and public for the purpose of conducting the school district's business and is not to be considered a public community meeting this meeting is an inperson meeting held at 870 cfax here in Benton Harbor in addition a live stream of this meeting is available at the following link questions may be submitted
beforehand to natalie. singer bhas.org or present it in person during the public comment sections as indicated in the agenda board members may be contacted through the emails listed below requests for special assistance including for persons with disabilities may be sent to L natalie. singer
bhas.org I call this meeting to order officially at 6:08 PM we'll Begin by reciting the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic
for it stands one nation God indivisible with li next is Roll Call Secretary triplet president Robinson presid vice president Bowens present secretary triplet present
trustee rocket Martin trustee Gavin presid trustee doyo Madame President a quorum has been established all right awesome next on the agenda we have approval of the
agenda Madam president you have the floor um I would like for us to well I'm asking for permission us to because we discussed this lengthly at our last meeting if we could go to a consent agenda
item um leaving out yeah that's it let's go to consent agenda item please you're not clarifying what you would like to be a consent oh sorry the whole the whole agenda the whole agenda we have discussed this at the last meeting
and we discussed it lengthly and detailed okay so what um trusty bow unless there's something new that was added that I looked over um there are a couple minor updates um so what what we have on the floor is there's a motion to
approve the agenda with the amendment that are you wanting us to just take one vote I guess I'm trying to understand one vote on so when we have to do HR disregard disregard okay all right
you sure I'm positive okay is there a motion to approve the agenda is so move is there a second or support the motion has been made by secretary triplet and supported by truste Rock Martin any questions comments or concerns hearing none secretary triplet
president Robinson yes vice president Bowen yes secretary triplet yes truste raet Martin yes trustee Gavin yes motion Carri all right next on the agenda is review of our board Norms the Board of Education norms for B Harbor area
schools we will treat each other with respect we will listen to learn we will refrain from side conversations we will use our time wisely starting and ending our meetings on time my goal today is to get us out of here by 8:00 we will challenge ideas not people we will ask
questions when in doubt there will be no surprises at the board table we will practice the seven Norms of collaboration those are pausing paraphrasing posing questions putting ideas on the table providing data paying attention to self and others and presuming positive intentions next on the agenda we have
public comment on agenda items is there anyone here for public comment on an agenda item all right so I am going to read our public comment statement for you you can come forward the bent Harbor Area Schools Board of Education recognized the value of public comment on educational issues
and the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves on District matters today there are two areas for comment on the agenda of which you may decide when to speak public comment on agenda items and open public comment we request that each interested participant complete a public participation form using legible rights
ting to ensure that responses are appropriate and properly focused forbid harbard area schools bylaw 016 7.3 which governs board participation at board meetings we request that you preface your comments with your name address and group affiliation when appropriate each statement made by a participant shall be
limited to a three-minute duration of Prior bylaws no participant may speak more than once on the same topic until any other persons have had the opportunity to speak on that topic participants May remove their mask when addressing the board participants shall direct all comments to the board and not to staff or other participants the board
will listen take comments and questions under advisement and not respond at this time I president will refer questions to the superintendent for research and response please ensure that your public participation form includes your contact information as requested if you have specific questions for the board or
executive team that require followup please email those directly to natalie. singer bhas.org and just for the board's reference this is Miss Whitfield and she's going to be sharing with us the field strip field 100y Year
celebration um also Miss Barbara peoples and Pat okay my name is Pat Hill I'm from the Ben Harbor class of 1957 go I saw in the Herold plaum that philster field this year is going to be
100 years old the first home football game played at philster field was October 3rd 1924 so some of my classmates we talked about it we wondered if there was going to be any kind of celebration for a hundred
years and so um alen Smith and Darlene Hawkins and I met with with Dr Kevin Kelvin buts and he thought it was a good idea along with us that we do something we also met with uh Mr Bud uh Dash and
so we had I made up a a list of things that we wanted this is kind of what how we kind of could see see having the celebration at philster field for 100 years we wanted to have it on October Saturday October 5th because that's close to when the first game was played
in 1924 so I I give I've given a few of you a copy of what we wanted and uh but we can't go any further unless we get approval we filled out a form um
requesting you doing this and uh Mr dad has it but we need to know with the cheer person in charge of cheerleaders have the cheerleaders there on Saturday afternoon to pass out programs and the
words to the fight song um would uh Dr Kelvin buts be there we would like Mr Renardo triplet to be there we've got him on the program we'd like him to him and alen Smith to introduce uh some of the oldtimers and the classes he's I
don't he's had chance to read it or not uh we'd like the football players to be there um so they can be introduced we want have the newspaper there to take group pictures of everybody they're celebrating um so we need the we like
the band to play the Star sping spingle Banner a national anthem I mean at the beginning like we always do for football games we'd like him to play the foot Bight song at the end so we we need to have school cooperation uh to contact all that if
you can do it let us know and we'll put it on Facebook and all that but if you can't do all that we've only got three weeks we'll just have to cancel so that's what I'm here for thank you so much thank you ladies
so sounds super exciting so uh we Dr Butz will follow up regarding the remaining details that you'd like to clarify yes Madam yes Madam president I will all right anyone else here for public comment on agenda items all right hearing none we'll
proceed next we have approval of our meeting minutes today we are approving special session 420 2024 close sessions for 52924 6424 61124 62524 7924 71124
72324 special session 8824 regular session 813 24 work session 827 2024 and close session 827 2024 is there a motion to approve so Madam pres all right the motion has been made by
secretary triplet vice president BS would you like to support you like to be the have question my question is do we have to go to each one in a no we're taking one vote one vote okay you support yes yes okay I thought you were
I guess I'm confused because you were making the motion to approve so are you questioning if you want to support because I can get a different support no go ahead so the motion has been made by secretary triplet and supported by vice president Bowen any questions comments or concerns president Robinson you have the
floor so the um the close session notes aren't aren't linked on here I know that there are certain permissions but the board doesn't even have permission for what we're voting on it just has the so your your minutes are in your
packet yes so those we don't get the packet until we I'm sorry can you speak in the you don't have a mic down there I'm sorry those minutes were pres provided at the work session as a separate packet so we assume that you have your
packet from the 27th and those minutes would be included as a separate I believe they were stap together weren't they so yes I guess they were provided so my question is there Google Docs has the
capabilities to um allow for board members only to have access to those documents and I'm just wondering if it's possible to like move them forward if we can have access to our notes or so we
can we can we can do that make sure that there a link that has school board access only um the district would just have to be very very careful in doing that my my hesitation with doing that is if they make one mistake in Sharing
access they give the public access to information that they're not entitled to so that's always been my hesitation with actually um having a live link secretary tripet yes and that's been the recommendation and that's been protocol that when it comes to our close session
meeting um they are specifically for the Board of Education and only for the Board of Education that's why they are very brief um in the writings and what have you there's nothing specific in there but we definitely have access to them and the board can get those and we take
those back and they must be kept confidential because the session was closed so what I would say is my only concern and I notice that the the notes are very brief um there is a a legal matter that is of concern and
so I will support these notes with the caveat that there there were some there was something that happened in the board meeting in a board meeting that is not in these notes um and so me approving them does not
mean that the incident did not occur it's just me approving these General notes as they the general business at hand okay if there's no other questions secretary trusty Roar where it says the so I want to make sure you're not going to read
the closed session notes I'm not I'm just gonna make a correction it says for the one where the Board of Education Retreat minutes I think they have Saturday April 2025 I think that's supposed to be 24 it does in correct just a brief correction yeah it was
corrected I we just got the wrong copy okay if there's no other questions um and thank you for that clarification trusty raet Martin and your comments trusty Gavin secretary triplet can you please call the vote president Robinson yes vice president bow no secretary
triplet yes trustee rocket Marton yes truste Gavin yes motion carry all right next um we are going to proceed with board business a reminder that our protocol as of 9:13 2022 all comments will be limited to two minutes per
trustee per topic um our first item of business underboard business as you all are aware today is September 11th um our standard meeting would have been yesterday but we rescheduled so we want to make sure that we do acknowledge today so at this particular time I'm going to pass the floor over to
secretary triplet he's going to lead us um in a moment of recognition and silence for September 11th thank you madam President we remember God of history and Remembrance we remember we remember when the towers
fell and the lives were lost we remember the dust and the smoke the Despair and the grief we remember that sense of vulnerability and shock we remember the numbness that overwhelmed us as we watched in our
schools on channel one by hours and hours waiting for an explanation and understanding that never came we remember we remember God of Hope and presence we remember we remember the heroes those
who rushed to help who guided the wounded down insurmountable flights of stairs whose roads to overwhelm those who held death in their hands we remember the hours and the days of binding wounds and healing hurts
giving Comfort drying tears we remember words of support and compassion from Nations far and wide we remember we remember in part because we see the ripples of that tragic day
continue to impact our world 23 years later we grieve with allies today as our allies grieved with US 23 years ago and together we wonder if there will ever be
an end to violence to war to hatred to death we remember and we grieve our world's inability to learn the thing that lead to peace we call you now in
our remembrance God of Justice and of Peace give us a will to truly pray that your kingdom or your kingdom May Come On Earth as it is in heaven on this day of solemn remembrance
may we honor the lives that were lost in this tragic act may we give thanks for those who served and saved rendered Aid and assistance may we give Comfort to those
who live with laws may we seek Justice and peace where it is within our ability and rely on you when the ability escapes us on this day of solemn remembrance may
we build what has been torn down may we men what has been broken may we Live Your Love when hate seems to rain May we bear witness to the cause of Peace we
remember let us have a moment of silence thank you all right thank you secretary triplet um next week have a closed session um for the for the public a closed session is something that only the board is privy to um however we will
be extremely extremely brief um so at this particular time the Board of Education will hold a closed session to consider Personnel matters under policy 01672 G um after we enter and return from the Clos session will then be
taking votes on resolution hr1 and resolution hr2 members of the port public are more than welcome to stay because we will be right back out um and then we'll continue our meeting Upon Our return so at this time I'll ask is there a motion to end Open Session and enter
close session per policy 01672 G Madame President I so move is there a second or support I support the motion has been made by secretary triplet and supported by truste rocket Martin any questions comments or
concerns hearing none secretary triplet president Robinson yes vice president bow no secretary triplet yes truste rocket Martin yes truste Gavin yes motion carry all right so we are ending
open session at 6:26 PM will return shortly support I support the motion has been made by secretary triplet and supported by trusty rocket Bon that we end close session and return to open session any questions comments concerns
heing the secretary triplet president Robinson yes vice president I mean excuse me president Robinson secretary triplet yes trustee rocket Martin yes trustee Gavin yes
should should I do vice president B he didn't go in he still gets okay vice president bow no motion carry all right next on the agenda we have resolution hr1 and resolution HR oh I'm sorry we're returning to open
session as of 6:45 p.m. thank you um next on our agenda is resolution hr1 and resolution hr2 Dr bus were you or Marvin presenting those who's Marvin I mean Mr mcder huh she she house
just she can present that we can just present that we don't have to create um this is a resolution this is sufficient so for staff report hr1 whereas Brian Harris is interested in being considered for employment as maintenance technician staff through Ed
staff pursuant to revise school code sections 1239 and 12310 and after careful review myself superintendent Dr Kelvin busz is recommended the con the continuation of employment application process for Brian
Harris through edust staff pursuant to section 8A of the open meetings Act and the request of Brian Harris the board met in closed session to consider the background check information mlc1 15 268 now therefore it be resolved
pursuant to the revised school code sections 12309 1230 A10 and 1230 G and after careful review the board does or does not does or do does not okay approved Brian Harris to
proceed with employment application process through edge of Staff mlc 38.1 12309 MCL 38 01230 A10 MCL
38230 G all right so is there a motion to approve staff report H1 with the understanding that it would be the board does approve Brian Harris to proceed is there a motion to approve staff report hr1 I shall move is there a second or
support I support the motion has been made by secretary triplet and supported by truste rocket Martin any questions comments and concerns heing secretary triplet president Robinson yes vice president bow obain
