The Ann Arbor Public School Board of Education in order. Missus Ozinski, may we have a roll call, please? Trustee Basquiat? Yes. Trustee Feaster? Here. Trustee Mohammed? Here. Trustee Schmidt? Present. Trustee Wilkerson? Present. Trustee Wilks? Present. Thank you, miss Ozinski. I would now like to introduce the nonvoting member at the table, superintendent of schools, miss Jazz Parks. Good evening. Thank you, president Feaster. Thank you. I believe that brings us down to number two, and we have our special recognition. And I'll turn it over to miss Parks for that. Thank you, president Feaster. Trustees, community. Unfortunately, we have two tributes this evening,
for two of our current employees who have passed away. The first tribute will be to, miss Keisha Monique Ferguson, who is a beloved Clegg Middle School math teacher. Keisha was born on 12/15/1970 and passed away on Sunday, 06/15/2025. She began her teaching career at Angel Elementary in 1993 and taught at several other AAPS elementary buildings before her year her years at Clegg Middle School. She was a passionate and gifted math educator who devoted thirty two years to helping
students grow in confidence and skill. Keisha graduated from Michigan State University in 1992 with a bachelor of arts in elementary education and teaching. She received a master of arts in curriculum and instruction and a PhD in teaching and teacher education, mathematics education from the University of Michigan, Rackham Graduate School. She has been an active member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority since 02/2008. Keisha's impact extended far beyond the classroom. She was a mentor to many, a trusted colleague, and a cherished friend. Above all,
she was a loving mother to her teenage son, William, Trey Gray, who was the light of her life. Miss Ferguson was also the daughter of Arlene Barnes, who was a retired APS principal and administrator, and Earl Ferguson, who was a retired a p a APS noon hour supervisor, from Tappan Middle School. Keisha is survived by her son, Trey, her parents and family members, friends, and colleagues. We share our deepest sympathy with Keisha's family and friends, the students and staff at Clegg Middle School, and all who knew and loved Keisha. Please join me in a moment of silence and tribute of Keisha Ferguson.
Thank you, miss Parks. Thank you. Our second tribute this evening is, pardon me, a tribute to Frederick Courtney Webster junior, who is a beloved Pioneer High School teaching assistant and coach. Fred was born on 06/26/1975 and passed away on 06/23/2025, just a few days shy of his fiftieth birthday. He graduated from Cass Tech High School in 1993 and attended Washtenaw Community College, earning an associate of arts and criminal justice degree. Fred furthered his education at Lawrence techno Technological University,
and in 1999, received a diploma in radio broadcasting. In twenty two thousand nine, Fred began his service at Pioneer High School serving as both a teaching assistant and girls varsity basketball assistant coach. He also coached boys varsity basketball basketball assistant coach. He also coached boys varsity basketball at Arbor Prep High School and boys junior varsity basketball at Dexter High School. In 2016, Fred became certified as a notary public for the state of Michigan. In 2023, Fred enrolled at Eastern Michigan University and recently completed his bachelor's degree in special education
and teaching. Fred is survived by his wife, Kenitra Webster, his daughter, Korche, and many extended family members, friends, and colleagues. We share our deepest sympathy with Fred's family and friends, the students and staff at Pioneer High School, and all who knew and loved Fred. At this time, please join me in a moment of silence and tribute to Frederick Courtney Webster Thank you, miss Parks. Literally, that brings us down to number three, approval of the of the agenda. Trustees, is there a motion to approve the agenda? So moved. Is there support? Second. It's moved by Trustee Schmidt, supported by Trustee Wilkes.
Any discussion? I saw Trustee Wilkins first. I'd like to add, we got an email, late this afternoon from the teachers music teachers. They'd like to be added to the community, update section. I was made aware of that, just a little bit ago. We're gonna have them speak as part of the AEA, That's fine. Okay? Anything else? That's that's my request. Okay. Alright. If there's nothing else, then miss Silsinski, please. Trustee Vasquez? Yes. President Easter? Yes. Trustee Mohammed? Yes. Trustee Schmidt? Yes. Trustee Wilkerson? Yes. Trustee Wilks?
Wilkins? Yes. And trustee Wilks? Yes. Motion carries. Thank you, miss Osinski. Okay. Well, that brings us down to public commentary. The board would like to remind everyone that individuals who signed up for public commentary will have their name called and are given an opportunity to speak. Commenters will receive up to four minutes with a total of no more than forty five minutes allowed for the public commentary period. When your name is called, please come forward and speak at the microphone. To help manage your time, a clock will be placed on the screen in front of you. We would like to remind everyone that public school,
excuse me, the public comments generally pertain to the Ann Arbor 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 we'll follow-up as appropriate. Miss Ozinski, how many sign up do we have for this evening? We have 17 signed up this evening. Each person will get two minutes and forty seconds. Thank you, miss Ozinski. First up is Megan Casino. Good evening. My name is Megan Kuzhno, and I have two children at Burns Park Elementary.
The excellent reputation of AAPS was an important part of why my husband and I chose to move our family to Ann Arbor four years ago. My kids have attended Burns Park since then, and I have come to love and respect the school community immensely, especially our incredible teachers. However, Burns Park has been chronically understaffed by the district, and that's causing significant harm to the learning environment at Burns Park Elementary. AIPS sets forth target class sizes and includes them in PowerPoints and publicity materials. It contractually agrees to these targets in its collective bargaining agreement with teachers,
which states every attempt will be made to staff each regular classroom within these targets. These targets are 20 students per kindergarten class, 22 per first and second grade class, and 24 per third grade class. These targets reflect the district's understanding that these are the class sizes that create the ideal learning and teaching environments. People like me move to Ann Arbor for these small class sizes at AAPS. Yet at Burns Park, the majority of our kindergarten through third grade classes are 20% above these stated targets.
This is not a universal AAPS problem. Other parents and I have personally collected data on K through three class sizes at 15 other AAPS elementary schools. 14 of the 15 have significantly lower student to teacher ratios than Burns Park. For this reason, I'm here tonight with other parents from the Burns Park community to ask for help from the board. Will you please look closely at how our student to teacher ratios compare to the other AAPS elementaries in grades K through three? We are being forced into split grade classes in an attempt to accommodate these large
classes without enough teachers to appropriately do so. Any AAPS teacher could tell you that the district curriculum is not set up for a teacher to keep to keep up teaching two grades curricula in the same amount of time intended to teach one curriculum. In FEP, we have 27 students in some kindergarten classes, and nobody can teach twenty seven five year olds as well as they could teach 20. This understaffing has had many ramifications that other parents will talk about tonight. I'm here to directly ask you to please allocate two more FTE classroom teachers to
Burns Park Elementary for the coming school year to begin addressing this serious and ongoing issue. Thank you very much for your time. Daniel Hamstra. Daniel Hamstra. So my name is Dan Hamstra. My daughter, Emma Hamstra, will be on the agenda tonight, because she is being, moved forward to remove her as a teacher from Nanra Republic Schools without the due process guaranteed her by the contract and by the union negotiated terms of her employment. I believe strongly in Arab Republic Schools. My kids went to these schools for thirty seven years. I believed in what this stood for, and I'm just flabbergasted in what happened.
Emma taught here for five years. Not a single ever complaint. She was scored as, efficient or highly efficient on every evaluation by all of her evaluators. She is well loved. There's a huge crowd of people here to support her. So what happened? Why is she being evaluated badly now? She did have one complaint, and then on April 21, she would put on administrative leave. We asked for written documentation of the actual complaint again and again and again. And when did we get it? 03:35 today by email.
We had one document previously with oblique terms that were used, but never actual any formal documentation of what she was accused of until three hours ago. Why is this? Why is she being not allowed the due process guaranteed in her contract? I would offer it's because she stood up for the rights of appropriate grades. Two years ago, a child in one of her classes failed. The principal came to her and asked her along with the child if that grade could be remediated. She gave her remediation plan that was over four months. The child did not do that remediation plan.
