I'd like to call to order the Ann Arbor Board of Education meeting for May 21. Ms. Osinski, if you could please, roll call, please. President Feaster? Yes. Vice President Schmidt? Present. Trustee Mohammed? Here. Trustee Wilkins? Here. Trustee Wilkes? Present. Trustee Basquiat? Yes. Trustee Wilkerson? Present. Okay. Trustees, you've received the agenda. Are there any changes? Yes? So I wanted to, add maybe a for board discussion, about line because we're getting a lot of, you know, questions and emails. So if we can just maybe a general under board discussion,
add a discussion about line. I know we have a full boat tonight. Is there a specific thing that you want to cover? Just so we can you know, if we have questions for the team, anything. I know we're hearing a lot of, feedback about the stages and Well, that's, the pleasure of the board. Is there a second for this? Support. K. Moved by, trustee Mohammed, second by trustee Wilkes. Was it? Mhmm. Wilkins Wilkins. I'm sorry. Oh my gosh. Here we go. Alright. Is there any discussion? Yeah. I have a question. So where exactly would you propose to put that
on the agenda? I was so, like, under board discussion. So probably We don't have board discussion. We don't have that. I mean, we can do it. Board. When do we usually have it? I thought it was before Items from the board that we're talking about? There's no We have a board No. It's not. We have items from the board. A lot of first we have a lot of first briefings and a lot of board action. May I suggest if you wanna do this, I don't know that's information. We can do it under information. It doesn't matter. I don't think it's gonna be standard. I wish I wish we would have known of this beforehand rather than just dropping
this on us. I mean just came up before the Yeah. Meeting, to be honest, based on this based on what we were getting Yeah. As far as you know. The frustration is there's a plan put in place to try to balance these agendas so they're not going till 12:31 at night. And that's a that's an in-depth conversation, I suspect. So I'm just trying to think how this all works together. That's why we try to communicate before we do the agenda. May may I make a suggestion, madam president? Yes, please. Trustees,
could you send your questions or concerns regarding Lawton to to the superintendent, and then we could prepare they we could prepare the team for a fuller discussion on the next meeting. And our next meeting is June 11? Yeah. June 11. I mean, nothing's happening. Yes, I mean, that's just a suggestion because it is a very full agenda and I'm not quite sure if the team will be able to address whatever discussion items you may be having regarding Lawton. Would that be agreeable? Yeah. I would just like to add, that is the team even here to address the questions.
And, I know we've been receiving the board has received quite a few emails regarding Lawton, regarding stages. And I just think that if we are going to try to address it, we need to be able to to be prepared. And that's why you try to plan ahead Mhmm. So that, yes, even if you have the people here, if they're not prepared to bring the information forward, I mean, what it does is it makes you look like you don't know what you're doing when you do know what you're doing, but you it's nice to be told ahead of time so you can come with the things you need. Slides to show what you're trying to explain, all that sort of thing.
So I I just raised the question. Would that be agreeable? Well, first, do we have I mean, would the team be able to answer any of our questions or concerns if we bring it up today? Yeah. Well, guess it will just depend on what the Questions or concerns are. Or I mean, this is just a general board discussion. So it's not like so that maybe, you know, next time, you know, at the next meeting, we can actually have a presentation. Seems like there's a lot of questions around this. Seems like there's many other parties being involved in this. K. Trustee Wilkerson? I wouldn't expect the presentation or maybe even all our questions answered,
but just to start discussing. So I'll I'll just add that I you know, I've heard some of the same concerns, and, I would like to share some of those things as our updates items from the board and just have a quick comment on them. So should prepare. That Okay. I think that's a good place to do it, and then we can come circle around on the eleventh. Yeah. Because until they know what your questions are, to say, well, you know, that's why we prepare before we come. I think it's just good for us to have a a discussion in public too. That's great.
That's great. So let's let's plan for June 11. Why don't we put our questions together, get them to the superintendent if they're ready. If you wanna bring up some things today that are particularly troublesome to you or whatever during public comments, perhaps you could, bring those up. Under items from the board. Agenda planning. From the, the board Okay. So we're not agenda planning. Yeah. So we're just gonna bring them up randomly, not discuss them as a board? I guess, well, I mean, I I actually just want us to be able to have this discussion in public. I understand.
That's why I'm bringing it up. And I don't think there's time. I don't think there's any evidence here that people don't wanna talk about in public. I think the question is Okay. Whether we're, giving staff the questions so that they can be prepared to answer what you're going to ask. Because they really have no idea what you're gonna ask right now as I don't. And so, if you could get those questions to the superintendent, she will get it to them. And then when the agenda is made for the June 11 meeting, you can see if that's the time to put it on the agenda. I know that's our budget meeting, and that's gonna be a lengthy, in-depth meeting, but that perhaps that discussion would happen on June 11.
I can't speak for the executive committee that sets the agenda. But Madam president? Yes. If I may, again, it it as trustee Wilkerson suggested, if you want your thoughts heard in public at this time that or this meeting to just speak to them from items from the board. But I do believe there's a motion in a second. Yeah. There is. Table, so There is. We're gonna need to So either we're gonna vote or do you want us to go ahead and take a vote or do you want Well, I just wanna make sure because you're saying that there's no guarantee even that this would be discussed on the eleventh.
So I don't see it. That as one board member Yeah. I can't, I wouldn't be able to give you that information. Is there let me ask this. It just generally speaking, is it the pleasure of the board, the majority of the board, that that would be something, June 11, June, twenty fifth that you're gonna wanna hear in the near future? That you're gonna wanna have this conversation that I can pass that on to the president and, Jesse Wilkerson and I. Go ahead. Absolutely. I would love to have this discussion. I think it's definitely necessary Okay. But not tonight. June 11 seems appropriate because it gives everyone a sufficient time to prepare.
Okay. And I will also add the bond committee is an another venue to have the discussions Oh, right. Right. And we govern as a board, so it's really important that it's not what I want. It's what the board the general board wants to see. That's what that's what drives the agenda. Right? So what would you like to do, trustee Mohammed? Seems like there's not any support for us to put in, you know, put this item as a board discussion tonight. I think that's So I'm just gonna just withdraw my question. Okay. So, so any other changes to the agenda this evening?
Okay. I would like to, oh, I forgot to well, anyway, do I have a motion for the agenda? So moved. Support. Okay. Roll call, please. Move moved by trustee Wilkerson. Second by was that trustee Wilks? Escoff. Escoff Escoff. And discussion? Okay. I'll take a roll call. Vice President Schmidt? Yes. Trustee Mohammed? Yeah. Trustee Wilkins? Yes. Trustee Wilkes? Yes. Trustee Basquiat? Yes. Trustee Wilkerson? Yes. Motion carries. Okay. I have the pleasure to introduce the non voting member at the table, miss Jazz Parks, our superintendent of schools.
Good evening. Thank you. Okay. In accordance with board policy thirteen ten, public participation and feedback, Public commentary will be in person only and limited to no more than four minutes per person, forty five minutes total allowed for the public commentary time. The Board would like to remind people that individuals who have signed up for public comment 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. When your name is called, please come forward and speak at the microphone.
To help manage your time, a clock will be placed on the screen in front of you. We would like to remind everyone that public comments generally pertain to Ann Arbor Public Schools 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. How many sign ups do we have this evening, miss Osinski? We have 11 sign up this evening. Each person will get four minutes. And Okay. The first will be Sarah Thompson followed by Megan, Marie Hudson.
My name is Sarah Thompson. Last June, I had the privilege and pleasure of accompanying my daughter and the Huron orchestras and bands on a performance tour of Spain. The incredible talent that these students and teachers displayed was unbelievable and truly inspiring. This week while teaching at Thurston, I had the privilege and pleasure of watching the fifth graders perform in one of their very first orchestra and band concerts. I say privilege and pleasure again because you don't get high school kids performing professional repertoire without first having fifth graders scratching out Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in a supportive, caring environment. The multipurpose room was full of squirming elementary students,
many excited to watch their siblings, all of them happy to get a peek at the experiences waiting for them in fifth grade. In the fourteen years that I have been attending or participating in performances at Thurston, the multipurpose room has hosted vocal music concerts, instrumental music concerts, grade level plays, author talks, international night performances, nap at assemblies, kindergarten roundup, fifth grade promotion, girl scout sing alongs and ceremonies, numerous community meetings, rehearsals, and so much more. Pre COVID, Thurston's entire student body gathered every Monday morning for Heron Huddle led by a different class every week.
Students were the hosts, and every week, the whole school the whole school sang the school song together, said, or respectfully did not say the pledge of allegiance, and reminded each other that this week has been given to us fresh and clear. Kids, even the smallest Terrans gained valuable experience in public speaking, practice being a good audience and a consistent and meaningful community tradition. None of any of this, heron huddle, concerts, community events, would have been possible without a dedicated performance space and stage. One of the major reasons Thurston needs a new school is because we no longer
have a large enough space for the entire student body to gather, let alone additional guests like family members. And now we're learning that not only will the new building still not have adequate gathering space, that space won't even have a dedicated stage. Several months ago, I stood here and promised you that if you proceeded with the folly that is the Thurston site plan, I would continue to stand here and tell you in great detail about the harm you have chosen to cause. You refused to stage Thurston because you insisted that it would divide our community to have preschoolers across the street for a few years. Now I have neighbors preparing to sell their homes.
I teach students whose parents feel forced to pull them from their friends and school community due to inevitable IEP violations and safety issues because despite what people are being told, nobody believes that major construction immediately adjacent to the school won't be any louder than a window AC unit. Lawnmowers are louder than that. When your decisions make people feel forced to leave their homes and schools in order to protect their children, that is what dividing a community looks like. But what does that have to do with elementary school stages, you may ask? This is all part of a much bigger,
much more systemic issue. You don't value community input. You don't value teacher input. This is a once in a generation investment. These schools aren't just for these kids. Ideally, they're for our grandchildren and great grandchildren. In a multitude of ways, APS is riding the coattails of a 30 old reputation it no longer deserves and literally banking on the hope that people will continue to blindly say yes to anything for schools. The facade is crumbling. And when you treat a community this way, how can you expect it to ever vote for additional funding ever again?
Thank you. Megan Marie Hudson and Gina Schneider. Megan Marie Hudson. Gina Schneider. Hello. My name is Gina Schneider. I'm a parent of a current Thurston student, and I'm here before you once again asking the bond committee to please stop and listen to the community before you make a very foreseeable mistake. I've been long opposed to your scheme for the new Thurston because of its detrimental effect on the local environment and the harmful impact it will have on my son and other Thurston kids with IEPs and five o fours related to sensory sensitivities.
Now we're hearing about all the major flaws in the designs of your planned school buildings, like glass walls. Let's take a second. Glass walls. Sorry. I wasn't used to the four minutes, and I wanted to linger on that for a second. And now I have lost my place. Like glass walls and no permanent stages or gathering places that can accommodate the whole school. How you haven't just been ignoring parents when it comes to community input, but you've been ignoring teachers as well. Instead of building wonderful shining centers for learning, your new schools are soulless, impractical, and ignore the needs of the children and the teachers who will be spending time
in them. You're tearing up nature for no reason other than it being convenient for your builders, and you're leaving us with an inferior result. You're taking so much away. The wishes of the developers are clearly being prioritized over literally everyone you should be listening to. Many of us are wondering why. Why is that? Enough is enough. The bond committee needs to stop behaving like cartoon villains and listen to the community you're supposed to serve. We want permanent stages for music, theater, dance, performances, and public speaking. We want you to design the school around the needs of the students and the
teachers, not the needs of your developer. Jeff Gaynor, then Christy Bishop. Hello. I'm Jeff Gaynor, former AAPS parent, teacher and trustee, currently an AAPS volunteer. After a long delayed retirement trip, I'm looking forward to returning to lunch and recess duty at Thursday and Friday. Finally, hit my calling, if I can live up to it. I have three items. First, I strongly suggest that you return to the policy of allowing sign ups for in person public comments up until the start of board meetings.
There is concern you're trying to discourage comments and eliminating this now unnecessary barrier will work to alleviate that. Written comments can still have the four hour prior notice. Second, please revise plans and include permanent stages in all new elementary buildings. When we proposed bond options in 2019, we settled on the largest amount of money as we knew the Ann Arbor community desired first class buildings. The arts have always been forefront in our mission. I trust they still are.
Having only pop up stages sends a discouraging message to not only our staff and students, but to our parents as well, and will limit opportunities for our students. Our music teachers especially have gone above and beyond over the years with non contractual work such as putting together evening performances. I fear the recent cuts they've been subjected to and now this insult might result in unintended consequences. Third, as far as I know, neither the Transportation Safety Committee nor the City Schools Committee has met for some time. To support a resolution urging stronger collaboration between the city and schools.
I hope AAPS takes these goals just as seriously. This involves not only meeting but designing schools which will work to meet these goals. This may involve hard decisions, such as how large a parking lot should be. Of course, we should also be cognizant that our schools of choice and in district transfer policies increase the number of miles driven in the city. We can at least work to support alternative transportation modes rather than having driving be the first option. In trying to please everyone in the short term,
we may be losing sight of important long range goals. We must take responsibility on both the safety and sustainability issues. Thank you. Thank you. Christie Bishop, then Katie Ryan. Hi. I'm Christy Bishop, and I have had the pleasure of being, the vocal music teacher at several schools in our city, for thirty years. And I'm Nico. Thank you. And I have to tell you from day one, I would walk into the performing spaces at my school and dream of how someday
I might get to create the amazing performances that I know have happened in our school district for years. And I have wanted so much to, to, put forth, my best effort to make that happen. And today, I have to tell you, I have had some wonderful comments from my students talking about their experience, doing performances. And one very quiet girl, so shy, stood up and said, you know,
if it hadn't have been for performing when in missus Bishop's performances, I wouldn't have had the courage to go and speak in front of the school board, last spring, and I was floored. I was so proud of her. I am hoping that you will give great consideration reconsideration to the plans of the schools that do not have a dedicated performing space. These spaces have been crucial in creating a community feeling at especially my school at
Boss School. And I was talking to my colleagues about the traditions that we have at our school and and how much it means to not only the kids, but the parents who see it year after year. And they know the encore songs, they know the traditional Martin Luther King songs, the, the Thanksgiving songs, the beginning of the year assembly, the end of the year assembly, they it is very meaningful to all of them. To imagine having to teach at a school where my whole community could not come
together? That is just tearful for me, and I beg you to reconsider. Your decisions on this will have multigenerational effect. Think about that. How long are these buildings gonna be there? When are we ever going to be able to switch to a more permanent performing space if we begin with a small gathering place with only the, the platforms that have been described. Please reconsider. This is very important to not only to the kids in our community,
but also to every future teacher that aims high in their performing in in what they bring to their community. Thank you very much. Thank you. Katie Ryan. Katie Ryan and Jessica Anderson. You have to speak. Oh, you're gonna speak for yes. I got you. Good evening. My name is Jessica Anderson, and I am the general music teacher at Lakewood Elementary School. I am here tonight to speak in support of amending the building plans, to include dedicated performance spaces in all elementary buildings and the remodels.
The fine arts are a core value not only of our schools, but of the entire Ann Arbor community. Central to that value is having places where students and school communities can gather to make music, perform, and create and make art together. Right now, I urge the board to reconsider the plans for portable pop up platforms. These are not adequate replacements for real functional stages. They compromise the quality of the experience for performers and audiences alike and diminish the
sense of pride and possibility that come from being on a true stage. Just this week, my fourth and fifth graders are performing their spring musical. They've spent the last three months preparing, learning music, building their sets, working with lighting and microphones. They are so proud and I'm really proud of them. Watching them shine on that stage, supported by their peers, their families and teachers is one of the most meaningful experiences they'll carry with them from elementary school. We would never want to lose our stage at Lakewood.
Every school deserves a space where students can experience the power of performance, not as an add on, but as an essential part of their educational experience. Thank you. Thank you. Leah Rose. Hi. My name is Leah Rose, and I'm an APS parent. I grew up in Ann Arbor public schools as a low income student. I directly benefited from our wonderful music and arts programs. My instruction was often as good as or better than anything private institutions could offer. As an adult who is able to afford private music lessons and enrichment classes for
my own children, I have firsthand comparison of what is likely to happen if we lose dedicated permanent stages in our elementary schools. The foundation of performance experience, practices, and rehearsals will be reserved for wealthier families who can afford private programs outside of schools. Children who depend upon our schools to learn and grow in the arts will miss out on valuable time with teachers, and it will make teachers jobs more difficult. The bond dollars funding these new builds was first and foremost supposed to improve infrastructure
for teaching and learning. The current building designs for the new elementary schools are failing to live up to that promise. Please listen to the music teachers. Please prioritize equity in our infrastructure, and please collaborate with your community to ensure that our investment serves future generations. Thank you. James Freeland. James Freeland? Put the mic. I can always shout. You can raise the whole table. No. It's okay. I got it. Okay. Thank you, though. Sorry. Attractive new school buildings are very nice to have, but they're not the heart and soul of what we voted for when we passed the billion dollar bond.
We voted to support infrastructure investments to make the teaching and learning experience better. Getting rid of permanent stages in our elementary schools does not improve the teaching or learning experience. And what is this all for if we're left with less functional facilities to learn and teach than we have now? Why is the design and planning process that continually ignores the input of the community being allowed to continue? Now that the site plans and building plan building interiors have been revealed to the public, more and more problems of designs popped up. Lack of stages, destruction of green spaces, smaller cafeterias. These might sound like small potatoes in a vacuum,
but they paint a bigger picture of a process that continually ignores the most important stakeholders for these schools, teachers and students. It's not just about a stage. It's about a bond committee that not only doesn't listen to their community, but they're actively hostile towards them and any recommendation that would require them to make a change to their precious plans. We're spending $65,000,000 on a school. Shouldn't it be better in every way? There will be some improvements, don't get me wrong, I'm very familiar with all the plans. But there's so many of these design decisions that are objectively worse than what we had before, and go against so many people in the community and what they want.
And a school board that listens to its community and teachers would understand that and make changes. I know I have so much time, this is awesome. But, lastly, guys, this is such a layup. Like, the music teachers have said, please give us stages, don't make our jobs harder. You should just say, okay, you got it. No question. It shouldn't we should have to wait till June 11 to make a plan for it. This should be an easy thing to do and it shouldn't require this. We shouldn't need public commentary and signs and endless advocacy for the simplest of requests. Why I mean, why do you have music teachers coming to this building at 8PM to beg?
They told you pop up stages ain't it. You don't know better than them. Please put your egos aside and do the right thing. Evaristo Rodriguez. Good evening. My name is Evie Rodriguez, and I'm the current associate band director at Huron High School and Clegg Middle School as well as the TLM leader for AAPS High School band. I'm also a parent to two students attending Thurston Thurston Elementary. This is my twentieth year teaching in a career that has taken me through Washington DC, Georgia, Texas, and back to my home state Michigan. Since joining the AAPS staff in 2017, I have taught at Mitchell,
Carpenter, Angel, Allen, Scarlett, Clegg, and Huron schools. I am one of many, many extremely qualified staff in APS, a staff who believes in teaching in Ann Arbor, a staff who wants to be here, a staff that believes in the values that Ann Arbor stands for. When this board looks for experts to craft spaces that are the best for students, we're here. We're at your fingertips, and we're ready to help. I would urge this board to redouble efforts to involve teaching in the building design process. Your APS staff are the experts,
and we also have colleagues nationwide that can provide insights to help us provide the best possible spaces for kids. And that is what this is all about, what's best for kids. It has to be about what's best for kids. We have to prioritize that even if it's not what's most convenient for architects and builders. You can't teach elementary band on this on a pop up stage. I've done it in half the elementaries in this town. It's impossible. At at King Elementary right now that I actually forgot to mention, I've got 30 brass students that just did a concert a week ago after I got off a plane at five in the morning bringing the Huron jazz band back
from New York where they were named one of the top 10 jazz bands in the world. We can't you can't put 30 brass students on a stage and not have it be a safety on a pop up stage and not have it be a safety issue. Trombone players can extend their arms to play the right notes if they're gonna hit, and then and then we're talking about more cost for for music repair for music instrument repairs. We're here for you. I'm like, I'm here today. It's been a twelve hour day. I just dropped my kid my son off from karate, and I drove right over to come talk. Let us help you. That's all we want. We wanna do what's best for kids,
and we're here for you. Please reach out. Thank you. Thank you. Allison Carey. Allison Carey. Hello. My name is Allison Carey. I am a I'm I live adjacent to Thurston. I'm also a parent. Since I do have the extra time, I will read my written statement, but I do have a question specific to the Thurston area. So we have four major construction projects that are gonna launch in our neighborhood, within a half mile. And we are really concerned because we also have two pools in our neighborhood that kids walk and bike to.
And just we're we're worried because those those swimming pools that these kids are gonna be walking to, like, how can we ensure that they're gonna be safe with all the additional construction vehicle traffic? Not only our thirsting kids, but we get a lot of kids coming from Logan, King, their friends, you know, that are not familiar with the neighborhood. And this is a real serious concern. And it's not just during school because, yeah, you can maybe set up some extra cross crossing guards or whatever. But during the summer, you guys need to look at, Yorktown, Georgetown, and Prairie. Those are probably, like, the biggest ones.
But but basically, this half mile area, I've sent you guys a screenshot circling in red where those major construction sites are. I've gotten no response about, the traffic concerns with children, pedestrians. And then even then once school starts, we are gonna anticipate because we've dealt with construction before in our neighborhood. There's gonna be more parents speeding in and out to get their kids to school and pick ups, you know, especially the ones that don't live in our neighborhood. So, we need some safety in our neighborhood. This is urgent, and pool opens this weekend. Anyway, to my statement,
I fully support genuinely consulting inter republic school teachers with respect to the bond planning. That's an emphasis on genuinely. My understanding is that a teacher from Grand Rapids was the education consultant hired by the architect, and their input does not reflect their values or knowledge about the Anarbor community, the Anarbor Public School teachers, parents, students, and community members do. There's been planning and community engagement was a disaster. And now new schools will not have permanent stages but pop up stages, and that's if the funds will even be available for pop up stages.