secretary triplet yes truste rocket Martin yes truste Gavin yes motion Carri all right Dr bus resolution hr2 whereas William Gray is interested in being considered for employment as youth Advocate at Benton Harbor High
School staff through Edy staff pursuing to the pursuing to revise school code section 12309 and 12310 and after careful review I'm superintendent Dr Kelvin bus is recommended the continuation of the employment application process for
William Gray through through edu staff pursuant to section 88 of the open meetings Act and the request of William Gray the board met in Clos session under consider Clos session to consider the background check information MCL
15.26% pursuing to revise school code sections 12309 1230 A10 and 1230 G and after careful review the board does or does not approve William grade to proceed with the employment application process
through Ed staff MCL 38.1 12309 MCL 38.1 23081 MCL 38.1 1230 G
is there a motion to approve staff report hr2 is there a second or support support the motion has been made by I'll take truste Gavin and supported by trusty raet Martin any questions comments or concerns have a question you have the
floor okay so I know that we've outsourced our custodial staff um I'm not in favor I'm not a huge fan of Outsourcing um but I understand kind of and I notice
that this position is I think youth Advocate and I'm wondering like is there a this is through edes staff do we have a process for allowing these employees
to be able to be hired in um through the district and if so what you know how many days do they have to work as EDG staff before they can be hired in Mr mcder or Dr
Butz thank you for that question at this time the youth at this time the youth Advocate position is not a position that has been scheduled to transition to a district position um or to district employment so it is um structured similar to how we currently have our
custodians and maintenance solely through uh our third party vendor Eder staff so is that a board level policy is that a superintendent decision is that a HR decision I'm just wondering whose decision is it that we don't have any
Pathway to permanency with Ben Harbor area schools for a position like that thank you I'll defer to Dr bu on that position that was one of the position that was part of the right siiz discussion that we'll continue at a later time so that's a superintendent level decision it will it will be a
board decision once we come to the right size discussion so it's the board's decision to the board can decide whether or not these positions offer a hiring in Opportunity is what you're saying it's not a superintendent level decision
that's correct thank you Madame president secretary Tri I just always want to put this on the record and I know that we have uh uh Outsourcing this has been something that happened Nationwide and I you know my my
feelings as it relates to Outsourcing the areas and things that were outsourced um when you look at busing those were people from our community when you look at Food Service those women in those kitchens are people from Benton Harbor and so all of the things
um secretaries those were Ben Harbor citizens all of the jobs where the majority of the employees in this District who live and uh have been a part of this District pay taxes in this District who vote in this District all of these jobs are quote unquote
outsourced and so I too uh uh with with trust Gavin my concern because we haven't done we haven't really done the work as it relates to rightsizing the district that might have been in people thoughts but we haven't right sized anything yet but I would like to see you
know when we when we go in and we look at the position that we're talking about even been here for for Mr Gray you know and when we get ready to go to the table and do the real work and the hard work we needed not just for Mr Gray because the majority all of these positions that
are edge of Staff positions I'm not going to ask for the percentage of it because it's very difficult to get information but the majority of them are people who live in this community and those people who um and there's no no shade but it is what it is this is just a fact the employees
that our employees of Ben har area schools are employees and uh for for and and and children to be employees for the school district who do not live in this community who um do not vote in this community and who do not pay taxes in
this community so these are something that we need to look at we start having these conversations about the roles of of of people and the people that are on the rool here in Benton Harbor because it almost it it makes me feel weird and I I I just don't like it I just want
that to be on the record thank you okay so I um just a reminder we're at resolution hr2 that's specifically regarding the hiring of yeah Mr is it Mr Gray gray Mr William Gray so I want to make sure our comments
stay focused on what the actual report is because I want us to get timely both of the comments made are really good questions and really good comments but we're right now just specifically on hr2 um regarding the hiring of Mr gr does anyone else have a comment or question regarding staff report
hr2 all right hearing us secretary triplet president Robinson and just want to make sure this is with the understanding that it would be does um the board does approve William Gray um yes vice president bow abstain secretary
triplet yes trusty rocket Martin yes trustee Gavin yes motion carries all right so next up we have the policy and discipline committee um I apologized to the board that I did not catch it until we got to the table um we are not
technically doing second readings for all of the policies that are noted this would be our first reading so I know there's a staff report S1 that is noted there however we are not in position to take a vote because this would technically be our first reading um in our last meeting we took our vote in
second reading for policies 2264 and 2266 we have yet to read the policies noted so we will not be taking a vote on these today so at this particular time I'm pass it over to uh truste Gavin who is the chair of the policy and policy
and discipline committee she's going to provide her updates and then take us through the first readings um for the noted policies trusty Gavin hey um I want to thank you so much president Robinson for catching that it was policies 2264 and
2266 at the last meeting and youall have to refresh my memory Liz it was a second reading did we we go ahead and vote and move those through yes ma'am okay all right thank you for that okay and so we
have um some recommendations for the cell phone policy uh that are there from the superintendent um I think that is something that's worthy of a discussion we actually had a town hall about it and
there is a lot of concern both ways um I've heard information from seasoned teachers who want to protect uh cell phone use and we've heard from some other teachers who are ready for the band to get started yesterday um so me
personally I'm very much interested in um one how the board feels about the how the board feels about this policy and then also um what the superintendent um kind of intentions are
I would love to know what Dr butts's um administrative guidelines would look like like how would this L how would this um be outlined uh so there was some rich conversation around it I would
say what has been a major issue is there are some um Educators who want to be able to integrate cell phone use in um their lessons um and then there are some both
Educators and students and parents who want students to be able to use the cell phone while they are in the cafeteria so like when they have a lunch break be able to use it at that time but not use the phones um you know during class or
in the hallways or anything like that and so you know I would love to know one how the board feels about the policy and then two you know if uh Dr bus has a leaning towards one way or the other so
I'll I'll give the floor to Dr bus he can provide his uh Insight thank you madam president when it came to this this policy and we were speaking about it in the policy committee my recommendation was is was and still is that the students be able
to bring their devices to school but not have the opportunity to access their devices until after school because of the potential uh nefarious use during school hours I know there was we we had some robust and
good conversation around possible use around lunchtime but then again that gives me pause and concern of being able to continue uh with some nefarious things during the lunch hour u i I know most parents would like to have their
students to carry their devices because they have information to relate to their child after school so I would I'm I'm in favor of them having the devices but them being out of sight all day until after school uh and if the parent needs to reach the child or the P child needs
to reach the parent during the day then they will use the office phone as per protocol as far as the AGS Neola has some AGS already uh kind of outlined and I will share them with the board I did not bring them down this afternoon I
will share them out with what Neola already has as far as uh guidelines for AGS so we have those already ready to go but uh that would be my recommendation okay Dr bus I have a qu question for you if it's okay with
trusty Gavin what yes please what brought about um consideration for a cell phone policy was this a request from administrators or what brought about the the consideration for it trusty Gavin had an interest in uh looking at the cell phone policy when we
first uh when we were in the policy committed that was one of the things that trusty Gavin wanted to had an interest in looking at okay what I would also add is that um V trusty Bowens I think sent um a request to me or to the
school board say or the policy committee I'm not sure exactly who it went to but I know that there was a request to look into it and so from that request we added it on to our committee and it went from there
okay all right any um so you you have the it's your opportunity to chair trusty gav okay U was there anyone else who had a question a concern or a leaning I think it it is this says here that it's a first reading um I
personally would love to see the um administrative guidelines and how Dr bus would be looking to roll it out I think that's helpful as we make those considerations but is there are there any other board members who um secretary triplet I I you know when
when we talk about the cell phone Pol policy from a national level this is this is not just a local issue it's a national issue and so having had the opportunity last year um to serve in the capacity of an assistant principal which
uh deals with discipline and what have you this uh this was a very difficult piece for us and so a lot one of the things that when we talk about first of all I think that we need to teach our
children how to use their cell phone properly and so when you come into the school this is my belief that when they come into school they're coming to school so their cell phones need to be turned off that's the way I feel uh it
it's important um that they understand this but it's also very difficult to um um because what I found um was a lot of things were happening in the school texting meet me in the bathroom we
getting ready to fight in the bathroom meet me on the third floor we're getting ready to smoke we getting ready you know just it was just and it was during classes and it really created a problem it also created a problem where you know immediately phones if if something happened in schools because schools have
school fights and then the phones are up in the air and they're going live and so people just get a small snippet of what it is and so this right here is is and and I think that it is imperative you know we dealt with it I dealt with this
fact um that's my mama that's my mama on the phone sometime that's true and sometime it isn't but their parents should know as well that they should not be calling them during school and if there if there is an emergency that the
office needs to be contacted and those students can be brought down now having bringing it down to a local level um um from my experience where I've dealt with and with the miss Ben Harbor
and Mr Ben Harbor pageants for some years and the thing that was uh when we and we have students from all different high schools when we send text or we call students from um other high schools in the area they never answered their phone
Benton Harbor students immediately correspond communicate I don't care if they're in class wherever it is take pictures snap and they immediately because they just the students got in their minds at their schools that when we're in school we don't have our phones on so I mean
that's I'm not you know what I mean that I'm in here I'm doing it but we also have to be mindful want to thank you secretary trip yeah I'm sorry but we all have to be mindful because I also see staff on the phone all day
I'm off of work I see staff posting from the time they step into the building until the time they go home okay so this right here is seriously it's I I personally myself I did not use my phone at work so that's just something just that's just my
feeling and I I definitely want to be a part of this conversation thank you so much uh secretary tripler so it looks like we will have an opportunity I want to make sure I didn't miss anybody vice president bance yes so last year I got to visit the schools um I visit
fairplane Junior High I visit the high school and I walked into the classroom I just walked around walked around Mr walked me around some of the most of the students had their cell phones out and they were doing using the cell phones fairplane
Junior High I got videos of parents sending me videos of children and pajamas um fighting and you're thinking in Middle School how do you what's going on where's the order but we're living in a
different time I'm probably the youngest one on this board right now back in my day we had the hot dog phone you know what I'm talking about um and we had the chirp and stuff and you know you couldn't do all of that what you can do
with your cell phone however you can use artificial intelligent or chat GP and it will answer and give you the answers to your assignment so if we want our kids to understand and really be at
school learning we need to remove these devices also the image that we're putting out on social media when it's a fight and fights and it's shared over a thousand times and everything and you're like what's going on what's going on and
you haven't seen it because these kids are younger what image are we sending to bitton Harbor what image are we sending and school has we have to get back to the basics of making sure our kids get a quality education and are focused in the
classroom and making sure they get a quality education is eliminating the cell phones eliminating distractions we had a parent that came to the Schoolboard I don't know if you remember and asked us why is her kid always on her cell phone
and that is the reality that we're dealing with so let's do something to stop it thank you um trusty Raad Martin thank you I agree with Mr Chet and Mr Bowen uh my experience in
the elementary school uh with cell phones even uh 10 years ago students I remember having a second grader taking pictures of herself in a compromising situation and knew how to send
it uh and so you get that kind of um you know behaviors that other people are get privy to and so I think it could be very dangerous uh if I don't like you I'll
try to catch you in a situation or whatever and I'll send it to everybody you know and it could be something that happened um outside of school but because they have their cell phones or whatever they can send it whatever so I would I would go along with Mr triplet
and Mr Bowens about kids not having their cell phones and that their parents if their parents need to reach them reach them uh you know put the guidelines in as Mrs uh Gavin is saying miss Gavin is saying put the guidelines in and stick to them don't be wishy
washy stick to them and you will find that everybody will do and they will understand and know that this is the policy and this is what we will have to follow and this is what we are going to do yes thank you so much uh truste
