Have any? Yeah. I now call this meeting of the Ann Arbor Public Schools Board of Education to order. I would like to remind everyone that this meeting is hybrid and that some of our presenters and audience may join by Zoom. Miss Olzinski, may we have a roll call, please? President Feaster. Here. Trustee Schmidt. Present. Trustee Mohammed. Here. Trustee Wilkins. Here. Trustee Wilkes. Present. Trustee Basquiat? Yes. Trustee Wilkerson? Present. Thank you, miss Olsinski. Trustees, you have received the agenda. Are there any changes? I do have a couple of items that I would like to add to the
agenda. Mister Wilkerson? So we did remove the, designated groups policy from consideration tonight, and we received some additional information and clarification today. So I would like to add that back to the agenda. I would also like to move the closed session up below the informational section, so before second briefing. Oh, oh, that's that one. Alright. I understand. So number seven? Correct. Okay. So you'd like the closed session to be after information but before second briefing?
Yes. Okay. Mister president, if I may ask, is that okay with our attorneys or they would they because I don't know if someone's coming in additional or I saw mister Komsa here. He's there. Is is that a problem for you, mister Komsa? Oh, thank you, sir. President Feaster, clarification again. Where do we wanna move up the, move the item? So my understanding from trustee Wilkinson is that he is asking to add the designated group's vote that would have been under second briefing that had been removed earlier today back to the agenda,
under second briefing number seven. Okay. And then he would like to move to closed session that is scheduled for the end of the, under number nine, the end of the meeting up in between number six and number seven. Okay. It would be new number seven. New number seven. A recess to closed session rather than adjourn. Correct. So recess and then come back. So so it'd be recess after number six. We would recess Okay. To closed session, making that the new number seven. And that would move everything else down and make second briefing now number eight.
Okay. Thank you for that clarification. No problem. And then trustee, if I may. Yes. Trustee So trustee Wilkerson, are you proposing that, the discussion regarding the designated groups be item e or item f? Are you adding it after e or before? I I think either way is completely appropriate. May I ask that we then make it number I mean, item e and then make the new policy thirteen ten item f? K. Are you agreeable, sir? Yeah. Okay. Thank you. So that's a friendly amendment,
I suppose. Yes. Yeah. Okay. And then one additional item, we do have some special commentary this evening, and we have a presentation, that was provided to, be presented tonight. I would like to incorporate that presentation as well. You mean the slides? Yes. The slides for presentation. Okay. Miss Solinski, should those be two separate motions, or can we do those as a bulk? We do it we do it all Okay. As proposed. Okay. So that is a proposed motion. Second. That's supported by trustee Schmidt.
Discussion. I'm just go ahead. Trustee Mohammed. Just to clarify again, where is the new the 1,300 policy going to be placed on the agenda? Second briefing. Second briefing? Letter e and current e will become letter f. Okay. And then I I you said, trustee Wilkerson, that there we had some clarification. I don't I I don't know what clarification you're referring to. I assume that will we're just in closed session? So it's a closed session? That's why. So that's that's why he's moving the closed session Okay.
Forward. Okay. Because I haven't received anything that I maybe I have. I have to look. Okay. Alright. So it's been moved by trustee, Wilkerson, supported by trustee Schmidt that was we started discussion further discussion. Trustee Wilkerson. Just I'm still getting around this. So if it's in if it's added to second briefing, then we're discussing it. That doesn't mean that we're voting on it. It means we're discussing it. Is that right? I believe we can discuss it and then vote on it too. Normally, it would at at a second briefing,
you would vote on it. Okay. We wouldn't vote on it. So it sounds like trustee Woodford would to choose it. Is that is asking that we move it there for discussion and vote if we see fit. Am I saying that correctly? Yeah. That's correct. What whatever the will of the board is related to the vote itself. Would it be in a different place if it wasn't if it was just for discussion instead of It would not be in second briefing. I don't believe It would go into board action. Yeah. And I don't see it there. That's why I'm asking. We can always move things. Yes. Or moved anytime by the board. I'm trying to follow as well.
I see your face. Well, I I came in here today Yes. Wanting to move the vote on policy 1,300. We already done. To table or postpone Yes. Or not vote on it tonight. Yes. The equity committee has asked for some more time. I think some more time should be spent on the language if we are doing it. Yes. So I I don't know I don't know. But, officially, where do I put that, or do I Heard of discussion. Yeah. So the other not do I vote against this thing and then I propose something
else? You can vote against this. Or an amendment. And if this does not pass, you can propose something different. If it does pass, then you can also raise your concerns when we're just having discussion under second brief. Okay. Custom law. So and, also, we can propose a friendly amendment. So I propose that we do not vote on it, tonight. So just to have it a sec second briefing is fine for us to discuss. But I don't think it's really fair for us to take it off the agenda, having people telling me that it's not not gonna be voted on and then put
it back on the agenda. I I don't think it's fair for the public, for the groups. And, honestly, they probably changed their minds to come here maybe and present. So I would say it's fine to discuss, but I would ask for a friendly amendment to not vote on it tonight. Trustee Wilkerson, trustee Mohammed has made a friendly amendment to have it under second briefing, but not to have not to vote on it. Yes. I I don't accept that amendment. Good. Trustee Mohammed. The other thing is I don't even know if we have enough information because we're supposed to be I mean, hopefully, you know, as far as second or per closed session,
I don't recall getting anything any update today, and I was in clinic all day. So I don't think it's really fair for us, like myself and maybe others being blindsided when this was taken off and then put it put it back on, and we still haven't been briefed. So, honestly, I feel like this is being rushed, in something pretty significant like this where it is gonna impact a lot of people and further disenfranchise people. So I don't this is not a good move or a good look for us. Thank you, trustee Mohammed. Any other discussion, trustees? Seeing none,
we have a motion to add readd the designated groups to second briefing as letter e and to move closed session forward, to new number seven and the second part of your motion. I lost it. I'm sorry. Adding the presentation. Oh, and allowing the allowing the The PowerPoint. PowerPoint presentation by the Jewish American Heritage Month and and our public schools under public commentary excuse me, under special commentary. Seeing no other discussion, I'll ask miss Zelensky for a roll call,
please. Trustee Wilkes? Yes. Trustee Basquiat? Yes. Trustee Wilkerson? Yes. President Feaster? No. Trustee Schmidt? Yes. Trustee Mohammed? No. Trustee Wilkins? No. Motion carries. Okay. And I believe that brings us down to So I have another change? Yes. Any other change. Trustee Mohammed. So I would like to add for under board action for us to approve those board designated groups. I want to add that under board action, and that includes the Jewish group, the Muslim group, and the Aspire group because we have not addressed this in public.
Moved by trusting Mohammed under board to under board action to approve the three outstanding groups. Yes. Okay. Is there support? Oh, trustee I'm sorry. President Feaster, I think it's probably prop more proper to say proposed or a group of requests. Excuse me. Yes. You're right. Let's move by trustee Mohammed to approve the three proposed, groups for designation. Is this time for discussion? The first is to be supported. It's just supported by trustee Wilkins. Now there's discussion. I frankly don't feel prepared to to approve any groups.
I know nothing about the current groups that are, requesting to be approved. I haven't seen any documentation. I know that I believe these groups have requested, board designation, I guess, about eighteen months ago. I was not on the board eighteen months ago. And, again, I don't feel as though I have enough information to to approve any groups tonight. K. Thank you, Trustee Wilkes. Any other discussion? Seeing none. Miss Ozinski, it's been moved by trustee Mohammed that we approve the three pending or proposed groups, and it was supported by trustee Wilkins.
I think we're ready for a roll call, please. Okay. Trustee Vasquez? No. Trustee Wilkerson? No. President Feaster? No. Trustee Schmidt? No. Trustee Mohammed? Yes. Trustee Wilkins? Yes. Trustee Wilkes. Sorry. No. Motion fails. Are there any other changes to the agenda, trustees? Seeing none, I guess, do we have a motion to approve the agenda as amended? So moved. Second. Moved by trustee Schmidt, supported by trustee Wilkes. Any discussion? Seeing none, miss Silasinski, please. Trustee Wilkerson? Yes. President Feaster? Yes.
Trustee Schmidt? Yes. Trustee Mohammed? No. Trustee Wilkins? No. Trustee Wilkes? Yes. And trustee Basquiat? Yes. Motion carries. K. I would now like to introduce the non voting member at the table, miss Jazz Parks, superintendent of schools. Thank you, president Feaster. Good evening. And that brings us down to our land land acknowledgement statement. I will turn it over to trustee Wilkerson if you read that, please. We acknowledge the Ann Arbor Public Schools District occupies the ancestral, traditional, and contemporary lands of the Anishinaabek, Three Fires Confederacy, Odawa, Ojibwe,
Potawatomi. The taking of this land was formalized and in process to native cultures or in a process alien to native cultures by the Treaty of Detroit in eighteen o seven. The Ann Arbor Public Schools recognizes that many other native peoples lived on this land at different times including the Fox, Sauk, Shawnee, Kickapoo, Miami, Muscatine, and Cherokee, many of whom were forcefully removed from their homelands. Acknowledgement by itself is a small gesture that does not exist in the past or solely in a historical context. Colonialism is a current ongoing process,
and we understand our responsibility in educating students about our participation. We further recognize the ongoing relationship, independence upon, and respect for all living beings of earth, sky, and water. It's our responsibility to care for this land, and we honor with our deepest gratitude the native people who have and will continue to steward it for generations. Thank you, trustee Wilkerson. I believe that brings us down to special commentary. We have a WISD board candidate present, mister Eric John Roberts, and we will invite him to the podium to give us some information.
We're having trouble here. You can make it up taller if you want. No. It's not. I'm not. Here we go. Your tech guide. Alright. How about now? There you go. Welcome back. Good evening, members of the board of education. My name is Eric John Roberts. I'm a candidate for the Washington ISD school board. For those of you that haven't been through this process yet, not the Washington ISD has nine local school districts, and this this election is decided by members of the local board in the May. At a board meeting, you'll take a vote on the candidates you support as a board,
and then you'll choose a person from your board or staff to send, to the first Monday in June, to the ISD Building to formally cast the ballot on behalf of your school board. I'm here tonight to share some information about myself. Thank you, president Feaster, for allowing me this opportunity, and I provided information to each of you. This is the eighth of the ninth school boards that I've been to, and I decided to make it a priority to get around and meet every school board member, you know, see what's going on in your community as I'm,
you know, trying to seeking this office. I wanna be collaborative with local school boards, and certainly, if I get this, that's not gonna stop. On the front page of this, I've included a link to a Calendly. My whole schedule is there. So if you'd like to sit down outside of a meeting to to chat, ask me any questions, or by email or text, please feel free to reach out before, you have this decision in the May. Some info about me, I have been a school board member. I was a school board member for six years,
outside of Grand Rapids before I moved to Ouachita County. That was for a district about the size of Saline called Kennewick Hills Public Schools. And in that time, I secured the MASP president's award, which is and put in more than two thousand hours of, public service, you know, bettering myself to best advocate for the kids in my care. At the onset of COVID, because of my leadership and my and, good relationship with my superintendent, we were able to immediately partner with Sprint and cover the about six percent of
the kids in our district that didn't have Wi Fi access, ensure that they had Wi Fi access so that our teachers could keep connecting with them when the world was so scary, especially for young people. That was our first priority. Also, I presented at two MASB annual leadership conferences, most recently on how to build productive sex empower or sex education advisory boards. I believe that our reproductive health care, curriculum is essential, to to provide the students. It's been shown that it,
it it slows, first sexual interactions by young people that are fully informed. And and that's really important to to give the students that option, and that information. I also mentioned that I've been a substitute teacher, over the past about four years on and off, during undergrad and graduate school, and I'm now a law student at the University of Toledo. I'm studying disability education law as well as public defense, and I decided to substitute teach a while back when I was originally on the school board because I wanted to better understand the needs of our students and teachers
in that process. And and and now going into disability law, I wanted to better understand how accommodations work on the ground in the classroom, you know, built from IEPs. What do those look like for our students? How are we best serving them? So that's some information about myself, and I would encourage you all to to reach out by email or set a Calendly, event with me. Thank you. Thanks for coming. You too. Thank you. Thank you very much. That brings us down to letter b,
which would be the Jewish American Heritage Month in the Ann Arbor Public Schools, and we invite them to come forward and Good evening. Good evening. Good evening. Hi. So thank you for allowing me time to present. I appreciate your time here tonight. My name is Esther Terry. I have a child in Ann Arbor Public Schools, and I'm here to talk about Jewish American Heritage Month. Our group is a group of parent volunteers, and we've collected some information on recognition of the month in Michigan and also some requests we're making to the board. And just to clarify before I get started,
when we talk about heritage months, we are talking about adding to heritage months. So we're not proposing removing anyone or crowding anybody out or anything like that. This is just in addition to everything else that the Ann Arbor Public Schools celebrates. So Jewish American Heritage Month, on act on 04/20/2006, president George w Bush established the Jewish American Heritage Month during the month of May. It's been recognized and established by the president who succeeded him, presidents Obama, Trump, and Biden.
The month offers an opportunity for the nation to recognize Jewish contributions to The United States over the past four hundred years. So I'm going to give just a little bit of context while we look at this slide for a few minutes so we can all enjoy the scenery. Our group is actually just a group of parent volunteers. We have been working with the Jewish Community Relations Council, which is part of the Jewish Federation, but we're all volunteers. We have kids in public schools. We've been targeted to Jewish families who have kids in the public schools, and we're not part of the group that I think has applied to be recognized
by the board. We're just totally separate. Just really love education, honestly. Some of the challenges that we know, from our community here and also just Jewish people globally is that being Jewish has always covered a plurality of identities and cultures, The Jewish people have been multilingual and multicultural since the earliest accounts from over four thousand years ago. There's historical evidence of ancient Jewish communities in Central Asia, The Middle East, North Africa, the Horn Of Africa, South Asia, East Asia, and all across Europe.