I don't know what the plan is if the sinking bond doesn't pass, but that's a reality, people. I am ashamed that I was one of the 53% that was bamboozled into voting for the deceptive $20.19 $1,000,000,000 bond thinking that the updates would help children including my own. If there was a way to take my vote back, I'd absolutely do it, and I would not be alone. The Van Arbor Public School said from the get go that the bond plan was to build brand new schools. Really, it was there was more of an emphasis in the language on renovations and updates. You know? But, anyway, I'll go back to to build brand new schools at the expense of nature centers,
athletic fields, and city parks while hindering the ability to for children to enjoy and participate in arts performances and special events both during and after school. There's no way on earth the $1,000,000,000 bond would have passed, especially considering that the $1 $1,000,000,000 bond narrowly passed with just 3% of the vote. The amount of dissatisfaction and lack of confidence surrounding the planning and execution of this once in a lifetime $1,000,000,000 bond is through the roof. I mean, we're at no confidence, honestly. Expect voters to remember,
correct your mistakes now, and listen to your constituents for a change. Thank you. That concludes public commentary. Oh, thank you. I said thank you at the same time you said that, so I didn't quite hear you. We appreciate hearing from each one of you, and thank you for taking time out of your evening to speak to us. Miss Parks, are there any points of clarification? We will be bringing forward those clarifications, at trustees have decided a future meeting. And we also will touch on it a little later on in the meeting under the capital programs update, also regarding stages specifically. And as far as the,
safety around Thurston during the construction, this Thurston Safe Routes to School team is actively working with the district on, some of those safety measures that were brought up during public commentary, and they'll continue to do that throughout the summer so that we can make sure, we are doing all that we need to do on our end to ensure those safe routes. Thank you. We also have a place on our agenda for any other written feedback. It is attached to our minutes or our our documents for the meeting. There was no written feedback submitted for this meeting,
though. If we can move on to the next section of our agenda, this is reports of associations. Let's see. We have, I believe, the AAEA representative, Katie Ryan, who are going to be speaking. Come on up, Katie. Good evening. My name is Katie Ryan. I'm the vocal music teacher and strings teacher at Angel School. I'm completing my twenty eighth year of teaching in the Ann Arbor Public Schools. I've also had the privilege of teaching at Dickin, Allen Carpenter, Pittsfield, and Pat Neal. I'm the proud parent of a twenty twenty one Ann Arbor Public Schools grad and
a Wiggly second grader who attends Angel with Me. Last night, we completed our fourth grade musical. Highlights of the night included, a student who has ASD who finally chose to sing on the risers. We had record attendance, huge successes with our ELL students, and wonderful attention from 300 students on a rainy day during the assembly today. Big milestone. By my rough records, I think I've taught over 10,000 students, led them in over 350 yearly musicals, concerts, assemblies,
and graduations at my schools. What a privilege to be a part of these memory makers. Memory moments. But this is not unique. My colleagues across Anarbor Public Schools are doing the same every year, especially this spring. Many could not be here this evening because they said I have a performance tonight. So I would like to share a letter from our music colleagues, on their behalf, that we shared with you earlier. The letter was sent, but I will share a few of the highlights. We're writing today to advocate for the inclusion of an appropriately sized,
dedicated, and permanent performance stage and community gathering area in the designs of our new elementary schools. As music educators, we devote our professional lives to fostering a love and understanding of music in each one of our students, and we do our best to provide them with rich musical experiences that will contribute to their growth as musicians and citizens of a global community. This is why after learning that the new elementary school designs do not include plans for permanent stages or a dedicated performance space,
we emphatically oppose the current plans for portable pop up platforms. Currently, all elementary buildings have a permanent and dedicated stage and performance space. Our stages are utilized in our music programs for vocal performances, instrumental concerts, informances, assemblies, dance presentations, talent shows, and musicals. These events invite families into our schools and provide parents with a window into their child's school life and their memory makers for our students and their families. Prior to these performances, the stages are utilized for weeks and months ahead of time.
For rehearsals, where students are able to get accustomed to the space and its acoustics, practice performing in larger groups, and work out the challenging logistics of working together in the collaborative, hands on, exciting learning experiences their elementary student performances provide. Additionally, guest speakers, musicians, dancers, theater groups, authors, and experts are invited into our schools and onto our stages to engage with our students, expand their world views, enhance their learning experiences.
These whole school assemblies help us to come together and connect as a school community, where we might sing our school songs, learn about something new, or tackle school wide challenges together. We connect with our larger community through events such as international festivals, NAPID, Martin Luther King Day, holidays, marking milestones as fifth grade graduation, beginning of the school year and end of school year assemblies to celebrate student achievements, and so much more. A dedicated performance area, which includes appropriately sized permanent stage and community gathering space,
is essential to meet the goals of both the 2017 and 2019 bond proposals. Anar Republic Schools stated this money would be used for, quote, improving safety and updating equipment in school auditoriums and performance facilities to create a better experience for students, parents, and community members, end quote. In addition to language asserting that the bond funds would enhance, quote, the development of the whole child, end quote. The 2019 bond proposal describes using bonds to create exciting,
innovative, hands on learning for students. In 2019, materials to the community, Ann Arbor says it will enhance performing arts spaces with the bond funds. Why does this current plan not meet student needs? The current plans do not fulfill the commitments to support the performing arts as stated in the bond proposal literature, which is disheartening and dishonest to the stakeholders who approve the bond. Instead of ensuring that these buildings give students access to the same performing arts facilities or better that their current building does, plans for these new schools suggest using temporary pop up platforms to be placed in
the school gathering areas. While they may appear to offer flexibility and cost savings, relying on them as the primary performance and presentation space in the new schools is this decision that overlooks the real needs of educators, students, and the school communities. The solution isn't adequate or tenable. It's a significant downgrade from what we already have access to. They're no substitute for a dedicated permanent stage. They lack professional features required for high quality events that our communities are used to. Proper accuse acoustics, lighting, sight lines,
and structural features such as backstage access and wide stairs in the front. They simply can't support the wide range of activities that take place in a vibrant school environment. They can be noisy, and they're not designed for a seventy year replacement or permanent stage. Safety is a major concern. The curtaining of the space below the race platforms would make it very easy for students who may need redirection to run and hide under temporary platforms, creating an enormous student safety and classroom management challenge. In addition, temporary pop up platforms must be assembled and taken apart multiple times each year,
sometimes multiple times each week. This repeated handling leads to faster deterioration, instability, and a higher risk of accidents, especially when students are walking, dancing, or performing on them. The stages are often heavy, awkward to set up, and they're not designed for constant movement and reassembly. Over time, not only become increasingly unsafe for students and staff, but they're also expensive to repair or replace. Movable platforms would need to be set up for rehearsals days, weeks, and sometimes months ahead of the performance. There's nothing pop up about preparing young children for a successful performance.
It requires many hours of preparation. If these platforms are set up in the cafeteria or gym, it would severely impact meal service, capabilities, or day of class. The plan calls into question, who's gonna be setting up and maintaining these proposed movable platforms? The time the setup time for these platforms is extensive, and it typically requires a four person team. Schools without permanent stage would no longer qualify for Michigan section 33 arts grants as a permanent stage is the educational standard for elementary students to experience and interact with performing arts.
This would, create further inequity across the district as schools without a permanent stage would miss out on significant funding opportunities that could enhance their fine arts education. Moreover, the notion that permanent stages aren't used enough to justify their cost is a misconception. In reality, stages are used far more frequently than many realize, not only for performances for daily practices, short run throughs, and quick class wide rehearsals. These sessions can vary in length and formality, but they're critical to preparing students in building confidence.
In overcrowded school stages often have been repurposed for storage or classroom overflow, which has often limited how often students could use them. Not because they weren't needed, but because they weren't available. Music teachers have been advocating for the importance of an appropriately, appropriate performance space in the new buildings in many ways. Through building planning meetings, office hours with members of the Gilbane and facilities teams, meetings with designers and architects, conversations with building principals and fine arts coordinator, as well as continuing to advocate personally with district leadership.
While we appreciate the work of the architects and the designers, while at the same time question why our collective knowledge, experience, and expertise on this aspect of the design is not being given the weight and consideration it deserves. The Ann Arbor Public Schools has a rich legacy of valuing the arts and elevating student voices. Currently, most elementary schools in Ann Arbor have stages located in a multipurpose room that already serve as dynamic hubs for students, staff, and community. When our communities voted for the 2019 bond, they were voting in good faith that the new school buildings would enhance learning experiences
and opportunities for our students. Never would our community have thought that the new buildings would take away this important resource and investment in student expression, state safety, and community pride. To invest millions of dollars in new buildings that no longer include this essential school and community space would be a step backwards for a district community and programs. We share this letter in hopes that it will drive thoughtful action and lasting change, anchored in equity to ensure that every Ann Arbor Public School student, regardless of their school or neighborhood,
has access to the same high quality inspiring spaces to learn, perform, and be seen. These spaces are not luxuries. They're essential to nurturing student voice, honoring community, and continuing the district's legacy of excellence in the arts. And this is from the Ann Arbor Public Schools music teacher staff. Thank you for your time. Mhmm. So on our agenda, we have space for community groups to report. We had none request for this meeting. Let's go on to item six, board committee reports. I know we had several committees,
meet this week. Trustee Basquiat, of course, the bond committee is now the committee of the whole. So the bond committee is the entire board. But I know you chair that committee if you'd like to report out. Thank you, madam vice president. Yes. The bond committee met earlier this evening. We are a little delayed because of the rain, but, we got off to a good start. There were multiple things shared tonight. The Board will see a lot of those things. We did have to postpone the Capital Spring update and environmental sustainability update.
The committee that was scheduled for the committee to see it and then the full board to see it at the board meeting. So we will see it, but we did not get to preview it, if you will, in committee, but that will be there for this evening. And, again, as I mentioned, although a lot of the things of, in first briefing, we did cover. So I will, share that. I mean, I will not share that at this time, but wait for the team to bring that forward. The bond committee is, aware of the organized opposition to the Lawton School project. We will address, many of the misinformation that is out there.
However, again, given the length of tonight's meeting, we, ask that we'll be better prepared, again, in terms of information as well as the attention span of us and the community at a later date. So, thank you. I don't think there's any more to add at this time. Thank you. Thanks. Let's see. President Feaster chairs the Executive Committee, and I serve on that committee with Trustee Wilkerson. We met I don't know the date, but we had planned the last meeting and this meeting, taking into account all the items from the different aspects of the district to present
to you the agenda this evening. Do you have anything to add to that? No. Okay. All right. Finance Committee, Trustee Wilkerson. Yes. Thank you. The Finance Committee met on May 19 at 09:30AM. We covered the monthly budget monitoring report, which we'll hear tonight and a number of items related to upcoming expenditures for the district, which are also part of first briefing this evening. Okay. So I know our last committee is the governance committee. Trustee Vasquez, I'm going to you both go. I'm going to refer to Trustee Wilkerson if you'd like the opportunity to speak.
Oh, okay. Sorry. Who let's see who else on it. You're on it? I'm trustee Wilkerson. President Feaster. Oh, Wilkerson. Okay. So either of you wanna add in what took place at the governance committee. Do you like the opportune I'm trying to remember. Okay. So we met on Monday. I'm sorry. We never met on Monday. To me. Our our our agenda was short, but very thorough. We reviewed, as the board will see tonight, a proposed draft of the graduation requirements, and, the proposed change for the new law, including personal finance. We also talked about, public develop public,
excuse me, professional development, of the, board and continuing that work. Trustee, will we add anything else? No. I think that covers the Thank you. Thanks. Great. Thank you. Good memory. Alright. Let's move on to number seven information. We'll begin with, superintendent Parks, superintendent update. Thank you, trustee Schmidt. I just have a handful of items, today that are mostly recognitions, and I'll keep it brief since we have such a a lengthy agenda this evening. Our PLTW distinguished schools. So Ann Arbor Public Schools continues to lead the way with project lead the way,
just to distinguished school recognitions for the 2425 school year. This is the third year that AAPS has received the honor of distinguished district. Ann Arbor is one of two districts in the state and one of 28 nationwide to receive this honor. AAPS has 31 schools receiving PLTW distinguished school honors, including a to steam and a to open, which are recognized at both the elementary and the middle school levels. So we wanna congratulate, our PLTW launch programs and all of our 21 elementary schools.
We wanna congratulate our PLTW gateway programs in six of our seven middle schools, and congratulations to our PLTW high school programs that are in four of our high schools. Continuing on with our project lead the way theme as well as CTE, on Tuesday, May 14, students from across the district showcased their work in the Skyline High School Commons area for the annual APS, PLTW, and CTE Expo. Projects were featured from students in grades young five through twelfth grade, highlighting achievements in STEAM education and career preparation programs.
Over 400 visitors that were in attendance and had the opportunity to explore the interactive demonstrations from PLTW courses in engineering, computer science, and biomedical fields. The CTE programs displayed student work from multiple career pathways and gave insight into practical skills that students develop through these specialized programs. The district robotics team drew a a large crowd throughout the event, including the team from Forsyth Middle School, which recently won the rookie all star award at the Michigan State championship and then
went on to win the World Rookie All Star Award. So congratulations to Forsyth and all of our our teams that were at the PLCW and CTE Expo. Next, we have our Slauson Seventh grader, Dev Kanan, who earned fourth place at the Robofest World Championship on May 17 at Lawrence Tech University in Southfield. He qualified for the championship by taking first place in The USA video qualifier round, competing against 16 elite international teams in the junior exhibition category.
His entry, autonomous library bot using Raspberry Pi, machine learning, and generative AI, impressed the judges with his innovative approach to solving real world problems through emerging technologies. Dev's coach, Satyitra Selvaraj, said Dev's performance at the world championship highlights the exceptional STEM education opportunities available to Ann Arbor Public School students. Dev has also participated in the ACSL junior coding contest using Python to tackle complex computer science problems. He's currently an active member of the Science Olympiad and AMMath Olympiad and competes in
mathematics competitions, including AMC and Math Kangaroo, where he placed seventeenth nationally and first in Michigan. So we wanna express our congratulations to Dev for his amazing accomplishments. And lastly This evening for the superintendent's update, community high school jazz combo, Red and Blue, recently took second place in the Downbeat Magazine Student Music Award in the high school combo contest. This prestigious competition draws entries from across the globe, with this year's winners representing musical talent from Los Angeles,
New York, Las Vegas, Shanghai, and Austria. The CHS six member ensemble features Zach Milakcik on piano, Alex Schert on drums, Elvin Sahijak on saxophone, and Violet Collier on bass, Sydney Kitchen on trombone, and Calvin Ojai on guitar. Jack Wagner, our community jazz band teacher and program director, praised the students' accomplishments in this most significant global competition for high school jazz combos. He states that it's been wonderful watching the students bond over their shared love of
music. The full listing of winners appears in the June 2025 issue of Downbeat magazine. And that concludes our superintendent's report this evening. Awesome. Wow. That's all I can say. I have no idea what some of those things are that the young man with the computer stuff. I don't know the names of those. Come on. Some of you didn't. Right? Not at all. Alright. Okay. So thank you for that update. Alright. So, let's go to seven b, the community division update, Rec and Ed partnerships and scholarships. Thank you very much. We have, miss Backflore here this evening along with some of her team,
miss Shore and mister Williams, who are going to be, presenting this evening a community division update on Rec and Ed, our partnerships as well as our annual scholarships. So I'll turn it over to miss Bacalore at this time. Sure. Good evening, trustees and superintendent Parks. I would like to just wave behind me to Sean Williams. He is our new Rec and Ed director. Hey. Welcome. Yay, Sean. Welcome. Hey. And behind him is Nancy Shore who will be doing the graduation or the, Scholarships.
Scholarships award presentation in a moment. Alright. So let's start the presentation. So as a reminder, the community division is, composed of two different areas, the community education and recreation department and strategic partnerships, volunteers, and community resources, all together in a way that we bridge to the community. I'm gonna go, a little bit faster. Okay. So, tonight, I'll briefly talk about some things and then Okay. A couple of things. Okay. There we go. Okay. We're gonna we're gonna get it.
We're gonna get it. Okay. Briefly talk about couple of things related to rec and ed, but really focus on our summer camp preview. And then a couple of things about strategic partnerships, and then turn it over to Nancy to talk about the scholarship award presentation recognition. Alright. So we are at RecInEd where community comes together. Next slide. I'm going really fast. You can see our focus and our values. Next slide, please. Our program areas. Next slide, please. And we're gonna pause here just for a second.
I wanted to show you the the numbers of people and registrations that we have every every season, and say a big shout out to the ReconEd staff who are the people behind the curtain who are producing these many, many programs all year round. We have about 35 full and part time staff who run this really large portfolio of programs. And our projected total registrations by June 30 is about 28,000.
So let's move on and talk about summer camps. I'm previewing this, as one of our largest programs. I think a lot of you already know about our summer camps. We, really try to provide active and fun environments that are appealing to students in a whole wide variety of ways. We're trying to build those social emotional skills, build friendships. And I always say, if you walk into any rec and ed camp and ask the campers what school do you go to, you will see many different elementary schools represented in that class or that camp,
which is great because then people meet each other again in middle school and high school often. So our camps are available, believe it or not, starting at age two. Those two year olds are accompanied with by with a parent, though. Next slide, please. So, just to give you an idea of the the size of the program, we have ten weeks of camp. We start right after school is out, and we go until the last, week of the summer. We have a 62 camps and four weeks of safety town. And, that number thirty five thirteen was as of May 12,
and I pulled the numbers today. And we're actually, kind of weirdly, at 3,600 even registrations as of today. Next slide, please. So starting with our our youngest campers, most of our early childhood camps are for three to five and a half year olds and are half day and they're drop off, and they are just a world of fun for our youngest students. They dance. They learn about bugs. They start learning Spanish. They have fun with dinosaurs. They just have a great time. These camps are held at the Westerman, preschool building,
and, they're able to play on the playground there too. We do have these parent participation camps. One is Viking and one is in the Eberwhite Woods. And those are for our even younger kids. Next slide, please. Alright. So our camps for five to 14 year olds is really the bulk of our camp program. And we, in general, have two types of camps, enrichment and sport camps. And, this year, we were able to write a grant and fund some more academic focused camps. One is taking the Project Lead the Way program that superintendent Parks talked about in
her update and bringing it to camp. And we have Project Lead the Way teachers, who will be teaching, modules that are not available during the school year. So these are new Project Lead the Way, projects for elementary age. We're also offering some reading and writing camps. I wanted to point out that we're using the environmental educate Freeman Environmental Education Center again for some more camps, and these are really popular nature guardians. Court Ambrosino does an amazing job working with those. And we have some every year,
we have new camps, and, we have a couple here, and we're just trying not to get hammered by trademark on that one that one Swifty Superstar star. Okay. Next slide, please. So our safety town program, is our beloved program for our rising kinders. And it's been around for a long time, but we are always trying to keep it fresh. So it's open to, young fives, kinders, and we we do have some kids in first grade who are maybe new to the district. For a lot of kids, it's their first time in an elementary school building. And so they come in,
and they are learning some of the routines of what it's gonna be like to be in kindergarten. They learn all kinds of stuff, and about various safety, concerns. So I just wanted to point out that bottom right slide shows, some U of M students from the School of Dentistry who we partnered with last year. And there is actually a U of M student inside that tooth costume behind, who did who was, like, lying behind a thing and then popped out and danced around.
And it was it was about the best day ever, at Safety Town. So and and this is another way that we partner to, bring in new new content into Safety Town. Next slide, please. So we also have a really, exciting high school volunteer program, and this benefits the campers to have the the mentor. They help, lead games. They contribute really well to the positive camp atmosphere, and the campers themselves or the volunteers themselves gain work and leadership experience. So we were aiming for between 125 to one fifty volunteers,
but we actually received a 74 applications. So we're excited about that. Next slide, please. Alright. Here's where we get to the even more fun. The summer session includes lots of things, not just summer camps. So that registration for summer camps is still open. Early childhood classes, youth instructional sports classes are still open. Adult classes are still open. You can still sign up. And then looking ahead, our fall before and after care is currently open. People can sign up now. And because fall soccer is such a big deal,
I just had to put this in that our registration for fall soccer actually starts June 2. We need a lot of time. It ends July 21. It's open a long time, but we need a lot of time to order the 2,000 and some t shirts, basically. Alright. Next slide. Okay. So now we can move on to strategic partnerships and community engagement. Just say a couple things. This this is the part of the community division that is a bridge between the resources in our Ann Arbor community and our school district.
Next, please. And see our program areas here. Next, please. And some of the impact that we, are seeing under Nancy Shore's leadership. Next slide, please. 221 weekly volunteers. Lots of good quotes there. Next slide, please. Okay. So now we're gonna do the scholarship award recognition, and we do have some of the awardees here in the audience. Oh. So tonight oh, there I am. You can just put this put the slideshow back on. I can't take it. Alright. So tonight,
we're pleased to recognize the graduating seniors who've received a scholarship award from the district scholarship program. So we have 19 graduating seniors. They've received scholarships for their outstanding efforts in high school, including their academic achievements, accomplishments in athletics. Can you just go back? Okay. Thanks. And their dedication to community service. All of these scholarships, just so you know, go directly to the school where they will be attending in the fall. So besides our, you know, kind of smallish AAPS scholarship program,
our graduating seniors have access to many other scholarships from organizations, businesses, and foundations in the Ann Arbor area and beyond. So we wanna say thank you to our partners and donors for funding these scholarships and to the a AAPS community division staff for coordinating the scholarship program. So some of our awardees and their families are here tonight, and some may be joining virtually, and we offer our heartfelt congratulations to you all. We're so proud of your work and your goals for the future.
So now I'd like to call Nancy up. Alright. So we'll say a big special thank you to the district staff who were part of the process of awarding scholarships. They go through a lot of applications. And Nancy, right here, facilitates the application process and provides guidance to donors and schools interested in starting new scholarships. And we are grateful, for those counselors, the college and career center staff who promote the scholarships to students, and the many AAPS staff who wrote recommendations. It's a lot of people involved for this.
So with that, I will turn it over to Nancy. Great. You can get to the next slide, please. So, again, we just wanna thank everybody who's involved. This is a team effort, and it's so lovely to be able to recognize some of these wonderful recipients today. Next slide. So this year, we are excited to announce the recipients of nine different scholarships for graduating seniors, and the total is $76,300 We've got two categories, vendor sponsored scholarships and community scholarships set up to honor staff or students. Next slide.
So we're gonna start with our vendor partner scholarship awards, and we're really grateful for our vendor partners who provide scholarships. That's ABM services, Chartwell's food service, and Durham transportation. For each of these scholarships, I'm going to announce the names and current schools for each student. And what's really fun about these is you're going to actually see a little quote either from their application or for somebody who recommended them. Just really lovely, guys. The thing that's great about these is it shows the the diversity of students we have at our schools, all the different things that they're involved in.
So you're gonna get a taste of just a a gamut of different students at our schools. So we are going to then move on to the next one so we can start with our ABM services scholarship. So this is for seniors interested in business or business related field, and this was created in partnership with our custodial vendor, ABM services. And so our awardees here are Selena Gibbs from Huron, Liliana Joe from Skyline, Leila Durie from Community, and Houston McCoy from Pioneer. And, Liana Liliana. Sorry. Liana is here tonight.
So you wanna stand? Yay. She's got her Stanford Liana. So excited. No. She should come to the church. Yes. She should come to Ford so we can have her on camera and everything with her sweatfully. Okay. So come on. I didn't tell them that was gonna happen. So they can come up with paper. She's wearing her Stamford shirt, you know. Oh, god. Uh-huh. That was on my list once upon a time. Okay. Okay. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Okay. Great. Thank you. So next slide, please. So now we have our Chartwells scholarship, and this is for seniors interested in culinary arts,
hospitality, or related related education. And these are provided in partnership with Chartwells. And so we have, two awardees, Taryn Stewart from Huron and Ryan Grant from Community High School. Alright. Okay. We're gonna move on to the next one. So we've got our Durham Transportation Scholarship, and this provides a scholarship for seniors with financial need and who demonstrate good citizenship and community involvement. And so our winners for this award are Jada Witherspoon from pioneer, Christopher Jimita Nunez from Huron, Ophelia Ziger from community,
and Kendan Yu from Huron. So we got one from each of you. We'll go first. Okay. Moving along. So now we have our community scholarships, and these are scholarships that are represented by, created by individual donors in partnership with AAPS and scholarships that were transferred to us from the AAPS Educational Foundation when it closed several years ago. We're very grateful for the partnership and support of the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation who provides financial oversight for some of these scholarships. So we also always encourage potential donors,
anybody interested in starting a scholarship, to contact the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation or visit aaacf.org to learn more about making donations for an existing scholarship or creating another scholarship. So we can move on. So now that we have the Darlene Tankersley scholarship, and this was established by Huron alum, Chris Mironov, to honor foreigner former teacher Darlene Tankersley. As an alumni from Huron High School, Chris established this scholarship as a way to give back to the school that helped make her into the person that she is today.