rocket Martin and what I would say is this I try to look at policy as a balancing an opportunity to balance and we've had teachers and students who've indicated that they use their phones for
um educational purposes when I was a teacher my students created the policy they created the cell phone policy in the classroom I held them to it but they helped create the policy there were times when students had to use their
phone for a business class to call for references so it was and we you know we coached them through how to ask for those reference how to ask for those job references another teacher indicated that a lot of our students don't have glasses and they use the phone to take a
picture of the board and zoom in um and so there I even saw something where the robotics class was using those using cell phones so there's that side to it and then there's the other side of safety a distraction sometimes students get irate when their phone is taken away
and so there has to be some level of balance what I'm leaning towards and would love to get some input from the board between now and whenever this happens is if we keep in the policy an opportunity for teachers to request
um cell phone use in the classroom as it pertains to that lesson so it's not oh it's a free day but this we're learning these apps or we're learning these items on the cell phone as it pertains to the lesson they get approval from the from
the principal and then there is signage that this is a cell phone lesson and that's the only you know during that lesson is the only time that they can use a cell phone like so other than that you know no cell phone um possible option during cafeteria so you know th
that's my leaning because it can be a educational tool and a lot of us on our jobs are not allowed to use phones and a lot of us on our jobs actually do use our phones as a part of our work a very intense part of our workday so it's a it's a robust conversation the other
thing is we need to make sure that every student has a computer if we're going to take away their cell phones so you know that's that's on us to make sure that they are equipped with those tools if we are going to do that and we need to make sure we have a communication strategy so
that everyone who is impacted knows exactly what the rule is exactly what the consequences are and exactly how we will be moving forward and have some level of input into the conversation Madam chairman can I ask I'm not sure if um president Robinson is okay with the
second um I think he just has a clarifying question I just you know I I thought we were just in discussion about this but I I I you know like as far is taking their phones I don't think we should get into that I agree because yeah when you're taking their phones the
the the the the the the problem with that is if you people say you can take them and put them in in the machine somebody steal that phone the school is responsible for that phone I don't think you should ever take and and and they are serious about their phones I don't think that should be something that we
do I mean that I would you know I would like that just be at the Forefront we do not take their phone you know because that's that's not a good thing you put the school in liability some of those phon phones cost thousands of dollars and some of those kids are serious about
their phone and they will fight you I'm in agreement with you um secretary triplet and I would say you know if there's a consequences for the student not complying with the teacher or the you know with the staff person's request I don't want to touch your phone but I
need I need to not see it right and if you can't comply with that then there are consequences because you didn't comply I'm not touching your phone not touching you we're not going to touch each other right so I'm in agreement uh with that as well but you know like I said if you all do not mind like just contacting the policy committee members
between now and and our next reading U let us know and I also think that we need to we need a little bit of communication time just to lay out everything um so that we don't get that type that level of backlash um so I'll
move on um that's that's the cell phone um policy I think we still have a little bit of work to do there um but I am in U in favor of some controls and some structure around that um the uh policy
1240 evaluation of the superintendent um it looks like there's some some recommendations there just in terms of um you know prior to a certain date making sure um that if the
superintendent has these consecutive highly effective evaluations then you know he can he can move to every other year um there's another section on here that I think I don't know if it's the law um or if it was just a
recommendation that says that all contracts governing the employment of the superintendent entered into extended renewed or modified onor after July 1st must include an appeal process concerning the evalu ation process and
rating received so that's a that's a change right that would allow for some other layers of you know yeah some some other layers of support to the superintendent if something should change and so I think it's important to
find out if that's law um or if that's just a recommendation of Neola um Madam president yes ma'am yes ma'am that's the law that's the new law that's coming down okay and so the good news is that we have um our
representative from niola coming to our next U policy committee meeting oh well we've invited him hopefully he can make it and so we'll uh get to the bottom of if if that's law or if it's just a highly highly recommended um so please
read through that the others really are not major changes um it's just it's really just some man ancs um spelling of package and things of that like the the purchasing one there's not
um any major changes other than just a few words that doesn't really change the meaning of that one um so I want to encourage you all to look at it the one 6350 dealing with the prevailing
wages um there's some options there and it's really dealing with um design a person who will be tasked with ensuring compliance with state and federal regulations concerning prevailing wages rates and so the option
is to um designate the superintendent or designate a prevailing wage coordinator uh for the district and it looks like the superintendent's recommendation is to is for him to be the one to do that is that correct uh Dr bus that's correct
okay um I don't know if you want to say anything more about that so it looks like if you are that person we would not be designating a prevailing wage coordinator to make sure that uh we are in compliance with the prevailing wage
rate that's great it deals with um when we when we're dealing with our capital projects and our in our vendors that's where the prevailing wage comes in um as far as how much they pay so by law they the they meaning the vendors have a
prevailing wage that they have to stick by so say for example we we've signed uh several contracts um so after January 1 prevailing wage starts since we've locked into the contract we've started the
projects if if their wages go up so if the state of Michigan raises the prevailing wage for those workers we are not obligated to go up on we are not obligated to to do a change order and pay more the employer the vendor has to absorb those
costs so as we move forward with our purchases we we they will be taking in consideration the prevailing wage so that's what that means and and just real briefly you could just tell us what's the benefit to having you be that person as opposed to a prevailing wage
coordinator uh it it it cuts down on the ambiguity of of the communication back to the board so as as I negotiate or as as myself and the facilities coordinator excuse me facilities director negotiate
and or speak to vendors and then we bring it back to the committee it just cuts down on the ambiguity and also saves the district funds as to just having one person designated and if we did have one person designated that would be their sole
responsibility to make sure that we are in compliance with the state and federal regulations sole responsibility and and and not a full-time position because it it prevailing wages only come into play when we're doing those capital projects
okay and so I I think you know it might be helpful just to know what the cost is of that of that role but just letting the board know that uh Dr but's recommendation is that he uh would like to um cover that role and you'll be
voting on that when we have a second reading um and then the last one administrative staff reductions and recalls this looks like a completely correct me if I'm wrong this looks like everything on here are are
new recommendations um so you want to read this just regarding uh retaining effective administrators in situations involving a staffing a program reduction or any other Personnel decision resulting in
the elimination of a position as well as for hiring after such reductions in positions eliminations or recall to vacant positions length of service or 10year status may only be considered when all other factors are considered
equal amongst the potentially affected administrators the effectiveness of Administrators shall be measured in accordance with the district's performance evaluation systems developed under Section 1249 of the school code so
this is something if you have any concerns about it I think it's something that we we all need to just take a look at in more depth and if there are any changes or recommendations to that please let me know um that's it for the
reading of these policies we have about 22 policies that we need to update uh within a pretty short period of time and I believe that I'm I'm going to about about to turn it over to you um president Robinson but I'm very much
concerned about our Outsourcing when we look at Michigan finally being a place where we're bringing back unions to protect staff and things of that nature and um Outsourcing leave staff vulnerable to
retaliation and um so I would be looking at a I would like to add to our priorities a policy that will give um Ed staff employees an opportunity a pathway into um employment and and just wanting
to find out so I want to alert the finance committee that you know would be helpful for us to know what's the cost analysis on that um you know on that opportunity because if we don't we're not protecting our staff then they're afraid to ask us questions to talk to us
to to give uh good feedback and they don't they don't think that they have long-term longevity so that's going to be a priority for me as well in the midst of all of the other policies that we need to update and I will turn it over to you uh president Robinson all right so thank you trusty Gavin so I
just want to note um this is as stated this is our first reading we technically should have waited um for this for the work session um that we have later this month because next meeting will be the work session and we'll technically be on our second
reading at that time so I just want to give you guys a head up that this information will be there but we will not be taking a vote on 924 we won't actually take a vote until um our October board meeting so that will give us an opportunity to look at the cell
phone policy in more detail um Dr bus if you could work on getting the um AG together um and have that included with the agenda um for our upcoming work session meeting that way we can kind of look at how you're planning to operationalize the policy change if it
goes through yes ma'am Madam president secretary trip we went to the Michigan Association uh school board's meeting as related to the changes and what have you to the superintendent evaluation um there was some guide some deadlines that needed to take place like
uh immediately according to the state law and I just wanted to make sure I know we do have some policies a lot of policies that we need to look and go through and do our second reading but if you all will go through and make sure that we're with in those guidelines
because this was man this is mandated by the state of Michigan so the evaluations have changed you know the the the scoring there is not uh highly effective anymore and all of this is from the state legislature so we need to make sure that we're up on that and that we
have to move that um to a work session and it needs to be done so that we will definitely make sure that we are in compliant with a state regulation all right thank you secretary triplet up next we have um superintendent updates I'm going to pass
the floor to uh thank you trusty Gavin I'm sorry I would like to ask if there is an amendment to the agenda to remove staff report S1 um I know that we are not technically able to take that vote but being that we approved the agenda with staff report S1 expecting a vote I
would like to amend to remove that staff report is there a motion yes I make a motion to remove staff report as one from the agenda is there a second or support I support the motion has been made by vice president Bowen and supported by trustee Gavin um secretary
triple can you please call the vote and you can probably put it in the same section as your S1 on your sheet we'll just update it president Robinson yes vice president bow yes secretary triplet yes trustee rocket Martin yes trusty Gavin yes
madame president motion Carri all right Dr bus you have the floor to present staff report S2 regarding your requested uh professional development thank you madam president I'm presenting tonight for board approval for professional development it is for
the American Association of school uh administrators is uh the a the yearly aasa conference the conference that uh provided that provides uh superintendent opportunities to get your superintendent credentials it also provides an
opportunity of learn learning and training with superintendents Across the Nation uh this training is annual this training um provides me with an opportunity to speak with other superintendents that are dealing with issues that are very closely related to
Ben harb area schools and to come back and to help create ideas and and solutions for some of the issues that we face um many times we are facing issues that we think that are endemic to Ben Harbor which is so not true we there are
many districts Across the Nation that face very similar uh issues that have very similar demographics as ours and the hope is to continue this learning opportunity all right Dr bus can you present staff of our S2 reason for board
consideration where it has been known that professional development opportunities have been shown to be effective in enhancing instructional and financial leadership to give me the skills and insight to excel as a superintendent the super attendant request permissions to attend the following professional development
opportunity the National Conference of Education a aasa location New Orleans dates March 6 to 8 2025 total estimated cost $2,625 facts and Analysis professional development and all tiers of the
Educational Systems are an important opportunity for staff development growth learning and Leadership policy reference 3242 professional growth requirements recommended action that the bent haror Area Schools Board of Education votes to approve the above list of profession development opportunities for the
superintendent is there a motion to approve staff report S2 Madame President you have the floor I make a motion to approve staff report S2 is there a second or support support the motion has been made by vice president Bowen and supported by truste raet Martin any
questions comments or concerns truste truste Gavin and then we'll go vice president bow what I would say thank you president Robinson what I would say is that I'm um very much in support of professional development um my concern is that it's
in March of 2025 and we don't know what March of 2025 is going to look like for us and you know the cost of $2,625 um not being sure what March of 2025 is going to look like for Ben
Harbor area schools and it may be too soon to make that decision and that expenditure um at this time but I am in favor of professional developments it's just the timing and the cost and not
knowing um what is going to happen um at that time all right vice president Bowen I believe professional development is great and needed I believe we should already have money allocated for our
administrator Administration to do it whether it's I believe we should have professional development um money and allocated in the superintendent I
