and to Natalie Dior at bha airing 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 n.org
Okay, this morning officially at 8:14 p.m. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all. From the actions of Secretary Triplet, can you please call the RO? President Robinson, present. Vice President Bowen. Secretary Triplet.
Treasurer Bradley. Present. Trustee Martin present. Trustee Gavin present. Trustee Doyle present. All right. Next up, we have approval of the agenda. As you all are aware, today we have our MSP training and we also
have our personal interviews as well as the appointment of a discussion regarding the appointment of an interim superintendent. Is there a motion to approve the agenda? Madam President, I make a motion to approve the agenda. Is there a second
and support? Support. The motion has been moved by trustee blackhead Martin and supported by trustee Gavin. Any questions, comments, or concerns? Hearing none, can you please call the president? Yes. Vice President Bowen.
Yes. Treasure Bradley. Yes. Trusty Wet Martin. Yes. Trusty Gavin. Yes. Trusty Doyle. Yes. All right. Next, we have the review of our board norms, the board of education norms for Brenton Harvard L Schools. We
will treat each other with respect. We will listen to learn. We will refrain from 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. Practice the sevens of collaboration. Those are pausing, paraphrasing, posing questions, putting ideas on the table, providing data, paying attention to self and others, and presuming positive intentions. Next, we have public comment on agenda items.
Anyone present for public comment on agenda items? Seeing none, we'll proceed. Reminder of 913, 2022 and comments will be limited to two minutes per trustee per topic. Our first item of business this morning, as you all are
aware, is our final uh partnership training with MASB. Secretary Tripley is on his way. So, without further ado, I will pass the floor over to Miss Min. You have the floor to wait for
Robinson. Is there a delay? Robinson, can you I can hear you. Yes, we can hear you. Yes, I'm gonna sit closer to you. I'll just do it that way. I'll sit there. Thank you very much.
I don't know how you don't like me. I think it's a delay to her. So I told him, "Is it going to count? Is it going to count? Cuz I don't want to do it over." Yeah. I don't think that's how that works.
See what's going on. Thank you again. Yep. So, can you hear me better now? Uh, yes, a lot better now. Thank you very much. Okay. So, I'm actually sitting closer to the mic so that um you can
hear me consistently. If there's a question or a comment from the trustees and you're unable to hear them, then I can just play back whatever's been asked. Maybe that'll be a little bit easier for us to ensure that you're able to hear everyone. I know what that would be. Absolutely
perfect. Thank you. Okay. And so I do want to make note Secretary Triplet is on his way so we can um we can we can begin but if we can try to wait until he's here to dig into the meat of the training that would be perfect.
All right. Um should I start with a bit of an or do you wish to uh wait? You can do an overview or icebreaker, whatever your preference would be. Well, you know what? I because I knew
time was tight. Um I do have a favorite ice breaker that I would love to include. How is that? That works perfectly. All right. One of the things that um I
have to start with is say thank you for the opportunity to again support Benton Harbor Schools. You're you're on my Are you getting a an echo? No, I'm not. I hear you. Okay.
Oh, all right. I just wanted to make sure. So, here's here's a favorite icebreaker and actually offers quite a bit of insight in working with groups of any size. And this is one that I'm thinking
um we've used before and it starts with a question. What is each of you hoping to accomplish with this opportunity to connect in a virtual training? What are your hopes? That's would each person
think of at least one thing they're looking to take out of this conversation between 8 and 10? So, can you let them know the topic of the training and what you're actually discussing because it's noted on the agenda. It just says MSB
training will be able to better um was the handout printed included. It is All right. So, I'm literally speaking right from the handout. So, this topic
is called good governance is core to impactful district leadership setting the stage. And that means beginning the conversation about good governance that's based on the work of Michael
Fullen, Davis Campbell, and Babs Kavanagh out of California. This presents a model that has received a great amount of accolades in terms of
specifically supporting trustees and superintendent working together with an emphasis on together. There will be there will clearly be some concepts that
you know one in particular and I can't wait to highlight that and then there will also be some topic ex and concepts that may be new. So this is an opportunity to look at in a holistic way
what board governance does look like in districts that are reporting very positive results in terms of improving student achievement and it's actually a prelude to a conversation that we discussed with you
Trusty Robinson some time ago that would have the forward in in a study session together looking at good governance from a high level and then understanding what that means and what
that could bring to B Harbor. Excellent. Right. So the ice the first the iceberg question really has two parts. The first one is what are you hoping to accomplish in this introductory conversation? Um,
you have definitely will have a lot going on for you for the rest of the day, but for this period of time, what are you hoping what are you hoping for? All right. So, I'll pass the floor to Trusty Gavin. With understanding that you may not be able to hear her
responses, I'll try to um I'll try to wrap up what she stated. So, Trusty W, I see a section that's and just a note that uh Secretary Triplet here. You want to notate on the record that Secretary Triplet arrived about 2022
a.m. All right, you have Trusty Go. I see a section in here that speaks to um decisions based on evidence, data, and research. Um I want to be able to make those types of decisions.
All right. And so she indicated she's looking forward to learning about decisions based on evidence and data. Trusty rocket evidence, please. Trusty rocket mind. I'm I'm looking at
um how superintendents and boards can work together in a way when uh maybe the decision is not what either one wants to hear. Um
the board may make a decision maybe that the superintendent doesn't agree with and then the superintendent may make a decision that the board doesn't agree with. How can we get a consensus or work together with that uh so that there's um
cohesion with the board and the superintendent? So I take it you heard her. Okay. Yes. Yes, I did. I'll offer a comment so that um offer their insight into this.
Rocket Martin, you use in your statement one of the key concepts that will be present that of cohesion that of coherence. So you will be seeing that in this material and
you'll have an opportunity to follow it. Thank you for that. All right, trusty D. So um Okay. Okay. All right. Can you hear me? Speak louder. Can you hear me?
Yes. Okay. So I'm as I uh look through the paperwork, I'm looking at um systems thinking and um just the mindset of the children should be first and the
decisions should be centered around the children children's benefit. So she said she's looking at systems and she said the decision should be centered around the children. That was Trusty Doyle.
We can give a check to that one too, Trusty Doyle. Uh you'll clearly see that in the contact that has already been shared. All right. Next we'll go to uh Treasure Bradley.
Good morning uh Miss Dip. How are you? Um so what I was looking at was um excuse me um was looking at strategic intent of the governance mindset and deep learning. Uh looking at those three in the uh presentation and you know
learning some more things from those three areas again our strategic intent, governance mindset and deep learning. He said he's looking forward to learning about strategic intent, governance mindset, and deep learning. That was
treasure. That is definitely Thank you. Uh, Secretary Triplet, Vice President Barnes. Um, I'm looking for us to making sure we
understand our roles. Um, sometimes we can get caught up in protecting our special interests. Um, but our goal is to be governing of the board, of the school district. It's accountability. Um, it's oversight and it's making sure
that the district is working handinhand with the superintendent to make sure we're providing a student first policy. You able to hear him? Okay.
And I'm confident that you will see that in our conversation. All right. Secretary Trooper, I um for today, I think the thing that I'm most looking forward to is
um getting an understanding of a collective understanding of what governance really means and what governance really is. Uh I I think that that's that that's very very critical because if you don't
understand and know what it is, it doesn't matter what is presented here today. Um we'll still have gaps and and and what have you. So I just really want to get a clear understanding
uh when we say governance, what do we really mean and what is it that's expected of us in the area of governance? Thank you. And then I am the you go correct.
Okay. triplet. I'm confident that that information will be included as well. Yes, you know yourself, Trusty Robinson. All right. So, I am intrigued to learn more about governor's culture. We are awarded as being on culture and climate,
but I think this may be one of the first times that I've actually seen governance reflected as a culture. So, what that looks like and what that feels like entirely. What each of you has added is a facilitator's dream
because each of you have selected a different component of what is playing in our conversation. Now I'll also have to say the subtitle is setting the
stage. The governance core is going to become siminal work that shapes and influences education in the future going forward. Look now at slide
two. So our targets for today will be to introduce governance 2.0. And here's something that important. If you were to look at the work of
governance core, you'll see its first publication out in 2019. Now, that was something that a number of us were familiar with. And when looking at it, it appears rather ac rather
academic, even more academic than some of us think it should. And literally this year in 2025, a second edition came out within, you know, within just a handful of years. The second edition is
incredibly user friendly and what is in front of you would be a fusion of the early concepts as well as published userfriendly information. And we will be
taking a look deeply at governance. Now because all of you participate very actively in CBAs. Some of you may have been in the CBA where a very short definition of
governance is shared. And that short definition is that governance is about your accountability, your oversight and your decision making processes. And that
definition is is absolutely global. In governance core 2.0, know each aspect of your decision making as as a as an elected school board member is broken
down in a way to understand how all of the parts fit together. This is also going to be a time for you to share your ideas. Now there is absolutely even in this brief overview
more content than we would actually uh be able to absorb in a short amount of time. So calling this setting the stage is with the idea that
in the fall in a few months there'll be an opportunity to take a much deeper deeper dive because there is so much here and I'm hoping that that will be satisfactory. Um by the way I'm still
reading and rereading governance core. Um, and because I'm on camera, here's the copy. Okay. And it literally I've literally invested in
both a hard copy as well as a Kindle copy so that I can search for any word or phrase and that has become very very helpful. Right. Now look at slide number three. And what the question here is
what makes this conversation so important to you? What makes this important? Um and uh Trusty Robinson, not everyone may want to address this, but uh it would be helpful if someone
has comment that you proceed as you've already done and give feedback so I'll be able to uh place their comments in context. Why is the conversation about government as important right now?
Secretary Trooper, I think uh it's important right now is because as we move through our forming norming,
storming and performing stages for us to get to the performing stages, I think that that's some uh a lack lack of understanding or a collective
model of how we see governance because I think that we each one of us look at it differently and so that's a problem. So sometime it allows it makes us we might be in get into norming and because of
somebody different um inter uh uh perception of what governance is then we'll fall back into a storming situation. So that's why I think that it's you know critical. Um and trusty triplet you have already
given an introduction to the next topic that we'll discuss but let's u um stay with this question of why now so that others who wish to um voice their interest can do so when you say voice their interest what do you what do you
mean so who who their entrance interest any other trustee means to add to what you've stated okay trusty I would you have anything to add? Well, I think if you just kind of look at education as a whole in the nation,
um it's uh beginning the minds are beginning to get really really um uh as to who runs what who's in charge of what if you look the federal government is trying to run the the
states the states are trying to run the local. So I think it's just um as a whole in our entire nation it's just something that needs to be clarified so people will know their values and their name
definitely here you one thing that this is president I think right now even though we are here as a governance team of eight together um with our superintendent planning his transition as of June 30th and anticipating a new superintendent. I
think it's great for us to use this as a refresher to set the stage for what our next governance teams will be look like. So, even though we're not going to be working collaboratively together, this can be a refresher for um Dr. Bus to
help him set the stage with his new uh potential district and also helping us to set the stage of governance for our incoming team members. So, I think it's good to to do this as a wrap up with our team. um timely and then also kind of help us with our future ambitions as we
part ways. Thank you to to the three of you for what you've added because each of you each of your voices adds more to to what the options are for your
governance team and also acknowledging something really important. So, Trusty Robinson, when uh you and I spoke, one of the things that I that I thought was important,
this is not the same governance team that was in place two years ago. Not the same governance team five years ago or even more. You're building now and and designing your future.
There will be a new superintendent. you'll have an opportunity to enter that relationship. Actually, I'm thinking with even more questions and more opportunities. So, with that, I'll ask that you take a
look at the graphic on slide four. By the way, we could actually do the entire conversation looking at this graphic, but what I'd like to do is break it down a bit so that you'll see I hope you will see that the comments that
each of you made in your hopes as well as to the question why now will really fit. So the authors of governance core are renowned experts in
public education. Okay. Renowned experts in public education. Um they are published authors. Their work is researchbased and the three of them coming together to
share what they have each seen work exceptionally well. and also directly give d give direction to how to bring about positive changes in districts.
Their focus is on three pillars and I know you'll know if one pillar is missing the entire structure will fall down. So the three pillars are and I know you'll see this on your uh handout
governance mindset and I have to admit in looking at leadership literature that focuses on school boards mindset has never been to me mindset has
never been discussed before and it brings together what must we be thinking about what must we be considering as elected leaders. And by the way, much of what we're going to introduce and
discuss, most of it will be focused on mindset. Now, um I'm assuming your handout is colorcoded. So, you'll see the darkest of the colors is mindset. And that is a way to indicate that the
authors clearly feel that only until all of these components are in place will success as far as leadership occur. the middle pillar
when you when those of you spoke of collaboration, cohesion, that is what this is about. Now in a number of MASV workshops specifically I know there been this is
included in workshops that I've introduced excuse me would be a model that includes the moral imperative and by the way another word for moral imperative being is this
question how does the for to find unity. So would you would you make that note upon your copy? I kept it at the content that the authors provide.
But when you see moral imperative, it means what is our what is our collective purpose? What does unity mean to us? And then it also speaks of collaboration
and trust. Now a followup question to both what is unity and collaboration and trust means and one of you mentioned it earlier in your introduction. We each have a different definition.
Success in leader in governance leadership will mean having a collective definition not a definition for seven trustees and a superintendent but what is what is that
definition for the entire governance team together and then the third pillar there must be principles norms and protocols you Trusty Robinson, did I hear you? Did I
not hear you reading the norms? Correct. And is that not a practice that every single time the Benton Harbor team comes together, those norms are front and center.
You you are leading with that and you've agreed upon them. Now, the norms fit in the middle between principles and protocols.
Now, we're going there is going to be a reference to principles, norms, and protocols a bit later, but there's something that I'd like to insert in. There is a key question
that defines principles and here's the question. What do we believe? What do we believe? I also know that you have belief statements
because those were an integral part of building your strategic plan. It's not what do I believe as one member of the board but it's what do we believe
and then norms answer the question how will we treat one another and you you harbor board have been very specific about addressing that you following the norms
of collaboration And governance protocols have a motivating question as well. And that question is what are our operating rules
or written agreements? What are our operating rules or written agreements? Really means how do we do how do we wish to do things? How do we wish to do things as a board
on your as a board leadership team? And I do know that over uh sometime you had conversations as a board about documenting your written agreements. Now what's the opposite of written
agreements or written rules? available. Wait, what is that? Responses were available. Yes, that unwritten rules. Is that it? Yeah.
The rules we all break down and then the rules that are yet unwritten or yet written for a governance scheme to be functioning at its highest level. All the rules need to be written down.
And I'll stop for a minute and ask what's the benefit of the rules of all the rules being written down. Clarity. Trusty said clarity. Madam
take the secretary triplet is going to pass the meeting. Yes. Secretary Triplet. I'm assisting my friend of the day secretary. Okay, I'll bring
anyone else like to add on that there's no confusion. I would also add that too as well. Um, everybody will be on the same page. team. Correct. Right. change any member of the team and it's a
new team or change any conditions under which the team function and it's a new team as well because you'll be working toward different assumptions, working toward different
objectives, working toward different purposes. if something in your entire environment or in the community were to change. So, Governance Core literally provides
evidencebased results. The descriptions here come from years of experience tested by the California School Board Association. Um, look, I actually I should have
looked to see if they're the largest or not, but they're certainly one of the largest. Uh, and often, not often, regularly the different associations across the country do share resources. And a number
of the resources that are or um introduced to Michigan school board members do come from California. And by the way, I also see evidence when I look at other associations, they're borrowing
or leveraging information that was developed by MASB as well. So in looking at what is don't trust your trouble if you ask what is governance
this particular graphic is the best many of us have seen in terms of isolating and bringing together the various components. It's not that any one of these is
governance. All of them represent effective impactful governance. And when you now look at slide five, the governance mindset consists of four parts and you see them there in the uh
in the graphic that we just looked at. So I'll start with an overview in systems thinking or start here with uh systems thinking and that means
how might a decision today impact for the long term the all of the other systems of which the school board is responsible.
This would be eliminating silos where decisions are made without being without their consequences being considered as they would impact possibly different
grades, possibly different stakeholder groups, um possibly um different staffing. But what is the level of interconnectedness among all systems? And literally think
of it this way. Who sits in the highest chair? Who has the highest view? And I know uh several I know you know what that response would be. board members are functioning at the
50,000 foot level. Another way to say it is balcony view. So members uniquely are in a position to see everything not in a detailed not required in a detailed way
but at a high level. Great. Um, question. President Robinson, was there something comic shared or trusty chair? Secretary Triple has the floor. Go ahead. Yes. I I um I noticed that you
know in my years of being a part of the Michigan Association school board Michigan association of school boards that this is something that is pushed where the 50,000 to 500,000 feet um in
the air and you just gave some clarification on it. From there you can see things more clear. But you when you sit there
from that view, you don't sit there and suffer in silence because you can see the entire picture. And so what do how do you you see um one of
these pillars? You just sit there and look at it or do you move is important because I think that that needs some clarification for me. Recap that last. So the last piece of what he stated is
if you are in your 50,000 foot view where you see everything and you see that one of your pillars are crumbling, what is the expectation of a board member at that particular time? This assignment or this work
is for the governance team and a crumbling pillar would be addressed by the team of eight. And
there is a thread going through all of these pieces, excuse me, that itself is not isolated and is critical to every pillar to every
component of every pillar. And it's it's definitely going to show up in the protocols. And it would it would be this. What options exist for board members to
communicate with one another to say, I see something happening here. Is this something that needs our attention? The notion of regular and consistent communications
between and among the team of eight will be critical. So who is to respond to a crumbling pillar? Is it one board member's responsibility to alert
everyone else so that instead of one pair of hands on deck, it then becomes the team's unity or purpose? So Deb, I have a I have a question. What's your statement? For example,
if you one of the board members have a concern and they inform that board or they inform their colleagues of it, sometimes you're you're accused of not staying that
50,000 ft view. Robinson, would you repeat that last word? He said, "So sometimes if you see something happening and you basically attempt to respond to that, you're accused of not respecting the 50,000 foot.