The child came back then over a year later and asked again, could she get have that plan remediated? And Emma said, no. That's not fair. It's a year and a half after the class. I can't give you a passing grade at this point in time. And after that, the principal started to give her inappropriate assignments, classes that conflicted with her coaching, 13 IEPs in a class of 25, which is double what it's supposed to be. And when this first complaint came in, who investigated the complaint? The administrator. Who wrote up the complaint? The administrator. When the one time Emma had a chance to talk with AAPS employees,
who was there? The administrator. This seems like it is almost conspiratorial, but when you find out that that child that had the failing grade subsequently had a passing grade in that class and in another class that was failed, and neither teacher can attest that they ever made any changes for those grades to pass. How did those grades get to be passing grades? Why is the student this teacher being persecuted after exemplary teaching for five years? This isn't the way the school system should run. Emma Emma Hamster. Emma hamster? Yeah. My husband mentioned,
we've had kids in your schools for thirty seven years. We have loved the Anabra public schools. Refer to Haywood, we have we have volunteered weekend hours because we believe what the system does. And most of all, we believe in a fair right. We believe that if someone's bullied by their boss, someone should look into this. I don't think I can say much more, so I'm giving my time over, to a parent at community high school, to Andrew Schroeder because I just I can finish this. Hi. My name is Andrew Schroeder. I have a child in Emma Hamstra's foreign class at community high school, and I feel like it's my duty to,
speak out in, in behalf of Emma Hamstra at this meeting. When we elected to send our son to community high school, it was explicitly with the purpose of challenging him and promoting his intellectual, artistic, and social growth through a diverse, open minded, and highly engaged community of educators and students. This is not to say he wouldn't have found that in other elements elsewhere, but community high school is specifically renowned for this approach. And it's at community high school that we most expected him to get the education that would push him to think critically and evaluate difficult ideas. And it's for this exact reason that I am personally shocked,
dismayed, and dumbfounded by the treatment that Emma Hamstra has been subjected to by community high school as I understand it. I have read the complaint in question, the which involves a poem. I read it carefully more than once. There is no problem whatsoever with this, with this poem apart from the fact that it is aesthetically and intellectually demanding. And to say that this was even remotely in the range of a fireable offense is itself an offense to our intelligence. To say that, it is a difficult piece of work designed to provoke critical thought and debate, which is true,
and that is the purpose to provoke critical thought, and I would expect nothing less of Emma Hamster to have challenged her class to read, under understand and attempt to engage with it as a way to access ideas and insights that might otherwise not be accessible or available to them. Its assignment to her class is entirely in keeping with Emma's consistent high quality efforts to provide the best intellectual example that she can for the children in her classes. And so to attack her in this way, up to and including the point of termination from the school is what I would consider a complete dereliction of duty on the part of community high school and the
Ann Arbor Public School System. It's a betrayal of the values which we and presumably you profess to support. This was done without even a hint of due process, which is just beyond comprehension. It is unconscionable, and it should be reversed immediately. You unconscionable, and it should be reversed immediately. You owe this to Emma Hamstra. You owe it to my son and to, his classmates and to community high school and the ideals of public education in America. Thank you. Thank you. David Hamstra David Hamstra followed by Jim Dupree. Members of the board, superintendent parks, my name is David Hamstra. I am Emma's older brother. I'm also a rainbow zebra community class of 2,006.
What drew me to community was the chance for a different kind of education. A school where I could rewrite the lyrics to a John Cougar Mellencamp song instead of writing an English paper and get credit for it. A place where I could be taught by someone who wasn't a teacher, but worked for the governor of Michigan and learn about the presidential primary process. A place where I was encouraged to write an essay about my parents' experience who had me in high school and comparing that to the scarlet letters Hester Prynne. Community was a school that fostered not just academic excellence, but also creativity and freedom of expression.
The lessons I learned at community, to think deeply and to write with care, to be accepting of others and open to new ideas, those lessons stuck with me. Through my time at Yale College and the University of Michigan Law School and then into my career. First as an active duty judge advocate in the United States Army, sometimes called a JAG, and now as an attorney with the US Department of Justice. Of course, the views expressed here today are my own and not those of my employers. It's my community high experience that has made these last few months so confusing, so unlike the school that I knew and loved.
A community high school English teacher with years of excellent reviews is placed on administrative leave, and then told her boss is recommending her termination. Why? Well, until about 03:30 today, it wasn't entirely clear, because she was not provided documents setting forth the specific allegations nor offering evidence to support them. One of my jobs as an army JAG was representing soldiers appealing their court martial convictions. They knew exactly what they were charged and convicted of, and they got a copy of the supporting evidence. Many of these soldiers were convicted of heinous crimes, and yet they still enjoyed basic due process that's been denied to an English teacher
with a spotless record. So why is Emma at risk of losing her job? Well, it seems to be because she taught a poem that someone didn't like. A poem she had taught for years without incident. A poem by an award winning poet and university professor. Like my favorite community high school teachers, Emma was challenging her students, exposing them to different and, yes, sometimes difficult ideas and ways of thinking. It's what we ask our teachers to do, and it's certainly not a fireable offense. The Ann Arbor Public Schools and Community High in particular have long stood for academic rigor and freedom. Endless teaching is in keeping with that rich tradition.
Members of the board, now more than ever, is the time for you to stand up for these values. I urge you to end this farce and allow a good teacher to get back to work. Thank you. Jim Dupree. Thank you. Jim Dupree followed by John Potto. So good evening. My name is Jim Dupree. I'm the parent of two children at Burns Park Elementary. I actually would like to begin with, some gratitude. Gratitude for all of you for the hard work of leading our school system. I know it's a lot of hours. You've been here a lot already tonight, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to speak tonight. One of AAPS's beliefs is that we are stronger when we are working together,
and I come here, in a spirit of collaboration with you. I'll begin with my ask, and my ask is a request to follow-up on miss Kujuneau's to for you all as the board of education to request and approve a budget for Burns Park Elementary that provides it with the teachers to meet AAPS's own targets. The reason that I'm making this request is that this year, as a parent, I've observed, have a unique opportunity between my two children who are just one grade apart to observe a kindergarten classroom last year with 21 students very close to AAPS's target of
20. And this year with a kindergarten classroom of 25 students, which actually exceeds AAPS's own stated maximum for the school. When I was a volunteer, for reading day or at the Halloween party with a classroom of 21, it was a frankly quite lovely learning environment. Always a little bit difficult with kindergarteners, but the teacher of that classroom was incredibly skilled and had those, students learning every single day. This year, my older daughter my, younger daughter, is in a classroom. The same teacher, same outstanding skills. She's a tremendous, tremendous educator,
but she has 25 students in her class this year, and it was a palpably different environment. An environment that I went and observed for myself was chaotic, not as a result of any shortcoming of the teacher, but simply by the fact that there were 20 per excuse me, 20% more students in the classroom this year than last year. When we look at next year's projected targets, there are classrooms that will also, far exceed the targets for Ernst, the AAPS has stated and really approach the maximums. It's unclear why this is happening at Burns Park Elementary and even, you know,
the AAPS targets. The Michigan Board of Education has recently reaffirmed just how important it is to have classroom sizes of 20 in the k through three grades because of the important foundation of long term learning and growth that these, that these grades provide. I will, there are many schools within the elementary system here at APS that are already meeting the targets. And so I will close with my ask, which is again to please request as the board of education that you ask for and then approve a budget for Burns Park Elementary and frankly for any other school with targets,
classroom sizes above the targets that meet our stated goals and targets for the best learning of our education and support of our teachers. Thank you very much. John Potto followed by Jeff Cass. Hello. Good evening, board. We're gonna begin yet. Okay. Hi. Parent, voter taxpayer, former PTO president in the public schools here. I'm here to speak about the employment issue with Amherst, so that's gonna be coming before you later. Come from a slightly different perspective, which is, I'm concerned that this is gonna lead to litigation. And I think that this had we have a budget crisis, and I don't want there to be protracted legal fees and,
possible damages to exposure. Here's what we know so far that has been uncontroverted is that the, potentially controversial poem had been taught by miss Hamster in the past, without instant and with the school's awareness and the being on the syllabus. So we know that it's been done in the past, and something different happened this year. We also know without controversy that there was a dispute over changing a student's grade where miss Hamster was asked to change it and refused to do so. And that the implicated student, I don't wanna identify anyone,
had a direct relationship with the supervisor who instigated these complaints against miss Hamster. So we have a lot of smoking gun of potential retaliation against miss Hamster. It's possible that the poem, and related conduct with its, challenging nature has been expressed by their parents was not as well received as the parents you heard testify here before you. It's also possible that there is a retaliation going on, for refusal to change a grade, regarding a trumped up, excuse regarding a poem that has been taught in the past. What I I don't purport to know the answer to that question,
but I do know is that you're gonna be asked to vote on something, where it is quite plausible that there is a retaliatory, wrongful discharge claim coming down the pipe. And so, if that does lead to litigation and to, the school budget absorbing that, you will have to deal with the facts, that you're being told about these retaliatory possibilities. You can't say, like, well, no one ever told us that she was pressured to change a grade. No one's ever told us that she's taught this poem before in the past. That's now at your lap, and you know that we might be facing considerable liability. By all means,
because I I'm just thinking about how it I've because I've sat on boards nonprofit boards for how I would exercise my fiduciary capacity. You have your own little legal advice, I'm sure. If you have a legal opinion of counsel, someone who's written and signed legal opinion saying, we have no liability for wrongful exposure. There is no retaliation here. We have an ironclad case, then you're legally comfortable. But when I hear today about the fact that the written charges were only presented, the written charges were only presented this afternoon, A lawyer will drive a truck through that. You're gonna be in legal trouble. Thank you.
Jeff Cass. Jeff Chaos followed by Maren Green. Emma Hamster showed up in creative writing class during an era when USA national development hockey team players roam the hallways of Pioneer High School like giants. If a significant block of eight or nine of them inhabited a single class, the environment could feel like a locker room, oppressive, especially toward young females. That's why we were so lucky to have Emma. She was not worried about whether the hockey players would judge her. She said what she wanted to say and wrote what she wanted to write, and she taught those young men that female athletes could be just as dedicated and
passionate as they were. She taught them that judging eyes in the hallways and cat calling comments were hurtful and selfish. One of our assignments was to emulate the structure of a poem written by another former Ann Arbor student named Angel Nafeez, now a nationally renowned poet and professor at Barnard College in New York City. Angel's poem uses anaphora to illuminate the trials and triumphs of what it's like to be an African American woman in today's society. It's a poem hundreds of teachers around the country use as a model for students to follow, so they can write their own versions to help them explore their own complex identities.