And the winners are Wilma Arturo Lazo Garcia from Huron, as well as Cesar Ojeda from Huron. And Uh-huh. Good job. I'll take that. Cesar is here. He said he might be here, but, yes, thank you very much. Okay. Moving on to the next one. So our next scholarship is the Dorothy Russell scholarship, and this is awarded to a graduating senior from NEA HAPAS High School who plans to attend a college and major in education. And so our winner of that one is Rylan Kwan. So yay, Rylan. Okay. Next, we have our Kent Overbey scholarship.
And the Kent Overbey scholarship is named for long time Huron cross country coach, Kent Overbey, and is awarded to a Huron male cross country player with financial need. And the awardee is Walker Brosi from Huron. Yay. Okay. One of our newer scholarships is the Jane Landefeld scholarship. So as many of you know, Jane Landefeld was a long time AAPS employee, and her two children went to Huron. Through her estate and the kindness of others, this scholarship was was established in her honor. And the awardee for the 2025 Jane Landefeld scholarship is Rafael Jackson junior of Huron.
Right. Okay. Moving on. So this is the Lisa Ann Gallagher scholarship, and it was set up by the family and friends of Lisa, who is a 1978 graduate of Huron High School. She participated in school activities, committees, and sports and was the 1977 homecoming queen. And the awardees are Angela Bolin from Huron as well as Anna Stenger, who is here tonight with her parents. Alright. So they should come forward. We need to come up. We gotta come forward. We So they should come forward. They should come forward. They should come forward. We started a precedent, so, you know I guess you guys said,
come yeah. Come on. Come on up. Just come on up and wave. Say hi. Yeah. Congratulations. Good job. Thank you so much. Thank you. Awesome. Okay. And next, we have the Jill Award, and that's given annually to a graduating community high school student who has contributed to making community a happier place. And this award is named for Jill Donilon, a community high teacher who brought a happy and generous spirit to students and staff for many years. And the awardee for this scholarship is Sarah Grover from community, and she is also here. Alright. I'm gonna touch mom.
Come on. You okay? Yeah. Come on. Okay. I love the hat. Okay. Awesome. Thank you so much. Okay. And finally, we have the Wendy Moorehead scholarship, and it is created to acknowledge a female or female identifying senior runner in cross country and or track who reflects the values and abilities that were demonstrated by Wendy Moorhead. The scholarship was created to honor her, who was a graduate Wendy was a graduate of Huron High School, and the awardee is Julieta Terrone from Huron. And there we have it.
Thanks again for everybody who made these scholarships possible, and I will now turn it over to miss Parks. We're back to miss Bacalora, in case there's any questions. Thank you. Sure. Trustees, any questions for miss Bacalora or miss Shore? I do have a question, Ashley. It's so what is available for people in the summer programs as far as scholarships? Great question. We do have a scholarship program. And, actually, through the grant that I mentioned, we're able to offer additional scholarships for summer camps this year.
Our scholarship process is a fee waiver process. We don't have, like, a big bucket of money. We have, worked it out so that we can offer a certain number of scholarships per camp and, across our classes as well. And how would, a family know how to apply? How what would be the process for them to be considered? Yeah. We have, links on both of our websites to our scholarship program, and we recently started using a software program to make it easier for people to apply. Instead of having to bring in lots of paper,
They can do it all online. If they want to, they can also bring in paper. Yeah. It's available on our website. K. Thank you. Any other questions for miss Bacalor or, miss Shore? I think someone touched on this real quick. First of all, this is just such an inspiring just everything that that this presentation showed just makes it all worth it. For those folks who might be interested in, contributing a community scholarship, Can you repeat one more time where they can find that information? Because I'm sure there's some community partners out there Mhmm. Who might be interested in in providing scholarships.
Absolutely. So the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation has many scholarships available, and they have a community scholarship fund that allows them to do a lot more with the scholarship. You get a coach. It's an extended scholarship. So a donor could contribute to that particular fund, or they could look at starting another fund, through the community foundation. So that's where I would direct people. Okay. Great. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Okay. Let's move to item c on our information list here, the monthly budget monitoring report.
Thank you. Trustee Schmidt, we have miss Frank Korr coming forward, with the April monthly budget monitoring monitoring report. The report was shared, in the finance committee, and she got some feedback, I think. And now we're ready to present it to the community and to the full board. So I'll turn it over to her at this point. Thank you, superintendent Parks, and good evening, trustees. And we did meet with the finance committee on Monday where I was able to present this originally, so I'd like to share it with the rest of you. I did talk about I talk about this all the time,
it seems like, but April is still going on as usual. We won't see some significant changes until this month, which is May because, like, as I've said before, this is a three payroll month, and that does affect our numbers. So, April, you'll see is pretty status quo. So this is a comparison of cash and investments. And as you see over last year, the general fund were still substantially higher than we were over last year. And everybody knows reasons and we had made some significant cuts,
so that does help our cash balance. But as I pointed out, as you see going through, since January and February, which is our biggest collection of tax, collection of tax revenue. That has waned away. We're getting we get a couple thousand here and there, but that's about it. So what I would like to point out is in March, our cash balance is at 51,500,000.0, which you'll see now we're about 4,600,000.0 less than where we where we were at in March. So I'd like to point that out, and you can take a look at the other funds.
And I will point out really food service because, I mean, it draws your attention to why we're so much lower than last year. And it really does have a lot to do with the vendor payment timing. And last year, we did have a lot of our invoices that were a bit later than they are this year. We are all up to date, so it does affect the cash. So I wanted to point that out and the other two funds are really, really pretty steady. And this is the monthly expenditures and of course start with the general fund, which is really very, very similar. If you go back and look at March,
they're very close. I think March was a little bit higher, but not much. And, the other funds are really holding pretty steady. This is a summary of our funds report where we are comparing year over year. And as you'll see that we are 1.7 or $1,700,000 ahead in general fund over where we were last year. A lot of that has to do with our taxable values being higher this year versus last year, plus we have collected additional funds in interest earnings this year over last year. So that gives us a little bit of an edge over the year to date
revenues from 2324. And in these next slides, I pretty much just, focused on the general fund. If you have any questions on the other funds, please ask me. So I'll jump down. Oh, okay. Real quickly. So the community services fund is the rec and ed Yes. It is. Budget which who just presented. Correct. So when we see an increase from last year to this year, is that a sign that things are really booming there and they're growing their programs? Or, A lot has to do with the spring and summer, camps that they were talking about where we're collecting a lot of revenues this time
of year. Mhmm. But, yes, it's it's doing very a lot better than last year at this point. Yes. Hope I think would you like to answer? Come on. Available. Oh, yeah. No. I guess. Yeah. I can always keep an eye on that because I think a lot of people, first of all, think we're, you know, we're in charge of that fund. And it's like, no. You guys are self sustaining and do are doing a great job. But yeah. If you would. Yeah. We've, we have introduced a couple of new programs this year, and we have done other things financially to reduce costs.
That has been a big effort of ours to reduce our costs. So, we are in better shape this year than we were last year. Right. Yes. They are doing a very good job. And the next thing, I'm just going to jump down right we weren't done quite yet, Andrew, but thank you. General fund expenditures, you can see we're still in a really good position. Our expenditures are $16,700,000 less than they were as of April thirtieth of last year. So we're still trending right in April. Now you can go ahead. Thank you. Jumping right up to,
general fund again. Year to date, as of April 30, you'll see we're adding $31,900,000 to our fund balance. And as I said, it's April 30, '1 day. So and last year, though, we were only adding 13.4. So to, this year, we are $18,500,000 ahead of where we were last year. So, that's phenomenal adding to fund balance. So we wanna keep that going, and we watch it all the time. Going down to beginning fund balance last year, we did start with a higher fund balance at $12,800,000.
This year, 7.1. So we started at $5,700,000 less than we did the year prior. But if you jump right down to the ending fund balance, because of our year to date additional fund balance is so much higher than last year. If the year ended in April 30, we'd be ending with a fund balance of $39,000,000. So it that's great, actually, over last year. It's 12.7, million dollars ahead of where we were. This is a summary of funds report and this is just comparing where we are
at the April to our budget. And as you will see, our general fund revenues were $21,300,000. And year to date, so far, we have collected, 246,700,000.0. And what I'd like to point out too is that as of April 30, we are at 83% of the fiscal year. Our fiscal year, of course, runs from 07/01 to six thirty of twenty twenty five. The one thing I also pointed out in the finance committee, the revenue part. The biggest source of revenue that we have in this district is our state revenue.
Our state revenue doesn't start until October every year. And we we receive 11 payments. So it's October through August. So we've only collected 63% of those revenues to date as of April 30. So I like to point that out because it looks like we still have $69,600,000 to collect while we collect all the way through April on our state revenue. So I just wanna point that out. Going all the way down to expenses, you can see that our expenses again at 24,000,000 for the month of March or April, excuse me, and year to date, $214,700,000,
which leaves a balance of $89,000,000 left to expend according to our budget, which is still less. You see, we have only 70.5% expended for the year in expenses, and we are at 83% through this fiscal year. Thank you. So month to date, our revenues were less than our expenditures by $2,700,000, but that is not unusual this time of the year because, like I said, our revenue collections are down, especially in the local with the tax collections. So I'm gonna jump all the way down to the very bottom left.
That's the 39, million dollars I was talking about if we ended the year fiscal year in April. Over to the side, you'll see where I have listed the fund balance as a percent of revenue, 12.4% for, the general fund and as a percent of expense, which is 12.8. And as we go forward, you'll take a look at our graphs, but we're talking about how this is gonna come down towards the June or towards June, I should say, because we have the three pays in May.
We're wrapping up the year. And in March, we were at 3.2% of revenue and 3.7%. So it is decreasing. This is the busy slide. So expected in April. This is where we compare where we thought we'd be compared to where we actually landed. So we expected to be at 23,800,000.0, but we're what we only received an actual of 21,300,000.0, which is $2,400,000, less than what we expected. A lot of that has to do with timing of tax collections. And it it is really kind of odd, but we can get tax collections all the way through April or May sometimes.
It just depends on how the township and the city pays. This year, they're more timely than they have been in other years except for one township I can think of. But, still, we are still tracking, positively. So we're gonna go all the way over to the right year to date. Expected in April was 248,000,000. We've collected the 246, which is that $2,000,000 difference. But going down to expenses, we expected to spend $24,200,000 We've spent 24. So the difference is $143,000
We spent less than what we expected to spend in the month of April. You go all the way to year to date, dollars 216,400,000.0 we expected to spend and we spent 200 oh, I'm sorry, dollars 216,400,000.0 we only spent 214,700,000.0, which is a difference of 1,700,000.0. So we are tracking very, very well with our expenditures too. And if you go all the way down, you will see, those are the fund balance totals of the 12.3%, and a 12.8% is,
where actual April fund balance percentages are. But if you go all the way back over to the left, you'll see what the budget we presented in March. Those are the expected fund balances so far at the June. That was what we have budgeted for. Miss Francoeur. Yes. Just just to clarify Mhmm. And then, you know, we've talked about it a bit but I'm continuing to ask it. Right? Yep. We're sitting good in a cash position today because we've collected more revenue Absolutely right. Than our expenses, but we're still projecting back to the ending fund balance that we have budgeted.
Correct. We have a lot of expenses coming up. And so when you have you're gonna spend your expenses increase, our revenue stream is really tightened up, you the fund balance is gonna go down. So, yes, that that's what we expect to see by June 30. And we will be presenting another budget in June to you too for the final revision, of course, for 2526 as well. So yes. You're right. Okay. And the ending fund balance that we will, will you know, in June, we'll be at this particular, fund balance. That's no surprise. I mean, that's expected.
No surprise at all. Okay. No. And that's why we're reporting out on it every month because the numbers when you get January, February, March, and even April, they look fantastic. Mhmm. But we can get a lot of revenue in from our tax collections, and we have really managed our expenses very, very well. And we've already had a three pay, but that was back in November. Our next three pay is not till this month. So, you're really gonna see that. You're you'll see the expenses hit when I present the May report. Plus, then we have June. We we have term pay. We have people retire. We have a lot of things happen during that time.
So, you know, that can kind of be a heavy hitting month for expenses as well with very, very little revenue coming in other than our state and some grants. And one of the other thing that you mentioned in, in our finance committee meeting is that you get retirements throughout the summer. So Sure. We sure do. Yes. Yep. So that'll be ongoing. Right. There's no deadline for people to submit retirement. That's right. Yes. It will. Mhmm. I I will have to point out too, and, treasurer Wilkerson can help me remember somebody else.
We have passed at least one budget amendment to stay on track too. Yeah. I was thinking too, but I wasn't sure. And so that has also helped us stay on track, which is really great. Yes. It is. It is. And it's really important to bring it forward. And, you know, to be quite honest, looking at next year with all of the uncertainty that we're facing. I'm sure after the start of the school year, I'm not sure when we're gonna have a, a budget from the government. So you'll probably see a pretty quick budget amendment because we really have we still don't have a lot of,
assuratives on how we're going to look next fiscal Yeah. As far as funding. So Thank you. You're welcome. These are the graphs that represent what we just spoke about and you'll see that our revenue did dip from where we expected to be for the month of April, not a lot, but it did dip. And like I said, that was because of last year, the timing of tax collections. And so when we do these estimates or we reflect on what we think we're going to be, we base it on where we've been. So, that's why it's a little lower than it was last year.
Expenditures, right on the money. That was a hundred and $43,000, less than what we expected to be, which can't get much closer than that with the size of our budget for this district. Fund balance, very close to, and that's just for the month of April. My next slide shows where we are year to date, and, so that's a little telling. Thank you. So I'll point out the big bad red line is what president Feaster had requested to show that 5% don't go below or you'll be talking to the treasury. That's that line. So we wanted to reflect that in this last slide.
The green line is the new board policy of the 7%. And as you see, here we are at the June, actually in May, you see a stepping below that seven. May the three payroll and then June to finish up the school year. So, I hope this is a good representation and is clear for everybody and is helpful. Yeah. And I think what, we wanna keep in mind and say again and again, just like you're saying over and over, trustee Wilkerson, about other issues. We, I just went blank. You get that feeling.
Oh, our board policy, which is the green line Yes. That's going to be moving up over time. Every yes. Because we're trying to get to match what we know needs to be happening and is happening statewide where Mhmm. You have a much higher and our our new policy has demanded or required of us over time to raise that. And I think what what did we top out at, like, 15% over a couple years? Yeah. So that will that green light will move. Any additional questions? Oh my god. I do that. I I do have a quick question. So I know that with everything that's going on with,
you know, the talk about Medicaid and whatnot, how much what percentage of that of Medicaid funding is actually within our budget? Well, right now, we are we don't budget Medicaid funding. What we do is, it does go through it's a flow through from the WISD. And what I do, which I've done recently, because we look at it from a point of cash flow too, and I'll be honestly, last year was very, very tight. The year before I think it was last year. We ended up getting a hold of the ISD, and we drew down some Medicaid funding that that they had available for our district
because we submit quarterly reports through a PCG program, actually, both with the staffing and the expenses. And right now, we do have some additional funding that is at the WIC for whatever we wanna draw it down. And since we don't need to right now, it's probably better left. Okay. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. K. Any other questions, trustees? Alright. Let's move on. Thank you. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you, miss Francoeur. I'm sorry. Wondering if we're trying to figure this out over here. It's the first time. There's a couple over here.
Alright. Well, why don't we move on to item seven e, capital program spring twenty twenty five update and environmental sustainability update. We're actually got we refreshed. We're actually gonna do the, excuse me, APS summer learning presentation before the capital program. So it's missing the It's right here. I just, like, missed that. So sorry about that. I got excited about you. I don't know. But I'm glad you're here. So tell us what what you can about the summer program. Alright. Thank you very much. Miss Linden, go ahead and take it away, you and mister Hogan. And I know you have some folks who will be joining us We do.
Via Zoom also. We do indeed. Thank you, superintendent parks and trustees. It is our great pleasure to share with you an overview of summer school programs. I'm joined here in person by Stefan Hogan, who is our lead principal of the secondary program. Also, you will see on screen several esteemed members of our team. Others are busy tonight in school events, and, they were unable to be here, but they expressed their desire to have been. Before we get into the deck, I do want to recognize miss Joanna Johnson. For those of you who don't know,
miss Johnson works incredibly hard, but she's always behind the scenes. And I don't know that she's had much sleep recently, because in addition to state and federal grants, she's also, one of the core organizers of summer school information programs, frameworks, supporting principles, everything from liaising between, food services and transportation and supporting great, spreadsheets to track enrollments and, helping us to be very consistent in our work. So, Joanna, if you can hear us this evening, just know how much we appreciate you and all you have done for summer school
twenty twenty five. And I think we can bring the slides up, but, we'll go straight to the second one. And, this will give me an opportunity to introduce these fine folks on screen. So, Andrew, we can go to number two. Okay. So in alphabetical order, these are the team members who are leading our summer programs this year, and it's a really big deal that they do this because they are all leading and supporting programs now. So this is a super busy time for for our team members who are not only setting up for summer, but also leading in their schools currently.
So I'd like to thank Jeron Bryant, the summer school principal of our ESY program, Leslie Bullock, co leader along with Michelle Hubbard of our elementary summer school programs. Miss Jessica Hendricks Pickles, who leads the summer session for a two virtual. And, of course, Stefan Hogan, who's here to my right, the lead principal of all of our secondary programs. Miss Britney Sales, who is the leader of our middle school summer program, and miss Tracy Stevenson, leader of our high school summer programs. And here with us this evening virtually to share about their programs is miss Jessica
Hendricks Pickles, Michelle Hubbard, and Tracy Stevenson. So thank you for being with us this evening, leaders. And we'll go straight to the next one where very quickly we will talk about our summer school goals. In general, the academic programs are designed to close learning gaps. You can see that comes in the form of really identifying those foundational skills to reinforce those through tailored and differentiated instruction. They definitely focus on a lot of heavy reading and mathematics, and at the secondary level, also credit recovery in a variety of courses. The variety would be surprising to you.
We want our summer programs to be fun. We want them to support students in building their confidence and seeing themselves as capable learners because we all know that they are. And we also have had these goals over the past several years of maximizing the funding so that we can serve as many students as possible. So while 23 g and some grant monies, no longer exist to support this year's programming, we're proud of some of the innovations along with Joanna Johnson, Huda Horajli, who is, if you don't know, our director of our English learner programs,
and Kinsetta Lewis, who is our assistant superintendent, of course, of special education, really working together so that we can maximize the transportation and single sites to serve students without having to, double and triple up on transportation. So there are some really creative ways that we've done that this year that we're proud of. So we can move to the next where you'll see a little bit of the overview. So our elementary summer program is an invitation only intervention program, identified students in current kindergarten through fourth grade.
In that program, we have embedded English learner services and supports. We've also embedded special education services and supports. So that's a half day program for reading and mathematics intervention, seventy five minute sessions. And if students also, receive EL services or special education services, they receive those in either the AM or the PM. So it could be a full day program for for our students who receive all of those services. We all we also have a middle school program for current fifth through seventh grade students. Again, embedded in the middle school program are English learner services and special education services in
much the same way. And we've also utilized our EL bridge program, an incredible program for for about 50 of our students who are English learners moving from the eighth grade into the high school. And those students do earn a half credit of elective credit in this summer program. So they're starting off ahead of the curve, which is a really cool thing. And then we have our high school summer programs. These are open enrollment credit recovery programs. You will see that we will be offering extended school year programs, our special education services, assistant superintendent, miss Lewis, will be sharing about that,
our summer sessions, and, also, let's not forget our summer arts program. This is a fee based, but with scholarships for all third through twelfth grade students interested in summer instrument instruction. So you'll find every instrument on the planet is likely recommended or represented here, and, you'll see on that slide when we share a little more detail just how cool that program is. And next, you're just gonna see some of the great, oh, we took out our photo slide? Oh, no. Oh, okay. Well, we had cool photos in there, but that's alright. So Mhmm. Oh, it's after.
Okay. So we'll move into the elementary school program, and I will hand this to miss Michelle Hubbard. Thank you for being here, miss Hubbard. Thank you. Can everyone hear me? Yes. Thank you. Yes. We can. Alright. So thank you. We are very excited to offer the summer program. This will be my second year working with it, and it's gonna be a little different this year. We're kind of, describing it as a mini airport because we're gonna have kiddos coming and going all throughout the day. But we are really excited because the whole philosophy this year is to really cater to, what the kids actually need.
And so the program is, looking at the math and ELA needs as well as EL learners and, like, like miss Linden mentioned, students with, some of our OSE special needs students. And so we'll have kids coming for either half day, full day. Some kiddos might only come for one session. So really honing in on what they need individually so that we can cater to their specific needs. We have a full staff ready to go. We have TAs ready to support students. We have EL teachers. We have special education teachers.
We're getting ready to hire some more noon hour supervisors. So we have a whole team ready to support our kids, to really cater to what their needs are for the summer. We'll be there for four weeks minus the July 4. We will give them a little bit of time to go have some fun for the July 4, and we will be over at Mitchell again. We're also very excited to partner again with the, LMEK program with the University of Michigan. So we will have both interns, going into the education profession as well as interns from, the EL program. So right now,
we have over 30 interns that will be working with us throughout the entire program, so getting them exposure to working with the children in the Ann Arbor Public Schools. So, I know Leslie is at multiple performances with her children tonight, so she wish she could be with us. But, again, we are thrilled to, try out this new format and serve many more children than we were able to serve last year. So, happy to answer any questions as we go through, but, looking forward to another wonderful summer with our Anarbor Public School children. Mhmm.
May I ask, so what, are you trying to do some remediation work with specifically foundational reading skills, and what kinds of things will be happening in that space? Yes. Great question. So the the program is designed to really work on the foundational skills in the math and the EL I'm sorry, in the ELA program as well as some of those, basic skills for our newcomers in the EL area. And then students with, special education will be working on some of their goals. So the way that the kiddos were identified was really going back and looking at,
the gaps that they had with foundational skills. And so everything will be catered to try and to bridge some of those gaps so that we can build those initial skills that they might be lacking. So, that's really gonna help them as they move forward to the next grade so that we have a chance to bridge that gap for them. Thank you. Mhmm. Trustee Vasquez? Thank you. Please remember, please, are these half day programs or are these whole day programs with the younger children? So it's actually really interesting this year because it really depends on what they need. So some of our kids may only come for one of the sessions.
