##VIDEO ID:es-uzCpp15c## this meeting is a meeting of the Board of Education 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 located at 870 kfax 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 presented 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 natalie. singer bhas.org I call this meeting to order officially at 614 p.m. we'll Begin by reciting the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all Miss singer can you please call the role in the absence of the secretary pres president secretary triplet Treasurer trust W Martin truste Gavin pres truste Doyle all right thank you a quorum has been established next on the agenda we have approval of the agenda at this time I would ask is there a motion to approve the agenda with a slight Amendment I'd like to remove the approval of closed session 911 2024 being that it's still pending receipt is there a motion to approve the agenda as stated I make a motion to approve the agenda necessary revisions is there a second or support is there a second or support on approval of the agenda okay so that motion failed is there an adjusted request for approval of the agenda being that there's not a second because we cannot proceed with our meeting without a second of the agenda you have the floor vice president bows I give the floor back Al go ahead we can do so you're supporting yes all right so the motion has been made by trusty rocket Martin and supported by vice president bows any questions comments and concerns I have a question president Robin you have the floor trusty Gavin I know we got a late email today uh regarding some restructuring that Dr bus is looking to do closing this building doing that is that something that's going to be in this agenda I don't see it is that something that we're supposed to be voting on or anything so to my understanding that information is all within the HR reports so it's noted in your HR reports is It Something That We're voting on or is it something that so at this time it's being proposed for vote correct okay so I guess um my concern is that something like closing buildings restructuring staff all of that was just submitted to us today and it's and we're being asked to vote on something like that um in our agenda so I have a concern and I'm wondering if um there can be an amendment to remove that and move forward with the rest of the agenda so that we can get all the information we need for a decision like closing skill buildings and Cape and all that okay Dr bus do you have a response on that so we're actually not just closing the build we just U moving staff to be more efficient and to be a savings to the to the district so the skills center will remain open as a storage facility but it will not be closed we won't have to worry about heating that because it's the savings of if I'm not mistaken of $50,000 to the district because of the what I presented to you in the email today of the cost that it cost us to heat it last year I thought there was something about moving Cape people to cosmetology buildings and stuff like that so there are four staff at Cape and the staff at the skill center remov to the Kate building the staff at the uh at Kate would move over to uh the old cosmetology room that's not being used at the moment that is being repurposed again for the the total savings to the district will be 160,000 for the school year for the remainder of this school year yeah that's just my recommendation it's up to the board but M I'm concerned about making decisions so quickly without it going through work session or anything like that and us having a vote on something like that so quick so we we did discuss it in HR and finance committee I me the general board work session in front of everybody in the public vice president bow Madame President I concur with um trustee Gavin um with us getting ready to receive our new board member I don't think because there's no students affected because a lot of them are virtual I don't see why this cannot wait until we communicate with our new board member and also the facility um asset plan but I'm trying to find that resolution that we would even be voting on for that I don't see it but what facility what now for the closure of the facilities so but I sent out this evening on the on the HR is the transfer staff so we're right we're voting on the transfer of Staff but but there's no resolution to that was that was mostly informational so that that doesn't that typically doesn't require vote okay so we're not voting on that Tate right we that doesn't require vote we are what we're looking at is the transfer staff Okay so that is so truste Mo um truste Madam president truste Gavin put a motion on the floor but it no so we are within trusty Rocket's motion to approve the agenda trusty Gavin simply made a comment regarding concern so now we're within that same motion that rock Martin I thought she wanted to amend it so sorry oh yes ma'am I was looking to just point of clarity I was just looking to amend the motion to exclude a vote on that decision right now which particular decision the building the whatever uh Dr bus gave us today that we didn't have an opportunity to review discuss talk to community anything okay so Dr bus can you please clarify which of your reports are directly related to the email sent so the the the staff report that's directly related is the transfer staff okay so the movement of people and or or move movement or or of buildings to save District funds is not for vote that was for information the transfer it dealt with the transfer of Staff but it's not dealing with the movement of there is no staff report to move uh buildings if you would so so what I would ask because I think there's a concern about the operational changes that are that you're that you're indicating that you're making to us I would ask that everyone in the room please silence your phones thank you so much and so what you've indicated is that that's not something that requires a vote I would ask if you could check with legal counsel to ensure that that's not something that requires a a a vote um because it is a transition of an actual School building although it's virtual it's still a learning capacity and so I just want to ensure that although we trust judgment made by the superintendent I want to ensure that we're not breaking our own bylaws by choosing not to have a motion on the floor regarding such an oper AAL change if that makes sense yes ma'am okay Madam president Madam president can we please note for the record that secretary trip is here as of 6:22 pm. you have the floor okay so um from what where we are is at the approval of the agenda right with the uh question that's being asked so we're asking uh truste Gavin asking for that to be taken off so where we are right now is within a motion truste rocket Martin approved the agenda as it is with the only adjustment as the uh removal of closed session minutes which was supported by trustee uh vice president Bowens So within her comment truste Gavin asked whether or not board members would consider amending it to remove a particular report and that's where we are currently um just a point of clarity just remove the voting aspect I'm happy to have the discussion and get the information so people can know what it is just voting aspect of that so Dr bus is indicating there's nothing to vote on but I think there's confusion in that trusty Gavin is relating you're you said that transfer staff is part of the email so I think in trusty Gavin's defense that's what she's asking if we could um not have her vote I have no problem with the transfer staff request it was this email that talked about moving Kate to cos ology and this like all of those things right so those things we are not voting on those and so what I have asked that he do because he is under the impression that those are not changes that require a board vote so what I have asked him to do um for the board is to check with legal counsel to ensure that that is not something that requires a board decision because that's a major operational change prior to him making that change so that is not something that was set that is on the agenda per Dr bus for vote but I asking that he not move on that um those transitions without seeking legal counsel to ensure that it is that it is not something that we should be voting on okay secretary triple you have the floor yes so you know for something of this magnitude and all sincerity to be given to us today and what it looks like and and what's being requested I just you know I struggle with it I think needs to I I don't have any problems with what they're doing as it relates to um asking for the transference of staff and what have you but this is uh with a lot to wrap our heads around and so um we're talking about moving a school be at virtual to another facility the facilities committee this is the first time I ever heard of it um we don't even know if that place is even inhabitable and so I mean like tonight before the public I I I would like to um you look confused you m up you look secretary triple continue no I just felt her stare like she knew because I think because your your um comments they almost sound as if you think a vote is on the floor for that I okay I'm just saying I just think that it should be removed and not even discussed at that particular juncture when you have so many people here who don't know what's going on okay so Dr buzz what you e and I'm this is my last clarification and we're going to call for the vote what you emailed us today as it relates to the facilities is it on the agenda for discussion no okay is everyone clear on that it's it's not on the it's not on the agenda because he was under the impression that he did not need board approval so what I have advis that he do is seek legal counsel to ensure that we are not breaking our bylaws or he does not break board policy by making those transitions without a board vote he does not need board approval to move a school that's why I've asked that he seek legal counsel so to to ensure we know where we are we are at approval of the agenda we have been discussing an email that he sent that was sent in the in in the late hour about particular changes that he is suggesting that we make to how we operationalize our services here in the district there is nothing on the agenda that is pertaining to that because Dr bus was under the impression that it did not require a board vote I have I have advised that he not take action on that without seeking legal counsel to ensure that it does not require a board vote thank you okay any other questions from the board secretary triplet if you're ready can you please call the vote as a reminder because we have quite a bit of discussion this is on approval of the agenda with the amendment of removal of the close session minutes from 911 2024 because they're still pending a receipt secretary triplet president Robinson yes vice president BN no secretary triplet yes trustee rocket Martin yes trusty Gavin yes motion carries all right next on the agenda is review of the Board of Education Norms the Board of Education norms for Benton 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 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 intention next on the agenda is public comment on agenda items is there anyone present who would like to make a comment on an agenda item this evening all right you have the floor do you need you want the public comment statement okay the Ben Harbor Area Schools Board of Education recognizes the value of public comment on educational issues and the importance of allowing members of the public to express okay so at this point we can't continue because it's only three so if um both secretary triplet and trusty BS have to leave we'd have to take a recess okay the Ben 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 writing to ensure that responses are appropriate and properly focused herb Harvard are school's bylaw 016730 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 addressed in 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 as 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 you have the floor thank you good evening everyone my name is Tiana batis wadell 330 kofax Avenue southb Indiana Jax Aspire foundation and save the youth mishana campaign and several additional citizens continue to demand the Benton Harbor Area School Board of Education recommend and vote for the termination of Dr Kelvin buts for failure to implement a comprehensive strategic plan and requirements in the partnership agreement effectively by causing an increase in student achievement this evening we continue to hear uh that communication is being given last minute decisions aren't being made with the whole team um and this is in regards to the 21st century freed proposal truste Gavin stated last meeting quote as long as we do what we have to do on our end she said it three times during the last meeting again as long as we do what we have to do on our end where's the data that shows the relation to the 21st Cent Ed proposal in the Strategic plan if you aren't paying attention to those details how can we trust that you're going going to be able to manage a $1.1 million stem project yes stem is important and I would even argue that steam adding the Arts is important however as Elora stated as long as we do what we're supposed to do on our end well based on the Michigan accountability data literacy achievement decreased slightly in many grade levels graduation rate significantly decreased why student services doesn't have any reports on suspension or expulsions why what data are we using to drive these decisions the $1.1 million project won't be effective either until you fix the lingering toxic culture sr3 funding we're using for this it seems that we're making a quick decision just to spend money thank you thank you is there any anyone else who would like to make a public comment on an agenda item all right hear oh hearing none we'll go ahead and proceed next on the agenda we have approval of the meeting minutes as noted we remove Clos session 911 2024 I would ask that we ensure that those are provided to miss singer as soon as possible at this point we are taking a vote on regular session 1112 2024 minutes is there a motion to approve make a motion to approve the 11 122 24 minutes is there a second or support I support the motion has been made by truste raet Martin and supported by secretary triplet any questions comments or concerns hearing none secretary triplet president Robinson yes vice president Bowen secretary triplet yes trustee rocket Martin yes truste Gavin yes madame president motion carried all right thank you secretary triplet up next we are at board business as a reminder protocol as of 9:13 2022 all comments will be limited to two minutes per truste per topic we have first up for board business a lovely holiday presentation by threads of hope you have the floor and thank you for setting the tone today quick because we want to thank you all uh we are um thread of Hope records where we use social and emotional learning to address issues making good choices is that right students so we have a few of the posters here okay um deal with self awareness you want to read that poster for them because we know it all starts in the brain y'all okay so let's start Miracle no let's start with r so if we could get the mic down so that they can hold the mic and read can y'all turn towards them sit out there and then the messages are unbelievable you and they're learning very early they're learning very early how to respect each other hold one second okay we're going to start with brainy because we know everything starts in the brain baby nice and Loud I'm hold I'm hold yours up this is talk always remember to be aware of your thoughts choose to be kind stay calm under pressure be caring and loving to everyone and build strong healthy relationships I have the power to speak kind and positive words minute so now what is BR saying now I am CH wait I am a chosen youth leader who makes healthy choices what does yours say you all right very good visuals you all of what happens in the brain so very very quickly I want a leas to come up because it doesn't matter how good we sing what we do the data is really what matters okay so at least is very quickly going to give you guys just a little bit of the data that we've been collecting as we've been uh programming probably from um Sumer up to now right thank you so much for this opportunity to share with you about the program just wanted to highlight some of the data to you um 100% of the staff this is from MLK so this found report is from November 23rd through May 2024 that 100% of the staff had felt very positive about the threat of Hope records program um in addition to that among our first and second graders we saw a 31% increase of students who said that they would not do something wrong if somebody asked them to so we're teaching them to make good responsible healthy choices went from 54% to 85% okay and then we saw students making also more healthy choices and that 95% of our students reported that they were very unlikely to participate in recreational drug use went from 82% to 95% we saw a 133% increase in addition to that we work with the students about um building and increasing their self-esteem we saw students who reported that they had great Acceptance in themselves great acceptance so we saw an 18% increase it went from 61% to 79% and that was some of our data from MLK some of the things that we saw from fairplane East um the staff had reported 100% of the staff reported that their students emotional skills were somewhat positive or strongly positive so we saw a 37% increase in it we had um 99 % of our students making good choices that they that it was more or great importance to them to graduate high school so we're excited about that very excited about that in addition um we have students just wanting to believe in themselves and and see themselves as having great value 92% of our students believe that they have more or Great Value we saw 14% increase in that and we also saw um that 9 5% of our students reported that they were unlikely or very unlikely to bully so we were very happy with that yeah okay and some of our we want we also want to know if our program affects um affects the academics and so from fairplane East the fall of 2023 to 2024 we saw that their reading scores their their points in their reading scores went up 9.1 and their math scores went up 11.8 amongst the fourth grade and there the other ones for the fifth grade went up as well MLK we saw growth in their uh reading scores as well from the fall to the spring it went they had an 8.5 growth in their reading and a 12.9 growth in their math so that was amongst um that was uh first graders at MLK so in each one of these grades their growth it happened I'm just because I'm limited on time I can't go through all of them and so one more with the summer school because we're also there during the summer school and we saw the the reading scores um and the summer schools which includes MLK and fair play East reading scores went up 8.3% and the that's for the first grade and second grade they went up 16 points for their math scores all right so you all first of all let's give the board a hand you all M Dr bucks and Miss W was here first to see well no that's the bus Dr the bus is the one who talks about bringing the program in and then this where do brought us in so you know let's give this board a hand you all students can you all say thank you to the board and they have gifts for you we're going to give it to put your gifts down we're going to do very quickly JY to the worldall you all have some A1 singers up in here in Ben Harbor come on fellas come on come on come on you gonna do first verse give them your name my name is Landon Washington Landon what what grade have you wi third grade take that mic Landon okay that's your M okay come on man come on you got the second verse I'm G to be right here to help you tell me your name my name isy and Corey what grade are you in all right all right put that track on and we want y'all to join us join to the world come on put your hands together is receive King heaven and nature sing let heaven and nature sing heaven and N everybody s [Music] [Music] you for Heaven nature sing heav nature sing heaven in nature [Music] in heaven nature nature s Jo because we talked a long time I got class all right that was absolutely amazing let's give them another round of applause please oh my God all right so I just want to say thank you all for setting the tone for us absolutely amazing and I think it shifted the energy in the room so thank you so much thank you so very much thank you you're so kind all right May right thank you God is good all right up next we have a presentation from community and Schools Michigan presented by Miss Vaz you have the floor I'm not sure if there's a clicker for me to click through the slides uh Miss singer can manage it for you if that's helpful can you help her with her presentation slides well that is such a tough act to follow they did amazing but hello my name is Isabella vas and I see a lot of familiar faces here I am now the program director for communities and schools of Michigan for the far west side of the state so that is mosan Grand Rapids and lovely Benton Harbor I have four schools down here and I will introduce my staff and I'll actually let them introduce themselves because I want them to own their Zone and really talk about the things that they're doing at their building we'll talk about a lot of the things that have been happening and then I'll present and talk about Who We Are okay I'm Elina Rockette and I'm at Fair playay Middle School I've just been here about three weeks um the goal that I'm doing um is having restoring relationships so just being a positive um atmosphere in there um just focus on building the relationship with the students um today I got my first hug from one of the students um and I went to a classroom and I just focused on those students who were maybe just having trouble in the classes so it was a really success story um at the end of the class they came to me they were friendly and they can't wait for us to get started with the program at fairplane so um I'm really happy to be there and to make a change I'm Nick blue uh the student support coordinator at fret plane East Elementary um and uh I'm just enjoying being there um nice culture and climate getting to know everybody um where we at now is actually starting to get a case load of students so it's it's starting to really feel good to meet kids one onone and uh be able to connect with them and uh see what they need and uh hit the ground running so I'm I'm excited about actually learning uh my case load of students and really working intens with them so um that's good evening I'm Demarcus Bland and I am a student support coordinator at Benton Harbor High School um it is a pleasure to work with the district this is my third year here however the First with communities and schools and now I see the students from a total different standpoint um I'm just grateful to be a part of the program I am working on Behavior with students trying to reduce suspensions as well as log entries within power schools so I'm here to help it's lovely great environment anything I can do I've literally tried and will keep trying and we also service MLK which Mel Robinson is our student support coordinator at MLK but he is not able to be with us tonight so I'm just going to give a quick presentation and kind of do a run through and then I'll discuss some of the things that we have accomplished at cism for Benton Harbor area schools since August 19th which was the first day in the building with students so we at communities and Schools Michigan are an affiliate of Our National Organization and we believe in transformational relationships our purpose is to help students succeed in whatever way possible can you guys see the present okay our purpose is to help succeed help our students succeed in any way possible and help them Define their potential and help achieve we understand that every single student may not choose College as their pathway but no matter whether you choose college or another pathway we know that you will become an adult in society so we want to make sure that you're able to be successful and use the tools that we have taught alongside the schools to help them be successful so through that we utilize our values of collaboration Equity accountability excellence and integrity and like I said we were very relationship and we focus really deeply on that transformational idea so this slide kind of just encompasses who we are what we kind of stand for and as you see under our beliefs we are going to also talk about how relationships are the Cornerstone so we succeed by utilizing our database system and our model to help Implement some of these ideas that schools have but may not have all of the people in the places that they need to have them in order to do that which is where we step in and try to fill in some of those gaps so this is a little bit of information about us I will let you read this slide because it is a little bit hearty but there are some numbers at the Top If you want to just take a look at those really quickly and then we'll move on for the sake of time okay so a little bit about the Michigan affiliate we've been here for 23 plus years and since 2011 and I'm sure some of you have probably heard of of the CIS of kalamazo which is interesting because they're actually not a part of us they are an affiliate just like us but we all are a part of the national so we are all kind of working towards the same goal and this is our model so this is our database model what we use is A needs assessment which is what takes place in the beginning stages so we is exactly what it sounds like we identify what each building needs I think the very special thing about who we are is we are building specific so what happens at the high school SCH may not be what the Middle School needs may not be what the elementary schools need so the student support coordinator at that building works very closely with the administration to come up with a specific plan for what that building needs so the next step is the planning stage which is where we figure out what supports we're going to implement and how we're going to do it after that it's the integrated student supports which is exactly what we talked about you know