Emma wrote an awesome piece about being a feminist and shared it with the class. All those hockey players listened and they learned. When Emma approached me years later to see if I take her on as student teacher, I was thrilled. At the front of the classroom, Emma once again exhibited the same qualities, thorough and meticulous preparation, evocative insights and assignments. My students loved her and were inspired by her. What has happened to Emma is a travesty. She is no plagiarist. She does not talk about her sex life in a class. What she does is teach young people how to understand who they are and what
they stand for and how to find their voices. Frannie Choi herself, an internationally celebrated literary superstar, says she is appalled and deeply disappointed to hear Emma is facing disciplinary action for teaching her poem in class. A poem that according to Frannie explores the experience of having a stranger yell something bizarre and loot at you on a public street. One that is common not only to a Asian Americans, not only to women, but also to many other minoritized groups, people of color, queer, trans, and gender nonconforming people,
and disabled people. Miss Choi goes on to say, to know that my poem might help young people of various backgrounds recognize and put language their own experience makes me feel grateful for the power of poetry. Using that poem in class is why Ann Arbor is considering fire firing Emma. That is a travesty. If this board does not immediately return Emma to full employment status, none of you have any business being connected to public education in any way. Get out of the classroom. Thank you, mister Cass. Maren Greene
Maren Green, followed by Ruth Hamstra. I've known Emma for nearly twenty over twenty years. I met her through her brother while students at Community High School. She exemplifies the Community High School morale and values. She's been an extraordinary member of the community of Ann Arbor, putting teaching part first, including doing things like making cookies until three in the morning and shifting plans for school related events. She's coached field hockey and taught summer school. And when attempting as a on a personal note, when attempting to make plans with Emma,
I always know that if if there's something to do with APS, that comes first. Emma has taught a poem that walked with the CHS style of learning and has ref been reprimanded by putting by being put on administrative leave. This poem was put on her syllabus for three years, and there has been ample chances for the dean to state that it was inappropriate. By bypassing her due process and attempting to terminate her, you are eliminating a teacher who has put her whole life into AAPS. Ruth Hamstra, then Britney Tobias.
I have daughter. I'm no. I'm gonna take my time. I am Ruth Hamstra. I'm sorry. I I I thought you said Ruth. I just wanna say that one thing about the Interim Republic schools, they have progressive discipline. Usually, we're we're a school system that looks further, deeper. It doesn't look for one or two people to decide a decision. When my daughter called us and said, I've been put on leave. I was interviewed by the dean and the assistant dean who and the head of the union. The head of the union was in there and and told Emma and to us,
it's okay. Emma was clear. It's it's been documented in her lesson plans. She didn't go off. This is the first and only complaint our daughter has ever had in five years until after this, we found out that her boss started calling people in to interview and ask about other poems, digging farther. And then the harassment began. The first official meeting that Emma had two days wasn't allowed time to find out, she was in the hospital. She emailed or texted the head of the union. He said, it's okay.
He got a hold of the APS school. They wrote back to him. There's copies of these that they understood they would reschedule. Emma has two medical conditions. She has Crohn's disease documented, and she also has migraines at a different level. The level where her neurologist has a cocktail that is in her chart at University of Michigan. No. And that did not just start as a complaint like the lawyers for the Interim Public School are saying because she was be being fired. This is a long standing two things. So that night at 08:15,
fifteen, there were two police officers pounding on Emma Hamster's door. There is a copy of these reports from Freedom of Information. And what did they say? We're doing a wellness check because your boss said you had possible mental health issues and or had mental health issues, possible depression, and they couldn't the school system could not get a hold of you in twenty four hours. Emma called us as parents, sobbing. She's like, they gave me meds. I was out of it. What if I had yelled them at the door? Would they have shot me? In this day and age,
you don't make a false police report. And these people that made that call do not have access to her medical records. They do not have the facts. They also knew if what is true in the Freedom of Information Act, they knew that the inter republic school had responded. I just wanna close with that wasn't the first retaliatory thing. And as parents, we are appalled. We trust you to do the right thing and send this back to be reviewed by a Thank you, Miles. Thank you. Britney Tobias followed by David Knott.
Good evening, board members. My name is Britney Tobias. I am the mother of two AAPS students, Jack, who just completed first grade and Josie, who just completed kindergarten both at Burns Park Elementary. With back to back children, I also offer a unique perspective on differences between the academic years. I'd like to briefly compare their kindergarten years. For the purposes of this feedback, my children have the same excellent kindergarten teacher. My son, who is one year older, his classroom had 21 students, regular access to a Chromebook and the Lexia reading program and no TA. His year had four sections,
so four different classrooms. My daughter's classroom the very next year, one year, had a weighted 25 students, was promised a TA that wasn't hired until mid November, and no access to a district promise Chromebook and therefore no Lexia reading program. For the first two months of school, a school social worker was often in the classroom as a one on one TA because one student was physically throwing things if unattended and sometimes if attended. Because the social worker was effectively a TA, there was no acting social worker, thus IEPs were delayed for many kindergartners. For kindergarten year, only had three sections.
In November, all three teachers were asked if they still wanted a TA or wanted additional money. Our teacher said yes to the TA. The two other teachers took the money. 25 students in one kindergarten classroom is higher than most other AAPS schools and well above the district's own target of 20. But both my children are now through kindergarten. So what's next? Is there an opportunity to help these students move forward and help future students? And what about the teachers? Do we wanna keep them? The tagline underneath the AAPS logo is lead, care, inspire, every child, every day. What about these children in packed kindergarten classrooms?
What will it look like for them in first grade? Will they finally have Chromebooks? I've heard several ideas for my children's next year at Burns Park. One idea was a split class for first and second grade. I have both of those grades in my house. One is self reading Harry Potter and the other is barely reading. Another idea is large class sizes. To take the four sections of rising second graders and combine them into three sections, 26, 27, 28 students in an early elementary classroom. Are we going to promise and not deliver on TAs again? Where do we draw the line? Maybe like my daughter's best friend, we throw in the towel on public education after kindergarten because a space opened up
at Emerson. Or maybe like those of us parents here tonight, we still believe in public education. Together, we can get it right. The direct act from my the direct asks from my commentary tonight is for two additional FTDs for Burns Park Elementary. We have the classrooms. We have the enrollment. We just need the teachers. Our building may be a 100 years old and slated for a remodel, but in the meantime, it's falling apart. There's no grass. Our kids play soccer on wood chips, slip in the lock hallways because of a leaky roof, and the teachers carry kids with physical disabilities up and down the stairs because the elevator is constantly broken. We could and should be leaders. Thank you so much.
David David Knott followed by Vicky Tijanolis. Good evening. I'm the truck driver. Thank you all for serving on the school board. And I put my kids through Wines Forsyth and Skyline. One is just graduated Columbia Law. One is gonna graduate Michigan in December. But it took him a while to get there because one of his close friends killed himself, and that is a kid who'd been in my home dozens of times. It was in that cycle of suicides that we all remember about nine years ago.
It was horrible. And Emma is a teacher who says, you're in pain. You look at pornography, and you feel degraded. People treat you lousy, maybe because you're unsure about your your sexual identity or your sexuality. Maybe you wear a hijab. Maybe you're not sure who you are, and you're tearing yourself up inside. Emma is a teacher who saves kids' lives. That's the point of these poems. I know there were three poems. The district claims one of them wasn't in the syllabi.
The evidence will prove otherwise. All of these poems were in the syllabi for years. Emma's not in charge of English department curricula at this high school. It's in the syllabus. She's been doing it for years. No complaints for years. I don't wanna talk about legal issues. I'm just trying to reach you for what you were elected to do. Emma is our community's values. Were those poems appropriate choices, you could decide not. I wouldn't condemn you for that. They're tough poems. Right? But the punishment of terminating her for the first time,
and you've heard the circumstances, that's that's not us. That's not appropriate. If you want her to try to do what she's doing in a different way, which is somewhat less offensive, which won't anger and infuriate and make and make you afraid that, oh, she's creating a sexual atmosphere or something, which she's not. I bring sex harassment lawsuits for a living. This is not creating a sexualized environment. It's creating an environment where kids feel free to talk about how they feel and how it's expressed in literature.
How words are a way to deal with who we are in our feelings so we don't turn anger and fury on each other or more importantly on ourselves, which is really our problem. Thank you. Thank you very much. Vicky. Sorry. Vicki Tujeanilis, and followed by Cassie Romel. Good evening, superintendent Parks and board members. Thank you for being here. I'm sure it's been a very long day for all of you. I will make this short. My name is Vicky Tionelis, and my youngest daughter is a rising second grader at Burns Park Elementary. I'm here primarily as a parent who is concerned about our growing class sizes.
I also work for the school district as an English language instructional assistant and a substitute teacher. Over the past four years as an ELIA and a long term sub at Burns Park and other schools, I've met many brilliant teachers, learned by observing them in action, and I've noticed differences in smaller versus larger class sizes. I've seen firsthand how large class sizes can stifle even the most experienced teachers. Instead of having the opportunity to focus on meaningful engaging instruction, they often end up spending much of their time on transitions and managing behavior. Not this not only undermines the quality of their education,
but it also puts a tremendous strain on educators who are already being stretched thin. The reasonable class sizes set by APS for first and second grade is 22 students. I think that's very reasonable. Fortunately, over the past school year, Burns Park has had four first play first grade classes that were at this target. But we've been informed that these four sections will likely be condensed into three because we do not have enough FTEs at our school to maintain four sections in that grade. Three sections will result in about 27 students per class.