think this is a brilliant and great thing to go ahead and go on so I am pleased to support this secretary triplet I also looked at um I I too support um professional development for our superintendent and I also looked at
the pre-registration um if this would be of any assistant uh truste Gavin see or the 31st of October in order for us to pay where you won't have additional fees and what added and we do have money allocated for professional development
for our superintendent um and and and Dr bu have you ever have you ever attended this conference before yes sir is this conference only for superintendent there's no programs or anything there for principles so at this conference we give an opportunity
to uh know what other opportunities are coming up for rising or growing our own superintendence so uh year before last when I went when I was interim I paid my own uh dues to go that was to do the
graduation and to get an opportunity so I did put two of our uh one current administrator and one previous administrator through a superintendent boot camp Mr Brian Lon and Miss dandre Patterson uh so we can start our
pipeline of growing our own Miss Patterson was not able to complete hers Mr Lon did complete his yeah and so I guess my question was simply this is this conference just for superintendant or is is this something that our principles um can benefit
from just for superintendent specifically okay thank you so very very much so yes um I I would also like when we f we have money for for professional development that we make sure that we do the same things that we uh um look out for some great places some good things
for our um principal to go to conferences so that they can be you know U um meet with other principles and not just going to places and meeting people that have situations just like ours I don't you know I struggle with that what
is just like ours when somebody say just like ours what is ours you know we talking education and what it what what it stand for these are opportunities for us to be able to grow in the area of education and so I again um I I do
support this and um I I look at the deadline for us to be able to save money um and have that October the 31st secretary King please call the vote president Robinson yes vice president Bowen yes secretary triplet yes trusty
rocket Martin yes trusty Gavin no motion carried all right Dr bus next up we have the partnership agreement update and strategic Plan update you'll have to forgive me I can't remember whether or not you went over these in great detail last meeting I I did I can recap if you
like you can just give a brief update for the public so for the public um we want over um in the partnership agreement all the things that we we have coming up and what we have what we are doing to prepare for our um 18-month
Benchmark um we at that time we were having to go into myip we have all of the information um for the myip which is which are the uh district and different and individual schools Improvement plans
to go into the to the program we're right now we're unable to upload our information we're waiting on some some technicalities to be cleared up at the state but we have all of our information ready we're working with Barry and Resa um as our partner in this to make sure
we get our documents up uploaded and get prepared for The 18mon Benchmark Review so you're saying that the I'm sorry you're saying that the issue with uploading this
information is on the state yes not on us not having the information prepared to be submitted that's correct so what I said was we have all of our information ready to be uploaded okay it we are waiting on the state to correct some technical difficulties in uploading the
uh information this is not the first time this happened so um and once they open up the the portal for us to to upload our information we'll have it uploaded all righty your strategic Plan update anything so with the Strategic
Plan update um as I look back through the update and I had she had a question about uh yes partnership agreement a question about the finance piece I believe Dr bus you're going to and maybe you have already if you have I apologize um you're going to get
information from us from the state regarding our status with a not having a finance director that position not being posted as of yet did they provide anything in writing indicating that that
is not a requirement for us to have a dor of finance and placees yes ma'am I provided the board yesterday with an uh with an email from the State Treasury Department and from uh Michigan Association School Michigan Association School uh
business office um to the entire board in reference to that there are no requirements for a CFO or a business office manager they they strongly recommend that the uh there's a certification not excuse me there's strong recommendation that there is a
business office manager that have taken courses which our business office manager has done and um there's also as as indicated in the work session our business office manager has already
uh enrolled in courses for CFO but by the state of Michigan there are no certification requirements for the business office the msbo certification they're saying is the best thing that we should should have is
that yes ma'am according to the executive director of Mr Bob dwan from msbo that was his that is the best um course that we have for Michigan that's what the school district is the school districts across the state of Michigan
use for our status in regards to the msbo certification in a position right now with our district yes so uh he is fully aware of our our situation and um and what's going on in our business office as I went through that I'm saying
what is our status currently we have a certified business office manager in our business office right now so this msbo certification we already have in our office yes it's it's doubl so I'm business office certified and Miss Brock Carter is also business office manager
certified okay thank you for looking into that you're welcome strategic Plan update Dr bucks with the Strategic Plan update I thought about what Mr triplet said said on the uh the last strategic plan and making sure that we not just go over but are actually looking at it so
I'm in the process of getting uh a um what do you call it it's a canvas it's almost like what the uh vendors use at at at the ball games that we put on our gates I will have one hanging up so we can go through
and I can kind of I'd rather go through and not just present it to the board but to the public what those key performance indicators are and how we are actually working towards those so it' be more of a teaching moment a brief teaching moment as to what we're doing and where
we are so we we we we haven't put in uh benchmarks but I can I can still be able to explain where we are to the public so the public can have a better idea and a visual of what what we're doing and where we are all right Madam president you have so you say in the process I
mean you know like um disregard all right thank you Dr bus up next we have business and finance um and I would like to apologize to the board and the public I am not feeling the best I don't know if you all have noticed my energy is dying the longer we go so um I
am engaged and I'm present I'm just not feeling well so but I am going to last through the meting um we're at 7:36 now the goal was 8 I think we'll be a little closer to 8:30 but we can definitely get out of here by 830 president Robinson yes ma'am so I'm sorry Dr bus moved fast
so he he touched on the smart goals that was the next that was the next item where no he didn't so the goals are not on the agenda currently because the committee didn't get a chance an opportunity to meet are you talking
about his goals right um I thought we were gonna go over his goals so no they're not on this agenda because the ad hoc committee has not had a chance to to meet so I ask that he take it off because we don't have an update for you guys okay so I guess my question is do
we have a deadline to respond to his goals I know that there was supposed to be a Midway point he would identify his goals we would give some recommendations based on the goals based on his performance as it relates to his goals and since we
still don't have the goals does that put us at you know does that put us at a disadvantage in terms of our responsibility to responding um to his goals I would say not at this time I
think that we we have to get to a place of actually finalizing something Dr bus has come to the table multiple times with the goals and he always get Feb back from the board that the goals are insufficient um so we're trying to find a set of goals that works best for what Dr bus feels he needs to do a
superintendent and what the board approves or supports as a board so we are trying to get them um finalized as soon as possible secretary triplet Madam president I would like to be removed from that ad hoc committee if you will as it relates to the um um the the
superintendent preparing his goals I I I to agree with uh Trust trusty Gavin I think at this particular level it should be the responsibility of the superintendent to prepare and make his own goals and present it to the Board of Education I wanted to be on the record
that it's not that these goals have come to us and we have not moved there's been no adjustments and the concern was there were no measurables and so it was very it was very difficult to look at these specific goals they were too open-ended and that
is the responsibility of the superintendent along with the Strategic plan along with um the uh partnership agreement and along with the um District Improvement plans all those
things um are are we going to improve in math what are the timelines what can we expect I mean so this right here again I think that I don't know when the ADOT committee is going to do it and if so but I feel like this is the responsibility of the superintendent to
bring these goals to us and for us to make a decision and it needs to be done quickly we cannot keep kicking this can down the road this right here has been almost like a two-year situation so we need goals we need measurables and we need to make take some action as the
Board of Education thank you go ahead go ahead never mind up next we have business and finance I'm going to pass the floor to the business office manager Miss Brock Carter good evening
everyone good evening good evening just want to go over our financial reports for July 2024 revenues and expenses are only about 1% of the physical year one would expect that since we June is the first I
mean July is the first month of our new fisal year schools typically have lower expenses for the first two months based on the school year being on summer break state aid is recognized over 11 months no state aid is shown in the
month of August um and we have not updated the July State a as of yet in the business office if you want to look at the budget versus actual summary you'll be able to see based on
our budget for the entire school year we have recognized 8% of our Revenue and if you want to look at the budget the actual detail version you'll see that breaking down broken down by function code the AP check register shows all the
checks that we wrote for the month of July I want to outline some of the larger purchases our middle middle City's risk management trust is our liability insurance that is the 4
and I'm not I don't have the exact number in front of me but it is on the check register as one of our large purchases for July and Baran Risa that is our Lighthouse transportation to transpant transport
our sped students for the entire school year and we are trying to lower that number by the purchase of our sped van that we purchased this month so hopefully next year we don't have such a high Transportation expense
to bar and Risa because we'll be transporting our own students the other large purchase was from train and that is for our boiler work all right you can present staff report F1 staff report F1 subject monthly
Financial reports this this evening it is recommended that the July 2024 payments be approved for all of the district's funds at a total of 1,550 1890
89 the recommendation is that the board approve the July 1st through July 31st payments for the following funds as listed can you read the numbers for us so on the rec sure I'll just go over the recommended
action again that the board approved the July 1st through July 31st payments for general fund 1,453 594 21 Food Service fund 3,921
2017 sinking fund 91,8 5370 and the Student Activity fund $1,542 77 for a total of
1,550 1890 89 is there a motion to approve staff report F1 Madame President you have the floor I would like to make a motion to proov staff report F1 is there a second or support support the motion has been
made by BP Bo and supported by secretary triplet any questions comments or concerns trusty Gavin thank you um president Robinson um um Mrs Brock Carter Carter thank you
U for this report I did have a question that was kind of lingering from the past and hoping that we can kind of bring into this space um there was a deep concern at that time that um building
principles um possible D um I don't know if the athletic director is able to see this or if coaches are able to see uh these things but I'm wondering you know what is the process for those people um
that are not in central office who need to make budgeting decisions how are they able to access their budgets and make decisions um yeah make those decisions well I can't hear
you I have meetings set up with all of the B building principles to go over their budgets and we go I haven't had a chance to meet with all the principles but I have met with one last week I have one
this week and so on and we go over the budget line by line I also when I submit Grant applications um I always consult with Robin along with the building principles to see the needs of each
individual building and we make sure that those needs are met so the process is we meet we go over the needs and we make sure that everything's in the budget and as the year goes on if we make need to make amendments or adjust m
to the budget we do that as well thank you and so I guess my question is do they have access to view um their budget yes right um so the so is it through munetrix is it like a spread like how
are they able to just it's a shared Google sheet um we have a Google sheet that we I share with the principles and everything's there um that's in the budget and as spend happens as things go
you know I'm often getting a call do I have anything left can I do this can I do that and then we figure it out okay thank you and I guess the other question is I know that with Athletics um coaches may need to
make some decisions or or different things of that nature are coaches um able to access those budgets as well uh at this time I am communicating with the athletic director uh my assumption is
that the coaches concerns are being brought to our meetings okay so you know if if there's a disconnect there we may have to address that and make a new process but at this time I am meeting
with the athletic director and he brings the concerns from the coaches to the meeting okay so currently the coaches may not be able to see their budget it may be the athletic director corre has it and they may not I guess I'm
wondering is that is there any aversion being that they have to make these decisions certain decisions that impact them is there any aversion from the business office or from the superintendent's office of coaches being
able to see their budgets as well I'm not against it um it it would just be a different process than we've done in the past that we would just have to familiar familiarize ourselves with and make that available to the coaches if that's the role that we want to take okay thank you
so much you're welcome secretary tripla for two years now I've been asking this question um as to why principles don't have their own budget why would uh uh title one's
decisions are based on each individual school um makeups and what have you I I I'm I'm just I'm just shocked it's almost like they have to come up and ask like their little bitt kids these people have master's degree I don't know just
let me finish please and I think each school you know at one time as an administrator here I was told that we had ghost budgets and we didn't know I never saw a budget here and I think that it is not right for these principles to not have