putting those into motion lastly is what is I think one of the most important pieces is the monitoring and adjusting so this is what's going to take place once we've been doing what we've been doing for a while so consistency is key and it's also special with our model because in order to make the right changes we have to know what changes those are we won't know what changes those are if we don't do the right thing and keep doing it over and over and over until we see what's working and what is not and at that point we make those adjustments and then the evaluation stage is where we look at the data from the school year and we figure out what things we want to continue implementing and see what changes we need to make if any for the following school year to come and then stage six is our proven success so I'm not going to talk too much about this because this is something that's similar to what you already Implement here at Benton Harbor area schools of the multi-tiered system of support so we utilize tier one two tier two and tier three which tier one is the entire student body tier two is going to be your small groups and tier three is at one toone individual support that is what would be identified as our student support coordinators case load so those students would be receiving onetoone support from our student support coordinators a minimum of one time a month which obviously is so much more so some little data from the previous school year 2022 2023 obviously our 2023 2024 school year numbers are still being crunched but this is just about our organization as a whole all right so as we kind of talked about a little bit in the model I broke this down so I'm not going to touch on it too much but these are the steps that take place in US implementing what supports our students need so we'll I will share all of this information as well but it's the same process we just talked about with the circle model and as we stated before we're very relationship oriented and we believe that everything is required with Equity so when we're talking about Equity like I stated with our mission we understand all of our students may not choose the Collegiate pathway but that does not mean that they cannot be successful whatever they want to do we provide the tools equitably to be able to support them to succeed and achieve their goals that they have set themselves so in schools and Beyond one thing that we talked about as an organization is we always say that we have one foot in the school and one's foot in the community so it doesn't just stop at school it doesn't stop at home we're constantly working with Community Partnerships and we're constantly working with building teachers students and staff to figure out what the students truly need what are these gaps that they have how can we break these barriers so that our students can achieve and get everything that every other student deserves to have to be successful and this is a list of some of the Partnerships that are through the organization we also have some area specific Partnerships that I will talk about a little bit later and then our school support teams so each of our student support coordinators had to work with the building of course to form the student support team and what that is is it's based upon whatever their school goal is they form a team of people for the administrator in the building's recommendation of who to meet with to help Implement some of these ideas and goals So based on that school support plan that was initiated after that needs assessment they will work with this group of people to make sure that they're on Pace and on track to be able to achieve the goal that they set for the school with Administration and again another slide of all the different types of supports that we provide these were the options that administrators had to pick from in the building level alongside our SSC to figure out what the direct need of cism was for their building and this is a testimony I'm going to skip through this for the sake of time because I want to make sure I get the information about Benton Harbor to you guys and then keys to CIS success so one big thing I really want to point out is intentionality everything that we do is with intention so one of the biggest things I talked about earlier was that each building is specific we're not just going to come and provide any support especially a support that is already provided in bent Harbor we're going to make sure that we are filling a gap filling a void if there is an area that we need a little bit more support we're going to make sure that we are doing that rather than just offering anything or the same thing to everybody there's no point in a partnership if it's not actually benefiting both parties and we understand that so that's why a lot of our evidence does come from assessment and it can be kind of sometimes it can seem like it's an attack almost when when assessments are done and it's not that's not the purpose of it the purpose is to figure out what areas can we improve at as a whole so that we can help Empower everybody to be successful because as a partner we're only as as empowered as our partner is as well so I will take questions and comments but before I do that I want to get into some of the specific things that we have done at Bon Harbor this school year so we assisted with the back to school bash with providing 1600 backpacks to all of the student body at beton Harbor area school there were two events at Bon Harbor High School one was a haircut event that was to provide self-esteem skills and enhance confidence to hope that in turn that would increase academics and behavior one was a haircut event and one was a braiding event to try to cater to both parties we supported a fairplane East parent engagement event by supplementing prizes and supplies as well as feeding parents we had Jimmy John's cater and we were able to provide prizes and incentives to all students that attended in addition a surplus of prizes that they're able to use as incentives throughout the school year we received over $100,000 in mde funding that we were able to buy direct things for the students including 12 bikes for students basic needs and hygiene products 10 brand new iPads incentives for age appropriate motivation academic materials for students educational success materials and more we were able to put a calming Corner in every single one of our buildings that we service which the s's work directly with District Partners to select seal regulatory items in addition to incentives to help students better themselves emotionally and academically some of these items were boxing gloves and bags Oculus foral software iPads for Interactive Learning sensory tents and weight to blankets for emotional regulation and scent diffusers and some of the other things that our s's have taken initiative in doing was Mel Robinson at MLK was able to form a partnership with Meyer to give 10 families $50 gift cards so that they were able to have rewards during the holidays they could use the gift card for whatever they need he specifically would like it to be for holiday meals because everyone deserves a good holiday meal Nick blue at fairplane East sought wrote and received a five ,000 Grant award from Baran Community Foundation in which he will be implementing a art therapy plan at his building and I am working directly with the literacy initiative to try to put events through January February and March with Miss Hoover to enhance literacy and engage students to be interested in Reading events leading up to reading month currently at CIS there are 30 students enrolled at Benton Harbor High School school to case load which is the maximum at this point for our new sse's there are 28 enrolled at fairplane East we just had a new hire at fair play middle school so she's not there yet for building a case load but she's eager and ready in an MLK same situation in MLK Mel started October 7th and his first day in the building was October 14th so he's still pretty fresh and Alina she started in the building November 25th so she's even fresher so we're still working on that but we're going to get there and we're going to get everybody caught up to have case loads before the holiday additionally for site coordination and tier supports we have 529 entries since August 19th so our ssc's have been working very diligently to try to provide support some of the building feedback that we have received that's positive is positive presence in the building tier one supports and basic needs distribution and lastly partnership seeking I will share some of the Partnerships and then I will open it up for questions we have a partnership with Lor's place that we have implemented which is a grief counseling we have 400 black mentorship program we have present pillars Nancy mner that's dance and movement we have hand to hand which is a partnership we're actively working to secure to offer weekend hunger relief we have a partnership with Delta Dental they actually helped us pack all 1600 backpacks for the back to school bash we have a partnership with Harmony Academy which is anal program that all of our students support coordinators have full access to to be able to implement those small group settings we have a partnership with level all which is a career preparation and resource Hub which all of our ssc's also have full access to that to provide those resources to our students and we actually just found out today that any school that is serviced by cism gets free 100% free partnership in Resources with Varsity tutor from K through 12 So based on our partnership with CIS M you guys are able to receive Varsity tutor completely free and then lastly of course we cannot forget about our Educators we also offer a partnership with blackmail Educators Alliance they have been providing professional development once a month to our teachers and Educators at Bon Harbor area schools they are a nonprofit organization that helps black Educators and students Thrive they focus on empowering the individual by providing support resources and advocacy necessary for academics and professional success their goal is to develop Educators who transform the educational experience of black and brown students so that they can become leaders of their own and we're actively seeking a partnership for substance abuse awareness resources so I will open the floor for questions or comments All right so are there any questions or comments from the board at this time trusty raet Martin so pleased to hear all that you're doing um for BL har area schools my question for bar Varsity tutoring I kind of had a little um know a little bit about them but how would our students access that and do they do all grades yes so currently correct me if I'm wrong Benton Harbor area schools currently has a partnership for mckin vento students for Varsity Tutors is that correct solely for yes so okay okay so then this would be completely open up to tier one every single student within Bon Harbor area school starting at kindergarten all the way up to graduation seniors so everyone would have 100% access the only thing that you have to do is be a school that has a partnership with communities and schools and we are the only organization that Varsity Tutors is offering that partnership to any other questions or comments trusty Gavin and then secretary triplet I'm just really excited um I'm glad you know we we lost um some folks I'm glad to see that they didn't leave us but just have a role with they're able to connect with the kids on a different with the students on a different level and so I was really excited to see that you noticed that mental health is um is a major issue and I'm wondering like what partnership you have I guess it's the calming room is that is that your sub to supporting in that area we have that as something that's offered we also have the partnership with Harmony Academy which is thatal software and they do the lessons and they have different materials that our student support coordinator can do um another thing that I didn't share earlier that I really want to share because it's super important is all of our staff members at communities and schools of Michigan are trained in restorative practices they're also trained by our licensed clinical team to be able to manage a case load which is something that's super special because really that training comes from becoming a social worker and we're offered that training at communities and schools of Michigan for free just by being an employee so I think that that's something that's really important to tie because as we talked about intentionality we are in constant communication with building Administration so we are aware of those problems and we have licensed trainers to be able to provide us the necessary education to pour that back into our students thank you for that I will also say that I appreciate that it's a data informed approach and you're not looking to overlap Services I'm wondering you know will you know who will have access to your inventory to your needs assessment is that just for you all to have so that you can make the informed decisions is something that you provide to the school district or the board or anything like that how does that part work yes so prior to doing a building needs assessment I actually had to perform a community needs assessment which goes through all of the demographics in the area it breaks it down all the way to you know average income in the community all the way to employment rates unemployment rates so all of our student support coordinators had access to that Community needs assessment to be able to do their school needs assessment the school needs assessment and Community needs assessment and any other documents to follow are our student support coordinators can share that with the principal because it is a working Dock and we're very big in collaboration so if this is a partnership we have to be able to include those administrators in on those so they have full transparency and access to those documents upon request thank you last question and I may have missed it are you also supporting Cape students so we currently do not service Cape or deck the partnership currently is with four schools that would be MLK third plane East and then thpl middle school and bent Harbor High School okay but there can always be an expansion I'm hoping that that's an option because those students who are at home definitely would need some support I think this would be great for them and especially the level all program with it being career and prep Readiness with students you know not in the traditional setting something like this could really benefit them to where they are getting that life skills training and career prep so much thank you all right secretary triplet and then we'll go to trusty B uh vice president bow do you have your okay you oh vice president bone it was a beautiful presentation my only question is are you guys working with the um parent aison so it depends on what the school goal is the school support team is formed by the student support coordinator and the administration in the building based upon who they deem best to be on that team so we understand that the family specialists in the building our jobs do overlap a lot but we try to make sure that there is no overlap because we want to make sure that everyone is able to empower their own area area so I believe that based on what we have selected that we are not in alignment with what the family Specialists are doing so they're still able to perform their role but you do overlap so you can be in the same school oh yes and bring in the same resources and overlapping yes so we can that is a potential but we try to pick our school goal with intention we pick our goal based on something called the ABCs which is attendance Behavior or curriculum so anywhere in those can be the school goals so we try to make sure that our students report coordinator and administration aren't picking a goal that crosses too heavily with a role that's already existing in the building okay thank you you're welcome secretary triplet no I'm I'm just excited to see community in school I I do say you know um I was very very concerned um with the um we talk about our Partnerships and what have you that we establish where uh many of our good great um employees um were people from our district and they have that choice but it also when you turn around you see those individuals um working in this program and working in our schools that's that's that's a plus twoo so it I think it's important that you know because I have to be honest you know and including you you know you were such a powerful employee thank you in our district down through the years so I really really um enjoy some of the things that you were doing um in the school district I'm I'm I'm very familiar with um communities in school and so had an opportunity to work an entire year and so when you you know uh when you see kids going down there to uh communities and schools kids that are hungry um kids that um need coats or clothes and have all different types of referrals available and the students go into anonymity is the spirit of the process as well and so kids I I've seen it work where um they go into and they can go in and get and parents come into the school and they shop so I hope that you know that these are the types of things that we see um because a lot of times we people don't really understand what homelessness looks like everybody think that homelessness is in the street people you see in the street that's only 5% if that much of people who are actually quote unquote homeless but if you're living at your Auntie's house with three or four kids and you all are living together those some of those families are that that's a part of the homelessness of population so I'm just excited seriously and I hope that you are really really be an attribute you know that people people feel good feel safe and that you are really honestly get down and do the work because communities and schools is a powerful initiative thank you so much for your presentation tonight and you do have some absolutely amazing employees from our school but thank you so very very much and I it's nice to meet Miss rocket as well I met her the other day at her school as she was placed there so I'll wrap by saying I'm extremely excited that you all are partnering with bitt Harvard area schools my first job within the education field was as as a after school educator for cumo communities and schools so when they started to preag that the program was coming I was extremely excited but I was super excited when I realized that they had selected you to lead it because I have faith in your leadership now I'm in alignment with secretary triplet I did feel some type of way that they were taking our staff but you are still in the building and a part of our team and so that's what matters as well as the rest of the team so I thank you all for coming this evening and I look forward to Greatness received thank you all right have a good evening all right so okay so just a couple notations Miss singer I need you to ensure that you set the timer so that I can monitor the two minutes per trusty per topic and then I realized that in taking our role we did not um acknowledge our student Representatives today who are also a part of our board and so I would like for our roll call sheet to be up updated to include their attendance even though it is not a part of the Quorum they are a part of the board so if Dr bus if you could please I know you um mentioned announced who they were at a meeting when they were not present but I would like to give them that acknowledgement really quickly should have been done at roll call so my sincerest apologies thank you madam president tonight we have Miss Shaya Khan and missani Walker that's joining us for our student Representatives so we are extremely excited that you are here I think it was your post on Facebook I commented I think that you guys are the most important voice at the table even over mine because you are here every day you live and breathe the quality of Education that we're providing to you so I want you all to be completely comfortable in giving input at every level of conversation you are just not here to check a box you are here to be a part of the conversation and we're gleaning and leaning on you to give us full transparency and what your views are so don't be nervous um we want to hear your voices all righty so we're going to proceed secretary Tri yeah and and to our our um student Representatives you know a lot of times I know that we um as their student representative of the Board of Education through professional development and and and meeting with us um to to help them along the way as board members um is not just an and I don't want you all to think that it it's it's a time for you I've seen it where we ain't got no water we ain't got no food we ain't got no eggs we ain't got no beans we ain't got you know and that's all it is we want you all to feel free you know if there are things that you are genuinely concerned about and so there and those are things that you can discuss with your superintendent but also we want to we want to uh make sure too that you find some things you know what are some good things that's happening here at your high school um what and and how does this role actually look where you guys get an opportunity to go down to the middle school and go to our elementary schools and what have you and see for yourself so you guys can report back out just wanted to be a whole experience and not to be used to you know the the to just say all of the negative things or or things that's not going well because it has to be something going well because both of you all are sitting there and you all are excellent representatives of the school district so welcome all right so up next on the agenda we have expulsion and re-entry hearings um we did have a a very good discussion on this topic um in our work session I know that it was pointed out I Believe by trusty Gavin when we um when we consider the travel potential travel expenses that the attorneys are able to Virtual attend us virtually um so that c cost that c potential cost for travel would not be um an issue for that particular reason based on conversation it does not appear that there was any objection to us including attorneys um within our hearings I didn't hear anyone say that they disagree um so I'm not sure if there's any do you are you anticipating anything for the remainder of this school year as far as hearings yes unless there's unless there's a behavior issue I don't that randomly OCC that randomly occurs so is there any objection to that I don't think it requires a vote because we already have attorneys we already have a contractor retainer with TR currently um so if there's no objection I think we could just all indicate that if you have any objection to having councel at the re-entry hearings then I would I would like for you to voice that now otherwise we can consider it done it's nothing that we would need to do formally but if you have a comment in support of having the attorney's present as well you have the floor to reiterate that and sorry madam president so when you were saying attorney I'm thinking expostion there but re-entry we do have one more re-entry hearing that uh we're we're working on scheduling okay so if we could contact trums um I know they directed us to their Department that does that specifically okay trusty Gavin that that was my um comment thank you so much president Robinson all right so we can proceed we did have a robust conversation and just for the community we discussed the importance of having legal council present at re-entry hearing um and exposion hearings just to ensure that we are following um MCL laws as well as our bylaws and our policies as relates to um expulsions and entries so we'll just do that as needed um and then up next on the agenda is the insulin litigation client contract um B1 Dr bus would you like to present that just give us a reminder yes ma'am this was a uh contract where when we were self we were self-funded by our insurance with our insurance carrier there was a class action lawsuit which US turns out to be a benefit to the district and it uh we were given the opportunity to join in to to get the cost uh benefits from it there is no cost to the district um so it's basically just an add an addition to our district funds if the lawsuit is one all right and so I know at that particular time we did discuss it very briefly um the board was advised to take a look through the the contract and see if there were any concerns but essentially we are entering into um potential litigation with um numerous school districts throughout the state is there any so at this time there's a resolution um if you guys look in your packets you'll see that they'll fill it out to indicate um when the meeting was called and I'll actually read through it um a regular meeting of the B Harbor area schools the district Board of Education the board was held on the 10th day of December 2024 at the following time which is 6:00 the meeting was called to order it would be president robinsson we would note who was president abson the following Preamble and resolution was offered by trustee um and I'll notate who puts the motion on the floor and who supports whereas number one entities Nationwide have recently started joining a nationwide lawsuit against various insulin man manufacturers far Pharmacy benefit managers and other defendants accused of artificially inflating insolent price at the expense of employers and Health Plan entities specifically case number 223 md3080 in the United States district fort for the District of New Jersey lawsuit number two entities in the lawsuit are being represented by France Law Group aplc a California professional law corporation um which will be referred to as France number three Trum Law Firm PC referred The Entity to France for the lawsuit number four the board believes it is in the entity's best interest to join the lawsuit on the terms specified in the attack attorney client fee contract number five the board believes it is in the entity's best interest to authorize and direct the superintendent or deign need to sign the attached attorney client fee contract on behalf of the entity and to take such other actions as necessary to obtain monetary damages for the entity in the lawsuit subject to review by the entity's