This is not acceptable. This is not equitable. Our diverse student body deserves reasonable class sizes so that students can learn and so that their teachers can teach. As a concerned parent, and more importantly, as a voice for the language learners that I get to support, I'm here with a simple request. Please allocate two more teachers to Burns Park Elementary School for the coming school year so that all the grades can come closer to the targets that are set by the district and so that all students can benefit from the pedagogical expertise of our
excellent teachers. Thank you for your time. Cassie Romel, followed by Daniel Hevelina. Good evening. My name is Cassie Romelt. Can you hear me? Am I sorry. I'm the parent of two Burns Park students and I'm here to share my family's experience in relation to the current FTE allocation and disproportionately large class sizes at our school. This year, there were key shortages in our school's social work department and most classrooms, as you've heard, were also well above the target sizes sizes outlined by the district,
my son's third grade class being one of them. And as it's been mentioned, the majority of other AAPS elementary schools did not sustain over target classrooms at nearly the rate seen at Burns Park. In compliance with his IEP, my son should have been receiving Sorry. How are you? He should have been receiving dedicated social work services regularly. Thanks. But due to the large class sizes and the diversity of student needs school wide, the social work and resource room professionals were regularly pulled away from their primary duties
to support general ed classrooms, as you've heard. Meanwhile, my son was bumped from the remaining social worker's overflowing caseload. No fault of her own, she was being asked to do the job of two people, and spent the majority of his year without receiving any services. To date to date, he's owed over seven hundred minutes in compensatory services from the district. And so it begs the question, how many students is the district willing to compromise in order to maintain the insufficient staffing allocation at our school?
I volunteer at our school and I've seen firsthand the teachers bringing their skills and expertise to each and every classroom interaction, but it's simply not possible to support the needs of all students with such large class sizes. But the district knows this, which is why rightly so the target sizes have been set well below most of our current class capacities. So this evening, I'm urging the board's engagement in this matter. Please know that we intend to stay vigilant in advocating that class size targets be met, and we'll continue exploring all options to ensure that every effort is being made by
the district to do so. Thank you for your time. Daniel Hamilina, then Luke Hyde. Thanks a bunch, for being here tonight and for your service. I'm proud to support Emma Hamstra tonight. I wasn't there in the class to know what happened, so I'm going to talk briefly about my personal knowledge and observations. I know Emma through two different communities. First, she and I participate in a community musical theater featuring kids where she had a leadership role. She was always an advocate for child safety and background checks, and always the first to speak up for
musicals and content that would be appropriate for the community. I also know her. I know her first as a forum teacher for my daughter, who's now graduated from community. And I got invited to be on several camping trips, forums go on special trips and I could be a chaperone. I didn't have to do much, but I got to observe that Emma gave everything. She stayed up all night to make sure that the kids were safe and making good choices. The other thing I noticed is that the culture of the forum was very positive
and supportive and tolerant of people with differences, right? No one was there was no bullying. It was very comfortable for everybody. And I appreciated that. And finally, my daughter started high school at the beginning of the pandemic, and I think she missed a window to try new things, you know, being at home. And Emma always encouraged Molly to take risks and and sort of stretch herself, and I really appreciate that. So it would be a a real shame, to lose Emma as a teacher, over what sounds like, nothing. Thank you. Luke Hyde,
then Katherine Richardson. Good evening, everyone. Thank you all for listening intently to all of our comments. So my name is Luke Hyde. I'm a parent of a second grader and a fourth grader at Burns Park. I'm also a professor in clinical and developmental psychology areas in the psychology department at U of M, and I'm also a licensed clinical psychologist. I understand that there are major budget deficits the district is trying to address, but I've been disappointed by seeing that so much money has been taken out of our school and out of schools in general, for teachers and with such large class sizes, as well as less assistant principals,
fewer social workers, and fewer teachers' assistants. We need money in the budget in schools for staff, particularly teachers. I'm not sure I've seen the corresponding cuts in the district budget for administration at the district. And I wanna point out as people have mentioned that I think the district knows from your target class sizes that there's a good literature showing that smaller class sizes yield better academic and behavioral achievement for kids, particularly in elementary school and particularly for lower income students. Class sizes for my kids have been approaching 30, in their times at Burns Park. And in scientific studies, small is usually closer to 20,
and large is 20 or 25 students. So my kids have been in the large range. One really nice study that I I looked up today looked at optimal class size and put it about 15 for younger elementary school kids, and we're not even close to that. Scientific evidence suggests that class size matters because it helps students engage more when they're in smaller classes because teachers have fewer students that potentially need help with behaviors, and so they can spend more time in instruction and less time on, challenging behaviors. But But even beyond the science, I wanna point out that when we have really large class sizes, it's a big factor in burnout for teachers, especially good teachers who wanna do a great job.
I think right now in the district, the last thing we wanna do is burnout and lose really good teachers. At my children's school at Burns Park, they rarely have teacher aids even when their children with serious behavior problems. Last year, the school also lost funding for an assistant principal with the school, which I believe is over 500 children. She was really important, and I'm worried about how these kinds of cuts hurt, teacher morale and parent morale as you've heard. I'm also I also find this more broadly disappointing, and I'm only learning that Burns Park is maybe more of an outlier. But in general, I'm disappointing disappointing to see that the district has been surprised about losing pupils over
time and that thinking about things like advertising, rather than the idea that we need to need to put more money into our schools. It's especially, I think, objectionable because this is a really beautiful and really expensive building that the administration is in, and I think that what we really need is money in schools with more teachers. So just in summary, I wanna say that, we need monies paying teacher salaries, paying for vice principals, paying for teaching assistants as well as staff like social workers, psychologists. We need less bureaucracy in the district and more money in teachers and smaller classrooms. Thank you. Catherine Richardson. Catherine Richardson, then Jeremy Haley.
Hi. I am a special education teacher at Community High School. I'm here to speak on behalf of Emma Hamstra, and I have co taught with Emma in the past. I've known her for the five years she's since she began teaching there. I've noticed that Emma cares a lot about student safety. She when she invited me to come, we mentioned the, some of our forum overnights. She would invite me to come, and I would notice she would stay up all night so she could make sure the kids were safe all night. She was always on to having the background checks and making sure everyone had a
safe and good time. In the classroom, I noticed she understands pedagogy and really well, and she's very organized. And she has a lot of systems in place to help everyone stay organized, especially our kids with different learning needs, and that she's passionate about teaching. And she's just a really good person, nice person to have around, so I would hate to lose her due to, the things that I've heard of just reading having a poem read to the kids. It doesn't make sense. And it's not what we stand for community.
So, I just wanted to say that, and I'll keep it short. That was all I wanna say. Thank you for listening. Jeremy Haley. Good evening. Jeter Mahaley from Fitzy Township. Sorry. I just got used to saying that from the other meeting, so it's just routine now. What I'd like to talk about is, we all can learn from other people's mistakes. I can say we can all can do that. And my daughter graduated from Dexter High School a number of years ago. Not a lot, but just a few years ago ago. And the whole time she was there, I kept asking her questions about the high school.
Do they have any, like, shop classes, metal shop, wood shop, auto shop? And her answer was no. They don't have none of that. And when you looked at the WTMC numbers that went to Washtenaw Community College WCM program, that actually starts to make sense why they have the most numbers because the Dexter School Board failed those students and sent them off to that because they didn't have the needs for those students. What I mean is they didn't have any shop classes.
And And I don't know if you heard just recently, they just approved a bond there for $240,000,000 to improve some schools and also make some shop classes now at the high school. So I say they got pie on their face because for many years, they focused on college, college, college, and these kids college. Now you hear, look. Wait. We don't even have any skilled trades people because everybody's sent them to college. You know? So your decisions matter, and they will go on for decades. So your decisions do count. And and what I like to talk about is the auditoriums.
My family moved to Ann Arbor Schools many years ago. I went to started in the eighth grade at Tappan and started playing the guitar there, and I haven't stopped since. They gave me opportunity to play the music many years ago and I that I still play today. And by and it gave me the opportunity to play in an auditorium then. I know Tappan is not an elementary. But when you deny those students the opportunity, that facility to do those such things even at that early age, you're hurting them. You're disabling them in a way,
their creativeness. And the creativeness of the students matters in their education because it keeps them going interested in things. So chain you know, build the auditoriums because don't be like Dexter. You'll have pie in your face many decades later going, we should have done it then. Just do it now and get it over with. Thank you. That concludes public commentary. That concludes public commentary. Thank you, miss Ozinski. 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? I would I would, just simply say thank you, mister Hoke. I would simply say that, you know, we have, certainly, attention on class sizes in all of our Across all of our schools. There we know in the terms of contract language, there are classroom targets and there are classroom maximums. And we do our staffing process and engage in our staffing process, getting as close to the ideal as we can with the FTE and staffing that we have based on enrollment. And we will always stay within the parameters of our collective bargaining agreement.