Some may be there for a half day. Some may be there for three sessions. Some may be there for four sessions. That's why I said it's gonna be, like, a little mini airport because we will have the kids coming for as many sessions as they need to meet their needs. And so it just depends on what they qualify for and what they need the support in. So kids will have individual schedules that will meet their needs to determine how many sessions they will attend. So just to clarify but it's individualized. I'm sorry. Just to clarify, a a session is a class day classroom day versus a session is two weeks
versus so help me understand the language. A session is a a session of learning. So, like, an ELA, a session would be an ELA session, which is the seventy five minutes of ELA instruction. A math session would be the seventy five minutes of math instruction. So they could attend up to four sessions a day, but they would attend for the full four weeks. Okay. So the minimum is seventy five minutes, and the maximum is a full day. Okay. Yes. If that And then how do we handle transportation if a student is only doing one session Mhmm. As opposed to a whole bus full of other children who are how are we
doing that? Right. So transportation is provided in and out and midday. So students who don't have transportation home from, say, an ELA session that might start first thing in the morning would stick around for math and have them. Alright. Actually, there we did that's a little bit different now, miss Linda. Different now? Yeah. Correct me, please. Yeah. Just because of the number of kiddos being transported. So Mhmm. When we register the students, the only students who will get the bus transportation are the kids who are doing, a half day,
full day, or if their parents, for example, bring them to session two and then they end at lunchtime, then they'll get one way transportation. So there's a lot of opportunities for either one way or two two way transportation. So it it it's depends on when they're coming and when they're going. Some will be transported to and from by parents. Some will be one way transportation by parent, one way way transportation by us. Will be two way transportation, hence again, the airport. It's gonna be lots of navigating and communicating to make sure our little ones get
what they need and they get where they need to be. Thank you, miss Hubbard. Mhmm. Sorry. One more question. Yes. Go ahead. And the classroom sizes will be as we have during the regular school year? No. They're actually smaller. Okay. That's a a really important, element of successful intervention programs in the summer. They must be much smaller classes. So 15 and lower. Yeah. Thank you. Alright. I thank you. Here it goes. I had a lot of work. Here's your photos. You're beautiful. So good evening, trustees and superintendent parts. I'm Stefan Hogan,
and I have the privilege of seeing those babies in the previous slide now every day, as the principal of Abbott. But my background is in secondary. And so I'm the lead secondary, principal for summer school. And I'm really excited, because for our middle school program, it is similar to our elementary program where students are targeted, get that targeted instruction in, math and ELA. And so it is an invitation program where we are looking to support the growth in ELA and math. And, also, one of the things that I really enjoy about the middle school summer challenge program
is the collaboration that happens when students come from different schools and they get to meet each other. The other day I was driving to Abbott and one of my former middle school summer challenge students from a couple years ago, he has now graduated out of middle school summer challenge age, and he was begging me to, you know, do I get to come back this year? And I'm like, Mike, sorry. No. You know, how I'll I'll beat you in basketball some other time. Right? And but, like, the the experience that the students have and, getting to see themselves being successful, and that is really what we want, as miss Linden talked about in that first slide,
for our middle school summer challenge program. Know that these are there's some indicators that share that, these students have some struggles in these areas, and we want to help them see that they are capable and that they get those wins so that they go into the school year and they're able to build upon that success. And so in our middle school summer challenge program, we are really we have a powerful, amazing staff that really is focused on helping to support those academic goals, but also that learner identity, which is so important. And so, some of the the components are still the same, like you see in in elementary. Breakfast and lunch is provided.
Transportation, this is a half day program. So our students will be there from, 08:00 in the morning through, noon. And so they'll get breakfast, lunch, transportation, both ways just, through spots throughout the the city. And like I said, this is an invitation program, and we're really excited about this one. And then our second program, we have to sorry. Before we go there, with middle school, middle school program is our English, learner, our bridge program, which is for our English language learners. And as miss Linden talked about, that is that great opportunity for our, our newcomers to experience just a a,
additional opportunity for them to grow, and collaborate and grow in their understanding and, their academic competence. And so we're looking forward to that. We've got about 50, students that we'd like to to register for that one, and our goal is 350 in our, middle school program. And then high school, this is one that I like, is a passion of mine because I have taught high school math in summer school. And this was something that, for my entire career I've been involved in, and I absolutely love it because, I remember being a math teacher. And I would get those students that have not seen success during the school year,
and they would come and they would have this idea that math is not for me. Like, I can't do math. Like, this card is impossible. And we would have this opportunity in the summer for them to see that, hey. Like, I know that this was a struggle, but we do hard things. Like, that's what we do. And helping them to realize that they are capable and they they are able to be successful. And so the the high school program really is about getting them to to have that credit which we need, that they need to graduate. Right? And but also, again, building that confidence in themselves and seeing that,
you know what? I may not have been successful before, but that's okay. Right? Because I'm going to come and do it again. It's not that I can't do it. It's just that I haven't done it yet. Right? And so building that understanding and in themselves and that that learner confidence. And so we'll be doing that. It's a credit recovery program. As long as I've been part of the program, which is about for ten years, we've had almost a %, success rate in our summer program. Awesome. Which, like, again, like, this is something that, I am passionate about, helping these wonderful, amazing, brilliant students see the success that is inside of themselves.
And so we've got, again, a great, staff that is that is passionate about this work. Breakfast and lunch is provided. The way this one works is a little bit different than elementary and middle school where there are two sessions. And so, students can sign up for two courses which are in person. So they can do in the morning, would be one whole course, or a semester's worth of of material, and then we'll also have that opportunity if they need to make up to two credits, they can do that second one in the afternoon. And all of this takes place at at Pioneer still, and and we've been there a bunch of times, so we're ready.
A safe place. Yeah. I I think that's it. K. Okay. Any questions for me? I have quest No. No. No. No. No. No. How does the invitation work? Is that mostly teachers that are doing the inviting? Or can parents say, can you invite my kid? Or how does that work? So for the middle school summer challenge program, the invitations work by we look at, their assessment data as well as their grades, and and that is where the initial invitation comes from. And then it was sent to school teams, and they were able to make some more individualized
invitations just based upon what their their personal knowledge. So I don't know, you know, all of our students in in our public schools even though I try my best. Right? I really do. Like, if if you see me out, like, I will do my best to learn every student, but I don't. And so I really depend on, the the personal knowledge of the individual teams they they have for students. Okay. Trustee Mohammed? So for the middle school, summer challenge, how is it different is it different than previous years? Or so what's different this year compared? Because it's nice to hear about elementary and it's changed.
How is it different from previous years? So the what's gonna be it's gonna be very similar to what has happened in in the last couple of years, especially last year, where we're we're doing the more targeted work. And more so the the the years prior, it was more so open enrollment. But now we're really trying to focus on building those, math and ELA competencies. And so that's really where the focus will be as opposed to some of the the previous years. We're not doing as much of the, individualized, you know, 75 sessions, 75 sessions, or things like that. So all students that are enrolled will get that math and ELA instruction.
It is half day, so students will be there from eight 08:00 till, and that is different, Yuri. So it is half day as opposed to a full day. And so, you know, our middle schoolers still wanna do a little bit over their summer. K. Trustee Buscquets? Could you speak to, excuse me, capacity? I heard three fifty at middle school. And by the way, I love the the language of summer challenge program versus summer school. Yeah. You know, it's such a derogatory concept for some people. Tell us the capacity, and do you often meet your capacity every year?
Yes. So middle school, we we are slated to be our goal is 300. Usually, we have more and, we have a wait list. Wow. And so we are currently around two seventy that have enrolled and, it's been a couple more weeks. Yeah. Already. We've got a couple more weeks left in enrollment, and so we I'm I'm confident we will hit and exceed our our capacity for middle school tuition. Elementary and high school? High school is just open enrollment, so it's based upon, students' need for credit recovery. Yeah. But what is our capacity?
I mean, how many 300. Okay. Same thing in elementary school? So, the staffing and the enrollment is something we're trying to match. But in general, Michelle jump in and correct me, roughly 300 or so for each of those learning sessions. So, you know, if if we have a different group of students for each of those, could be up to 1,200 students, but some will be in multiple sessions. That's correct. That's it it kinda depends on the the number of how many students they're in, but it's it's a large much larger than last year for the number of kids
enrolled. Yeah. So I think we can move to the next slide. And here, I'm gonna hand this over to miss Jessica Hendricks Pickles. Hi, Jessica. Hi. Good evening. So, yeah, my name is Jessica Hendricks Pickles. During the school year, I serve as the online learning coordinator for a two virtual. And this year, I will be serving as the summer principal. Just a quick overview. The a two b program is designed for students who are either looking to take full credit, in a course that they have not taken before, or they are trying to retake a class that they have already passed, and they just want to improve their grade.
It is not for credit recovery. That's the important work of the in person summer learning program at Pioneer. It is fully online. It is asynchronous. There are two required in person proctored assessments that each student has to do. Just like all the other programs, our program runs from June 23 to the July 25. Though the Michigan virtual courses do open this Friday, which is one of the reasons some students choose to take it through Michigan virtual. All Michigan virtual classes are taught by a highly qualified teacher, and then we assign to them an a two virtual mentor to support them throughout
the summer. It does give students flexibility. We've had many that, you know, have reached out because they have summer travel plans or camps or other commitments. And it is open to both AAPS students and non AAPS students. Both have a fee, obviously, for each of the classes. They can take up to two classes during the summer term. Any questions for HTV? Are there scholarship, opportunities? There are not any scholarship, opportunities for the virtual, program. Starting last year, it was just one of those questions of budget and whether or not that was going to be a part of it.
And, ultimately, it was decided that that was not possible. Okay. Thank you. Alright. We can move to the next slide, and I'll invite, assist there you go. No way. Assistant superintendent can settle it. Good evening, trustees. How are you this evening? Fine. Thank you. So I wanna share a little bit about our summer programs. We will offer our extended school year service program, and that is a program that is required by federal law for us to provide for students who meet the criteria for the service.
So it's not for every student with an IEP. There is, specific data that teams use to determine which students are eligible for those services, and they make those recommendations usually in the spring and send that information to parents, and parents determine if they will send their students for extended school year service. That program will run from June 30 to July 31. It is a half day program from 9AM to twelve noon, and it goes Monday through Thursday.
And it is for students pre k through twelfth grade. So we have students across the continuum that will receive services. The the majority of students in ESY will attend for that half day session. There are some cases where maybe a student only needs, because it is based upon their IEP goals and objectives, maybe they only need speech and language support in that particular goal area. And so maybe they have some targeted service times with service providers, but they won't be there for the full sessions of extended school year service.
One of the things that I really do love about our extended school year service is they also try to make that program something that is fun and engaging for students. So each week, they have weekly activities, and it varies from week to week what that particular activity is. Some, years they've had a petting zoo. Sometimes they've had, Lego, sessions for the students. So they have various activities for the students to participate in to make it fun for them during the summer. During this time, because we have had some staffing shortages throughout the year,
in addition to our extended school year service, we will offer compensatory services. We have a special program that we are doing just for students at Mitchell Elementary School that will take place at Allen as well, but it's separate from the extended school year service. And then any other students across the district that have had missed services, we are offering compensatory services for them as well. And those services will happen outside of the, ESY window. So they may be, after school if the student is in ESY,
then they may have a full day of service where the extended day would be their compensatory services. I also wanna say that I'm very proud, as I heard all of the presenters present tonight, talk about our rec and ed programs and the number of students participating in those programs and our other zoning summer learning programs, we provide support and service for any student that has an IUP that attends any AAPS program across the district throughout the summer. So if there are students in rec and ed camps that need support,
we work with the rec and ed team to provide that support. We work with our summer learning programs on the gen ed side to ensure that students have the support that they need. And I think Michelle mentioned that as well. The other thing that is unique this summer, and you heard me talk about we piloted this year because of those staffing shortages, some virtual services for summer. So some parents this summer are opting for some to receive the compensatory service virtually, which makes it a little bit easier for them in terms of maybe managing schedules to be able to get that service.
So we have a really robust, scope of programming that we're offering this summer. And so do you have any questions for me? President Feaster isn't here, but I know his favorite question is always about cost. And, the full cost of the programs and services that we offer are reimbursable, as special ed costs. Yes. Can you explain compensatory? So that is for students who may have not received services due to maybe there was a staffing shortage. Perhaps there was, a leave. Sometimes we have staff who go out on leaves unexpectedly.
So maybe there was a gap in service for students. So any missed services that a student may have missed throughout the year, we are providing those services this summer. Like makeup work? Yes. Okay. Thank you. I know one of the challenges has been, well, at least several parents that I've spoken with. I can't make it too general here, but with speech and language. And, you know, I think the challenge that we have though is that kids need that throughout the year, and it's hard to make up just in the summer with things they needed at a regular basis. And I tell you, just the hiring thing is just a constant thing,
isn't it? It is constant. And we have taken some proactive steps with our human resource team to begin our hiring for those vacancies that we know that we will have for the fall. We are working to really do a better attempt to start our staffing process a little bit earlier and to bring some folks on board, during the late spring and early summer for fall positions that we have. Yeah. Good idea. Any other questions, colleagues? Alright. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. We'll wrap up with our final two cases.
This is the summer arts enrichment music program, located at Skyline High School. And you'll see here, they utilize most of those areas in the Music wing and the theater black Box arts room space. This program runs June 16 to July 2. It is Monday through Friday. This is also a fee based program, roughly 200 per music class. So anyone interested in in having lessons in the viola or the tuba, the piano. You can see those at the registration site, which is linked here, and all students are welcome.
These are, potentially scholarship, and it's important that we share with the community that no student is turned away. Do do we provide the help me remember the instruments? We do indeed have instruments for students to utilize. So they can check instruments out. They can rent them if they would like to. So many ways for students to access an instrument. And then regarding the virtual summer session, do we also provide the computers? Jessica, would you like to take The students, if they're AAPS students, then, yes. They keep their computers over the summer on the same device that they were issued
by the district. We have not in the past really run into a non AAPS student requesting a device, but we could obviously work that out depending on what the need was. Thank you. Thank you. Finally, we will share the summer meal program. I have to just thank Liz Margolis and our Chartwells team for supporting, meals over the summer for our students. Our students who are eligible here are those 18 and under or those up to 26 who are currently enrolled in an AAPIIS or county special ed program. And you can see our sites here are available, all summer long at Mitchell,
Allen, and Abbott. Students can come and receive a breakfast and a lunch. So we will have that posted widely and communicated district wide, but we're pretty proud of that. Thank you, miss Margolis. And I think that wraps our summer school presentation. Thank you, trustees. Any, additional questions? Trustee Mohammed. So I appreciate I know that with every year, you've you know, it seems like there were some adjustments made. And I know I asked this I think I asked this last year too. But how are we, because the I saw the goals, which the most one of the one important goals is closing the learning gap.
Yes. So how are we measuring if we are meeting that goal? And is there a plan to see, like, okay, this this program is working. Is it effective? And is there an opportunity for us to hear about, you know, the outcomes of these summer programs? In indeed, it is critically important to us. And, we have in the past really struggled with taking a precious day from our summer program in order to do an assessment as the pre and the post in such a short period of time. So we've tried to utilize our current data,
our NWEA, looking at the the last spring to the fall for all the students who participated versus the students who didn't to try to analyze the level of the growth or lack of summer loss. So we do have those data points. We've never really presented, but would be happy to. And Michelle and Jessica, I know in the a two v program, there are exams that measure the success of that. Certainly, in the high school programs, the credit recovery and the data can be shared as to courses attempted, credits recovered, in the middle school as well because we have k eight NWEA.
It's another way we try to capture the success and the learning of students. Yeah. The reason why It's a great question. I'm masking is because like, I'm assuming that you're using that data. So every year, you may make make adjustments. So We sure do. But it's good to know that that that's the case. Absolutely. Thank you. K. Any other questions? Miss Linden? Miss Linden? Yes. Please. Could I could I share just a follow-up on that? Yes. I think one of the, one of the big changes, I think, in the elementary program, which I think will be wonderful this year, is that, we are using,
for example, for ELA, all of the teachers who will be teaching ELA will be using the UFLI, our phonics program. So we do have a program that we're gonna be really using and honing in on, so we will be able to do better tracking of what's happening rather than it being, you know, more autonomy in what they were teaching like it has been in the past. And then, all of the math teachers have gone through. It was one of the requirements to be one of the teachers. They've gone through the ABMR training, which is the math program for really working with foundational math skills,
and it's a wonderful way to teach the actual math skills that we need our children to know. It's it's not just teaching math. It's teaching real number sense to our kids and really getting them involved in understanding the foundations of numbers. So all of our teachers are really trained in the two programs that we want them to, work with our kids. So I think it's gonna be a really good way for us to take a look at how we're aligning what we're doing in the summer program. So we're really excited about, you know, just the new adventure we're taking this year.
Excellent. So I have to celebrate that. Yeah. Right? Yeah. So UFLI is, for my colleagues, University of Florida Literacy Institute, highly regarded, valid, reliable, based on the science of reading, and they have a really good, way to progress monitor. So that's really great. And that's a real big change from other summer school that were that really will attack foundational skills. That's good. Wonderful. Thank you, miss Hubbard. Thank you, miss Hendricks Pickles for being here and mister Hogan. We really appreciate you. Thank you, Jane. Thank you. Thanks. Well, now we get to e.
Now we need to e. Capital program spring twenty twenty five update and environmental sustainability update. Thank you. We have, mister Rice and the capital program team coming forward, and they will, be providing, excuse me, spring update on our capital programs as well as, an update on the district's environmental sustainability, efforts as it relates to the environmental sustainability framework, that is a part of our our our district protocol. I'll turn it over to mister Rice. Alright. Thank you, superintendent Parks and board of trustees
and the Ann Arbor community that's still watching or listening. I wanna say that this is the reason why we're here. The presentations that you saw tonight is what we do. This is what this district does. And it's very important because we're doing what's best for kids. Martin Luther King said intelligence plus character. That is the goal of education. Look. His presentation is tonight. That's intelligence plus care. Remember that. The optimist says a glass is half full. Pessimist says it's half empty. What does the realist say?
Think about that. The realist says none of the changes of the water that we have currently will change a thing. We should plan accordingly. That's what we do. Plan. But for me, for what? For what's best for kids. So tonight, we're going to start with the environmental sustainability, and I'm gonna turn it over to mister B. Alright. Good evening, trustees. Thank you, mister Rice. I am just going to have to share screen here. Correct? Alright. Alright. Good evening, trustees. Superintendent Parks, thank you very much.
We're happy to be here tonight, to share a spring update on the work occurring through the AAPS Capital Program. Plan to share some updates on environmental sustainability, which I'll run through right now, also, share updates on our current and external current internal and external engagement strategies and briefly overview the facility condition of improvement projects that are scheduled to occur, this summer in the district. So, I'm gonna go move through these environmental sustainability slides in particular,
the first sort of set, quite quickly, just because of time constraints, but they should all be in your board docs and have, available for your use. So, we're going to, and we'll pause along the way if needed, for any questions here. But, as we break ground on our first group of new, net zero energy schools and major modernizations in the APS, Wanted to share more about our overall commitments, and how we're meeting those through our new and major construction projects.
We are so I'll cover a little bit about why, and we're gonna kinda move through the goals for sustainability quite quick. Alright. So, we're fortunate to be a part of, a community that not only values environmental sustainability efforts, but is uniquely, invested in climate action. And how we translate that at the district level, is aligning our priorities, which is our core mission to serve students, as Bernie mentioned, with our environmental sustainability policy. So this means that,
you know, through decarbonization in our AAPS school facilities, we're investing in our students and staff now, through supporting health and wellness, with healthy high performance buildings, and we're investing in our students' futures by reducing our carbon, reducing our operating costs, and investing in climate action. I'm going to move through a few slides here that provide a little background on this work, but I'll pause here. Really, what we're talking about is we create a climate policy,
an environmental policy that results in commitments to energy efficiency and investments in clean energy. This policy then results in climate benefits and health benefits for our students and staff and community. So you've seen all of our slides related to, the overall bond and commitment. You've seen our board policy 8,000 commitment to climate change and action. And, in particular, in 2022, we adopted our environmental sustainability policy,
which outlines a framework for how we measure our impacts in the district. And it starts with how we're tracking greenhouse gas emissions as a district. So we're investigating on an annual basis how much we're consuming in terms of scope one and scope two emissions. And what that looks like at the district level is generally that our AAPS school buildings are the largest, emitters or consumers of carbon,
in the district, with the dark blue and yellow representing electricity and natural gas respectively, and, the lighter blue sliver there in the pie chart representing our diesel fuel consumption. So largely our buildings are our biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions in the district. And according to the science, it indicates the latest intergovernmental panel on climate change. That report really indicated that,
there's immediate need and and a call for action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to secure a livable and sustainable future for our our students and our community. So how are we integrating these commitments into our work? So we have, several targets that we've outlined for all of our design teams on each one of our projects, and we're tracking these within each project in order to measure our impact and success.
So with each project, we're requiring, our design teams provide us solutions that meet, the The US standard for the collaborative for high performance schools verified leader certification. This is a green building standard that's in alignment with a LEED platinum or one of the highest achieving levels of, the USGBC's, green building platform. We're asking our teams to deliver us buildings that have an energy use intensity, of 25 or lower. That's the the energy per square foot per year.
It's a target number that's based on the new buildings institute decarbonization roadmap for schools and zero tool, a tool that that really helps, organizations like us target net zero level energy. And then we're also asking each one of our teams to target 10% or better embodied energy in our school building. So, the embodied carbon or the embodied energy spent in the materials that make up our buildings, we're asking them to reduce that number by 10% or more.
So, what this looks like then when we are looking at progress, in particular around our collaborative for high performance schools or our green building certification. Again, this, green building certification is designed specifically for k 12 school learning environments and helps school districts, in every community across the country reduce operating costs, achieve higher student performance, increase daily attendance, retain quality of teachers and staff, be more energy, water, and resource efficient, and minimize environmental impact.
Within this framework, this criteria outlines categories, which include indoor environmental quality, energy, water, site sustainable sites, materials and waste operations. The heaviest amount of points or the major focus of this criteria is indoor environmental quality and energy. These are the two, areas of focus we identified upfront, whereas we're trying to improve student health now and support a long term decarbonization strategy in the district. So, with this program then,
we have a third party verification of our environmental performance. We create systems of accountability for our design and construction teams, and we have a transparent method to track and report our environmental sustainability performance. Just a second. I think we have a question. Yep. Go ahead. So Yes. Just to back up a little bit, slide 20, help me, remember EUI, energy use index or Energy use intensity. Intensity. Thank you. Yes. So that is the the thousand BTUs per square foot per year.
And, basically, that's a benchmark that is based on standard that was created by the new buildings institute to help schools understand that you need to target an energy use intensity of 17 to 25 in order to be able to achieve a net zero energy building. And I'll we'll explain net zero energy in just a just a minute. And I do remember, I think it was a couple years ago, where we your predecessor showed us a very thorough assessment of each one of our
buildings, which I think even today stands as very unique, at least in our county. And I appreciate that. So but we're doing so so I'm sorry. These measurements that you have shown us, are we for example, the sustainability rating systems, are we looking at that for our new buildings? And if so, how do we do that if our new buildings aren't up yet to measure all that? I'm sure there's something magic in the design that I'm not aware of. Yeah. So, I will jump over here just really quick just so I this is what we're
talking about here. So what we're what we're doing is as we're going through the design process, as we're putting together all the pieces and parts of a school building with our internal and external stakeholders, we're creating a specifications list and sort of a materials list for the schools, and and we have a whole bunch of performance criteria that are outlined in the system. So as we're going through the design process, we are utilizing these criteria to help us understand what our targets are in each
level. So we're able to in in any building project, we're doing a series of assessments that then help us do calculations that then help us understand how we are, measuring and performing. And so this system actually creates those guardrails or those sets of performance criteria for each one of our elements. And so I'm sorry. Just one question. So this really helps us quantify our goal. I mean, when we hear critics say we're not being sensitive to carbon neutral or decarbonization,
this basically, you know, debunks debunks this. And we can again, we have measurable goals here. And this will this is helping in the design. And I'm sure after the building is up and running, we'll do continue continuously do assessments on how we're doing. Yes. Correct? So one of the, in the the last category there is operations. Mhmm. That o m category, and part of that is a requirement to track your energy consumption over time in order to effectively verify that our upfront modeling
or upfront investments are actually on target. Thank you. Yeah. Appreciate that. Something I was thinking about was when, you know, when the original buildings were built in the fifties or whenever, There wasn't any thought to putting a one story building that spread out. I don't think necessarily people were thinking about energy efficiency perhaps. But I know one of the things you brought up is in these elementary buildings, we're thinking of the two story and how we are more energy efficient. And I know from,
the work I've done with Sierra Club over the years, conservation is huge. Energy efficiency, there's so much to be saved, both to the environment, financially. You know, we just I mean, it's like when a person leaves their front door open of a shop and it's summer and there's air conditioning running. I mean, it's just like you have to think about, you know, what are you doing to conserve too. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And part of part of the criteria here for for hitting our energy targets within this within this overall certification process is that we have controls and we have solutions in place so
that we can you know, we can relatively guarantee that we're going to to walk away with a high efficient a high efficiency solution meet that meets energy efficiency goals. Makes sense. Yeah. Go on. So part of this part of this process then is creating a whole bunch of assessments and surveys and sustainability reports that then feeds information to our design teams, returns information to us so that we can make, better choices and better decisions,
through the design process. These are intended then again to, be used during the process and then will be available for, for, public consumption, as we as they're released. And some of these will show, where you can find them, in just a little bit. But what the initial outputs then of this process are is that the overall, US chips, criteria outlines 250 points. So all those criteria that were listed there with that heavy emphasis on indoor environmental quality and energy,
there's 250 points total. 64% of those are needed in order to hit this verified leader level, so a 60 points. So within the planning process to date for Mitchell, Dickin, Logan, and Thurston Elementary, we're achieving our verified leader, certification status. And we're looking at, 70 to 75%, indoor environmental quality targets. So this is the category that's most meaningful to promote student health and teacher health.