legal council now therefore be it resolved that the board decides to join the lawsuit on the terms specified in the attached attorney client fee contract to the board authorized and direct the superintendent or design need to sign the attached attorney client fee contract on behalf of the entity and to take such other action as necessary to obtain monetary damages and injective relief for the entity in the lawsuit subject to review by the entity's legal council three all resolutions and parts of the resolutions that conflict with the provisions of this resolution are rescinded so at this time I'll ask is there a motion to approve B1 the insulin litigation resolution I so move support the motion has been made by secretary triplet and supported by vice president bow any questions comments the concerns at this time hearing none secretary triplet president Robinson yes vice president bow yes secretary triplet yes trusty rocket Martin yes trustee Gavin yes motion carried all right next up we have our um partnership agreement update and our strategic Plan update thank you madam president in your packages uh you will find uh the preliminary results from the state that was sent down from mde and and the office from Michigan Department of Education and the office of partnership districts if you turn to page six in your packet and I'll go over the improvements that we've seen so far so there has not been a final determination as of yet but on page six where it starts at Benchmark performance data from mstep Spring 22 compared to mstep Spring 24 English language arts you will see that MLK improved from 4% student proficient advance to 5.4 students proficient Advance on the mstep uh Fair plane East improved by 1.7% overall fairplane middle improved by 3.4% over sixth and seventh grade mstep and 8ighth grade PSAT Benton harbard High School increased by 1.43% based on grades 9 through 11 PSAT sat performance and Cape increase by 4% as average overall grades The Benchmark performance data from MP spring 22 compared to MP spring 24 in math MLK improved 1% students proficient and advaned to 5.5% student proficient advancement on mstep fairplane East improved by 1.4% overall Fair plane middle improved from 1.24% over sixth and seventh grade mstep and eighth grade PSAT Benton Harvard High School decreased by 8% B B on Grade 9 through 11 PSAT and sat performance and Cape increased by 1.85% as average overall grades so what we're seeing through the partnership agreement and the actions that we're doing through the agreement you're seeing an overall Improvement which is uh kind of antagonistic to what was presented earlier so with the collaboration that we have we are actually starting to see improvements throughout the district now do we want to see one point 1% overall know we are seeing an increase over 1% and the goal is to increase well beyond 1% as you can see some uh MLK increased from four to 5% airplane middle uh by 3.4% so we are actively striving and making those those gains as we continue with throughout the partnership and throughout the rest of the document you'll see um all of the other information that's provided from MD as again is preliminary if you look back on some of this uh on page five you see a lot of the the the school values the state assessment Etc are to be determined so we're still waiting on a final answer from mde of being on track or met Etc all right so I think vice president Bowes wanted to clap for that were you kind of got silent my HS because I was getting ready to raise some okay you have the floor um I was looking at the um interesting thing bit Harbor High School decreased by 8% based on grades 9 through 11 on Pat and sat performance8 sorry Cape increased by 1.85 as average all grades what do you think the difference is with cape in the high school they have a smaller population and then when they when they're working on the um Centric program that we've chosen for the Project based learning it's a it's a it's almost a one: one ratio when you're talking about student learning okay now it also says a averaged overall grades that is that including Middle School on up that's all grades that's that's within Cape correct so that's from elementary through 12 thank you secretary triplet I you know I when I when I looked at been looking um at the partnership agreement and so when I look at the window and I don't think the board of education is really clear on what's happening with this partnership agreement in 20125 uh this is the end of this partnership agreement but when you look here they go from 2022 and they skip and use the data from 2023 so I think that we need some clarification number one and we really need to understand because what they have done in this partnership agreement is that regardless to what they can they have removed themselves away from being penalized they cannot be sued they can any nothing can happen to them there is a gap year in there it also say that these are the options and I want us to be aware I want us to to be honestly aware of what this thing is saying we need some serious intense work from the board as it relates to the Board of Education we don't need to wait for anybody to give us the information we need to look at that partnership agreement and make sure that we understand what we're going into because the options again will put this school district in Charter School mode and all all of the things that they have these are the outcomes if you don't make these things just because they say it softly you can trust it if you want to because you haven't lived it CU these same people have come down here in this community and I will say it and I'm quite sure they're listening who have actively participated in the dismantling of this district from both the Michigan Department of Education and baring research okay so let us be clear and for those you all who don't remember when Baron Rea came and apologized for the role that they played in some of the dismantling of this District we need to and and to me I am glad that 1.7 3.4 I I but I am discouraged that is lowballing that is lowballing all of the the places and SP things that we have in place in our buildings all of the monies that are coming out through employees and what have you 1% grow because our goal is a is is is is 1% every year which by the end of this partnership agreement it should be 3% okay but 3% 1% so that means we're at zero I mean is it growth where were we initially so we need some clarification and so I'm looking forward to um getting that information from director cuff to see exactly where we are to make sure that we are on track because to see 4% 5% 1% 0% of kids who been in school all year long and that's the growth that they made that's unacceptable so let us be clear on that and let us pay attention to get our kids everything that they need so that they can become proficient on these examinations so I I I uh Madame President in closing after looking at that partner I'm I'm I'm I'm asking the Board of Education to honestly read it and so we can get some clarification and what is it that we can do what do we need to do to get them down here to let us know bottom line I'm not saying that if we don't make this that they but it's in there and they can do it okay that's the thing that we need to be clear on thank you all right so just um for the record for the board is currently 7:29 I know we did get started a little bit late due to intendance but I just want to make sure everybody is aware of where we are um and then just so the board is aware um I did request a meeting with uh Miss Chapman and so she did send me an email yesterday so that we can schedule because I did miss the initial conference that you attended so I wanted to make sure that I receive the same feedback that you all reive and so that I can get in and and kind of dig more in understanding level um as you're referencing yes so I am anticipating a virtual meeting more than likely on a Friday based on her uh depending on her schedule because that's the date that I'm free um and so and um there's anyone that's potentially interested in attending with me if schedules can correlate as long as we don't have greater than a quorum I have no objection um if there's maybe one or two of the curriculum committee members that would like to be on that call with me okay trusty Gavin thank you president Robinson um um I have just a couple questions and and I will preface it by saying that um I'm not a fan of many standardized tests I am um a proponent I am in favor of testing students um to gauge their learning but I'm I have not been impressed with a lot of the standardized tests just due to the fact of their you know racial historic racial biases so I'm going to preface that there absolutely um also just in regards to you know Clarity um and accuracy looking at the reviews status Pages um Dr Buzz is saying that the district has not met has not met um the targets is that accurate even though we've had some increase which is good I'm celebrating those increases we should be celebrating those increases it also indicates that we have not met those targets that um we are expected to make 1% increase each year is that am I reading that correct you're not reading that correctly we have met those those benchmarks it's we The Benchmark was 1% so only place where we did not meet was on the math on the spring M for math at the high school we decreased by 0.8% but we were our goal was to increase by 1% in literacy in language excuse me language arts and math and as you see from the data that we have presented to the data that I presented to you we've increased that 1% okay I guess well can you help me understand what I'm seeing on page three where it's saying benh schools will demonstrate increased proficiency by 1% annually on Ela State assessments um math assessments and it's saying for the district is not met under the review status does that not trying to catch you or anything but I'm just trying to understand what I'm looking at on page three which school trusty so well all over she's asking anywhere it says not um Cape [Music] um fairplane East uh going down to the next page Fair plane middle so what you're looking at is so you if you look at the top it says District ISD and mde so at the district level from what we could tell we we didn't look like we were meeting at the ISD we didn't look like we were meeting but based on MD's calculation is still pending and to be determined so why do we have in writing that it's not met from what our calculations were when we were looking at the the data that we had it looked like we did not meet however when we when we conferred with mde some of the standards that we were looking at and some The Way We Were calculating we were off on our calculations because the way we were looking at calculating the way we thought that we were supposed to calculate did not line up with what mde was saying that we what we could so when we look when I go down to page six excuse me page five and you look at um the Mi School data and then you look at page six on what was reported we're waiting on mde to make the final determination he I just I just end by saying it's important for the data to reflect what you're saying because what you're saying is contrary to what's on the report that we're reading and so now you know if if there's a way to clean the document up or clean the facts up I don't know what's going on but would like for the data in the report to also reflect where you're and I'll let director cups um chime in if she would we are a lot of questions of our um partnership agreement liaison during the process of um pulling all of the data together um one point that was never addressed until the conference um in November was the difference between full Academic Year and non- full Academic Year uh the data that we used from oeaa the um secure site that posts the student performance data uh includes both full Academic Year students and non- full Academic Year students and what the state does is disaggregates that and they only use the Fay or the full Academic Year uh data for the students that's why our calculations and the state calculations were slightly off we were also told that it was positive that we were harder on ourselves than the data actually turned out to be um and they uh gave us um props I don't know what word to use for that um and the other part of that that I think is misleading it was very confusing until we had that um 18month structured conference um is that the goals aren't um separated the math and the ELA goals are not separated there are categories of goals process goals uh local goals and state goals and the local goal is the PBIS goal and the state goal is actually two pieces being the math and the ELA together I hope that helps it I know that my time is up so I you know I'm respecting the go ahead trusty Gavin okay thank you what I would ask to it's trusty Gavin are you available to attend the meeting that I schedule potentially we can coordinate the three of our schedules I would love to connect offline to yeah and I think that would probably be helpful for uh myself you and secretary triplet as two of the members of curriculum to make sure we fully understand what we're digesting and then once we that conversation I think we'll be in a better place to understand the official report once it comes to us thank you director C thank you uh president Robinson okay I'm gon I'm make I'm go ahead it it was it was brought to my attention that this information was supposed to be uh reported back to us 10 days after we met with them and so we met with them on November the 8th and it's a month uh and so it's a month later and so when we go our students will be testing in the spring and so what do we have in place because really all we have right now as far as preparation we don't have any data our teachers do not have any data our director do not have any data so they can do the intense work uh uh back from the state examination have we have we have we analyzed data to see what types of mistakes our students are making are we are do our teachers know what is actually being tested so this is T the state is holding us to these rigorous timelines and guidelines with with these penalties and whatever you and I know that they constantly say like you said uh director cuff that we cool or whatever the word was that we but this is serious business this is about the future of our district we get through with all of the other distractions this is very serious information and so again as I stated and we talked about our our our students in mathematics at the high school but we move a math teacher out of the high school and so these are discussions of what have you think that we need to discuss probably not here at this table but we need to have because we got to have a plan they take the the mstep win for 2024 the will this go on 2024 or will this be 2025 and according to that partnership agreement the the partnership agreement in 2025 so I like I said we're in danger and it there's an alarm at the gate and there needs to be a serious discussion almost yesterday thank you okay so I am going to um move move forward with the with the conversation if there's no other comments currently at this time I also want to remind the board that we have had an a Very extensive work session where we discussed many of these um topics in great detail so I do want to make sure that I'm able to get you all out of here today at a reasonable time it's now 7:39 also want to make sure that the board is aware if you had not noticed that we do have uh gabridge and Company present they're going to be giving our audit report so I'm hoping we can get through um the next couple items because God bless you I can see that you're fighting through um so we're going to try to get to your your section as soon as possible so up next we have um strategic Plan update Dr Buck so what I would like to do Madame President if when we get the official information from the partnership then I can update the Strategic plan so that we can ensure that we are moving in the right direction as far as the partnership and strategic plan and to make sure they are braided together appropriately okay so if my memory serves me correct ly we did not get any form of update or information on this last week and we were told that we would get it this time yes ma um so in the work session rather so is there anything that you would like to highlight because I don't want to do two meetings in a row where this topic isn't addressed right so I would like to highlight that the fact that as far as this the Strategic plan is going um as we work through our partnership agreement most of the things the K the kpis and the metrics and the evidence we are starting to see on each of those uh key performance indicators we're starting to see some growth in those areas so those are the things I like to highlight and as we as we continue through yes ma'am I did say that and I am I was anticipating more information from the state but I have no control I thought we I think we all anticipated an official response by now so um I will coordinate with trusty Gavin and secretary triplet Fridays work best for me um however I can be a flexible based on you all's availability just let me know and we can set that meeting up as soon as possible um so we're so thank you Dr buz and to the board for the first two topics board business and superintendent um next we have business and finance um we do not we have uh truste rocket Martin here present today was there any particular update that you wanted to provide um on behalf of the finance committee in absence of the treasurer or would you prefer to pass it over to to pass it over I'm Sorry Miss Spock Carter because that vote comes later okay um so you have the floor U Miss Brock Carter I would like to if it's okay if we can go ahead and move Gate Bridge first so that they can do the audit um if there's no objections from the board I don't even think at this point we would necessarily need to amend anything we're within Financial so you have the floor told you it would be quick thank you Madame President I'm against this movement I'm sorry but at one point I looked over there he was like bet he said my God okay welcome to Ben Harve are School talk about the uh most recently completed fiscal year June 302 move your mic up we need to move this your mic up a little bit uh so we're talking about most recent fiscally fiscal completed let me just restart there most recent fiscal year that was completed June 30 2024 if we go to the next slide there's a couple of just high level things we issued an unmodified opinion uh that's the highest level Insurance you can get you should expect that every year you weren't to get that MD would be screaming at you uh we did not three internal control findings most of those kind of just related to the the timing of the finance director leaving uh making those final budget amendments uh some of the audit prep in journal entry related stuff so overall on findings kind of the less concerning ones none of them we can't hear you none of them are compliance findings so Sor sorry yeah you might want to take the mic out and hold it because you're a little bit tall yeah there you go so um all in all those findings are are less concerning than than compliance findings over any of the federal programs which I'll talk about a little later which There Were None of so going go to the next slide a couple of the high level financial highlights the fund balance across all funds at the end of the most recent fiscal year was roughly $36 million which was another $7.5 million increase so over the last two years I was a you guys have seen a pretty substantial increase in your fund balances from a lower level of you know still being in the positive to now having a roughly a 60% uh annualized expenditures in your fund balance which is a very healthy fund balance it's probably one of the higher ones we've seen for schools so that's always good to see good to be able to report that's kind of been useful seeing some of those Sesser funding Esser funding getting used for increasing those fund balances uh so that's always great to be able to say if we go to the next slide this is comparative statement of net position um some of some of the highlights I point out is the increase in cash that kind of corresponds to that increase in fund balance and then we've also seen the OPB and net pension liabilities both decrease recently over the M past couple of years the opab the retired healthcare plan actually is currently funded it's at 105% so also helping the financial condition of the school the unrestricted net position um at the end of the most recent fiscal year was just below a million dollars so I actually said earlier today with uh the finance committee that's probably one of the lowest deficits I've seen so pretty close hopefully another good year and you guys will be out out of that unrestricted deficit net position uh most pretty much every public school has has that just due to that pension and that opep liability so want to go to the next slide this is the comparative statement of activities showing the revenues and expenditures from the most recent completed fiscal year the biggest change really was that uh loan forgiveness from the uh State loan that was roughly about $10 million U expenditures increased slightly just with some of those Esser uh programs so all in all net position also increased significantly in the most recent fiscal year to go to the next slide this is just some of the RSI uh tables that will show the funded percentage of both that pension and the opab obviously there's nothing the school district can do since these are the miers plans they Statewide so you kind of just you pay in what you have to pay in and as time goes they hopefully will be more and more funded uh you can see the pension has gone from 60 kind of up and then back down thank you second back so yep so when you look at the op and you look at the line where it says schol districts covered payrolls and so I'm looking at a pattern where from 2020 to 2023 the the district payroll has increased is that not correct that is correct after the student body and what have you has decreased so would that be like a red flag and when you talk about that is that coming out of the general fund um it's going to be coming out of the general fund the Food Service fund really goes the two main funds where you have uh payroll costs uh is it a red flag not necessarily obviously we've seen inflation over the last four years has been pretty significant uh retaining teachers and paying them fairly too is probably built into that cost so uh it probably obviously is something to always monitor make sure you aren't Staffing at too too high of a level not that I'd ever want to say U ratios are going down bad but it's something to monitor but it's not something that at the ratio I'm seeing it's not highly concerning so when you talk about that payroll um um that that's when when we talking about right side in our district this is the type of discussion that we're going to have to have it's not just moving and shifting people it's a serious conversation based on because I think that was the thing that put us in a deficit years ago is that we were rapidly losing students and still operating at that same level like we had 10,000 students and we were down to 7,000 or 6,000 but we were still operating and eventually it caught up with us so when you look at the uh F District cover payroll does that include would that include um EDG staff and is that is that something Ed staff something different the covered payroll here is only uh employees that are under the mpers programs uh so pension pension plus uh pension plus two I know they keep keep making new programs every couple of years to try to reduce that cost but okay so edgy staff any of those uh outsourced areas would not be included they not okay not included okay and yeah that that is obviously a good point is something to monitor because you did have that huge buildup in fund balance you don't want to see it with Esser kind of those Esser funds are pretty much gone now you don't want to see it go back to that same position OB but there's no dumb question for me if I don't know I'm going to ask amen I didn't Maj you in there oh thank you um if we go to the next slide this is the uh finding on internal or the finding on question costs on the federal single audit so any year the school district spends over $750,000 in federal funds in two years it'll be a million dollars you're subject to an additional audit requirement so Ben Harbor and a fair amount of other schools are pretty much anually required to to do this uh where we're kind of digging into one or two programs this year was the Esser programs last year I believe it was Esser and uh Title One in future years might be food service title one uh where we we dig into some of the compliance stuff and in doing the compliance testing we didn't have any any issues to know this year so that's always great to be able to report um and then the next slide I think that's all I really had of important highlights obviously the fund balance is a great one to be able to point out that you have the ability to make choices out of what you need to do versus survival so all right so I'm going to open the floor up for any additional questions trusty rocket Martin so in common language where would you say or how would you say our finances are right now good medium low based on that fund balance I would say you're probably in the upper echelon of schools by percentage reanalyze expenditures obviously that can depend on you know if you have any major building projects you're you're looking into doing that you all know that will deplete that really quickly so it's something to be proud of that you have built that up but something to make sure you're monitoring and not having that disappear because obviously we know any building building project can really deplete that snap up finger something uh trusty Gavin thank you um I'm happy to hear that us uh paying our staff is not red flag real good to hear that also good to hear um that we are at the highest level of assurance in regards to um your unmodified opinion my question is regarding the internal control finding you indicated um the segregation of Duties as an internal control finding can you give a I don't know if you're able to give a recommendation as to best practices so for that versus what we're currently doing and