And so we will continue to pay attention to that. Staffing is a fluid process. By no means is staffing done at this time of year. Trustees, we've talked about this before that staffing continues well into the fall. And we expect that will be the case again this year in many of our schools as we continue to to take a look at how enrollment settles. So we'll continue to keep an eye on our numbers here, and make the decisions necessary, as things settle. Thank you, miss Parks. I believe that brings us down to reports of associations, and I see the Ann Arbor Education Association,
AAEA, is next on our agenda. Good evening, superintendent Parks, board of education, trustees, and Ann Arbor community. I would first like to start by the Ann Arbor Education Association offering our heartfelt condolences to the families of Keisha Ferguson, beloved teacher at Clegg Middle School, and as well as to the families of Fred Webster Junior, beloved teacher assistant at Pioneer High School. The loss of both of them is a tremendous loss to our school community,
and I would like to acknowledge that. My name is Tamela Bell, and I am the vice president of the Ann Arbor Education Association. Earlier today, our AAAEA bargaining team met with the district team for four hours, And I am pleased to announce that we have reached a two year calendar agreement. Thank you. For the twenty twenty five, twenty twenty six school year as well as for the twenty twenty six, twenty twenty seven school year.
It has been many years since we have been able to walk away from the table with a multi year calendar agreement, and we are proud to provide concrete dates for our students, teachers, and community for more than just one year. And this calendar is not coming to you in the month of August. I would like to thank the members of our bargaining team for their many hours of work and preparation. Sarah Beth Badlamenti, Danielle Capitan, Roberta Cole, Desiree Cross,
AAAEA President Fred Klein, Karma Nordstrom, Maggie Rohde, and Christy Yee. And none of this would be possible without the hard work and dedication of our chief negotiator, George Przgatski, whose countless hours of diligent preparation has helped us to secure the calendar bargain. I would also like to thank all of our teachers that provided input via surveys, and the members of community that emailed us and shared their interest in having a
multi year agreement around calendar, as many of our surrounding districts do. The full details of this calendar agreement will be released soon by the district. And based on the momentum that we have today, the AAAEA looks forward to returning to the bargaining table with the district in early August. I would also like to give a huge congratulations to our newly crowned Miss Michigan, Hannah Palmer, a third grade teacher at Hazely Elementary. In addition to the title,
she was the recipient of scholarships to help pay for grad school. We are incredibly proud of Hannah and the AAAA wishes her luck as she vies for the crown of Miss America later this summer. Thank you very much, and I would like to cede the remainder of my time to the AAPS music teachers. Thank you. Thank you and good evening. My name is Jessica Anderson. I'd like to introduce myself, first as a resident of Ann Arbor for the last sixteen years.
As a parent of three children in the district, three Burns Park penguins, that have all been, tapping trojans and two that are now, community rainbow zebras. Right? So, William will be a two of my children are here tonight. So thank you for my sons for being here. I am an APS music teacher, and I teach at Lakewood. I am a vocal music teacher and a strings teacher in our district. And I'm here representing our music department.
So, to our superintendent parks, miss Dawn Linden, mister Bernie Rice, mister Jason Bing, members of the APS Board of Education, and to whom it concerns. The APS performing arts teachers are asking that the board of education call a special meeting open to the public to review the recommendations developed by the APS performing arts advisory committee. We ask the APS music teachers be able to present to the board and be
available to take and ask questions through discussion alongside the Gilbane program managers and district leaders. On 06/17/2025, the first meeting of the performance arts advisory committee for elementary stages and gathering spaces was held, including performing arts teachers, building administrators, APS superintendent of teaching and learning, Don Linden, assistant superintendent of capital programs, Britney Rice, Jason being the directors of capital programs,
program managers from Gilbane Buildings company, Kevin Stansbury and Stephanie Corona, and fine arts coordinator, Kim Colson Mobley. Specifications and priorities were created and shared by performing arts teachers including one, the importance of a flexible gathering space that can be scaled up to accommodate the entire school population and one grade level of parents. Two, an appropriately outfitted and sized stage based upon the number of classrooms that a grade
level can be accommodated in the building. Three, the community space should not be shared with the curricular classroom, I. E. The gym. Four, additional details regarding curtaining, lightning, AV equipment and acoustics. Five, administrators and the team also highlighted the importance of ease of setup and space for large assemblies. As requested by Don Linden, assistant superintendent of teaching and learning, additional feedback and possible solutions for each school were electronically shared by performing arts teachers
post meeting with the committee. To summarize the feedback, the current designs for five of the six Phase one and early Phase two schools Lakewood, Lawton, Logan, Mitchell and Thurston include the following major flaws. Number one, the cafes performing arts spaces are not large enough. This includes not being able to hold the entire school in addition to not being large enough to accommodate an appropriately sized temporary performance platform. Number two, the two largest schools,
Logan and Thurston, do not include the necessary amount of specialized area classrooms for these buildings capacity. Those are the art, music, PE, and PLTW and media classrooms. And number three, the portable platform solutions presented in recent mock ups were not large enough to accommodate a grade level of performers. They also present additional unresolved logistical challenges and concerns and lack important features that do not support quality performances and experiences that a permanent stage would.
At the second performing arts advisory committee meeting on Monday, June 23, the committee reviewed and affirmed this information. A recommendation was made to engage architects in early July to begin work to address these glaring issues with the building plans for Logan, Mitchell, and Thurston schools in a timely matter. To be clear, enhancing performing art spaces is a stated priority in the 2019 bond as can be seen in all capital improvements community updates notably in February.
Not only is it a specified goal of the bond itself, but also early on in the community engagement process, teachers in the community affirmed stages with music room proximity, auditorium spaces for concerts, talent shows, etcetera, gathering spaces that welcome the community, Assembly space with good accuse acoustics and connections with community theater groups. Further review of the discovery reports on a two schoolsbond.org from several of the schools reviews that while considerable time was spent around gathering spaces
for grade level learning communities, significant time, if any, significantly less time, if any, was dedicated towards the designs of larger school wide community gathering spaces. The documented community engagement process exhibits no evidence of opportunities for feedback on actual architectural plans, making it clear that the original goals of the 2019 bond remained unchecked for much of the discovery of the design process. To reiterate the concerns expressed in our first two open letters,
major alarm bells went off in November of twenty twenty four for all projected new elementary buildings when the Thurston conceptual building plan video was shared with the community and performing arts teachers across the district were surprised by the lack of performing arts spaces in their building conceptual plans. These serious concerns about the lack of performing arts and the whole school gathering spaces were brought to the attention of Gilbane and the district leaders in February.
It took from December to April to get a meeting between concerned performing arts teachers and two architects with the help of Kim Coulson Mobley. As of June 21, no follow-up from the architects has been communicated. The school board must justly weigh the serious concerns that have been brought forward to ensure that the initial priorities of the 2019 bond are met. The urgency is upon us
to redraft the architectural plans to include appropriate school wide community gathering spaces that support the performing arts. Respectfully, your AAPS performing arts teachers. Thank you. Miss Zelinski, do do we have a copy of the open letter? I do not have it. Okay. Could that be presented to us, please? Thank you. And if you could email it. Okay. Thank you very much. I believe that brings us down to community group reports. Do we have any,
miss Lesinski? We have no community group reports this evening. Thank you. And I believe that brings it down to our superintendent update. I will turn it over to miss Parks. Thank you, president Feaster. Just a few items, for the superintendent's update this evening. As miss Bell shared, we are pleased to announce that we, came to an agreement with our our staff today on a two year calendar. We will be publishing those calendars as soon as we get them formatted out and and sent out. So we are, pleased to have been able to work in collaboration with our teachers union with both
the the district's team and the teacher's team to to come to some agreement there, for the community. So thank you very much for that partnership. Miss Bell, our AAEA team, as well as our district leadership team. The Pioneer High School acapella choir was recently invited to perform at the twenty twenty six Michigan Music Conference in Grand Rapids in late January twenty twenty six. The choir was selected through blind audition and is one of the five choir statewide invited to perform. The Michigan Music Conference is an annual statewide conference for k 12 music education.
The listening panel reviewed recordings from the previous three years demonstrating sustained excellence in performance. This marks the fourth time the previous times were in 2018, 2020, and 2023 that the a a cappella choir has received an invitation to perform at this conference. So we're excited for for them and congratulations. Tonight, we'd like to take a moment to recognize the Ann Arbor PTO Thrift Shop for supporting the Ann Arbor Public Schools. Founded in 1993, the Ann Arbor PTO Thrift Shop was started by a group of parent volunteers who
wanted to find better ways to financially support Ann Arbor Public Schools. Today, the shop employs paid staff and is a bustling hub where people from all walks of life can find something unique and affordable. Each year, the Ann Arbor PTO Thrift Shop donates thousands of dollars to Ann Arbor PTOs. This funding enables our students to enjoy enrichment activities, help supplement teacher supplies, and much, much more. This year alone, the Ann Arbor PTO Thrift Shop donate donated more than $60,000 to Ann Arbor Public School p t PTOs.