Jewish communities have also existed in The Americas since the fifteenth century. The first North American community is typically traced to a community of Jewish refugees fleeing from the Portuguese inquisition and landing in New Amsterdam in 1654. Jewish Americans reflect the diversity of the Jewish people. There are public figures like Manasheh Haimov of the Bukharian Jewish community. That community has lived in what is now Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Afghanistan since May. Or like Rabbi Shaiys Rishon. He is a Jewish and African American author who traces his maternal lineage through Chabad
and Lubavitch Ashkenazi communities. Or like Emily Bowen Cohen. She is a Jewish author of the graphic novel Two Tribes. She is also a member of the Muscogee Nation. Okay. Now we can go to the next slide. Thank you. Jewish Americans in Michigan and Ann Arbor reflect the complex diversity of Jewish identity and culture. Ezekiel Solomon and Chapman Abraham were the first known Jewish traders to live and trade with British settlers in Michigan in the eighteenth century. I think now you can go to the next slide. Other note notable Jewish Michiganders include senator Carl Levin and congressman Sandra Levin.
And on the next slide, I think we have a few more. So we have Max Fisher, who is a philanthropist and business executive. Myra Wolfgang is there for activism and workers' rights. There's playwright Arthur Miller. And Elsie Sulzberger, who worked in maternal health. Okay. You can go to the next slide. Thank you. So as we just saw on that slide, and as we'll see in the following, Ann Arbor has a rich history of Jewish contributions in education, art, activism, and community. And go to the next one. Thank you. Ruth Bahar was born in Havana, Cuba. She grew up in New York City. She settled in Ann Arbor.
She's traveled as an ethnographer in Spain, ex Cohen, Cuba. She's known for her humanistic approach to understanding identity, immigration, and the search for home in her global era. Next slide. Suji Min Miranda is a nonprofit executive. She advocates for strategic partnerships, racial justice, and efficient, effective resource allocation. One of the hallmarks of her work is focusing on personal narratives to include people to make sure everybody understands their mistake and to make sure that they're heard in her work. And on the next slide, we have Zilke Joseph. She is a poet and an educator. Her work is influenced by Indian and Western cultures and by her Bnei Israel roots.
She has a new book, Sweet Melita, Memories of a Bnei Israel Woman, which engages with the centuries long history and legends of the B'nai Israel Jews of India and food, culture, and childhood memories. Next slide. Thank you. Isaac Patel grew up in Ann Arbor. He is a black and Jewish poet. He is a PhD candidate and adjunct instructor in Detroit. He's also a Cave Canem fellow and a graduate from Miami University's MFA program. So we're just gonna yep, that's great. Thanks. So this is a list of some resources that we've collected, and we actually have several more,
that we're happy to share with and work to collaborate with on the board. There are some examples we also found of other places in Michigan school districts, municipalities, and colleges that have recognized Jewish American Heritage Month. Saline and Detroit school districts have it as part of their heritage month celebrations. The Dexter schools are in the process of reviewing all of their heritage months. Cities like Warren, Southfield, and Muskegon have officially commemorated Jewish American Heritage Month. Universities and colleges have commemorated as well, including the University of Michigan, Michigan State, and I believe Oakland Community College.
In 2024 last year, superintendent Park recognized Jewish American Heritage Month in her communication as superintendent. We greatly appreciated this communication. Thank you. Some parents did work with schools to do presentations in individual classrooms, and some of the libraries did curate some displays. So this year, what we'd like to do is actually extend the options for recognizing and celebrating Jewish American heritage with the support, hopefully, of the board. We're asking for district wide recognition again in terms of communication, and we'd also appreciate some additional support. Like we've seen here,
we have collected educational resources for teachers, parents, and administrators to reference. We're asking for a method to publish or distribute this just for easy access. I'm honestly not sure how that would work, but totally open to any ideas and suggestions you might have. Another thing that we think could be helpful is if there is coverage of Jewish American Heritage Month in the AAPS district news. Again, if there's some way we can facilitate that or someone we need to contact, we're happy to do that. Another thing, if at all possible, we appreciate the opportunity to collaborate on school wide assemblies or programs,
particularly with librarians in terms of Jewish themed books. We found that that's usually, a pretty easy way in to again, just to add in to the other amazing things that Ann Arbor Public Schools already celebrates with our students and teachers. We're hoping these combined efforts of education recognition will empower Jewish families and teachers and students as well to share their heritage with classrooms and with the schools. So that's it. That's my presentation. Thank you. Well, thank you so much for presenting. We appreciate it. President Feaster? Yes. If I may ask you, please. Couple questions. First of all, thank you so much.
I really appreciate this. I had the opportunity of sitting down with Deborah Katz last year, about two years ago, and I was amazed with as she shared the information of, again, the Jewish presence in Michigan. And, it opened my eyes, and I so, appreciate the opportunity for us to hear it here. Mike, I have a couple of questions, and, of course, with the superintendent, we'll work out the details, as he fit. But do you mind sharing your contact information so that people can reach out to you? You don't have to share it now, but if you share it with us, we'll make sure it's,
you know, published somewhere. So are you asking that this particular presentation be shared as part of Jewish I mean, or, another presentation that you would work out with the teachers or whoever? Is that clear? Yeah. We could actually do both and. I think this presentation, you know, based on feedback, we might get feedback from teachers that it needs to be revised, and we're happy to do that. We can share this one as it is. We can work on presentations with schools directly. So, yeah, we're open to whatever works out best. You know, what may be easiest right now since we already are in April.
Alright. So you would, again, the connection with the superintendent, then she would go with whoever. If if I may, I just wanna add a couple of things. First of all, regarding the Jewish Americans in Ann Arbor, and you cited the Levins. And I just want to bring up the memory of, Barbara Levin Bergman, who was our county commissioner for many years. And she was proud to say she's a cousin of of the others, Levin's. But, again, you know, she did a lot of work in our community, and I think that would behoove us to recognize her. She is very, very local. I had the pleasure of working with Isaac's mother,
Deborah Green, on a a project called Arboro Games many, many years ago when Isaac was a younger child. And, again, I wanna recognize that they are a very active family as well. I'm very, of course, very proud of Isaac. So thank you for that recognition. I appreciate that. Yeah. And I'm happy to add anyone else too who might, you know, also deserve a place. Certainly, there are many options to choose from, so thank you for that reminder. Yeah. Thank you. If there's nothing else, we greatly appreciate your time and your presentation, and, thank you. So good. Thank you. And so if I followed the next step is that I get in touch with
superannuation parks. Is that right? Okay. Thank you so much, Ian. Really appreciate your time. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And I believe that brings us down to number three, public commentary. The board would like to remind everyone that individuals who have signed up for public commentary will have their names called and are given an opportunity to speak or have comments read by a member of our staff. Commenters will receive up to four minutes with no more than forty five minutes to offer the public commentary period. When your name is called, please come forward and speak at the microphone. To help manage your time, a clock will be placed on the screen in front of you. We would like to remind everyone that public comments generally pertain to Anapur Public Schools
district matters. Comments about any individual or individuals are expressly prohibited. Also, please understand that board members do not respond to public comments, but we will listen carefully and follow-up as appropriate. Miss Ozenzki, how many sign up do we have for this evening? We have 20 signed up this evening, and each, comment will be given to two minutes and ten seconds. Thank you. I'm sorry. Two minutes and fifteen seconds. All time record. Thank you. Okay. Okay. First is Lawrence Works, then Jessica Rodriguez. Greetings, board members. Thank you for your service. Every child,
every day. This is the APS motto. You can fulfill this promise in a very meaningful way by voting no on the resolution to disband or designated groups and or remove their agenda time. Both their time together as students and their leadership opportunity to publicly engage with you on a regular basis are valuable. This is the only clearly designated time when board members can regularly hear from students, read their experiences with their board designated groups. Students appearing before the board of education representing their cultural backgrounds on a regular basis excuse me.
Oh, boy. On a regular basis. I'm sorry. Stop the clock. I've lost it. On a on a let's see. K. Students I'll just I'm gonna repeat it. Students appearing before the board of education representing their cultural backgrounds on a regular basis is a student leadership opportunity the board of education should not take away, one rarely offered elsewhere. Board designated student groups are a benefit to the entire student population. Students' education and their successful futures must be well rounded before before they enter adulthood
in this global world. The benefits of diversity, inclusion, and equity within school environments are undeniable. All of these groups are key to student success as they bring awareness to challenging issues and experiences even their families may not discuss in-depth. If the public school board is doing its due diligence, you will never intentionally create a barrier to create communications in public for these groups at your meetings. Research shows that experience with these issues leads to positive changes in students in the students' attitudes and values,
Gurren et al. 02/2002. An inclusive classroom also provides global academic benefits such as improved critical thinking, Bauman twenty ten and higher overall achievement levels for both majority and minority group members, Elicker et al, 02/2009. In addition, when students have positive diversity in minority group when students have positive diversity experiences, their interest in improving the lives of people in their communities increases, Baum in 2011. Students do not always have experience discussing emotional issues.
To help them manage difficult conversations, students need safe environments. Jessica Rodriguez, then Susan Vaughn. Superintendent parks and trustees, I am a longtime teacher in Ann Arbor with a child in the district. I'm incredibly disappointed to hear of your ill timed decision making in regards to limiting or eliminating public commentary and the possible removal of board designated group speaking time. Yes. We know you cannot actually disband the groups. Please stop gaslighting the public. The ability to publicly dissent and publicly and publicly be known during this time of authoritarian change is essential to our local
democracy, and that starts right here where our children learn. Marginalized folks in Ann Arbor need you now more than ever to show that you actually care. Please do the right thing. Susan Bohn, then Lisa Caraharo. Hello, board. I am a staff member. I'm also, a community member and a member of the, a to y GSA group. And I agree with trusted trustee Mohammed that you seem to be saying all lives matter when it comes to eliminating the board approved groups.
Why not approve the other groups? Jewish and Muslim culture is in the minority and should be fine unless you're worried about it being religious, which it doesn't have to be. And I wholeheartedly want more anti racism things in the world, so ASPIRE should be approved. Otherwise, it seems like you're caving to the current fascist federal president as he puts any DEI before he puts any DEI limits on you, or you could pause and meet with the currently approved groups and work with them to create a policy for approving groups. No need to rush and vote tonight.
Please reconsider. Also, as to the public commentary, I am privileged. My kids are adults. I don't currently have a second job, and I have a reliable car and body. You still need to have a way to let others without these privileges have access to public commentary. How about voice memos or consider other options? Please consider this too. Lisa Carahiro, then Abbasid Zafar. Let's be clear. The Arab American advocacy group is the one being targeted here. The dismantling of the Arab American and Asian advocacy group started almost two years ago
when the leaders were harassed. The silence of the entire community about this harassment has led us to here. At a two open, a Palestinian teacher was extensively harassed by the same folks trying to remove these groups. At the request of the white parents in the Jewish Federation, this teacher was removed from the classroom in the middle of a class on the Friday before MLK day for crossing a political line of neutrality. In the same school, Zionist war propaganda was displayed and featured alone in a district owned in a district owned locked display case for months.
A core organizer of the Asian group was targeted, publicly called Hamas, an Islamic Jihadist, dark triad, and worse by Zionists. The same folks asking to remove the advocacy groups were responsible for putting racist flyers in my neighborhood, publicly accusing my nonprofit, Books for Kids, of fraud, issuing a 29 page legal document to the district lawyer asking for Arab and Asian trustees to be suspended, FOIAing these trustees for five Palestinian names, FOIAing these trustees for their communication with Palestinian teachers. This is the truth, and there is even more instances of harassment.
All instances are documented with the police, Ann Arbor Public Schools, Michigan peers, and stop AAPI hate organizations are now here on the public commentary. I'm calling on the AAEA leadership, the board, and the district administration to support the BIPOC teachers who volunteer their time to lead these groups, who share their lived experiences, and who have clearly been under attack. Your voice has been notably absent when it comes to speaking up for these BIPOC families and against Islamophobia in APS.
Your silence on racism in APS has led to the desperate state of the district today. Removing these groups and acquiescing to Zionist pressure shows the community you're you prioritize your donors over student. Thank you and thank you, Rima, and only Rima for advocating to recognize and professionally collaborate with all groups. Vasette Sahar, then Caroline Semmel. I am writing regarding your consideration of removing board designated designation of various groups. I have also emailed you about this. I have not heard a single reason for why this could possibly be a good
good idea. I really am frustrated and shocked that in this environment, when protections of disadvantaged groups are being weakened, you'd want to double down. Of all places in the supposedly enlightened Ann Arbor, this makes no sense. Why would you want to put in additional barriers for marginalized groups to communicate with you? It is truly baffling and shameful. Caroline Samral then Kate Curry. Good evening. As a first grade and former kindergarten teacher, I've had to implement many new procedures from sharpening pencils, putting away backpacks, to lining up.
Each procedure was critical to ensuring our classroom functions efficiently and effortlessly. If a procedure worked, we kept it. If not, we identified and changed it, but not without explaining the why and how. With no proper explanation, students would have a ton of questions. And if you spent any time with five and six year olds, you know there are a lot of questions. Many times we work together to create the new procedure. Without the buy in, there would be chaos and stress. In board terms, such procedures may be called a board policy, such as the current issue with board approved groups.