how we can move towards the best practice recommendation on that from from what I remember on on that finding it was based on the journal entries there wasn't that second second set of eyes between who was preparing it who's entering into the system I think that really came out of that that time especially the audit prep stuff where I can't where the uh Finance director position had been vacated so you didn't have a second set of eyes reviewing the journal entries having that review making sure you know the journal entry is reasonable for a correct reason and not for you know not saying that this would happen but you know oh take a million dollars out of cash and put it into this expenditure for no reason kind of thing that that's what you're looking for there um so the district does have that in place where you had that review process before I think it's just it's when you lose someone in that high level Finance position you kind of run into those those issues so losing that director Finance position is that also kind of where the budget control and material audit adjustment issues came up not having that Finance director yeah that that's the the budgetary one for sure that you you want to make sure the board's looking at you know your your budget actual at the end of the F school year and then having those adjustments posted or presented and then posted and that's where yeah having a finance director obviously alleviates some of the other concerns because obviously the business office is already busy just you know making sure payroll is being met all that information is being entered uh pay payables Etc um I really hope we can catch you on the recording there you speaking a little low sorry um so that's where having that Finance director would be beneficial making sure you're catching those expenditures before they go over budget and then also with the material audit adjustments that's that's kind of that same thing where having someone that has spent years doing school accounting can help with some of the the new gasby there's they keep giving us new and new accounting pronouncements U beles is one of them next year compensated absences which is relates to sick and vacation uh there'll be some changes there too so having all that stuff uh prepared for us to audit versus US kind of assisting in that that step will would help alleviate that finding awesome thank you I guess my last question is um you mentioned that we're in the upper echelon in terms of finances um so we're in a good place and in comparison to other schools provided that we don't have big building project so if you know when we look at our dilapidated buildings and all of the things that are needed um we have good cash but if we also have these other building needs either a it would be helpful for us to you know if the state was willing to support in terms of um building infrastructure finances or if we end up having to fix some things that's that may have an impact so we need to think about both of those yeah that's that's definitely something for the board to always monitor make sure you have the the funding in place for those uh obviously some some school districts will bond out for those costs obviously can't guarantee that you're goingon to get the bond approved by the public so that is something to make sure you're factoring in when you are making decisions based on that that fund balance percentage thank you can I jump in with the question really quickly okay so I I'm sorry I there was a page that I was on that explained the findings um really simply and I can't I can't find it it it simply there're like there can you help me Miss brart there was a page where there were the findings and then it had what your recommendations for what you were going to implement it's on the audit report okay [Music] um after the what page of the auto report just a second is it toward the end oh okay thank you that was that was my only question go ahead secretary so when you talk about okay got it um one of the things that our treasur has stated prior to is the way in which we're spending and how moving that we have to be be be be mindful at all times as it relate because we did have the uh debt forgiven we also had exra funds that we were able to use so we moving forward making those decisions those things we don't have access to all of that now so we have to be strategic and mindful of how we use this money but my question is when you're doing the audit the when you're talking about building projects and what have you syncing funds money that's here is this a part of this audit our sinking fund money yep so that is part of that the fund balance line there there are two different ones the $36 million that's the general fund the Food Service the syncing fund I think those are the the three funds you guys have so that's the total amount and then I think of that roughly 24 million was the the general fund dollars so okay one more question when you talking about uh and and I think that we uh we have to be mindful when it comes to our general fund that's the main thing that we are are are are clear on what it is that we're doing we're making decisions and getting recommendation from our director Finance as it relates to General funds because we have loads of Grants we have other things that that come in and so we have to do that strategically when you talking about this audit when you um what are the three areas that they're the third they the third area which is what the is there any with with like with our athletic department funds or is that a part of our general fund how all of that all fiduciary Angela can correct me if I'm wrong here but I believe the the athletic department is part of the general fund um almost every school that's that's built into the general fund um information yeah so all of like any any okay F yes our athletic fund is a part of our general fund we don't we don't separate it out yeah out of the 30 some schools we udit I think I can name one that they separate it out just for reporting purposes but it's still part of the general fund and obviously typically the athletic department does run a a deficit obviously in at the high school level so all right and just to notate for the board the page that I was referencing the simplest way that it tells those um noted findings it's page 71 of your binder it goes into those um findings and then the recommendations and whether Miss Brock Carter agreed right any questions from the board at this time or so what you just said Madam president so if if if if we look at it if we look at it like this um how these are the what things that weren't good I mean that that need to be dealt with starting on 71 starting on 71 can you give us an overview what did you find that was not in compliance or out of sync out of order so the segregation of Duties that was with the journal entries that secondary set of eyes reviewing it between the person that's creating the entry getting posted into the system and being reviewed okay can you put that in layman's turn um is that one person signed the check and yeah it would be like one person signing the check one person entering the invoice into the system one person reviewing it yeah Matt I can help you out um we realize that in our in Skyward when we can uh initiate an approval process so that when journal entries are submitted into Skyward someone has to look them over and approve them before they can be posted so that is what we have implemented in the business office we didn't have that function active at the time of the audit but as we went through and discovered the findings we added that extra layer of approval in our system so that now no journal entries will be posted until they are reviewed and approved by myself so so has this been a practice prior to you coming was this a practice that that they used at the beginning or did this just happen when it transitioned to you it it just happened when the Auditors Express that that is a flaw in our internal controls right no because this is no because I really appreciate you coming in the way in which you had to come in please and if I mean that from the bottom of my heart thank you okay and to come in and just have to Boom but I'm saying was it was this has this been a common practice was this happening when we had our CFO no it wasn't and nobody left all those things in place to you to even assist you and help you in that from that finance office is that correct correct thank you I appreciate it you're welcome yeah as far as the other two findings go the material audit adjustments that's just there's certain things we have to do cap capitalization of uh fixed assets the review of that kind of stuff obviously andela's super busy so not having you know that extra person in there with that horsepower to make sure that th those things for the audit are getting prepared um in an Ideal World the auditor should be reviewing everything and not kind of making some of those judgment calls and getting uh the school's blessing or approval on so that that's where that material audit adjustments comes from that one's not highly common in schools but somewhat common especially the smaller the school the more often we'll see that finding and then the budgetary one is one we'll see at any school uh obviously it was more of a timing issue I think there just not having that probably final review and presentation of hey let's adjust these five or six line items that went over budget we're doing that tonight it doesn't count not not that's something to make sure you're doing yeah obiously something good to be looking at monthly quarterly to make sure you are making those adjustments and then hopefully that doesn't happen obviously that's more of a that's one of those I won't call it a huge red flag it's not a red flag but it's something to pay attention to obviously if you're always going over budget that might mean you're overspending but um we can't overspend so you I know you want you want to continue to keep the contract let us know what the deal is if it's a red flag let us know if our finance director know what that red flag is and we we discussed that in the finance committee this morning um well this afternoon in the finance committee meeting we discussed that we be more intentional on our budget revisions and making sure our line items don't go over and if they are in close to going over or could be going over in the near future that we do a budget revision before that happens all right anything else you think is and you you did specify that if I'm not mistaken you said we did not have any of the red flag that uh create Federal level concerns so yeah there were no compliance findings on on the single audit and that's where you sometimes we'll have some of those desk audits for title one or Food Service where you have additional compliance uh steps you have to follow so okay and and so being that we are um in the education field um if you were to give us a grade would this be a a so on the financial condition I would say an a obviously some of that material audit adjustments I think the the financial condition should be your your not your number one priority obviously educating the students your number one PRI but in terms of the financial area the financial conditions probably the most most important thing so okay Rob you have the floor he's gonna give us a grade on the others what the grade that's I was gonna say like the audit presentation a presentation the material Auto adjustments that part is where I would knock you down slightly from from that a to a minus we'll go B how about B okay and that's what what area so in terms of just the audit preparation so having Capital assets prepared uh okay some of the other kind of higher level accounting stuff okay Madam president uh vice president Bas I just want to say thank you Miss Angela Brock Carter you stepped in at a tough time when there was no one there and your leadership paved way and made sure we were able to get a clean audit um listen to what they say but watch what they do and your actions have proven that you have held the business office down and I just want to say we value we see your work and thank you I agree and I want to say thank you was there anything else that you wanted to close with before no just kind of eing those same same words Angelo's and the the team were great at getting us everything we needed to to make sure the audit was done timely and completely so so thank you so very much for your time and your patience this evening I did consider putting you at the top but I knew that I had a whole half a room full of children that would have been antsy by now had they had to wait until later so I I chose to sacrifice you versus children anytime sacrificing so I appreciate your patience as well and I just want to agree with by president bow I'm very grateful that Miss Brock Carter was here to step in in that capacity and I know there was uh expressions from the table in concern with her juggling multiple duties and so I just want to commend you on your first successful audit completed without a Director of Finance which I think is absolutely phenomenal so thank you very much so thank you thank you all for your time and hope you have a good rest of your meeting all right thank you so much all right we're going to pass it um back over to uh Miss Brock Carter she is going to present her budget revision thanks again Matt appreciate it all right so we kind of went over the budget revision at the last work session this we are doing a budget Revision in order to adjust our fund balance ending fund balance for the sinking fund due to the verado project of the verb project we are using a portion of the sinking funds to pay for it so it's going to change our original budget that was done at the beginning of the school year so as Matt and mentioned today when that changes we need to do a budget revision before we do those expenditures so um the budget revision slideshow is there uh we kind of went over each slide at the last meeting so if any nobody has any questions we can go straight to staff report F1 you can present F1 and then if there are any extra questions other than what we discussed in the work session they'll be asked at that time okay staff report F1 subject 2425 syncing fund budget revision date dated for today reason for bug board consideration the sinking fund budget has been revised to reflect the updated revenue and expend estimates for the 2425 fiscal year facts and Analysis the proposed budget revision reflects the new school security improvements approved after the budget was adopted in June 2024 policy reference 6231 budget implmentation the recommended action is that the Benton Harbor area school Board of Education votes to approve as presented the 2425 sinking fund budget revision all right is there a motion to approve staff report F1 is there a second or support I support all right the motion has been made by trusty rocket Martin and supported by Vice pres vice president no who made it secretary Tri the motion has been made by secretary triplin and supported by trusty Martin any questions comments or [Music] concerns herein none secretary triplet oh I did have a question and this is for the fiscal yes the fiscal the fiscal year fiscal all right thank you appreciate you um the only other thing I will notate is um we do have a strategic plan goal that is related to finance however um this is not something that's binding or in bylaws it was just a special request that I made so we can proceed with the STA for for as it is um so secretary tripet please call the vote that there would be a relevant strategic plan goal reference because it's a a fiscal component in there about fiscal responsibility but I'm not going to hold this up because of that but you know the English made it me couldn't yeah go ahead president Robinson yes vice president Bowen yes secretary triplet yes trusty rocket Martin yes trusty Gavin yes motion car all right thank you so much and next we have staff report F2 which is our acceptance of the actual audit report that was provided this evening so miss bar Carter you can present thank you staff report F1 is our audit presentation oh is F1 the audit presentation I'm sorry y thank you the reason for board consideration board policy requires that after the close of the fiscal year an audit of all accounts of the district be made annually by an independent certified public accountant facts and Analysis Auditors from gabridge and Company recently completed the external fiscal I'm sorry external Financial audit of the district's 2324 Financial records this evening representative from gabridge and Company were here to present a summary of this year's audit report policy reference policy 6830 the audit strategic plan goal reference facility SL operations Ben Harbor area schools will develop Implement and evaluate a physically responsible plan that will ensure physical and psychological safety recommended action that the Ben Harbor Area Schools Board of Education votes to accept the 2024 audit report from gab bridge and Company is there a motion to approve staff report F2 so move is there the motion has been made by truste raet Martin and supported by vice president Bowen any additional questions comments or concerns regarding the audit I just want to notate that's the the goal reference that I was mentioning before um it's notated on here there's no other questions again job well done Miss Brock Carter thank you we appreciate you sincerely um secretary trip please call the vote president Robinson yes vice president Bowen yes secretary triplet yes truste rocket Martin yes trustee Gavin yes motion carried all right F3 you can proceed with the monthly Financial reports I am presenting the monthly Financial reports for October 2024 if we take a look at the budget to actual summary version you will see that our revenues are at 31% our expenses are at 23% and we are at 33% of the school year so we are a little down in Revenue but we are very low in expenses as well so do you have a question secretary you said you said we're down in Revenue when you say we're down Revenue that mean we don't have the money no I mean compared to we are at 33 and sorry when we get to the month of October we'll be in 33% of the fiscal year right now we have 31% Revenue compared to our budget so is a good thing that's a good thing we're under we're spending under is that that correct not expenses revenues we have received slightly we have received 31% of our revenues we should have received 33% of our revenues so we are just slightly under when it comes to revenues but during the month of October the business office had to focus a lot on the audit so we didn't get a chance to do some of our deposits that we normally do on a weekly basis we almost had to say like shut the business office down we have to focus on the audit so we didn't get a chance to do our deposits in a timely matter so when we get to November's reports you will see that we will probably be over in Revenue okay and when it comes to expenses that's a good thing that we are have only spent 23% of our budget when we should have spent 33% of our budget in October so we are down in expenses which is a wonderful thing thank you you're welcome and the details of that report are on the next page then we have our AP check register I just want to point out some of our large expenditures for the month of October one was our Blue Cross Blue Shield health insurance premium for the district and then we also wrot made a large payment to survise for textbooks can you remind us which textbooks were those were they something that we recently purchased well it was a part of the curriculum adoption okay but that bu for those until October okay so so when I I I um when I hear you say curriculum adoption and and the books that we bought that that's not our curriculum those are for my understanding those are uh textbooks and what have you or you can correct me if I'm wrong those are textbooks that um the Michigan Department of Education and baron Rea said that we needed to use is that is that I want to know because I hear the word curriculum and we haven't finalized I I haven't seen quote unquote well should I say textbook adoption then I'm sorry I'm have to prefer to missc on that cuz I'm not sure the exact items that we purchased from saas yeah what did we purchase this was in October I can pull up the actual thing here and I just I asked because we we approve so many things so that name is just not one that sticks out to me specifically so I just want to kind of connect it to which large purchase that was yes it was um Invision Mass K through 8 and it also included professional development yep okay so it's not the curriculum it was the textbooks to go along with Cur the curriculum we use is MMC Michigan maror curriculum right the textbooks that we bought compliment the M their resources to support the MMC the correct okay cool and we weren't build until October well when she say curriculum then that kind no no no correct I was giv to you no I'm just trying to make sure because like um president Robinson said we purchased a lot and she asked last week we've purchased several books we purchased math we purchased all that we had a lot of things that we put in place but we have we don't have that plan we that we can see we got got it now what are you all doing with it so I just wanted to make sure that we were on point and I and I will get a chance to meet with director cus and Dr but so we can get some clarification and bring those to you before he goes on sabatical when okay and um just to pause Miss Brock Carter because I don't want to lose the thought and I know it's not we're not at teaching and learning but um secretary tripley kind of segue into it I did request for this meeting to have the pieces of the puzzle so we can see how everything fits together and I'm not seeing that that's that's included in here um so this is a gentle reminder um that I've requested um I've requested that and I don't ask for much but what I do request I do expect to see it on there and I just realized that it's not there so if we could and that's not for your department at all um but this was more so me saying we purchased we've spent $200,000 on this program we spent a million dollars on this program program we have this entity coming in to provide resources and how do they all fit together in order to make sure that we don't have random projects going off every which way it it goes but they're not working in alignment towards the goal so I want to be able I'm the board president and I can't see it not to say it's not there but I just want to make sure that we are looking at the full big picture with all of the hundreds of thousands that we're spending and how they all correlate together to to meet the goals that we had so that's just a reminder so but go ahead with your presentation okay thank you give with curriculum that's where I threw you off that when you start with the word I should have said textbooks and PD that's okay so those were the only two large um checks that we wrote um in October so if you have any questions on any other of the expenditures please let me know I'm going to go ahead and move to our year-to dat Revenue comparison and as I mentioned earlier um this slide kind of reiterates what I mentioned before as far as Revenue um that we are down slightly but I guarantee you when you see November will be all smiles and again for expenses of course if we're down in Revenue we should be down in expenses we shouldn't be spending more than we bring in so we're in the right place okay if there aren't any other questions I'm going go ahead and go to staff report F3 go ahead and always go into the staff report because what you'll get is questions here and questions at the staff report okay okay so go ahead and go into it thank you so the reason for board consideration is a set of financial reports is provided to the Board of Education each month facts and Analysis this evening it is recommended that the October 2024 payments be approved for all district funds totaling $ 57,124 144 policy reference is 6470 payment of claims and strategic goal reference says None but I can did you want me to read from the other one no problem the Strategic plan goal reference facility SL operations Benton Harbor area schools will develop Implement and evaluate a fiscally responsible P plan that will ensure physical and psychological safety recommended action is that the Board of Education approve the October 1st through October 31st 2024 payments for the following funds general fund [Music] $499,800 7,12 [Music] $414 all right is there a motion to approve staff report F3 Madam president I make a motion to appr St F3 is there a second or support support the motion has been made by vice president Bowes and supported by truste rocket Martin any questions comments or concerns Madam president I really would like with and our our new Finance director and what he have when we talk about strategic plans those things on those reports we need to have that information on the reports and and the assistance you know the assistance that you need you know because you've done an absolutely amazing jobs in what could have been a very chaotic situation but when these reports come before the board because I'm you know I just want we're copying and pasting right here on scene and so I don't know if it's assumed that people do not look at the information it's not claught and what have you but this is critical when it comes before the Board of Education I guess this is the superintendent is really critical you know it does help us you know because I'm you know I had a question I'm like okay so we we're talking about we bought these uh books and all these things but how does that align with facilities and operation if we put that down as a strategic plan peace so is that facilities operation is that my strategic plan is that curriculum you know what does it so it kind of you copy and paste something from facilties when it was we were talking about books textbooks I I'm confused yeah she so she clar she in that moment she was clarifying for you the major purchases that um were impacted and that were present in her October report but our strategic plan only has so many core um areas so it's acad programs which is increased student achievement as measured on local state and National assessments then the next one that we have is culture and learning environment that's self-explanatory um personnel and Leadership and