This donation included a matching grant for the Ann Arbor PTSO's equity fundraiser, increasing the amount of money available to title one schools. In 2025, the success of the PTO Thrift Shop allowed it to grant even more dollars for a APS to use at the district level. So on top of the $60,000 in contributions to PTOs, the PTO Thrift Shop donated more than $90,000 to APS to positively impact thousands of our students. Funds went to events, equipment, and books for students at all levels. These included the disability awareness workshops for elementary schools,
new books for middle and high schools, new r and p e equipment, and much more. In total, the Ann Arbor PTO Thrift Shop has donated more than a $140,000 to APS this year alone. As funding continues to be a critical at issue for public schools everywhere, we are so grateful for the partnership and support of the Ann Arbor PTO Thrift Shop. I encourage everyone to visit the shop this summer. By purchasing gently used items, you'll not only help the planet, but you'll also be helping our school PTOs provide meaningful experiences for our students and
needed items for our schools. Thank you, Ann Arbor PTO Thrift Shop, for your continued support of the Ann Arbor Public Schools. We are very grateful. Our last item this evening is an acknowledgment. We have, miss Linden coming forward along with Huda Harajli. Miss, Linden will introduce her for a recognition for some of our staff on an accomplishment that they have attained. Thank you so very much. Superintendent Parks, president of Feaster Trustees. I'm gonna quickly turn this over to Biz Hudda Harajli, but first, I would like to recognize, the partnership between miss Joanna Johnson,
who is our grants, guru in the district, who has worked very hard to help secure these monies and the partnership between her and Huda Harajli to increase the number of teachers in our district with an EL endorsement. So we're here to celebrate the hard work of teachers who volunteered, to take this on and also received a free master's degree through the grant. Hey. Here we go. And we do have a few slides that I know, Andrew will bring up. Good evening. Good evening. The school board looks a little different from the last time I was here, but it's great to see everyone. K.
So, good evening, superintendent parks, trustees, and Ann Arbor community. We are delighted to share with you that our first cohort of AAPS teachers will be graduating this Saturday, June 28 from Western Michigan University with their masters in teaching English as a second language. Little bit of background. In May 2023, AEPS applied and won a nearly $6,000,000 grant to the Michigan Department of Education through Grow Your Own. It was super competitive and AAPS received the largest individual district award at nearly $6,000,000.
We partnered with Western Michigan University, a leading provider for ESL endorsements in the state of Michigan. So through this program, we have nearly 100 AAPS teachers receiving a free masters in arts in teaching English to speakers of other languages and the k 12 ESL endorsement. This is a comprehensive professional development opportunity for our teachers. It also addresses a growing need in our district. Our EL population has doubled in the last ten years. We have currently 1,800 amazing English learners in our district and growing.
And 95 languages are spoken by our multilingual students and their families. So we recognize this huge need, and the Michigan Department of Education also recognize that English as a second language and bilingual education was a critical shortage area. So our current EL program staffing is 35 small but mighty group of EL teachers who are full time in our district, and they support district wide English learner programming. However, we recognize with our growing English learner population that 35 e l teachers alone cannot
execute the vision for our English learner program, so we sought out this opportunity with Western Michigan. Okay. So the program goals, building capacity and building a pipeline of highly qualified teachers in critical shortage areas, enhancing our cultural and linguistic responsiveness across the district, and strengthening our connections with our diverse student and family communities. It's advanced training through the grow your own T cell program, so G Y O is grow your own, is an ongoing district professional development opportunity in addition to our SIOP training and ongoing
professional development that we offer to everyone in our district. And, through this and other avenues, we see we look to enhance evidence based strategies for multilingual learners. K. So this is our first cohort. They are super near and dear to our hearts, especially Joanna and I because we've been through this together for twenty four months. Many emails, many phone calls, but we are so proud of them. 44 teachers will be walking across the Kalamazoo stage on Saturday, the twenty eighth. 24 elementary teachers and 20 secondary teachers,
and they are ready to implement, enhanced EL support strategies that will benefit multilingual students but also all students. This is great teaching all around. K. Let's take a moment. I'm not going to read everyone's names, but I do want to pause and give everyone a chance to look at all these phenomenal educators that will have a newly minted master's degree on Saturday. This is the elementary crew. Okay. This is the secondary crew. You have to clap for them. K. So continuing our investment in multilingual education, this is enhanced support for our culturally and linguistically diverse families and also building sustainable
capacity for our EL programming. We have more cohorts coming, so I hope to see everyone again in April and December with more names. Cohort two will be graduating April 2026, and cohort three will be following them December 2026. Cohort two is about 35 teachers strong. Cohort three is about 30 teachers strong. So around a 100. I just wanna reiterate just how proud of our teachers we are. It is not easy working full time, going to school full time, and all the other commitments that,
the folks in our cohorts have been juggling. Okay. We are proud of them as Ann Arbor teachers. As an English learner educator, I am so proud to stand next to them, and we can't wait to see all the great things they will do, in our classrooms and community. Thank you. Any questions? Any questions for miss Farajli, Chassis? Just to thank you. Thank you very much. That's amazing. So thank you so much. They're amazing. We're incredibly proud. Thank you. And that and that concludes the superintendent's report. Thank you, miss Parks. And I believe that brings us down to our second public hearing on the twenty
twenty five, twenty twenty six of both general fund budget. We have no sign ups for the budget, public hearing, second public hearing. Uh-huh. Thank you. We are at, number nine or 9.1, the the 2024, 2025 final budget amendment. Were there any changes? No changes. Down to 9.2, the 2025, 2026 proposed APS general fund budget. Were there any changes? No changes there either. Any questions, trustees? Okay. I believe that brings us down to oh, I'm sorry. Yes. Yes.
I would like to move that we recess to closed session for some client attorney privilege information. At this time? No. Yep. Okay. That is my motion. It's been moved by trustee Schmidt that we recess, for attorney client privilege information. It's been supported by trustee Basquiat. Any discussion? Okay. Then a roll call, please, miss Sultinski. Trustee Basquiat? Yes. Mister Feaster? Yes. Trustee Mohammed? Yes. Trustee Schmidt? Yes. Trustee Wilkerson? Yes. Trustee Wilkins? Yes. And Trustee Wilks? Yes. Motion carries. Thank you. We will recess at 08:38.
We will come back shortly. Thank you. And I recall this meeting of the NR Board of Education 09:08PM. I believe that brings us down to number 11. We are at the hearing, on the recommendation of termination of a a parishionary teacher. This is, requested by the teacher, her counsel, and I now invite, she or her counsel, to the podium, to address the board. Good evening. Evening. Good evening. I mean, I I don't wanna keep you. I'd rather just answer questions because you've heard from a lot of people and, you know, I I mean,
I think is there anything more you wanna hear from her? You've heard from a lot of people about the situation. And I'm sorry. Just so everyone knows, you are Oh, I'm sorry. I'm David I'm David Nacht, and I'm I'm a hamster's lawyer. And, obviously, I spoke earlier. And I'm not here to make legal arguments, and I believe the right thing to do is not to terminate this teacher. It's not clear to me she's probationary, but that's a discussion for another day. Fair. She has been here five years. And, you know, there was a law change in 2023.
I'm sure you're all aware of that. So but that's an issue for another day, and MEA will fight that battle if necessary. And, I mean, I I don't know if I assume you folks know who I am. And other cases I have that I Well, some of us are new on the board, so don't assume that we all know who you are. Three weeks ago, I beat your lawyer in federal court representing representing a representing a music teacher. I beat your lawyer in federal court representing a music teacher,
and I've sued you before. I'm gonna sue you again, but I sue you of m all the time. Look. I love in art school. I love u of m. I'm sort of part of the ecosystem. Right? And I try to get you to live up to your values and do the right thing. I don't sue you because I don't like you. It's what you do for a living. We understand. It's not only that. It's I think that all of us need to hear from outsiders. Right? And so sometimes, you know, elected boards need to hear from federal judges and juries, and that's okay. We all call it the way we see it.
And you're gonna call it the way you see it. I respect I was chair of the AATA board for I was on that board for a decade. A similar kind of service. I understand, you know, what you're doing. I I value that you're doing what you're doing. I would say this. Let me just say this one thing. It's very difficult when you're a volunteer board member, and you hire you hire the CEO. Mhmm. And the CEO says, look, it's my job to hire everybody else. And then there's laws and stuff, and let me run the place,
and your job is to hire me. And so you have to defer to me. And I would say, you're not undermining your CEO if you disagree with her on this judgment call. You're not undermining the idea that you care about having an appropriate classroom. You're not undermining your team, the professionals. You're not. You're reflecting this community's values about if we have a terrific teacher with a whole lot of support, and we disagree with her judgment call, but she's not in charge of curriculum, and the curriculum
her syllabus had the poems and she taught them for years. And really? You think the appropriate thing to do is to say, well, this judgment call was so outrageous, so horrible. So I assure you, they're going to be after the president's executive orders. They're gonna be a whole lot of people complaining about a whole lot of things in this district that offend people. And they're gonna say, the president of The United States backs me up. I'm offended deeply. I think a hundred years ago in rural Tennessee,
there were deeply offended people who felt God was being harmed by the teaching of natural selection in a biology class. I don't think we're rural Tennessee a hundred years ago. I think we're Ann Arbor, Michigan, and our values are we can tolerate some I really don't like that judgment call. I get it why people were offended. We can tolerate that without destroying a career. I think those are our values. I think you're not voting on this was the right judgment call.
And if I were teaching the class, I'd say good for you. I don't think it was appropriate the way termination was recommended, the way it was handled. Look, the district can defend itself. Good people, good lawyers. I don't think things were handled properly in this particular case. I think serious concerns have been raised. I think you need to think about who are you in terms of representing our community's values at this point in time. Don't open the door to allowing angry parents
to shut down who we are as a community. Be careful. Be very careful. That's really what I'd say. If there's nothing else, anything else, trustees? Well, we thank you very much for your comments. Thank you for for Thank you for thank you for listening. Alright. Take care. Bye bye, Nick. I see the I see the trustee Schmidt has something. Yep. I move, that the Ann Arbor Public Schools Board of Education. Oh, I'm sorry. Are are we there yet? We have to move down to board action. I'm sorry. I think we no. No. No problem. So we're down to board action, and I believe we're at twelve point one,
the 2024, 2025 final. Gonna do that? I I 11.1. Because we're doing it individually. Yes. Thank you. The 2024, 2025, final budget amendment, motion to adopt the resolution approving the twenty twenty four, twenty twenty five final APS budget amendments. Is there a motion? It's so moved. Second. So that was moved by trustee Schmidt, supported by Thanks, Bryce. Wilkes. Trustee Wilkes. Any discussion, trustees? Any discussion? Yeah. So of trustee Wilkes. I I would just like to add the comment of, you know, how close this final budget was, to what we had prepared throughout the course of the year.