I ask that before any changes are made, the why and how should be clearly explained. Why are the current board approved groups even an issue right now? What was broken that caused this change? How will the new policy be implemented, and how will groups be chosen to report? As you've noticed, there are many questions about this adjusted proposal and, consequently, a lot of chaos and stress about the change. Engage the community and representatives of the affinity groups before making a policy, and think carefully through pros and cons. Don't rush, and please be transparent. After all,
everything we needed to learn to get along in this world, we most likely learned in kindergarten, and if not, then hopefully by first grade. Thank you for your time. Kate Curry, then Gina Schneider. Hi, trustees. I am commenting today in opposition to the proposed change to policy thirteen zero one, which would eliminate written public commentary from board meetings. This change reduces transparency, silences voices, and erodes public trust. Sending comments directly to the board, as has been suggested, is by definition not public commentary.
It removes accountability and prevents the public from hearing concerns they might not otherwise know about. But the larger issue, just how people provide input. It's why so many people feel the need to speak out in the first place. Public commentary is overwhelming because people don't feel heard. When the same concerns are raised week after week, it's not because people enjoy repeating themselves. It's because they see no meaningful response or action. You say, we welcome feedback over and over again,
but welcoming feedback is meaningless if it's not considered, addressed, or reflected in board decisions. Public input truly matters. Written comments if public input truly matters, written comments should not be eliminated. You've made the point that other districts follow this policy and don't have written comments, but since when do we just follow? Let's lead by strengthening public participation and setting the standard for open and meaningful dialogue. Gina Schneider, then Julia Blau. As you know,
Thurston is not being staged. The school can no longer offer the sensory sensitive population of Thurston, the learning environment they are entitled to under federal law. My son and others will have to leave their classmates and the staff they've developed relationships with over the years in order to receive an appropriate education. We've applied for an in district transfer, but what are we to do if we don't win a lottery to get into the school professionals say is our next best alternative? It is appalling to me that you don't have a plan in place for this population of children before deciding to knowingly disrupt their education.
Make a plan for them now. Julia Blough followed by Jeff Gaynor. Good evening. What's the current situation right now? The president has vowed to dismantle the department of education. There are attacks across the country on LGBTQ rights. Immigrants in our country are living in fear and have been abducted and get sent to prison, including college students. So what is the board of education doing? They're spending their time and energy to limit parent input. They're spending their time and energy to limit input from the exact marginalized groups that
are being targeted by the country right now. We need this representation more than ever. You're also limiting who can participate to people who have cars, babysitters, good health, and the ability to speak in person. My son, who is a sophomore in high school, has watched several meetings online or on television, not really by choice. The board members and his observation is that the board members spend all of their time arguing with each other for their own power and their own political standing. He doesn't hear you ever talk about anything that will actually help students,
anything that will actually improve his education or anything that will protect his sister and his friends. Tonight's shenanigans of publicly saying that you're taking something off the agenda that was published by WEMU, leading many people to think it was not going to be discussed or voted on tonight, and then adding it back in at the last minute is a disgrace. The complete and utter disregard you have for your students and the parents who voted for you is infuriating. And since I have thirty seconds left, I'm gonna say it a bunch of times.
Protect trans kids. Protect trans kids. Protect trans kids. When I reach out to the board of education in the in here, oh, talk to your building principal. We're we're we're working on it. When I reach out to the superintendent who doesn't respond, but is I'm assured is working on it, I have absolutely no confidence that anyone on this board has the least interest in protecting my kid and kids like her protect trans kids. Jeff Gaynor, then Nadia Nazir. If you do not allow time for written comments,
please continue to accept and post them in BoardDocs before the meeting begins. Trustees already received this. Then allot five minutes for someone to summarize the written comments during the meeting. Please explain what problem removing board designated group slots will solve. The board majority has been stonewalling the request from three groups for over a year and now will selectively approve requests by any group with no criteria set. Neither change is a good look for the board or for APS. I reckon there won't be time for the following,
but to continue, opening remote comments only to those with a disability opens a Pandora box of problems. For one, you are asking for people to out themselves. How will you verify the disability? Who will this still exclude? A highly respected principal made the point that every one of us is disabled in one way or another, so perhaps no one need be excluded. But then we're left where we began. Also, I expect that you will be flooded with a plethora of requests from groups, current ones, blocked ones, and future ones. How will you decide which ones to approve, especially without clear criteria?
You you aren't discriminate you don't cons discriminate, so publicly public speaking time will increase significantly. I believe despite the legal advice you received, that excluding the Jewish parent and Muslim parent support groups would be counter to the first amendment. And excluding Aspire, a group focused on equity, indicates that you don't want any narrative other than the administrations. So you are not resolving a conflict, but rather hiding from it. As a teacher, I am aghast at this approach. Nadia Nazir, then Lena Kaufman. Respected board members,
as a thirty year Ann Arbor resident and aunt to AEPS students, I strongly object to the proposed disbanding of groups. The board mirrors the diversity of our community. Can you envision a scenario where maybe only one of you has the ability to express their concerns as a board? Shouldn't our schools prioritize teaching and modeling ethical values, ensuring that every student's needs are met regardless of race, gender, or religion? Please uphold the values of a good public institution by remaining inclusive, empathetic, and valuing every voice regardless of who it belongs to.
We are counting on you. Lena Kaufman, then Bashar Amandani Almadani. Before voting tonight on changes to board policy 1,300, I wanted to correct a few things I've heard trustees say about the purpose of public commentary. Yes. Public commentary is for the board of education, but it is also for the greater public, the media, and the historic record. In an era where people hide their names and identities online and bots fake accounts are common, having real people debate real issues in public is more important than ever before. Allowing written public commentary to be read at the board meetings was a temporary pandemic
change that became permanent and then misused for copy paste commentary that flooded the meetings, but it also allowed more people to have a voice. The simple solution is to continue to take public commentary in written form, but just not read it at the meetings. Instead, simply include it in Word docs where everyone can read it for themselves or if reading challenged, use an automated program that will read it for them. As a bonus, the simple solution gets the board and the APS out of the legally fraught area of determining who is and isn't qualified to submit written commentary under the Americans with
Disabilities Act accommodation. Trustees have suggested that the public could simply FOIA the emails sent directly to the board if they really need to read those comments. However, they may be unaware that unless that unless a FOIA request is very, very small and targeted, the the person requesting the FOIA information is responsible for paying for the documents to be collected and names on the emails redacted. FOIA requests also frequently take months before a response is sent. Between the cost and time, it is simply impossible for the public to access emailed written commentary sent only to
the board. Furthermore, I think trustees are undercounting the importance of the public bringing forward new information, not just to the board, but to the public at large and having that new information included in the historical record of board activities. So I will close with an example of adding something to the public record for this meeting. The AEA Teachers Union, having publicly come out against the board, removing board recognized groups from the agenda and instead on this issue tonight, I think it is important to add to the record of this meeting which trustees on the board were endorsed by AEA.
Bashar Almadani, then Shereen Ashkar. Dear APS board members, I'm writing to strongly oppose the proposed dissolution of the Arab American advisory group. At a time when Arab, Muslim, and Palestinian students and families are experiencing increased discrimination, dismantling this essential advisory board would send a harmful message that their voices, concerns, and safety are not valued by this district. It is particularly troubling that the school board originally created this group over a decade ago in response to concerns that Arab students were struggling with the district and transferring
to charter schools. The advisory group was established to address these disparities, promote inclusion, and ensure that Arab American students receive the necessary support to succeed. Eliminating it now amid a documented surge in anti Arab and anti Muslim and anti Palestinian bias is not only deeply insensitive but also profoundly irresponsible. The systemic changes faced by Arab American students and families in this district persist, making this advisory group more essential than ever. Rather than eliminating a key platform for engagement, the district should be strengthening its commitment to diversity,
equity, and inclusion. Dissolving this group would further marginalize a vulnerable community and contradict the district's stated values. I urge you to reconsider this decision. Keeping the Arab American advisory group intact is not just an issue of fairness. It is a necessary step to ensure that all students in our district are supported, represented, and given the opportunity to thrive. Shereen Ashkar, then Allison Carey. As an APS parent, I'm writing to express my concern and strong opposition to the proposed revision of policy 1,300. By eliminating the official board recognition of these groups,
you would be cutting a vital line of communication with administrators, educators, parents, and students who make up our district. By eliminating official board recognition of these groups, you would be telling us that our voices do not matter to you and that our already marginalized communities are not welcome. These groups provide critical representation, ensuring that all perspectives are heard and valued in shaping our schools. Failing to recognize them would be a step backward in fostering an inclusive, engaged, and responsive district. I urge you to reconsider this proposal and prioritize equity, transparency,
and community involvement in your decision making. Thank you. Allison Carey, then Jessica Reor. Please keep Bryton public commentary. The expectation that constituents must continually submit FOIA's and request to comply with FOIA is unreasonable and burdensome and wasteful. Bryton documentary allows for more transparency and more open dialogue and improved community engagement. Simply listening to your constituents would prevent unnecessary headaches for all. This would be a big step to restore trust. Instead of further alienating communities, teach Homeowners,
students, and parents of school age children like myself. Please consult the Huron River Watershed Council and city, county, and state experts regarding Miller's Creek Shed. The maintenance and care of the Miller Creek Shed and the Thurston flood mitigation is through a long committed partnership between the city, county, township, and University of Michigan. Please honor this partnership for the sake of health and safety and best possible outcome given the circumstances. Jessica Reor and Talal Aloftman. On the subject of removing designated status of board designated groups,
please vote no. Contrary to previous statements made within these very meetings, if any one group can stipulate the designation or existence of any or all other groups, it needs to be said, this is certainly not a marginalized nor minority group whatsoever. Ann Arbor has public has Ann Arbor as a city has historically been known as a beautifully diverse community on all levels, especially so in academia. I believe sweeping changes to the diversity within our school district will indeed have an
immediate and grave consequence on our student body as a whole. This can easily become a very slippery slope of supremacy based thinking and does not lend to diversity, equity, and inclusion, which is presently already threatened on a wide scale throughout our country. I want my biracial son who currently attends Tappan Middle School and will be attending Huron High School for the next four years to continue to experience the diversity within our school district that has historically been known to the Ann Arbor community.
And that's the end of my statement. However, I do know I have more time, and I would like to say I am a native born and raised in Detroit, which, is not as diverse as many would like to say. And Ann Arbor was always known to me as the mecca of diversity on all levels, and I was very proud to remove my son from Ypsilanti Public Schools and put him in Ann Arbor Schools. Because of the diversity and the quality of education that he can receive within this
district, I am very disappointed in actions like this on behalf of any group whatsoever because equality and justice and diversity is very important to me as an individual, and I want my son to know what this is like and for it not to be removed. Thank you. Talal Aloftman, then Carrie Jan Yandron. I moved to Ann Arbor for a job eight years ago and remained, for the community. Knowing that the public school system here acknowledged that voices from underserved and unrepresented underrepresented
communities needed to be heard through the advisory boards gave me the belief that my children's, my families, and my community's issues had a platform where we would be heard. The APS AAPS's board's attempt to remove this platform sends a clear message. Your issue and that of other communities represented by the advisory boards are unimportant and negligible. Pushing for a decision like this in an environment of staunch and widespread Islamophobic and xenophobic national rhetoric and while AAPS wrestles with the accusations of failing to comply with
the recent Title IX violation, it's clear that many on the AAPS board share the sentiment that the voices of our community should be silenced. I urge you to oppose the removal of the advisory boards. Carrie Yandrone, then Sarah Thompson. Good evening. I'm Carrie Yandrone, parent at Scarlet and Huron, member of APAC. Please lead by exceeding the minimum standards of the past and keep designated group reports on the agenda along with written submissions. Public commentary is by the public to you and to the public.
Demonstrate you care more for the increased engagement from improved accessibility than the convenience of shorter meetings. Job expectation changes are hard, and they commonly result in two options, rise or resign. I do not say that to be snide. I say that as recognition. That is what we demand of educators year after year. Inspire our community to stay engaged and other districts to follow suit.
Senator Booker held the senate floor for twenty five hours to lead, care, and inspire. Surely, a sliver of that is reasonable here. Investing in time feels troublesome, but it's good trouble. Out of respect for time, I submitted my written version as well as extended commentary emailed to you earlier as well as for the, meeting records in board docs on which I have relied heavily,
and it has made me much more connected to this district, which I am proud to say. So please continue. Thank you. Sarah Thompson then Leah Rose. Please keep right in public commentary for general meetings available to anyone who wishes to use it. More importantly, please continue to allow recognized groups their existing spots on the agenda and add the groups that have been waiting to become a part of that list. Keeping these avenues of communication open and expanding them is the only way to begin to rebuild the community's trust in this board.
Leah Rose. A strong and equitable community is an antidote to fascism. Anabra can feel like a bubble, but we will all be impacted by the deterioration of public funding and infrastructure. It is against this backdrop that make that making the BOE trustees even less accessible to the public should be considered. Public commentary is an important part of community building. It is because of public comments that I know about the dire financial impact of the health insurance changes on teachers. Public comments encouraged me to look into the crisis situation at Mitchell Elementary School.
Public comments, especially written comments for those unable to attend in person, help to highlight issues across the district in order for us to better understand and care for one another. It is yet another sign of the growing distance between APS leadership and the constituents you claim to represent to frame written public commentary as irreplaceable by spotty email response rates from the superintendent or individual trustees. We all need one another now more than ever. Please lean into collaborative governance and think about the messages you continue to send with
your votes. That concludes public commentary. Thank you, miss Ozinski. We appreciate hearing from our community. The board would like to thank everyone who spoke and shared their comments tonight. We would like to note that all written comments are publicly available on board docs in the public commentary section of tonight's agenda. Miss Parks, are there any points of clarification? President Feaster, regarding one of the comments, related to protected trans students, which is absolutely our value, and we protect that value in policy. We have, through the executive directors, followed up on those concerns multiple times,
in fact, and shared not, only what we're working on, but what we have done to address those concerns. However, we will have our executive directors reach out again to see if there are, additional concerns that have arisen since, those communications. Also, regarding the in district transfer for students who have sensory needs. We have navigated this before. We have had schools that have had active construction, including elementary schools, and have not had any difficulty meeting, the needs of our students with a collaborative plan with parents and staff.