The church elected superintendent doing his job. But if you're a team of eight and you're the governance, shouldn't you be able to expound on that? Or shouldn't you be able to
express yourself and to your colleagues in everything and validate your concern and let them see your concern? Christy, can you reach the end of what Christy Bowen just said? My apologies. The
dynamics of the room make it sometimes a little difficult. Basically he said what if you if you see um something rumbling or something that is very very concerning
um and you do talk to your colleague are you expected to just sit there and not do anything and let the pillar crumble is going to culminate
in the protocol piece that says shall we emphasis on the how do we decide this is not about individual action to
fix I'm going to go to the front door I know where is and I'm going to buy all the things I pillar that's not that would not be consistent with impactful governance being
with an emphasis on that problem of the entire team listen and respond. Um, one of the things that uh I could uh absolutely suggest and and
you'll see in this um it's it's modeled as as best as I could. teammates is people respond differently to questions than you know there's something wrong here
than statements and when I say questions questions even if not asked directly even if asked rhetorically didn't really get our mind started So
one I would say hold on to that it is our role as governance leaders to communicate to our team in a way that teammates can hear us in a way that
teammates can understand us and that will begin with an emphasis on what are our communication protocols. Um what the authors here literally do is
lay out a governance view according to a system thinking strategic focus deep learning and managing manner and I will absolutely say a bit more a lot more about that but doing so in a way
where there is a coherency there is collaboration There is um coherence. Literally one of the authors, Michael Fullen,
has more than one entire publication on the notion of coherence in public education. And this is their effort to take that concept and place it on the
table of governance leaders, educators at every level, at every level. And that means serving our students wherever they are or being encouraged and have been for decades by
Michael Flynn's researchbased work to focus on interconnectedness and this literally is an early opportunity to bring that to the uh table for board members. All right, let
let me now go to strategic focus. What strategic focus means also is an opportunity for us to answer the question that uh was raised in the hopes section
and it's this whose job is it governance leaders are elected by their communities because governance leaders are to understand community values and they translate those values into action to provide the
policies necessary to educate students in an in a way consistent with those community values. What strategic focus means? Strategic decision making is the
responsibility of the board of the elected leaders. As you go through governance core, you'll see that tactical decisions belong to the superintendent.
Strategic intent belongs to the board and board members answer the question of what what must occur across the district. Not for every decision that
hits the table of the superintendent but provides broad direction. What deep learning is about is something that all of you are practicing. Every single one of you in
the Benton Harvard board take your personal learning as governance leaders exceptionally seriously. And this is about even raising back to a level where as you return from learning
more, you develop a way to each one teach one. And by the way, um, are you aware I'll step to the side just a little bit to say, are you aware that that each one
teach one reference is born out of African-American tradition? in America. So each of us would be modeling that when learning more, we create a
communication structure within at the governance table to share with others what not only share with others what we've learned but also work to effectively make future decisions
together. that reference to managing manner. There's literally not another um publication or another um theory within public education that speaks of managing
manner. And this is the one that uh so you president Robinson when you spoke about culture this is about what is the governance culture and governance culture speaks literally
about what is the behavior of board members as an example all of you right now are training in training together and later you'll be in preparation for deliberation about the most significant
decision you'll ever make together. Those are examples of efforts of activities of engagement work that is an example of of not only building but
sustaining and maintaining governance culture. when you mentioned governance culture uh President Robinson uh what other things were you thinking what were you thinking about?
So I mentioned it because I never Can you hear me? Yes, I hear I hear you all very well. Okay. I hear you very well. I mentioned it because we um I never really saw the word government and culture put together. We think about
culture and climate as it relates to what the environment is within the ventures operationally but the governance culture as relates to the leadership teams the concept that that I had not yet heard in my studies
and so that was interesting to me say that you should begin at the top and so that governance culture piece kind of really intrigued me and and learning I would be interested in the board defining what we want our governance
culture to look like. Um, and hopefully that's something that can transcend throughout the district. President Robinson, I would ask you to please capture question that you what do we want our
governance culture at the board table to look like? Um, as a matter of fact, that question is key and it's it will include what are our
behaviors? How do we treat one another, how do we build trust? There's so many components of that. Um, and I'm sure that some of you have heard uh this this reference. Every family, no matter where, every
family has a family culture. Correct. And the example that I like to use in America, Thanksgiving is a revered holiday. Does every family honor and celebrate Thanksgiving the same way?
the nuances of that and I and again it's uh it the nuances of how will we celebrate Thanksgiving? How will we honor Thanksgiving in our family is the same question. How will we the
governance team define how we relate to one another? How do we wish to define? How together we'll lead? How together we'll make critical decisions?
How will we hold one another accountable? Those are all examples of questions that will be part of governance culture taken literally
right from governance core. Look at slide six and this is an overview of what governance mindset means. So governance mindset literally has those four
components that were just introduced and so very very much more. Now this is an area where I'm going to ask each of you. I'm looking at my digital clock. Um I'll stop and ask each of you
on your own. Would you read all eight of these items that describe governance mindset and then I'll ask you to identify one that
you'd like to lift up? Um it's 9:08 on all of my digital clocks here. Um, take take four minutes, read all of these and
circle or check or highlight one that you'd like to lift up. And I'm looking at my clock now. Let's make it n Let's make it 9 through minutes. And I think
you repeat that, please. We're actually ready to proceed. We're ready to proceed. We don't we don't need the rest of your minutes. Okay. So, I'll start with um I'll start with Trusty Gavin. Which number is your focus?
I love all of them. But the point for me, of course, is always keeping the words focused on the students. [Music] Okay. She says she loves them. Her her top is number one is keeping the boys
focused on the students. Uh like that, Martin. I also like them. Uh the one that kind of stood out for me the most um being a good employee, supporting us, the
superintendent of staff, the board employees, and creating a positive organizational culture. So she identified number six. Could you hear secretary triple next? Focus on students. Um after reading them
everything that follows aligns with students done that. I want to give Dr. Burke an opportunity probably I'm sorry I overlooked giving opportunity to give input prior.
Oh I just I look at the building super employees and creating positive organizational culture transition and then the team comes on a portion of that piece. It supports
very close forward. So, okay. He Dr. Vince selected number six. Vice I would go with I like number one. I believe that should be our main one, but I also like number seven and eight.
So, Trusty Bowens indicated he believes he likes number one, always keeping his focus on the students. He thinks that should be uh mainly he also likes number seven, the district accountable to the community itself and keeping the district as well as eight, keeping
the community informed and supporting the district's educational program. Treasure Treasure Valley. Um definitely all of them are very good. Um definitely number one, but my the ones that stuck out to me, I just couldn't pick one, was five, being maintaining a strong
governance infrastructure. Six, being a good employer, supporting the superintendent and staff. Um and number seven, holding a district accountable to the community of service, keeping informed and up to date on the work of the district. So five, six, and seven.
So he's indicated he he five six and seven you have one out of three that's your name trusty ring and number five so he said number five would
be his priority okay so has come is really So number one is our priority always keep the voice focused on the students
and then to wrap my focus will be keeping focused on and strategic goals of the board and keeping the goals of the board in mind each step of the way we can ensure that
we're making progress. So that would be why I answered at this point is ask is asking you to look at all of those points and clearly each of you would have wanted well I like even more
of these. The idea is is that would mindset be the same if any one of these were removed at random? And the answer is no. They each work collectively.
and a future example especially looking at the graphic of the pillars of effective governance. The overall question would be
what work we do to embrace all of these elements of mindset because without with any one of them being removed
a pillar will be this pillar will begin to crawl. And so it's what efforts must be made on the part of the entire team to keep the pillar standing to keep the
pillar strong to keep this pillar doing the work it is designed to do and also not to be overburdened. in if this when this pillar remains
strong and sturdy and maintained it will be doing its part and then will also be in a position to better reach out to support the others. So thank you for sharing your ideas there. you know, in
putting this packet together, I knew there would be more here than there would be time in um this period to to reflect on together. So, some of what is here was designed so that you have a
reference in looking back. to now look at slides 7 8 9 7 8 and 9. This was designed so that you have a ready reference to what
those components meant. And the question that you see on slide 10, what efforts could you see being made
to find common? So that each of you had some interest overlap in terms of governance mindset. That is absolutely understandable. It would the goal would be to get to a
point where through conversation through practice it would be a way for the entire team of a to embrace even all of those points. So,
what are some examples of ways you can think of to build common ground within and within your team? Um, retreats and um board trains
together. Treasure Bradley said treat and build trainings holding together and come up with a consensus. She said aligning to agree to disagree and coming up with consensus. coming up.
[Music] All right. So, that's the only feedback you have. Answering the question, what efforts would be made to find common ground? You said retreat
trainings, agree to disagree and reach consensus. When those become when those become your written rules, those are four examples there. I know
there are more. I know you'll come up with more. Maybe others of you have already thought of some already. Including those items in your protocols, in your written agreements would be we
commit to regular retreats, regular trainings, we commit to agree to disagree, and we commit to consensus. So what I just shared could be how you
might leverage the protocols to seeing that you're supporting other parts of the system as well. Does that make sense? Yes.
And by the way, please check off retreat because you do an annual retreat. Please check off trainings because this is one of your goal requirements. You
are in trainings regularly together and individually. I see all of you at different times in MASB trainings. Miss
Trusty, I can't mind medical sheet and this um annual board self evaluations. By the way, Trusty Rock looked ahead at the notes because that question is in here.
Thank you for that. Um, and you've given me a window to introduce another concept that is consistent with this retreats would be this could this when a board learns
together. When a board together does deep learning, it can be called a retreat, a workshop or an in district training. So count this count this conversation as
as a retreat. Count this as a training very much so. Now trusty trusty racket Martin when you mentioned self assessment there's something that recently I've
been asking governance teams to consider and it's this would you consider aligning your calendar for superintendent evaluation
with your calendar for self assessment. And here's what that would look like. I know you support because all boards are required to and you absolutely
support and participate in the superintendence evaluation. This year is the first year there is the midyear review and there also are two other quarters
to would you consider informal check-ins on your own board self assessment at the same time as you're looking at the superintendent self evaluation
so that you're as a team each offering feedback to all eight members of the team moving forward. I like that idea. We can discuss that more. I said I think that's a great idea. We
can discuss that more in future. You know what? Um that's what this is about. This is about considering those those types of opportunities. Here's a key question on slide 11.
What would be the benefits to the Benton Harbor Area Schools board with increased collaboration and trust building? What would result? What do you what are what are your
beliefs about improving collaboration and trust building? Um I think having collaboration and excuse me having trust in collaboration
building will um give the community definitely a sure thing of that we're unified and that you know we're transparent and then as a board it helps us to work better together as a governance
uh increase unity, transparency and working effectively. What uh what more president can you what did she miss? Uh no that
she had no he said you got her points. [Music] Trusty had a comment to add. I'm sorry. For me, it looks like, you know, students. It looks like
um we can really build education exceptional and be something that others will find. She said that she she thinks that it would be able to help us get our
students and the family trusty if we do that get our students retain our students recruit our students back and then set a model for [Music] um that sounds like an opportunity for
increased enrollment, increased retention, which I'm confident or part of your strategic plan. Correct? Yes. Not cooperation.
Cooperation or trust building students transfer retention changes trust erod and I'm making notes right slide two I'm sorry not slide two
slide 12 was included As a reminder, slide 13 goes along with asking you to do a little bit of homework, not homework, but a little bit
of thinking on your own. What five words would you use to describe how the Benton Harbor area schools board functions?
Think of five words. stop talking and I'll ask you what five words describe how your school board functions. Um, make them single words or
no more than a two-word phrase and I'll invite anyone to share. It doesn't have to be five. What? [Music] So I I would take it right
to present positive positive on answering this question. the team. I think some of the answers might be sort of a trigger based on the the faces that I see from my colleagues. Secretary Triple is going to he's going
to give it a try. Then then you repeat the question. The question the question is select five words you would use to describe how your school board functions, its protocols and practices. I understand we are accountable innovative.
So trust vice president does have a couple he'd like to add. He said accountable. We hold our district and we hold each other accountable. So accountability, we are
resilient for resilience. We demand respect. We demand respect. [Music] Well, she said some of them could be like a two two word, right? And trust your minds of the listeners.
And also note that your response to this question is absolutely intended to encourage positive intent and is also encouraged to have you
do a deeper dive. So, I would follow up with each of these with an additional question, not for answering now, but for you to think about. What protocol is in place
to demonstrate accountability? What protocols are in place that encourage resilience? What protocols are in place to facilitate respect?
What protocols identify behaviors that are innovative? And what behaviors are in place that encourage listening?
Now, your answer to each one of those in writing becomes a protocol. And that way, any new member of your board, any new member of the team would know.
Here is how accountability. Here's what accountability looks like. here. Here is what resilience looks like here, etc. Does that make sense? Yes.
Wanted to know if I would face if I were there in person, I could see your faces better and um have have a better sense. The reference to strategic intent on slide 14
is literally about clarifying your roles and responsibilities, identifying your lane for for for your governance team of eight.
The seven elected and one selected have different roles. Look at slide 15. When you see the reference to strategic, not tactical, that means
the trustee that sees a pillar crumbling team. Let's come together to share our observations. that teammate is not running the ACE hardware to buy flash.
Tactical refers to the work of the superintendent. And when you see in that fourth bullet, the what, please note that the what work
belongs to the board. What is it that needs attention? And it's your superintendent that provides the how. Can I ask a question? Of course, please.
Um, when you say you see maybe um something crumbling, would it be best to get everybody's view on that crumbling building? because what you see is not what somebody else might see. So, um I think we'd have to get a
clarification on that first before we say the building is probably that I think she Okay, let's pause for one second. Did you hear her question? Um can you can you recap it? I heard most of it. So she said, so basically
what she's saying is sometimes there may one trustee though sees the pillar as crumbling. What that trustee sees may be different from what trustee sees. And so a second trustee may not see the
pillar is crumbling and so she's seeking clarification on how do you how do you get the what clarification? So, so that you understand so that everybody sees what everybody sees. Oh, so what she's
saying is how do you get to a point where everyone is seeing the same thing on the same page with what the actual status of that pay is essentially your question. So sorry trusty racket Martin your question
is the global question presented by governance core. Another way to say it would be how do we all get on the same page? How do we all develop a common vision
for our culture at the board table? There is only one way that I know to say that and that means developing your right will communicate, listen and express
your interest. What are the ways to do that? So is there is there an opportunity for you for you governance team of A to say
I've noticed something which part is there a role here or what is the role for this observation of an elected school board member and the entire team may need to weigh in on
that. So is there a time where the trustees can share their insights, to share their observations and is there a space where board members can say is this my work? Is this our work or is
this work that we must we need to know about but it's not ours to address. This is comparable to the conversation in CBA 101 that asks
what is the role of the superintendent? What is the role of elected school board members and how do they align? So here in governance mindset we talk about we reference systems thinking and systems
thinking focused on interconnectedness. So, how do we see something and then say something? And the governor's team would do that all in one spot
and it would be up to the team to be able to answer that question. Now, what might happen if that question goes unanswered? like you have a trustee heading to the hardware store
to get ready because you know that landscape is just not the way we want. That's not it. It's about coming together. Governance core. This content is asking boards to develop
systems and thinking and decision making and learning that would put everyone on the same page.