access to their budget they're calling to ask you do they have this available when they should have their own budgets and telling you what they have available and what they want to do with their money as long as they're within the parameter I do not understand also why
they would you you would go to Robin before and then she comes and do all these different layers the budgets are set up for each individual school that we have principal certified principles in these positions and those
principles should be able to work their budgets and not come up those stairs and have to act like they are little kids and I've been struggling this is nothing with you and I've shared this with you that they should be able to take care of their money and if they come up and they go
out you I mean as far as you guiding from the finance office saying because we've sent Title One money back we've sent all type of money back year after year after year because people were not able to do the work that they needed to do and I I just don't I'm struggling
with that and I I I would like to get some clarification and some resolve those are their budget the taxpayers money this is not Central Administration money to tell these people what to do they are educated they are in these building they know what they need more
than anybody so I just want to put that out there I don't need a response tonight but I want to put that in the atmosphere I would like to respond because I'm not sure if I misspoke or if you I think she she was trying to
clarify something I'm not being disrespectful Madam president I know but I'm chairing yeah I understand that but I understand I don't need I don't need I'm not asking I'm just putting it out there again seriously because they do have access to their budgets and the decisions that I make on spending is
based on the needs of the building and that's from the principal they do have access to their budget again we have a shared Google sheet that's shared with myself and and the building principles where they're able to view their budget
see the line items and make decisions from there um so it's it's it's not a ghost budget it's not something that I keep in my Arsenal and not share with them it's something that we work on together and then when you know Robin's involved
because she's the director of academics and and Title One money has to be spent on academics so when programming or things that need to come into play at the building level you know the director of academics needs to be involved in
that decision and so that's when I said Robin I was saying you know because programming should go through the director of academics I I I understand that what I'm saying is just like Robin knows Title One each principal should know those guidelines too so they
shouldn't have to ask her they should be within they should be a breasted on everything that for them to do in their budget we have a lot of money that people are being paid in this district for them to be held like they cannot do their job what's the
purpose of them having these positions if anything in that budget every administrators should know how to work and move their budgets and the guidelines the parameters that's within and to me it's professionally offensive I've been asking for three years and
this board know that the these these principles have not had access to their budgets and it's not right I want it on the record that that's where I am it is not right that's the way I feel and I'll get an opportunity to talk to the superintendent then we'll get a chance for
clarification so much try to put things on the record thank you appreciate you anytime for stepping in Secretary tripler can you please call the vote on staff for F1 president Robinson yes
vice president Bor yes secretary triplet yes trusty rocket Martin yes truste Gavin yes motion Carri always all right up next we have thank
you uh I woke you up Miss Carter for your presentation today next up we have student Support Services director Nicholls and she's going to be presenting an update on peer mediation yes thank you good evening um just
coming back again uh there we did have our um train the trainer um training for our peer coordinators at our fair play middle school and the high school um also next week they will start
the implementation so they'll gather their team um at each of the buildings and I do know that there was a question around how many staff um are able to be trained for the Train the trainers that
was four and then as far as students per building it is recommended 20 students Max okay um I did want to follow up with that um so I did share with you all the implementation timeline so um if
you the next thing on the timeline would be to start recruiting students in each of the building now that everyone is trained and there will be an event so like orientation or just informational to um staff around P mediation how that
process is going to look in the buildings any questions from the board regarding the update provided trusty Gavin yes um so I'm super excited um being on the disciplinary committee the chair of that committee this is something we've been
pushing for because we don't want to just be expelling students we want the students to be the leaders we want our students to be solving their own problems and we believe that they can and so I want to thank you director Nicholls for getting on top of this and making sure that
implementation uh happens uh I guess my my question is they recommended 20 right did did we have any Le wi wiggle room to train more students or um so they recommended that because
of the or is it 20 per school I'm sorry yes it is it's 40 okay thank you for that that's what I was trying to understand so it's 20 per school um my qu one of my questions is does this
entity ever train Elementary School students at this time it's in the two buildings right no I'm saying does the organization that does that offers this training do they provide training for elementary
students I I can ask that question okay good uh um I would appreciate if you look into that um very interested in knowing if that's an option that we can explore at some point um they're having as much experience as possible even at
the elementary level by the time they get to the high school uh that'll be super awesome and so it's four staff per building or just four staff total um so there's so it's two so the Train the trainers were the two at each building
so per building so it makes the four okay and so if they can train the trainer is there like no limit to how many staff or even parents um that can receive training in this skill set of negotiation and conflict
resolution oh yeah so now that they are trained they they definitely can and in fact I do know that um they will be forming their implementation teams and they will be looking for like a parent
to participate on that team so um that is something that I know each building is putting together now um because again that meeting is next that training is next week um Tuesday on the 17th okay awesome I know that we had a list of about a hundred students from uh Peace
Day who were interested in this program whether they were interested in getting started right then and there or they were in very interested in being educated on it so I'm hoping it's okay to turn that list over to you um while you're doing you know to Aid in
your recruitment process yeah so what I would do is when you do send that to me I'll get that to each of the buildings coordinators so the one at the high school is Mr Burton and the coordinator at the middle school is Mr Jones okay thank you and one last question does
this program would it benefit this program to have volunteers to support it or do you prefer to have everything self-contained so I will probably defer that to those who are in the buildings because they
are more aware of the the Staffing um so that's I would defer that information to the buildings but for me I would say um being that it is um within our school I would probably keep
it contained for me Goa okay thank you so much any other questions regarding the pr mediation update hearing none thank you Miss Nichols for your presentation today I'm glad we moved you up everyone's still alert to be able to hear your update up
next we have we're going to pass the floor to drct or director mcder might be speaking that into existence with that doctor I re um he's gonna be presenting staff reports AG one through ag4 good night
everyone uh staff report H1 can you all speak louder yes better can you hear me better there yes thank you so very much no problem so staff report H1 reason for board consideration a list of employees whose employment relationship with the
district is or will be separated is submitted to the board each month facts and Analysis it is recommended that the Board of Education votes to accept the separation of employment of the following staff policy reference 3140 and 4140 resignation of professional and
support staff strategic plan goal reference personel leader leadership B and Harbor area schools will recruit hire develop and retain the best staff to improve student outcomes separation of employment Celeste Paulie from the position of academic
interventionist uh effective date 108 2024 next we have Britney gaffing teacher in training kindergarten uh separation date 814 2024 maren Lindsey Graham uh from the position of gsrp
teacher 815 2024 Celia Otero Rios teacher in training elll uh English language learner 819 2024 Shannon Williams instructional facilitator effective date 820 2024 Raymond masman
stem sorry steam teacher uh effective date 96 2024 Jennifer Stiller HR coordinator recruiter effective date 96 2024 a recommended action that the Benton Harbor Area Schools Board of Education
votes to accept the separation of employment of the four mentioned staff is there a motion to approve staff report H1 Madame President you have the floor I make a motion to approve staff report H1 is there a second or support I
support the motion has been made by trust Bowen I mean vice president Bowen and supported by trusty raet Martin that we approve staff report H1 questions comments concerns I did have a question and I'm going to pass it to the flooor I'm a little confused with the last
um the HR coordinator or recruiter I'm wondering did was were we just a temporary hold or space until a better job was found or that has not been verbalized okay that has not been verbalized so that was not the intentions going in of our department we
just uh trusty Gavin oh child okay I I must say that I am very concerned about the turnover rate um effective September 6 exit
910 right effective August 19th exit 821 there are some systemic structural concerns in terms of onboarding um supports
and um allowing folks to leave without understanding what the issue is I do not think anybody just came and went through the process of being hired here just to
hurry up and leave people don't fill out all these applications and go through all of that process of getting a job just because they want another you know just because they want another job they want the job that they interview for and so I'm just you know structurally and
systemically I'm looking at our our our executive staff our superintendent our only employee When I See This level of turnover happening this quickly and it concerns me it
concerns me and so you know I'm wondering what is the capacity that we need to build to provide support so that people's onboarding is is properly um being executed and that maybe I don't know if
it's mentorship or what but something is happening and we need to know what that is and my my question is what it what is the difference between e exit interview completed some
say yes some say no and another one says TBD um okay to share with the board TBD to be determined it's yes or it's no did they say I don't know if it's okay to share with the board I don't understand the TBD so if they haven't completed the
survey yet they wouldn't have answered the question as to whether the survey is okay to share with the board that's why that's a 2B determin because they have not done it to indicate if it can be shareed with us right so I understand if it says no they haven't completed it right but there are there are lines that
say it's to be to to be determined if they completed it Oh you mean in the exit interview completed section okay Mr MC director mcder can you clarify that the tbds on Maan and Stiller so they have not they have been
we have sent them the exit interview survey um we have not received anything back yet at the time of this board meeting um but I'm hoping to still get that so that to be determined means we haven't received the as of yet okay so
that answer is no just real quickly um there was supposed to be a list of all of the people who have left us and then the status of those exit interviews whether they're edge of Staff or currently and I just want to say this um
I think it's very important for us to make sure that in our HR office that there is no retaliation that we are creating a safe space for our staff that's right and that we are treating them the way that they need to be treated and we only have one employee
and that would be Dr bu and so I just want to make sure that we're putting that out there on the record um that we are treating our folks the way they're supposed to be treated we treat them right they don't leave secretary triplet no you don't I'm not gonna make
you feel bad no I I I I I follow through you know I'm just I'm I'm just trying to get you back up strong I see you got back your strength back you was weak got ready to go off on me you came back real strong bu to Wrangle you when it's necessary I bring it from the
bottom of my toes if I have to well anyhow like I said I I'm I'm in I'm in agreement with it it doesn't feel right and I know that we went uh through this in our work session um it's just it's something is not right I don't know what it is and you
know um the same the things that the board is being accused of as far as quote unquote micromanaging when we get reports like this and we see things like this and they might not have an exit interview on record but they have an
exit interview in the community and they let us know and I want to put this on record again the only exit interviews in a very few exit interviews we definitely get the exit exit interviews of those people who uh have something to rip the
board up about we get those paper leag we got yes yes yes and we get them and they they come they they they're on our in our emails and we we see those but I'm very concerned and and again when I talk about Central Administration I don't know how I missed this but um um
when um Miss uh riio um who worked diligently in the finance office was an asset to the finance office top of the line in the finance office and she's resigning from a position of a teacher in training El L out of our finance uh
office I'm just concerned with that when when we were in our toughest of times this person was very instrumental and helped holding us together and keeping us together and now when did she move into a classroom and I did read her exit
interview and I want this board of education to please read that exit interview and I think some of our questions will be answered this is not a game this is our school district and
these are our students and this is a red flag another Central Administration red flag finance office finance office and for the last 20 years all they talked about was deficit now we get debt removed and now we don't have people working in the office efficient people
working in the office very concerning to me thank you so very much vice president Bowen um you know life happens and people have life situations you know some people can start at a
job and then get a call for a better job I think it is dangerous for us to paint a picture or go with conspiracy theories on our staff and going out in public I also
want us to be cautious discussing Personnel matters and disclosing names and information because I believe we could be violating laws but I think it is extremely dangerous for us to
constantly paint a picture of concern and it we may have concerns and I think we should discuss those privately but I think it's dangerous to publicly paint this dim and Grim picture that we have incompetent staff you don't do that and