And so that is the plan, for Thurston, and that will continue to be the plan for the schools who are experiencing construction. And so if there has not been, an outreach yet to all of the parents who have that concern, we will make sure that occurs. And I believe all other comments will be clarified through trustees' discussion this evening. Thank you, miss Parks. Miss Ozinski, do we have any reports of associations? We do. First is from our AAAA, Brad Klein. Good evening, trustees, superintendent Parks, Hanover Public Schools community and allies,
and all the dedicated and fierce AAEA members present tonight. My name is Fred Klein, and I'm proud to serve as the president of the Anna Education Association, the union representing the teaching and professional staff of the Anna Republic Schools. First tonight, I wanna take a moment to recognize and celebrate a vital part of our school community, our occupational therapists. April is OT month and many of us may not always recognize the importance of this profession. One of our outstanding OTs here in Anhebor Public Schools, Liz Lombard, shared a fantastic description of the field.
She says, the word occupation is an old timey term that refers to anything that occupies your time. In essence, occupations are things that we do every day that have meaning. Whether it's taking a shower, cooking a meal for your family, driving to work, or even something as enjoyable as playing pickleball. These are all examples of occupations. At its core, OT is a mental health profession. When individuals can carry out their daily occupations independently and without issue, they are less likely to suffer from depression and are far more likely to engage
actively in their communities. This engagement helps to keep people not only mentally healthy, but physically active too. Occupational therapists are present in many fields. Hospitals, rehab facilities, outpatient rehab, and even prisons, home health, and fitness centers. In schools, their role is essential. Helping make the curriculum accessible for all students, supporting them in developing skills where they might be lagging, and ensuring that modifications and accommodations are in place. So I wanna take a moment to thank all our OTs here in the Anab
Republic Schools for their incredible work in making sure our students thrive. They are an invaluable part of our team, and we appreciate them deeply. I also wanna share some great news. Yesterday, the AAAEA and the district signed two memorandums of agreement or MOAs to compensate our members for the work that they do beyond the school day. We've come to an agreement to recognize the work of our middle and high school robotics coaches, as well as the incredible Skyline Blues extracurricular vocal ensemble. Congratulations to all of those who take on this additional work to enrich the lives
of our students. While we celebrate these achievements, we also have other serious matters to reflect on tonight. I was informed earlier today about the tabling of discussion on the proposal to change board policy 1,300, and I see that that is now back on the agenda. I urge you all to really reflect on the concerns you've heard tonight, particularly about his how this policy change could impact community voice, especially among our marginalized groups. Our public schools are the very foundation of our democracy,
which as we know is under attack by forces in this country right now. We have democratically elected officials, you all, who serve as the voice of our community. You are beholden to the people who elected you, and it's your responsibility to listen to them and to support them. On a related note, unrelated note rather, the AAAA bargaining team met all day today to continue preparations for our upcoming contract negotiations. We've been reviewing data from surveys we've sent out to our members, and we're beginning to focus on some of the key areas where we hope to
make meaningful improvements. We have two subsets of our teams prepping to work on the calendar and on our appendix five supplemental positions in our contract. These are critical issues, and we will continue to work hard on behalf of our members to ensure their voices are heard. I also want to emphasize that during bargaining, many of our AAAEA and AAPS team members are dedicating their time to negotiations and are not able to fulfill their regular duties as teachers, special educators,
and administrators. These professionals are stepping up to ensure that we achieve a fair and timely settlement. I am advocating for a quick resolution to this process so that our colleagues can return to doing the essential work they were hired to do, supporting our students in the classroom and throughout our schools. And as I say every time I talk about bargaining, this current bargain represents a crucial turning point for the Anab Republic Schools as we work to retain and attract talented educators. Our district must start offering competitive wages and benefits if we're to remain a destination
district for both students and staff. Right now, we are seeing teachers leave for other districts that already offer better pay, better benefits, and better working conditions. If we want to stop that talent drain, we need to step up. As the board, it is imperative that you demand these improvements from the district. We can't afford to continue losing our beloved teachers and colleagues. Anhebor public schools should once again be the destination choice for educators. And with your support, I know we can get there. Let's get this bargain done.
Thank you. Next, we have a report from the Anewa Parent Advisory Committee for special education. Jerky and I am on the executive board of APAC, which is the Ann Arbor Parent Advisory Advisory Committee for Special Education. APAC represents and advocates for families across our district who have children with disabilities. These families are terrified right now by what is happening at the federal level of government and the move to dismantle the Department of Education. The protections that this office guarantees our children and their ability to access the curriculum in a meaningful way is paramount to their learning and future success.
Given the current federal political climate and potential threats to the Department of Education's role in protecting students' rights, your continued support for students with individualized education plans and five zero four plans in our school district is necessary. We urge the Board to reaffirm its commitment to upholding the educational rights and services that these students rely on. Families across our district depend on the protections provided by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and Section five zero four of the Rehabilitation Act.
These laws ensure that all students, regardless of ability, receive the necessary accommodations, resources, and support to thrive academically and socially. As discussions about changes to federal education policies unfold, it is crucial that our local schools remain steadfast in their dedication to these students. We respectfully request that the Board issue a public statement reaffirming its commitment to upholding all federal and state protections for students with disabilities, regardless of potential policy shifts at the national level ensuring that funding for special education
services and accommodations remains a priority in our district budget, supporting teachers, staff, and administrators with the necessary training and resources to effectively serve students with IEPs and five zero four plans, and engaging with parents and advocates to address concerns and maintain transparency about how the district will continue to support these students. APAC represents 13% of the students in the district, about 2,200 children, all of whom you are elected to serve. That is why you need to hear from us. Free and appropriate access to public education in the least restrictive environment is not political,
it is necessary. This public commitment would provide reassurance to families, students, and educators that our district remains dedicated to equity and inclusion no matter what changes come at the federal level. Thank you for your time and consideration. We appreciate your leadership in fostering an inclusive and supportive educational environment for all students. Thank you. And next, we'll hear from the Anaberg Public Schools Arab American Advisory Group. Good evening, everyone. My name is Randa Ashloni, and this is Wissal Samaha. We're here representing the Arab advisory group and, to give a statement regarding the,
Arab American Heritage Month, which we are celebrating right now in April. Since 2018, the AAPS Arab American parent advisory group has proudly partnered with the school district to honor and celebrate Arab American Heritage Month Through film, food, dance, literature, and music, we create opportunities for students, educators, and the broader community to engage with the rich and diverse heritage of Arab Americans. We invite the district to once again stand with us in learning,
celebrating, and uplifting Arab American history and culture this year. This year, we have planned the following events: guest reader programs from April 22 to the thirtieth taking place in all AAPS elementary school libraries. This program brings together parents, former students, and community leaders to showcase the vibrant legacy of Arab Americans. The initiative this initiative is made possible by this the dedication of our librarians. Special thanks to all of our readers including Commissioner Youssef,
Repay, Trustee Reema Hammad and Judge Jinane Hamoud. Kareem Nagy performance renowned educator and musician Kareem Nagy will perform at Eber White, Angel, and Hazely Elementary Schools thanks to the support of PTOs and music teachers. Additionally, he will perform at the Downtown Library on Monday, April 14 at 06:30PM. Our advocacy is not just about celebration. It is about justice, representation, and combating systemic discrimination.
Our children have endured racist mistreatment within AAPS. A Palestinian student's image was deliberately removed from a graduation ceremony for simply acknowledging her heritage. A middle school teacher was reprimanded for sharing her Palestinian narrative. A Palestinian middle schooler was called a terrorist by a school counselor. These are not isolated incidents. They are manifestations of a systemic racism that sends a chilling message to Palestinian students.
You do not belong here. Raising Palestinian experience does not just harm Palestinian students. It's an educational failure that deprives all students of comprehensive, truthful understanding of the world. Education should equip students with the knowledge and empathy to engage with diverse narrative, not censor them. At the last board meeting, a public speaker falsely claimed that Arab American Heritage Month resources on our website were imbalanced and implied they denied Israel's right to exist.
This is an outright lie. Every recommended book has been vetted by AAPS librarians, and these resources celebrate diverse histories, cultures, and contribution of Arab American, including Palestinians. Calling these material unbalanced and anti Semitic is a deliberate tactic to silence Palestinian narrative. This suppression is a part of a large deeply deeply trouble troubling trend, one that seeks to erase discussion on Palestine, the history of US slavery and genocide, and conversation of on gender and sexuality.
As an elected official who uphold democratic value, we trust you to stand against such censorship. Rather than silence his already marginalized voices, including Arab American advisory group, the parent advisory group for special education, the youth of gender sexuality alliance, the Asian Pacific Islander South Asian American group, and the black parent support group, the board should work alongside this group to foster true inclusion and equity. Show us our voices heard. Show us our kids matter. Keep policy one three zero zero intact.
Thank you. Thank you. Next, we have a report from the Asia Pacific Islander South Asian American group. Good evening. My name is Victor Mendoza, and I'm gonna take twenty six hours of your time. I am a parent of two children in A2's team. I'm here, as a representative of the Asian Pacific Islander South Asian American Parent Group, or APISA. We're here with important questions about the proposed changes to policy 1,300, questions that impact not just our group but all parent organizations, striving to support and uplift our students. Beyond that,
we are here to highlight the undeniable value all parent advisory groups bring to this district and our hopes for continued meaningful partnership with both the board and district leadership. First, we wanna thank the equity and inclusion committee of the board for inviting us to share our thoughts with them during their meeting on Monday. This was an encouraging way for our group to feel heard and respected. However, we feel the need to reiterate some of the questions that are still lingering for our group in regards to potential changes in policy 1,300. And because that meeting on Monday was neither recorded nor documented with publicly available minutes,
We feel compelled to bring these concerns before you again, yet again, this time in a setting where our voices will be preserved. With this in mind, we ask you once more. Will groups like ours still be board approved, district recognized, or district supported? Will we maintain any official status that allows you allows us to collaborate with the districts and other groups? Two, will our group be still be named and linked on the district website? How will families new to AAPS learn about us? Three, if groups like ours are severed from the board and district, how will leadership seek input from families who represent our most marginalized students?
Four, if we lose standing spot on the agenda, how will we formally communicate with the board? If an urgent issue arises, can we be assured that we will be heard? Five, and perhaps most importantly, what message does this send to our students and families? Will this decision help strengthen our community? While some on the board may believe these questions have already been addressed, the fact that we're still uncertain is precisely why we continue to ask them. We understand that not all matters can be opened openly discussed, but we implore you to provide as much clarity as possible because the families we
represent deserve to know where they stand. Now, let us remind you what we bring to this district, why groups like ours matter. As many voices highlighted at the last board meeting, our virtual author talks create invaluable opportunities for students, teachers, and families to engage with the rich diversity of the Aapisa community. These events spark dialogue, build empathy, and foster a sense of belonging for our all students. In 2022, our book drive placed over 390 books into AAPS library's resources that continue to educate
and inspire students across the district today. Our parent volunteers serve as district ambassadors promoting AAPS as a place of learning, opportunity, and inclusion. We provide consultation, feedback, and support when asked. We ensure that the voices of underrepresented students and families reach decision makers. We do all of this for free. We're volunteers. We're here as a response to this. We're taking our time for this for free. So why would you cut off a resource that serves this community at no cost
to you? Regardless of what is decided about policy 1,300, we hope and trust that the district will continue to engage with organized parent groups in a meaningful way. We want to work together. One, to coordinate virtual author talks for Asian Pacific Islander American Heritage Month. Two, to organize another book drive to enrich AAPS libraries with diverse voices. Three, to volunteer our time at district wide events like Newcomer and Literacy Nights. And four, to provide guidance on district wide programs that serve all students regardless of background. But all of this,
the work we have done, the work we hope to do, could be erased by you unilaterally. A rushed decision could silence parent voices, weaken community ties, and undermine the progress we've made toward a more inclusive district. We urge you not to make this decision lightly. Delay the vote until these questions are fully answered. Please ensure that changes are create an equitable, not just equal system for parent groups to engage with the board and district leadership. We wanna close, by reading, by reading a group poem created by our AAPS students in a PISA virtual workshop,
with Carlina Dewan. She is an alum of AAPS. She is also, currently, a professor at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. She just got a job after graduating, from the U of M in English, and is one of my former students in the department. The poem that she wrote collaboratively with students is called Where We're From. As we sit down, new ideas flow through our heads. We grab our pens and the click click click guides our thoughts. We get our notebooks. We take out the elastic, twang. It flies back, opening up to a new blank page.
Lines waiting to be written on a swift smooth pen stroke gliding across the paper. This is where we're from. Shuffling papers, scribbling pencils, grooves worn down over years of study, oxidized metal and ersatz wood, paint rolling down a canvas, mixing colors on the palette, the scent of summer, new grass, sunscreen, tomatoes, sweet, salty, the feeling of mud as we fall on our knees. This is where we're from. Up north to the waves, avocados on bread, balconies, yellow flowers, water splashing on the rocks, a soft blue and green tablecloth,
birds chirping, a lullaby plays. This is who we are. Loyal bookworms, members of the AADL Royal Court, caretakers and friends to each other, animal lovers, our dogs with protruding teeth, hazel eyes, tiny kittens running, and their deep hopeful eyes filled with wonder, music lovers and composers, authors, poets, artists, actresses, athletes, friends, cousins, students, teachers, dreamers. This is who we are. We look up at the gentle faces. They surround us. How much we do for one another. Home? What's the definition really? A shack?
