there we go. So, this one and so this is where the where I'm trying to go too fast, but for me, this is the graph that kind of shows where we're at. So the revenue, the expected revenue and where we're at. So as you can see this month, we're very, very close to where we're at and overall,
we're trending right where we thought we would be at this time in the year. Expenditures, same thing that's, kinda correlates back to the spike showing in October there. And then as you can see, May again, we'll have another spike because that'll be another three pay month for us. Next slide. So on this one, I just wanna point out. So this is our our fund balance and I think this might be one of our most important slides in this presentation and this one shows where our fund balance is trending. So part of the reason that you see the dip there and the red line is the state policy of the 5% that I know plan talked about in their
presentation. We talked about in ours and then the green is the 8% that we also talked about, which is the board policy. So one thing I wanna point out, the reason that it does a dip in November is we get most of our taxes in July, August, September, October. Then we start getting them again in late December, January, February. So that's why you'll start to see we get most of our tax revenue in those two times, and that's the the two kind of peaks that you see there. And, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to go so fast. I just know there's a lot of numbers tonight. Yeah. But I think it's important to recognize on this graph,
this is based on our original budget. Right? So we haven't made any amendments to that. So when we look at that fund balance that was presented previously, it wouldn't be accounted for on this graph. That is correct. The expected probably the blue is gonna shift down some from being where we thought it was gonna be. The green and the red lines will stay the same. I do I do anticipate the orange to still follow with our expectations just based on when we have expenses, when we have three pay months, and when we get most of our tax revenue and our state aid revenue as
well. But I do I do agree. I do anticipate the blue line to ship down. Alright. I'll just ask for my speed. No. It is. Thank you. Thank you. Any questions, trustees? Seeing none, thank you so much for your hard work and your time. That will bring bring us down to number ten, first briefing, And I'll turn it over to superintendent Parks for a n two two four two, Integrated Pest Management Services. Thank you very much, President Feaster. We have mister Rice here to bring forward, the briefing first briefing for pest management services. He will walk us through the reason for going out to bid,
give some trust you some some background and context. They shared the information during finance committee. And so for the full board, mister Rice will go through that and then talk through the the bid then. Alright. Thank you, superintendent Parks, president Feaster, and trustees in the Ann Arbor community. We have used, Elite Pest Management for the past three years, Outstanding service. I mean, they were exceptional. The father was in the process of turning it over to his son. And during that process, he passed. So this is the reason why we had to rebid it.
And so that's what I'm bringing to you tonight. It is mandated by the state that we have this. So we put it out to bid, and we had a competitive bid. We had two proposals that came back. We received. We reviewed them, and Elite was our best choice. We got a best bang for our buck. So they came in. As you could see, the bid tab was a big thing. It was $3.75 to $2.93. So I wasn't part of that because I wasn't here, but, the group made a great choice. And so our recommendation is to approve for one year with two optional one year
renewals, lead pest management control in Clinton Township, where the district for the amount not to exceed for three years, 170,588. And that comes from general fund. Sorry to say that. So, just for my clarity, this is the same company we've been using. We had to change their name. Change it. Alright. That's what I was wondering. Okay. Yeah. The transition. Sorry for their loss. Yeah. Yeah. And how long have we been using the previous services? Three years. Just three years. Okay. With outstanding service. Let's do Wilkins. Why do we only get two proposals when it it looks like there were 28
people that looked at it or 28? Yep. 28 people looked at it, and only two gave us proposals. I don't know why. Okay. Alright. If, Any other questions? No other questions. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Alright. Put the wrong button. Alright. Trustees, I believe that brings it down to the consent agenda. Would anyone like anything removed from the consent agenda? Should I read that? Please. Okay. Approve minutes of the 10/22/2025 and 11/05/2025 closed sessions. Approve minutes of the 11/05/2025 regular meeting.
Approvements of the 11/05/2025 special meeting. And approved donations, a 2009 Pontiac Torrance station wagon donated to the Pioneer Auto Shop by Jennifer Lynn Hagee Victor Victory. The Huron alumni classes of 1973 and 1975 donated $15,000 to support the class of 1975 cafeteria project at Huron High School. And a blessing silver trombone was donated to Tappan Middle School by Mary Lynn Gary. Now, trustees,
would anyone like anything removed from the consent agenda? Trustee Wilkins? I just have a question about the minutes for November 5. So do I bring that up now? Or Yes. Yes. I think you would. So when I remember last time when we were talking about items for agenda planning, one of us brought up that we wanted an update from the bond from the capital projects team with the new the latest budget from them. And I wasn't sure if we were told it was upcoming or but I think
I would I don't see it on the minutes here. I was surprised that I saw some things under items from the board or agenda planning, but not that. And I think that would be helpful information because I forgot what the answer was. Yeah. You you are you are you are correct. That is scheduled for the second meeting in December. Okay. So Are you good now, or you want that removed? So you want to add that added can we add that to the minutes so that It was this was the November 5 regular meeting update on bond budget.
Yeah. Yeah. Do we need to have a motion for that on this No. List? No? Okay. No. I'll just, allow for amendment as presented and amended. So I can amend the minutes for November 5. Great. And that was under agenda planning? I think so. Blue cell. Yes. Oh, that would be the appropriate Where was it? Yeah. Where it should go. Yeah. And if so then if there's nothing else that anyone wants removed, is there a motion, to to accept the consent agenda? So moved. Trustee Schmidt? Second. Supported by Trustee Wilkes. Any discussion?
And, miss Hosinski, please. Trustee Basquiat? Yes. President Feaster? Yes. Trustee Mohammed? Yes. Trustee Schmidt? Yes. Trustee Wilkerson? Yes. Trustee Wilks? Yes. Motion carries. Thank you. I believe there's nothing to forge tonight under board action. I believe that brings us down to item four agenda planning. Anything new? The trustees will sorry, trustee mom. I don't know if this isn't here or items from the board, but I know it's brought up before about trying to get our minutes transcribed, but not like, can we look at Zoom or something?
Because sometimes it's very hard for us to go back and, like, see, like, okay, what was covered, especially if we missed a meeting. We would have to watch, like, the entire the entire video. So I don't know if we can just look at having, like, automatic transcription or something from Zoom. I don't know if it's if it belongs here or the board items from the board. Just we'll figure it out. Okay. I don't care. I know we had this discussion previously and But not in the service. Right. They'll just trust you want the service and all that. No. You made by Zoom. Just like a Zoom automatic.
Whatever's free. Gotcha. Yeah. Free. No no cost. Okay. Yeah. Sounds good. Thank you. Anything else for agenda plan trustees as previously been mentioned in the last couple meetings? Alright. Seeing none, I believe that brings us down to number 14 items from the board. Do trustees have anything they would like to share? Seeing none, I believe that brings us down to adjourn. Do I have a motion to adjourn by voice vote? Show moved. Moved by Trustee Schmidt. Second. Moved by Trustee Wilkinson. Any discussion? Saying none, all in favor to adjourn,
say a say aye. Aye. Aye. The Indian post your name. The what? It carries. Thank you. We adjourn at 10:06. 10:06. 10:06. Yeah. Oh, thanks. Appreciate it.