Trusty made a plan. Yes. And turn it over. Turn it on. Can you hear me? Can you hear me? This lady is here. For some reason, you can't hear trusty
driving, but you can hear Martin who's right next to her. So, she's going to come up to the seat so you can so she can dialogue with you. Hi, can you hear me now? Okay. Thank you. I I think for me and I don't want to hold up the group but this
is this is what resonates with me and we talk about perspective so my perspective is from within the classroom the parent like all of those hats right not to take away from anybody else but I've worn a lot of hats in almost multiple buildings
and so the analogies is like airplanes and rakes and all this sort of stuff and when we if we neglect our role that translates into child abuse, right? And so for me, it's very serious
and seeing districts lose their home district. And so I am definitely for collaboration. I'm definitely for team. I'm definitely for governance. But there are times when if we don't step in and
sound the alarm, if it's a serious situation, then we are neglecting kids. And so how do you square that circle uh when you're saying one
be at the 50,000 ft level and then two you see that there's some emergency solutions that need to be in play immediately. your peers don't see it as an emergency
situation. That's a lot and that's governance work. Now governmentist leaders are not there to follow up on to initiate or follow up
on governance work or I'm sorry not governance work on emergency work. what that would mean. When you see an emergency, that's a call directly to your board
president and superintendent. Here's an emergency. This is this is an observation. Where does this go from here? And this is also a question
that the governance team would have to answer for itself. Now we all have a duty to report. We all have a duty to report. So what will the team answer be to
there's an e I see an emergency here. What is our next step? Emphasis on the hour and that's a direct contact again with your board chair and with your
superintendent. And can I also add that frozen example of what is a board member's next step in witnessing emergency. Can you state that last statement
batterying slightly? Yeah. Oh, all right. And it's also freezing. What I heard from Trusty Bon is
this question. What is a board member's responsibility when witnessing emergency? And that answer would come from the board and I admit from the governance
team and something that I did not say this could also be an opportunity to ask your legal team Bradic. What options exist should a board member be in a
position to witness an emergency? I think this comment or this discussion mention [Music] sessions at a recent conference and it was about the various lenses the looms
how there's different sections of the looms and how your your personal loans like trusty govern so depends upon your previous background experience knowledge level things of that nature. And so I like to look at our our leans team as
having distinct sections of our lens. And so Trusty Gavin may see something as a heightened emergency based on her cultural experiences and her her professional knowledge, but there may be something else that we see as a heightened emergency based on mine. But
we have to remember that we are collective team. And so even if does not see what her sees as a as an emergency, you should still respect her because she is one of the leaders of the strength of the whole team.
And so I would like us to get to a point where we are working collaboratively and respecting what each other as an agency and kind of working collaboratively on what providing support as a governance team looks like when trustee has a
particular concern. Madam President, I would also say that goes to our let's pause. I don't know what's she paused, you know. Huh? You just
freezing on my hand. This is not just Okay, you got it. Okay. and what each of you said and what what I hear
is a definite need for a conversation within the governance team about what options exist when we do or don't see an issue through the same lens.
On that list of questions is also how do we build a single lens taking into account that we do bring different experiences. Are am I coming through already? Yes, you
are. Yes, you can hear me. Okay. All right. What could happen? I see a situation that needs an intervention and I am there. So, I do
it. What I've done is go beyond my responsibility as a governance leader into tactical work that belongs to superintendent. It would be I would recommend it better
for this conversation and many more to be topics at a regular governance conversation where you determine what is our culture.
When a situ should a situation arise such as any that we've mentioned now, we have an advanced we have advanced knowledge about how to address that because we've already discussed it
and come to a resolution. and that all of those come under the category of either principles, norms or protocols. So that third pillar is
taking all of the questions and anticipating those questions, addressing them. So when a situation occurs, we each know our responsibility here is to do
is to do what is written, what we've decided as a board to do. Madam, yes, Secretary Tup, can you pass in the mic, please?
I've been sitting here trying to kind of like work my way through conversation and you know it's it's um
what I'm seven of of collaboration um the two that for some time now that I've just chose to focus on us pausing and presuming positive intentions. And so it's very difficult,
you know, it's almost hypocritical when people said, you know, like when you're talking about on this board of education where there are things that we put out that this is the way we're going to these are the norms we're going to follow. These
are the rules that we're going to follow. And it's we're going to follow these rules as long as it agrees with what you think it should be. And then when it's not that way, then you get an opportunity
to see where people are and you're not being genuine because it's a give and take. And that was the first thing that I learned going to Michigan Association of of School Boards. And as a new school board member, there will be times that
you will be on the fine too. You going to be on the two, but you can't sit up and and and act like you're the scholar and the representative of all of these things. But then when you're in the tomb, you show your true colors and you show
your faith. And so for me, I'm struggling as a board member because we're talking about governance and we're talking about working together. We're talking about working with the superintendent. But for me right now, I'm stuck because I do not in order for us to to
be able to go forth because we have some serious work to do that's coming down the line. Excuse me. I need to ask President Robinson to do a bit of a recap. I heard you say you feel
stuck. Is that correct? Yeah. He said he he's stuck because we have certain standards and priorities that we value, you know, situation or circumstance doesn't fit a certain trustee, then there's a a different expectation in that is not a certain
trust. Yeah. I'm gonna change I'm going to let him sit in the mic. One sec. All right. Okay. Okay. So, I guess basically and it's not it's not about any specific trustee.
It's about the work of each one of us, you know, when we set up in here when we said for me, I'mma break it down. For me, I'm stuck and I don't want to I, you know, I I have almost gotten to the
point where I cannot I can't presume positive intentions by things that have been said and things that's been done. And so I don't want to be a hindrance to the work, but I'm stuck
in a place and a space and I can't come into this place and work and not be honest with where I am with my colleagues. And so how do we
how do you work with that? How how do how do you how do you move forward? because this is some serious work. How do you really really move forward when Yeah. when you feel like you've lost respect, you know,
on the board with with with how do you how do you navigate through that because we still got to do the work. I don't have respect. Secretary, you've shared your truth. Yes. And
I'm going I'm going to say that it may be likely that there are other members of the governance team who might feel portion of what you just shared, what governance core, what this
conversation is all about and is setting up. And I know we're coming uh to the point where we to stop because you have a commitment at Sure. This is a conversation that
that starts here. My introduction is about the conversation. It's not it's what I'm sharing is how to shape that conversation that difficult
conversations need to be held. It will be the team's responsibility to carve out the time and the opportunity to flush those
answers out. Um it's it's not a place where I can say here is what must be done all of the time. This is a team. This is it's everything
referenced here is about what is the wish of the major or what is the wish of the board and if there is not an opportunity for the entire board to come together it
then becomes a question what is the wish of a majority of the board governance core is going back to I believe it was trusty rocket Martin who spoke of consensus.
This is designed for boards who wish to lead in a consensus manner. The opposite not the opposite but a second option is what does the majority of the board
feel? Um, and President Robinson, if I may, review what the board has in the rest of your handout. Note that uh this was intended to be setting
the stage. The majority of the work for the majority of our conversation has been in that first pillar. We have touched pillars two and pillar three.
Going forward, you have a couple of role plays. And on slide 16 and another on slide 18.
This board scores high on deep learning, which would be slides 19 and slides 20 and slide 22.
On slide 21, I'm thinking there are several things that you would want to cover. you definitely do your board self assessment and workshops. There is more to do.
President Robinson, it was not my intent to not finish absolutely all all of what is here. I'm hoping that this gives you a basis for considering whether you wish to take a deeper dive.
this making a switch from one culture to another and putting those things in your culture that you want and removing those things that are barriers is a process literally. So, President Robinson, I
don't want to overstay my boundaries. I'm more than willing to follow up and I will send you back some written notes from some highlights of notes that I've taken over you giving you more questions than
you have. So I would like to say thank you so much for your really training. Okay, we had a broad connection for a second. So I just want to say on meeting graduations on meeting your training
objective with Thank you, Miss M. Can you hear me? Okay. Yes, I can right now. Okay. I think we have a slight delay, so I'll be sure to pause. I just want to thank you for your willingness to support us, not only today virtually, but throughout this
process. I do think that this is a conversation that the board want to take a deeper into as you stated um regard as to whether or not we want agreement. I think that this is a greater conversation that the board was
interested in specifically in the governance culture and what um what that 50,000 foot view actually looks like in a day basis and things of that nature. So we appreciate you. We value you and I will
follow more regarding the board assessment and a follow up to this this um training as well. With that I'll leave the line so you will be free to hear the next steps.
Thank you very much. Thank you so much. Thank you. Okay. So, at this time, we're going to uh pause and take a brief recess with members of the public that are tuned in. We do have interviews that are scheduled to begin at 10:01
currently. So, we are going to take just a quick 10-minute recess to give oursel an opportunity to reset the room on the stage and then we'll be back shortly. All right. So, welcome to our superintendent first round interviews um
to the board. The following topics and questions were identified by the board members to provide consistency to the search interviews. The board member identified before each item should assume the responsibility for making sure the topic is covered during the interview. If the candidate covers the topic during his or her opening
statement or while discussing another topic, there's no need to bring the topic up again. Remember, try to keep the interview as informal as possible. The questions are designed to be asked by the assigned board member once the topic is introduced and other board members can engage in asking clarifying
questions if needed. Be aware though that you want to use as little time as possible in presenting your questions so that you will have ample time to garner from the candidate his or her thoughts and thinking process. Also, please be conscious of the time given that there are 11 questions actually. Um, you'll
need to keep each topic under four minutes on average. That will be sufficient time for the candidate to ask his or her questions. Please do not discuss the respective candidates amongst yourselves until you have seen all candidates. This is the only way you will be able to maintain your objectivity and treat all candidates
fairly. We'll be reviewing all of the candidates as a group at the end of each session. Finally, remember you are not allowed to inquire regarding topics of race, age, sex, religion, moral status, whether they have children, ethnic origin, uh arrest or financial affairs. Please also refrain from questions
related to these topics. And so now we are going to officially begin. So Mr. Pearson, good morning. On behalf of Benton Harris Schools, we would like to officially welcome you to Tiger Nation. Congratulations on your
selection as the first one on Ken here for superintendent of Ben Harris schools. I will briefly introduce you to our board. We have our vice president Trenton Brown. Our secretary Triplet is currently
absent due to a family matter. We have our treasurer Matthew Bradley. We have trustee Angela Door, trustee Raquette Martin as well as trustee Gavin. You will be allotted 45 minutes to interview. HBA associate Dr. Collins
will keep track and signal as the time draws draws close to the end of your interview time. You'll be asked to give an introduction to share your experiences and why you are interested in being the next superintendent of Bent Harbor. This intro should be one minute or less. The board already has
application and resume information so we know about you. You will be asked approximately 11 questions from the board. The response for each question should be within 4 minutes or less. Once we have concluded our interview questions, you will be allowed to ask any questions you have for the board and
also choose to make a closing comment. Please be mindful of the time we will officially begin. Um, and then just a reference for the board. Your scoreeet is there on how to evaluate uh exceptional, strong, satisfactory, weak or poor. And you want
to also know your notations. So, Mr. Pearson, the first question is actually for me and it's pertaining to Benton Harour Area School's historical knowledge. One best practice of professional leadership is to research the organization that you are planning
to lead. Please share with us your knowledge regarding Britain area schools both current and historically. What do you anticipate to be the your greatest strengths and challenges as superintendent? How do you plan to navigate challenges?
Okay, good morning again. Um, as you all know, I was born and raised here in Vid Harbor, attended Ven Harbor area schools, K through 12. Uh, went to Western Michigan University, received bachelor's, masters, specialist degree, and was in, excuse me, included in a doctoral program that I did not
complete. Uh, taught in Ben Harour area schools for over 30 years uh, in all capacities. um teacher, principal, coach, uh advisor, counselor, negotiator for the teachers union, negotiator for
the uh I was the vice president of the teachers union. I was a president of the administrative union and um reading specialist. So, I've done everything that you could possibly think. I've worn all the hats. Um historically, um I saw it all. I was
here, didn't leave K through 12 and and as an adult teaching here, I live in Ben Harbor. I don't need a GPS. I I know where everything is. I know where the churches are. I know where Broadway and Empire is. I know where Highland Projects is. I where bus projects are. So, these are not things that I would
have to learn. I would hit the ground running. Um, we've lost over 10,000 students um since 2017. And that's um according to the heropladium in my research and also
being an observer of that um when I was a student here at Benver High School, we had 2,000 students when I was a senior. So that gives you an idea how the district has evolved and how it's changed. Um
my current research of the district is is actually better than I anticipated. um looking at the certifications at the high school level, looking at certifications on middle school and elementary, uh there are some things that could definitely be done. Um a lot
of people are looking at the brand at the district and dire straits, but when I came out of my research, the thing that I was most impressed about was um the potential that we have. Um I know we're we're having issues with the budget. I know there's a a possibility
of layoffs. Um, I even went through the budget and saw that there's a possibility that some of these jobs could be saved because when you look at a budget and you look at the general fund and you're looking at federal programs that are coming in and 31A
funds, I need to see what are we doing with those because those are at risk funds and a lot of that money could be reallocated in a lot of those people's people could keep their jobs. So, that's not really an issue with me. Uh, one of the big issues that I had going through
the budget was I don't understand why we are complicit in sending out resources and money to competing institutions. Why is Kexus
contracted to do adult education? That's something that Ben Harbor has always done. Uh, they also have a charter school over 100 students. That's a million dollars. So my thing is that we need to re-evaluate these situations. We need to re-evaluate that contract and we
want to employ people. We want to keep people here in our district. So we should be running adult ed. So that that's a major issue. The other thing is I looked at um we're giving $3 million away to someone to conduct social
services to our students, but nobody could answer as to specifically what were they doing, what were the results, and who were they servicing. There are many NWS's walking around, masters of social work people walking around the community that have their own private
contract, excuse me, contracts that they're dealing with uh with other institutions. So these are some of the things that that we need to understand and we can do a lot better fiscally if we think about what we're doing within
instead of worrying about the external things. Um the buildings I' I've went to every vacant building that Ben Harbor Schools have in existence. Uh some of these buildings need to be renovated. Some of them we need to get rid of them because as long as we're keeping them,
they're depreciating every day. And that's a problem. In my estimate, I have a little background in real estate. We're sitting on about 5 to6 million. Five to$6 million. A couple of those buildings I would like
to use. Uh the one on M163 on North coming off of Northshore on where Whirlpool's headquarters is located. Um I was thinking of possibly turning that into a monator program dealing with the demographic of arbores. Uh we have one private
monastery school here and they're paying like $15,000 a year to send their kids there. And imagine if we're doing a public monatory program, which would be the only monatory program within the next 50 miles, we wouldn't have a problem of getting all the kids to come there. I'm
thinking over possibly 200 kids. We're talking about preschool all the way up to 8th grade. And 200 kids again, that's another $2 million. Boon Monasuri is in, I think, in good shape to reopen. I don't know. I haven't been inside, but externally it looks
like it would be a fantastic place to do a dual language program. I thought about Hull, but Hull is across the street from the police department, and a lot of the Latinos in that demographic are still having issues with with ICE and things of that nature. So, when I was at Hull
International, we had a dual language program and it was extremely successful. And what we have to understand is that a lot of populations do not like to integrate. And so we've lost hundreds maybe a thousand Latino
Hispanic kids that are going to Aclair that are going to countryside that we could have. The person that ran a dual language program for me is currently in Boston. And he said that if we could reopen that building and and get that program going again, he would gladly
come back and start that that program. And it was immensely successful. So, those are some of the things that I think that um we could do in the future. Uh they're not far-fetched. Uh I think we have enough money to do that, but we're going to have to start thinking out of the box in terms of how to
generate money and bring money back to the comm not to the community, but back to Vancouver area schools. Um I had a former student who was performing at County View Hall last week. We had a conversation. and he said he's willing to come back and do a fundraiser for
Benhar area schools in the spring and all the money will be donated to the school system. So I talked to people out Ernie Hudson there are many people that are willing to work with the district. All we have to do is reach out and by me
being here having the history here understanding how the the community works I feel that that will not be a problem at all. All right. And I realized that I did notate that you could do an introduction of yourself, but I kind of dived into that first question. So, you did kind of tell us a
little bit about yourself. Was there anything else that you wanted to add in your intro? Um, no. That that's pretty much it other than um I wanted to go to Michigan State, but my sister was there and I didn't want to be on the same campus as you were. So, that's how I ended up at Western. So, other than
that, that's about it. Okay. And just a follow up on my question. Can you speak to what you believe are um your greatest strengths are what you mentioned your knowledge of Benton Harour? The knowledge of Benton Harour and my networking. Um coming into the job I will hit the
ground running. You don't have to introduce me to the pastors. You don't have to introduce me to the police chief or the uh head librarian or the mayor. I know all these people already. So my my first first days would be working. It
would not be getting to know the system, getting to know the community. You don't have to do that. They see me raking leaves. They see me in a grocery store. They see me at the church. Um, most of you have all had experiences with me uh by me being your teacher or a colleague.
Uh, so that's that's not an issue. And I think that that's important because I think one of the the top things that that we're neglecting is the urgency of getting to business. Uh looking at that budget, uh we we have about three years
three years to stay in a black and if we don't start getting things moving quickly then we're going to be back to where we were before and that that's that's a major problem. Thank you. We can move right along to the next question.
Vice President B. Hello Mr. Pearson. How are you? Just fine, thank you. What strategies and programs would you implement to address learning loss among students, especially since we're still dealing with the aftermath of the disruptions caused by the pandemic to
ensure all students are supported and can achieve academic growth. Okay. Um again, I've been in contact with with Barry and Visa. I'm familiar with the curriculum that we're using McGraill on a secondary level. Um I talked to
teachers. A lot of the teachers love the the reading or English version of it, but they kind of think they were forced to accept the math simply because it was the same curriculum. Um, that's not an issue. I think both curriculums on the secondary level and the elementary level
are fine. The biggest problem that we're having right now is getting that knowledge to the kids, getting that content to the kids. And by us having so many uncertified teachers or sometimes even teachers without degrees, we we're having an issue with instruction.