A three story mansion? We don't need either. The world will tell you one thing, but we will tell you this. We are who we are, and we don't need repair. We're ready for the days ahead. I I teach, literature at the U of M. I'm not gonna go through this poem. You're welcome. But what I love about it is that it is collaborative. We need collaboration. We need collective action, especially now that fascism has taken hold of The United States. Many of us in the parent advisory groups, whether this is APISA, the LGBT group,
the African American group, the special needs advisory groups, we have all variously mobilized against white supremacy, ableism, transphobia, homophobia, and misogyny. We have experience as activists in collaborating against these forces. So when the fascists come to Ann Arbor, when Trump, as he has done with all the universities, as he's coming for the U of M next, I guarantee, when Trump is here and he comes and squeezes and threatens APS, you're going to need us. Thank you. And finally, we have a report from our district wide black parent and student support group.
Miss Moore? Keshatriya Moore? K. That concludes our reports of associations and groups. Thank you very much, miss Osinski. I believe that brings it brings it down to number five, board committee reports. I will turn it over to trustee Mohammed, who is the chair of the equity inclusion committee, and ask her about, for her report. So yeah. So we met, Monday, this past Monday, and we were talking about, board policy 1,300. We invited the, impacted groups, so the board designated groups, and six of those groups were joined us,
and we wanted to first give them the opportunity to see the policy for the first time. They have not seen the policy. It was not, shared with the public. It was really the first time they were able to see the policy changes, and give feedback. And that's what took most of the meeting time. I can share some of the, feedback. I know I shared with you some brief notes because I know we were trying to meet, you know, before the governance committee met to talk about the policy. So we're trying to get as much input,
to you before the meeting. But just to share some, and I know I'll I'll be sharing more when we talk about the policy. But for ex for, you know, one of the groups, the Ann Arbor Youth, Gender, and Sexuality Alliance, when they looked at the policy and we wanted to give them, you know, some time to reflect and provide feedback, some of the feedback was they felt like this was restricting the ability, access to to, restricting access for them. It is impacting marginalized groups, and it is not the time to do this change.
They felt that there was a solution. We are it's a solution first. We're searching for a problem. There's no issues right now. Not sure why we're doing this at this time. Maybe we can look at, you know, if the location you know, as far as providing guidelines, as far as the groups, and then, talking about the intent of this policy change versus impact, and they felt the impact is larger. The Arab advisory group also provided feedback. They felt like it was important for them to be part of the 1,300 policy.
It is, being being a symbol is critical, feeling like they have a seat at the table. They feel further disenfranchised by these changes. They feel that AAPS is not valuing all marginalized groups by these changes. They're drowning out voices, struggling to be heard. There is this question about being board auxiliary committee, and not, how they were set up. It is a way of and it's huge steps backwards. The PTOC also echoed the same. They felt that, you know,
there was no thought about what would we do if this policy with the policy change, what we would do to protect these groups. You know, is can we talk about guidelines around these groups, and how do we make sure that marginalized groups are included and their voices are being heard? APISA, of course, we've heard a lot from, from them as well, but just to provide, again, a quick summary of their input, you know, was they had a lot of questions, and they did ask those questions tonight. I'm not gonna repeat those. But, you know,
how it could be a challenge to get a spot of public commentary in urgent time. We have to think about the difference between equity and equality. What is the message that this is sending to families and students? And, that there are more parents now attending these meetings, and there's a lot of anxiety around all of this. And then again, can we look at guidelines? Can we look at the groups? Can we look at policy? Because there's no policy around these groups in the first place. APAC, which is, the special ed education group,
again, you know, what is that it is important for the board, to hear from real world issues and concerns that sometimes they don't happen at a time where it could be scheduled. It could be an urgent issue. As we've known, you know, last summer when, you know, the bus incident happened and then they had the opportunity to be able to speak instead of all these barriers. You know, the parents do feel that this is a step of having a seat at the table, and then, you know, that we need these groups to get the true information.
And then the district wide black parent group and and student support group, felt like this was, feeling like it was silencing the groups. It is disservice to the African American students and parents. It disadvantages, of the African American parents and students because some parents can't speak or feel comfortable to speak during public commentary, so having a representative of the group to speak was critical. They felt the policy should be left alone. And, again, what is the reasoning? So, overall, based on what we've heard from all the groups and this is the first time
that they've actually seen the policy. They have not seen it because we've never showed it in public or even shared it on our board docs. So it was important to gather that. And based on that, that's when we put in the recommendation to governance. And I know you'll you'll have a report soon that at this time, we don't we felt that we had to take time to meet with these groups, talk to these groups, and actually look and see if there's policy to, around these groups first that we're doing things backwards to build policy to support these groups,
whether we call it board designated or community groups or district groups. But we had to work first, talk about the groups and talk with the groups and get true input before we can change and and tweak the policy itself. So that's where it was coming. That's where the recommendation came from. And I know that because there's only three of us, like, I couldn't join to kind of explain where this is coming from during governance, but that's where the conclusion came where we could not
provide specific, policy changes to 1,300 because there were so many questions that were still unanswered, and the boards, the groups did not feel like there was any policy around them to protect them in the first place. So I just wanted to summarize what happened. And I don't know if anybody has any questions. I actually have a question. Trustee Wilson? Thank you, trustee Mohammed. Appreciate the feedback and hearing from the community on these. I I do think some of those concerns are addressed and, you know, I think we'll cover that later on when we actually discuss the items.
One question that I wanted to ask, though, and I think you were touching on it there at the end. I had heard through the community that there was some actual revisions that were made during the meeting and typed up, but those weren't passed on to the governance committee. So could you speak to that a little bit further and clarify? So there were we were just trying to talk through the policy, and then we decided because there was disagreement with where it was going, we we decided that based on the feedback that we don't even know like,
we don't even have a policy related to these board groups in the first place. So we could not really come come to agreement with the changes based on the feedback we got. So there was really no, no, edits that I would say that we all agreed to based on the feedback. Yeah. And and if anybody on the committee, because it felt like we were working backwards. It just it felt rushed. So after we heard from all these groups, then when we our next step, we planned on kind of making some edits to offer to the governance committee.
But at that point, it just felt rushed for something this important and this serious. So we decided that instead we were gonna ask the governance committee if we could take some more time with this. Yeah. Yeah. That's true because we literally had, like because you are all meeting at 05:30. We met at four. So we had to hear input from the groups because they've never seen the policy. This is the first time. So we didn't even have enough time to even go through and actually sit down, but we also felt like it was backwards.
Like, we're working kind of backwards as well. Well, I would just like to add, I was also at the meeting. So from what I understand, these revisions have been available for a while. I was not aware of that, again, as a new trustee. But, from what I understand, these revisions have been available for some time. I realized that we were meeting right after spring break. I think in a perfect world, we we could we should have met before. We met, like, an hour before governance, an hour and a half. I mean, literally, our meeting ran into your meeting, I do believe. And,
I I wish that that I had a chance to see the policy earlier. But, I I believe that had we wanted to see it, had we requested to see it? I don't know if there was a request There was not. To see it prior to our our equity committee meeting. I'm sure you would have given us that and someone would have given us that. And this is the request My question is to trustee Mohammed. Was there a request put forward to to receive the, the revised policy prior prior to our meeting?
So the only thing we have access to because, technically, you're not supposed to work on policy outside the public meeting. So what we worked with is the last the last version of the policy, which was what was shared at the first the first briefing. So that's what we work with. But, technically, when you work on policy, you can bring your ideas, but the final version cannot it has to be worked out due to an OMA in a public meeting. No.
No. That's incorrect. So I can work with one of my fellow board members to take language and change it up and then send it to the governance committee and say, here are my ideas. So we absolutely can work with one or two people. There's nothing that says we can't do that, trustee. Okay. I would like to see that. Because based on policy, policy should be done. So you can bring your ideas, but you're not supposed to finalize. Like, I can't get your draft for governance when you haven't even met for us to look at it.
And I wasn't even aware that there was a final draft. My understanding is you work on the draft that was presented or not really presented to the public. We talked in public about the policy change at the last meeting. That's the policy we should be working on. And, again, this was planned. This request was made, I believe it was Thursday or Wednesday, for equity to look at it right before spring break. So we had only a few days to try to coordinate to be able to
try to meet before governance met. So everything felt very rushed. There was no plan for equity to even take it on until, president Feaster, you texted me, and I can pull up what date and time that week right before spring break. And there was no way that we would be meeting during spring break. So there was no there was it was not going to Equity until Respectfully. Yes. Well, I I did not request equity to look at the policy. Trustee Wilkes, I understand, said that equity should look at the policy.
I have the text message. She brought it up in the meeting. Yes. And that was the first time that it had been brought up that equity should look at the policy. After that, I said, if you all wanna look at the policy, go have at it. Yes. Present any edits you all want to the governance committee, and we will consider them. I have the I have the text messages. You can read it. I mean, you said, please provide feedback, and we were trying to coordinate. You were trying to have me meet during spring break. Right. That was right before spring break when you said have that at spring break.
So then Then you told me that we are meeting at governance at whatever 05:30. Mhmm. So what time? I was traveling. I had my holiday on Sunday. The holiday still continues. It's a three day holiday. Okay. So Wait. I I'm still not done with my I mean, I'm just telling you that it was very, very restrictive. So I worked with whatever time that we had, you know, so that's why we were able to meet at four in order to provide as much input to the governance committee, and that's what we got from the feedback.
Okay. Thank you, president Feaster. I would just like to say that, based on what I'm hearing, this policy is is incredibly important to so many people. Is this is something that that we are trying to make an informed decision on. And if this policy is such a priority, I would have been willing to work on this over spring break. I would have been willing to work on this really, I would have put aside time to work on this regardless of the weekend, regardless of spring break.
If this is really that important, I mean, that's behind us now, so I'm really just trying to stay in the present. So here we are, and I will turn it back over to you, president Feaster. I saw trustee Wilkerson, and I saw trustee Wilkerson as the trustee. Yeah. I just I just wanna clarify a couple things. The policy that was recommended was brought to the March 12 meeting. Available. And available to all all trustees. There was no changes to that policy until we met as a governance committee at 05:30 on Monday and made additional changes based on feedback that we've heard from the
community. So, you know, the policy was available, and I believe we were looking for any feedback that was coming out of the, equity committee meeting so we could also incorporate that into, you know, our proposed changes. So I just wanted to clarify a couple of those things. And I believe these items were also, you know, brought up by the equity committee wanting to, you know, think about looking at these things even during the meeting on the twelfth. So there had been a number of weeks prior to spring break as well that
these items could be discussed and approached. Trustee Wilkins. I agree that this is a really important policy that impacts a lot of our students and our families, as trustee Wilkes said. And that's why I think we should get to take as much time with this as possible. I don't understand the urgency. There wasn't you know, I didn't if there was an urgency to it, then, yes, I think we would have figured out a way to meet over spring break or
to spend more time with it. But there didn't seem to be, and it hasn't so far, been a sense of urgency to this decision and this policy change. Yes. Oh, those Yeah. As I have a chance to speak on this. Okay. Go ahead. Right now, we're at the stage in the meeting where we had a report about the equity committee. And could we perhaps wrap this, move on with our agenda? Because this is an item on the agenda, and we'll have a full discussion then. Thank you, Charles. Say my respond to some of the comments. Well, Well Okay. Are we still with them reporting?
I know. I am. But I'm clarifying. I'm asking. It is. It's about it's about trusting how it will move forward. So, just to clarify, the reason why we did not meet during spring break, because that was a question, was because then the groups would not be able to join us. So if we wanted to hear from them, that would have been impossible. So I just wanted to clarify this. For urgency, we did not get really direction until it was March 19 when I got a text from president,
Feaster saying that, you know, please, you know, take it to equity and pretty much I mean, I can read the text, but it wasn't until March 19 where I felt like equity could really take a direction to be able to meet, but, again, spring break. So that's the limitations we had. And just to clarify, we did because I think I may have misunderstood. We looked at the policy that was presented at first briefing. That's the policy in the edits that we looked at. We didn't have access to governance revisions because they weren't being made until governance.
Yeah. They had Okay. That's where that's where I was confused because someone was saying, why didn't I ask for revisions when they weren't even available from governance because you have not met yet? Right? Oh. Maybe I misunderstood that. More to report. We can discuss it today later. But I just wanted to clarify those points. Okay. Thank you, professor Mohammed. I'm gonna be very brief. Governance committee met. We discussed the two policies on the agenda, the public commentary, and the board designated groups. We made some proposed changes, and expanded some things in the policies that will come forward during a second briefing,
and that's essentially all we handle during our governance meeting. As we started late, had to try to get off to have the executive committee, by virtue of having the back to back to back meetings. So any questions about that, trustees? Alright. After the governance committee met, the executive committee met. Again, we started late because of the back to back to back meetings. We set the agenda for tonight's, meeting and discussed the tentative items for agendas for future meetings. Any questions on that, Trustee? Alright. Then we'll move forward to number six,
and I believe that brings us to the superintendent update. Miss Parksplitz. Thank you, president Feaster. We just have a couple of items, this evening, some of which have already been shared by some of our community members and mister Klein, and I would just echo. We, every eight April, the autism society celebrates what raises awareness and pro promotes understanding and acceptance of those in the autism community. This month log rec recognition aims to break the stigma of people living with autism. As many individuals and families affected by autism understand,
acceptance is often one of the biggest barriers to developing a strong support system. Acceptance and inclusion are vital to ensuring that all in the autism community can access the resources and support they need to live their lives to the fullest. We are a, stronger school community and district when we honor and celebrate our diversity, so we recognize autism acceptance month. April is also National Arab American Heritage Month, as we heard about earlier, and it's an opportunity to celebrate the rich history,
heritage, culture, and diversity of Arab Americans and honor their many significant contributions to society. National Arab American Heritage Month was recognized in April 2021 by president Biden. And while official recognition may have been recent efforts on the state and local levels to recognize Arab American Heritage Month have been ongoing for decades. So we celebrate the many accomplishments of educators, artists, writers, poets. And musicians who promote the Arab American heritage and culture and a testament,
to the contributions that Arab Americans have made to America's rich diversity. We also heard earlier that this is National Occupational Therapy Month. We have the opportunity to, at this time, recognize our outstanding Ann Arbor Public Schools occupational therapist, under the theme the national theme for this year, which is occupational therapy, inspiring hope, and changing lives. So we appreciate the significant work that our APS occupational therapists provide as integral members
of our special education and school teams. We're grateful for their significant role in inspiring our students daily to achieve their personal best, as well as helping them, achieve and attain school and life success. This is also National School Library Month, and the American Association of School Libraries recognizes this month every year to celebrate school librarians and libraries. This month, our school librarians will host activities to help students and our school communities celebrate the essential role that strong libraries play in transforming learning.