And so it's really important that we focus on these areas, and, we're we're hitting our targets, currently. So again, with with our commitment to decarbonization then, we're looking at energy efficiency and renewable energy as well as, energy, as well as life cycle assessments. And we'll dig in here just a minute. So, our approach is we hit our targets by designing net zero energy and zero energy ready buildings, which means we make the most efficient building we possibly can,
and we offset any balance of energy required through renewables, either on-site renewables or off-site renewable purchases. We use an energy efficiency modeling process where each one of our design teams then creates an energy model, which allows us to look at all of our passive, active, and equipment based solutions to lower our energy consumption within each one of our buildings and then get us to that target that we can offset the balance of energy
with renewals. And so in that energy modeling process, to date, as, trustee Schmidt just mentioned, we have two story solutions. So we are able to add support infrastructure, add new spaces for our students and staff, which gives us an opportunity to create more square footage and at the same time use less energy than what our existing buildings are. So when we look at a Mitchell Elementary, the proposed new Mitchell Elementary against the existing Mitchell Elementary,
we have 24% more square footage, but we're using 35% less energy than the existing Mitchell Elementary School, which is a a a really awesome, opportunity for the district because, you know, we're getting we're adding value for our students and staff. We're creating a more healthy environment for them, and at the same time, we're reducing our operating costs, for the district and meeting our climate target. So in each one of our first, first set of, groundbreakings here,
each one of these schools is larger than the existing school yet consumes less energy than the existing school. That's strictly because they're, two stories? I mean, how do you determine that? I mean, is it the fact that it's two stories basically So there's there's a number of of strategies, that are utilized. So like, on on our, energy modeling slide here, there's passive strategies. So where we can increase access to daylight, we do that. So we can reduce the artificial light in a building when we can use geothermal
technology systems that are more energy efficient energy efficient. We we can use strategies that then reduce our overall energy, consumption. And all these combined measures basically allow us to, to achieve these targets. Got it. But part of that being compact is what provides that. And I I just need to say more water. I I like I totally swallowed something. Unbelievable. Yeah. I'm just like, damn right now. It's like it's in there, man. Guys. Don't show it on us.
Yeah. Maybe that will help. That's it. Well, I can answer a couple others. So geothermal is a great opportunity, but solar is also that's why we're doing the solar arrays throughout the district to help offset the our, the carbon that is consumed. So we're not just doing solar because it's a great idea and we save money, but we're actually impacting the overall energy efficiency, and we're also impacting our our consumption of of, utility. Yes. Makes sense. K. Thank you. Alright. I think this is gonna do the trick.
Thank you, miss trustee Wilkerson. I really appreciate that. So another part of that, decarbonization equation is then you know, we have operating carbon, and then we have embodied carbon. This is all the embodied energy or the spent energy that's locked up in the materials that we are using in our new buildings. And so we have a process, a modeling process, again, that we use to measure and evaluate how much locked up energy is going into these new buildings, and it's a life cycle assessment or a whole building life cycle assessment that's used
by our teams. And so they're looking at all of the components of each of our buildings. They're looking at the building enclosure, the substructure, the superstructure, and the interior environment, looking at all the all the materials and looking for strategies to reduce the embodied energy or embodied carbon in each one of these materials in our buildings. I think a great example we voted on, which was is it mass timber? What's the that particular material which traps is a carbon sequester.
Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. And I and I will talk about that right here. So awesome segue. So each one of our our buildings is meeting our 10% or better target, but we're also able to look at even a greater, embodied carbon reduction because we're utilizing mass timber, which is a wood based product, which sequesters carbon over the life of the material. Then we lock that carbon up in our buildings,
and it's a delayed release into the environment. So we're able to say that we're not just reducing our overall carbon footprint by using low carbon choices. We're also using materials that specifically sequester carbon and then lock it up in our buildings and great greatly increase our overall carbon footprint reduction. So in in the case of Mitchell Elementary, the use of mass timber in Dickon, Logan, and Thurston, it significantly increases our overall footprint with that biogenic carbon,
which is what it's referred to as using our your biomaterials that absorb or sequester carbon and locking those up in your building. So on a on a building basis then, all of our architects engineers are utilizing this sort of framework to evaluate, the most durable, low low cost and low carbon solutions that are available to our team. So they did through the whole building life cycle analysis process. They looked at all of our exterior cladding materials,
all of the materials that make up the outside of our building. And they looked at through an energy modeling process what all the insulating values to each one of those materials does for the energy efficiency of the facility. So the iterations went back and forth with each each of these materials to dial in what gives us the the greatest carbon reduction, and health benefits for our students and staff. So, again, moving from the outside in, our flooring choices promoting low carbon solutions while at the same time promoting reduced,
toxicity and low maintenance, bringing, biophilia, natural materials into the space. And at the same time, again, promoting this low carbon or biogenic carbon, impact, increasing daylight and views, and providing better ventilation systems and better acoustics, for for our students and staff. So with each one of our projects, we're posting, as our sustainability reports, sustainability, surveys become available on the a two schools bond website. If you go to, updates there,
we have, assessments and surveys where these are available and will continue to be, uploaded. We also have just recently added an environmental sustainability landing page, on the a two schools bond website. And on that page, you're gonna find, links to news articles, press releases, and we're working on ways that we can create sort of digestible dashboards and be able to communicate these kind of reports that we're talking about in a
in a way that's as digestible as possible for for folks who are interested in learning more about, environmental sustainability in our new buildings. We have some additional resources here available for folks. And then, what are the next steps? So we sort of showed our our first four buildings that are first four elementary schools that are breaking ground, with our the next two behind, those first four, Lawton and Lakewood. With Lawton, we actually applied for a USDA
grant to support more serious investment in mass timber. So if we're able to, we'll know in July if we, were able to actually receive this grant. We weren't sure if the program was still going to be around after a couple executive orders, but it looks like it's back on track. And so if we if we're able to, to secure this grant, it'll open the door for more investment, in mass timber, which we're gonna use as a pilot to look at
whether or not we should be doing this on a on a larger scale, like, every one of our projects, if we should be, integrating this in an in a more, in an increased way. And at the same time, we're also utilizing some, more intense, energy efficiency principles for the exterior of the building, so called passive house, but it's the idea is that it's a more robust exterior envelope solution that then allows, a building to sustain itself better without energy use. Basically,
it's called that's where the passive comes from. It's using as much energy from the sun as possible and keeping as much energy inside the building, at the same time so you reduce your overall energy energy commitment, in the building. But so just really quick, I'll, answer your question here. But, basically, if if we're able to to get this grant, we're able to make these investments, Lawton Elementary as proposed would be probably one of the greenest elementary schools in the state of Michigan, if not a a broader, scope. So sometimes buildings are built so airtight to be energy efficient that they're unhealthy.
You know what I mean? And so I'm wondering when we think about these buildings, I know air filtration is important, but we're also working with people and facilities to think about it. We've got these buildings that are efficient. Yes. We're doing the air exchange. But what we clean with, which I know the floors are different so that we don't have to strip them every summer, but that's all talking to each other to make that happen. Yep. Yep. So so we're we're thinking about that in terms of the operations and maintenance, but we're also,
not building the these buildings like a spaceship either. I mean, we're we have super high ventilation systems and strategies and super high filtration systems and strategies, but we also are allowing for operable windows. So, I mean, so there's you know, there there is a school of thought, so to speak, that, you know, that says we thou shalt not open windows at all. But that that's a non excellent work we're we're doing with our school buildings.
So we are able to still hit our targets, with, with operable windows. Right. Any other questions? Oh, we're still going. Yeah. So, I was just gonna to jump ahead to summarize here, really quick that, you know, our decarbonization commitment, really is looking to provide healthy, comfortable, and productive learning environments from our for our students and staff, and at the same time redirecting money from utility bills back to the classroom, and, you know, providing enhanced learning opportunities for our students along the way,
with our commitments to, climate action. And that would be, the end of our sustainability presentation. Wow. That's just awesome. Trustees, any questions that you haven't had an opportunity to ask mister Bing? This is I don't necessarily have a question, but, an appreciation for this report and helping not only us as, trustees, but the community understand more what we're talking about and actually doing behind the scenes. I know that doesn't get enough, you know, visibility. And for some of us,
we're still trying to learn the language. So appreciate the redundancy and trying to understand what this is all mean. So thank you so much. This, I know I think I no. That was the other report where I saw a draft. But this is the final version that we can upload or if it's not already there on board docs and as you mentioned on the website as well. Yes. Thank you. I don't know that this presentation is posted to the website just yet, but we're we'll get it out there. We just wanna make sure that it wasn't the draft version. Yes. Thank you. Again, I appreciate that. Mister Mohammed?
So I know I get a lot of questions about, like, with the new buildings and how, you know, cars and, you know, the so what are we doing to help make things more efficient, especially for, I know there's, like, traffic studies, things like that, but what are we doing? I can address that. So on our so in the exterior campus side of the equation yeah. I know. I appreciate that question. So one of the metrics or measures in the criteria there is a commitment to sustainable sites.
So we do have so, you know, there are criteria around for the for a certain percentage of your site, you need to utilize native plants and vegetation in order to to support habitats within each one of your projects. We need to meet, you know, on our sites, we have stormwater requirements, which our teams are using as an opportunity. Invest in green infrastructure, so rain gardens, and again promoting more habitat. In response to community feedback,
some of which you've described, with each one of our projects, we're asking all of our teams to reevaluate how you know, what is the absolute minimum responsible investment we can make for parking or for a drive lane or a bus lane. And that's that's what we have asked them to give us, so that we can create any any pockets of additional green space or usable play area, on each of our sites. So appreciate the Okay. Ask.
And and I would say one other piece to that is that, we are very aware of, heat island sort of conversations, and part of the criteria of that chip of the chips program actually addresses heat island effects. So we're looking at solutions to reduce and minimize heat island on each one of our projects. Okay. Colleagues, any other questions? Alright. So, I'm just looking at the agenda here. We've got phone two of this item, which is the update. Sorry about that. Oh, okay. Go ahead.
Always mind. I'm just order. No. I'm just trying to think about if it makes sense when we might take a five, ten minute break just to let people take get up and move. But go ahead. You're good. Are you sure? Yep. Mhmm. Sure. Alright. We'll get going. Alright. Can you see my yep. Okay. Alright. So happy to share some very quick, current internal, external engagement, strategy updates, and, briefly overview our facility condition assessments then, for facility condition improvement projects that are scheduled to occur this summer.
So let me just make sure I can drive. Alright. So as you might remember, our team, chatted about revisiting our engagement strategy over the last year working with, our owners representatives and each of our design teams to enhance our process. So we spent time with each one of our design teams talking about stakeholder mapping, identifying internal and external stakeholders, and discussing ways to better engage these groups in our design process. We continue to understand more and more stakeholders as we go,
and we continue to map these groups and make sure that we're adding them to our sort of list here. But the idea is that by identifying more internal and external stakeholders, we can, bring them into the process in a in more intentional ways and gather feedback on each one of our projects. So with each one of our our teams then, we kind of gathered, as a group and, in small groups and talked about all the different sort of tools that we had
at our disposal to gather feedback and talk about the resources involved in each one of those, strategies and ultimately help develop our kind of draft menu of tools, in our engagement toolbox. And so, we are working with each one of our teams now on developing strategies. We kind of all gravitated to the idea that open houses could provide opportunities to gather information, create interaction, and create better,
more dynamic opportunities to receive feedback from attendees. So we started, with some of those this spring. And, with each one of our teams now, we're looking at ways to revise our our calendar, so that we're looking, on the planning side to increase our touch points and increase the types of events, diversify the types of events, I should say, so that we're able to try to to reach different stakeholder groups, either where they're at or with different types of of strategies.
We also expanded, some of our communications efforts, continuing to do that, through newsletters, website updates, email notifications, and different strategies, for each one of our projects, and we'll continue to to work on that as well. And, to talk a little bit about the preliminary sort of feedback we received from our spring engagement events is Kevin Stansbury with our owner's representative. Good evening, trustees, superintendent Parks. So this spring we conducted five open houses.
And, I think we're going to start here with where we are in the project timeline. Three of those projects that would be Burns Park, Wines And King are in the fifth month of the first year. So still on the planning and community engagement process, we haven't started drawing anything yet. We're still talking to as many stakeholders as we can, trying to understand who they are, how they relate to the building and the site, what their obstacles are, what their aspirations are, etcetera. So that's the timeline we're in for those projects. We had a Burns Park open house on
April 3. I'm no good with the dates here. And it was a really, really good open house. Some of the some of you trustees were in attendance. What we get at the open houses is an ability to talk to people one on one, sometimes in small groups. We get parents, we get students, we get neighbors, we get teachers. It's a very different experience than we had been using before with our neighbor updates before, and the feedback we get from these is really excellent. This is an example of the feedback we got at Burns Park. This is something that will appear in the discovery report with for Burns Park along
with all the other feedback from all the other engagements that we've done. But you can see on the left there, there were some posters at Burns Park and we invited stakeholders to provide comments on the posters. And then on the right hand side here, a summary from our architects of the main buckets, if you will, of what those comments were and they differ by site. So this is specific to Burns Park. We also had open house at King on April 9 and here are some pictures of that event.
Whoops. And this is the feedback we got at Burns Park or at King. The architects for Burns Park are different than the architects for King, but the strategy is the same. We had them create posters to pose specific questions to seek specific kinds of feedback. But in the end, having a conversation with a neighbor, the topic could be anything and we accepted that feedback and summarized that feedback. Lines, we had an open house on April 1. It was attended fairly well, but we had gotten the February 10,
there was an all day NAAPID engagement where we saw almost every parent in the school over the course of the day doing a very similar engagement. So at Wines, we actually had two engagements, that were very well attended and we got the same kinds of feedback there. This is images from the open house. We have images also from the parent engagement we had in February. And here's the feedback on the right there that's specific to Wines. This is all in your slide deck. I'm not going to spend time reading through it.
Then we had two other open houses this spring. They were for projects that are in their second year of planning, so that is during the design process. This is for Lakewood and Lawton. Those projects had already had a neighborhood engagement back in the fall of twenty twenty four and the formats for those were what we had been doing commonly before, which is folks standing up on a stage, presenting and then accepting questions. We found that that didn't work nearly as well as the open houses. So they're highlighted here. These are the two sort of broader engagements we had in September and then again
in March for Lakewood. The open house was attended very well and the feedback for that looks like this. Same kind of process and similar feedback but specific to Lakewood. Here we have Lawton's. What I haven't been talking about here is the list of engagements. These are engagements specific to each of these projects. Lakewood and Lawton's engagements list is longer because we're in the second year, But these are the engagements we've had that are internal and external.
And when we say internal, we mean direct school community is internal and external can be neighbors, community partners, etcetera. So at Lawton, we had a very well attended open house and the feedback we got was received the same style post its on posters and long conversations and then feedback from that is listed here. This is a summary of the feedback. Our typical engagement process on the far left there is what appeared in the bond
campaign literature, which is too small to read, but you've all seen that before. How that's been translated for our projects is an ongoing dynamic process in that we revisit how well it's going and we make adjustments. So open houses are new this year. But typically we have 15 engagements that are that have, if you will, a particular theme. At the very end of this list is, the is the phrase resource meetings. We have a number of resource meetings with specific stakeholders in the school. We need to talk about art storage or Project Lead the Way storage that sort
of stuff. We go back and have resource meetings, but the main engagements are listed here. I think engagement 10 is listed twice, but there are still 15 engagements there And they follow a somewhat linear process. We start with school leadership, we advise them on selecting a design advisory team, then we meet with that design advisory team and then the doors open more and more and then open houses are everyone's invited. And with that, I'm going to turn it over to Stephanie, who's going to talk about the summertime. Kevin, can I ask you a question?
Yes, absolutely. Is it common okay. So the challenge here is trying to create buildings that are going to be when I'm gone and some of us are gone. Right? And and the teachers that are teaching now won't be teaching there. They can't imagine some we just can't imagine some of the needs that will happen in the next seventy five years. Right? And so, balancing that with current teachers who teach the way they teach, with neighbors that want certain things. Do you find it challenging, that when,
people within the school are in these design groups that, I mean, I I have a hard time visualizing some of these things because I know the way I teach. And we'll get feedback sometimes from teachers in the district that are like, you know, they didn't hear what I wanted. They're making something that doesn't make sense to me. How do you how do you deal how are you coming up with the end product? Because you have to look so forward. We talked about twenty first century school. So how do you handle that? Broadly speaking,
we try to find ways that it works both ways. So flexible designs that can allow it to operate roughly the way it does now, but also be prepared for whatever is gonna come in the future. So that applies to a lot of specific topics, but we know that we can't have a building that doesn't look anything like buildings do today because, you know, we how they're used is sort of a dynamic thing. So we have to have it be so it's somewhat recognizable, but what what we're really focusing on is eliminating the obstacles that are existing in
our present building for how teaching and learning can can change. How it changes is more of a teaching and learning thing, but we we just don't want the building to be in the way anymore as it is right now. Yeah. And I and Glenda's been a teacher. Those of us in the field, the schools were developed like factories. Yes. They were set up like a factory with separate like an egg carton. Very rigid, very and it's just so counter. So I I just know that that pushback happens and we hear it.
And it's how do you Yeah. It's an it's an interesting dynamic. It it you know, folks want it to look like it looks now, but not be like it is now. You know, it's we need both. So the solution is always find ways where it can operate both ways. Mhmm. Yeah. Flexibility as Jason saying from Metro. Yeah. I just want to make a quick comment sort of piggybacking off of what you just said that just, you know, going through the slide presentation and all of the designs and building project slides that
we've seen, it's it's really clear that the the team has been very intentional about what's being placed in buildings. And, I'm assuming this wasn't just a fly by night, throw it together type design for each building, and the the needs in each building is very different. Yeah. So, is there a way for us to to really communicate that? Because I think based on what we're hearing, a lot of, you know, the community, some folks, teachers in the buildings, don't seem to to really see that intentionality.
And I don't know if we need to, you know, do a better job of really communicating that. But, again, it's very obvious based on what we've been seeing in the slides, and based on your presentations. But, you can assure the community that there has been some intentionality placed in every single design. Yeah, absolutely. The artifact that I can think of is a discovery report, which is the summary of all the engagements, the inputs, and the outputs that exists on the a2schoolsbond.org website for the schools we have them for.
It's a little early for Wines, Burns, Park, and King. I think they exist for Mitchell, Dick, and Logan Thurston. They may even be there for Lakewood and Lawton at this time. And that's a summary of what we did in the first year of engagement, who we talked to, what they said, what our prompts were, what their responses were. It's all fairly transparent. We did do a lot of talking with a lot of people to get to where we are now. Dusty, Mohammed, you had your hand up? Well, I just that's what I was gonna ask because this community feedback that's primarily from
the the open houses, but the the discovery report has all the feedback. Yes. Okay. It's it's very it's very rich Yeah. To look at those. Yeah. And I think trustee Basquiat just sent out that to us in our email lately. The discovery maybe is a one for Lawton. Trustees Wilkins and then Wilkerson? The so after the Thurston situation, I know the team spent more time on a variety of different ways to outreach. And now we've got door hangers and flyers and all kinds of,
more ways to hopefully reach folks. Mhmm. Is it working? Like, how do we do we know? Are we measuring, like, how many different people you're hearing from? Or is there a way to tell if that if you're making the right decisions or if you just keep need to keep doing that? Too early to say that it's working for sure to some degree depends on how satisfied people are, and we haven't heard yes or no that they're satisfied. Mhmm. Because there isn't for these projects, specifically Burns Park Wines and and King,
there isn't an artifact to look at yet. We haven't drawn anything. But I would say that we did get quite good attendance and a vast variety of stakeholders who came and the ability and there were, I don't know, 15 professionals there who could just have one on one conversations. Just the quality of the input was much higher than it would be, up on a stage where there's somebody in the audience with a microphone. For sure. Whether the input was different or not, you know, it is largely similar,
but it is richer and folks feel heard better. So, from an engagement point of view, I would say that's a success. It remains to be seen when the designs are finalized, when the schools, seen them, when we're they're shared with the community, whether there's great satisfaction or or not. We're hoping for the former. K. I had a couple of questions if we could bring that slide back up. Oh, did it. No. I didn't. You're getting there. Is this one you wanna get? Yes. Perfect. So can you talk a little bit about which of these sessions might be,
like, the smaller group sessions with, like, features, for instance? Instance? Yes. Well, the design advisory is comprised of school staff, the OP, the principal, sometimes an assistant principal, and a selection of teachers that are intended to represent most, grades and some specials and, support services. The design advisory is assembled by the principal. We don't say this is this is the right fit or not the wrong fit, but we try to talk about, do do they have the ability to think, for future generations?
Do they wear several hats? Are they a parent and a teacher? Do they work in the lunchroom as well? You know, we want the broadest possible range. So that design advisory is 10 or so, school staff in general and we have many meetings with them. We then meet with the full staff several times here. Engagement four is an all staff meeting. We're going to have one more before well, we typically have three or four full staff meetings. Some of them are in the fall. So that's all staff are invited. We tend to push into an existing staff meeting.
So staff are intended to be there. It is not all this as we've understood, it is not all the staff who support the building. It is all the staff, the main core staff who are in the building. But we treat it as a staff meeting. The professionals, present and, seek input at those meetings. So there is a lot of opportunity for staff to be talking to us about what what it is we're sharing with them, both at the design advisory and the full staff level. The resource meetings, like, if we need to talk about, when I say we, it's the design professionals who are doing this.
If if, we need to talk about, what kind of stories do you need in the art classroom, they will go talk to the art teacher. Same thing with Project Lead the Way, similar conversations like the occup occupational therapy room in a building, like, how should it be outfitted? What is it you're doing today? There are several of those, but those are sort of, decided as we're moving through the process to see if there's something unique, then they reach out to those particular staff. Okay. No. That that's helpful. And then one other question. I mean, some of this is just, you know, it's engagement.
You're getting themes like the open house to kinda boil that all that those feedback and sticky notes down to, you know, a number of themes that you wanna address or at least point out. But, in other areas, like, again, going back to your staff, like, is there a feedback mechanism to go back to those groups and and show that some of their concerns are being addressed? Yeah. At each of the staff meetings, we report back what we've done since the last staff meeting. And the last staff meeting we have is a celebration of the results of their
work where the design professionals share the plans and the history about the decisions to get to the plans. So, yeah, I mean, I would say that all of the feedback we get when we come back to that same group later, we're reporting back what we heard and how it's been addressed. Yeah. Is is I guess, is like documentation part of that? Yes. The discovery report covers all that. Okay. Yeah. Perfect. Okay. So, and that that brings a a point of so you do share the design, like, kind of at the end with all the feedback and stuff.