then the other Communications and Community engagement and then lastly operations so operations includes financials and the facilities kind of building maintenance they're in two develop Implement and evaluate a fiscally responsible growth plan that will ensure physical psychological and educational growth so being that she's providing her financial reports that would be a part of this the operation's goal it doesn't align with the others because she's not specifying just the purchase of books her report is about purchase of everything and being fiscally respons it will always be facilities and operation when weed no matter what that would be okay thank you so very much just and just so the public knows why this this um is important to us because we're trying to make sure that everything we do is in alignment with the Strategic plan so if if there if the report comes before us and there is no strategic plan reference it should not be before us so that's why I just want to make sure like we have it noted so we know exactly which particular goal is this vote supporting okay um have we taken the vote yet we're still in questions getting ready okay secretary trip please call the vote for staff report F3 president Robinson yes vice president Bowens yes secretary triplet yes trusty rocket Martin yes trusty Gavin yes motion Carrie all right next up we have the student support services update director Nichols yes good evening um just coming just giving an update about our fall um culture and climate surveys they are live they're up and running um we did have our family perception surveys is out so if you please get the word out um we have seen a lot of families so we have total now the last time I checked it was 89 who have completed the survey so um we're trying to get more so if you um know of anyone to just remind them to complete the survey um next uh we from athletic department the Lakeland conference as I stated at the last um work session um we had students that um had made um the Lakeland conference Awards um and then did you want me to go over the names again sure okay yes so for football um lrel Johnson Timothy London overas Franklin uh Deon did I say his name right make sure I said it dman McBride thank you Byron BRS Jaden huton Maurice Ford Marquel Johnson Messiah Lacy and then for our volleyball team lovely Douglas and Montana Ducket congratulations okay and then um we have our family engagement and community events um for the month of December we had an event at Fair playe East today um but to on the 12th excuse me we have um MLK the holiday um literacy night night and that starts at 5: and it runs to 7:00 and then at our Discovery Enrichment Center excuse me is always magical at Discovery and that's um tomorrow December 11th um starting at 5 o'clock to 7 o'clock and that's um student support services update okay uh trusty Gavin thank you so much um just a quick question um what came up for me um director Nichols when you were talking about the family perception surveys do we have um PTX excuse me do we have active ptas in each of our buildings I no we do not have active U ptas at all of our buildings do we have PTA in any of our buildings so I know at MLK um there is a it's not a PTA so to answer your question no in none of our buildings no okay so um I guess what's coming up for me is if we are looking to gauge um Family perception and developing unless there's unless we have some other do we have some other program that that cuz I'm I might be old school do we have some other program that has replaced PTA no so a lot of times what happens is and this is just from me being in my position now is what I've observed is that um and speaking with um our family our district family um engagement specialist is that getting um parents to come in out to participate in that so us having those um events is is trying to get those get them to come into our buildings so um yeah so what's what's coming up for me is that if we have family engagement liaison is that the title family um Community um engagement specialist is there family community engagement specialist what I've seen is really great support at the events right but then the PTA from my experience is that is how you get the parents to kind of have a say have you know that connection to the teachers to the school and and really get involved and so I'm wondering is that something that that you're open to or that the the school district is open to bringing back the PTA so that there can actually be a organized group of parents who are supporting the work and they can get those they can help you know get those um surveys out and and give feedback really good feedback as they are directly involved is that something that I don't know if that's a question for am I in the weeds is that a question for Dr busz or for you or who who um I can again um push that um I do know at this time right now we are trying to push our um more of a parent Ambassador um so that involves some courses course work sort of like um workshops for our parents um so I will definitely take that back to the team and um put that back out there okay thank you so what I would also say is that um you know maybe if someone is finding out what are the barriers if it's Transportation I know Ben Harbor may have about 30% Transportation um issues and so maybe it's Zoom meetings or you know something I don't know what it would be but there may be some ways to eliminate those barriers they're coming out for the events and so I don't see why they wouldn't want to um you know connect so that they can have a little more you know I don't know ownership um into into the the school district might help us keep them here if they have a say in that connection and collaboration um and then also I'm wondering if is this the section where they give updates on peer mediation and how that's going I'm I'm sorry is this the section in which we get updates on how peer mediation is going under my no um tonight I did not give an update on peer mediation okay because I thought that we were use like implementing that as an ongoing uh update item um so that we can see the progress on that is that are you asking for me to include in this um monthly re update peer mediation yes absolutely thank you I believe we had already discussed it prior to and would be great to see that moving forward and I'm glad that they what's the word I'm glad they graduated and they took the courses and I would love to see you know what is the updates in terms of implementation of them promoting peace in their schools okay okay okay one quick second just a reminder I need the timer I have no idea how long we are speaking I respect all comments um but we I can't monitor the talk time and neither can trustees and this is not directly related to trustee Gavin but I don't know the last time I heard a timer it really only goes off and when secretary triplet gets the mic so I just want to make sure we're being Equitable to all trustees and we keep the two minute timer on for everybody including myself okay secretary triplet and what is the penalty if you keep talking everybody knows that that what that's what's happening don't turn it on yet because I haven't started my comments I'm in the midst of shade right now no but in all sincerity when we talk about ptas ptas are critical pieces and just historically I've heard parent that is the role of the principal to establish and do that work to identify parents who are in those schools to who have come and supported um that school if if if they have they have if they have that kind of relationship with the school because I've heard parents say they Tred to get in our school and were denied they wanted to do PTA they wanted to come in and work and they were just rebuffed and so when you talk about a parent teacher Association it supports the students as well they do all type of amazing things it is a national program and so it's not just like this is the role of a student service because I just for me I just don't hear and I've said this on several occasions I don't hear what principles and Ben harbit area schools are responsible for and what they are doing you know and so when we look at it if if it's my school and you're organizing a parent teacher Association that's my role I'm there we have all types of leaon and and parents are offended they are sick of us putting programs together to quote unquote teach them how to be parent you know we everybody we got we got this program we G to educate them we GNA we GNA give them professional development teach them how to be somebody mama and teach them how to be somebody daddy you know this is the thing a PTA in every school is critical the PTA is involved like it's in the high school if they want to do fundraisers and those they take those type of leadership things so I don't want to put that as a burden on you but you know just to look at it and and and do the backward design that's something that I think school leaders should lead that work that's something separate and apart because we made a decision with only 30 people 37 people answering a survey during the pandemic that shut our school down only off of 30 because it's like these surveys are just checkpoints every principal should be have a plan of action on how to reach their parents to get this survey completed what are the behavior specialist what are the family Le Aon what are they doing why aren't they calling these people and saying we need a certain percent do we have goal set that 60% of the parents at fair play middle school will be contacted by this family liaison that's sitting in the building so I mean you know 87 people that's for the public but every school should have a certain amount of surveys that need to be completed and how do you do that so we can really make some honest decisions versus this being just a checklist and the bell rings for the first time tonight thank you I'll suffer in silence okay so I'm going to um call just a very brief recess it's it's 8:36 um I would ask if we could be mindful in return no later [Music] than 8:45 that's a little bit less than 10 minutes um so we're taking a brief recess for those that are on Zoom the board will return at 8:45 uh to director Nichols for your presentation regarding student Support Services we're going to continue with the agenda um we are at teaching and learning director cups and I know most of this we did go through in the work session um the course guide of days the district testing schedule um we had heard a lovely presentation from 21st century Ed last week believe you also gave your update last week did you give an update I did briefly I just wanted to say that we did if you look here um I did speak with the director C and thank you for sending me the notes and what have you resending the notes again and so for those of you all for from last week we went on our overview and so now at this time I'd like to turn it over to our director of curriculum and instruction so we would like to um move down to the staff report T1 if that's okay absolutely uh so staff report T1 the subject is 21st century Ed stem education system the reason for board consideration the Board of Education shall approve all textbooks or contracts used as part of the educational program of this District purchases over is M and improving academic performance as measured on local state and National assessments over 3 years by combining personalized interventions enriched learning opportunities stem-based seal programs and community-driven events 21 C Ed stem education system offers a cohesive framework for continuous Improvement policy reference policy number 6320 purchasing policy number 2210 curriculum development funding Source sr3 strategic plan reference academics Benton Harbor area schools will increase student achievement as measured on local state and National assessments recommended action that the Benton Harbor Area Schools Board of Education votes to approve the purchase of 21st Cent Ed comprehensive stem education system as presented totaling 1,333 18 all right is there a motion to approve staff reports one I so move is there a second or support support the motion has been made by secretary triplet and supported by truste rocket Martin any questions comments or concerns I'm just Madam president I'm excited I am I am very very excited I want to say to the community that um one thing that is critical and our president has been calling for this and I'm quite sure and not just our president but members on this board of education that we start inspecting what we expect I think it's an absolutely amazing program and um as we stated if it's done properly it is going to be awesome um there are some guarantees but we have to make sure that we do our our end of the bargain and so again it was awesome and thank you all so much um hopefully um you all will support this initiative all right any other comments from the board trusty Gavin thank you um president Robinson I Echo um secretary Cher's comments in terms of my interest and support and I also Echo um president Robinson's request I didn't make the request because I was wondering the same thing but really happy that President Robinson ask the question how would you know all of these uh programs fit in together so that it's not overlapping um and was hoping that we could get that like this is a $1 million investment I think is worth it um professional development for staff in the area of stem and the area of AI They will receive a certificate from H you know Howard University you have all of this differentiation that you can do really fast like all these amazing things and at the same time a request was made for us to be able to kind of see how that works in alignment with the other things that we've already purchased and so I'm wondering who is the person who can answer that is IT director CBS is it Dr buts I would I would like to um kind of get some information on that and then also I would like to get if possible Dr Cup's um I I haven't heard your um you know what you think about the program uh would like to hear your thoughts about it um being the director of um teaching and learning or I might be saying your title wrong sorry about that director of so Dr bus said he wanted to uh begin with response if we could stop my clock too please thank you thank you madam president that that that uh collection piece of how everything ties together is a is a uh academic piece I think of mostly so last week Miss CBS was on vacation so we we weren't able to sit down and collaborate but we will be sitting down to collaborate to put together how all of these tie together and how they are how they are positioned not only to our partnership goals but our strategic plan goals as well Dr that wasn't the question okay Dr bu she was on I guess she was asking what is your thoughts about the program we' discussed she was there during the the entire presentation so it's trying to get a general idea what's your thoughts about this $1.3 million investment that was presented we haven't heard anything what's your thoughts and I what I would like to add is that I guess what I I understand the partnership agreement and the Strategic plan I understand how that fits I think the question that President Robinson was asking was how does this tie in to the other purchases that we made such that it's not a it's not a overlap or you know do they work together you know how does that work together such that we're not wasting money that's what I was that that was the question that I was um answer that I was looking for and then also Dr Cubs if you have some feedback as well or if there was feedback from the the staff I just like to kind of hear what everybody who's impacted feel um or see so I am a huge advocate for problem-based or Project based learning uh students that have the opportunity to look at a problem walk around it take it apart put it back together they learn more than if they're just reading or writing or answering questions on a piece of paper we want to develop critical thinkers that are able to solve problems no matter when those problems occur in their life whether they are family relationship work related financial and building those critical thinking and problem solving skills through Project based learning and problem-based learning develops those very important skills that are necessary for Life plus our prefrontal cortex is the last part of our brain that develops and if we don't exercise the prefrontal cortext which is the risk management the decision- making and the problem solving part of our brain then we will never fulfill our full potential so I I think that the concept and the instructional strategies that will come through this will be extremely beneficial to all teach teers and just like you I was a CTE teacher for almost two decades so I live in the space of let's do this let's see how fractions work in the kitchen let's see how fractions work on with the sewing let's see how Child Development Works in a lab preschool and that's the same concept that the 21st Ed program will bring to all of our teachers at all grade levels I like okay so thank you so much for providing that input now I can kind of see you have your textbooks you have that curriculum but this stem project brings it to life and it gives our Hands-On Learners um an opportunity to really get in there and and participate in in the learning um on all levels so thank you so much for that input what I would say just to add is I I support this I support this this is an investment in our kids but what's more important is that we have some infrastructure in place to really make sure it's successful and I am I don't see the technology director or the education technology specialist somebody who will hold that portion of the program to make sure that everybody has computers everybody has everything they need um just in order to make that happen so I support it and I also hoping that you know our superintendent connection with you do um director Cubs will please ensure that we also have somebody to hold that PE that technology piece thank you all right and then as stated um Dr bus brought it to my attention and I'm pretty sure no one else on the board remembered that we technically have a work session next Tuesday because of the holiday so we'll be back next week um so what I'm requesting director CBS um in the next week if you could put that puzzle piece together us we have 21st century we have CIS we've bought African-American literature textbooks we have all of these different programs and services that we're spending money on and I know that um Miss Brock Carter is going to make sure that the money is there that we find the grants but we don't want to just be haphazardly spending money just because we have it so I just want to make sure we're looking at the big picture and this is not to say that we doubt what's being done but I want to be able to fully explain not just what a particular program does but the benefits that it has to the greater picture Okay president Robinson I just want to say this real quick I um I see that it's coming out of S3 so that's money we have to spend and we have to spend it within a certain period of time is that correct so for those folks who are like oh my gosh you're spending money we have to spend this money um and so this this feels like a really great um investment um that's going to end up we're going to end up having the book videography all these other skills certificate certified teachers and all these things that are going to last to an extent where they can't take it away from us and we'll have our own curriculum that we've developed so thank you for that time your grace all right you're welcome if there's no other questions or concerns I would ask that SEC secretary triplet um can you remind me of who made the motion have we done that part yes yes and Rocket Mark okay can you please call the vote for staff report one still have one minute and 12 seconds on my y didn't hear any bell ring I know I had some time left I don't know how much I had but I had some time left because they didn't ring the bell look at Mr Mason he wakes up when I start [Laughter] talking also but Madam president I'm G be brief because and and and I'm very serious about this with this partnership agreement and us getting in there and grinding and and and looking at this window of January February March April our kids are testing May and all of this stuff we got to pull this together I mean like quick then they have got to make three five at least 5% growth within that window how do that look and what have to happen and and and our teachers must be at the table and they must lead this work our teachers have to be our curriculum we had a curriculum committee and that made decisions on textbooks and all of that stuff we need we need them there because this is an emergency situation done thank you so very much all righty so with uh with no further delay secretary Trier can you please call the vote for staff report T1 president Robinson yes secretary triplet yes truste ret Martin yes trusty Gavin yes motion carried all right excellent up next we are at the human resources uh section of the agenda um there was an oversight that was uh noticed prior to going to recess so I will allow I'm not sure if d uh director mcder or Dr buts would like to uh notate what that oversight was um being that we've already approved the agenda and that notation was not on there they did update the staff report and pass it out however that is not the original agenda that was approved so I would like for Dr bus to point out the um the oversight that was noticed and then I would ask if there's an amendment of the agenda to allow for that adjustment of that staff report prior to us proceeding as well as um I'll wait I'll wait on the rest of it Dr bus yes ma'am thank you madam president on your on the H on the uh HR reports we have a we have two retirements that will be noted on uh H4 but in in doing such it was an oversight of not adding uh the one of the positions back in as we have we had one applicant for that position and we wanted to make sure that position is covered so that we can ensure there's coverage for our Sports for the remainder of this school year and that should have been uh noted on the transfer report so if you would uh allow that to be noted on the uh Amendment if if if if the board so pleases to choose that amendment can you please clarify the noted Amendment the noted Amendment will be Danny jenning's assistant principal at Ben Harbor High School uh new R new Ro interim ad assistant principal at Ben Harbor High School so so um Dr buts yes sir this also because we do have people that I guess look at our agendas yes sir and what have you so has this been updated on the site that so that it will denote that um for transferring that Danny Jennings will transfer from his current role it will be he still will be an assistant principal but he will be the interim athletic director so we need to put that on he wants to ensure it's on the electronic cop on the electronic copy it on the electronic topic yes sir okay so that was specifically for staff report H2 um the other notation is that in order to be um ensure that we are doing things correctly staff report H4 notates the retirement of the former um athletic director and so there is no way that we can uh potentially transfer uh Mr Jennings into that role without accepting the retirement first correct so for that reason um the amendment that I'm requesting is an adjustment we would do staff report H1 first we will be doing staff report H4 second then going to staff report H2 and then staff report H3 and I will call it in that order so that you guys don't forget Which Way But the major amendment is H2 the addition to the addition for uh Mr Jennings who is going to maintain his position as assistant principal but also step into the athletic director position on an interim basis and Dr bus that would be through June 30th just to get us through the school year June 30th 2025 yes ma'am okay so at this time I'll ask is there a motion to amend the agenda as noted make a motion to amend the agenda as noted is there a second or support I support the motion has been made by trustee rocket Martin and supported by secretary triplet any questions comments or concerns um this is just about the amendment all right secretary triple call the vote president Robinson yes secretary triplet yes trusty rocket Martin yes trusty Gavin yes motion carried all right and so there was a human resources committee update um I was unable to attend that meeting because it was during business hours however um our chair is absent and our Treasurer is absent who are the uh other two members of that committee Mr M Darman is there anything significant that needs to be addressed tonight or will it be addressed in your subsequent staff reports in the sub so you can proceed I now call the order just to help you staff report H1 thank you madam president um H1 sorry H1 submitting for board consideration to approve the appointment of Staff in accordance with the revised school code and other general laws of Michigan facts and Analysis it is recommended that the board approves the superintendent recommendation for the hire of the following Personnel policy reference 3120 and 4120 employment of professional and support staff strategic plan goal reference personal leadership Bon Harbor area schools will recruit hire develop and retain the best staff to improve student out comes today recommended for hire toron Townsen to the position of Athletics administrative assistance here at the high school um effective 122 2024 recommended action that the Benton Harbor Area Schools Board of Education votes to approve the employment of the forementioned staff is there a motion to approve staff report H1 make a motion to approve staff report H1 is there a second or support support the motion has been made by trustee Raad Martin and supported by secretary Tri any questions comments or concerns hearing none secretary triplet oh oh go ahead um that position is a critical position um the previous Administrative Assistant I I really want to know what when people leave this District as employees what do we have in place because I'm hearing that people are wiping our files people are not not leaving the information that property belongs to us and this has nothing to do with uh the previous Administrative Assistant but this is just something that has been happening and as people leave and some leave abruptly retire and what