We're proud to honor our Ann Arbor Public Schools professional librarians and the critical work they provide in serving our students. And that concludes the superintendent's report. Thank you very much, miss Parks. Any questions for Steve? I believe that brings it down to letter b. Nine nine nine d teaching diversity histories grant. Thank you, president Feaster. And, actually, we have, b and c are one presentation. So they're broken up on the agenda, but it's actually one presentation. And so it's, it's a great honor to turn this over to miss Linden who will introduce our,
esteemed presenters this evening who are doing incredible work. Trustees, we do not talk about the work of our students and staff enough, at this table. And so we wanna make sure that we are bringing forward the extraordinary work that's happening in our classrooms and in our schools. You heard about it over the past few weeks with our elementary, ELA, curriculum and pilot, and we wanna continue to bring you heard about it with our our career in tech ed, and we wanna continue to bring forward the work of our schools because that is
why we are seated at this table. And so at this time, I'll turn it over to miss Lendon to introduce our presenters this evening to talk about some of the work we're doing. This is the fun part. It is my great honor, president Feaster Trustees, superintendent parks, to introduce to you doctor Jared Aumann, who is our district secondary social studies department chair, a member of our teaching and learning council, and miss Jocelyn Hunter Young, who is a social studies teacher at Community High School. These two fine leaders have been working for the past several years within a multiyear
trajectory of very deep work. They're focused on developing and deepening the capacity of AAPS social studies teachers, supporting their development in inquiry and disciplinary literacy. And doctor Amin and miss Hunter Young have worked together to apply for and be awarded a significant grant, the 99 d grant. This grant is focused on, cohort models of teacher training, and it is centered on teaching diverse histories.
So what you're going to hear, is a beautiful recap of some of the work that has been going on, and I will just iterate how hard these two individuals have been working while also doing other full time jobs in addition to this layer that they have taken on. And it's incredibly powerful. So I will stop talking now and bring these two wonderful leaders forward. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Perfect. Good evening, President Feaster, trustees of the board, superintendent parts.
On behalf of the secondary social studies department and Ann Arbor Public Schools, we're very excited to be able to present two of our major programming initiatives that we've worked on over the past year. As we speak this evening, we hope that you'll notice the pillars of our approach to our work, community partnerships, cohorts of teacher learners, a focus on disciplinary historical inquiry, curriculum development, and local and place based history. The first part of our presentation will be a brief overview of the school history investigations we assembled as part of the citywide celebration of Ann Arbor's Two Hundredth Birthday in 2024.
Then we'll pause for questions. Then the second part will be an in-depth look at our section 99 d grant funded project on Michigan indigenous histories, cultures, and governance. We've provided each of you with a packet this evening that includes our slides, a public brochure about the school history investigations, and some promotional materials from our spring native artist series. So to start off with our school history investigations, our school history investigations were conceived alongside one of our strategic partnership partners, in town, which was the Ann Arbor District Library, specifically, it's archives division directed by Andrew McLaren.
He's the principal archivist and director of ADL archives. And when he approached us about how they might work with us on a project around their extensive archives, the Ann Arbor News, the the town's major newspaper of the twentieth century, we were ecstatic. We assembled a cohort of 15 teachers in the summer of twenty twenty three, teachers across levels and schools to begin to curate thousands upon thousands of photos and articles that the AADL archive staff, were digitizing and sending to us on a weekly basis. Over time, our cohort learned about disciplinary inquiry,
which is really the focus on the work, the reading, the writing, and thinking of historians, about how we could represent that for our students and teachers in APS in the form of curriculum inquiry templates. And doing all this gave us an incredible opportunity to highlight local history, to learn about our own schools' histories, and unsilenced some previously marginalized histories. Before we take a look at the details of the investigations, that our cohort was able to create for all of our schools, we've curated a montage of photos from our elementary and middle school histories taken from the ADL archives and the ruins and rolls of the negatives of the Ann Arbor
News. And so we're gonna take a couple minutes, to click through, some of those photos, across all of our elementary schools and our middle schools specifically. So enjoy this for a couple minutes. So some of the things that you'll notice across here is that, we eventually came up with a focus on the buildings and their changes over time, the activities, experiences that people are having in our schools over time, as well as the students and teachers themselves, the staff members, and how they might have changed over time. So, yes, as many of you have noticed, my how things have changed. Right? In fact, one of the main concepts that historians,
think through is the concept of continuity and change. How have things changed and stayed the same over time? So we took that as our compelling question across all of our elementary and middle school investigations, and we situated that at the top of all of our templates. Here you can see specifically the Pittsfield template. This This one is how has Pittsfield changed and stayed the same over time, with supporting questions around how its building has changed, how its land has changed, a second one around how the activities and experiences have changed, and then a third one around the students and staff and how they've changed. Our cohort work together to curate for every elementary school one of these templates where
those sources taken from the NR Republic news are aligned to the question that's above it, including some Google Earth map, Washtenaw County, kind of coordinates that they can zoom in on their own school. In certain cases, we have the dedication program, and we have some really great layouts of blueprints of the schools and whatnot. All of these are publicly facing. There are 20 elementary, templates. There are two k eight school templates, and there is a template for every grade at every middle school. That makes 37 of these templates that are all available for the public to see
at a2schools.org/schoolhistory. At the high school level, we also had teachers work to develop different kind of mini units or lessons that could be used across our US History classrooms. And so we had two teachers at Huron that worked really diligently to create the top two that are on this slide. So one is about civil rights and the movement specifically in Ann Arbor, that they did by looking specifically at the actions and then kind of the lasting impacts of, one particular activist, Keisha Thomas. Another teacher worked on title nine and how that played out in Ann Arbor Public
Schools and specifically at Huron and also included both, like, work with students as well as bringing back a panel of, women athletes that were at Huron during the time that title nine was happening, so that students could ask some questions and interact and kind of engage with those local people as primary sources. We also had a teacher at Skyline that worked to think about a sort of interdisciplinary unit with science and thinking about environmental issues that have impacted that region of town, and kind of thinking through a variety of different things and how that's played out over time for Skyline.
And then I work at community, and I worked with students to develop a lesson that can be looking at desegregation in Ann Arbor Public Schools and specifically centering around Jones School and what happened when APS decided to close Jones in its efforts to desegregate our schools. And Jones obviously was where community high school is now. And so my students helped to develop that lesson. All of these are shared with our secondary teachers, so that they can use these in their US history classrooms. And I also wanted to just note that the work that I did with students
at Community is aligned with some of our school wide work around, permanent historical marker for Jones School and the black community in Ann Arbor. You should have received in your email last week, this save the date for Thursday, May 15, when we're gonna do the sort of culminating public dedication, for this permanent historical marker that we've been working on for the last several years. And so all of these projects, really highlight the power of educators to build connections, learn together, and create unique local based curricular materials for our APS students.
So we've seen how teachers have really embraced this process of looking into school history school based history. That these photos, so, include a couple of things. So on the left, you can see that some of our Huron Social Studies Teachers did a recreation of an old photo. So they found a photo in the archives and then replicated it in a more modern twist. The middle photo here is a first grade student acting as a teacher and a guide after they did their own local school based history work. That's at a two steam. And the top picture up here is students at Scarlet Middle School.
All of these students received, the local history award, the Ray Detter award from the Ann Arbor Historical Foundation. So this is them receiving those awards at a city council meeting last spring. And then the bottom picture is some of my students at community high school, in front of what was Bethlehem Church and, guiding this is one of the stops that first graders from HU steam came to community, and they participated in a walking tour of, local black history sites in the area. And our students were at each stop to kind of give some of the history
of the space. So none of this work would have been possible without the time, energy, and dedication of the ADL archive staff, that strategic partnership and specifically Andrew McLaren, their director. Obviously, all the teachers that were involved in this cohort with us. We have many more teachers beyond the cohort that worked to implement these lessons in their classrooms. And then also Jo Mathis, for our district news. She highlighted, so many of these projects and took lots of these pictures for us too. And so we really support or appreciate all the support from throughout our district,
for this. So thank you for letting us present this part of our work. Are there any questions that you would like us to answer before we move on to the other section? The Jones School historical marker event that's taking place on May 15. I've lived in this community for about over twenty years. Not a native Ann Arborite, but I have met so many people who say, oh, I went to the old Jones School. I went to the old Jones School. So I'm just wondering what type of efforts are being made to reach out to the Jones School alumni. Can you maybe talk about that?
Yeah. So we have four Jones alumni who served on our committee to help write the marker and decide what pictures we put on it and things like that. Several more that are sort of in, like, an additional advisory committee for it that have been helping us over the last several years. So this work started in 2021, '20 '20 '2, at community where we were trying to figure out how to do this, and we did a whole, school wide work for it. So we've been working with alumni through that, and we're, hoping and relying on them, but also trying to connect with other, like, local black leaders to kind of share,
this specific save the date. Okay. Great. Thank you. Thank you. If I could interject, trustee. Yeah. Yeah. I am sorry, miss Hansher Young. I know a community, there was a celebration of alumni, gosh, how many years ago? Because I I went. I although I've been in the community something something years, you're still not a true townie. Okay? Unless you were born here. And regardless, you know, when your parents came, and it was truly an honor to be amongst people who I knew as adults, but did not know their connection to Jones School.
And, you know, I I say in Ann Arbor, you if if you're black, you're either married to, divorced from, got a baby with, one of the old town families. And I know it doesn't apply right now, this generation, twenty years. But for many years, that was the connection, and it was wonderful to see that. And I really appreciated community bringing everybody together because it was an opportunity. You had a display of all the pictures, and people were so excited to share their kindergarten pictures. And I noticed some of the pictures at Northside. I recognized one of the African American students there from,
again, it it was really a treasure, and I hope that this celebration on May 15 will bring a lot of those folks back. As you know, we're all getting older, and we have lost a few of our alum over the years. But it was very exciting, not only for the students, you know, but again, the past students, the those of us who are still there. I did not have the opportunity to go to Jones. My family would have been, zoned for Jones, but it closed. And so we were sent to Baugh, but my brother went ahead and started Jones. And, again, it was just a wonderful event.
So, hopefully, again, you'll be able to recreate that on May 15. And trustees, please come if you can make the time. What's special? Thank you so much. Yeah. It was, a very powerful event, and we did try to collect as many, like, emails and phone numbers from people that attended that event. And so the the save the date has been shared with those people as well. It's pretty awesome. Thank you. Alright. And we'll transition to our second part, which is our our funded our grant funded work around Michigan indigenous histories, cultures, and governance. Throughout our entire project and our entire work, I personally learned that it is right to give thanks,
at the beginning and at the outset. In Anishinaabemowin, the the the word is Miigwech. And so, we have a lot of thanks to give, for being able to stand up here and say that we are in the midst of one of the most ambitious projects, either one of us could possibly have dreamed about. And so, as we as I say all of our our thanks, I hope that it begins to give you some insight into how expansive our work is, before we then get into some of the the technical details of it. So to to Eric Hemingway. Eric is the Anishinaabe historian with the Michigan Historical Commission and director of repatriation archives
and records with Little Traverse Bay Bands of Dawa, who has been our principal adviser throughout the entire project. To Stacy Sheldon, to for her teaching us about Ojibwe Moan. Miigwech to, the Blackbird Singers for their performances in our artist series. Miigwech to Anishinaabe Meejim catering for feeding and nourishing us during our spring events. Miigwech to mister Ray and Willie Johnson at the Zebuwing Center of Anishinaabe Culture and Lifeways in Mount Pleasant for inviting for inviting us to visit them a couple weeks back. To Becky Hill for consulting with us on our book selections. To Joey and Daniel of Heron Hill Designs and Joe Riley and the community gardeners,
the all nations dancers for joining us as artists this spring. To Angeline Bully for being willing to join with us next summer. To the principal investigators at U of M's eighteen seventeen project for their outreach across our projects. Thank you to our educational consultants, specifically John Farris of Wayne Risa as our social studies professional development consultant. Laura Lee Smith, the University of Michigan is our intergroup relations and dialogue consultant. Thank you to Court and Sarah at Freeman Environmental Center in AAAPS for sharing land and space with us. Thank you to Joanna Johnson, our AAAPS director of state, federal, and special programs,
and our OPs for their nearly daily logistical and moral support. Thank you to the ARC for being our venue in our home and our site for our artist series. Thank you to our transportation partner, Golden Magazine, who has professionally and safely transported us all across the state in our learning. Thank you to our senior APS leaders, specifically assistant superintendent Linden, superintendent Parks. They have been unwavering in their support of our project. And thank you to our cohort members, the 20 APS educators who have joined us this year on such a large project.