Is there an is that obviously, that's not the the final design is the first time they're gonna see the final design. When do they actually see that's what I was trying to get at. When do they see design and changes throughout this engagement process where they can provide feedback and make adjustments as needed. All along the way, feedback is received and then reported back and adjusted. But the first five months don't involve any drawings because we're trying to understand who the school is. So during that first five months,
the adjustments are spoken. And then typically over the summer, the architects are translating that into building blocks. And in the fall, they're starting to show designs. In the fall, there's meetings with the school leadership and design advisory to say this is what we heard in preparation for the all staff meeting to say this is what we heard from your leadership, your design advisory. We've We've heard this from you before, full staff, the meetings we've had before. This is what we are sharing with you. What it what feedback can you offer us at this point?
So we'll receive feedback up until the last minute. And then it's our job, you know, at some point, there isn't another engagement, but it's our job to ensure that the architects are working with the feedback they received and making the adjustments. And that's what we do as well. Okay. Let's keep it rolling. Wow, no, you're good. Oh, definitely. Jason, do you want to add anything very quick before I switch? Just going to say, it's not I would say that the process we continue to try to get better, but one of the ways that we've tried to organize these engagements is that that
design advisory team that Kevin mentioned is supposed to you know, in we invite, them to be the liaisons in the building too and and sort of be conduit for feedback along the way. So if something arises, like, you know, a staff member could go to one of the design advisory team members and provide that feedback or provide the feedback to the principal. So if somebody missed a meeting or if somebody just had an idea that they need to share, you know, that's that design advisory team is in place there so that they can be that
conduit. That's the hope at least. And is that is that, like, new part of the process or was that the previous process? Like, what has changed? Sorry. That's that's part of the that's part of the process. But I think, you know, I think where we can get better is just the tools and methods for capturing data, you know, how how we do that if, we can keep getting better. I suspect it's setting expectations, helping the principal understand the process because then he's trying to corral some people to do it. His teachers are so busy who wants to do it.
You know, it's it's a challenge, I guess. Can't believe I'm lowering this. And I think one of the things that we are finding now with our first round of schools is, you know, we have these engagements. Remember, it's two years. It's two years to get to the point that we are bidding and putting a shovel in the ground. So people that we talked to or that were engaged two years ago at that school may not be there today. So they're not aware of the discussions and the feedback that was given and what was presented,
you know, six months, nine months, a year prior to them coming to the school. So we're you know, we we try to come back again. But, unfortunately, when we come back again, it's new to those people because they haven't seen it before because they were not at that school and they were not part of that engagement. So we are always, challenged with the over you know, there's principles that changed, leadership changes. You know, today's music teacher is not there. There's someplace else. Today's art teachers moved to another building. You know, it changes every year. And so trying to keep every but that's our number one challenge,
is really communicating what the previous group of people, had, given us feedback on. And that's why I think the discovery reports are so important, and that's why they're published because so people can see at the time what was the feedback we were given. So Yes. Go ahead, Trustee. And sorry. I don't mean to because it's important to understand the process and stuff. But do you feel that engagement is so much more, like, there's more or how do you feel compared to two years ago? And what do you mean? We're we're constantly increasing engagement.
Yeah. Okay. It was hard at the beginning. We were still coming out of COVID. People were not ready to and now there's an excitement people wanna get involved. The further we get on go along the process, the more people wanna get engaged, the more people wanna be involved. At the beginning, it was hard. People are just could not take on anymore. And now it's it's getting it's getting better. That's what my feeling was. Yeah. Because I've been to some of the initials, like, when I first started, and you can tell it was not as and it was in the winter. You know, people just don't go out.
So I'm glad that you're adjusting. Yeah. But I think more people are hearing about it. They're excited. Yeah. So I think that's probably why you're also seeing the engagement. It is. And our increased communication is really helping, you know. And the website helps and, you know, it just the message is out there. So people are starting to look for it. So alright. So I'm gonna, discuss very quickly the construction phase and what is happening. To give you an idea, this summer, we're gonna have 43 I guess I said we were not gonna have this many projects, but we are having 43 individual projects this summer at 20 different campuses.
You've seen all these come through, in the last several months. We're gonna be at a lot of places. And, actually, I just saw the update for Pioneer High School, and we're working on the auxiliary field right now. So the turf is gone and they're prepping the field for the new turf auxiliary field. So we are already at several locations starting to do work. This is a kit so this list here is a carryover of projects that had either started last summer or were continuing through this past school year, or will continue on past this summer.
And, of course, our, projects that are break breaking ground in 2025, in addition, in in addition to what I was showing on the previous two slides. So we have a lot happening, a lot to, a lot with our construction managers. And I just wanna point out, our construction managers are bricks, McCarthy and Smith, Chrisman, construction, and, our list and I've shown them before, but our list of architects is is long, and of professionals that have work in every one of these projects. And I think when we had the study session, you saw just for one project how many people and do that times five.
So, it's it's a big undertaking. It's a lot to to oversee. It's a lot to keep tabs of, but, you know, there's a plan in place and a a way to report on it, which you will start receiving reports, on a quarterly basis. So I wanna make that, clear. I know that that hasn't been encouraged in the past, but we're going to encourage that we start doing that, starting in the fall. Any questions? Okay. Everybody set? All right. So, colleagues, would it be useful to take a ten minute break?
Yes. And then we'll come back. That's a lot of information just so that we can attend to, the next section, okay? All right. Thank you, Tina. Great. That would put us at about 11:10, I think. Okay. If we're ready to get started again. Okay. So, the way our agenda is set up, we have first briefing. So these will be a group of items that the Board will see, consider for the first time in a presentation. We'll come back to us in another meeting at a second briefing, and then we can take action. So let's begin with, a policy five fifty, graduation requirements draft update recommendation.
Thank you, trustee Schmidt. We have miss Linden coming forward with, this particular item, as it relates to a increase in graduation requirements by law. And that increase is, related to a point five increase in personal finance that is now required, or for for a particular, class and, above or below. So miss Linden is gonna talk us through that. This item has gone through both planning and governance. And so now we're bringing it forward to the full board. Thank you very much.
Good evening. It's great to be back here again. We do have a presentation that I think will be helpful as we discuss the legal changes and requirements for, new graduation requirements. So as as the presentation is coming up, I'll remind us that there is something called the Michigan merit curriculum or the MMC. This was established in 02/2006, and the MMC sets the minimum standards for earning a diploma in the state of Michigan. And, it does allow districts the flexibility to add to those requirements,
but we must meet the minimum. And so many districts across the state have added additional elective requirements, and we are one of those districts. So when that presentation comes up, you'll be able to see a little bit more of this. You're totally fine. No worries. Take your time, Amy. No pressure. And we'll talk a little bit about the MMC. We'll talk about how students earn credit, and we'll speak a little bit about the alignment with our values and, the district's particular ways of earning credit. Then I'll walk through that legal requirement and the options for that personal finance.
We'll share with you our recommendation. And finally, we'll end with a quick look at the standards themselves so that the community can and our board trustees can see, what will be added for students and their personal finance requirement. So I just have a question before we start. They haven't made the day longer or the year longer, have they? They have not. And they just keep adding stuff? Correct. Uh-huh. And not And I remember 2006 when this all went down because they made students have to have two years of the language, algebra two. Yes. And it's it's kind of been a problem.
It's so tricky. Yeah. It was a significant shift. Wait till wait till you hear the upcoming stuff. We've all maybe we can just follow along on our You can definitely, if that's alright with you. I can share the context also that over the course of the last nearly two years, since we learned about this requirement, we have been working really hard to explore all the options. So, folks on the teaching and learning team, myself, others across the state have been connecting on this, talking to each other about our understanding first of the law,
which was a little unclear, in the beginning. It it probably won't surprise you to know that. We did see this the passing of the law, and then it was a while before we got the guidance from MDE about the options that they would approve available to us to meet the point five personal finance additional grad requirement. One of the things the state of Michigan was offering is is the, option to reduce, credit requirements in other areas like visual performing arts or world language. So those were part of the options that we did explore. But you'll see in our recommendation this evening,
if I just cut to the chase, there are seven personal finance standards. Six of the seven were already a part of our economics course, which is a requirement for graduation in the Anabra public schools. So the recommendation this evening is that we embed the personal finance credit requirement within already required economics courses. The state of Michigan does allow students to earn, credit simultaneously, so you might consider that double dipping. So within a a particular semester, they can earn a point five for economics at the same time they're earning a
point five personal finance. So that will be the recommendation this evening. There's a lot of background information here in this deck, for all of you and for the community in the event that that some of the ways in which students earn a diploma may not be clear. So we've tried to be thorough, in providing some of that this evening. I can go through that very quickly, or I can pause if if we'd like to delve in a little more on any of these. Slides. So just let me know. Yes. Is and I'm sure you work with the economics teachers. Right? I mean, I'm just trying to think if you have a year and you have a curriculum.
And you said how many of those those Six of the seven were already a part of that course. Oh. Correct. Okay. So it's it's the addition of a tax credit, which we'll share, with you here. So why don't we look through these pretty quickly? This is just a little bit about that Michigan merit curriculum, the minimum standards for graduation. And it does share that local districts have that flexibility to add to those. We are among many in the state of Michigan who have added elective requirements. So we'll head on to the next slide. Here we talk about the ways in which students can earn credit. It is no longer based on seat time with an instructor or the Carnegie unit.
To earn credit for graduation, students have to demonstrate mastery of the content standards. So they can do that by taking a course and taking all those assessments throughout the course and the final exam. They can take it through a CTE program. They can earn this through a personal curriculum, but, they can also earn this by testing out. And we actually have just completed a round of testing out in our district as we do every year. So, that's the good news on earning credit. With credit based on student proficiency, the diploma now represents what students can do and have mastered rather than time they
have spent in a chair. So that's the difference that we want folks to know. So as I mentioned, students can earn their credit through CTE programs, through work internships, community resource experiences, etcetera. So some of those are listed here for us. And we'll go on to the next. This shows the MMC requirements versus the AAPS graduation requirements. So, on the left hand side in gray, you'll see there are 18 total credits required for a diploma in the state of Michigan. On the right hand side, you will see the Anarbor Public Schools requirements,
and the only difference is there at the bottom. We have the requirement of four electives. So one elective credit per year, throughout their four years of high school. On the next slide, you'll see a little more about the values behind that. So that additional requirement does support our goals in the Anarbor Public Schools to see the whole child, the whole student developed. We know that those credits in many cases are the thing that gets students up and into the school building because that's their passion element. They also help students to discover and pursue areas of interest or talent they did
not know existed. So they are critically important. We do think they fuel lifelong passions for our students, and they remain in our recommendation to stay as part of our requirements. We'll head on to the next one. So here we talk about the law at the top that's, passed in June of twenty twenty two. So you can see we've had a lot of time to bring you this recommendation this evening. The new requirement is in place for the graduating class of 2028. So that would have been our eighth graders in 2023. So,
after much review, we're gonna move on to the next slide, and you'll see the wording of the recommendation. What we are bringing to you this evening is the recommendation to approve the revision of graduation requirements as follows. Beginning with the class of 2028, all Anarbor Public School students will earn a point five personal finance credit within the existing graduation required economics course. That brings the total number of credits required for an AAPS diploma to 22.5 with the caveat that the point five credit for personal finance does not represent any
additional seat time or course time. It's earned simultaneously with the economics credit. Of course, students may also, master these standards through CTE personal finance one and two. They will also get this through their economics courses, so they'll have both. But personal finance one and two, I have to say, is a pretty incredible learning experience for students in this district. While they will get mastery of these seven standards in their economics courses, personal finance one and two, do help students dive in much deeper. It's it's a far longer and and more,
really in-depth study of personal finance for for our students. So, I highly recommend that course as well. So we'll move on to the next. So here you will see on the left hand side the current graduation requirements for all classes up to the graduating class of 2027. And on the right, the recommendation for beginning with the class of 2028. You see that addition at the bottom of personal finance with the wording earned simultaneously with economics. No additional course or seat time required,
and that point five will show on the transcript along with their economics point five. And that brings the total to 22.5. Finally, these are reflected in the AAPS course guide because our tenth graders who are entering will be responsible for this and must be made aware of this. So students who are entering and taking their economics course, in the tenth grade, will be earning their point five personal finance credit simultaneously. So it's why we're bringing this to you now and not at a later date. So here you'll see the course guide is linked.
And if it is helpful, I've also linked the Michigan merit curriculum documentation. And finally, we've added a few slides here to the end to share with you those personal finance standards and to our community if they're interested in seeing those. They cover, income earning, the buying of goods and services, budgeting and saving, the use of credit, financial investment investing, protecting and ensuring, and finally, that standard that is being added to economics, which is about paying taxes. So one thing that will be important to note taxes is already a covered part
of economics. It's the personal tax part that will be added, as students work through and understand how to calculate their own potential federal and state, taxes and payments and how to manage and anticipate those. So finally, if approved, we would be moving forward with some amendments to policy fifty fifty, five zero five zero, and I believe that's also an attachment in board docs. So we've attempted to share our recommendation for that wording in yellow in that attachment. So you'll see the addition of this BRAD requirement listed there as well as some
minor editing to, the wording there to potentially make the policy a little more easy to understand for families. So I don't know, miss Lesinski, if you wanna bring that up or if the board would would just like to see that. I will just note in governance, we did there were some recommendations, but I had not been able to make those additional changes. So Right. Maybe we'll whatever changes the board would like to make to the policy, I can do it all at once. Sure. Sounds good. I have a question. When was economics made a required course?
Oh, gosh. What a good question. Let me have to get back to you on that. I mean, that's not been Yeah. That's that's a part of the requirements for our students for a while. So I'll have to go back and gather that info for you. Wow. Trustee Schmidt? At least when my sons were in high school, it was required. So Okay. Because o six was when they wow. Okay. I have a question. Sure. Why is economics not on these charts if it's a graduation requirement? Yeah. Economics falls in as a social studies requirement.
So the state of Michigan requires that number of credits within the field of social studies. And as a district, we determine which courses, we will offer as required courses in there in that area. Okay. So So it's a general list of There's a number of different social studies courses Correct. A student can choose. That's correct. One of those options they have to choose. They must take economics. Is economics. Correct. Okay. K. Thank you. So they have to have US government, economics. What else? World history. World history.
Geography. Okay. And those are in the course guide as well, if you'd like to see where all of those requirements are listed. So, miss Linden, you said that there's, that this doesn't require more seat time. Correct. So so the course will be the exact same length even though we're adding a point five, what, personal finance. So everything is gonna be, what, shortened, I guess, other topics in the class? Great question. So there are only seven standards in personal finance in that point five requirement, and six of them were already a part of economics.
So it's not gonna change significantly the way that that course is taught. There will be one addition, which is in personal taxes and students having that experience. So that will be the piece that's added. Oh. Yeah. So that's the only new piece? That's the only new element. Correct. Right. And I I will just add that the recommendation we're sharing this evening is is the recommendation that is being shared across the state in almost every case that we've reached out. Okay. So it's a pretty common approach. And I think that part of the legislation and the recommendation from the Michigan Department
of Education recognized that this is already a part of economics in in a really big way and that most districts would probably be headed in this direction. Yep. Yeah. So I was gonna ask, so why not just because it honestly, when I first looked at the this chart, I was a little bit confused because I'm like, are we adding? Were were are we requiring them to have an additional point five? But then you read the text and it says, you know, with economics, why not just say that we are covering it under social study? Or does it have to be outlined that we have to because it's almost like
you're it's Mhmm. You're just giving an extra Like, you're taking economics, but you're really getting instead of point five, you're getting one. Right? But it it can be confusing. Yeah. You are you are spot on. I think you're wrestling with exactly what school districts across the state have been wrestling with for a couple of years now. The state and and the law requires the point five personal finance be earned. So it it can't be overlooked or just embedded. It has to show on a transcript as their point five and that they earned
it. So it's it's an addition of point five, but only on paper. And you have to call it personal finance. We have to call it You can't say, like, economic slash personal finance and take out the point five of the social studies. Correct. Yes. Fun, There's a lot of that that we have to figure out, as we navigate between the legislature and the Michigan Department of Education. And go ahead. Just to confirm, this is not going to replace the what high schools have been teaching as personal finance,
the full Correct. Classes. So they still changing. There wouldn't be anything redundant in, you know, between the new economics slash personal finance. And then are we gonna have to rename the the full fine personal finance classes? No. Because those those already cover these standards and more. They go far more in-depth than personal finance one and two. So nothing's changing with those. Students who take personal finance one and two are still required to take economics. So Yeah. You know what I mean?
It Yeah. Nothing there will change. It's just a shorter dose and a smaller experience that students are getting in economics. K. And hearing something in more than one discipline is not a bad thing. True. And this is pretty important. I think we we appreciate this addition. I should lead with that. I think it's critically important that our students understand personal finance. So we're fully behind that. I think this approach will serve the needs of all students. Those who wanna go a little more in-depth can do so in personal finance one
and two, and and those who maybe have, you know, an understanding that they gather from economics that's enough for them. Yeah. Great. My daughter did personal finance one and two, and it was Fabulous. One of those classes, she was excited to tell me, you know, mom, did you know about credit rate? You know, she was telling me stuff. And she later developed a budget for her first year out of high school. She she, like, presented me with her budget that she had developed based on that class she took.
I mean, it's impressive stuff. So Did you find that she connected that to some of her potential career choices and thinking about where she want to live and what she wanted to do? And sometimes that's I I don't know if I'm interested in that far. Yeah. Okay. Did she well, there was there's, like, a definite awareness of money that comes. Right? So, like, oh, you know, the rent is this much, so, of course, I can afford it. Oh, wait. It's not just rent that I have to afford if I wanna live on my own. I mean, it was things like that that Yeah.
You don't know unless you learn it somewhere or someone tells you. It is a fantastic Yeah. Course highly recommend it. Okay. And here you see the recommended changes to board policy five zero five zero. So you can see that with each change in graduation requirements, they're captured here historically. So we have this class of 2030 and earlier had the the requirement of '21. And beginning with the class of 2011, that's when that stretched to '22. And now here we are beginning with the class of 2028,
recommending that twenty two point five. But again, it's not it's it's on paper. It's a point five, in name only. Does it make our graduates look any more attractive to colleges if they've been through a program that requires 22.5 credits instead of just the minimum? Does Yeah. I I definitely think there is a sentiment that districts who require fewer credits for graduation may not be as rigorous. I don't necessarily think that's true. I think it reflects the values of the district and the community.
K. However, when you look at the the potential number of credits that our students can earn, they always have the opportunity to earn far beyond. Of course. So at Skyline, for example, students can earn up to 30 credits before they graduate. So this is just, in our situation, the minimum requirement for graduation, but our students regularly earn more than this. K. Any other questions? And this is first briefing. So when you come back, if anybody has any suggestions in the meantime or at the next meeting. Please do let me know.
Thank you. Thank you, miss London. Thank you. Okay. Let's go forward with, BAN2213 engineered wood fiber for playgrounds contract recommendation. Thank you. We have mister Rice, bringing this item. Good evening again. I'm here to talk about engineered fiber wood chips that we use on our playgrounds. This is considered a maintenance for our playground, so it's not sinking fundable. And it does come out of the general fund. We had two qualified bidders. Superior ground cover, of Grand Rapids,
Michigan was the lowest qualified bidder. They will provide the materials, the equipment, and the experienced team to complete the job specification for ninety two thousand six hundred and thirty dollars for 2526 school year, and this is for a one year deal. There was a question in regards to in finance, the additional variance was strictly for the delivery cost. Thank you. Yes. Go ahead. Just have a quick question. I want to make sure I understand. So engineering wood fiber for playgrounds,
is that replacing what we used to call wood chips? Yes. Okay. So and what is the advantage of going to the engineer wood fiber versus old fashioned wood chips? We always had to go to the engineer fiber. That is the state regulation. Okay. So you just can't put any wood chip in there. The certified wood chip is really a two inch chip, and it's more condensed. And or versus if you just had somebody come in and drop wood chips off at your house, it's not the same. Yeah. And I think there was a safety issue, proceed safety if okay. Alright.
Thank you. Okay. Any other questions? Yeah. Would you share again why this is coming out of our general fund as opposed to the sinking fund or one of our bond funds? This is because it's a maintenance product. It's not a permanent. It's something that we do on a regular basis yearly. So it's considered a maintenance instead of something permanent. Okay. Thank you. K. Are these designated for certain schools? Says district wide at It's it's for all of them, including community. Somebody asked me why community, but they do have a swing set at community.
Yeah. They do. So Yeah. They will not give up that swing set. No. They will not. It's pretty old too. But it keeps passing inspection, so we're good. They're happy. Thank you. Thank you very much, mister Rice. Let's go to item c, a n two two one four, district wide rug contract recommendation. This is a coop pricing. We go through Centas, and this is an omni contract. This is for a two year contract for 2526, '20 '6, '20 '7. Centas is part of the purchasing coop. This is a district wide for walk off mats in in every building.
And this is for the amount of 192,000, and this is also paid through the general fund. I was asked in finance. It's about a 8% decrease because you asked me about that. And and what that decrease is, we have changed our format a little bit. And so we do ten weeks that we don't change the rugs at all. We have twelve weeks where we do it twice a week during the winter months. And then during the next thirty weeks, we do it four times a week. And so it's an average cost that we end up saving about 8% by doing
that. Or before we were doing it twice a twice a month, every month. So we kinda shortened the duration that we didn't feel like we needed to do that in the summer. I would just say, thanks for looking for additional cost savings like that. These small changes do add up. We appreciate that. Okay. Any other questions? Alright. Let's move on to items, d. Thank you. And Thank you, Mr. Eisley. Oh, thank you. He's not going to be for the next one. D is AN2210 Student Transportation Services contract recommendation. Thank you, trustee Schmidt. Miss Margolis is bringing forward,
the recommendation for transportation services as our contract, with, Durham Transportation expires at the end of the school year. So we put on an RFP, and miss Margolis is gonna talk us through the recommendation. Good evening again. Yes. And we have been contracting with Durham since 02/2015, '15, and engaged in contract renewal since then. We did as superintendent Park said, we went out, with our with for an RFP on services. We received five proposals. We brought two companies in for further in-depth interviews,
and it was determined that Durham proposal was our best value for the district. They are implementing, some new, avenues that we have, we talked with them about and required, including some new communications with our, principals and, creating an online incident report. They have been managing our new cameras, and we are now just getting those up online. And they are responsible for working with our tech and our IT team to do that. And, we are very pleased with the recent, move of a new manager with Durham,
and she will continue with us. And so we are coming to you today with a three year contract with an option to review an additional two years, one year at a time with Durham. The funding is through general fund. And, the total plus a two percent contingency, that we put in for field trips, types of athletic trips, extracurricular activities that vary year to year, we are, the total award is for $653,373,000 and that's over a five year period that will be paid out again through the
general fund. Okay. Any questions? I do wanna point out, can you just talk a little bit about the fact that we're moving tiering systems as part of this as well? Sure. So the district, actually trying to remember the exact time. As we were coming out of COVID, yeah, we, had always run a three tiered system, which basically means elementary, middle, and high schools. And then, coming out of COVID, we moved to a two tier system, which means we combined many middle school and high school routes, together. And, as we examined that after running those for a few years,
there was obviously some problems with some of the on time arrival, and this buses could be really crowded. And so, we actually are going to be going back to a three tier system. It actually will save us money, and it'll be better service for our students. And we're able to reduce a few routes by doing that. And so in the fall, we will be operating under a three tier system, which we did for years. Right. There was a question that came up during finance about just, what the cost would be if we were to, do transportation internally. Our current cost for transportation are,
is about $10,000,000 ish. We budget yeah. We budget about 10,000,000. It's a little under that. And to bring it internal at the rate of pay that drivers get now, drivers monitors, routers, managers, all the staff that are in transportation, it'd be about $16,000,000. 16. So that was a question that came up. We just wanna make sure we answer. No. Thank you. Yeah. Go ahead. Appreciate it. And this doesn't we own our buses. Yes. Right? Yes. This doesn't involve any of the actual vehicles. Correct. We have a 33 buses that we own.