have you what is the exit plan because that all of that information and all of that property belongs to us it is not there for them to delete it is not there for them to wipe out because what that does that put our employee in a terrible position and they sit there they don't just say it publicly but this has to stop so as we hired this young man I'm quite sure Mr Blue would be more than willing to come in and help but do we have any documentation anything from this department that would show him everything that he needs to do in order for him to be successful it you have the floor I'm sorry no thank you I've try to maintain in my place uh so electronically we do have it backup blue I'm sorry uh electronically we have uh we have in place that we can retrieve any information if if tried to wipe out we have uh we have a retrieval system so it can't as as long as it's on our our system and our computers it can't be completely destroyed uh leaves an electronic footprint um physically uh if there's any physical paperwork that's tried to be destroyed it's kind of hard to retain however we do have systems and processes in place Mr Blue has uh has stated that he would be willing to come back in and and support fully and the Integrity of his work was still there he made sure that his work was still there so this person that's walking in nothing was uh compromised for him in that position thank you all right if there's no further questions secretary Tri can you please call the oh go ahead trusty G question is really for clearity um under the update portion were we going to discuss whatever it was Dr bus was talking about discussing in regards to cap and all that other stuff or did I'm really confused you know are we going to discuss those things is it is it moved to another meeting I don't see I think in staff so what I asked what I because Dr bus was under the impression as the chief of schools that he could make that determination on his own I've asked that he seek counsel so that we know whether or not that's something that actually requires a board vote so being that we have a work session next week we're going to get that advice from Council so that we know whether or not he has the authority to make those determinations on its own or if it does indeed require a board vote so we will not be focusing on that tonight until we have that clarification that'll be on the agenda for next week got you thank you so much for that just in um response to secretary triplet um concern I'm wondering and I don't have the date right in front of me I could look it up but just is there an overlap um is the person who's leaving the director position um going to do any training or prep or any of that stuff for the incoming um Personnel that's going to work in that office cuz even if the even if even if the former assistant wasn't available I would think that the director of Athletics would be training or preparing the incoming folks um is there anything like that in place Dr buts thank you Madame President so prior to when we first got notification that Mr that our previous athletic director well he's still current right as yes as until December 31st our current athletic director we instructed the high school staff that both APS to work directly with him to ensure that we had everything in place and to get all the necessary information to move forward um also we had director Nicholls to work with him uh as well along with the high school team to ensure that we had everything in place um as we moveed forward during the transition so that the transition would be smooth thank you on that why would the high school staff work with him when he was taken from under the leadership of the principal of that high school so the person let me finish I'm sorry the person who was in charge was director niichel so that should be closed out with director nickoll so do she have anything that she can share with us tonight as it relates to the athletic director and what is the current status and if that is not the case do we have anything do it legally can we check with councel if that person is not available or willing to do so then do we check with councel and hold checks until we get our stuff director uh Nichols yes um so our Mr V this state that he will help whoever is filling in no I'm not talking about help I'm talking about his his retirement is the 31st so that he will make sure that this person that we get ready to put in there is not set up number one and that he knows everything that he has to do because I will not have anyone else go into these position and basically be set up for failure and we have paid people Faithfully to do a job and that person that that's uh so can you let us know do we have any other recourse for those who haven't because four people have left here in key positions and left our people to fend for themselves and that's not right and we have got to put something in there because one thing that we have done we have been faithful no one since we've been on this board of education has missed the payroll everybody has gotten paid and gotten paid good money and they owe it to us you should not be having to go and do forensic work and search for this stuff have they exit it's our property and they need to leave in the proper professional manner we deserve it we do have a I I would like to jump in so most of the time and secretary tripley did mention this earlier sometimes what he says is automatically received with a different connotation yeah so I want to make it very clear that I support exactly what he stating we want to make sure that there is a transition plan and that the individuals that are being brought before the board are sufficiently trained and prepared in order to lead the athletic program and we do have an offboarding okay offboarding process if there's anything that's missing or that we need the last check is a paper check so we ensure that we get all the things that we have set in place that they signed up for in the beginning that we are collected and we have it in place prior to them receiving their last paycheck okay and I just want to make sure for the record we notate we are no way in no way indicating that we anticipate that individuals will not live out the date of their retirement but this is just we are making sure that we are being mindful because we have two new people going into a program and we want to ensure that they are adequately supported all right so secretary triplips yes this is Staff report H1 yes secretary triplet yes truste raet Martin truste Gavin yes motion carry all right so UPN next staff report H4 and this is regarding the retirement thank you staff staff report H4 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 3140 and 4140 resignation of professionals 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 separation of employment um by ways of retirement first we have da Frederickson from the position of instructional facilitator effective date will be 1220 2024 from Fair playay Middle School next we have Mr Michael Van hovind athletic director um separation date 1231 2024 from Benton Harbor High School recommended action that the Benton Harbor area school's Board of Education votes to accept the separation of employment of the four mentioned staff is there a motion to approve staff report age four so move is there a second or support support the motion has been made by trusty rocket Martin and supported by secretary triplet any questions comments or concerns yes Madam president I would like to first of all say thank you to uh Mr Don Frederickson um who was retiring she's worked with been Harbor area schools for some years I worked alongside her for 20 plus years want to tell her thank you um I also so I was just looking at her actual retirement date which is the 20th so you have 10 days to get everything that she has had access to because this role is just not a new one as she transitioned out of her previous one we need all of those documentation I'm quite sure that Dawn will uh do um make sure that we do her due diligence and so I don't know who monitored that but we have 10 days to make sure that we have everything all of our stuff back and that you share with our director of curriculum and instruction and all of them that Robin has everything that she needs and all of the historical data information that dawn has that's applicable yes okay and with Mr uh van Hoven thank you so much we appreciate um the time you've been here with us as a tiger and I hope at least we have um 21 days to make sure that our recommended replacement on an intern basis has everything because when you talk about athletic there are deadlines there are state things there are spring schedules there all of these different things that person is involved in facilities operations or what have you all of those things need to be transitioned to that individual anything that's UPC upcoming and Urgent from the state level and I'm quite sure they'll get the training and what heavy they need to sustain us um until June yes thank you all right if there's no other comments Madam president if you don't mind I would like to make a comment you have the floor thank you um and I'll be brief um you know separating from my seat anyone that leaves our district um it is always a sad thing um um so even as I prepare to read H4 and H3 I just want to say to everyone who's worked with our district we thank you for your time serving what you contributed to our students culture and climate and everything that you've done here with us I must say Miss Miss Frederickson um and Mr vanhoven we thank you for uh making this your last stop in education Miss Frederickson I want to highlight as well um although her date her most recent stint without District started um 2019 combined as secretary tripet said she's worked 31 years in education solely in D the ear SPS so I just want to highlight that but I want to celebrate anyone who was able to resign sorry retire from their industry thank you so much so secretary tripy can you please call the vote for staff report H4 H4 president Robinson yes secretary triplet yes trusty rocket Martin yes trusty Gavin yes motion carried can't call he can't set the time on world call now she right she right oh my God you know I it's only a test that you're going through do you remember we used to be virtual you would be the only person who mic wouldn't turn on or picking my mic off and everything but I that that lets me know that lets me know that I'm on the right track sorry that I'm I'm I'm asking the hard question and moving in the way in which we need to move it's I'm laughing but it's not funny but just may made me remember that it's very quite peculiar but I'm growing in this process okay do all right up next we have staff report H2 director mcder thank you staff report H2 transfer of Staff reason for board consideration to approve the employment of Staff in accordance with the revised school code and other general laws of Michigan facts analysis is recommended that the board approve the superintendent's recommendation for the transfer of the following Personnel policy reference 3140 and 4140 resignation of professionals support staff so that needs to change sorry uh strategic plan goal reference personal leadership B and Harbor area schools will recruit hire develop and retain the best staff to improve student outcomes first on our list we have Miss Angela Brock Carter currently business office manager um recommended transfer to the role of Director of Finance uh effective date 1211 second we have Mr Danny Jennings from the role of assistant principal Benton Harbor High School to the role of interim ad assistant principal Bon Harbor High School with the effective date of 1211 next we have Miss Sarah Cadet U current role Ela teacher here at Benton Harbor High School um new role um effective January 6 the start of the new semester would be kindergarten teacher at DEC next we have Miss Felicia Smith currently equipment manager B Harbor High school um through Edy staff next recommended transfer to the role of safety monitor Benton Harbor High School still through edist staff with the effective date of 1 16 2025 last not list for today for transfers Shannon Hoover currently literacy coordinator central office to the role of instructional facilitator R Middle School also with the effective date of 1 16 2025 recommended action that the Benton Harbor Area Schools Board of Education votes to accept the separ the transfer of employment of the forementioned staff all right is there a motion to approve staff report H2 I make a motion to approve staff report H2 is there a second or support usty Gavin can we fix this this is resignation of professional is he gonna yeah they're they're trying to get it edited can they fix the staff report I think they're doing it electronically now yes so it's um who's adjusting I don't see it's there she you're justing do a policy reference as well so I just want to notate for the record when I look at the agenda I'm looking at the topics I'm looking at the names the dates and things like that I'm not going to catch all of these things here um so I need for you guys to make sure that because these are small oversights but they're major and it's easy to overlook them but they're extremely important we got to read um and while we're waiting for no that's just a policy reference we're okay um because that doesn't actually change what we're voting on um I I remember a concern expressed by Gavin and secretary triplet um last work session regarding the transition of um the ELA teacher from the high school specifically to deck um secretary triplet was extremely mindful in noting that the high school was the area that um the the building they tempted to shut down and so I just want to ask whether or not we have a contingency plan is there going to be a gap in that particular program being that we're transitioning her do we have a plan um do we have any potential hires just speak to that where we while we're waiting on that update sure um so the document has been updated electronically okay um the update for that is I've been working with the I've been in communication with the high school staff um our instructional leadership at the high school and we've been uh securing staff to step in on an interim basis the goal longterm is to of course secure a certified teacher but come when the students return on six we will have someone to take over that English class and okay go ahead secretary tret okay so is this teacher is she a certified teacher yes and I'm gonna elaborate a little bit more want to finish my question oh I'm sorry yes she is a certified teacher okay and so for me again with the instructional staff who is not the principal of Benton Harbor High School Miss Frederickson retired okay who was a certified math teacher we take a certified English high school English teacher and put her in a Kindergarten class which is not a part of the partnership agreement which is not I I do not I'm and I'm not talking about a substitute teacher coming up in that high school I am talking about we are moving certified teachers out of our building where we need did anybody talk to director CU who is over curriculum and instruction and when the state comes in it's going to go towards her the principal is going to be penalized and has said here meeting after meeting and it does not it is not right and this is clumped in in a consent report because I do not I don't I I don't see how y'all can even justify bringing this before us to take a certified English teacher from this high school a certified math teacher from this high school and our high school have some of the lowest scores and you're going to guarantee that you're going to have who in there on the sixth a substitute teacher uh uh what at our high school I'm concerned colleague I'm very concerned and I'll leave it at that director mcder thank you um I I hear the concerns and I truly indeed understand how it may seem under nor under regular conditions I would not be able to elaborate what I'm about to say however this employee has expressed her concerns and she asked me to share this was a voluntary transfer um she was new we recently hired her over the summer um her experience personally at the high school has not been what she wants it to be or expected it to be she is also certified like I uh she is certified k sorry 6 through 12 in ela she's currently securing her um additional endorsement in early Elementary childhood and probably SE it wrong so she's not she's not she's pursuing she already has and I I want to say this we don't have to say it because people do not dictate the the human resource department hire these people and put these people in these position we need and if they don't want to work in this position and they that they're not being successful there for whatever reason then they can resign because this right here is the thing who is making these calls who we have recruiters you served as a recruiter and we cannot have these kids in this high school with noncertified teachers and again I am aware and I want this on the record I am aware and it does not feel right it is not right and again this principal has sat here major spot holds in in in in schedules and everything and so our kids score do not reflect their ability our kids Flor scores are starting to make me feel like they're reflecting our inability to provide required HED certified teachers and when we have them they should remain and if not if that's not the case that's what we're looking for I I and and and and we're gonna move her to deck and she don't have the certification but she's a certified English teacher I can't I can't I can't I can't go with that M y'all can ring the bell all you want to I cannot go with that I just have one last comment yes um it is never my goal that a certified teacher leaves our district when we have another vacancy within our district so I hear the sentiments this is a certified teacher that has made an an interest to say I still want to provide service to our students however her experience her whatever and I don't want to put words in her mouth or on her she feels right now she can provide a better service to a lower elementary grade so once again that is the only reason I felt comfortable presenting this person versus having them submit a resignation letter and that's what I would say and and and I I understand what I'm saying I'm G close off with this Madam president as the chairman of the curriculum committee I'm definitely going to support my director to the best of my abilities and our principles and what have you but you're going to move her she does not have the credentials to even go down there and she's in training she's not certified to even be there with our kids at that level you cannot justify this move it's unacceptable it's unacceptable she's not certified to be down there with our baby she is certified if she can get some support and help up in there then that let's do that but she's not certified to be down there but she is certified to be up thank you okay um so can somebody give me a time check 9:38 9:38 oh Lord okay so is it the will of the board to uh pull Miss Cadet out of the H2 report would that allow us to proceed with the meeting and we can we can review uh Miss Cadet as of next Tuesday at the work session trusty Gavin that works for me her start date is not till January 6 so and we so we have sufficient time to have more of a conversation I would just with the sake of everyone's time and I would hate to risk um the other transfers noted for that one so if it's not against the will of the board I would just ask that we vote on H2 with removal of Miss Cadet I'm not going to require that we take a vote this time um I just just wanted to make sure that no one previously felt swindled into a staff report vote without us knowing that Mr Jennings which is a major position was on there so we can I'm okay with us editing or tabling that particular portion to to the work session next week for further discussion and proceed with H2 yes but Madam president I do want to say this and I'm very serious I don't know how anybody anybody up here would feel Swindle by the fact that was just presented no I mean I didn't want I didn't want you mistook what I said I didn't want so when I came in Dr bus had H2 printed with Mr Jennings on there and I know that that is not what my board voted to approve so I wanted to ensure you all did not feel swindled with adding such a major role to the transfer list but in this particular time I do not think a vote is necessary to remove Miss Cadet is what I'm saying yeah okay I just want to get you know because I'm very sensitive know I didn't want you all to feel swindled as a board like I just slid something in there anything of that nature trusty Gavin president Robinson what I will say is that I don't like last minute changes like that right but I am happy to see the change so you know I like to be able to review the information yeah but I'm very happy to see the change itself um it's just the it's just the timing of receiving the information it well into the board meeting right um but I will say this um just in regards to um Mrs Brock Carter very happy to hear the audit um an a audit I I don't care what anybody say I'm against two and three heads for anybody I don't care how amazing you are I don't think it's fair so I'm going to Advocate um for one person to have one job right um and so I'm really excited to hear that we got an A um and a b and I'm hoping and and I would like an answer on this um that we are going to fill the business office manager role and not give her promotion and put that on her too very good point we will have it posted uh after the board vote okay amazing the other thing there's an exception to my rule which is this position right here interim ad and assistant principal that actually makes sense um that makes sense now I've never worked with Mr Jennings as a athletic director but this gentleman uh bleeds Sports um I think he has his whole life and I'm really excited about what's possible um in this in this situation I am I want I'm glad that it is at inter position gives Mr Jen opportunity to see you know if this is a good fit um my one concern is that if we are you know giving him this new position the other person that had the position made x amount of dollars if we're giving him two roles are we properly compensating him or do we have this you know pattern of putting extra jobs on people without properly compensating them for the two jobs that they have or the added work I'll say the added work you have a quick response that they have yes ma'am uh so with him taking over this position some of his some of his students will be removed and I have another position person that will be taken on those duties as other duties is assigned which will still not overwork them as well that's I'm sorry that doesn't answer my question my question is he now has the assistant principal position and will possibly have the interim ad position who was paid at a certain rate right so are we making sure that and I that's not my you know I guess it's nobody's business what that rate is but are we making sure that there's some comparable pay for this added work so there is not what what I'm trying to explain to you is that I'm removing the I'm removing half of his duties so that he can take on the other half of those duties and making sure it's comparable and adding other duties assigned to another administrator to make sure that we still have coverage okay so what I'll just add is that whatever the ad was making uh Trump should make something close or something something I don't you know that's just my thought I am not the superintendent but I just want to make sure that we adding extra duties on folks um and we giving them a director position that we are being fair in our hiring practices not just for not just for Mr Jennings but as we do that to anybody that we're giving you know other roles to um and so that's it just want to congratulate the folks and the other question is the instructional I'm sorry the literacy coordinator is that position related to um is that position related to any type of Grant or program that requires us to have it filled and if so do we have coverage for that it's through the MSD Grant it ends next year we get funding for one more year and we have so even with that position position I have uh individuals that can cover those duties as other duties as assigned so that we that teaching and learning Department still has the support that they need that that she'll need is this a individual that's going to be wearing two hats no so this individual will be moving to instructional facilitator so the other uh uh the other individuals that will be pitching in one position is actually it should have been part-time but we we're we're trying to grow the program so the program is not fully grown yet so they can take on some of those responsibilities without overburdening them so you're saying that we have a part-time worker who could take on this literacy coordinator position that was a full-time job and so they'll have this full-time job and their part-time job so no ma' we have a person that's working in a position that previously was a part-time position is now a full-time position but they they have that still they still have those that time allotted to take on some additional duties so it won't be an overburden to them I see that my time is up so I will give to okay so secretary tripet can you remind me of who made the initial vote to approve St I'm going to move us forward who made the initial vote to approve staff report H2 the initial motion never we never took a vote yeah who took the motion I mean who made the motion Martin who supported you did support it because we never got there okay okay so rocket Martin do you support sta do you still make the motion to approve staff report H2 with the noted Amendment of the removal of Sarah Cadet okay is there a second or support for that okay so we'll take um truste Gavin as the support um we we jumped right into questions comments and concerns before we even got into the staff report but they were required in order to allow us to get through it um as needed what I am hearing is the will of the board is that they would like for you to I know that you emailed this cost savings I think it was a a good number um that would have been saved however the board is indicating that it wants you to go back and recalculate and see if there's additional compensation