I think that's dangerous and it's maybe we have multiple people wanting to be superintendents I'm just confused on why are we're going on this route thank you all right so at this time um in the absence of the secretary I'm going to
call the vote um and I'll be doing a sheet for him as well okay so the motion was made by vice president Bowen and supported by R uh truste ret Martin for the approval of Staff report H1 at this particular time
I'll ask that secretary triplet please call the vote president Robinson yes vice president bow yes truste rocket Martin yes truste Gavin no secretary triplet yes motion
Carri all right uh director mcder staff report H2 yes staff report H2 separation of employment reason for board consideration the list of employees whose employment relationship with the district is or will be separated is submitted to the board each month facts
and Analysis it is recommended that the Board of Education votes accept the separation of employment of the following staff policy reference 3140 and 4140 resignation of professional and support staff strategic plan plan goal reference Personnel leadership Benton
Harbor area schools will recruit hire develop and retain the best staff to improve student outcomes um separation of employment by means of retirement we have Renee Smith from the position of gsrp associate teacher effective date
822 822 2024 recommended action that the Benton Harbor Area Schools Board of Education votes to accept the separation of employment of the four mentioned staff is there a motion to approve staff report H2 Madame President you have the floor I would like to make a motion to
approve staff report H2 is there a second or support I support the motion has been made by vice president bow and supported by truste rocket Martin any questions comments or concerns you have the floor I would like to congratulate Mrs Smith on this
milestone in her life that she can retire and and um do some of the things that she probably couldn't do because she was working a 8 to five job or whatever so uh yeah I'd like to thank her for her years of service to Mitten
harvor area schools and that we wish her well in her new her new position as retiree all right all right thank you trusty rockat Martin if there's no other comments secretary triplet I ask that you trusty
Gavin just hoping that um for those staff we've um other board members have mentioned it before just making sure that when we have staff that retires that's giving us you know 15 16 years of their life if we're just making sure
that we're celebrating them with something um yeah and thank and thank you uh to the retiring all right there's no other I would also like to say congratulations on retirement I I'm looking forward to the
day when I have put in enough years of service I know I have quite a few years to go 30 years um about 30 or 40 so I'm extremely excited for Miss Smith that she has uh reached those days and I hope that she is able to actually
enjoy and get some rest I know most retirees find something else to keep them busy so whatever she decides to do with her time I hope it makes her happy so at this time I'll ask the secretary trip please call the vote for staff report H2 president Robinson yes vice
president bow yes secretary triplet yes truste rocket Martin yes trustee Gavin yes motion Carri all right Mr mcder staff report H3 Sure Staff report H3 employment of Staff submitting submitted for board
consideration to approve staff employment in accordance with the revised school code and other general laws of Michigan facts and Analysis it is recommended that the board approve the superintendent recommendation for the higher of the following Personnel policy reference 3120 and 4120
employment of professional and support staff strategic plan goal reference Personnel leadership Benton Harbor area schools will recruit hire develop and retain the best staff to improve student outcomes first in our list we have Matthew Jackson for the position of
teacher and training math at Harper High School second Laya Jones gsrp associate teacher at Discovery enrichment center next we have Alana scales for the position of accounts payable bookkeeper at central office next we have Arlene Wilson for CTE director at Central
Administration uh Jessica hio for the position of teacher and training art at Ben Harbor High School and last and not list for today is sharica Bell for the position of paraprofessional special education at MLK Jr recommended action that the Benton Harbor area school's
Board of Education votes to approve the employment of the forementioned staff Madam pres okay Mr mcder I'm a little bit confused the printed out copy that we have has a different name on it I sent an email this afternoon um the
original candidate uh withdrew later this evening maybe between 4 and 5: PM can I hear sorry the the original candidate on the list withdrew or had a change of mind between 4 and 5: pm today so we made an offer to the runner up who
was ready to go and they accepted the offer which is why that name has been changed for us tonight okay so this is one of this is one of the resumés that you sent out yes okay M vice president B Madam president I would like
to create a motion because one of our trustees did send an email and due diligence I want us to respect all trustees to make sure she gets her questions answered that's s never
mind I'm confused um okay one second I asked the question before a motion was put on the floor correct yes okay is there a motion to approve staff report H3 ISO move is there a second or support I support the
motion has been made by secretary triplet and supported by trusty rocket Martin questions comments concerns now Vice President bow what is it that you you were wanting to make sure concerns were addressed I know we need to fill that position but I also know we got an email from one of our
trustees but i' rather for us to go ahead and F fill that position um and I will ask that you direct Dr Buds and Marvin to please make sure they respond to that trustee okay I have yet so if this is an email that was sent today
just so you all know I don't send an email same day I'm not GNA be at available for the phone until like 5:30 most of the time so the email that you're referencing I'm not even familiar with but I think trusty Gavin had did you have a comment or a question trusty G I had a question but if if
um if that question has not been answered I can wait okay I'm good I don't have any other questions um you go ahead okay thank you so much so one thing I would like to say is that I'm I'm happy to
see that we're looking to feel the CTE director position that is careers and Technical education that is something that the community is very passionate about um if people are saying they want us to have more skills and trades and um
vocational Hands-On classes that is the position that allows for that and you know sadly when I got on the board we were only paying $4,000 for a CTE director to fill that position which makes it you know it's it's laughable at
best um and so we we we work to get a real um position in so that that person can actually work to expand that program and I guess I'm really happy about this and I know that we want to
save money and what I would also say is that I'm hoping that um if this position really works out if this person really works out in this position that we will look at I looked at the pay um and we will look at you know increasing the pay
for that position to make sure that we can hold on uh to that person it's it um you know definitely coming in if that's the pay that you all decided I respect it but I would also say that let's look at if there's some incentives if this
person really does um you know a really great job and expands programs and recruits people and students into the program we should be looking at um a better uh competitive pay for that role I guess my question is does um this
person have all of the certifications that are needed in order to fulfill the role of CTE director according to um the Michigan Department of Education yes they do yes okay awesome
um and so yeah that's just my recommendation is just really looking at a path way to providing a more competitive uh rate for that position and I'm also very happy to all of for all of the other new hes that we have and and just hoping that we give them an
amazing onboarding experience thank you all right so if there's no other questions I ask the secretary triplet please call the vote for staff report H3 president Robinson yes vice president bow yes trustee rocket Martin yes truste
Gavin yes secretary triplet yes motion carried all right next on the agenda we have staff report H4 for the third party new hires uh Mr mcder yes staff report H4 submitted for board consideration to approve the employment of Staff in
accordance with the revised school code and other general laws of Michigan facts and Analysis is recommended that the board approve the superintendent's recommendation for the hire of the following Personnel policy reference 3120 4120 employment of professional and
support staff strategic plan goal reference personal leadership Benton Harbor area schools will recruit hire develop and retain the best staff to improve student outcomes first we have Sher Culligan for the position of academic interventionist um through the
uh Services provided at Our Lady of the Lakes Elizabeth Hulan academic academic interventionist Services provided at River of Life schools Grace pedroso paraprofessional Services provided at River of Life schools uh recommended
action that the benon harbor Area School Board of Education votes to approve the employment of the four mentioned staff all right is there a motion to approve staff report ag4 Madam president you have the floor I make a motion to approve staff report H4 is there a
second or support a second the motion has been made by vice president bow and supported by truste rocket Martin any questions comments or concerns trusty Gavin thank you president Robinson I guess my question is um and we've been here
before where we're being asked to recruit and retain uh recruit and hire staff uh for private schools um and I asked if it was possible that we could receive the actual case law the actual
law that requires us to do that um and so like you know are we required to provide certain services do they have to be that service I think it's important for us to have that information in front of us and on this on this document if we're required
to do that because the Strategic plan goal that says b Harbor area schools will recruit hire develop and retain the best staff to improve student outcomes that doesn't improve our student outcomes so I don't understand how us hiring staff for a private school
improves our student outcomes in Ben Harbor area schools so I think that you know there may be a different strategic plan reference uh that meets this but that's not it so um you know being that I have a concern for us doing that I cannot
support um I cannot support this what I would ask though is if there are dollars um that these schools are paying us for the uh Grant coordinator services that we are offering it would be helpful to
include that in the document so that we could at least know that the investment of our time and the expenditure of our resources is actually coming back to us in some way um does that make sense can I get some clar the last thing I said is it possible for us to have
like know the dollar amount that these uh schools pay us to um recruit staff for them okay so one second I hear two people just give me one moment please um so in response to trusty Gavin's question that was an excellent Point
regarding the Strategic plan goal reference so I would ask that when we do these moving forward we just take that off it's not necessarily relevant to B harbar schools are our strategic plan so we can just remove that all right um the legal um requirement is something you
all can just email out to us and then what was the other question the actual financial piece yes I was told that it is possible to um to receive some funding from from these uh private schools for the services that we offer
and so I'm it would be helpful for us to know what we are receiving um back for our um services so can we just have that as a followup yes we can have it as a followup if you don't have it right now I understand but if it's something that
we can have in the future I do and it's it's a part of our what's called Equitable Services because we received Title One funds we have to be Equitable to our students that are attending private schools so the these are students that live in Benton Harbor area
schools district area but they are attending private schools so the Equitable Services that we provide to the private schools is required by um mde for title one two and four and then we are we can charge an
administrative cost up to 10% of their portion of the Equitable fund so it's a whole it's a whole calculation and spreadsheet that I have to do and it goes by the number of students that are at Ben Harbor students that are at the
private schools so these services that we provide are for our students that attend the private schools they are not you know our people the people that we hire we don't recruit them they are hired by the private schools they do
they recruit their own people but and then we just HDE we just do the onboarding here at Ben Harbor area school because the pay has to come from our district as a part of Equitable Services and we can elaborate more on it if you
like and and I can go over how we actually calculate the number to come up with the amount that we give the private schools and then again I go there I give them the number we go over the budget we address the needs of the title one
students at their building so that's just a rough so thank you I I would appreciate knowing what that number is that we're able to capture back so that we can you know keep track of that and what I would say is this is a backdoor way of dismantling and
defunding public schools that's that's what that is and so you know that's why I do not support it I do believe they are our students and if we're able to keep our funds we can actually serve them you know in a better capacity um nothing against these schools I you know have great relationships with with
people at these schools is just policy-wise I I can't support it but thank you so much and I look forward to finding out how we're able to retrieve those dollars trusty rocket Martin did you still have a comment she kind of answer question that I was gonna ask because
basically you're saying the state is looking at any kid in bitton Harbor they're funding that child and not so much individual school districts so the money moves with the kids correct the the dollars follow the the student not
the district right and and we're their fiduciaries right so we have to send that out okay I understand thank you secretary trip so River of Life Our Lady of the Lake is Lake Michigan
Catholic correct okay and so River of Light is a parochial is a private school yes School excuse me private Christian School all right thank you secretary triple keing please call the vote for staff 4
H4 president Robinson yes vice president Bowen yes secretary triplet yes trusty rocket Martin yes trusty Gavin no motion carry all right and then uh Mr mcder I know that the link is there but you went over this before correct this was just
an access for us okay so thank you so much for your presentation today we're going to move forward with the facilities committee or the facilities uh Department uh director dad is going to give us an update on the finalized survey for the Master's facilities plan
did you have anything to present just wanted to tell you real quick that the survey has been finalized and we're gonna huh you can't hear me now we can now we can now we can talk loud are you guys okay something's a little Eerie I think it might be the air today all
right so anyways U um the survey has been finalized and we're going to be posting it on the website real soon and that's really about it okay I I saw it go out on Facebook it's out out yeah it went out on Facebook um
at some point this week today okay I did see it though secretary triplet so um again with these surveys and what have you uh major decisions was made with only 36 people responding so we talk about the survey and what have you I just wanted