We own, all of everything on the bus, the, the GPS routing systems, the cameras. The district owns all of those materials. We own all the maintenance equipment, in the maintenance shop while the mechanics do work through Durham. We own all those. And, you know, many of our drivers have been with us for many, many years. Even though we do have some some turnovers like is normally expected, we have drivers that have been with us for many years. So this is the people as well? The people. Yeah. Yes. Yep. From the management team, drivers, monitors, trainers,
mechanics. Mechanics. Mhmm. Yeah. And you mentioned cameras. I just wanted can you say what the cameras are? Sure. So we've had can we updated our camera system, in all of our buses, and we've been working with a new program, and we also added what are called stop arm cameras. So when the stop sign goes out, they catch any violators. And so, working with Mike Hogue, and, we've been working this year implementing these new cameras. The system was very old and, was not very reliable for a long time. These are Wi Fi based. And the best thing about it,
and we're testing right now with a few of our principals, is principals will have access to the cameras on their routes. So that if there's an issue the way it happens now, if they wanna check out something that may have occurred, they have to, put a request into transportation. Transportation has to go out to the bus when it reaches back to the garage, pull the card, come back, download it. It's a very labor process. But with the new system, the actual, principals, myself, can load up, right on, the computer and be able to view the cameras.
And they're viewing the inside of the box? The inside. Yep. And the Plus the stop arm. Correct. Yeah. Correct. They won't they won't have the need. We will be monitoring the stop arms, and it's actually a state law. So we're working with all of our, local law enforcements of a plan of how do we send those violations to them, because they can then, you know, issue a ticket. And, that was a grant last year that Yes. We voted on. It wasn't voted on unanimously on this board, weirdly enough, but we did get a grant to put all that safety equipment in.
And the other thing was, all the a good thing about Durham, and I don't know if the other vendor that tried for this contract, but they're unionized, which is a good thing. Yeah. And if I remember correctly, they were also had a little bit higher wages? Yes. Yes. Than the competitors as well. Right? Mhmm. Correct. Any questions? Alright. Great. Thank you very much. I'm here also, to present, a proposal for our food service equipment replacement and upgrades. As we we serve, as as you know, over 2,000,000 equivalent meals annually,
and several of our schools, have some kitchen equipment that, is not repairable. And then, also, we want to upgrade some of the condiment stations, and so you'll see the list here. This again, is or not again. This is provided the funding for this comes from our capital programs fund, and, we work with Chartwells. They obviously provide our food service. We work very closely with them. The quotes that we get are from Stafford Smith, which participates in the Sourcewell purchasing cooperative with the state. And we are asking for $58,442,
that is coming out of our capital fund program for these schools listed and the items that we'll be purchasing to put into the schools. Any questions? I I do have one question actually on the the item for Tappan. It's a 24 inch range. Mhmm. I think it's $10,000 is I assume that's a commercial rate range and that's why the cost is so low. Correct. It's a commercial. And also, it Tappan has been the only school that did not have this type of range, and so it will now match the configurations of the other middle schools in their
being able to do some cooking within their kitchens. Thanks. Alright. No more questions? If I may, we need a motion to prepare to extend past mid twelve thirty. Right? So do I have a motion to extend the meeting? No, I'm sorry, Matt. We can't go ahead. We did 12:30. Yes, we did start until after the service. We had catered and I thought we needed to expand to 12:30. Right. Because we started at 07:30. Right. Thank you very much for that. Yes, ma'am. Okay. No. That's good. That's good. Let's take it for 12:25. Yep.
And, you know, that's going on. So, let's move on to item f, AN two two one one annual E rate network equipment purchases. Good evening. E Rate is a program funded through the Universal Service Fund, which is supported by contributions, from providers from interstate and international telecommunications. It's managed under the FCC organization. We're in our fifth and final year of our current reimbursement cycle, and we, put out an RFP to request, UPS backup batteries and, racks server racks.
We received eight proposals from vendors, and they were evaluate evaluated utilizing a district series of metrics facilitated through our finance department. When we received these, proposals, tech doesn't have just apples to apples. It's a you can buy this and this. It's kinda like buying a car. You can get an extra warranty. You can get a different model. You can get a step up model. So in the end, we opted to make sense for our networking environment to look at two proposals and
take portions out of those proposals as they were submitted. So our recommendation is to approve an e rate network equipment one year contract to Sentinel Technologies of Downer Grove, Illinois in the total amount of 73,540 for the purchase of UPS backup batteries and racks and to approve the e rate network equipment one year contract to vendor Vector Tech Group of Holland, Michigan in the amount of 81,900 to be paid from the bond program fund.
This is a reimbursable act, so we will expect a reimbursement of no less than $70,000 back. The calculation though that we have received from the program is 87,000, $47.27. So open the floor for any questions. No. But I'm celebrating that you guys go out and find money. Every every year. Yeah. We take great pride in that. I know. And you're good at it. Thank you. The team is good at that, mister Hogue. Okay?
K. Thank you. Great. I'm back again. Yeah. For the next one, the device refreshment for staff and students, spring twenty twenty five. Great. Each year, ITD performs a technology hardware audit on existing district technology for instructional programming and then also for operational, systems. When we audit our end user fleet, which includes devices, AV equipment, phones, networking equipment, etcetera. We are rating equipment life cycle, when is it end of life, equipment that is out of warranty,
equipment that requires continual repairs, and equipment parts that we are unable to procure in a timely process. During our audits, we often also uncover issues and problems that we are looking to solve, poor equipment performance, so maybe we need to make a make a model change, upcoming models that are significantly priced higher or or no longer meet our requirements, and needed changes to support staff and students. Before you this evening is a request for, all of the device refreshment for the 2526 school year.
One component of this process is the business operations department refreshment It's for HR and finance. Those devices are end of life and warranty and repair due to heavy, heavy use. And we are keeping all of the peripherals that we purchased through the first round, back in 2022, but we are swapping out the laptop. The second, request is for student Chromebook refreshment. We made our large purchase of 14,000 devices back in 2020, 2021 school year to accommodate the COVID environment.
That was a, a really interesting purchase. I should say this as a side note. That purchase so we had planned to move to this one to one format before COVID. So we actually used 2015 and 2018 bonds to pay for that, which was substantial. So we had that we were closing out old bonds, and then we did make one more purchase that we did use the new program bonds for, but we received about $2,500,000 in grants back. So we're kind of zero on the expenditures.
So this is really gonna be a full bond purchase under the new bond from 2019. So we've tried to be pretty fiscally, you know, careful and put a lot of effort into making sure we didn't break into that bond so early. Back to business. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. You bet. It's our it's our always our privilege to come with good news. The next refresh is for administrative staff device refreshment. This is for all of our building leaders. We are getting ready to enter one of two refreshment cycle. We're gonna be putting, Apple MacBook Airs,
m four, which is the latest technology out there. We learn from our administrator administrative team of, you know, a hun there's a 25 and then other peripheral people. This is we set all of the parameters, the device setup, the device use, how it works in our environment. The year before we released 1,600 devices to staff. So this is our learning year with a small subset of devices to know how it how it works in our environment and make sure that it's ready for big time use the following year.
So we start small. The last request is for a high school student device upgrade to support teaching and learning needs. We worked through this. We our high schoolers currently have Chromebooks. We're looking to put MacBook Air and Forest to match the teachers in the building. We did an extensive screen readiness study on them that was aligned to, the teaching and learning process. We, worked through five educational themes with them each week. They actually went to school. They came down for training sessions,
some that Apple sponsored, but many that the instructional technology team sponsored. We did some device battle cards with a Chromebook equivalent that has cores and processors and a little more souped up than the last set that we that we purchased. And then, we took regular student feedback. We took some student learning artifacts, staff feedback. And then what sealed the deal in our mind was the strong business case use using a total cost of ownership, which is how we handle all of our large purchases of equipment.
So we've we track the pricing model over a four years instead of just when you make the purchase. So before you today is the recommendation to award People Driven Technologies of Byron Center, Michigan, a contract not to exceed $643,633 for the purchase of Dell laptops, Dell Chromebooks and warranties and also to Apple Inc Education of Cupertino, California, a contract not to exceed $6,260,455.50
for Apple MacBook Air laptops, deployment services and Apple Care Plus for schools with all funding to be provided by the bond program funds. Questions? Doctor. Kellstrom, would you share a little bit about the buyback program in four years? Sure. I'm glad to. So, the cost upfront for an Apple MacBook, whether it's staff or students, we pay all of our cost upfront. So we know what we're encumbered. And then what's really nice is they have a very solid warranty program.
So every device gets two two of everything. So every year, you know, if you break a screen, we send it in. It comes back. There there's not there's not cost associated anymore with that. And so on the, Apple side, we spend our money upfront, and then we have already received, at four years just due to cybersecurity in the environment that we live in, we're going to sell these back. So that's a buyback program and we could get it from Apple, but we wouldn't get the price that we got.
So we seek outside vendors and we actually have a buyback rate right now on these m fours because they're brand they're brand new. They just came out in March. So in four years, the minimum rate that we'll get will be $3.67 $367.50. That's the minimum. You can send them to get graded so they can get a higher rating added to them. And the highest rating that, the one vendor talked about is we could get up to $525 back on each
device. So we've done a lot of research. We've talked to our peer districts here and in Illinois. They do this a lot in Illinois. And, so we learned the tricks of the trade. We've learned how to this is on video. We've learned how to send them back in at the end of the year and really get them cleaned by Apple. So we have a very nice pathway to we hope maximize dollars. So at a minimum, the district will be getting back somewhere between $1,900,000 and $2,300,000 for that this purchase later on four years down the road that we then can
apply to another refreshment. So we're building some sustainability in there. And then when you make a higher quality device, you get to take some other deducts in the system. So imagine our district, 32 school buildings, a fleet of 26,000 devices. We do a lot of repurposing. So this this replacement moving to, MacBook Airs, we can't wait to get our hands on the 5,400 Chromebooks that we'll be pulling out and repurposing in the district. Our Chromebook fleet is starting to show its age.
It's five years old and so we'll be able to use parts, we'll have devices and we'll be able to replenish and recycle in places that are in need of it. The other thing we'll be able to do is, our students will have all the software on hand. So we'll start dismantling some of the labs, not all of them, but some of the labs at the high school, about 14 of them. And that'll give us an additional cost savings of $555,000. So we don't get exactly even, but we get close.
You either pay upfront or you pay at the end, but we wanna put the right device in the hands for the teaching and learning process. It's a great question. Good to know. Thank you. Yep. Yes. Go ahead. Couple of follow-up questions on that. So the difference in total cost of ownership is around 600,000. Roughly, if we if for the if we only, we've only counted to the base price of 367.5 You know, we we expect that we probably will be able to get half the fleet at a at a higher cost rate. So we think that gap will be just a little smaller.
Yep. Okay. And then on the and I did find it. Great. Great. So it was it was a link. It was at the very end. It was. That's where they put me. I don't know why, but I'm glad we wanted to front load you just a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Really? Real good. Quick question, though, on the additional purchase requirements for grades three through eight on a Chromebook. Yes. It it only shows, you know, an increasing cost on the the Chromebook side Mhmm. Not the Apple side. Mhmm. Because we won't have spare devices. So our fleets age,
so we have to start flushing in and flipping around our devices. So we'll take a set out, maintenance them, and put them back in. So we won't have that. So when you do, devices, you're always buying about 10% over what you need. So at 17,000 students, we're gonna roughly need just shy of 19,000 devices. And so that would that's that 2,000 flux because we won't have 5,400 other devices that we can pull out. So we know there's gonna be added cost down the road.
Okay. But if we if we didn't go with the MacBooks, we would still replace all the Chromebooks for the high school level? Or is that not correct? It it's we would start to. We would begin the process. That's where that comes from. We have, put everybody on notice that we're collecting all devices. And so our job this summer will be to diagnose maintenance and then put back in, rate our own fleet and determine what our next, three year cycle looks like for purchasing. Correct. Question? Yeah. Awesome. Do you have a couple other questions here?
Can you talk a little bit about the study? I believe it was like four weeks. We had about a hundred Yeah. So it ended up being six weeks. It was supposed to be four. Apple actually loaned us a very sizable population. We were in competition with, what's that soccer movie in, England? Who is what's that? Oh, Ted Lasso? Ted Lasso. Yeah. So we we received the devices that were supposed to go to the Ted Lasso set, and they actually stayed for three more weeks in district. So we were able to extend the study out. It was it was really interesting.
We we did, I was gonna pull up the document. So we do this as an educational study. We had some problems of practice that we were trying to solve, and so we put a why to our purpose. We put a how and a what. And our job was to collect end user device feedback, from five years of existing device use and then upcoming pilot experience with with the new devices. We do this every year already when we group our devices. We are in the business of screen readiness. The World Economic Forum gives us lots of data every year,
and all the skills are technical in collaboration and critical thinking. And so we use those to kind of help guide guide some of our questions. This year, our study had five things that we worked with the students on each week. So each week, we tackled a different thing. So the first week, we talk tackled active and engaged learning and digital pedagogy. What does that mean? How do you use it? What does it look like in the teaching and learning process? And then your role as a learner. The second week, we worked on mobile learning and user needs.
So both in district and out of district. Our high schoolers are very mobile people. So we really wanted to understand what they were doing outside of school, outside of the traditional, school day and how they needed to use that device to support their learning needs, their assignment creation, their project work, their collaboration. The third week, we worked on the impacts on teaching and learning. The fourth week, we worked on the potential for innovation and creativity. And then the last week we worked on equity and accessibility. So each week they came to class,
they learned a little bit more about the device, tools that they could use, and all week long they had, little project pieces to do and then we collected feedback every week. What we didn't wanna do was just do a battle card. So oftentimes in technology, you'll do a battle card. You know, what's the performance on this? What's the RAM on this? What's the, you know, processors? And there's not a comparison, a true comparison to even an enhanced Chromebook and a MacBook. So we we let them talk about those features.
We were trying to work on the learning aspect of it. And it was pretty powerful to watch them at the beginning. They're like, oh, this is way so week one, this way faster than the Chromebook as it should be. This one connects up to the Internet faster as it should be. It has Wi Fi it has Wi Fi six technology, which our AP or access points do. So we were like set those and tell us about it, but set those aside. How are you using this to support your learning? What what are you doing? So students would tell us things like,
I really like the split screen. Well, you can't really do it on a Mac, but I mean, on a Chromebook, you can do it, but not well for what they wanted. And they would say, I would load up notes in one side. I would snap pictures of critical things from class. I would put them in notes, and then I would audio record something that was really important. Okay. That was awfully easy. And then on the other side, they would have Schoology open and then following along with the content and then also working on submitting an assignment. That is powerful.
So they were actually able to name their learning each week, what they were up to, and how we could support them as learners. We're trying to prepare them for, career and college readiness and giving them a device that matches society and the needs of what they want, is really important. And we've learned this. We've taken a lot of heat as they've used their devices. There were a lot of problems that we were trying to solve with with the move to this purchase. A couple other quick questions. I think the study was the m two max. Again, we're doing m fours.
Mhmm. Perfect. So we had a half 40 of them were m fours. That's what came from Apple. And then, we went back in and supplemented some m twos. We they all have the same operating system on them, but we wanted them to have that. We wanted everybody to have that, I iOS experience OS experience for it. Yep. Okay. And then, obviously, everyone likes the max for the message integration. Mhmm. Is that going to be accessible for students? So this was I'm really glad you asked this question, mister Wilkes trustee Wilkes.
And we actually the text showed up each week to the high school. So Monday was our meeting day. We did it during we ran it just like a class. We we did feed them donuts to get them excited. But we talked about, okay, what settings don't you like? You've tightened us up too tight here, and we want this. So we actually battled each week. Well, tell us what you would do if we open to this setting up. So we gathered all of this feedback about how we can coexist. Because in technology,
you tend to wanna lock things down and especially of high of of students, of middle and high school students. We learned an appreciation for each other and what they needed to do their job. So we will continue to to build out our profile and then we will share it back with the students. What's nice is about the mobile device management that we use. It's very, easy to do it in sit to while you're right there together. So we're really looking forward to, building it together. We have a base that's ready to go because we just ran ran that six
week study. And then we will continue to hold feedback sessions throughout to your to craft it for them. Okay. Sorry. Almost done. Yep. Two other questions. Apple intelligence is delivered with It is. The purchase. Okay. Amazing. It is. That was, you know, you would I you get it. Yeah. It is. We will, unveil some of that in the fall. But, yes, it is. Okay. And then the last question, user integration is always a challenge when you switch from one platform to the next. What will our training plans look like to make sure students are equipped to use
these devices? It's a great question. So tomorrow, we're hoping to send out a note to the, the high school principals to let them know that this board presentation occurred. They were all apart. They all were able to be apart. We had a Schoology group where we posted everything that we were up to and what we were doing. But we want to think about, we'd like to do train the trainer. So the IT staff were well versed in it. We have some instructional technologists and some other teacher leaders in the buildings that we would like to offer some training as school begins. What we also would like to do is,
get into advisory groups and link teams and do some train the trainer. Our students are probably our best asset in this instance. We did track their ability for uptake. This was the main study was done at Huron. In one class, only three students had ever used a MacBook Air. And so we spent a little more time with them. By the second week, it wasn't an issue. What we have built is a repository of 15 high quality resources that can even be chunked and broken and scaffolded out
more. And so we'll go back this summer and, you know, get all the training materials together, train a train an adult team. Our school librarians were really helpful in all of our studies in the comprehensive because we rolled it then out to the other comprehensives because we wanted everybody check out check out this for a week. Try these things. Rate it for us. Let us know. And so then we wanna have a student train the trainer group because that's where it's best. Pure pure training. Yep. Okay. Awesome. Great question. And I just wanna say the equity piece of this is huge.
Huge. And I think that's an amazing opportunity for students. It is amazing opportunity. Thanks for thanks for acknowledging that. Okay. Go ahead. I just wanted to confirm we get a discount from Apple. Oh, definitely. Price of the we actually got an extra discount. So I don't know if I should share the secret in public. No. The going prices is through RemXibid. For one day, Amazon and the Best Buy decided they were gonna run it for $10 cheaper. So we said we'd like it. We'd like 5,400 of those for $10 cheaper.
So so we did get it. We just it's all timing. Right? All timing. So we we always ask. We're we're we're servants. We're servants to our community. We're gonna make sure we spend our money wisely. Thank you. Thank you very much. Okay. Next item is item H, AN2217, Slauson major renovation, trade contract recommendations, part two go Stephanie. Thank you. Bringing Slauson Middle School, the larger part of the, contracts for the major renovation of of the middle school. Today, we're bringing forward,
and by the way, these were all publicly bid. McCarthy and Smith are the construction manager handled, the bidding process, in conjunction with, the district's purchasing department. For earthworks, site utilities, asphalt paving, site concrete demolition, masonry, masonry restoration, carpentry, and general trades, metal panels, aluminum, glass, and glazing, interior metal, stud framing, drywall and blocking, hard tile, which means, like, porcelain ceramic tile, if if you wanna know what that means, acoustic ceiling, carpet, carpet and resilient flooring, painting,
educational case work, athletic equipment, food service, elevators, fire protection, HVAC, landscaping, fence and gates, roofing, plumbing, and low voltage. That's everything you could ever want. Any questions for miss Corona? Okay. This First briefing, so we'll see this again at the next meeting. This is coming from, Bond and Ziggy. Oh, I'm forgetting to ask the President Feaster question. Sorry about that. Bond funds. Okay. And then you may be talking about item h, which is the electric vehicle charging stations contract recommendations. Yes.
The charge is to sorry. The buses are charge charging? Oh, yeah. That's right. About the buses, school bus. Charge. Purchase is okay. Tonight, we're also bringing forward, six electric, school bus purchases that were procured through the Michigan School and Business officials, MSBO statewide bid program. The Ann Arbor Public Schools received a $2,100,000 grant to support the purchase of four new electric buses, through the, SCC seventy four clean school bus grant program.
Those funds are now have become available to the district and they are in our hands. So we're looking to spend. We were the grant only covers, 70 to 90% of the actual purchase of the purchase of the bus. In this case, it was 70%. So the rest of it, needs to be paid for out of bond funds. The buses consist of four, standard size school buses, and two, special needs buses or buses that are, outfitted for special need, and mobility. Any questions? No. And I have to report to my fellow board members.
My agenda has been flipped, so I must be in another version. So that's why you guys think I'm reading the wrong We haven't flipped too. We just thought it made more sense to talk about bus first. Oh, good. Okay, good. We talked about charging them. Mine's not for Luke. Ms. Parks, she has a different order. Okay. So, no questions on that. So let's move to the next, please. So the next the next one is the charging stations because we need to charge the electric buses. We'll be adding three additional EV charging, stations located in the Transportation South Lot.
There's a North Lot and a South Lot. We already have EV charging stations in the North Lot. Those are taking care of the buses that were previously purchased our electric buses. This is these new, chargers would be, for the new buses that we're purchasing to expand our electric bus fleet. This was also through the, purchasing cooperative, Sourcewell purchasing cooperative. And is there any questions? And this work is slated to start this summer, by the way. From the bond fund. Yeah. It is it is bond and sinking fund. Both. Okay.
Any questions? Alright. Thank you very much. Yes. A a motion to extend the meeting. How about we do it till 1AM? And we have time left, hopefully. So move. Second. Okay. Moved by Wilkes, second by Wilkins. Wilkins. Yeah. Yeah. Vice President Smith? Yes. Trustee Mohammed? Yes. Trustee Wilkins? Yes. Trustee Wilkes? Yes. Trustee Basquiat? Yes. Trustee Wilkerson? Yes. Motion? Okay. We're moving to section nine, second briefing. And so all items that come before the board go through a first and second briefing before we can vote on them.
Letter a, Washington Intermediate School District WISD proposed general fund budget twenty twenty five twenty six. There are no changes. K. And this was, shared with us at the last meeting, as you know, and I need discussion on this. Or I need a motion to, or not. It's getting late. Okay. Any comments? Okay. Let's move to item b. Annex a and two two zero eight Slauson Middle School made a renovation, Trade contract recommendations part one. No changes, to this item either. K. Questions? Seeing none. Let's go to the letter c,
n x a n two two zero nine, Abbott and King Elementary, playground equipment replacement. No changes. Questions? Alright. Let's move into the consent agenda. Go ahead, miss Duszynski. K. Approve annex a n dash 2208 Slauson Middle School major renovation trade contract recommendations, part one. Approve annex AN-two 2 9, Abbott King Elementary playground equipment replacement. Approve minutes from the 05/07/2025, special meeting. And approve minutes from the 05/07/2025 regular meeting and approve minutes from the 05/07/2025 closed
session. Do I have a motion? Would anyone like to remove an item from the consent agenda? That's okay. Okay. All right. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second? Wilkerson and Wilk. Yes. Trustee Mohammed? Yes. Trustee Wilkins? Yes. Trustee Wilks? Yes. Trustee Basquiat? Yes. Trustee Wilkerson? Yes. Vice President Schmidt? Yes. Motion carries. K. We'll move on to item 11, board action. Letter a, annual high school course guide certification. This is our annual, item that comes forward this time of year. Every year, it's our high school course guide. We have to just get the authorization from the board of education.