available for um your potential director Jennings yes ma'am I can do that Madam Madam president I'm going to ask you a question though on that if does the athletic director receive more what is the salary of the athletic director and what is the salary of an assistant principal do anybody have that information Mr mcdom both are very similar difference no what are they is it is it $95,000 and $85,000 the Finance Chief is over there human resource person is over there just give us the difference in cost between the two who's higher our I mean our current ad has been here longer in his role his current salary is higher who's higher the current ad is higher but which if a new person was coming into the position are they compar both pay scales are very similar it's only based on years of experience and okay so I I want to say this as well the athletic director slash assistant principal the athletic director for anybody's information the athletic director travel the athletic director work from day from the beginning of the day the athletic director worked all the way to the night to the end of the game and my thing is if we're going to do this and combine this um and we want to talk about experience as athletic directors we can go with experience from coaching and I would say that the athletic director whatever the position whatever the salary of the athletic director it should become the salary of this interim athle director assistant principal that's what it should be the highest of the two because it people don't they have to to be at every game every track meet they have to be all over the place these people work all day and all night and he's going to also be doing the assistant principal position so I I think that this should be the the highest of the two salaries should be given in this case and then we post the job for a full-time athletic director then we can do those the criteria can be you can go back to the criteria and go through there okay one last notation and then I'll ask the secretary triplet call the vote I just want to make sure that it's placed on the record that currently there is no inam ad assistant principal position that exist as one the board's never created that position so as it stands Jennings would have two positions and so I think when you look at it in that way even though you're going to to uh defer some of his duties to another individual it's important to real to to take note that there is not currently an assistant director in AP position that is already emerg the board has never developed that and so as it stands he's doing two roles if you know if it when when you look at it that way and so that's why the board is wanting to ensure that the work that is being done is at a level that's that's reflective of the work the of the pay work problem okay all right so we're going to move it forward um just as a reminder this is Staff report H2 with the removal of Sarah Cadet we will have that on the work session agenda for um further discussion review next week secretary trip King please call the vote and then I will make my comment after president Robinson yes offic say vice president Jennings I'm these reports got me so tangled me on this is H2 oh secretary triplet yeah trusty rocket Martin yes trusty gabin yes motion Carri all right so I would say congratulations um to all of the transfers noted um specifically I would like to say congratulations to director Brock Carter yes I just want to tell you thank you for trusting me I sent you the link told you to consider I had no idea that I could get you to even consider consider leaving the state but I would anticipate that you pray and God LED you to come here and I'm so very grateful um that you chose to come back and support home and I would like to say to our new interim athletic director congratulations I was prepared to come to this table and fight on your behalf tonight and so I am extremely proud of the work that you have done in the community the work that you have done in this District and I look forward to seeing what you do in the next six months Co so congratulations and I know that you are probably overwhelmed with the motion well congratulations to you you all right and congratulations to everyone else so we're gonna keep it moving um next on the agenda I didn't got tangled up too uh SEC got one H3 staff report H3 yes uh separation of employ reason for board consideration a list of employees who employ whose employment relationship with the district is or will be separated is submitted to the board each month fa in 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 personal leadership Benton Harbor area schools will recruit hire develop and retain the best staff to improv student outcomes separation of employment today by ways of resignation we had Miss Dominique Martin um from the position of teacher and training social studies here at the high school effective date 127 2020 2024 recommended action that the Benton Harbor area school's Board of Education votes to accept the separation of employment of the forementioned staff is there a motion to approve staff report ag3 make a motion to approve staff report is there a second or support just reminder to the board we can't hold anyone at um against their will so I'll ask is there a motion to approve St is there a support to staff report H3 all right so the motion failed um without a support there is no motion to proceed so we cannot currently accept this resignation all right so the motion has been made by truste rocket Martin supported by secretary triplet any questions comments and [Music] concerns I feel Madam president you have the floor there is an alarm at the gate as it relates to our Alma mod it's an alarm at the gate and I'm serious about it I a't ain't ain't nothing like you cannot stop people from resigning there is no attention up here this when you go to a community when they look at St Joseph School District they they they measure St Joseph School District by his high school you go to lure they measure it by their high school they don't go down there and ask how Brown is doing and what up in the SCH a school a community is judged by it is high school there's no urgency when you say things because it really I don't want you know it really people go to look in it you know for me I campaign to be on this board four more years for my arm it it it ain't yours I don't expect you I don't expect you to have that in your heart I I I don't expect that to come from any of if it's not yours every time English teacher math teacher social studies teacher teachers and training now there's a pattern here because what I'm starting to see are these people not being supported with the necessary thing we have all of these quote unquote professional developments all of these quote unquote you look at the partnership agreement you know you got teachers and training in classroom without materials I have inspected what I expect if it don't apply Let it Fly they're not walking out of here for no reason for those that are resigning I just don't believe it okay so again that was my reason and my thought about it everything we need our human resource department and our superintendent to put some Urgent Care work on finding people to be in here teaching our kids at this High School Point Blank recruiters and everything we go and pull those records when we talk about because people want to make it like it's personal it can't be personal because I don't know you up close and person okay so when when when when we come to it and we look at this data and that the thing that you cannot argue with you can't argue with data and if we pulled this data it's going to be alarming to this board of education it's going to be alarming to this board of education our teachers are not the lowest paid we've we've done everything to try to provide and make things competitive and everything with our money we didn't play with our money we didn't use our money any kind of way and so I'm I'm serious Madam president I I would I would give with you this curriculum team we need to get together because this is serious because our our our is in trouble secretary Tri can you call the oh trusty Gavin thank you um president Robinson uh when I look at this name Miss Martin um um in the TNT program uh this was a teacher who I saw was so excited about being a tiger so excited about the coursework so excited about the Palms excited right and so over the course of time things happened there are breakdowns and what I will say is like from the very top um we have a responsibility to put some controls in place some supports in place to make sure that our staff have the supports they need and we need to do something something about our culture and climate we need to do something about protecting the people on the front lines holding them accountable yes absolutely I'm 100% in support of that but also making sure that they have the support that they need to do their job in a safe environment and if we're not providing that then shame on us shame on us and if there's no sense of responsibility there's nowhere else other than in a teacher's classroom that excuses are made about these unsafe environments we have a responsibility to do better we have a responsibility to do better period And I am disgusted because there were so many opportunities to create a better environment and so my prayer is that this is not a moment of blaming people but a moment of self assessment what are we doing to make our people feel like when they speak up this is not just this is any situation when they speak up it's something wrong or that's negative how can we change the way that we're moving um such that when a staff or a principal or anybody student anybody says this is a concern we create a safe space for their concerns to be addressed because it cost more money to let them go than to go ahead and create a safe space for them not only that the harm and the trauma we don't want to be contributing to that so this This concerns me this is why I just I don't support this at all at all all right so if there's no further comments or discussion secretary trip can you call the vote for staff report age3 I just come on back in H3 president Robinson yes secretary triplet yes trusty rocket Martin yes trusty Gavin no all right motion carry so we are going to um as it relates to the high school I just kind of want to speak on that so for those that aren't aware when the district was in a battle with the state they wanted us to shut the high school down and the Board of Education refused I believe twice we rejected it um and so because we were not in a position where we wanted to to close the high school it put the entire District at risk and the board stood firm and rejected the request to shut down B Harbor High School the board did not have autonomy the board regained meaning we had a person the superintendent was acting in charge of everything the board was just there in a ceremonial fashion the board regain their autonomy in July and then I joined the board in 2020 I mean yeah in 2020 so sometimes it may seem as though when we see things about the high school that we just coming out left field about a teacher leaving we just want to make sure that that's something that's always in the Forefront that it was the the culture and the academics and the safety of the high school that put the entire building and the district at risk and so we just want that to be something that's at the Forefront of you all's Minds in where we are because that's a PTSD response for us like that's when he says alarm is at the door we've been there we're not just exaggerating and making it up we we've been there I didn't fight that battle but I came in uh as soon as we had got done and it's been a whirlwind ever since so we don't want to be back there okay so thank you so much for your reports congratulations to all of the transfers um and and hires and things of that nature we we wish our staff that have uh resigned and retired well on their next Journeys um last but not least this evening we have director Dash with an update for facilities I will say I was glad that you did not hit me with another $1.5 or $2 million purchase so I wasn't even concerned you didn't have a staff report this time cuz you hit us with big money so you can go ahead and give us the update hello everybody um well uh I'm gonna keep this one short because it is a short one um during our facilities committee meeting um is my voice really that Bassy yeah um but anyways uh um we talked about the girls bad sink and then the the locker rooms for the away teams and a few other things like some signage and stuff like that well um we got the bathroom sinks replaced so you won't it don't soak your pants down yeah it it was a big task it was pretty hard but um and then uh we went into the away team locker room and we we painted up the benches and we painted the floors um we we fixed the the toilets that were in there all three of them were were pretty broke um there's a few other things that need to be repaired in there um but I I'll bring you guys up on that when when we get there um but that that's really about it we've been running through the the classrooms regarding the heat it's been we've been quite reactive on it I wish we could have been proactive on it but I'm I'm still learning you know what what's broke what work works and what to expect but I learned a lot this week so um that won't happen twice so um yeah everything seems to be we're we're catching up and things are going pretty good okay and then I just want to notate um not necessarily facilities related I think maybe it might have been well it is because it's the gym floor dedication so that is your area right facilities so I just want to make sure we notate that Monday December the 6 is our official dedication for the Paul will high court um in coach's honor and so we just want to make sure we notate that so that the community comes out um and supports him he's been amazing um to the district and so I'm hoping that we can have a full presence that has the Nostalgia of when we were all in school just really pack it out for Coach so I want to make sure we notate that um extremely exciting I'm still glowing about that upgrade and so Dr bus did tell me that you all he mentioned this briefly you all recently redid the floor as far as the buffing so on the the 11th they have a game on the 12th we have the company coming back in to sand and put seven coats of uh gloss gloss proba your thing couldn't think of it at the time on the floor so that it will have its brand new look again and also also keep down the scuffs when they first installed it they it didn't cure long enough so what we're going to do is make sure that we it's is it's maintained properly and moving forward they we the codia team will have a training on keeping the floor clean our Madam president you have the floor our athletic our new interim athletic director probably needs to be involved in the leadership of this immediately and everything that needs to happen as it relates to um this plan for Coach will height for this day we will be meeting with him tomorrow thank you so very very much oh the new athletic director oh director Jenis interim athletic director okay so we're gonna proceed oh trusty Gavin had a question be brief um would love to updates on the things that are kind of running on the agenda would I would love to know what you meant in terms of the learnings around the heat oh I can elaborate if you'd like yes please yeah um so everybody knows that pause my clock oh everybody knows our system's pretty old um but what I'm learning uh so far is what what registers are they're not registers they're actually called Heating units those things over there um some of them are leaking and some of them are well they were leaking um and some of them are are just not doing what they're supposed to do and also if the power goes out in the town we need to get into the buildings immediately and check those pumps on those boilers they're supposed to come on on their own in the other buildings not the high school the high school's that that and high school and fair plane East are getting are up to date they're moving right along the other buildings MLK DEC those ones we need to get right into so uh learn that one um that won't happen again and uh then after that we learned that if the power goes out comes back on the pump the pump doesn't want to come back on then we have to hurry up and shut the power off of the whole system or it will pull air in through the registers from the outside and freeze up those coils and that'll turn into something fun um we had that happen on in one but we got it taken care of and uh yeah so that that's what I mean by learning it's just it's learning this old stuff and being prepared and um trial by fire I guess yeah but um it's it's pretty good we're we we got it down now well what we know and uh we're going to do we're going to do better the next time thank you I appreciate your uh transparency um my question was I guess I had another question not sure if this is the driver's education portion you know are we going to deal with that I feel like that's something that should be running on the agenda till we get do you have an update yes ma'am we we will we will definitely have that um that's a running topic we will definitely have it in the spring I just got I'm trying to work with our vendors to make sure that we put everything in place so when we put the RFP out that they [Music] can respond to it thank you is there a timeline on the RFP yes uh definitely I'm doing my best to uh get wait on some feedback from them and I'll be reaching out again tomorrow so the timeline is as soon as I can get feedback I'll be making sure it's posted feedback from vendors feedback from the vendors to put out the RFP no vendors what they need in order to ensure that we we can get our services this spring so forgive me I think trusty Gavin if she doesn't mind me she's struggling right now because this has been a consistent question via email and at the table and we seem to be at the same place every time they ask um so can we on next week's agenda can this be an actual topic yes and we have a status that's differently different from what we've gotten each time yes ma'am most definitely than so much and my other question is really about is also about the um girls lock it's about the locker rooms um I hear all of this um controversy if you will around bathrooms and things of that nature but I find it funny that nobody seemed to be concerned about you know locker rooms not having any doors and people just showering in front of everybody like that's okay and that's comfortable for teams um do we have doors for the showers or are they just open showers where everybody just no they're they're just wide open just like what it was when we were kids but it's the same so you know I just find it interesting that people seem to be so concerned about bathrooms but they don't care about people you know showering in front of everybody in the locker room so I'm just wondering if um the board would entertain or superintendent or Dr us at some point or somebody at some point would consider some um private showers for students to be able to shower without doing it in front of the other students so I definitely think that's something we need to be looking at as it relates to ma uh Master's facilities plan and and seeing if that what that looks like because I to be honest I I've never been in there I didn't know that they were wide open shower most shower like the school that I'm at or that I've been at they're wide open they just wide open so how do they deal with that as a relates to being open and Equitable lgbtq yes things of that nature that's a conversation to update the hasir spaces like that but both shower rooms and locker rooms are just like that we you know we did we we go to gym when they go to the YMCA they don't have individual showers they go in they go in there the showers are there you know so you can go in you take your shower and what have you like that so I mean the this this these are uh this is a school that was kind of updated since like 2009 and stuff like that too so they they not they not like doing just individual shows for kids to go in individual showers but that is something to take into consideration we talk about it we we got our open showers what you provide some spaces in there possibly you know for students who because I I had a traumatic time in the ninth grade trying to get in there early when people saw me I was very small you know little at that time 90 pound but um I I do want to say this I will still had a few seconds no I appreciate that support and I would just add that that sometimes has an impact on those students who are uncomfortable that may impact their grade not wanting to participate their ability to participate in the hygiene portion or just not even wanting to go to gym because of that so if it's something that we can get in front of um I think have we could work with the athletic director and and ask um the athletic director to see if it's something that if there's a need for it you know there that's we could easily do that yeah awesome thank you okay and then the last thing for me um we are in the midst of the season for athletics getting in and going into basketball season so I just want to make sure that our interim um athletic director get some business cards ordered I don't know who who does that is that would that be a miss a mcder thing or Mr coron used to do it but I think we have the information of where we going get them B on the standard time I think we can make sure that when Mr Jennings returns back from the new year/ Christmas break he should have those on in hand okay and the same thing for um director Brock Carter yes correct okay that's that's not handled inhouse those are we have event so I'm just thinking about the processing time in the holidays I think they can do a good turnaround time to make sure that everybody has it when they return in January I can't guarantee earlier okay yeah all right so we're gonna proceed I don't want to open up any more cans worms um just a reminder for the board um when we last when we last uh met we discussed having our um organizational meeting on that fir on that I think it's the 8th of the month yeah January 8th that first Tuesday um you have a anybody have a calendar to make sure it's a Wednesday January 7th January 7th is that the first Tuesday of the month okay so January 7th 20125 also for um our returning trustee Bradley that will be yeah that will be the date of our organizational meeting and then our um Regular board meeting will be the 14th of January anticipated and so what we previously discussed in the last work session is there is five um team building and learning opportunities to professional development that the board has to do prior to the end of the partnership agreement but being that there's one change in the board we decided to defer December and go ahead and um wait for your return so that you can be included in that professional development um so once our board comes back in and has our organizational meeting we'll set that schedule to ensure that we're able to get them in and I think that we should try to do it quarterly um at minimum make sure we have one or two done within every three Monon window and just get it done okay so I don't have any new business anyone for open public comment did you write in red is that reding oh Lord Oh Lord triplet 818 South Crystal Benton Charter Township citizen I'm a taxpayer parent of graduates oh I appreciate it thank you second time today and I I'm gonna I have to use the restroom I apologize but you all can just continue with the flow because nothing else requires a vote until I come back I'll be back very briefly after open public comment we'll have superintendent announcements and comments oh Lord okay let me hold I'm sorry go ahead the pressure's on okay well so you know and I I appreciate um president Robinson's um kind of uh references to the uh historical state of mind uh because I have some of my own as I'm sure many people in the community do um this partnership agreement which was a must I had no choice uh but is after the outcome of uh decades long uh desegregation situation and that partnership was the state of Michigan [Music] bar and Rea and our own School District you all are new board members but there were board members who sought to eliminate public education for this community as it became blacker and Browner that thread historically is still there and so I you know I came today I even had to bring my own homework uh at the early part of your meeting uh because I felt it was important because uh you talk about PTSD it is alarming I mean it's almost like that fire alarm smoke alarm all alarms should be going off after I attended the partnership meeting out there at Baran Risa and then looked at the documents that are online I don't know if they've been updated since that meeting those five meetings that y'all need to do as board members that's a required part of the process raising that academic outcomes of our students that's a part of the process if both don't happen this ain't the district that you know it today and and some of y'all people who are not coming back but y'all will be the faces that the community will remember that lost our school district it's been some great things the children are beautiful the people that work with them are beautiful we got wonderful caring people all over the place and and I'm not sure if it's you know it's almost like it's oppression to the point of hopelessness it's all this busy work all of this money this one this woman in her group stood up here and said they $100,000 so I want to know in the district do you all know with what you all have control of and all of these Partners have control of how much money is that coming in for the academic uh development of this community the total amount I talking about just what you got what do they have and then what is the AC the dollar amount of all of you know I know that we have families that are in need and underserved but we got too many banks in 49022 to tell me that everybody is impoverished and so you know this culture you know talk about a culture there's a culture and a mindset so you want to make sure that your students and your families understand I don't care about that understand the purpose of this entity being that they're in alignment all of these things and you still got