And so that's what we're going to have to work on. And so my plan would be we have instructional coaches, but make sure that every instructional coach has been a certified well is a certified teacher or has had experience in the classroom. And during my research again, I have found that there was I think it
was one or two instructional coaches who had no background in teaching, had never taught before, and their job description says they were supposed to go in and help and support teachers in a classroom, which I thought was irrehensible. So those are the type of things that I want to change. I would
have mentor teachers. Um I would reach out to the retired teachers in the district that are still living around giving them stipens to come in teach the nuances of pedigogy to the uh teachers who need support in the classroom. Uh paying them I think I said stipen
already but you know not every day but just in support um to cover that gap on the elementary level. uh talking to the consultants at Barry and Resa again um Rebecca Rebecca Miles who's the literacy director and Joel Czechy who's
the math coordinator and director there also um we're fine we're fine we just need emphasis on instruction and I also found out that a lot of the teachers were not following the
curriculum to fidelity that's an issue too so I'm gonna have to have people in there who are cognizant of what they're supposed to be doing and checking them on a regular basis and making sure they're doing what they're supposed to do. My goal also is
to have building leaders, specifically principles who are educators. And to me, a principal should be the chief teacher, educator, instructor in the building. I'm not concerned about managers.
I don't care about that. I need a lead person who could be able to walk into a classroom within 10 minutes, observe instruction, and tell you whether some learning is going on or not. And and that's that's important. Uh we have a
lot of problems with kids going through the motions. Uh I also found out with AI um with NWA, they're they're developing ways where they're raising their test scores by using their cell phones. I don't know how they're doing it, but I found out that they're doing it. And
those are other things that we need to address. But the gap can be closed and it's all based on instruction. Yes. Go ahead. Thank you.
You said something about uh instructional leadership which is super important. Yes. And then you said not managers. Yeah, we do have a be you know we do have some issues with behavior. Um how would a principal or how would you see a building leader
address the security and discipline issue? Um if their main focus is instruction which is important as well. Yeah, it depends on the building and that's twofold. Uh if you're the leader of the building, your number one responsibility is the safety of the
children. So I I get that. But what I'm saying is if I'm a principal, I should be able to get the NWA scores. I should be able to look. I should be able to see the gap analysis and where we're having a problem and then instruct the teachers
as to where to focus in on. And a lot of times um in our district, a lot of the principles of building leaders, they're only concerned with day-to-day activities. Uh they leave the instruction part, the academic part to
others in the building, which is fine, but I think you need to know you should be able to talk on that level. You should be able to speak on that level to a certain point of efficacy. So that's that's the issue that I have. um having a principal that has not ever taught is
an issue but it happens and they can be become good principles but they need support. So those are the things that we want to look at and those are the things that possibly we want to correct. If we could stick to the questions on the sheet because I don't want us to run
out of time and we have to treat all candidates the same. So, if we could stick to those questions, if you have follow-up questions, so you could write them down and if we have time at the end, we can get to them or we can do it during round two. But if we could be sure that we ask all candidates the same
questions, I would greatly appreciate that. Thank you so much. All right, thank you for that clarification. I think we just was slightly confused because it did notate once the topic is introduced other board members can engage in asking clarifying questions but for sake of time we'll try
to get through the current questions we have and then put the clarifying questions at the end. Okay. So we're going to move along to fiscal responsibility. Thank you Mr. Pearson. Fiscal responsibility. Treasurer Bradley, uh, given the, um, and I've heard you address some of that in your
introductory remarks, but given the, um, precarious nature of our finances, how will you work with our finance department to make sure that we are in a good fiscal position and what type of school finance background do you hold or will acquire? Okay. Um, I I'll deal with
the reverse. Uh my background is I was over the finances for River like the private school that I was a superintendent. Obviously we were not on the level of Ben Harbor area schools but in terms of financing and budgeting 3,000 and 3 million is just a difference
of zeros in terms of how you calculate that. Um what I tell people all the time is I don't know if I mentioned this already. I've been talking so much but school is not a business. And we need to understand that charter
schools are a business. They they're in for a profit to make money. Okay? And when we make cuts fiscally, we have to look at the bottom line. And the bottom line is how does it affect children? How does it affect the student? So that's
how you look at a budget in a learning institution in terms of uh Ben Harour area schools. Then of course you have to be fiscally responsible but again you have to understand what the bottom line is. Um I have no problem with budgets. I
have no problem with finance. As a matter of fact your current is what is what's her name? Uh sister Brock Brock Carter. Uh I've had many experiences with her from the private school because all the private schools in the area they're allowed to get title one funds
from the existing district which was been our various schools. So I met with her every year going through a budget getting my money to do what I needed to do with title one, title two and title three. So that's not an issue and I have a great relationship with her. Um I
don't foresee that being a problem whats All right. Thank you. And next we have navigating educational challenges. Wat Martin. Hello Mr. Pearson. Hi. Thank you. Okay. Educationally
what has been the biggest challenge you have faced? How did you meet that challenge and what was the outcome? Yeah. Well, um, money,
raising money, whether it was in Benhar area schools, planning a field trip, whether it was, uh, at River of Life, uh, having to deal with the general fund and in the general budget. Um, what I've learned is
at this point in life, in our times, you have to think out of the box. And Pin Harbor is is is such a great community historically. So many great people have come from here. And I don't think that we utilize our resources to
go back and bring them in. And like I said, I've had conversations with them and they would love to come back and help. So my thing is um my biggest problem was getting the money in but how I dealt with it is I always had to think
out of the box and so with Ben Harious schools we we need to start thinking about foundations and I've heard we've had them but where's the money? How much do you have? What have you been doing? Um, I recall we had a football coach here a few years ago, very successful
football coach, and he had charter buses, he had a weight room, he had everything to his disposal. But my point is is that he understood that he had to get the money outside the box. And as a district overall, we have to start
thinking the same way. All right. Thank you. Next we have Trustee Gavin and her question was regarding educational models. You have the floor. Thank you. Thank you for um
coming Mr. Pearson. Um my question is please describe in detail the structural proven model that you would use that works for students of our demographic to address culture and climate academic
achievement and social emotional learning. That's a great question. Um and the reason it's a great question is that's the latest thing that I've been working on. Uh there's a professor out of New York named Dr. Kama Kamine
and he's put together a curriculum that you insert. It's like a supplement curriculum that's geared toward African-Americans and districts of color. He just left Detroit and he's implemented it there in some of the
schools there and he comes for free and you have to purchase the program but he will do the professional development and all of those things. Now the thing that I liked about it because I'm a research person and the latest research from
University of Lyola, excuse me, Lyola out of Chicago and Stanford University in Palo Alto, California has stated that when kids learn about their culture culturally in school, this is documented. it
improves their test scores and academic standing in all disciplines. It's not a rumor. It's it's been proven. So, those are some of the things that I would like to incorporate in our various schools. I don't know why there's no African-American studies classes. I don't know why there's no
African-American history classes. There were before. Those are things that we need to bring back. And we're not bringing them back for aesthetic reasons because it looks good and it's great to talk about. They're purposeful. They're purposeful and they help And we have a major problem in our
community, not necessarily in our area schools, but in the community with how our kids are acting, the fights and all these things. And this curriculum would address that. So mentally, culturally, there's a correlation. And if we can get
this this type of program, I would present it to the board, have him present it to the board, it would be invaluable in this community. Um, that was another issue. I know I'm probably over there's another issue um that I found out um that I didn't know existed.
There's a gang problem and and that came from the staff. I thought that was over and girls are fighting more than boys and they're fighting every day and it's not just lunch. It's in the hallways. So these are the type of things that needs
to be addressed and will be addressed through that type of program. Thank you. Uh my second question is what specific implementation strategies would you employ to successfully
implement your model without destabilizing the solutions that work for our population? Yeah, for the I'm sorry for the board. This is number 10. Go ahead. I've done a significant amount of research as you could see, but I
haven't researched everything. So, that would depend on me assessing what we already have and seeing how we can deal with bringing or incorporating something else. Um, I know that's a very broad answer, but that's that's about the best I could do with that, but it's not a
problem at all, but it definitely needs to be addressed. Repeat that. Vice President Bones is asking if you can repeat your statement. I'm sorry. Sorry. I was okay. I'm saying that that was a great question and I've done a tremendous amount of research, but for
me to answer that specifically would be very difficult at this time and we will have to wait and let me assess some of the things that you're doing right now and how that's going to be incorporated in some of the things that I would like to do. Okay. And so to the board, Trusty Gavin
went ahead and asked her question. It was a followup and your packet is stated as number 10. So you were referencing your sheet in this in here too, but it made sense to do them back to back. So thank you.
Okay. So up next we have um myself um number uh number six and it's regarding master's facilities planning area schools is in the process of establishing the master's facilities plan with the 10 completion date of
September 2025. What is your experience with facilities and operations specifically maximizing district resources such as vacant properties? Okay, great question. um at the school that I came from
previously. Um that was an issue practically every year. Um living in a city like Ben Harvard, a lot of the buildings that you deal with are very old and degraded. You should talk just a little louder. Yes, no problem. How's that? That's good.
Okay. Um a lot of the buildings around are are very decrepit and very old. we have very few new buildings in the community. Um, so I dealt with that all the time um at River of Life and just driving around and seeing the
the properties that we have now. Um, I'm nostalgic just like a lot of you are and you hate to see things go away and unfortunately uh in Bin Harbor when we got new things we didn't maintain them.
Um, I recently went down to the rec center and I looked at the rec center. I looked at the courts that Simbad bought the land for and the courts and the condition that they're in and it is really sad. So, as a community and as
Ben Arber schools, we have to do better in terms of dealing with our facilities. Um, as I stated earlier, I think that we can keep some of the buildings, but we're basically sitting on money
that's depreciating every day, and we're going to have to decide whether we're going to sell them or not. And my decision would have to sit down and decide which ones we're going to keep, and the ones we don't want to keep, we have to get rid of. And unfortunately, uh, the one on Learning Lane, uh, Fairplane East, I think it's east, the
one on, uh, down Atkins Drive, Northeast, Northeast, I'm sorry. And, um, down in the valley behind King, they're squatters and they're literally building fires inside of those buildings in the winter
to stay warm. So, in terms of liability and and and those other things, we have to start considering uh getting rid of them. But like I said, the two that I want right now and again that's hypothetical because I haven't been
inside Boon Monasuri on Crystal and um the one on M63 uh the North School that those those would be invaluable and those will be
money makers if we could use them. But holding on to the buildings I think is not the right thing. It's time for us to let go. I'm like you. I I didn't want to see them go. There are buildings that are turn torn down now that I went to and I'm heartbroken when I could drive past and they're not there. But again, I
understand we have to move forward. All right. Thank you. Our next question is concerning student recruitment. Vice President Bowens, how do you plan to enhance student recruitment and engagement, particularly attracting diverse student populations, and what
initiatives would you prioritize to build a strong and inclusive school community? Okay. Um, I talked about the Magnus schools initially already. That's one of the way that one of the ways that we bring students in. But according to research, the number one reason why
people take their kids out of schools is safety. We have to address that. And one of the first things that I would do is go into the security department and figure out what's going on. I know we've spent millions of dollars on sur uh
surveillance cameras and things like that, but we need to have a strategy, a program of security guards who are working and doing their job every single day. Because every time you hear of a
shooting in Ben Harbor, people across the river are saying that that student they go to Ben Harbor High School or they went to Ben Harbor High School. People in other communities are saying the same thing. So if we want people to come back, the first thing whether it's students or teachers, it has to be a
safe learning environment. Safe learning environment. Instruction has to improve. And I've already explained to you how we're going to do that. Um, again, very surprised and and pleasantly surprised what's going on in elementary schools, but
middle school and high school, those are areas that we need to zero in on, and they're not going to come back unless there's viable learning going on every day, and they they feel safe in the classrooms. Now, I've already made calls
in terms of recruitment. Um, I'm scouring the papers all the time and and reading the MDE reports of the layoffs, uh, positions eliminated. So, I've talked to at least 18 people within the last month that said they will be
willing to come back if the conditions are right, administrators and teachers and support staff, but they don't want to come back if they're afraid to be in their classrooms or they're not going to be supported by the administration.
So recruitment just like everything else can be done out the box. It doesn't have to be visiting a university campus for the weekend and talk. That's not how we do it now. That's one way. But there there are many other ways. There are people at the charter schools that don't
want to be there, but they don't want to come back here because they don't feel safe. So I would be walking in front of charter schools if I had to have a sign. Come back and say and and that's what we have to do. We have to be bold,
okay? Because they did the same thing. They came into the community, took all your students, and then started asking you for money to help them support it. So, we have to change that. And it will change. I guarantee it. It will change.
All right. Next question. Thank you. Our next question is Treasurer Bradley. Concerning staffing, um you will potentially be starting in the middle of summer vacation. Can you commit to making no major staff changes which includes principles are admin until January of next year so that you will
have a chance to adjust and see where we currently stand and what is not working and what will need to be changed. Wow, that's a lot of questions. Wow. Okay. Um,
and the reason that I'm pausing is I'm I'm trying to get all the dynamics together because you had an opportunity to do that last week and you didn't do it and then you wanted to wait for the new superintendent to make a decision and then you're basically telling me you
don't want me to do it. So, that's loaded. That's his individual question. Okay. So to be perfectly honest, um as a leader of the district and responsible for the education of the students in Ben
Harbor, um that would take me to get into the job, make the assessments, talk to the people, see what's going on, and for me to blanketly make that statement right now, I don't think it would be fair to you as a board or
myself. All right. Your next question is from Lat Martin concerning navigating unpopular decisions. Okay. I need you to speak into your mic so that anyone virtually can hear you as well. talk about your ability to make and stand behind
unpopular decisions. Okay. Never had a problem with that. Um but the first thing you have to understand is your place. You know, does the bug stop with me? Does it stop with the principal? Does it stop with the parents? So that's a situation where it has to be dealt with
on a on a personal level and um then decision will be made. I don't have problems with making as a leader. That's that's the characteristic of a leader, a good leader. If I can call myself a good leader, um if it's the right decision, I think that's the only thing that
matters. And um hopefully all my decisions will be right. But you know, again, you have outside influences. People want you to do things that might not necessarily be right. um you you can't
bend to that because like I said the number one bottom line here are the students and how it affects them. So that's how I do that. Never had a problem with that. All right. Okay. And then our last
question comes from Trusty Doyle and her question is actually on um our our sheet and it is concerning staff retention and recruitment. Trusty Doyle. Greetings to the board. You'll have to
just notate it under your number 10 your responses. Greetings Mr. Pearson. Thank you for um I can barely hear you. Greetings. So my question is what strategies strategies do you plan to implement to retain the
current Benton Harbor area school staff attract new staff and including certified teachers. Okay. Um I think I kind of touched on that a little bit earlier. Um but
people what we have to understand that there's a national crisis uh finding certified teachers. So again we have to think out of the box not in terms of just getting them but like you said keeping them uh some type of sustainability.
Um money is a big issue with teachers coming here. Um, I know teachers that are living in Ben Harour that are driving to Kalamazoo, driving to Battle Creek every day to work, but they want to be here,
but the salaries here are not competitive. And we have to figure out a way how to deal with that. And that goes back to what I was saying earlier. If we had adult education, these are incentives that you can help teachers who are working during the day. you you're doing
a great job during the day, so we're going to give you a couple hours teaching adult ed at night making, you know, $ 35 or $50 an hour. So, those are the type of things you have to think about. Also, um I don't think we're going to have a major problem attracting
staff until we get our house together. uh we have a branding issue and for me to ask students to come back for you to ask students to come back there has to be changes and so that's why I keep saying that there's some urgency involved and
when I come in I want to hit the ground running and all the the meet and greet and all that is not going to be necessary it'll be grinding the budget staffing checking other school districts who was laid off uh
when we get them in keeping them. Exactly. That that's important. And and as a teacher, there are many factors that go in to why I want to be in this district or why I want to be in this building. My principal has to be knowledgeable. The kids have to be
manageable. The community has to be supportive. Uh supportive. Uh the parents have to be controlled, if that's the word you want to use, if they're out of control. and teachers will they will work for you.
When I came when I want to talk about Ben Herve High School, but when I've come into buildings and showed love to the teachers and supporting teachers, they will do anything for you. They will. And so that's the type of culture and
climate that we want to create. That's why they'll stay, how you treat them. Yeah. All righty. So, that was uh the last of our formal questions. And just a reminder to the board, that question didn't make it to the book, but it is on
your sheet. You'll have to create yourself an additional area on after number 10 if you'd like to notate that one. All righty. At this time, are there any questions or closing comments that you would like to make? Yes. Um, it's been a
privilege and a blessing to able to be in this position. Um, I love Ben Harbor. I love children. I love my children. When I say my children, the children of Bin Harbor. And um I look forward to
working with the board. And I hope that our relationship will blossom into something special, into something that's extremely productive so we can present to the community and make people want to
come back to Benberry Schools. Thank you so much, Mr. Pearson. So, um, the next steps of the process will be for the board to discuss all of the applicants that we have interviewed and to determine the candidates that we would like to bring back for a second interview. HYA will be
in touch with you later to let you know the outcome of our discussions. And then I would just like as well um on behalf of Whitten Harour Area Schools to thank you for your candidacy, time and efforts, we will select our second round finalist this afternoon with interviews
to be held on Tuesday, June 24th, 2025 after second round interviews and an in-depth background search. We anticipate selecting a superintendent on July 8th, 2025 pending contract negotiations. That's right. We as stated will communicate and accepts with you
accordingly. We wish you safe travels on your journey home. Have an amazing day and thank you. Thank you. You can go out this way if you like. Thank you. So, I'll give the board an opportunity just a few minutes to go through um make sure you've set your
rubric score or any additional notes you wanted to add while they work on getting us the next applicant. President Robinson, President Robinson, I'm sorry. Are these notes just for us
or do we have to turn anything in? They don't have to be turn They're not Do you turn We turn in all this our notes? Yes. Oh, we turn in our notes to you. I wish we would have been told that on the phone. I was just taking Okay, so we're going to we're going to take a second. I'm not quite ready just yet. I don't
know about it. Always we can get the side conversations down. I know we're kind of informal in the structure of our meeting. So there was a So we are turning in what we like to you. May I have a pen?