In December of twenty twenty three, the Michigan Department of Education announced through an RFA request for applicants. $6,000,000 in competitive grants for teaching diverse histories through section 99 d of student aid bill for funding during the 2324 school year. In March of twenty twenty four, our proposal was submitted. And in May of twenty four, we were notified that our proposed project was accepted as one of 18 in school districts across the state. The project funding year under the state aid bill was initially 2324. That makes this now 2425 our carryover year already.
We launched our project in June of twenty twenty four. All of our funding now must be utilized by the September 2025. Of the $6,000,000 open for competitive grants across the state, our project was awarded $750,000. Okay. Our project is ambitious. It encompasses work on six areas seen on the screen. Each of these will we will explain in detail in the coming slides, but their professional development, curriculum development, educator presentations, indigenous artist series, district wide book purchases, and a multi county showcase.
This project affords us an incredible opportunity right now, one that I've never seen in social studies education for a k twelve organization. However, one of the limitations of the work that you may hear us speak about is that with such this with such an opportunity, we are constantly racing weekly to make deadlines, to get information out in order to carry out all of our programming by the end of next September. So building on our prior work with different cohorts of educators like the one for the school histories project, we knew that in addition to building knowledge about indigenous histories,
cultures, and governance, we needed to develop relationships amongst our teachers and also with community partners and indigenous knowledge keepers. The work to build and maintain relationships with members of indigenous communities in Michigan was particularly important as neither of us is indigenous and one of our central goals is to center and amplify native voices. So from this work, we also knew that we wanted tangible resources for classroom teachers in APS and beyond to be able to share this knowledge with our students and, hopefully, then their families. As Jerry noted, we started this work with our learning cohort in June of twenty twenty four.
The day after school let out, we had teachers come back to work and, participate in a walking tour of the very minimal number of historical markers of indigenous history in Ann Arbor and then also visit the future cash exhibit at at the University of Michigan Museum of Art. Those are some of the pictures that you can see on this slide. And then we've continued throughout this year with professional learning with our indigenous knowledge keepers and other experts and place based learning for our teachers. So that place based learning has happened. We've done three major trips with our cohort of teachers,
where we've taken them across the state of Michigan, to visit different places. So, our first trip was our biggest, and it was in the fall. We went up north to Harbor Springs, Michigan and visited the site of, a former boarding school, so the Holy Childhood of Jesus boarding school, and learned from Eric Hemingway for several days while we were up there. Just before spring break, we went to the Zeeba Wang Center of Anishinaabe Culture and Lifeways in Mount Pleasant. And that's some of the pictures that the top two pictures here are from our trip to that beautiful center.
And then today, we went to River Raisin, Battlefield National Park in Monroe, Michigan, which has done a lot of work to renarrate the history of that battlefield in the war of eighteen twelve and include, indigenous perspectives, in a way that hasn't been done before. And so, the bottom two pictures are from today when we went there. So with all of those months long of professional development, eight different sessions, over the course of time, we're currently entering a phase right now with our teachers. The part of our project where we're dedicating time to creating curricular resources for our
students. Through all of this, we wanna maintain and focus on centering native voices, perspectives, and narratives within our teaching of history, geography, government, and law, specifically focusing on those from Michigan, the Great Lakes, and then North America. We're hoping to specifically create sources to support the courses that are listed here, as they have clearly stated standards and learning objectives that align with this content. And those include grade three and five at the elementary level, middle school social studies courses, and in particular, grade eight, the high school US history courses, the US government and AP US government politics course,
the AP US history course, the the Native American studies elective that is offered, and is being expanded to other high schools, as well as our elective on the history of racism and resistance in The United States. At the end of this month, we'll be joined by six other APS educators at the Michigan Council for the Social Studies Conference. We have two presentations, that have been accepted where we will highlight our work. One is to highlight the curricular resources and approaches to teaching for other educators. That's named revisioning curriculum to center Michigan indigenous voices. In addition to that, Eric, Emmenway, and I will present a session on native topics in Michigan history,
focusing specifically on the sources and resources that all teachers throughout our state can use. Jocelyn and I have also submitted proposals to present at the twenty twenty five Wayne Risa Teaching Diverse History Summit, which will take place in August. And we've also submitted a proposal for presentation at the twenty twenty five National Council for Social Studies conference to highlight our work. When we applied for the grant, we knew that we wanted to have several community events as well in order to engage and share this knowledge and cultural experience, with the broader Ann Arbor community. And as trustee Wilkerson noted at the last board meeting,
we had a wonderfully successful event on March 15, with an educational concert that was held at the ARC. The event had over 300 people in attendance to learn from Stacy Sheldon, Chiwetawegeke, and, Anasiganakanagamaljik, or the Blackbird Singers, which is a women's hand drumming group and language nest. And so we're gonna first share a short video clip of this event where Stacy taught the audience some of the Ojibwe language and, invited us to sing along with the group. We're also really excited for our remaining artists to come to Anamor this spring. This Friday and Saturday, we are welcoming the artists from Heron Hill Designs who are leading hands on workshops
to make medicine wheel pins or a set of earrings, which could be like these. I got these from them at the powwow just before spring break. And, there's still space in these two workshops. So if you know any middle school or high school students that would like to join, please encourage them to sign up. In the materials that we gave you, there's a flyer for it that has the information about these workshops. There's also a bookmark that we printed it and gave out to people at the event, in March that has some of the lyrics to the song.
And then there's also a flyer for our last public event, which will be in May. It's a family concert with Joe Riley and the community gardeners that also features, the All Nations Dancers, which is an indigenous dance group. And we hope you'll join us for any of these events that you are available to come to. Another aspect of this project has been the purchase of books and materials for our teachers as well as for our district. On the left hand side, you can sort of see my personal collection of all the books that we have gathered together, for us in professional development.
And so when we talk about knowledge create and knowledge development among our teachers, that is at least one testament to how serious we are. These professional development books themselves have been suggested by our indigenous partners as well as teachers. And so we've offered all of our teachers that are in the cohort, you know, a chance to, have some of these books, to use them for their personal collection to learn from. We hear teachers talking about excerpts from the book that they've begun reading from, and whatnot. And we also know that, you know, this will continue to be a library for, you know, ourselves and that we can share it with our colleagues. But one thing that we should take a moment to really identify within our project
is that as part of our 750,000, we were awarded $450,000 to purchase district books and resources for all of our school libraries, our middle school and high school ELA reading groups, as well as social studies teacher reference materials. That is substantial. The process to select these books has also been substantial. The list is currently being compiled, by us, by our one of our indigenous partners, APS teachers, librarians, and other district chairs. Our priority is to bolster representation of native voices and narratives from within Michigan,
the Great Lakes, and North America. We are currently compiling a list of hundreds of books that are native authored, that are that are native focused, that we will be able to purchase for all of the school libraries across the district. And then the last major part of this grant is our showcase event. So, this is gonna be the culminating event, from all of this work that we've been doing. It is this August, August twentieth '20 '20 '5. On our first full day of district professional development for the twenty twenty five twenty twenty six school year. We're gonna bring together our district librarians,
secondary English language arts teachers, secondary social studies teachers, invited guests like you all, if you are able to come, and any other interested educators from Wayne and Washtenaw County. And we are so excited that we have Angeline Bully, secured as our featured keynote speaker in the morning. She's the author of best selling and award winning young adult novels. And all of these stories center the the stories of young indigenous women in Michigan. They highlight contemporary challenges that native communities face and also the joy and strength of
these characters and their communities. For social studies teachers, we will continue this learning and work in the afternoon by sharing some of the resources and approaches that our cohort members from this year have developed so that other teachers across the district and hopefully from other districts, can can use those in their classrooms next year as well. So this really brings us now to what have we learned from our 99 d project. As we started at the beginning of this presentation this evening, we mentioned some of the hallmarks of our work. Relationships with partners, deep knowledge attainment, working with a cohort of educators to learn this together.
And we've and we've seen that, and we've come to know that now. We see that relationships and partnerships are required. They take time. They take energy to build and maintain, but they are essential. As teachers, we we've heard our colleagues talk about getting into this entire topic feels like swimming in an ocean of information. There is so much out there, and yet there is so very, very, very little in our k k 12 setting, in our k 12 curriculum. There's so much more for us to learn and to do even beyond, the, you know, the sunsetting of this grant at the September.
We've really begun to experience what I can only say is the transformation of individuals, of people. When a cohort of educators comes together with the appropriate structures, the the time that's needed for them to sit together, there is a true sense of learning in that community. Lasting relationships are being developed. We're hearing, you know, we're hearing teachers, referencing what they're learning, talking about their own changes and where they're at. And it is quite powerful. And our work in this area is needed. To wrap up, I'm gonna share one other anecdote of my recent work. In February, the National Endowment for Humanities was accepting applications for grants to host institutes for national
k twelve educators. In their request for applications, NEH included an invitation to work with native communities and noted that they had three special areas of interest for applications. One of those was working to teach about the federal Indian boarding school initiative under the Department of Interior and the history of legacies of boarding schools in The United States. We in Ann Arbor Public Schools, given some of this work, are preparing a proposal with our partners to extend some of our 99 d work to host an institute for nationwide teachers to learn this about this specific history here
in Michigan. Two days before the proposals were due, the National Endowment for Humanities deleted all sections of their RFA of all references to working with native communities to all references of teaching the history of boarding schools. Wow. In light of this, that last bullet point on that slide, I think is all the more important right now. The public and school communities are eager to learn about and engage with native topics. We believe that Anar Republic Schools can help to provide such opportunities here, locally, regionally,
across the state, and beyond. Thank you for your attention during all of this, and we're happy to answer any questions you might have about our project. Awesome. Thank you all so much. Trustee Mohammed? So first of all, thank you so much for that this very, very important work. I remember when we were talking about our land acknowledgment and thinking about, you know, yes. This is symbolic, but we need to take it a step further, and you truly did. So I am so impressed with everything that you've done. So thank you. Yeah. A couple aspects I'm really excited about.
I love that not only have you enriched the lives of the educators in this district, but you're going statewide and are probably gonna end up at a national conference sharing this because, as teachers, once we create something in all the hours and the time, somebody else shouldn't have to recreate it. We're there to mentor and peer coach, whatever we wanna call it. So I just think that that's really great. And then just the whole concept of how you talked about the, interaction with teachers learning together, that is just you know,
it's it's the best because you you're helping each other, hone your craft, and now you're giving them relevant information to do that. I I as I'm as you're showing this and you're showing all the courses, I kept thinking to myself, our students have to read better because there's so many things they have to find out about this. And I saw you showed books and things, and I I know we've got this literacy initiative, but once again, it reminds me of how being able to read well, I want them to access this. Right? So thank you so much.
Nice work. Trustee Wilkerson? Yeah. I'd I'd just like to echo some of these comments. Like, truly thankful for the efforts you've both put into this, to support indigenous culture and native voices at the table. You know, I I can share that I, you know, personally know Stacy Sheldon and Joe Riley and, some of the the places you visited are fixtures in native culture and kind of our our learning for our own community. So they're very important places. I can also say there's a lot of special care that was felt by the team as you approached these projects and welcomed the community into the district.
You know, there's a lot of intentionality with it and there's, you know, a lot of thanks in the community because of that too. You know, many times it can feel like, you know, natives are only being asked to come out for performative things, but, you know, you really ingrained yourself in the community trying to use words and, you know, to express some of the things and, it just means a lot to us. So thank you for that. And, you know, some of the other great things, Angelina Bouley is, you know, a great author. Bird Keeper's Daughter is a really excellent book.
You know, it's recommended by the Obamas as well, and so it'd be great to hear from her. So thank you and keep it up. And if there's anything we can do to support, please let us know. Well, thank you all so very much for the amazing presentation and great work that you have done and continue to do, and look forward to, seeing more as you all continue to grow the projects. So thank you. We look forward to having you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, doctor Amin. And I believe that brings us to our new number seven, which is a break or recess to a closed session,
if I'm not mistaken. Alright. Then we will go into recess, and can we get this done done and With the vote. With the vote to go in closed session? Yeah. Thank you. Is there a motion? I'm motion. So moved. Motion from Sophie Wilkes, put it by trustee Schmidt. Any discussion? Seeing none, miss Hosinski, please. And that's a motion to recess into closed session? Yes. Correct. Wasn't before, but now it is it is. Alright. Oh. The will address and under board f. Anything else, Trustee? Point. Yep. Thank you for the good work. Alright. If we can move down now to letter f.
Oh, not f. This is new letter f. Right? Mhmm. Yes. Yes. Which is the policy thirteen ten of the commentary. We've also done some work on this one. Trustee Wilkerson, I'll give him a a nod as to some of this work that he put into this policy as well. I don't know if you wanna have miss Ozinsky put it up, and then we can run through it. Yeah. Yeah. That that would be great. I I did recommend one additional change just around, you know, keeping a form of electronic feedback from from our community.
So similar to what we've historically received, people can kind of, submit requests or or submit feedback that will be distributed to trustees and then, attached with four docs. So, miss Osinski, that was the the purple highlighting that edits that work? Yep. So we we had put a placeholder in here, the the teal text, that, you know, we would offer some sort of written feedback form option. But we didn't have time to kind of develop fully develop that,
so I added this paragraph as a recommendation tonight. Thank you for doing that, trustee Wilkerson. So what I think trustee Wilkerson is saying is that the new policy that we are proposing essentially removes, write in public commentary from regular board meetings. It still allows people who have ADA needs to reach out to staff to get an appropriate accommodation and with trustee Wilkerson and what we discussed in the, governing committee meeting is that there are people who have made it loud and clear that they still wanna have write in public commentary.