And I just wanna, you know, state how great that is to see our business operations come in so close. Yes. I think mister Dimitriou told us, with a budget this big being off that small amount is, is is exceptional. And so I'm thankful to them for all that they did to, to to track our budget. Any other comments, trustees? Alright. Let's see. Missus Kiske, please. Trustee Baskett? Yes. President Feaster? Yes. Trustee Mohammed? Yes. Trustee Schmidt? Yes. Trustee Wilkerson? Yes. Trustee Wilkins? Yes. And Trustee Wilks? Yes. Motion carries.
Thank you. I believe that brings us down to 12.2. The twenty twenty five, twenty twenty six proposed APS general fund budget. Motion to adopt the resolution approved in the twenty twenty five, twenty twenty six APS general fund and special revenue budgets as presented. Is there a motion? So moved. Moved by trustee Wilkerson, supported by trustee Schmidt. Is there any discussion, trustees? Seeing none, miss Wilkinski, please. Trustee Basquiat? Yes. President Feaster? Yes. Trustee Mohammed? Yes. Trustee Schmidt? Yes. Trustee Wilkerson? Yes. Trustee Wilkerson? Yes. Trustee Wilks?
Yes. Motion carries. Thank you. And I believe that brings us down to 12.3. Action on the recommendation for termination of probationary teacher. Is there a motion? Yes. There is, and I'll make it here in a minute. I so move that the Ann Arbor Public Schools Board Of Education adopt the attached resolution acknowledging receipt of employee termination recommendation and decision of the Board of Education to proceed upon the termination recommendation, terminating the employment of Emma Hamstra as a probationary teacher at Community High School. Okay.
It's been moved by trustee Schmidt. Is there support? So moved. Supported by trustee Wilkes. Is there any discussion, trustees? Trustee Wilkerson. Yeah. I just wanna add one point. We heard from the community quite a bit, but, we do, in this district, respect employee personnel confidentiality. And as a board, I think we need to make this as a informed decision based on the information we have at hand. Thank you, trustee Wilkerson. Any additional discussion or questions, trustees? Any additional discussion or questions? Yeah. I would like to add that,
as the leader of this district, it's the superintendent's responsibility to provide instruction instructional leadership at the very top. This includes support for students and effective superintendent not only ensures academic supports, programs and activities for students, make sure that these are in place, but the superintendent also ensures and maintains a safe, caring, and healthy learning environment for all students. This is what a superintendent is required to do, and, I just wanna leave it at that. Thank you, Trustee Wilks. Any other discussion? Any other comment?
Alright. It's been moved by black member Schmidt, supported by trustee Wilkes, that the Niagara Public School Board of Education adopt the attached resolution acknowledged from receipt of employee termination recommendation and decision of this of the board of education to proceed upon termination, recommendation terminating the employment of Emma Hamstra as a probationary teacher at Community High School. And I will ask miss Olcinski for a roll call, please. Trustee Vasquez? Yes. President Feaster? Yes. Trustee Mohammed? No. Trustee Schmidt? Yes. Trustee Wilkerson? Yes. Trustee Wilkins?
Yes. Trustee Wilkes? Yes. Motion carries. Thank you. Oh, yes. Thank you. And I believe that brings us down to recess to closed session for the purpose of superintendent evaluation and adjournment of this meeting. Motion to recess to closed session for the purpose of evaluation of superintendent prior to the adjournment of this meeting. Is there a motion, trustees? So moved. Moved by trustee Schmidt. Second. Support by trustee Wilkerson. I can't hear. Any discussion? I I can't hear. It's moved by trustee Schmidt, supported by trustee Wilkerson.
Any discussion, trustees? Just to clarify, this is the motion for you to going after items from the board and agenda planning? Correct. Okay. I'm sorry. Say that again. By my president, I think we need order. Yeah. Mhmm. Thank you. I'm sorry. Mhmm. Thank you. So Order, please. Missus please. Trustee Basquiat. I'm I'm sorry. I I I just wanna clarify the motion on the table. The motion is to recess to close session. Twelve point four? Yes. Okay. Yes. Sorry. To, president Feaster? Yes. Trustee Mohammed?
Yes. Trustee Schmidt? Yes. Trustee Wilkerson? Yes. Trustee Wilkins? Yes. Trustee Wilks? Yes. Motion carries. Thank you. We are in close I know. We we need to do items from the board and agenda planning first. I'm sorry, ma'am. Thank you. Thank you so much. Alright. I believe that brings us to item 13, item for agenda planning. Trustees, are there any items for agenda planning? Yeah. Okay. Alright. Trustee Mohammed? So I wanted I know this was brought up again. I don't know. Okay. So I know I we brought this up the last meeting about, hopefully, having a special meeting
with, the bond the bond committee and the music teachers and to talk about stages. So I actually wanna just motion that we do add that special meeting, hopefully, maybe in the July meeting or a July meeting. I believe our next regular meeting is July 30, so we would have a chance to add something in between now and then if that's the will of the board. So that's what I'm motioning. So I'm motioning if we can add a special meeting either July or add it to the Let me clarify. Are you asking me to add that to item for agenda planning,
or are you making a motion? I'm making a motion. Okay. So what is your motion? Question. Yes. Or clarify your motion. Let him I'll let her clarify your motion. Sorry, trustee Mohammed. Your your motion is to add a special meeting. So to add I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen. We are still in a meeting. Okay. So my motion is to add a special meeting sometime in July or during the July meeting, whatever we have scheduled. And that to talk about specifically the stages. Meeting on stages in July. Yeah. Okay. Special meeting. The motion is to add a special meeting to the calendar in July Yeah.
On the stages. But or July 30. Or July 30. So okay. We're asking for a meeting. One one at a time. So what was agenda item. No. We I'm asking for a a motion. She's not at not doing agenda planning. She is at making a motion at this time to add a special meeting in July or during the July 30 meeting Yeah. To address Stacias. Yeah. Is there support? Support. Moved by trustee Muhammad, supported by trustee Wilkins. Discussion. It's a discussion. Yes. Okay. Clarification. So do we want a special like,
an additional meeting or a meeting that's attached to a current you mean an agenda item? Agenda item. Exactly. An agenda item to an already meeting. Scheduling. Scheduling. Already scheduled. So it's either or. So whatever works for Let's clarify. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's because Hold on. Hold on. Let ladies and gentlemen. Hold on. Let let let's not call this a special meeting because there is a criteria for a special meeting. Right. I think which the the trustee is asking is for an additional meeting Okay. In July, which is usually problematic due to staffing for an additional meeting.
That's why we generally schedule the legally required one meeting. Again, to add agenda item, the bond work is always a part of the agenda items. I mean, agenda. So that seems to be more appropriate Mhmm. To add it as an agenda item to a meeting that's already currently scheduled, for this time. Trustee Mohammed, are you asking if this be a a full board meeting, or are could this be a bond committee meeting, or what what are you looking for? So based on the recommendations of the music teachers that I just presented,
so that's what I'm asking for. Well, would you like that? Similar to what we did for Thurston. Okay. So That's a a meeting of the full board, not a committee meeting. Yeah. Okay. Trustee Schmidt. So what I understood two weeks ago is that there was a group that was formed to talk about this. And tonight, we heard from a person from the music teachers about what transpired. Mhmm. I don't have a sense of what totally transpired from all parties. So if that meeting on the thirtieth will bring forward that information, perhaps they'll meet again before the thirtieth.
They'll have even more information. Mhmm. So adding it as an agenda item is is fine. But I think, you know, I thought from the very beginning, we were trying to let this group do their work, and all we've heard is from one side. And right now, I yeah, I needed to know more also. So it's been sorry, Trustee Wilkins. And just to reiterate that they've had their couple of meetings already and now they're asking for a meeting where they where the board can ask questions of the music teachers and get clarification that way.
I still feel like it's I know you wanna get into the weeds, and we're in oversight. But I want to let that group actually do a collaborative process to come up with things. Mhmm. And this is like putting us in the middle of that group, and I just I'm not sure about that. But I think it's great to get information at that Yeah. From all parties. And they're doing that. They're they're doing the collaboration. I also wanted to add that I know that members of the administration are also meeting with with the teachers, I do believe. Are they a part of this? Yes. Correct.
Superintendent Parks, maybe you can address that. Yes. So the, mister members of the district leadership team are a part of those two meetings that we've had with that advisory so far. Yes. Alright. Trustee Baskin. Thank you. Trustee Wilkers. So it sounds like we have a letter of recommendations from the the group of teachers. Well, we we we have not officially received it yet. Thank you. Yes. It was read. Something was read. Recommendations were made to us Correct. Which, again, we didn't have in in writing to kind of follow. What we don't have is a perspective from the capital improvement team Right.