Pen. Is there a pen? Hold on. Okay, it's just me. No. I'mma use my phone for and to the public that may be watching
on Zoom. We are um in between candidates currently. I'm just giving the board of education an opportunity to finalize any additional notes they'd like to make. Is that really great from what time?
So, thank you so much. You're welcome. We're still behind schedule, but that's okay. So, I'm keeping you with you. You see me stand up and I say two minutes. Okay. Our interview was at 11, right? Okay.
So, we're just four minutes behind. We're doing five minutes behind. Okay. I don't have muted because I thought this was right. Um question. So we got to take this out or
we just gonna keep this in and then after add it to you. Okay. [Music] So So you don't need don't leave this.
Uh, I want to be sure that we're not going to if we can say that we're not going to put these notes of what was said about we're not going to do that. Then that's fine. Okay. Okay. All right. That's better cuz we cuz I definitely was not
writing with the intent of anyone else being able to understand my notes but me. Okay. No, we would never So, we as a board of education take this process extremely seriously. So, we would not be sharing our comments. We would not want them to come. Okay. Yeah. All right. So,
we're going to just uh take one more minute just to ensure you all have your um scores and any notes that you want. I also wanted to be sure that Senator questions started because superintendent have to
be able to talk on their channel and be able to respond to any questions that come from the media, from community members or anybody else. And so this is also seen how does this person respond when they're being asked a question.
They were not expecting themselves. like I'm looking for the paper. You asking your question and I just go answer. Okay. I think that we are um we are ready and I am just so the board is aware there is a script that HY prepared
for me but I also prepared a script so I'm reading them both so I can ensure I say everything that I would like for us to communicate. Yes questions for the same time or do you want just one the same way? I think it'd be easier to follow it in
the book other than Trusty Gavin because her two questions go together. Yeah, but it's hard to Okay, so just to make sure everyone's clear, um, in the book, Trusty Gavin's second question is number 10, but it actually is a followup
to question number five, so it should technically be six. Where was Mrs. Doyle's question? It's going to be so I stated I stated in the Yep. I stated so Trusty Doyle's question
was given to me later than everyone. So the Pers is not in your book. So when I was saying you're going to have to just make yourself a section under number 10, the trustees do 11th question. It's on this sheet. Yeah, but it's not in your
book. So you'll just have to make space for it. Does that make sense? So that you can know it's number 11. Okay. Yes, Trusty D, you can actually eliminate my question because you can't because we already
Okay. Okay. Yeah. Okay, we're ready. See, I put her answers down here at the door. [Music] Good morning. And just so the board is aware of the script that I read at the start, I'll
read you each time. Yes, ma'am. Okay. So, as you're getting settled, I'm going to read this board. Okay. You can do so. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. The following topics and questions were identified by board members to provide
consistency to to the search interviews. The board member identified before each item should assume the responsibility for making sure the topic is covered during the interview. If the candidate covers the topic during his or her opening statement or while discussing another topic, there
is no need to bring the topic up again. Remember, try to keep the interview as informal as possible. The questions are designed to be asked by the assigned video member. Once the topic is introduced, other video members can engage in asking clarifying questions if needed. clarify that we want to do that
at the end of the interview to ensure we get all questions to you. Be aware though that you want to use as little time as possible in presenting your questions so that you'll have ample time to garner from the candidate his or her thoughts and thinking process. Also, please be conscious of the time given
the 10 questions 11 questions that we ask. Um you will need to keep each topic of question to four minutes on average. That will leave sufficient time for the candidates to ask his or her questions. Please do not discuss the respective comments amongst yourselves until you have seen all the candidates. This is
the only way you will be able to maintain your objectivity and treat all candidates fairly. We will be reviewing all the candidates as a group at the end of each session. Finally, you are not allowed to inquire regarding topics of race, age, sex, religion, marital status, whether they have children,
ethnic origin, abuse or financial affairs. Please refrain from any questions related to these topics. Um, and then as a reminder, I'll be reading this statement at the beginning of each of our board interviews. All right. Good morning. Good morning.
On behalf of Benton Harvard area schools, we would like to officially welcome you to Tiger Nation. Congratulations on your selection as a first round candidate for superintendent of Benton Harris Schools. I will briefly introduce you to our board. We have Vice President Trenton Bones. Good morning,
sir. Secretary Ronaldo Triple is absent today. We have our treasurer Matthew Bradley. Morning. Good morning. We have trustees Angela Durham. Good morning, ma'am. Trustee Rocket Martin. Good morning. Trusty Gavin. Good morning. And President Robinson. Great to meet you.
All right. As you're aware today, you will be allowed 45 minutes to interview. Ha associate Dr. Collins will keep track and signal as the time draws close to the end of your interview time. You'll be asked to give an introduction to share your experience and why you are interested in being the next
superintendent of Benton Harbor. This intro should be one minute or less. The board already has your application and resume information so we know about you. You'll be asked to answer 11 questions from the board. Therefore, the response for each question should be four minutes or less. Once we have completed our
interview questions, you will be allowed to ask any questions you have to the board. You may also make a closing statement. Please be mindful the time. So, we will go ahead and get started. Our first question for you this morning
is from myself. It's regarding Bent Harbor School's historical knowledge. One best practice of professional leadership is to research the organization that you are planning to lead. Please share with us your knowledge regarding Benton Harvey area
schools both current and historically. What do you anticipate to be your greatest strengths and challenges as superintendent? How do you plan to navigate student challenges? Thank you. I appreciate that question. Um you you can do your intro
and I can read your question again. Okay. Thank you. So, good morning everyone. Thank you so much for having me here. Um as you can see, my name is Stephanie Jones and and for the purpose of our interview, if you're okay, Stephanie is totally perfect at this time. Um, I was ra and raised primarily
about an hour and a half on the southeast side of Chicago in a community very similar to Benton Harbor. Um, and it is important and I'm very passionate about serving children that um, necessarily not having all the resources
very familiar and grew up in my great-grandmother raised me on a fixed income as a retired domestic worker and did her very best. And as much as I would have appreciated having all the luxury trinkets that a lot of my um peers did, what she gave me was great
values of treating people with kindness, love and respect. And that has continued through with me throughout my um throughout my life. And I do this heart work and I call it heart work because it's work of the heart. and and I've reflect I leverage myself as a model
coming from a community where we don't see people with bachelor's degrees and even associates degrees nevertheless doctorate degrees and the expectations for us um in some of our communities is not very high um and whether it is and
wherever it comes from as it relates to what our families are able to pour into us what our schools are able to pour in us I do this work because I want to make that necessity be that catalyst for change and give children and families hope. I am the first in my family to
earn um the degrees that you see u listed in my resume and my community and I am proud to be part of my community. I am very proud for the opportunity to be able to serve Benton Harbor and absolutely be a model for our community,
for our students, for our parents. And what I see in the Benton Harbor community is that you are passionate about making that change. You understand that you are in a place where there are not all of the resources. So whether
that's a peace walk, whether that is bringing uh whirlpool in and making the necessary changes, you all are resilient and that is who I am as a person, as a mom, a grandmother, as a leader is that
making sure that we are leveraging all the resources we absolutely can to give our children in our community a a good chance to thrive in our society. Okay. And so do you need me one more time? President Robinson, read that
question again for you. Okay. And it's concerning Benton Harvard School's historical knowledge. One best practice of professional leadership is to research the organization that you are planning to lead. Please share with us your knowledge regarding Benton Harvard Schools both current and historically.
What do you anticipate to be your greatest strengths and challenges as superintendent and how do you plan to navigate the challenges? Yes, thank you for that. I think I kind of alluded in in my opening um some of the things I've was able to identify identify within our
community and that is around the practices and uh initiatives that are being ident that are being implemented as it relates to turning around shifting the expectations and culture in the community. Um my understanding and what
I bring to the district is I think will be our hurdle to to navigate together is building that trust with trust that we can absolutely change the culture. So I know that there is an initiative of looking to recruit and
retain students but and we can I can talk about which I shared in one of my um letters around the initiative but I think before we get into some of those strategies of marketing the strategies of building partnerships I think we have
to peel back some of the layers and really identify why our students transition and where the lowhanging fruit is. So for me, I've looked at um our challenges with water. I've looked at our sewage challenges. Um I know that
around 2022, we um develop a strategic plan. Um so where I would be interested in where we are in that process. Is this something we're uh continuing to implement and where is again lowhanging fruit where we can address those um
where we left off at? And so those are just a few of the things that I also shared earlier that understanding that the district and the community is committed to bringing making sure the district is prepared to be healthy citizens shifting our culture, bringing
resources back. I understand that we've had challenges financially and was able to get back into the green. And so I know that we are extremely proud of being able to shift to make those financial shifts. And my goal as your
superintendent and commitment as your superintendent is to continue to help us grow looking at how are we leveraging our resources, our expenditures. Are they yielding outcomes that are outlined in our strategic plan? And where do we need to make some adjustments? Um, for
the most part, we want to make sure that students have highly qualified teachers in front of them and that we are able to give them the resources needed to move those academic uh, performance, which is also an area as it relates to fluency and math that we are looking to address
and we absolutely deserve our students deserve that as well as I feel that with those intention with intentional practices, we can absolutely move our graduation rate into the 90 percentile. Thank you.
Next we have Vice President Burns and his question is concerning learning loss. What strategies and programs What strategies and programs would you implement to address learning loss among students especially in the aftermath of disruptions caused by the pandemic to
ensure all students are supported and can can achieve academic growth. Thank you Vice President Bowens. as all districts, all districts were impacted by the pandemic and it exasperated exasperate exasperated all that academic
challenges we had already faced. And so for me, it's important to really look at what our current practices are, what curriculum, what instructional practices, what training and coaching have been provided to our teachers to implement uh said instruction uh curriculum. And so I want to look at
where we what we're currently leveraging where there are some spaces of opportunities. Uh one of the initiatives that I leveraged to address learning gaps um learning loss due to the pandemic was expounding on our teachers qualified to provide structured
literacy. Uh in the past a district I worked where leveraging it for for due process and for to avoid uh dis um legal disputes. For me, I felt all students should be able to have a teacher that can provide the fundamental skills of
structured literacy, fluency, and and so if we're talking about we want to be very intentional, I want to peel back some of those layers, not just look at state assessments, but look at current grades, attendance, and see where are the areas of opportunities. Where are
students strong, where are the strengths, and where are their opportunities? And so, I don't leverage deficits. I use the word opportunity because to me that's what it really is. And so I want to peel back, look where those um where those areas are, do trend
analysis, but most importantly coaching and training our teams on how to use data. Sometimes this is a missed opportunity. uh we take it for granted and believe that everyone understands how to leverage the data, how to use the data to implement uh instructional practices
in the classrooms and that's not always the case. It's not a really strong piece in our academic programs. It's kind of more learned around um your um experiences. And so my experiences have allowed me to be able to peel back layers of the data, comp complete a
trend analysis, and then present and coach teams on how to leverage it in their day-to-day practices. So I would want before I can share about a program or an initiative, we would want to look at what our where our current state is
and be able to build out a plan as it relates to where we see areas of opportunities and continue to build and more most importantly we can't forget to progress monitor. And so when I talked about earlier around that trust, it's going to take us to continue to build
trust with our team members so that we can be transparent when we're seeing strengths when we're seeing growth when we're not. And that takes a very high level of comfortability for us to be able to open up and say, "Ah, that initiative didn't give me the outcome I
desired." But I be transparent about it and let's see what we need to where adjustments we need to make. Thank you. Our next question is regarding fiscal responsibility. Treasurer Bradley, I'm taking notes. We can we can pause.
We can pause for a second to wrap up your notes. Okay. You all can tell me one second. Please don't feel rushed. Okay. Okay. Um All right. Uh ready for this question. did is um given the precarious nature of our
finances, how will you work with our finance department to make sure that we are in a good fiscal position and um what type of school finance background do you hold or will acquire? Sure. Thank you. I'm going to start with the bottom
portion of that question. Is that okay, sir? All right. So, uh in my pre previously, I have had the opportunity to lead an office with a $2.2 2 billion budget that was in a deficit. And so
what I was asked to do was to basically get us in compliance uh balance our books and and where I was able to assess relatively quickly was that our my team needed training coaching on how to manage the bud manage our budget. Um and
sometimes I would say you can give me a list like it's Hawaii but I need you to come on back here like we're in Illinois right now. I don't have it all. I can't give it all to you, but um we can build a plan, a three to five year plan so we can get there. And so sometimes it takes us to really taking a step back so we
can build a robust plan and also allow us the opportunity to be able to progress monitoring. We may say give an example structure literacy. Before we buy the full packet, let's test pilot. See if it's yielding us the outcomes
before we make the full financial commitment opposed to pushing out the full b the full bill and it didn't quite get us what we desired. And so I kind of coach my team in how to be able to manage and build out plans so we can get
there, but also making sure this initiative or strategy is absolutely going to yield us the outcome. And with that, we were able to get into the green, balance our budget, build had build out plans to allow us to
eventually get to what the ultimate goal was as it relates to all of our team, all of my team's initiatives. Um, and so first part again, first part, um, the first part is how will you work with our finance department to make sure
that we are in a good fiscal position? Sure. Thank you. I appreciate that your patience with me. Um, one thing for me, I'm going to look to have one-on-one meetings with all um, cabinet level members, um, central office, district office member, team members. So, that
one I will be looking for um, outside of getting to know them is what is our current state? Where do they see that we have strengths? Where do they see we have opportunities? Um, and then work together to really build that gap. So I really want to understand the our team's
um current state and capacity. Um so that will give me an opportunity to work with them and build their skills and build them to be able to reach their ultimate goals, our ultimate goals um and and most importantly make sure that
they yield outcomes for our students. So I really want to do check in and I would establish a set of cadence of check-ins with the cap with central office district office team members. so that we can continue to bring up every week. My
ultimate um under my ultimate goal as a leader is to ensure that one we're being fiscally responsible, two, how we are our expenditures are yielding the outcomes the um outcomes that we desire. uh we are going to be responsible and
we're going to make sure that how we're spending the money is aligned to our district strategic plan is in agreement with you all and it is yielding the results that we ultimately have for our students, for our staff, for our community.
Thank Thank you. I think I'm mixed. Okay, you are number four. Amazing name. Yes. Educationally, what has been the biggest challenge you have faced? How did you meet that challenge? And what was the
outcome? Sure. Great question. Uh, Miss Rocket Martin. Um, one of the biggest challenges I would say that I faced in education, um, was during the pandemic. Um, for the district that I worked in during the
pandemic, our students and staff were remote at home for nearly a year. And as a special education leader, uh, students with disabilities were the first to return back to in public to in-person learning, uh, which requires staff to
come back to in-person learning. And this was not um uh this was not something taken lightly but was not a popular decision. Uh our team members felt that in remote was still the best interest of all for
health reasons and I absolutely understood that. Uh one of the things I shared with a district of over 300,000 we had a 100,000 not engaged in remote learning. Out of that 100,000, 20,000 were
students with disabilities. So while we felt while it was perceived that remote was in the best interest of all, our students weren't present. Um and so this is something that was
shared. I built out a re-entry plan um after the remote learning plan. uh held town halls, webinars, um letters, robocalls, um and still I would be if I'm being
transparent, I could have communicated more. So while our students did return back uh we had precautions in place um for protocols in place as it relates to our staff and students health um and ultimately it yielded the best was in
the best interest of our students um and it always was was the initi the re the rationale but we could have communicated better with that process and so I would say that I'm extremely proud of moving
back to that in person at that time. Um because it allowed for us to not only build out the expansion of uh teachers being trained in structured literacy but actually in-person implementation. And that in-person implementation not
only increased attendance. We were able to increase graduation rates, increase FASA completion, and ultimately increase academic performance for our students because we were not taking state assessments at the
at that time and had a decrease in discipline. as well as we were able recognized as the largest um the urban top number one urban school district with the largest gains post pandemic
through consistent and uh consistent strategies to close those educational gaps for our students. Can you repeat the last part? You are the largest urban district. number one urban district with the highest gains
post pandemic as it relates to student performance. Okay. So, I'll give our trustees a few seconds to finish writing. And so, once done, we'll have trustee Gavin. She's going to present you two questions um because they're they are connected to
each other. So, she's going to do hers back to back and they are regarding educational models. Okay. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for having me. You could please describe in detail the
structural proven model that you would use that works for students of our demographic to address culture and climate, academic achievement and social emotional learning.