to know you don't have to tell me right now but when we talk about this survey and we talk about our staff and we talk about our community because it's not just our students and our staff when we talk about these major facility projects and what have you this district is made up of seven to eight different
municipalities and so we need correspondence of the super the president of the Board of Education both superintendent our last two superintendents has gone out to these various municipalities to introduce our superintendent to those different people
and those different entities and so I don't know to what degree everybody is not on Facebook I don't know to what degree because this is very very serious um we talking about doing major things you know so I I'm I'm I'm not going to
be accepting and I want to put this on the record as well because only 50 people got did the survey that is that's nothing compared to what we need that makes up Ben Harvard area schools okay so I appreciate that but also we have
senior citizens who do not who are technically Savvy what other things have we done to really get out there like they're getting out there to get the vote what are we doing to get out there to get and hear what the people in this community who pay taxes to the school
district regardless of whether or not their children attend this school but they pay taxes every year to Ben Harvey area school what type of efforts have been put out this right here just the initial because this is a major decision so this right here is for the superintendent and we can discuss that
later I appreciate it but I appreciate that report just saying that this is already that this is out there thank you so very much um Dr bucks can you clarify how long the survey is open the survey is
going to be open for uh several weeks so what I'll do is I'll have Miss singer to set up me some appointments to meet with the different municipalities to make sure that we give out um hard copies and give the uh the link to our website to
direct them to our website to take the survey so because like you said if if we want Community input we want all the municipalities to know about it and to give their input and feedback so that we can make informed decisions okay and then if you could get a a copy of those
send me an appointment uh to go to the municipalities with you if you once you determine that you're going to go to the municipalities if you are okay I get you send me an appointment on my calendar so I can reserve the space for those times and
I'm able to go with you when we look at this too when I say the seven municipalities because a lot of time people just think that it is Venton Harbor proper and that is not so B Township is a large portion of our community our mayor mayor Marcus
Muhammad trust our supervisor Kathy y all of those different entities and people can give you some ideas on how to reach the people because that's why we have a lot of push back because we don't reach out to them and we don't we don't include them until we need something from them and they
have to be a part of this process from the beginning to the end without them we don't have a school district seriously thank you all right thank you um Mr Dash and um president robon I
thought um you have the floor I I I thought I was trying to go after trusty rocket Martin you have that okay okay perfect so I think a couple things here under facilities we're always looking for some
general updates in terms of the facilities um as well in terms of um help desk tickets you know are the what is the status of health desk tickets that went in in terms of people having
concerns about facilities and then that turn around and making sure that those items are addressed if there is a report that indicates that 40 staff put in requests for help desk tickets and those help desk tickets were cleared within a week that's great to
know like you know would like to know um that information also there was a request for information in terms of update on the driver's education program um and the pool
um and I don't know if there was a final decision about the track um so those are some facility uh infrastructural concerns that that's that's not here um yes so
out uh with the with the ticket situation Mr Dash director Dash can answer with the uh pool and the driver ed I did send out correspondence to the board in reference to that can you answer so with the here please with
the uh D at RFP it was supposed to went out today um I had a situation to come up today it'll be out tomorrow so it'll be out for two weeks the the goal is to make sure it starts the spring this spring yes ma'am so um and with the
track the excavators are out on the field um Mr Dash will give it uh update as to the reason we were asked um explicitly by our our committee chair to really look into the start time and
finish time and now Mr Dash got a director Dash got an update from the contractor themselves in reference to if we pause now or if we move now he'll give you an update on that and am I missing
something the pool oh the pool the pool um I decided to wait I pulled back on the pulled to wait on the master facilities plan reason being facts and Analysis it was because we had the we got all the other capital projects that
are going now and it's we're really trying to make sure that we stay on track with all of those before we take on another that that that is going to be a huge project to to tackle and I want to make sure that we are diligent with making making sure that we get these gym
floors and all those uh the boilers these major projects fixed in place up and running before we tackle another huge project that that is going to be a nice size one thank you Dr Buon may I ask I remember we were told the driver Z
would be last year last school year and now we're looking at next spring what is the factor that's moving it up another year one of the things we had to do is get it approved through the Essa we had to do a re-budget through Essa and then
when I brought it up to uh um office of partnership districts they hadn't realized that that was one of our major issues so they actually contributed some money to our to that program as well so with that being said we want to I wanted to make sure that we had enough money to
so when we do it it's not a oneand done onee thing now we we're able to we're up to two years now so if they able to give us more money we can do another RFP or either extend we'll put in RFP to to extend for
an additional year that is awesome so now are we able to offer this program without charging the students since we have this extra money we can awesome thank you for thank you for that that's really great news I think that's something that we should
you know share to the public uh the other um issue is with the master facilities plan I thought that we had paid a company to deliver this service to us and I would think that if we're paying them all this money that they
will also have a marketing strategy for getting the word out um not sure if that's you know if that was part of their proposal uh but if we are paying them to do this um do you know off top if they offered any marketing services
in terms of getting the word out on this on the plan or did they just write the survey questions and say have at it so we did have a a entire um committee that was on there that I I talked about on
the last work session with um the members there so it is part of their if I'm not mistaken it is part of their contract to make sure that they get the word out as well so I will work with them too um I think it's I will work with them and making sure the other
municipalities get it but I do think it is important that when um I schedule these meetings to go out to the different entities instead of been Harvard proper that they hear it directly from myself and or the school board president or whomever else she
designates to to go along because again when you when you put a face with it instead of just a message you get a I think you get a better response absolutely I'm just saying if we spend an x amount of dollars for a service we need to make sure that they are
providing that service and that they are you know calling town halls or community events to make sure that everybody as many people as possible um can take advantage of providing their input yes ma'am thank you m raet could you have a
question yeah I do for the driver's ad I'm not opposed that it's totally free but I think it would be best if the students also had some kind of financial buyin into the program uh when people put in their own
substance and their own money they tend to stick to it and take it serious and um and I think that would also help to uh stretch the dollars stretch the dollars of it doesn't have to be a big
fee but I think money from them also would help because if you take drivers in now it is very very expensive so whatever they can give to help uh you know um the program I think that's a
good thing and I think it also just kind of helps you to become a little bit more dedicated you know you w't start something and stop my other question is this would this be like an after school program or during the day or just how would you how would you start it would
start off as after as as an after school okay um because what we're trying to do is get the company in to train our staff okay to be able to teach it um they so they'll come in first with their with their equipment and their staff but the hope is to train our staff um I will I
will bring it back to the board to let the board decide whether you want to do a a small fee I can I can easily do that but the the most the biggest part now is to get the RFP out and get it approved okay so I'm I'm not sure where
we are on the agenda I don't have driver's ed noted as an agenda item for discussion so we're gonna proceed um to teaching and learning uh staff report T1 we do we didn't do F1 Madam president I
don't think we voted on no we did take a vote on monthly financials okay all right you have the floor director cups for staff report T1 uh the subject is the approval of the
ready Taekwondo Academy contract for the 2425 school year the Board of Education shall approve the contract for social emotional learning seal work with ready Ty wondo for the 2425 school year at both fairplane elementary and middle
schools in the amount of $3,290 the teaching and learning department and office of student support services are working toward providing additional seal support for our elementary and middle school students this coming upcoming school year the funding source for this initiative is
Title One policy reference 2131 6320 and 6325 the mission of bent Harbor area schools is to educate guide and Inspire students by developing their skills and knowledge to be globally competitive the recommended action is that the Benton Harbor Area Schools Board of Education
votes to approve the Contra contract with the ready Taekwondo for the 2425 school year at fairplane elementary and middle schools in the total amount of $3,290 Madam president is it uh you have the floor oh sorry are you you have a
motion go ahead I'd like to make a motion that we approve staff report T1 support all right the motion has been made by vice president Bowen and supported by trustee Gavin I'm not sure I have a printed off copy in the back
before your pure mediation okay thank you all right any question so the the motion has been made by vice president bow and supported by truste Gavin that we approved staff report T1 questions comments concerns trusty Gavin I'm so
excited about this program at the middle school um thank you for your creativity and bringing this um my question is would the is this like a extracurricular would it be able to replace PE for those
students that you know don't like the traditional PE or would they be required to still take PE and taan is just a you know like a extra class extracurricular so at this time Taekwondo is considered just another
elective um it's not currently offered for all of the students at the Middle School uh but will be an optional course that students can take um PE class tends to be more um in line with um athletic
development and nutrition how you feel your body for your sport as opposed to taekwondo that not only has that athletic component but it also has the self-discipline um and some other growth factors that are related to that social emotional learning
um so to answer your question not every student at this time um but that certainly could be a place that we go uh in the future is PE required at the middle school level no okay and then how
soon would the students be able to um take that class once it's become once we if we vote in favor of it so we have everything in place to get it started we're just waiting for um the school board approval uh principal Philips at
the middle school is ready to make adjustments to their to the student schedules I believe they already have a list of students that they've identified um for the program um and with principal rights schedule at fairplane East
Elementary School they already have uh the time built in for this to be one of the specials okay good deal thank you so much um um director C CS um yes cups
thank you so much for that update um just same thing maybe maybe it's on our end like on our end we need to identify the reports um that we're looking for in each area and and if you all have those templates from us um then you'll know
you know what other information that we're looking for so that we can make the decisions we need so I I'll take responsibility on our end U for providing those templet but thank you I'm in support of this okay I have a quick question for you so there so I just want to make sure I understand this
is going to be like a daily class offered at both of these schools yes they're committed to two hours at the middle school and two hours at Fair playan East okay and do we know how many staff
they're providing is this for one staff person or how many I'm just I'm asking I think it's a really great idea and I don't want you to think I'm I'm opposed $113,000 is just quite a bit of money and um I know my my daughter did Taekwondo and her fees were of course
nowhere near $100,000 so I'm trying to just kind of figure out what is it that we're getting for the cost that we're paying sure so we are um quoted for 247 students that's all of the students at fairplane and
then um I'd have to go back to look at the specific number for the Middle School um it's less than a 100 uh and not only is it the staff um Grandmaster Smith plus up to four staff members that he will bring with him and then uh
there's several different um items that are on his equipment list board breaking kits um uniforms for the students that help them to put themselves into the right mindset for the program uh mats um there's a few other things the
the um contract that's linked on there has a list of those items okay and then my La my last question for you I know you estimated up to 300 students 200 at one school and a little less than 100 at another what happens if we don't have that many
students enrolled in the program are we still required for the $113,000 or is it adjusted based on participation when we had the conversations um to put this together starting about four weeks ago we use the numbers that were in power school to get
as close to our accurate number as possible okay okay so I would just ask that we ensure we we get them enrolled and participating because $100,000 is a lot money if the kids are not going to make use of it but I think it's great of course I spent my own money for my
daughter to go so I and I love the program and I'm familiar but I just wanted to ask secretary triplet so again I I I support this I think our kids it it does with the social and emotional learning um I I I also just have this
question again the principles um I I'm hearing you saying that this is kind of like after the fact the elementary P principle has identified the number of students the Middle School principal which is new
um did the Middle School principal put this in her budget or did you all put it in there and then tell her what she needed to do because I'm going to press the issue about the principal than their budget that's not a problem for me secretary triplet thank you for your question yes
it is in her budget it is it was a part of the Consolidated application that was submitted last month for the enti entire building and everything in the budget was going over by each principal okay so I'm no I guess I was asking was this something when I'm talking about their