We this is where we would update you if there were any changes to the course guide, miss London. Since this time last year, have there been any any updates or changes to the course guide? We do every year as a part of curriculum senate review requests, that are typically generated from teachers in response to student demand for any additional courses. I did not bring that list this evening. I thought this would be at second briefing for the grad requirements. No worries. So we will get that list to you in advance. Happy to. The gen not January.
Sorry. June 11 meeting. Typically. Alright. Does anyone feel they would rather not vote on it tonight until we see them? Yeah. I think just the can we just take move it? We'll have a diverse briefing. Yeah. And then we can vote on it the next time. Yeah. Is that timing okay? Sure. It's not gonna get in the way of anything. And then it will incorporate the changes with the economics personal financing too. Why it makes sense to do that. Okay. Yeah. The same. Yeah. Good. We'll pass the resolution first. That's good. Perfect. Thank you. Alright. Do we have to motion to remove this? Yeah.
So we'll motion motion I think I'm I don't think so. You don't because we don't need to move. Vote on. We'll just move the first brief. Just move it. Okay. So we don't have the official. Okay. Okay. Let's go to item B, approved notice calling for public hearing on the twenty twenty five, twenty six AAPS general fund proposed budget to be held on June 11 and 06/25/2025. So moved. Second. Moved from Wilkes and seconded Wilkerson. It was moved by Baskett. I'm sorry. And seconded by Trustee Baskett, seconded by Trustee Wilkerson.
Any discussion? I have a can you just explain how this works? It it's just a formal notice that we'll be talking about, the proposed budget, due the two meetings in June, and this hearing notice will be published so that the community knows we'll be discussing the budget. Yeah. It's required. I'm just gonna leave the requirement. It's required to let the public know ahead of time. Okay. Mhmm. Yep. Very good. Thank you. Okay. Let's move on. So we'll need to So we'll move on. Take a vote? Or do we have a motion on it? Yes. We have a motion with Trustee Basquiat,
Trustee Wilker Smith. It's okay. It's late. So I'm getting tired. And I'll go ahead and, call a roll call. Please. Okay. Trustee Wilkins? Yes. Trustee Wilks? Yes. Trustee Baskett? Yes. Trustee Wilkerson? Yes. Vice president Schmidt? Yes. Trustee Mohammed? Yes. Motion carries. Oh, boy. K. Letter c, adopt resolution to support Or disapprove. Or disapprove Washtenaw Intermediate School District WISD proposed general fund budget twenty twenty five twenty six. Do I have a motion? Motion to support. Okay. Right. We have to pick one.
Oh. So there you go. So motion to support. Do I have a second? Second. Okay. That was, trustee Mohammed. Trustee Wilkes is a second. Discussion. Okay, let's take a vote. Trustee Wilkes? Yes. Trustee Basquiat? Yes. Trustee Wilkerson? Yes. Vice President Schmidt? Yes. Trustee Mohammed? Yeah. Trustee Wilkins? Yes. Motion carries. K. Let's go to item d, adopt resolution to designate the Washington Intermediate School District WISD electoral representative and elect WISD board candidates. K. So we have, hold on a minute.
So we have several people. Well, hold on a minute. We have to confirm trustee Mohammed as the designated elect Oh, that's right. We talked to this. Wilkes as the alternate. And then you would take two candidates for Ann Arbor and one for Ypsilanti. Yeah. So, when I look at those names, Hockett, do we Did I say Wilkes? Yes. Wilkins. Yep. Got it. Do we have the motion to first designate? All gets done the same. Yep. Oh, okay. Okay. And we're gonna do it all in one fell swoop. So, which I'm gonna have to open up their things.
Which two of these names There's Diane Hockett. Are literally asked the question. Hockett and Mary Jane Tramentine are the two current sitting, board, WIC board, trustees that their terms have expired. And then there is Eric Roberts is the third, candidate who is running for one of those Ann Arbor seats. Okay. So they're both Ann Arbor, and he's running. All three of them are are running for the Ann Arbor. The two Ann Arbor seats. So you need to pick two. And then there's one seat for Ypsilanti, which would be the for Mont,
and there's only one person referred for that. Yeah. Well, that's an easy one. So I would well, do we have a motion for the IPSE person to be included in this? Or how do we I thought we All all of them will go together, so you'll pick your your Ypsilanti candidate. So let's get a sense of what the court is going on. Right now. Jerkis Muselia is the only candidate for Ypsilanti. So I think that's the agree to that. Yeah. K. Any other comments about who people might recommend we would go with the two? I mean, we have to pick two.
Right? Yep. Yep. We have to. I No. We don't have to, but if you I'd like to support Eric Roberts. I I go with that. Or one of the I would like that. Yeah. Yeah. I would like to support Eric. I know he came and spoke. I mean, they all came and spoke, but I would like to support Eric for HubSpot as well. I mean, that's good. We have enough people that that's gonna go. Now we have to make a decision between, miss Hockett and miss Hughes. There's Traumatine. Oh. Miss Traumatine. Traumatine. So I was looking at so miss Traumatine am I saying that right?
Mhmm. She's been on the WISD for the first since, like, 1994 Okay. Where miss Hockett was 2021. No. Not 2021. '2 thousand '1. Sorry. It's very late. And she was a board member. Honestly, I don't know. I don't have any really working relationship with them. So I don't know if anybody in the board has interacted with them or know anything more than just what was presented. If someone is more recent, but also was a board member for Ann Arbor Public, where the other one has been on the on the board for a long time.
What about the Trustee Yeah. They were both former Ann Arbor. Oh, yes. They were both Tramontine and okay. What happened? Didn't think I saw it on that. Yeah. Trustee Baskett, do you know either? No. I'm I'm just confirming. They they both served as trustees in the Ann Arbor Board of Education. Okay. They were both educators, before serving on the board. They're they're both, I mean, highly qualified women. Yeah. I think it's just going to be a matter of who gets more support from this particular board. It's a you know, it's tough. Well, I hate yeah. Times like this, it makes you say,
well, I can't vote for either because I don't know who I prefer. So it it doesn't so like you said Can we just vote for one? Just vote for mister Robertson. Mhmm. Do you have anything you can shed light on about this? Miss, Ozinski, the language says trustees must select two. Mhmm. I Do you have any I'm gonna look and see. I don't know. Is that what it's are you telling me that's what it says? Or Yes. Yeah. No. I'm saying that's what it how it reads Okay. On the agenda. Oh, let's see. We'll we'll elect three candidates to the vacancies.
I mean, that that is how the resolution this board does hereby approve the designation of Rima Mohammed as representative of this board for the electoral body, which body will elect three candidates to the vacancies on the ISD board on Monday. So But I see the ballot. It says no more vote for not more than two. So in that instance, you'd You can just vote for one. I just don't know how No. But you can vote for zero too when you look at a ballot like that. But Yeah. It says vote for that's the ballot. No more right.
Correct. What do you think of the I don't trustee Wilkins. So Got anything to say about this? Okay. So somebody has served since when? 1980 what? So 1994. '90 '4. '90 '4. I thought Oh. Or 02/2001. And then 01/2001. So I'm like, do we get February what what can you give us here? I mean, I mean, first of all, I think we gotta be careful of ageism. No. No. I know. I know. I know. I'm just saying, like, that's not I'm just saying, like, that's not gonna be about have about ten years. She's in second age. I have the floor. I have the floor. Sorry. I just So I'm just saying we have to be careful.
We don't want to be perceived of that. But I will move that we support Diane Hockett. Again, they're both qualified women. I just know, and not only was miss Hockett a trustee, she was also they were both our parents of our students, but she was also one of our long time employee's mom. So when I think of, Okay. So I'm just throwing it out there as a tie breaker. The of course, the board can vote however they want, but just to get this discussion moving and hopefully as home by 01:00. I'm already just sitting out there. To go for Westie Cox.
That sounds reasonable. And I I was trying to decide, was it better to have served longer or shorter? So there was no age involved. I didn't know what was your deal. But, I mean, in terms of Yeah. Return. Well, maybe if we're choosing the new guy who hasn't served at all, then we choose the other one that served the longest. But is that Diane? No. I think Oh, no. Okay. But just oh, it's just both. Do we have a second? I'm I'm feeling I'm feeling that Diane would do a great job, sounds like. I'm happy to go with go with Diane. I and Robert.
And what else do we have here? Let me see the pleasure of the board here. Diane? Sure. Robert, Nod? It works for me. Tell me something differently. And I guess I would encourage, trustee Mohammed as our representative to let the them both know it was a tough decision. There was no, you know, slam dunk. Although we all Hopefully, they don't watch the movie. Around. I'm sorry? Hopefully, they don't watch the moon. I mean, it's the horn of the hospital. Well, I just think That's what I'm saying. Just caution. I mean Yeah. But let's be re I mean Yeah. He came and spoke. So he was a clear choice because he actually came and made his best trip.
And so, you know, if you have Better interest. Don't talk to you, it's really hard to make a decision. Yeah. So he even went with a number of us individually. Yeah. And he also had applied for the appointment at one time. So, you know, he's showed a lot of effort. But I think that is pretty much settled. The the question is one of the two women Okay. Well, it just doesn't mean like the Hockett name has prevailed from the nods I just saw. So speak otherwise, we're moving ahead here. Sure. Okay. So we need a motion for Well,
I would like to make a note real quick on the recommended action. It has Trustee Wilkes as alternate. So are we gonna I changed that. Oh, you changed that. Okay. Great. Thank you. Alright. Wanna clarify that real quick. Yeah. I don't know how that happened. Okay. So a motion, please. Motion Okay. I think for To accept the resolution. Right. To designate trustee Mohammed to serve as electoral designee and trustee Wilkins as an alternate to cast votes on behalf of the Ann Arbor Public Schools for Eric Roberts and Diane Hockett for the open Ann Arbor seats and Dorcas Musili for the open Ypsilanti
seat at the WISD biennial election on 06/02/2025, '6 PM at WISD. Second. Second. Second. Okay. Wilkins or Wilkes is second. Mohammed. Yep. Any further discussion? All right. Trustee Vasquez? Yes. Trustee Wilkerson? Yes. Vice President Schmidt? Yes. Trustee Mohammed? Yes. Trustee Wilkins? Yes. And Trustee Wilks? Yes. Motion carries. Okay. Letter e adopt resolution in support of countywide CTE millage. As a reminder for trustees, back in, excuse me, in March '12,
doctor Ryan Rowe, who's the WISD director of CTE as well as superintendent Norman, she accompanied him even though he did the presentation with, mister Pachera, about the countywide millage, referendum, and, asked that trustees consider supporting the county wide millage. They indicated at that time that it'd be coming back to the board a little later in the spring, and that time is now for trustees to decide whether or not, you, collectively would like to support the resolution, for the countywide CT.
So moved. Second. K. Discussion. Chelsea. Wilkes. Wilkins. Wilkins. Discussion. Go ahead. So when when will this come forward, as a ballot? I believe November. This is this. Mhmm. So we're gonna have to this November. This November. Wow. And this is countywide. Countywide. It is. But it will be right before our voters along with our sinking fund millage. Mhmm. And So our sinking fund is 2026. Oh, not 2020 Not 2020 It's 2026. Oh. Sync can find out. I thought for sure it's 2025,
didn't you? No. It's another year. Yeah. It's good. This I I do I mean, I think CTE is very important, but I do share some concerns about the number of villages that we're putting on our families here. I mean, a countywide village, I think we need to think about the impact because all districts do need to support this or at least a majority of districts. Not need to support a millage like this, but we do have our sinking fund millage coming next year and, you know, opportunities if we wanted to think about enhancement millages.
Things like that in the future are also important. I almost have a desire to take to move this to the next meeting. I, I have hesitations. And it's not that I'm not like you. I support CTE. I just know that, there's the the tax rates are so high for so many families and just adding more, and we carry it. So we're the district that has the most votes as I understand it. It's our votes that usually push this over. Now, of course, other boards have the choice to be involved,
but it also hits all those other communities. I I'm just real hesitant. Anybody else feel this way? I think we need more time because plus the hour. I just feel like we need a lot more time to discuss it. I mean, I'm not ready to vote on it. Yes. Yeah. I was surprised it's board action, already, because I don't think we've ever really discussed it as a board. We had the presentation. Yeah. Well, we have presentation and we can send time. Vice president, I I'm happy to withdraw my emotion Okay. If that will help the conversation. Well, can Is it is it is there a deadline or Yeah.
Is it is it time sensitive? Does anybody know? Okay. I see. I think isn't it I had seen one. By I thought by August or something that they have to put for any millages for the isn't it by August? So perhaps but we've got June 11, June '20 fifth. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But there is a deadline, like I'm sure there is. I I would rather have a bigger discussion about millages because, like, we have the thinking fund. We had the mental health. Well, we have I think there's mental health coming up. I or I don't know. I think the mental health was a year or two ago.
I don't know if it's up for you. We just did the special ed one. We did special ed. So I'd rather have, like, a bigger I mean, CT is critical, but I'd rather have a bigger discussion about millages in general. And I don't even know if November is a good because there's it's not really it's it's an off election year too. Yeah. Trustee Baskett? Yeah. I'm I'm just stressing that I am willing to withdraw my motion so that we can continue with our agenda to get out of here by, you know, 01:00. Okay. Or I mean, not to be pushy. But No. No.
This is not going to We can move this to first thing. Yeah. Right. The board is to put this off, and then the executive committee can work at getting it back on. And and if necessary, we can invite the folks to come and have a bigger conversation. But That's a good idea. On. Okay. So if you'll take that and move it off there. So wait. Just to clarify, is it move to first briefing now and then it'll come back second briefing? Is that what we're doing? No. We're not discussing it right now. Well, no. She did. I'm just clarifying why she did it.
Off, where does it go on our new agenda? So it would go to first briefing on their new if the if the executive committee decides. Yeah. I'm taking it off from taking action tonight, period. The executive committee can decide. Yeah. Because right right now I'm Because you currently have Missus Vince, right, and I'm withdrawing my motion. K. So we currently then have a board action item that we are going to, not act on. So is it tabling that Like we did with the course guide. Well, that's what I think We didn't do anything. I think we have the motion to table them to the next meeting.
Well, hang on. I've got the parliament I was thinking the the course guide, we would move to we would consider tonight first briefing for the course guide and then second briefing and action on the eleventh. And maybe I'm incorrect in thinking that. But if you want to table it for a future discussion, I that does need to be a motion, I believe. K. Do I have a motion? So can I motion to I think we have to do it for both Yeah? For the high school because these are board action items.
The high school course guide and the resolution for the countywide CTE motion to move it. Further discussion in the future. I I don't think we can wait that long for the future. So maybe first briefing No. No. The course guide needs to be approved by by June. Course guide needs to be? Yeah. But we have two meetings by June. I mean, I think we should take them separately. How about that? So Let's take a motion just for the let's take care of what we're doing right now, which has to do with the,
county wide c t email. And so why don't we take that? Who would like to make a motion about that one? The motion it. But is there well, we don't know when there's that motion. Then there's no action. So I withdrew my motion. No. No. We have to show can't we have to take it off of the table and let's postponing it. They're two different things. Oh. Motion to post motion to postpone? Yeah. I would do motion to postpone. I can't tell you at this time of night why, but there are two different things. Well, I moved to postpone, the CTE item to a later date. Do I have a second?
Second. Any discussion? Was that Wilkins? Wilkes Wilkes. I'm sorry. Okay. I can't tell who's talking. I'm sorry. We need to have a little paddle. Okay. Let's take a look. Oh, wait. Discussion. Oh, I'm sorry. So what's gonna be important is knowing when the deadline is for them to make the decision. Exactly. Figure it out. And then just as long as we because we could brief it twice, I'm assuming. Can't. We don't have to. We have a brief brief as long as it's before the deadline. The point is Yeah. We're we're we're checking to that as soon as Okay. It could always be a special briefing next time Right.
At in action, you know? Yeah. Yeah. I have a question. So you just said postpone. Do we need to actually give a date? No. Not there. It's we're not. Okay. The executive committee will put it on the agenda where it fits. Okay. Let's vote. Vice President Schmidt. Yes. Trustee Mohammed. Yes. Trustee Wilkins. Yes. Trustee Wilkes. Yes. Trustee Basquiat. Yes. Trustee Wilkerson. Yes. Motion carries. Okay. I need a motion to, move the annual high school course guide certification to our next meeting. So moved. Okay. Any discussion?
Wilkerson for second. I'm sorry. And Bascett for second. Thank you. Discussion? Okay. Let's take a vote. Okay. Trustee Schmidt? Yes. Trustee Mohammed? Yeah. Trustee Wilkins? Yes. Trustee Wilkes? Yeah. Trustee Basquiat? Yes. Trustee Wilkerson? Okay. Lot item F, motion to hold a closed session. Do we have a date and for the I do. I did put it in there. It's eleven or 06:30. I don't know if that's good. I don't have it on my You don't I got a if you do a refresh, you'd probably get it. So tell me refresh.
I need a motion, to hold a closed session. And and what's the date? June 11. For June 11? '16. Client attorney privilege. Mhmm. And and personnel. Oh, personnel. Thank you. So move. I second. K. That was Wilkes and Wilkes and Wilkeson. Any discussion? Let's vote. Trustee Schmidt? Yes. Trustee Mohammed? Yeah. Trustee Wilkins? Yes. Trustee Wilkerson? Yes. Trustee Buscett? Yes. Trustee Wilkerson? Motion carries. Okay. Down to twelve a, agenda planning. Does anybody have anything to do that? And if we for agenda planning,
we we'll wanna get a sense of the the will of the board, the majority of the board to put it on the agenda. Any yes. So just one one thing to consider maybe through governance or what what or through the executive board. Seems like I see, like, maybe we can look at this agenda in general and how the format is because I see agendas from other school districts where they put board action, things like that ahead of all the inform or information sessions.
Just something to kinda think about. I don't know which committee it goes to. But, yeah, it's hard to make these very tough decisions and important decisions, you know, at almost 1AM. So I wanna see if, you know, if it is something that maybe we can all consider. K. Got it. Did you have your hand up? Yeah. Go ahead. Be next. Like to have something on the agenda for the next meeting to discuss the stages thing with the, the dedicated performance spaces in the new elementaries
and with the understanding that we'll be able to send questions ahead of time so that the, capital projects team would be able to address those questions. What's the pleasure of the board on this? Gaskett? I'm sorry. So it was the I think I said it, but maybe I should have. It has it is the intention to bring that information to the board. Again, as, Trustee Wilkins, reminded folks, send your questions or concerns, because some may have, trustees may have additional concerns to in addition to the stage issue.
So, again, the team will be prepared to do that. Again, we didn't wanna add another discussion to tonight's long agenda. So thank you Okay. For that reminder. Do I get a sense that everybody would like to see that happen? I would. Again, as secretary, I've been bombarded with quite a few emails Okay. Regarding stages. So that would be helpful. Mhmm. Trustee Mohammed, did you Well, I brought I mean, I brought up the lot in thing, but I think it was primarily It was the state. About the stages. Okay. But, I mean, if there's other questions, you know, that come up between now and then,
then I would like to address It's really important. It. Thank you for that. It's really important that if you have questions, any of us, please get them to the superintendent. The worst thing is we show up and it's like, well, I forgot to send you this question, but arm these people, allow them to be ready and have a full answer for you. Yeah. And just to clarify, I brought it up. Hopefully, I know I understand there's a long agenda and that's why, you know, I also withdrew it. But I brought it up because there's important developments that are happening, and I didn't wanna wait two weeks before addressing them with the public,
and particularly with Lawton. So that's why I brought it up tonight, but I'm I understand I don't wanna I don't also wanna, put the bond, you know, the capital programs and bond team. I don't want them to feel not prepared either. I I appreciate you saying that. I'm not sure there's anything new that's happened in the last week or two on this. I think people are just speaking about it because this this was talked about weeks and weeks and weeks ago when we saw design. So, but I'm glad that we've all agreed that this needs to be done. This is good.
We'll get it in there. Okay. Anything else for agenda planning? Okay. Let's move items from the board. Does anybody have anything they need to share at this late hour? Yes. I will keep it brief knowing the time. So just, for those who don't remember, I serve on the government relations committee of the MASB. We review proposals and discuss, new legislation that's already in action and to come. So real quickly, I think it's obvious to most people who've been watching this, the state is not likely to give us any type of numbers by June 1. So in terms of and I know the superintendents are have been working with the
team. So in terms of budgeting, don't count on much in terms of guidance. And so maybe the most conservative approach is is the best. It's the state's looking at a $1,000,000,000 deficit that we know of right now. Focus has been on road funding and, the Medicaid cuts, so not quite sure where that will put us. Number two, regarding the update on the cell phone policy requirement that will be coming down the pipeline, there were some adjustments, and the committee moved from being neutral to supporting the adjustments of,
the one bill that I can't remember at this point, but that should be coming soon to us. Coming also will be a, proposal to cut the essay from the SAT exam. That's about an hour of the exam. Turns out we are the only state still requiring it as part of the testing, so that will most likely go through, again, giving our our students some, reprieve, if you will, from the continuing testing. Things that are also coming, well, have been proposed has gotten some newsworthiness, something for us to be aware of.
There's a proposal that we be required to teach water safety without water as we pointed out because a lot of districts don't have water in their pools because they can't maintain their pools. But, there is a, legislator representative who is pushing that in terms of us teaching water safety. Also, coming soon, most likely, will be the firearms safety. Again, teaching firearms safeties without firearms. And as yeah. And we have, yeah. And it will come the proposal is to have it under a PE credit. Go figure. So the that's the legislative updates.
Real quickly, wanted to, you know, thank the, Home Builders program for a wonderful recognition of their students. Trustee Wilkes and the superintendent and doctor Hayward were present. It was very nice to see that. If no one has ever, been aware of the Home Builders program, please check it out. There is an open house either June. I wasn't able to confirm that date, for anyone to come. It is a wonderful program, very diverse graduates this year. And real quickly, do not forget, again, thank you for the groundbreaking ceremonies.
That was always fun. Graduations are coming up. Students, please celebrate and also be safe in doing so. And finally, the NAACP Juneteenth celebration will be June 14 at Wheeler Park. Please come and join us. It's a fun event. Excellent. Anyone else have any other comments? Yeah. Real quick. I just wanted to acknowledge the Jones School historical marker event that took place on May 15. Trustee Wilkins and I were there. Superintendent Parks was also there. We had a chance to meet a lot of Jones School alum alumni. It was just a great time plus the current communities,
community community community was there to support and to just acknowledge, these, you know, fine alum. And the marker is is amazing. So if you get a chance to go by, it's right in Cary Town, like, right where community school is. Please, you know, take time to take a look and read through. There's a lot on it, both sides. So again, I'm just glad that they actually had a chance to acknowledge, the Jones School alum. That's very cool. Any other comments? Yes. Two quick things because she already took my third.
I was a oh, the CTE Expo that was last week was another shout out for that. That was really cool with the robots and the miss Sam having her kids decorate cupcakes with people and stuff like that. So props to everyone who's involved in that. I was able to participate in the, author event that Apisa supported, today. Richard Ho is an author, and he read his book, and it was over Zoom. But there were at least
eight classrooms and a full classrooms in addition to other people, involved in it. It was really cool. And the PTOC fundraiser for title one schools that I've been talking about for the last couple is, done. And we were able to hit our goal of 30,000 and then some. So the PTO Thrift Shop matched 30,000 of that, so it'll be more than $60,000 going to our title one school PTOs. That's very cool. So thanks to everyone who contributed to that.
Thanks for sharing that. Anything else? Okay. We need a motion to adjourn. So moved. Second. Yeah. Baskett and Wilkerson. We're gonna get paddles over here. Yes. All in favor, would you still need a voice mail? All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. And we're out of here. Thank you.