to try to pull parents in all of these things and somebody talking about absenteeism all of these things and you talking about zero they start at zero in terms of Tas force that does not make sense and so I would like to know how much the partnership dollars of any kind of partnership how do they impact Ben Harbor area school resources your financial resources how do you know that there's not overlap and duplication and subvention how do you know that and is the data your data on academic growth is it similar the same in the the same ballpark as these Partners got Boys and Girls Club what do their score say about students in that program that are from benary schools cuz I looked at a report that some things were zero they were coming up it was growing but it wasn't it it was not going to keep a public school district in place come the meeting that you have November 2025 because they'll make plans about what's going to happen in the Academic Year 2026 right so we gonna make it early I know y'all got this meeting that y'all going to have but y'all need to be flashing that deadline right what schools right now are on track to meet that academic goal who's where are they at do do you all know do the families know do the students know right because again we got a lot of Great ACT there's a lot of movement and a lot of programs and services but are they going to make that goal right who's in charge of all of these resources do they report to you do they meet with your leadership team so that there's best use of these resources right because it's tax money all over the place that we're paying right who has oversight over the coordination and disaggregating of data to ID to identify the impact of each resource so the things that uh Ben Harbor area schools has purchased do you know how it impacts student learning is it effective or not is it going to meet and get you to the goal or not how is CIS impacting because they said they do data everybody's doing this data collection but is anybody getting our students where they need to be and if not can anybody say no we need to stop that and do something else I understand you got to spend the money yeah I understand you got to spend the money but in the end you will still be held responsible to this community for the outcomes that you go before the state in that partnership agreement what's helping and what is not I also would like to know what is the bottom line time frame for that reassessment with on that partnership agreement before a final decision is made like when are students taking their assessment test that's going to be the data that's going to make a decision about is it still the public school district that we know or is the recommendations that something else especially taking away this high school because everybody like to try to lift uh the jewel they try to lift the jewel ain't nobody taking nothing off of us that's too hard for us but we better know what we're doing and again it that's y'all that's that's your staff his staff but y'all is our elected officials see the partnership agreement does not Encompass all of the elements necessary for effectively ensuring educational system where is the Strategic plan I hear people talk about a strategic plan but I couldn't find that on the website I really don't I don't know that I like that website now maybe it's something to do with my baby boomer generation although I'm pretty slot on that on that computer now I know what I'm doing if I get access but where's the Strategic plan because regardless of what happens with that partnership agreement see I have hope I'm an optimist I'm a I'm a licensed clinical social worker so I'm always going to look for the glass half fill it'll never be half empty in my mind right so I have hope that we're going to get there but I'm also talking about accountability at this point like I said when I went to that meeting out there it's unacceptable to me that people don't come to the meetings whatever they are and that we have zero I did I was not happy with that I was not happy with that I was not I don't like to hear that our that zero we still under and yet and still we got millions of dollars and all kind of new stuff I'm trying to see if them books moving out in that venue machine have they are they moving some of that stuff should be out of stock great singers great dancers great running up the field but it's going to be have to be a different expectation you all have to believe you can't just come here and tell us that you're doing it you got to believe it when you come into this community you come in and you are a tiger until your tiger stripes taken away from you or you throw them on the ground we need need our public school system this public school system we need this cuz if they take this then they will take the community and I know y again y'all gonna meet but I don't know what that D I wouldn't drink nothing I wouldn't need nothing cuz y'all need to be clear of mine I ain't say I'm gonna send them a letter too my husband I have to let him sleep and you know get some rest keep his blood pressure down I can't put it all out on him so I said I'm coming but I am not happy but I'm praying for all of us and I mean that sincerely sincerely sincerely if you need assistance if you need assistance I would offer a pro bono session for you all because I think this idea about you know it do if if if we look good then that's all that matters we see through the facade your ends afraid we got you got to get down to the nitty-gritty and talk about what you need to do to make it over this next Finish Line that's a non-negotiable and I'm when you say it then you got to own it it's a non-negotiable in my mind as a taxpayer of this community as a citizen of this community I love y'all but some of the stuff that happens is unacceptable and you coming in here that's you coming back again don't pick don't bring no bad Habs you didn't have none don't bring nothing I love y'all it's almost a holiday season but come on now thank you so much thank you for the record I just want everybody to know that um very few few people that uh scared me and that's one of them so I wasn't going to DARE tell her to wrap up her comment for the record uh trusty I mean future trusty Bradley former vice president Bradley hard follow have um I want to say good evening and um once again it's a great pleasure to serve this great School District we've had ups and downs but we are still persevering and um first I would like to thank the community for putting their trust in me by casting ballots in November's election um be real quick to my board colleagues who I'll be serving with first let me say this this is business and nothing personal and let me repeat this is about business and nothing personal we're going to be operating a multi and we currently are operating a multi-million dollar nonprofit business and decisions and steps we uh make can have a lasting or negative or negative lasting negative or positive impacts this is not some junk School Board where we operate by throwing everything to the wall and seeing if it sticks starting now and going into January and until the future micromanagement will have to stop and we must get back to a 25,000 to 50,000 foot View and please don't get me wrong I do believe in accountability I am not saying that we don't have to Be watchful but we don't have to be in every single decision being made especially when it comes to the day-to-day oper ation of the district we must give people the respect and latitude to do the job we have entrusted them to do believe it or not everything is not a conspiracy we will have some serious work ahead of us these next few years and we will have to stand united we must and we have to start thinking outside of the box what work five 10 15 20 or 30 years ago may not work right now I heard a saying from this board table and I heard it tonight if it doesn't apply Let it Fly and I in my personal opinion I think it's the wrong attitude to have and honestly it needs to change to if it doesn't fit right now let's put it on the shelf and come back to it in the future I'm going to close out with the 19 characteristic of leadership from Dr Stan toer in his book outstanding leadership and let us as board reflect on these characteristics let us as individuals figure out what our strong characteristics are and weak characteristics are and go from there they accept others they are flexible they enjoy challenges they are self-aware they value giftedness in others they are courageous they are supportive of others they keep agreements they share information freely they listen they listen they facilitate others they understand group dynamics they understand process Improvement they know how to manage meetings they know how to manage projects they give feedback they let go of personal agendas they let go of personal agendas they resolve conflicts they are good communicators I want us as a board to reflect on those characteristics as we move forward for some it may be a strength and for some it may be a weakness I look forward to serving alongside you all in the upcoming term and years to follow thank you thank you anyone else for open public comment all right hearing none we're going to go to superintendent announcements and comments and board member announcements and comments just a reminder I do need to um if we could try to be quick I got 20 if we could be if we could be as quick and as concise as possible because I don't want to break the quum but thank you manam struggl a little bit um just want to congratulate the ones who um got their transfers uh past tonight and looking forward to the uh floor rededication just uh just want to remind everyone to please come out and and support and and and and celebrate the the new gym floor and that's all I have for to tonight thank you trusty Gavin thank you president Robinson um thank everybody for coming out I um this is no dig at um uh trust Bradley this is more so to address the micromanagement talking point and a talking point is something that's used politically so that people will go brain dead and not really analyze what's really going on um when you look at the definition of micromanagement it says here that it is a management style that involves paying too much attention to Minor Details um 60 TNT staff uh being let go or staying is definitely not a minor detail um where we stand academically in terms of its relationship to a partnership agreement that we um are required to meet in order to possibly maintain our status is um not micromanaging uh being concerned about uh turnover is is not micromanaging uh being concerned about um the facilities um and the infrastructure is not micromanaging these are these are issues that have everything to do with whether or not we're going to be here and just to be clear about the narrative when it comes to this High School being threatened to be shut down I was definitely not on the board but I was very much involved with fighting to keep these doors open and the documentation is there um and we had to convince the board to say no they didn't just say you know no we not giving up they the board voted to allow a CFO to come up in here okay and so we had to fight for our community and there's this Twisted Nar that people who are fighting to keep the doors open are the problem somebody sits in audiences and say yo they're the problem no no this High School wouldn't be here right if people like me our students staff members other folks joined in to fight for this community and tell the board that they needed to ask the board to pass a resolution to support that and so what I would say is it was a group effort it took us setting aside our differences and working together to do what is needed so that our community would have something and so if we don't take these things seriously I don't care how anybody feels about me I didn't get into education caring about how folks felt about me I had a purpose and I still do what I told my kids you hate me now you love me later that's okay and that's the same way I feel about this community I'm going to say what needs to be said and I'm going to demand accountability regardless of how I feel personally about anybody in any position because I know that if we give up our land if we give up our buildings our land and somebody else takes ownership of those things things they're kicking our folks out of here right they will have every legal right to kick us out and we will have nothing and not only will they be able to kick us out they'll be able to raise the rates so that everybody's quality of life will change you think the grocery prices are a problem they can raise living expenses so that you have to move and so everything is connected and so when we fight for our community we fight for our kids and we fight for our staff it is not anything to cause harm to any leader it is to say that our kids deserve everything that the kids across the across the bridge get right and so I think it's really important for us to just kind of set those words aside and start really taking seriously the resource that we have in this community and figuring now how are we going to take care of our kids our staff our community and one another thank you for your time trusty work at Martin I am still a defender of my community of my superintendent of my board of my students and I still resent the fact that people come before this board and demand that we fire our superintendent when they have nothing better to put in its place also um you want to talk about being in the trenches I am in the trenches I try to promote my district as much as possible and I would like to ask our superintendent and our central office people what can we do as a board to support you so that we can uh make the gains so that we can do all of the things that Mrs triplet talked about out so that we as a district as a whole can be supportive and and and prosper and do well I have a problem with people that say we're for you and we're looking out for you and and we agree with you say or whatever you say that but then you get on Facebook and you demean us and put us down and talk about us and you let other people do it that's talking out of both sides of your mouth if you are going to support B Harvard School talk positive about it and support it get in the trenches start tutor with little kids I find I have found that over 40 years in education that if you to best serve your district is to work directly with the kids if you want to do something ask how can you how can you tutor how can I tutor how can I do some of these things our test scores are low what do we do to help bring them up we used to do education in the streets if you want your test scores up it's not going to be totally on the teacher you G have to get parents involved you gonna have to get everything PTA is excellent or PTO whatever which one you want to use is fine with me but that will help bring our kids up one on-one tutoring helps I'm so glad that I heard about the varsity tutoring if we can get our little babies to start ACC assessing that and using it because I'm working often with our little kids in Bon Harbor and I know what they know and what they don't know and where they need that kind of support not so much the mouth at this table but the actual working with them in trenches to get that work done so however they can uh you know access this Varsity tutoring and doing all of those kinds of things that directly impact them you can say a lot of things with your mouth but it doesn't impact them you talking at this table does not impact them when they have to take that test and they don't know what two plus two is and three plus three is and four plus four is so the more we do of that the better you'll see our kids come tutoring helps it does it really does we used to do a smart tutoring I don't know what happened the powers they came in and so that went out the window but all of those things help if you can talk talk to your colleagues talk to your friends hey look out for the district if you know you see teachers out there or people out there that are not in education that are qualified I said hey you ever thought about you know hey come on over you know take a look at B Harbor it's a good place to work it's it's a nice place to work it's a place where I have found the kids at the high school to be extremely um intelligent and um friendly is how you talk with them and how you connect with them and how you build that report with them you know so um some people say it may be a gift maybe it is but I know what I'm talking about because I've experienced it I brought kids that didn't have much to doing well we took kids all over this place Miss Miss triplet knows so I mean I would take our kids the kids we took over to college to a I would take them any place to stand before the president because they were intelligent and they knew what they were talking about and that's the part we want to point uh present to people I get offended when I hear folks say oh you're from B your kids were so nice you take them some place oh your kids were so nice what did you expect what are our expectations for our district what are our expectations for our kids what are our expectations for each other and with that being said have a wonderful holiday a happy New Year you know what if you can't say anything nice about anybody don't say anything at all and when you talk about folks and what they do and don't do you're really showing you what's wrong with you okay none of us Walk on Water I don't see anybody walking on water so you know we all make mistakes we all do that but we learn from them and we go on and we don't push each other in the ground because we made those mistakes we pick each other up and we go forward and we help each other to do well we help each other I'm done okay I would like I know only secretary trip is left but I think you guys completely let it go in one ear not the other that I'm over here struggling trying to get to the little ladies room it's been about 30 minutes so secretary triplet wrap us up and then I won't have much of a comment at all okay um and the clock and all that stuff you know I I was born I was born and raised in this community and uh you know I was talking to my wife and you all got a soft a soft presentation of of this conversation and uh it was it was so severe I I said I feel like I'm G to have a heart attack you know she was just coming at me so harsh because you on that board she didn't care about me being on this board education or nothing I'm used to all the Slick smart comments and stuff and I've learned down through the year how to if it don't apply Let it Fly and if it's applied then get busit because see I'm I've I've given de everybody on this board bring something to the table first of all I am here as a member of this board of education for almost 6,000 people voted for me to be on this board of education in this community and in the previous election 7,000 voted for me to be on this board of education I don't get personal with the individual in that seat that's one thing that you have to be careful for careful about because see all this rning skinning w wiing and other people faith and our kids are failing I don't disagree with everything that truste Gavin has to say I don't disagree with everything that trusty rocket has to say I don't always agree with everything that the president has to say because guess what I have my own mind I don't need anything from anybody to make my decision I don't care what you say okay I know when you being slck because I've lived it see because ain't nobody sitting up here in this table and I'm not gonna be no 50,000 feet up in the air for four years I've been on here we've been at zero you stay up in them clouds if you want to you can let the master tell you how you supposed to conduct yourself I shall not I will never because ain't nobody at this table when I talk about the Michigan Department of Education when I talk about Bea when I talk about War I was a victim of it I sit at this table and I have sat around people who plotted that I have documentation in my home for my demise and to destroy me to ruin my career I have documentation from my lawyer okay this ain't nothing that I'm playing with so and it's not about me it's about these kids okay it was about some of y'all when y'all were young we fought the fight I fought the fight and we fought each other when you were teaching next to me okay so I know you and you know me and we know each other and we know each other very well but I want the record to show that I I'm not mixed up about what you thought about Mr triplet how you feel about Mr trip how Mr trip was with the Capal leas how Mr trip was with the cheerleaders how Mr tripy was with this how Mr trip Mr tripy has F I could have abandoned ship a long time ago this school district has never apologized to me for what they did to me so don't say nothing to me about what you didn't lose your career you didn't go to college you didn't get your master's degree and based on Li in this District that will never ever it will never be it there's nothing you can ever do to correct it but guess what come down to the charter school I never went because I love my school district I love the kids in this community my grandson is in a district and has a topof the line education and I can't even celebrate sometime my grandson when he bring home what he's doing because I start crying about what's happening here I'm not playing with you it ain't Pro I love all of y'all and I I have I have talked to y'all I have shared with you you're the only person that I ain't had no face to face with but I will before January happen so we can make sure we get an understanding cuz in all of our getting we need to get an understanding when I look over there and I see Miss Nichols when I look over there and I see Angela Brock Carter those are my kids that I was a part of their villing when I look down there and see Natalie singer those were kids that I fought for unbeknown to them and often time beown to them when I see the president of this board of education that's one of my cheerleaders one of my kids on my Miss Court when I look down here and see 1994 standing up in your strong I was her class advisor you can't tell me nothing about that you know you sit up in here ring the clock ring the bell chuckle chuckle chuckle ha haa it don't ring on and ha ha all of that I'm laughing with you because and I believe you when you show me who you are I believe you I believe you don't act like you just in here doing this thing for these kids a lot of people do this thing for their kids okay the bottom line I don't like zero I I don't like no 1.7 nothing and our kids don't deserve it because our kids are brilliant they are powerful and I didn't I didn't become an educator as an after thought I wanted to be a teacher from the first grade and what I did in my 42 years that I've been working in this thing called education 27 of those years I was a master teacher and what do I know how to do better than anything else I know how to teach so I'mma close out because my my president I know my president is I'mma tell you this I'm good everywhere I go when I walk in room my ego ain't that big to make people think that people that make me think that people jealous of me I ain't got nothing but I do understand when they have a problem with my gift it has nothing to do with me so when they come in I'm GNA be at that door kicking a't nobody gave me nothing they took my job they took my money but they couldn't take what I was designed to be so I want the parents of this community cuz ma masb is just like a resource they don't govern how we run our thing this our school because I see them too now you a tiger tigers are cunning predor and hear me when I say we are never the pray and it's Tigers up in here so let's fight for these kids there's an alarm at the gate I will say it and I won to say it again you better look at that partnership agreement these kids take that test in May they ain't making no growth they ain't doing nothing and if they don't make that growth we are going to be having a different conversation while you 50 feet in the cloud but guess what I'm boost on the ground 10 toes down because when it come when it's all said and done like my wife told me your faith Mr triplet is going to be on the front of that cover when you lose this his I said I'm going to have a heart attack you have to take that some mother way I can't do that right now give me some ad but I I I mean that Ronaldo trier's name ain't gonna be on this just on that on that thing when they come in here and take this so thank you all I encourage you guys and really I come I come at y'all I'm proud of y'all I just want y'all to be good I want y'all to be fair I want y'all to show show some respect for this place because so many people have come into this place and they have dogged us they have stolen our kids they have stolen our asset they have literally dogged us while some of us sitting here grinning y'all y'all here y'all ain't y'all ain't been y'all ain't had no no no no experience for no 20 30 years curriculum in facilities in finance in hi in student services but guess what you did have you got heart I'm 64 years old I'm not a kid I got more years behind me than I do in front of me I a I tell you what I won't ever do and I'm G close with this I will never do anything to harm you but I will not let you stand here and not be held accountable and I will not stand for incompetence thank you madam president and thank you for not ringing the bell Bishop Mason because I know you gave your first lady a long time thank you okay so we've had some pretty hearty comments this evening I I I am not going to take up much more time just want to say I think um I'm very excited for the transfers and Transitions and the things that were approved today uh looking forward to coach will Heights um celebration event on Monday I'm hoping that the community will come out I am asking those of you that are on social media um if you could help us in getting that flyer re shared um to your personal Pages even so we can make sure the community knows widespread and um just grateful for the team that we have excited uh for Bradley to return and um that's about all I have have the stamina to say at this moment so I would ask is there a motion to adjourn I make a motion that we adjourn is there a second or support second the motion has been made by trusty rocket Martin supported by trusty Gavin secretary triplet k