Thank you for that. Um for me I believe in having an inclusive Thank you. I believe that it's important to have an inclusive instructional model um where we are ensuring that we are
training our teams to be highly qu provide highly qualified to be highly qualified and pli provide high instructional rigorous um practices within our classrooms. I believe that when if we can peel back some of the layers, culture and climate I believe
for me starts way beyond the before you get to the classroom. It is involving what does it look like as we're our students beyond so let me back up outside of the classroom. What does it look and feel like in the hallways? What
does it feel like in the main office? How are our families and students greeted when they walk into our buildings? How are they greeted and how welcoming is our environment when they're walking up and pulling up by a bus or car? And so that is something
that we absolutely have control over on what that feels like, that connectedness for our students, our staff, and our families. When we build that connection, our students are going to show up every day. So attendance will not be a
challenge. our students are going to want want to reach as high as they absolutely as possible as they can academically because they want to show up because we've built that connection with them. And so when I think about culture and climates, that connection
piece is vital and how we're making sure that our families and our students and our staff feel connected to and welcome. And if we think about our hierarchy of needs, safety is important. So addressing and making sure that our
students and our staff and our families feel safe as they're navigating to our buildings, as they walk into our into our buildings and know that we're absolutely going to take care of them because we are family. And so for me, it's important that I believe that when
we are addressing that and making sure if the pandemic didn't teach us anything else, what they showed us is to make sure and check in on one another that we put a lot of focus some and as as rightfully so because our students
said, you know, however long that they did at home in isolation. And so it's important that we ensure that our one our curriculum is culturally responsive that it is embedded to support character
development seal. How are we leveraging and what curriculum our social workers, school psychologists and counselors are leveraging to support our students holistically? And most importantly,
how are we taking care of our staff? They experience challenges. And so, it's important that we show up and check in on them, that we are creating spaces. And so, for me, as a leader, I am really
big on on on showing up and being visible, but most importantly, checking in and getting to know my team. I even do sometimes check-ins. I did do a survey to say how do you even like to be acknowledged and praised? And I think those little small there's
lowhanging fruit little very small things that we can do and if done consistently we can absolutely shift the culture and climate of our buildings of our district of our community. How are we visible outside in community
events is important and making sure that we are addressing the social emotional needs of our students and our staff and our parents. How are we leveraging parent universities to to educate our parents so that they can be even greater
of an advocate for their young one? How are we helping them socially, emotionally? they also were sitting at home and working and doing remote work and trying to figure it out for their student for the first time in a different structure. So, it's important that we have this built out to be able
to meet holistically the needs of our student, staff and families and community. Thank you so much. Um, did I give you a chance to complete your Okay. And the follow-up question is, and you've spoken to that a little bit, but if you want to
expound, the follow-up question is, what specific implementation strategies would you employ to successfully implement your model without destabilizing the solutions that work for our population?
Yes. Um I think for me coming in I will not be looking to change. I think it's important to listen and learn and see what's going well and where are their opportunities and where
I feel that I will be able to pick pick up is where the opportunities and build on our strengths. I love to leverage strengths and overcompensate sometimes uh some of our challenges and I'll give a quick example I have I am
directionally challenged um but I don't buy a car without navigation system so I would tell family if you take me away from the southside I don't really know which way is northsoutheast or west but there's technology that we can that I can buy to
make sure that I know which way is northsoutheast or west or how to get leaving from the hotel over here to the high school. Even though I came yesterday, I still needed help again today. And so, you know, it's important that we are for me, I like to make sure
that we're leveraging all resources to compensate for some of those areas that are challenging for us while we continue to build skills. So those building systems and structures to allow us to build and do such is how is what I would
bring to Benton Harbor in being able to progress monitor and be transparent. If my navigation system did not work, I'm going to be transparent. I struggled today. I'll do better. And this is what my plan of action on how to make course
corrections. So, sure. Um, board member Gavin, I can give you very specific initiatives and strategies that I would leverage to address the academic comp um the academic area uh academic need of growth for our school district to meet
the social emotional needs based on what I've been able to observe and research. But until I get in and be able to assess what we're currently leveraging um in order to where we have oppa strengths and where our opportunities, that will
be my first step before we get to I present to you all what I think we can how we can close some of our gaps, be able to give some very quick wins and solve for some of those lowhanging fruit
areas. Thank you. Thank you. All right. So our next question is mine and it's concerning master's facilities plans area schools is in the process of establishing a master's facilities plan with the tenative completion date of September 2025.
What is your experience with facilities and operations specifically maximizing district resources such as vacant properties? Thank you. I appreciate that question. Uh actually I have the opportunity of leveraging opening up uh
transition centers, opening up new schools with buildings that were not underutilized or not in operation. And so that would have been one of my that's part of my as you can see in my 100 day plan is meeting with the facilities
director looking at what is our master's facility plan. um what resources have where we currently are and where what are our next steps? Um how are we going to progress monitor that we're making the uh an attainments uh expected? And
so I went to actually had the opportunity to go by uh Norththeast High School. No, Northeast. That's by Northeast Elementary. Yes. That's closed. Yes. So, I was doing a little
tour yesterday and went through and saw all of our buildings um that I was able to locate that were or was ours open and closed. And so, I definitely would want to and I know that we're currently in the process of surveying and receiving feedback from community on what they
would like to see and how to as it relates to how we're leveraging our buildings that are not operationalized. And so I definitely have some ideas, but definitely open and want to receive what the community would like to see and expect and where we can build out in
partnerships. But going back to your question around my experience, so my experience with facilities plans, um, I've worked closely with our facilities as having to really assess where our what our current numbers is and what our
predictions for the next year. And so with that, I'm making sure that our schools are equipped, looking at the capacity of our schools, classroom capacity, where we are with filling that and meeting or if we're moving to a place of exceeding that, we want to have
those conversations. I want to have those conversations with you very early so we can have conversations with our community and move in a direction as we're building out plans and we have the resources to do so. And so what I have also experienced is building out uh a
resource allocation tool. I did so for a very uh large and complex district. Uh for me it was important of making sure that we are equitably allocating resources to our students to our schools. And so I built a tool that leveraged many factors inclusive of
student needs, bail schedules, uh, uh, communion contracts, um, to make sure that I have thought of almost everything as it relates to le building out a tool that will be able to kind of spit out a little quicker what our current needs
are. Um, and so, um, that's part of some of the experience that I have I have. Thank you. Thank you. You don't mind that TV? I just didn't know what it was doing. Got everybody. I just didn't want you to look up and see
faces on the screen for somebody. Okay. And we're gonna um move to number uh seven. That's going to be Vice President B. Yes. How do you plan to enhance student recruitment and engagement
particularly in attracting diverse student populations? And what initiatives would you prioritize to build a strong and inclusive school community? One more time. I was loaded. Vice President,
how and for those of you Zoom in, how do you plan to enhance student recruitment and engagement, particularly in attracting diverse student populations? and what initiatives would you prioritize to build a strong inclusive
school community? Yes, thank you. Appreciate that and I appreciate your patience with me. Um I think for for me as it relates to the entry um the recruitment and engagement um I feel that was important that one we're
looking at I noticed the district has a recruitment and um and engagement uh recruitment and retention uh strategic plan. And I think it's important that we take a look at a few of those things that's already built out in that plan.
One is we already identified why our students and families are leaving. When we look at that um that breakdown for the rationale for leaving the two top prior the two top reasons are moving to a different district and moving out of
the uh state. They take up more than 50% for the reasons of our students leaving. That's where we need to address. So we want to look at where are students going? what programs exist in those schools and cross referencing them with
the programs we currently have. So before we go and start knocking on doors, we want to make sure that we are able to expound on our current programs so that we can showcase what we have to
offer that's different before they left. And so that's going to be one key piece. And when I you talk about culture, that's the trust. With trust, we can move any and everything. And so we have
to continue. We have to work intentionally on building trust with our students and our families and our communities. Now, if I share what I want to share is that one of the strategies I would leverage is our marketing.
How are we marketing our district? how I would want to leverage radio stations. Um I would want to uh leverage uh newspapers. How are we utilizing social media to advertise our district? Um and
so what great opportunity would be us expounding on some of our social media outlets and how our teams are are updating. Um, and we would want to see a specific I would want to see a specific cadence as it relates to our updates on on our social media. Um, and then how
are we getting how are we showing up at our community events, advertising our school district. So that would be and we would be wanting to showcase some of the great programs that are happening. Um, one of my uh current initiatives which I
would want to bring to Benton Harbor is I'm having yard signs created for our students. And so when they when we welcome our students back, they're going to have yard signs in their front yard with their names on there saying we are excited and welcome back for this school
year. That's a strategy that will can be a little different than what our neighboring districts are um schools are offering our students, which shows that hey, we can't wait to see you. We uh we welcome you. This is the place for you. When people see that, Vice President
Bowen, they going to want to come here. We are going to be the district of choice. It's not an option. or if you don't have this resource, you come here. But a school of choice because we're going to be very
intentional with building out our programs. If we want diversity, our programs have to match. So, so what do our not just our academics but our extracurricular, what is after school programs are what are we offering?
That's what will lure our uh diverse communities into our district, businesses back to our community, homes back into our community. People come because what we have in our schools
and so I think that will be very key in how we build out and make a recommmitment. Unlike in most district, most states, everyone doesn't have the educational promise. We have that here in Michigan. We're going to leverage that and recommmit to
our community the Benton Harbor area school promise. The promise of commitment to all of our students, to our staff, to our families, to our community in partnership
with our mayor, our commissioners, all of them. And I do not have a problem with begging at Washington DC for us to get those resources. and Lancet to our capital and welcome you to join me. All right, I'm on uh Treasure Bradley
concerning staffing. All right. uh you will potentially be starting in the middle of summer vacation. Um and you already touched on some of this. Can you commit to making no major staff changes, principal or admins and or even other staff until January of next year so that you will
have a chance to adjust and see where we currently stand and what is not working and what will need to be changed? Sure. Yes. Sure. Uh and I understand that. Um, so I have been doing my homework. Um, and so
I recognized that, um, we at one point were in a position of looking as if we needed to do layoffs, some cuts. Um, and I understand that that now is on pause uh, until if offered, you offer me this amazing opportunity to lead this
district. And so I think it's going to be important to allow me the opportunity to really look at what our current state is so that I can make the best uh present you the best options for our district. I understand that we also want
to continue to grow and not dip too much into that fund balance that we're finally over a place of having at least more than a half a year of fund balance right now in reservation. And so I want to commit that sure I can commit that we will not make any cuts. Um and that's
not a fun part for anyone's job. Um but I would definitely present multiple options as it relates and absolutely will be prepared to have that ready for you um before January. Thank you. Thank you.
Okay. Talk about your ability to make and stand behind unpopular decisions, Miss Rocket Martin. The story of my life.
And so if I had to give an example of of an unpopular decision, it would um I believe the resource allocation tool that I shared uh touched on uh briefly. Um and in a district that I in a
community I've worked in uh is was segregate is segregated uh and some of the more fluent uh communities are on north side where uh the communities that are not so affluent are on the south and west side and the south and west side schools have
vacancies multiple vacancies for year on and the affluent communities have an abundance of staffing and so what it looks like when you walk up to their buildings is very different than what it looks like on the south and west side.
And so as a as a leader, I was um it's important to have equity grounded in equity and all students should have access to highquality teachers. So building that resource that allocation tool was not
popular because through the assessment I identified quite a bit of over staffing and communities were not happy with that identification. I also identified where
needs were and so what I built was a staggered system that allowed us to get to a place of equality. Um, of course the schools that were gaining staff based on this tool were happy and the schools that were losing
staff were not. But what I did was instead of it being completely disruptive and at in the first year I kind of had a cap uh for the first two years so that it could our teams could gradually get to a place of
comfortability of where we were moving into. Uh but it was the best interest of students. students deserve to have high quality staff in front of them. Um um invested in them and not have to have um
if all if avoidable. Um and I don't have a problem with substitutes. I'm saying as your long-term teacher, that is a challenge, especially when we think about our students with with special needs. sometimes our substitutes and long-term teachers, long-term subs are
not uh qual certified in special education. Um and so we are forced to kind of to ensure that we have staff we want, you know, we have to make some tough decisions. So for me it was important of making sure that our
students receive highquality education and with trained team members to provide such and so that would that was not very popular and did not give me a lot of uh kudos from from some but for those that
that understood why we were making those decisions um that were in the best interest of students. Absolutely. Okay. And then our last question is going to come from Trusty Durham. All right. So, can you tell me what
strategies do you plan to implement to retain our current Bon Harbor area school staff and attract attract new staff including certified teachers? That's okay. I heard you. Thank you,
board member. Trusty um Doyle, we kind of touched on this so um already, but again, it's going to be for me what's important as a leader is to pour into my teams. So, I shared earlier about expanding uh Wilson training that was an
abs that was training to our teachers to provide highquality structured literacy. Uh and so one of the things I think in education we kind of take um we it is an opportunity for us and that is having
intentional trainings for our team. And so we think that we we've received our education our certifications but for me I feel that they are the foundation to us doing this hard work. We as an
institution have to go be intentional in what trains, professional developments um are being provided and moving away from that sit and get come get it at the beginning of the year, the middle of the year, eight hours. Now you're going to magically go in classroom and you got
it. That doesn't happen. Our children don't learn that way. Our adults don't either. So for me, it's going to be important is building professional learning cycles where we're able to chunk the training, have engagement from
our teams, and be able to progress monitor if we're seeing it being implemented in the classroom and come back if we are and are not. And so I think it's important having done a study on professional learning
communities and teacher self-efficacy and job satisfaction. People stay when they feel valued, respected, seen, and heard. And so when we are pouring into our team members, they're
absolutely and making sure that we're building that trust and connectedness. they will absolutely want to stay people. So I believe that that is a strategy that I would look to leverage
and with that and how we're marketing our district and what our university partnerships look like expanding on those how we're g gaining interns um that will be very important in our strategy of recruiting staff members and
what our grow your own I know that we have the teacher grow your own but thinking about what does that look like for clinicians we can absolutely build in-house so that we can build out and have teams available which will allow us to develop a secession plan
and a business continuity plan. All right. So, you have um been asked all of our questions today. Do you have any questions for us or any closing statements? Both if I have time, but I'll keep my questions short. Okay. Okay. We'll be
brief. Okay. So question is around the strategic plan that was um was uh developed in 22. I was not able to locate that on our district website and
just wanted to know if you um can share where we are with that plan and and when it and if it's available to to all available for you to have a copy of it. Well, I mean that that's what you made available so we can ensure Miss Singer
can assist us with getting you a tangible copy of our plan. Thank you. Okay. And then the the first part of that is where are we? Yes. Okay. Just want to make sure we've accomplished quite a bit. Um so for
example, facilities was one of our major concerns. We have not been working on that as quickly as I would prefer. Um, however, where we are as it relates to the facilities plan is that we now have a timeline that estimates that we'll be done in September. As you're aware,
we're on our survey for that. Um, so we're just trying to make sure that we get as much feedback from the public as we can because we're having a difficulty in getting the voices to actually give us the feedback ahead of time. Going to have a couple community surveys and then we'll actually build that out. Um, as it
relates to our staffing, we're doing much better as it relates to maintaining our staff when we're still working on the power of recruiting certified teachers. um as relates to the fiscal responsibility piece of it. We've done an amazing job with that and maintaining
a positive fund balance, but as you're aware, we're considering making um staffing adjustments, not because we are struggling financially, but because we want to ensure that we're still in a stable financial place within the next two to three years and are not over um borrowing from our fund balance
annually. Um one of the things that was important to us as well was communication with the community. Um, and so we're working on being extremely transparent. I think that you would be able to assess where we are in that model given the topic because there are
some things that the community feels that we communicate very well. And then there are other things that I think that they have concerns about transparency. However, we do our best to try to ensure that we're communicating everything here via our meetings, our social media, some of the aspects that you indicated, um,
the branding and things of that nature. One of the areas that we struggle there is, I would say, our relationship with the media um and what they choose to uh focus on for us because it we've had
struggles in getting the good information to parents in the communities, but the uh moments of difficulty that we express often are front page in the newspaper. And so that's one of our struggles with branding, trying to get them to highlight the good things as much as
they highlight the negatives. So we've come quite um a journey as far as the goals that we initially established, but we still have quite a bit to do, especially in the area of certified teachers and recruitment of staff.