To who has I don't know what they've heard. Again, that's getting to fact finding as trustee or vice president Schmidt noticed. So, again, I think it's probably more appropriate to have this as an agenda item on the July 30 meeting. Just for logistical purposes, it was hard for us to schedule one meeting for the superintendent's evaluation to try to add another meeting in the middle of vacation time, where traditional vacation time may be more problematic. Whereas, I think we're all committed to the July 30 meeting.
Okay. Trustee Wilkinson? I I was just gonna add, like, I I do recognize, I think as a board, we wanna hear more about this topic, and I I do support the July 30 edition. I I think there is some urgency that we have to put around this topic with construction starting, so I recognize that as well. Okay. So I'm fine with changing it to July 30 as an agenda item, but hopefully, have it where it's not it's it is a discussion, and the music teachers and the bond committee are all here. So you're accepting trustee Vasquez friendly amendment that we make it on the July 30
meeting. That's fair. I mean, I just I just wanted to give options. So if I can just make a suggestion that this is the agenda planning part of our meeting that you we don't need to vote on this. Just tell the executive committee we see it's the it's the interest and the pleasure of the board from the comments, so it'll be added. I mean, I don't know Yeah. And that's a That's the way we do this. We don't have to make votes about everything we put on the agenda. I wanna confirm that it'll happen. That's why we're voting on it in public. Trustee Baskett? Well,
to be fair, I think the president was at items from the from the board, and then somehow we jumped into agenda planning. But as the chair of the committee, I just want to advise the board that the team may need us to meet as a bond committee to review some stuff before it could come. So there may be and, again, I know we've already scheduled a closed session at 06:00. And to be fair, it is a committee of the whole, and not all of the trustees are able to make the the committee the whole. So I'm fine with adding that item as part of the regular board meeting,
but just want to advise folks that we will probably still need to have a bond committee meeting that evening. I have to confirm with the team and, of course, the superintendent. What date was that? The thirtieth. Okay. Alright. Do you have a pleasure I I guess, just to be clear, would you rather have it be part of the bond committee meeting or part of the regular meeting on the thirtieth? I would say the regular just to make sure. Because I know if we'll do the bond, it'll probably be too early. Okay. So probably the regular. Alright. Everybody's here. Alright. So it's been moved by trustee Mohammed, supported by trustee Wilkins.
We've had discussion. If there's nothing else Would you repeat the motion? Sure. The motion There was an amendment and whatnot, so let's just repeat. And it's a stage discussion to July 30 meeting agenda? Yes. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Miss Zaleski, please. Trustee Beskut? I'm not quite sure why we're voting on this as an agenda. She just any board member can call a motion. I totally understand that. I'm just trying to keep up with our processes. So yes, I said I would support it, so yes. President Feaster? Yes. Trustee Mohammed? Yes. Trustee Schmidt?
I too for the record, I don't know why we're voting on this, but I will vote yes. Trustee Wilkerson? Yes. Trustee Wilkins? Yes. Trustee Wilk? Yes. Motion carried. Alright. Thank you. Anything else for agenda planning, trustees? Alright. Seeing nothing. That one was on number 14, items from the board. Trustees, are there any items from the board? Anything, trustees would like to share? Seeing nothing, we've got really dialed to number 15, which is to recess to closed session. So if if I'm doing it correctly, we will recess at 09:31PM. We are in recess. 2.5.
B three. Media relations, 2.5. District image, b four, three. B five, approachability, three. That's an overall score for b of 2.8. C, staff relations. C one staff input, three. C two, staff communications, three. C three, personnel matters, three. C four, delegation of duties, three. C five, recruitment, three. C six labor relations, three. And c seven visibility. Excuse me. Visibility in district, also a three. That is a overall score of three for area c.
Area d, business and finance. D one, budget development and management, three. D two, budget reports, three. D three, financial controls, three. D four, facility management, three. D five, resource allocation, three. Overall four, area of d business and finance is a three. Area e, instructional leadership. E one, performance evaluation system. Three. E two, building level leadership, three. E three, staff development, three. E four, school improvement, my KIP, three. E five curriculum, three. E six instruction,
three. E seven student voice, three. E eight, support for students, three. E nine, professional knowledge, three. That is a three four section e on instruction and growth. I'm sorry. In, educational leadership. Okay. So for our areas a through e, we have a aggregate score of 2.936666667, which is a 98%. Moving on to area g in our evaluation instrument. Student growth and assessment data, a score of three.
Progress towards goals, a score of 2.5. Professional practice which counts for 65% was 2.93, a bunch of sixes and a seven. Student growth was a three. Progress toward district wide goals, 2.5. Our total score, 2.8838333333, 96%, which puts our, evaluation for the superintendent in the effective range. As I said in closed session, I will provide you with a copy of this Excel spreadsheet along with some notes
I took during the meeting to help guide you in your progress moving forward in your next evaluation cycle. With that, I will turn it over to the board president to entertain a motion for adoption of the evaluation reading. First of all, thank you very much, mister Bennett. We truly appreciate your facilitation and help getting us through this process. You're very welcome. Thank you. Alright. With that said, I will not I'm sorry. Trustee Wilkins? Sorry. It's the editor again. So all along, this Excel sheet we were looking at was changing Yes. According and now the scores that you just said for the final score doesn't match
what we're looking at. Should it? No. Because no. He has We're looking at her. He has his, aren't you? Yeah. I I don't understand what you're asking. We're looking at the original. He has an update He has an updated spreadsheet. Finalized. We don't have the funds. You've got Okay. The houses. Right? Yeah. But in that room, the numbers were changing as we were discussing. Yes. He's he Now, so in the final evaluation score for tab h, the total score, my documents says 2.5 now for some reason.
Mine mine too. And you But but But you didn't say 2.5. You said 2 2.88. 88 something. So I have a 2.93666667 for professional practice. I have a 3 for student growth. I have a 2.5 for progress for district wide goals. Okay. I think I think someone just erased they erased that 2.5. And and the progress towards district wide goals. We don't have a number in there. So that's why it reflects differently. Okay. I just wanted to make sure. Yep. No. No worries. Absolutely. Absolutely. Sheets smashed.
Yep. Absolutely. Thank you very much. Alright. Now now it is Yeah. Identical to what you said earlier. Okay. It has been updated. Was that 2.5? Was that 2.5? Okay. Alright. Got it. Now I'm happy. Thank you. Absolutely. Alright. I aim to please. Thank you again. Thank you, trustee. Trustee Schmidt. I move that we accept the scoring, that mister Bennett just shared with us for the superintendent's evaluation. Second. Moved by trustee Schmidt, supported by trustee I'm sorry. So if I may, I would just I would add the, the actual rating in yours. So Oh.
Of of to accept the rating that mister Bennett has shared, of the superintendents valuation and the 96% effective rating. There you go. Okay. So Do you still support that? Thank you. So moved by trustee Schmidt, supported by trustee Wilkes. Is there any discussion, trustees? So, trustee Baskett. Again, I would just like to, commend the superintendent, for working hard to receive the score as we, as a, you know, a collective, have discussed. So, again, thank you for the good work. Please keep up the good work, and let us know how we can better support you.
Thank you. Thank you, trustee Baskin. Ditto. Thank you, trustee Schmidt. Yeah. I just wanna ditto as well, and I also wanna thank the board for taking this entire process seriously. And, it wasn't an easy process. Lots time and lots of time involved, but, we did a great job. Thank you, Trustee Wilkes. Trustee Mohammed. And and I completely agree with what was said, and I with all the challenges that have happened, I mean, you did an amazing job. Thank you. But thank you. I appreciate it. Alright. Alright. Seeing no additional comments,
it's been moved by trustee Schmidt, supported by trustee Wilkes. Miss Ozinski, may I have a roll call, please? Trustee Baskett? Yes. President Feaster? Yes. Trustee Mohammed? Yes. Trustee Schmidt? Yes. Trustee Wilkerson? Yes. Trustee Wilkins? Yes. And trustee Wilks? Yes. Motion carries. Thank you. The board of education would like to thank miss Jazz Parks for her leadership as superintendent of the Anar Republic Schools. The trustees completed the annual twenty twenty four, twenty twenty five evaluation of miss Parks this evening. The evaluation process using the Michigan Association of School Boards,
MASV, approved superintendent evaluation tool occurs in a session throughout the year and considers miss Parks' works in the areas of governance and board relations, community relations, staff relations, business and finance, and instructional leadership. As is true by statute for APS and Michigan educators, 20% of the evaluation rating is calculated based on student gross measures. We are pleased to share the results, of the completed twenty twenty four, twenty five superintendent evaluation as follows. Miss Parks received an overall score of
96%. It's the it's the number 2.88383 out of three, resulting in an effective effective rating. The board is pleased to announce this result, and we look forward to miss Parks' continued leadership of the Anabra Public Schools. Thank you, miss Parks. Thank you. Thank you, mister Bennett. With that said, I will now enter a motion to adjourn by voice vote. So moved. Second. Who said that first? Baskin. Okay. Thank you. Trustee Baskin. Moved by trustee Baskin, supported by trustee Wilkerson.
Any discussion? I wanna throw in one comment that's unrelated to adjourning that I didn't get in. Just for the public's knowledge and I think for the board members, the evaluation we just did will be submitted to the state before the end of the month, because that's one of the regulations of state law. So they will have that information. Any other discussion? Saying none. All all in favor of adjournment, say aye. Aye. Any opposed, say nay. We are adjourned at 11:33PM. Thank you. Time.