budget principal Wright initiated she wanted this program in her school the new principal at fairplane I know it's been something at fairplane that they've done you know for the last few years and what have you it's been a pretty good program for them and I know the new principal has just come in the first
week of school I just wanted to know if they had the liberty and the autonomy to make the decisions the to having this in their building so I'm quite sure if they have it in their building they're going to make sure that the students that are required are in those classes okay thank you so very much Mr Carter Brock Carter
you're welcome okay well I'm gonna call for the vote for staff report T1 but if we find for some reason we don't have I will come take Taw so the money is not the staff can do some some social uh
we got to figure out how to make use of this bread that's all I'm saying okay secretary triplet please call the vote for staff report T1 president Robinson yes vice president Bowen yes secretary triplet yes trustee rocket Martin
trustee Gavin yes motion carry all right so next under old business our board retreat um if you all remember I had notated that we wanted to do uh I was looking at our next training our required trainings for Saturday
September the 21st I did confirm with Miss Meg that she is available um that's next Saturday you're not available okay so I have to change the date I won't even play that game um so I'll come back to that because we we have to all be
present for it to account um anything under new business okay anyone here for open public comment you have a comment do you need for me to read the public comments statement okay okay thank you thank you for making
the time uh my name is Liz Goodwin and as you know some of you may know I'm getting ready to retire on Friday um thank you and I I want to let everyone know that after four years of working in the superintendent's office I've never
felt for one day that any staff central office has never had anything but the best interest of the district at heart where there have been problems that have Arisen is from personal issues that have come up that have clouded the judgment and the climate of the office it has
nothing to do with the ability of the people that work there they're very every single one of them is amazingly qualified and when I hear so many complaints about our central office staff when none of you are in that office every single day some times from
8:00 in the morning till 10 o'clock at night working to get things done for this District in the best interest of this District to have you talk like you do sometimes is extremely frustrating and aggravating the team that we have now the set of directors that you see right
over there is the most amazing dedicated group of teamw workers I've ever worked with I said to Dr buts two weeks ago or three weeks ago when I I was like I'm going to get emotional about this I'm so glad that I can leave this job knowing
that the district is in good hands not only under Dr buts but under this amazing group of directors over here that work their excuse my French asses off every single day to do what's best for the kids in this district and I swear to God I just I cannot believe
I've sat her for four years and listen to this and you worry about how the how the board is portrayed in your exit interviews trust me when I tell you that it's there sometimes for a reason even from my own perspective I don't need my whole three minutes to say what I need to say I'm really glad
that I've had this fantastic opportunity to work in this community to work with people to work with the staff that work here but I am so disgusted by the way that we are portrayed in the public just for the near sense of being told in public on a live stream broadcast how
bad our district looks and you want people to come here and work you wonder why this PO I know why this person left after a couple weeks and it wasn't it wasn't because of anything going on here so you you make assumptions but you
don't know because you're not in that room you're not in that office you're not on that floor you are not preing to conversations this is private information you are not entitled to know unless they tell you they say it's okay for you to know to make assumption
otherwise is absolutely wrong and it's inappropriate and I don't even know how to say it but on the lighter side like I said I have enjoyed my time here at Benton Harbor area schools and I'm glad that I'm leaving it I feel in a better place than
my position was when I when I arrived I didn't have the training and I'm so thankful that Natalie has been able to work with me for the last couple weeks because every single every single day has had an opportunity to come up and learn something oh yes this is how we deal with someone that's upset about
this or this is how we deal with a fouryear request or this is how we deal with the board EST or this how she has had the opportunity to have every single experience that I've experienced over the last four years and so I feel really good that she's going to do an amazing job she's amazingly talented and smart
and a quick learner and understands uh Dynamics and she understands the community so I mean these are all pluses and I'm very very excited for her and I'm excited for the future bet harur schools because I do care about you just like everybody else here does thank you
thank you uh anyone else from open public comment all right hearing none uh superintendent announcements and comments thank you madam president I just want to make sure that everyone is know that the reader's
Choice has uh nominated our band to be uh one of both of the top van and B in the region um the ads will run for the next two weeks for voting from September 25th to October 6th so I'm very proud of
our band I will send this out to the board that our band has been nominated as one of the best bands in the in the county we're one of the top three so we need everyone's vote okay so thank you Miss Liz for that we're one of the top three bands in the district so we need
everyone to vote so can we share that um on our platform yes I want to make sure I bring it to the first all right and I just want to also just thank uh all the um the teachers the staff The Faculty everyone that does an amazing job every
day for our for our students for our families for our community and for our district all right next we have board members announcements and comments uh trusty Gavin thank you um so I'm super excited to announce that
once upon a time um for the Peace during the Peace Day reunion that was when the students would take the 90day peace for Life challenge we are extending that um
to offering that 90day challenge um to the entire Community we decided that that's a challenge that should happen all year round you take a you identify the Habit that you want to change uh what do you want to replace it with and
um you find a partner to help hold you accountable and you and you you hold each other accountable to that thing that's going to make you better and people of all ages can get involved have a father who's uh looking to do taii with his son we have another father
who's looking to listen to his daughters ask her ask her his daughters a question every day in journal with them we have some folks giving up meat we have some folks meditating so it's a really beautiful uh peace within uh things that are happening there um so really excited
about that anyone who's interested can go to Peace Day 247.com and in the menu option there's the the opportunity to join that challenge um what I would say is that U this is a very important board meeting and
I think that for Liz to be able to come and say what she wants to say no matter how we feel I do think that it's important for us to be able to listen um to staff and for people to have a safe space to speak their mind um even if I
you know vehemently uh disagree with that person I think that we need to create a safe space for people to share their ideas so that we can identify you know what are the things that we can do better and I just want to be clear that I'm not saying that anybody is
incompetent what I'm saying is that if something occurs enough the a pattern appears and if there's a pattern um of concern we need to address it we need to fix it and we only have one employee um
and so we have a right to hold that employee accountable and I know that sometimes in Black communities people are uncomfortable with black folks holding other folks accountable that's our job and whatever happening in other school districts um they have a right to
hold their superintendent accountable and our elected officials have a right to do that as well we have a right to have a high expectation of academic Excellence of our programs of all of the above and so uh and what I would say is
that we don't just sit at these tables I can't speak for everybody but I live in this community born and raised I graduated from B Harbor High School and I went to all of the schools um all of my schooling was through b Harbor um area schools and I talk to people and so
I have multiple sides to this coin and I know what's going on and so I speak to that it's my job to do that and so I'm happy to do that and um it's our job to make sure that we hold our leader accountable to doing what's best for our
students thank you you trusty raet Martin uh I once again would like to recommend that maybe we should go to committees as a whole uh for the simple fact that we all could receive the same information at the same time and get the
same facts and ask the questions there and get it clarified um I think that might help reduce a lot of the the information that we don't get that we think we should have I also would like to say I'd like
to for us to be careful when we say we send tital $1 dolls back I've been in this district for about 40 years plus and we've had amazing people that filled that state and federal office and I still assume that we have amazing people
monitoring that budget now and so when you say we send dollars back to my knowledge we've never sent any tital one1 dollars back Grant dollars Sig funds but never Title One funds we have sent back and so uh because when you say
that that makes it seems like those people were incompetent and didn't really know their what they were doing that they would send money back to the state never so I I'd like for us to kind of be careful when we say that
um I think let me see what else uh as far as the budgets um you know I I I you know I kind of believe the principles have access to their budgets we always had access to ours and
basically what you're doing in um Finance is exactly the same way they did it with us when I was a principal they called us in we looked at our budget over our budget and and really our budget was set for us the year before
the year before we knew uh what things we wanted to do the following year so I don't think it's a last minute thing that that principles and finance uh do but once again I I would like to say that um if we could go to committees as
a whole I think that would be a lot better for us thank you uh trusty ra Martin secretary triplet Madame President thank you for this opportunity to close out tonight uh again I said what I said and before I take it back I'll add more to
it um um and and and and it's real accountability is very difficult it's very difficult and it is something that is just plaguing the nation you know people get offended you know and privilege is real privilege is real and people feel
just because that they can come and say and do and conduct themselves in any kind of manner and I understand privilege and all of those different type of things but we are tigers this board of education is made up of citizens of Benton Harbor
Benton Harbor area school the majority of us are alumni of this institution and so we've been here when there were 2,300 students in this high school so if you get offended by my
tiger that's personal I don't care about you being offended about my tiger and our tiger okay because you go back to your various communities and what have you because sometime people think when they're working that they're helping you're not helping you get a check and
you have a responsibility and I think that is very very important and as far as um my colleagues and it's not to anyone to be careful about what we say and about what we do I said what I said if you pull the budgets and what have you would know
there have been several times when monies were sent back because we did not do what we were supposed to do and people didn't get it done in a timely manner in a timely manner but because they didn't have access and I'm going to fight report Until the End um I I want
to say that just because like like uh president um you work we work together we talk together and everything you work with me and I work with you and we know each other and we know how it do I want to tell you all I encourage you all to do a
good job it's nothing personal and I wish you all the very very best but you got to be on top of your game because you can't bring no anything up in here and present it to us and think that we're just going to say yes because you said it we might not
have it written in paper we live in this community they talk to us too so I wish you all the best and and thank you uh to Liz I hope that you have an absolutely amazing retirement um I really do I appreciate everything that you brought
to the table for Ben Harbor area schools so enjoy your retirement and Natalie we are so excited about you being in that office it's great to have a tiger assisting our superintendent thank you vice president B well you
know I gotta start it off start it off today with one of my songs by the late Frankie Beverly andaz right I can't understand why we treat each other this way taking up time with these silly silly games we play we've got our love
and no matter how it's said or done we are one no matter what we do we are one love will see us through we are one and that's the way it is I just want to encourage you guys I'm getting ready to start a podcast it's called fight the good fight Trenton version 101 so I want
you to tune in because it's going to be about defending the truth and standing up for yourself so fight the good fight if you see me on camera I want you to tune in you know who I'm talking to Liz I almost got te ey because I just want
to say thank you you tolerated a lot you allowed people to treat you any type of way and don't ever think your work was not in vain people use pride and passion as a level of disrespect and that's not okay so
people see you and your reward is in heaven some of us talk like we are Christlike but our actions are not Christian everyone can say I love you with the love of God but are you walking in the fruit of the spirit are you treating people with how you would want
to be treated so I just want to say thank you for your years of service your encouragement and just being there when I call you and I need help or anything thank you that's beautiful beautiful Dr Ducks I want to
say thank you because so often you go through a lot you are constantly put on the front and demeaned and belittled but we value some of us on this Bo do value and we respect you and we use a token of a word of
accountability it's a way you can get accountability treat people with how you want to be treated a new school is opening up and I want you guys to be aware I had talks today a new school is opening up it's going to bring more competition I'm not
going to say you're going to be shocked on who's opening up the school but we have a new school coming in bitton Harbor I also want to say we have to watch the line that we walking to sometimes we say it's accountability but let's not use accountability as a level
of word of micromanagement thank you and God bless you all all right so I have no comment this evening I ask for a motion to adjourn I support a second the motion was made by vice president bow is there second support support and second it he's
making the he's making a motion oh he's making the motion yeah I made the motion to adj and second it no oh okay he he just made the motion is there a second or support the motion has been made by vice president bow and supported by trustee Gavin um
secretary trip King call the vote president Robinson yes vice president Bowens yes secretary triplet yes trustee rocket Martin trusty Gavin yes motion carry right this media is officially
adjourned and 9:08 p.m. 908 3 hour