Now, we're not we've done good with retention from where we were, but the recruitment piece is still a priority. and then I'm being told that we actually have to to wrap it up. Okay. So, I do. Thank you. I will stop and I can
talk forever. I apologize. So, I appreciate this time um for you allowing me to be here. And in closing, and I think you actually opened the door for for that um President Robinson, is that one, I have definitely had my experience
with how to navigate and uh the um political sense of this work that we do as well as the media. And so you can Google and I don't have all the greatest um information being shared because of
course newspapers are in the business of selling newspapers and so they may use sound bites and and and sto and a great headline to sell their paper and I'm in the business of serving children and so what I can say
is that I still stand of course there are opportun things that I've learned over the course as it relates to how to get our the right information out, the accurate information out. Unfortunately, and I had to learn it kind of the difficult way, but I absolutely am savvy
and understanding that we still have a polit we still have to make sure that I'm giving you information to one make sure that you're um able to present that publicly and be able to be transparent while at the same time serving our
children. So, I absolutely have experienced um all of the the sharpness that comes and know now um what I've learned from that is how to get in front and share our story that we're no longer going to allow anyone to share our story
but to tell our story for us. And so there are absolutely uh ways that we can get in front and lead our own path and our narrative. Thank you. Thank you. One thing that um I realized I I overlooked mentioning was
our academics and we're currently in a partnership agreement with the state. Okay. Um and so we've made successful gains. Some of our our grade levels have or buildings have increased by 6% in certain areas. So if you want to kind of see the progress that we've made, you
can take check a look at the partnership agreement because it is completely connected to the strategic plan. Okay. They're kind of correlated. All right. So, in closing, on behalf of Benton Harvey Area Schools, we would like to thank you for your candidacy, time, and efforts. Today, the board of
education will be voting to select our second round finalist this afternoon with interviews to be held on Tuesday, June 24th, 2025. After second round interviews and an in-depth background search, we anticipate selecting a superintendent on July 8th, 2025. HY
will communicate and accept with you accordingly. We wish you safe travels on your journey home. Have an amazing day. Thank you so much. [Music] I feel like I feel like Dr. Collins has been the same man. Like you you don't
have to go home. Thank you. So I know it was Chicago. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
All right. So ladies and gentlemen, we are going to now take a recess for um lunch. It is 12:03. So I believe we're about is it 15 minutes behind where we anticipated being. Um
Dr. Collins, can you remind me of the time of our next interview? When is this supposed to start? Yes, that's the one that we're we're running into some glitches. Okay. With the virtual. That's what we sort of been talking about. So she says a go. All right.
So we're gonna take a 30 minute lunch. But we may be a little bit we may be 15 minutes or so behind what he anticipated. If you can let him know. We're going to recess until 12:35 p.m. Dr. Everybody [Music]
inconsistent. Good afternoon, Dr. Dallas. Can you hear me? Okay, I can. Good. Okay. Can you see me? Okay. Yes. Can you hear and see me? Okay. We can. So, I am uh President Robinson, I do want you to know that our
full team is here with me. However, being that you're virtual, what we realized earlier this morning in doing our training that it works a lot better if I sit here directly in front of the mic for you. So, you're going to primarily see and hear me, but we have a full board that's present here today.
Indeed. Thank you. Okay. So, I'm going to begin with the script for the board as a reminder. The following topics and questions were identified by board members to provide consistency to to the search interviews. Um, the board member identified before
each item did normally assume the responsibility of making sure the topic is covered during the interview, but I'm going to be doing that. If the candidate covers a topic during his or her opening statement or while discussing another topic, there is no need to bring the topic up again. Remember to try to keep the interview as informal as possible.
The questions are designed to be asked by the assigned board member. However, for the sake of your virtual interview, I will be asking all questions. Once the topic is introduced, um, another board member can engage in asking a clarifying question, but we will do that at the end
as long as we have time within your interview. Be aware though that you will want to use as little time as possible in presenting your questions so that you will have ample time to garner from the candidate his or her thoughts and thinking process. Also be conscious of the time given the 11 questions to ask.
You will need to keep each topic or question to four minutes on average. That will leave sufficient time for the candidate to ask his or her questions. Please do not discuss the respective candidates among yourselves until you have seen all candidates. This is the only way you will be able to maintain your objectivity and treat all
candidates fairly. We will be reviewing all of the candidates as a group at the end of each session. Finally, remember you are not allowed to inquire regarding the topics of race, age, sex, religion, marital status, whether they have children, ethnic origin, arrest or financial affairs. Please refrain from
any questions related to these topics. And then I have been reading this for each of our candidates and our for our board each time we start. So this is my official opening to you. Good morning. On behalf of Benton Harour Area Schools, we would like to officially welcome you to Tiger Nation. Congratulations on your
selection as a first round candidate for superintendent of Benton Harour Area Schools. I will briefly introduce you to our board although I know you are limited in what you can see. Um so we did receive your proposal so we know you're kind of familiar with who we are. So we have myself, I'm the president of
the board, Desanna Robinson. We have our vice president who is Trenton Bowens. Our secretary, Ronaldo Triplet, is not present. We have our treasurer, Matthew Bradley, and then we also have trustees Rocket Martin, uh, trustee Doyle, and trustee Gavin. All of us are present
today except for Secretary Triplet. You will be allotted 45 minutes to interview. HYA associate Dr. Collins will keep track and signal as the time draws close to the end of your interview time. You'll be asked to give an introduction to share your experience and why you are interested in being the
next superintendent of Benton Harbor. This intro should be 1 minute or less. The board already has all application and resume information, so we do know about you. You will be asked 10 to 12 questions from the board. It's a pro.
It's actually 11. Therefore, your responses for each question should be four minutes or less. Once we have concluded our interview questions, you'll be asked any questions you have for the board. You may also make a closing comment, but please be mindful
of the time. Okay. So, as stated, we each individually have been reading our questions to um the candidates. However, for the sake of you being able to hear us, I'm going to read each of the questions to you. However, I will be letting you know which candidate or
which trustee rather submitted that question. Okay. Thank you. All right. So, you can begin with your introduction of yourself. Good afternoon everyone. My name is Dr. Dallas Lee and I am so glad to be with you all this afternoon to be for the
position of superintendent superintendent of Vinton Harour Area Schools. And while I'm excited to be with you, I have to be 100% honest and say that I have to pinch myself when I get opportunities like this to interview for big positions and or to teach to
international level or even serve in different capacities because according to statistics, someone who looks like me from the south side of Chicago not be able to do the things that I'm able to do today. And one thing that I can say that I'm able to interview for such a
position or teach on a national level is because had an amazing schooling experience on the south side of Chicago with amazing teachers. And while that was a while ago, there's one thing. I'm able to do this because those
teachers in that impoverished neighborhood provided what was needed in order for me to have the opportunities that I have today. And that is why I do this work. I have served as an English language arts teacher, assistant principal, principal, uh, principal,
supervisor, and now an assistant superintendent. But it's all in the name of making sure that children, specifically children of color have opportunities and options when they leave postsecary schooling. And that is why I am so excited to interview you for the position of superintendent because
it is my goal, my dream to bring this same energy, passion and love to provide options and opportunities for children to Ben Auburn. All right. Thank you. So our next question is regarding your knowledge historically of Benton Harour area
schools. So Benton Harour area schools historical knowledge and I presented this question. One best practice of professional leadership is to research the organization that you are planning to lead. Please share with us your knowledge regarding Benton Harvard area
schools both current and historically. What do you anticipate to be your greatest strengths and challenges as superintendent and how do you plan to navigate challenges? I've learned that Ben Harvey area school was founded in the late 1800s. It has
survived segregation and fourth order desegregation and from what I've learned it is it was an anchor in the black community and still is Harvard area school should be celebrated for CTE programs for having 12200 to700 scholars
in grades prek 3 through 12th grade and is currently all these things should be celebrated and it's the knowledge that I have when it comes down to strengths I've served in communities much like Benon Harour wherein and I serve as a leader in pre-K3 through 12th grade
settings in Chicago, in Prince George and Maryland, and in Washington DC. I'm I'm a wellrounded leader who is poised to do the work that is needed at Benson Harbor area schools having a background as an instructional leader with
operational excellence and I lead with people first with management. But when I think about the challenges that sit before me, the primary challenge that I can think of is that I would be an outsider one coming in learning the district. And while that
is a challenge because it is a bit of a learning curve, I also think that it presents an opportunity and opportunity to come in with uh different perspective one who can uh engage in a different layer lens of thinking. And so when
combating that challenge of being new, being an outsider, much like the plan that I shared with you, my goal is to learn and to learn quickly because I know the work is urgent. But my goal is not to come in changing things without understanding historically what has
worked, what has been going well and what can be done strategically in order to move Benton Harbor in the wrong direction. And that is how I would write that shift of being uh new to the area or being an outsider is to be in a space of learning, remaining curious and still
acting based upon information that I have that's in the best interest of students in the community, the greater community. Thank you. Our next question is regarding learning loss and it was submitted by Vice President Bowens. What specific strategies and programs would
you implement to address learning loss among students, especially in the aftermath of disruptions caused by the pandemic to ensure all students are supported and can achieve academic growth? In all spaces I've since the pandemic,
I've noticed that students have experienced the learning loss and areas where there is room for them to grow socially and emotionally. When it comes down to different programs, I must pause and say before I implement a program, I want to see what's working at the tier
one level first having a very healthy understanding of the curriculum and its implementation. And once I have a very healthy understanding of the curriculum and its implementation, it is then looking at cycles of inquiry in which educators would be asked to engage in
cycles of inquiry. uh align to root cause analysis where through time we make shifts to teaching practices based upon what we're learning and what children can do and what the curriculum asks teachers to do. So this continuous improvement process is one that I
engaged in as a teacher. Uh specifically with short cycle assessments as a principle uh we had our continuous improvement process through four short cycle assessments. We work with our teachers to professional learning communities to make shifts in their practice in how they teach in order to
move data in both math and reading English language arts based upon specific problems practice uh aligned to their the way that they taught. And lastly, when I think about what I want to do to shift instruction to combat learning loss is making sure that we
have uh tiered systems or multi-tiered systems of support in place for young people wherein we're looking at what's working at the tier one level supports that needs to be placed put in place for tier 2 in addition to supports that are in place for tier three. So it's not
programs, it's utilizing what we have with fidgility, making sure that teachers have the space to learn what's asked of them and they have the time to learn what's asked of them. And we are being strategic about mon progress monitoring for young people as they um
progress along in in a great level for academics and social emotional growth. All right. Thank you. Okay, our next question is regarding fiscal responsibility and it was submitted by treasurer Bradley.
Given the precarious nature of our finances, how will you work with our finance department to make sure that we are in good fiscal position and what type of school finance background do you hold or will you acquire? Once again, the district should be
celebrated for being debt free and with that we must be strategic with budgeting and budget planning. My business experience having served as a principal where I managed a multi-million dollar budget, three different budgets while serving as principal in Prince George's
County was a community schools budget, my studentbased budget, and my title one budget. And if you go online, you'll look to see that during the year right after us students went back into the school, my school was one of the only schools in Prince George's. There were
no hard findings and this came down to my chain with my um answer on a weekly basis. Um the debits and credits align with all of our accounts. Now, when it comes down to school budget background, I once again I've managed multiple
budgets as a principal, but I stood at a longer scale as principal supervisor where I supervise 12 middle schools in Prince George's County, making sure they monitor their budgets in those 12 different middle schools responsibly. And now I have one of the largest budgets serving as an assistant
superintendent with elementary school districts, school district 159. Having just last week engaged in the budget planning process for the year to come, I make sure that we uh handle our finances responsibly. And lastly, later this year, I'll receive a um a a certificate
in school finance from Georgetown University. So, that's just additional learning that I saw for myself prior to applying for this position because I want to be good in this area. I want to get better. You said that's a certificate in finance
from Georgetown school Georgetown University. Yes, I've been accepted to the program and I'll start later this year and I'll completely end of this calendar once again prior to applying for this position. It's just an area where I knew I wanted to deepen my knowledge even with the experience that
I have. And I have one more thing to add to this around just fiscal responsibility and that's transparency and communicating with the wider community how we are being responsible with the funds that we've been entrusted with. And so I did this work as a principal where I had a buddy clinics to
explain to the w community. We had to work. I received feedback from teachers, from um support staff, from students, uh from educators in the community or how money should be spent in addition to data that I was tracking. And I always
give them updates whenever I needed to. I had my uh principal meetings to let them know how money was being spent aligned with our priorities aligned with the feedback given during budget seensive uh experience in this area.
Thank you. Our next question is concerning navigating educational challenges and this is being submitted by trustee Rocket Martin. Educationally, what has been the biggest challenge you have faced? How did you meet that challenge and what was the outcome?
Leading during CO was the largest challenge of my career. Uh having to move the entire school, a title one school about 900 students to run for learning was a was a major challenge in itself and and making sure that my most vulnerable students were not lost in the
entire process leading during CO itself. But then the largest challenge was not moving any of our students back into the school. But we didn't back into our school. we had to move to a swing space school while a new school didn't go. So, not only did I have to integrate uh two
new class I had not really interact with and then a sixth grade class that went eighth graders because I had I had engagement. We were doing this in a brand new building with some teachers I had never seen before because I had them start the culture all over again in a building I had never been in before in
my entire life in a population that was already challenging. I learned so much during that time. It was making sure that everyone understood their roles and responsibilities. Making sure my core team, the senior leadership team was well aligned with their expectations. It was making sure expectations for
students in reintegrating or integrating into a new space were clear and it was making sure that with a new community of individuals in a brand new like physical community, they understood who we were, what we stood for uh and how we would add to uh add to that community in the
uh two short years. I didn't make it the next year because I received a promotion. Uh but in that time, in that community, who we were, what we stood for, and how we would be an asset to that space. So that was definitely the largest challenge uh to this day of my career, and I'm proud of the work that
we did. Thank you. Give me one sec to wrap up my notes. Can we get one more? Okay. So, we're going to just take a quick pause, give our trustees a little time.
No problem. Okay. So, we're going to move right along. This question was submitted uh by Trusty Gavin and it's regarding education models. Please describe in detail the structural proven model you would use that works for students of our
demographics to address culture and climate, academic achievement and social emotional learning. I'm going to start uh can you read that last one? I'm sorry. I can read the question. Yes, sir. Please describe in detail the structural proven model you
would use that works for students of our demographics to address culture and climate, academic achievement and social emotional learning. So I'm going to start with academic achievement and I'm going to back off something I said initially and that's
making sure that tier one instruction is happening in all spaces to the very best of our ability. And I don't want to underplay that because that is a lift in understanding what the teachers teach, how students are
practicing and the depth of knowledge, the depth of practice that's happening in every classroom. That's a huge undertaking. So ensuring that solid tier one instruction is happening in classroom spaces would be my go-to for academics. And some things I've done in the past to ensure that coherence with
that alignment includes culture excuse me instructional walks with the principal we want to make sure that we are looking at alignment across classrooms is making sure that we work with teachers and teachers unions to make sure that PLC's professional learning communities are a place where
teachers have a designated space to study to get better and I know it's difficult because there typically isn't much time but one more area with academics that I've seen to be successful when it comes down to models or frameworks. It's making sure that
there is some form of short cycle assessments that's assessing how well students are progressing with the depth of the standard. So yes, I understand we have NWA which measures students academic grow but there also needs to be some form or point of measuring how well
students um which specific standards they will experience on summitative assessments cycle assessments are let's get to culture uh having done this work in a turnaround space I serve as principal in a building board and once
leader for about two years I need to ride this and make sure the expectations were clear and I did this at both the kindergarten through 8th grade level and the sixth through 8th grade level through clear PBIS systems and structures. And I want to be clear because PBIS in this regard isn't about
always having parties and celebrations and things for kids is making sure that students understand what appropriate behavior looks like, sounds like, and feels like when they're in school. Once again, I don't want to downplay that work because it is a huge lift when you're uh looking to shift culture
through PBS because it takes feedback and information from uh those who are the beneficiaries of those spaces in order to make sure that PIS is being run well. And lastly is social emotional learning. Um, it's making sure that we
use some form of a screener to see where students are on the social emotional spectrum because I believe it should not be a nice to have in schools. Social emotional learning should be embedded in the school day. Currently in my
district, we utilize panorama. When serving as a principal, I I utilized a different program online learning platform for students to engage in social emotional learning at the secondary level for so many minutes at the first day of the start of every week with the goal of making sure that my
students not only what was expected of them behaviorally through PIS, but we were making sure by the time young people left us, they were kinder, they were nicer, uh, and they were a little bit more self-aware. And so that that's what I'll do on the SCL uh spectrum. But
I want to say this is my last thing here. Uh it's making sure that with all three of these academics, culture and social emotional learning, we are utilizing an MTSS framework because students are going to have throughout uh
different tiers, tier one and tier three. And just because they're doing well this week in one of those three different areas doesn't mean the next quarter they're going to be doing well. have to take our time to monitor progress monitor how well students are.
Thank you. So there's actually a part two a follow-up question that is connected to this question as well. So I'm going to ask you that one and again this was submitted by Trusty Gavin and you kind of spoke to this slightly but if there's anything additional you'd like to add.
What specific implementation strategies would you employ to successfully implement your model without destabilizing the solutions that work for our population? First is data review. I have this experience of the principle going into
turnaround settings and before looking to do anything because I don't think it's a good idea. It's utilizing data that the fingertips to learn about what has been done in the past uh and to develop some form of a data story and
that's quantitative data to the best of my ability though I knew it's gathering qualitative data as well speaking to constituents learning before making changes ending things that could have been working or things that are gaining traction but there are um two other ways
in which I'd be seeking to implement these things. Uh one of them a broader understanding that it's okay to go slow in order to go fast. Change is difficult. I'm preparing to teach a class on change management. And when you're looking to uh implement change
management, you have to direct the heart, the mind or provide very clear directions and that takes time. Um but things is gaining voice from individuals who have to do the work. So speaking directly to teachers, to students to learn what they'd like to experience,
how they'd like to teach it and weaving in their opinions and perceptions into the process. And lastly, um committees, I found that committees when implementing anything is the strongest lever for uh moving any form of work.