Although we are limiting the public portion of it, we are still under this suggestion allowing write in commentary that is available to trustees and that would be published in board docs doc but would not be read in meetings. And so that was the compromise that we discussed to try to help people still have that access, but not have that be read during public commentary. So is that why it's being labeled feedback versus public commentary? Yes. Okay. If we do something like this,
it has to be done in an automated way So that's well, so that staff staff is not responsible for collating and doing everything that they do because there's work not getting done because of this. And so however this works, this has to be in an automated way that if you put in your thing into that system, that's it. It it goes into the system as you write it. Nobody's, you know now the the the thing is, though, we know that as long as somebody can from wherever, because people doing right in public comment have written from all all other places you
can imagine, there might be profanity. There might be you know? So there's still a staff time involved. I just I mean, I would say we have email. This is email. The only difference is they want their comments to go on our board docs. I mean, that's really what the difference is because they can send us emails before the meeting if they just really are trying to talk to the board to have an impact on our vote or something. I thought my five minutes That's the best thing. So I just wanna be very clear because public commentary is public. It is a part of our document. As as you mentioned,
trustee, it would go with board docs. We have received some public commentary who say, I want you to know this, but please don't read it. Please don't use my name. Mhmm. That's not allowed. No. That is not allowed. And, I mean, we have been generous in honoring that, if you will, but we have to be consistent. Right. If you, again, are going to and and I wanna clarify too. It's not up to us to verify anybody's, you know, ADA compliance issues. They they make the request. You know? We we will do what we can to honor it,
but, no, we're not gonna ask for medical records. We're but that's and that's on the person who's requesting the accommodation. So, again, we're trying to be consistent. We're trying to be clear, and I just want to just put that out there so people understand what we're talking about. The feedback's for any For anybody. Trust Mohammed? So I appreciate, trustee walk Wilkerson by putting that this piece together. It seems like this is more of just like, again, they wanted to be public. They want their written comments to be public commentary, so why not just have accept written comments
and just make them public comment? Like, make we don't have to read them. Just publish them as public commentary. I mean, I guess I'm trying to see the difference between that and I I I think based on the open meetings act and act in public commentary requirements, we can't treat those differently and not read them. Right? So they would that's why we have to keep the assistant and get every speaker or Okay. The goal of having an avenue for written in comments And being part of the public record. Correct. That we put on board docs so it's visible and That wasn't clear the first
time we debriefed. This is new information. Before. Well, this was added since the first time. This is new tonight. This was not Well, I don't Yeah. That's why I did not realize that you because there was a lot of feedback about, well, why don't you just accept written public commentary This was added in response to those requests. That we can't do that. So I just wanted to make sure. Okay. And then the limiting the time because I'm getting can we actually limit the because I've been hearing from people. Can we actually limit the time to forty five minutes?
I just wanted to make sure because that has those are some questions that have come up is that can we limit the time? Yeah. Anything else? Trustee Wilkins? I I wanna ask on record again why exactly we're doing this. Is it in is it to save time during the meeting? It is to give people time to speak so we can they can get a coherent thought out in more than thirteen seconds. Okay. By my calculations over the last year and a half I've been on this board,
80% of our public commentary is writing. Okay. And many of them are forms and repetitive. And we are not legally allowed to just read it one time and strike out all the duplicates. So it takes up the vast majority of the forty five minutes for public commentary. Adopting this proposal will allow those who appear to be able to have much more time. Today, they had two minutes and thirteen seconds, which was, I think, a record since I've been on this board. So I would like to give people who actually show up the opportunity to get
out of coherent thought and not just do thirteen seconds per person. We still get the information. It's still available to the public. I think this is the there's a great compromise where everyone can get most of what they want. Great. I wanted that on record because we got comments about we're trying to shorten our meetings. Here we are at almost midnight. Right. That's not you know, this isn't gonna save us time. That's not why we're doing this To that but also and also, I I haven't heard from anyone
that they favor this method. I haven't heard from anyone who said, oh, good. Now I can you know, I'm so glad you're doing this because now people who are in person will get longer. Everything has been, no. I wanna hear my comment read during the meeting. Mhmm. I'm just selfish. I'm just saying. I I bruise you on that. We haven't heard any so if we're assuming what people want, and then we're here we're not hearing that that's what they want. I I I think I said they did a coherent
subject so we can understand what they're saying, not because that's what they want. So having someone come up and talk for thirteen seconds, I'm not able to take away what their point is. I see. And so for it to have any meaning, it needs to be a reasonable amount of time. And so I don't think it's in the interest of giving the people what they want. It is in the interest of us being able to understand their points and to be able to address their issues by having coherent thoughts be offered to the board, and that's difficult in thirteen seconds. Okay. Mister Schmidt?
I don't think there's anything wrong with us trying to have a a more efficient meeting. And do do our decision making at a normal hour to have people that come and present to us, our our vendors, our staff. So if somebody wants to call us on that and say, oh, you're just trying to shorten your meetings, we're making more efficient meetings while still hearing the voices that wanna speak, and I think this is a a great way to do it. You know, well, I mean, if they wanna do tag us with, oh, short meetings, I'm thinking being happy running an efficient board is makes you productive and makes you get the
work done. I agree. And, also, this isn't this isn't being done to save us time. I just wanna be clear that that that's not the intention of I I hope I made that point clear on the record for everyone watching. That is not the goal. And I would just like to add, we didn't reduce the time of public commentary or anything Yep. For either. Right. One other comment. Mister Sinski, if we could just add the, at the very top of the policy, I recommended updating the title. Oh, you got it up there. Okay. Thank you for that.
Alright. Any other trustee, ma'am? So I just wanted to make a quick, so things that have been come up, and I don't know if it belongs in the policy or it's part of the process or guidelines, is that the lengths for public commentary being published so late so people can't you know, like, for the for yesterday for this meeting today, the the link wasn't published until I don't know what time. Isn't it a standing link that doesn't go No. That's so there's so it's causing a lot of so that's why they did The form? Are you talking about the form?
The form and the link for that. Have to recreate a form every single time, and I'm only putting one up. I I do agree that it was late this last time just because of what I was doing. Yeah. I know you're trying. I know you're trying. I'm doing the best I can. But we have to figure something out so that these links are available at least a week before the meeting so that people can, you know, decide like, not guarantee that. No. Well, it's limiting. That's what's limiting the commentary. We have to also then figure out what meetings people intend to sign up for
because there were many comments that we tried to read at the meeting that they signed up for, and we had people complaining that that's not the meeting they signed up for when it was the meeting that they signed up for. So we tried to limit the number of forms that were available, and this is what happened. Can I complete on on the same day No? I understand. Yeah. I understand. But what you're saying is, can we have, like, a like, can we create the be proactive and create these forms ahead of time? We will we we will take that back as an internal team.
Yeah. Because this is causing a lot I understand that there was a lot of especially when there was three meetings a day. I'm just asking change the process. Yeah. So we we will discuss it. Yeah. That's exactly the best they can. Feedback from the community. Yeah. So Yes. Did you have something to look at? I I was just gonna briefly touch on that. The the way the policy is written now, it's just submissions go through at four four hours before the meeting. They collect the the submissions and publish them. And then any submissions after that 4PM until the next meeting of,
you know, four hours before would then get copied and placed on a different distribution. So we should be able to leverage the same survey and just pull the results from the time frame that we're working in in person meeting. We will we'll we'll discuss all that. Yeah. I'm just providing feedback because it is hard. The turnaround time Thank you. Is not relevant. Trustee Schmidt? I just extend the meeting until 12:30. Move it's been moved to the extended meeting. This is what by trustee Baskett. Any discussion? Seeing none. Miss Ozinski,
it's been moved to extend the meeting at 12:30 by trustee Schmidt, supported by trustee Baskett. We're ready whenever you President Feaster? Yes. Trustee Schmidt? Yes. Trustee Mohammed? Yes. Trustee Wilkins? Yes. Trustee Wilkes? Yes. Trustee Basquiat? Yes. Trustee Wilkerson? Yes. Motion carries. Thank you. Are there any other changes or thoughts about this policy, trustees? Well, I would just say that, I would like to see folks who actually come to the meetings have more time, because they are trying to they're talking to us in terms of, helping inform our decision making when it comes to items that are on the agenda
and when it comes to voting. And, again, just hearing thirteen seconds just doesn't cut it. So I would love to tonight, we heard, like you said, two minutes. Some folks actually had more time than they knew what to do. You know? They had more than they could handle. Right. So, which is a great thing. So I would love to be able to see more folks coming in, having two minutes, maybe three minutes, maybe up to ten minutes or whatever time you said. Four. Four. I'm sorry. But, yeah, that would be so refreshing, and we can actually hear a full
thought, you know, a full commentary that that helps us with our decision making at this table. Thank you, Trustee Wilkes. Trustee Wilkins? Was there any discussion or research into, phone in commentary or voice memo or anything like that that would make it more accessible? I agree that it is great to hear from people that can get here, but we've gotten a lot of comments about how hard it is for most of our constituents to actually get here to a meeting. We did discuss that, and we elected not to go in that direction.
It will put a large burden on staff to try to have to figure that out and get that collated and put together to be presented. Alright. And and then how do you edit the comments that are inappropriate and you have to put a buzz around people if they say the wrong thing? It's it would be Yeah. A lot of work. So for those who who seem a little puzzled, what what and I referred to the bombs. In the early days when meetings went electronically and the phone option was being exercised by various organizations,
you had people from whoever come in, and they would say some inappropriate language, for example, or some inappropriate things that we don't have control ability to control. I mean, god forbid, we would get someone who again, we're, it's still be a family friendly organization and meeting. So it just helps with that, managing that. Seeing no other thoughts, is there a motion? It's more action to action. Action. Also almost that you're right. So moved. Alright. But for the record, can I just say it one more thing? Yes. I know that city council allows for folks to call in,
like, via Zoom or something. Mhmm. And so was that something that was considered? I I just wanna cover all options. That's what we just talked about. Well, he just said to call in. Well, voice We considered the voice number, call in, and Zoom. Okay. All three. All three. Okay. Got it. And we discussed them all and decided that this was the best way to go. Okay. Obviously, we're open to open to discuss it further if trust if other thoughts, but that's what the governance committee decide. Okay. Thank you. Yes. Trustee Moham. So I still I would support other alternatives because like I said I think I
said it before. In person, it does limit a certain you know, you would have some privilege to be able to get here. So I wish that there was more discussion about phone in or Zoom or some other method, for people to be able to participate and and not be in person. That's why we're adding the feedback section. Yeah. But some people just don't wanna I mean, they wanna actually say what you know, speak to the the board, but that's fine. Anything else, trustees? Okay. That brings it down to number nine, the consent agenda. Would anyone what? I have to read it myself.
Yep. I'm ready. Yes, please. Annex A N Dash 2201, Clegg Middle School doors and window replacement. Annex A N Dash 2198, Clegg Scarlet Foresight, Anover Open Community in Pittsfield, loading dock and paving improvements. Annex A N Dash 2196, Scarlet and Community Flooring and Painting Trades Contracts, part two. Annex a n dash two one nine nine, New Thurston Elementary School trade contract recommendations part one. Policy oh, I'm sorry. Approve minutes. Looking at the right thing here. Approve the minutes of the 03/19/2025 regular meeting and approve minutes of the 03/19/2025 closed
session. Thank you. So moved. Moved by trustee Schmidt. Second. Supported by trustee Wilkerson. Oops. Sorry. One sec. Jeanette Wilkerson. You. Any discussion? Seeing none. Okay. Trustee Wilkins? Yes. Trustee Wilkes? Yes. Trustee Basquiat? Yes. Trustee Wilkerson? Yes. President Feaster? Yes. Trustee Schmidt? Yes. Trustee Mohammed? Yes. Motion carries. That brings us to board action. Take it one at a time or do you read them? This is I'm gonna do them. No. You have the motion and second. Okay. You just yeah. Okay. So, we have a,
adopt revised policy 1,300 public participation. So move. Second. Moved by trustee Wilkes, supported by trustee Schmidt. Any additional discussion? Okay. Seeing none, Miss Silvestki, please. Trustee Wilkerson? Yes. President Feaster? Yes. Trustee Schmidt? Yes. Trustee Mohammed? No. Trustee Wilkins? No. Trustee Wilkes? Yes. Trustee Basquiat? Yes. Motion carries. Thank you. This is us down to b, adopt new policy thirteen ten, public commentary. So moved. Moved by trustee Shannon, supported by trustee Wilkes. Any discussion?
Saying none. Oh, I'm sorry. Trustee Wilkes? I'm I'm just wanna say I'm not gonna support this, because I still think in light of everything we've discussed, the public still wants to be heard. They want their commentary to be public during the meeting. And this seems like the easiest way to do it the way we're currently doing it if we don't wanna involve a lot more staff time and administrative time. So that's why I'm not supporting it. Anything else?
Seeing none, Miss Wilson's. Trustee Schmidt? Yes. Trustee Mohammed? No. Trustee Wilkins? No. Trustee Wilkes? Yes. Trustee Basquiat? Yes. Trustee Wilkerson? Yes. President Feaster? Yes. Motion carries. And I believe that brings us down to number 11, item four agenda plan. Trustees, are there any item four agenda plan? Trustee Mohan. So some of the, comments we've gotten before is that I would like to actually look at, recording our committee meetings. So I want us to discuss that. Take a dressing ham. Could they ask?
K. Seeing nothing else. That brings us number 12, items from the board. Do trustees have anything they would like to share? Seeing nothing, that brings us on number 13, motion to adjourn the meeting. May I have a motion to adjourn the meeting by voice vote? So moved. Moved by trustee Zanneskett, supported by trustee Schmidt. All in favor, say aye. Aye. Any of the adjourned, say nay. Meeting is adjourned at 12:03AM.