And I've never taken as a leader that you do what I say because I said it. And there are times when you need to make capable decisions. I understand that. But I find that when you need to make change, it's best to do it with individuals in a committee format. So that's how that way necessarily
adjustments can be made over time and with voice. I'm going to pause. I hear some typing and writing. if I'm speaking too, you let me know. I think you're good. Thank you.
Okay. So, I think we're ready to move on to the next question. This was submitted by myself. It's concerning M's facilities planning. Benton Harvard Area Schools is in the process of establishing a master's facilities plan with a tenative completion date of
September 2025. What is your experience with facilities and operations specifically maximizing district resources such as vacant properties? So, you're speaking better language here because this aligns directly with my work, my current uh job title. I am the
assistant superintendent of educational services and operations and in that work I am responsibility I'm responsible for facilities management with that uh just coming on board uh a year and a half ago almost two years one of the very first things that was presented to me was the
master's facilities plan that had been created um with Tria one of our architecture companies and one of my primary responsibilities is to monitor that work and to plan that work with false detectment. So it's a false department uh effort or initiative. So
right now one of our major projects includes uh HVAC um projects that are happening in two of our buildings which has been a a huge undertaking for not just those buildings but the communities and working with intergovernmental um
entities to make sure they understand what's happening within the community and communicating effectively. We did it last summer with two of our schools and it was on it's on the master's facilities plan uh and it's going well in our second phase up and we have one more school to do next year. So it is in direct alignment with the type of work
that I do uh and the work that I plan for and the different departments with whom I have to coordinate in order for facilities um expansion to go well. you know, when it comes down to um building utilization for spaces
that aren't being used, we have the current that current scenario in my district and here while I don't have the direct experience of making the decision, I do have the opportunity to learn the current superintendent where we have a building that's not being and she has decided to explore having it
being so so with that and learning the different steps and processes she's going through and the thinking that she's undertaking in order to look at having that space no longer be under our care and our responsibility. But uh as a principal, I have experienced that spaces that are no
longer being used can strategically and you know innovatively be used sometimes as flex spaces, swing spaces. And we really wanted to get creative, find ways to use this that are in good condition
to best serve the community, which then allows us to stronger connections with the community and perhaps uh make money in in renting those facilities out. And so it would it would be my goal to get feedback from the
community on how they would like to use those spaces. u make sure that there is a clear system and structure in place for facilities management and rental which is work that I currently do now. um and if possible rent those spaces out so we do two things. We make money uh
and we serve needs of the community and and lastly we just put let's do our very best and that is going to be a might be difficult for the community people typically are invested in schools I know
I am and I've seen my school now it's no longer being used it's being turned into something else and I feel way about it. Uh it's helping people understand that process if we have to do that uh because there are emotion attached to these faces and rightfully so.
All right. So I'm going to move on to number seven or the next question. It's actually question eight in the series of what I've been asking. This is submitted by Vice President Bowens. How do you plan to enhance student recruitment and engagement particularly in attracting
diverse student populations? And what initiatives would you prioritize to build a strong inclusive school community? But when it comes down to student recruitment, I want to do my best to understand the
student experience in order to bridge gap exceptions and the type of belongingness that I envision for students who are under my care. So that would be my first strategy
is to find some way to gain perspective of perception from all students in preK through 12th grade. My current district has done that through working with the National Equity
Project. And I've been able to be in spaces to learn of the process, but not just the process, but to learn of the benefit of listening to student voice and shifting the learning conditions of the learner where they want to come to
school, where they're happy to be there, uh, and they want to stay. So, it makes recruitment less difficult. Next, I'd want to look at programming. what do we have to offer and how can we shift it in and for it to be better aligned with what students want and how
can we be as creative as possible so that we as a district create a niche in student program that isn't offered by neighboring districts or charter schools next I'll be looking at how we
assess the needs of students who in my opinion transition grades So that way families do not want to leave because they know we're intentional about how we assess learning conditions for students who are in kindergarten,
sixth grade, and ninth grade with some intentionality around the learning experience for those grades and shifting programming and experiences, recruitment may not be so difficult.
And lastly, I want to touch on what we discussed about engagement. um in diversifying the space. I believe students would feel a sense of belonging in spaces where they see people who look
like them and where that's not always possible because I served as principal school with one of the fastest growing multilingual learning populations or in some spaces called English language learners is finding ways to embed what we know about their culture into the
school authentically in a way that makes them feel like they belong as as any other student does. And one thing that I've taken from the work that we're doing districts as it relates to recruitment is going into spaces
where certain cultures may not feel as comfortable coming into into the school. And that's not always just the multilingual learner population or latex families. Uh often times the learn is families of color as well. where there
is an apprehension to come into school spaces. So we have to get creative and go into the spaces where they are build authentic relationships with the community did this work as principal uh when it came down to recruitment. In
fact, I moved into the neighborhood so that way I could learn specifically of the experience my it made it simple because after all because at the end of the day the families knew I was going to take care
of their children. They knew that and it was my responsibility and it would be my responsibility as superintendent to create that same level and layer of emotional and psychological safety for
families. So they want to send their children to Ben Harbor area school because at the end of the day they know we're going to love their children. This is my last thing here. When it comes down to recruitment, we have to consider diversifying how we are communicating in looking to learn
more about Ben Harbor. I went to the space where I learned the most and for me that's Tik Tok. If I learn in I'm going there to learn first and I didn't find as much as I could learn the district there in that space.
So, it's being creative and going into spaces where students and families and communities frequent to tell our own story. And so, it's recruitment by design, well, intentionality through systems and structures and a love for
children who are under our care. Thank you. All right. The next question we have has been submitted by Treasure Bradley. You will be you will potentially be starting in the middle of summer
vacation. Can you commit to making no major staff changes i.e. principles or admins until January of next year so that you will have a chance to adjust and see where we currently stand, what is not working and what will need to be
changed. And it's with all this that and it's with respect that I said cannot commit to not making such decision because I'd have to look at situations
and the data that sit before it wouldn't be easy to make such decision. What I would not do is overpromise and that extends beyond this question this scenario this day and this
time I don't promise until I understand it's needed the gap in between what's the resources that we have what the data is telling me about the shift that needs to occur and the implications
of my decisions so no I can't come in at this time and I also and the plan that I shared with the board that it probably would not be my goal to make major changes of any kind. uh which is wouldn't be my goal in the
first 30 60 90 days because in the first 30 days I'm going to do my best to learn to make sure that the decisions that would need to be made in the future are rooted in quantitative and qualitative data um and from multiple perceptions and experiences I would have had to have
made as the new guy. But once again, while it's my goal, first 30 days, 469 days to learn, align, and then launch. I'm not going to commit to not making changes if those changes are needed, necessary,
and in the best interest of the district and the children and families whom we serve. Give me one quick second. [Music] All right, your next question is regarding navigating unpopular decisions and this was submitted by Trusty Rocket
Martin. Talk about your ability to make and stand behind unpopular decisions. Can you share with us your ability to make and stand behind unpopular decisions? That is the nature of leadership. It is a function of the work
and before needing to make an unpopular decision. I listen first and depending upon when that decision needs to be made, I get still and collect all of the information that I could possibly need to understand the
implications of that perceived unpopular decision. I'm looking at multiple forms of data, but it all boils down to what's best for children. one of the more unpopular decisions I've had to make as principal
in a title school under resource space where children typically or sometimes behaviors that were inappropriate in school is how we balance teaching children what we expect of them is still holding them
accountable the decisions that they have decided to make and I've always taken a clear on making sure that families and students understand student code of conduct, family handbook, the consequences for
which uh they are they may receive and an unyielding stance that we love all of our children. We care about all of them and it is our responsibility
to teach them and to teach them uh and give them multiple opportunities to get better at the thing where they're working to get better. What was his last thing with an unpopular decision?
Lastly, is this you know needing to make an unpopular decision is listening to understand perspective and perception because people's perceptions are their realities and my job to try and talk someone out of their realities. That's
not healthy. But it is my responsibility to learn and to listen. And lastly, after learning and listening and possibly making that unpopular decision, communicating or communicating and
overcommunicating again because during the time of making that unpopular decision, people are praying for multiple reasons. And people need psychological safety. They need to know they're going to be okay through perhaps
um turbulence with the unpopular decision. So you're managing the messaging and the behaviors around the unpopular decision so people know they're safe and that that unreiness that was on the other side of the unpopular decision
may or may not be experienced throughout the entire I'm with you. I'm leading with you depending on what is in front of you. We're going to get through it together. But I'm communicating throughout the entire way because I need you to trust me here because I have
multiple lenses, multiple perceptions and and areas of data to help me understand why we're not popular. This is the best thing to do with children in our community. Thank you. Um we're going to round it up with our final question. Um and and we you've kind of spoken to
this a little bit. This one was submitted by Trustee Angela Doyle. is pertaining to staff retention and recruitment. What stat what strategies do you plan to implement to retain our current Bon Harbor area school staff and attract new staff including certified
teachers? I want to say before anything I am a teacher at heart and so I believe teachers need to be heard. That's the first strategy that I would implement is some form of consistent meeting with the
union or union cabinet or what we're currently doing now we call it our executive teacher team where I currently serve as assistant superintendent and we have our monthly meetings where we're listening to teachers gathering what they need their professions doing our
best to meet their needs within reason. So that's the first way you retain teachers. You honor them as professionals. Uh you let them know that with a very difficult work, you're in the work with them, not afraid to roll up your seats. Uh I was not a math teacher. Uh but if
you allow me to teach in a reading English language classroom, check on the secondary level, give me elementary, I'm with you. I might just fail. And I'm okay with that. I need teachers to see that we're all teachers. Uh so
I've always up my unique capacity in which I serve because teaching is my first love. This is the position for which I think I can make impact. Um so aside from that this recognition, strategic and authentic recognition
where at every level we honor those who do the most difficult work and that's through research. It notes that teachers are the number one. They have the most impact on students and we recognize them for that work. Let me be honest. It won't always be where we can recognize them financially and I would love to
because I do believe teachers need to get more but authenticity, transparency, you know, it's understanding what we can do with our budget and finding ways to harm and recognize the global and I have one more fear. Oh, I have
two. Um, doing our best to create multiple pathways for professional growth in my current district. My superintendent has created um monthly learning sessions for individuals who serve in pseudo leadership positions and with that it's
given me the idea that when I become superintendent I want to do the same where we create cohorts of learning opportunities for teachers in not in just leading but in just being better in their craft. So listening to the
professional growth that they want and it's been my experience as a teacher and as a leader sometimes the professional we offer we go wrong and we make the shifts that are necessary to honor where we want them to be as professionals to
meet the need of the children uh but also to teach them in ways that they want to be taught. I think that's an easy ask to listen and change. Uh this is my lesson here. Finding ways, this is one thing I've learned from my current superintendent through our work with the National Equity Project, but
that we deal with children. We're doing with adults. Um it's finding ways to learn from staff members ways to shift the the adult culture in spaces. And that's scary. It's scary where we currently are now
because people aren't as apt to want to take the surveys where we can learn from them. And over time it's got better where they are taking the surveys and we've learned important information as a cabinet as an executive team and from that we're going into the next phase
next year but we're going to shift to the best of our ability through our principles through their working conditions and this is for staff throughout the entire district you know district similar to that of Benson Harbor area schools uh in size uh also
economic uh construction and culture where if we the what are the conditions of the adults? They may want to stay just for a while longer. This is my last thing for retention. We have to think out of the box. I served one of the most
challenging middle schools in Prince George's County and I had no difficult time in in recruiting teachers because I found that when it was recruitment, I was the first one there. I mean, that time though it was pre pandemic. If I could give out gifts and ring a bell to
let people know we were excited, to let them know we were coming aboard, I did that. If I could take people out to lunch and breakfast and dinner to get to know them as individuals, as principles, because they trusted me enough to come work the most challenging in the state in that time
is making sure that we honor the humanity of the individuals who are in our spaces. Uh so that way it spreads and they want to come do the work with us. We tell our story strategically. Um, and you make it a place that people understand one thing without a shower, without it may be some of the hardest
work they'll ever do in their lives. It's our work and it's possible and we will take care of you because we believe you're going to take care of our children and we hold those things dear to our hearts.
Give me one second. I want to notate that last thing. We will take care of you because we believe you will take care of our students. Yes. And I believe I started at the top through clear communication from this point. Our children are most
and once that culture is set, it is my hope. It is my belief that it then trickles down through my behaviors uh through my through my beliefs. It's always what I believe. Okay. So, at this time, um, we've gotten through all of
the questions that we have. Do you have any questions for us or any closing statements that you'd like to make? Just one question. Um thank you and I hear from any any time that we spent today or this this
afternoon um the things that you learned of me I don't find the things you learned of me align with immediate needs of the superintendent or Ben Harbor area that's a gotcha question from the things that we've learned from
him today do they appear to be aligned with what we need from the superintendent of Ben area. Madam President, I don't think Have we answered that? I don't think we should respond. So, our board does not feel comfortable answering that question being that we have multiple candidates
left. I understand that is the only question that I have. I want to say thank you for taking a risk for allowing me to interview Burworthy and I am so appreciative for the opportunity and to get to learn a little bit more about the district. Okay. Thank you. So, I have a
closing statement for you. On behalf of Benton Harour Area Schools, we would like to thank you for your candidacy, time, and efforts today. The board of education will be voting to select second round finalists this afternoon with interviews to be held on Tuesday, June 24th, 2025. So, pertaining to your
previous question, you'll find out this evening if you're in alignment. Okay. All right. After second round interviews and an in-depth background search, we we anticipate selecting a superintendent on July 8th, 2025. HYA will communicate next steps with you accordingly. And we
know that you are currently in London, I believe. Is that correct? Okay. So, we wish you safe travels on your journey home. Have an amazing day and thank you again for your time. Thank you. You all take care. Thank you again.
All right. Thank you. The next candidate is here. I don't know if you need a break. Should we start with the next candidate? She is scheduled to start at 1:15. So, we need to tell uh her what? 1:35.
Yeah, that's about 20 minutes. Okay. So 135. Okay. So um ladies and gentlemen of the public and board, we're going to take a speak to the mic so they can hear you. Oh,
we get to use that to our ladies and gentlemen the public that will be on Zoom. We just finished with uh Dr. D. We are going to take a brief recess and we'll reconvene at 1:35.
Yes. So it's one We are returning from recess as of 1:49 p.m. All right. So, we are preparing to imbue Miss Savone Simone Griffin. Is it Dr. Griffin? It is Dr. Simone Griffin. And
so, there's a script that I'm reading um and this is for the board and then I'll read a script for you as well. The following topics and questions were identified by board members to provide consistency to the search interviews. The board member identified before each item should assume the responsibility for making sure the topic is covered
during the interview. If the candidate covers the topic during his or her opening statement or while discussing another topic, there is no need to bring the topic up again. Remember, try to keep the interview as informal as possible. The questions are designed to be asked by the assigned board member. Once the topic is introduced, other
board members can engage in asking clarifying questions, which we'll do at the end. Be aware though that you want to use as little time as possible in presenting your questions so that you will have ample time to garner from the candidate his or her thoughts and thinking process. Also, be conscious of
the time given 11 questions to ask. You will need to keep each topic or question to four minutes on average. That will leave sufficient time for the candidate to ask his or her questions. Please do not discuss the respective candidates among yourselves until you have seen all candidates. This is the only way you will be able to maintain your
objectivity and treat all candidates fairly. We will be reviewing all of the candidates as a group at the end of each session. Finally, remember you are not allowed to inquire regarding the topics of race, age, sex, religion, marital status, whether they have children, ethnic origin, arrest or financial
affairs. Please refrain from any questions related to these topics. Okay. And then this is for you. Good morning. On behalf of Benton Hara Schools. Well, actually it is afternoon, isn't it? We've been here since early.
Good afternoon. Good afternoon. On behalf of Benhab Area Schools, we would like to officially welcome you to Tiger Nation. Congratulations on your selection as a first round candidate for superintendent of Benton Harour Area Schools. I will briefly introduce you to our board. I am Desanna Robinson, the board president. This is our vice
president, Trenton Barnes. Our secretary, Ronaldo Triplet, is absent. This is our treasurer, Matthew Bradley. Um, Trusty Doyle had to step out, so she's not currently present. We have trusty Raquette Martin and then trustee Gavin. Hello. As you are aware, today
you will be allotted only 14 45 minutes to interview. HIA associate Dr. Collins will keep track and signal as the time draws close to the end of your interview time. You'll be asked to give an introduction to share your experience and why you're interested in being the next superintendent of Bington Harbor. This intro should be one minute or less.
The board already has all application and resume information so we know about you. You will be asked 11 questions from the board. Therefore, your response for each question should be four minutes or less. Once we have concluded our interview questions, you will be allowed to ask any questions you have for the
board. You may also make a closing statement. Please be mindful of time. So, we're going to begin by allowing you to provide the intro of your choice. Thank you very much. And of course it is an honor to be among you today. Uh in
talking about myself, I took some time and researched the district and what I could see was a tremendous amount of pride particularly having overcome being taken over by the state, going through multiple partnership agreements and now
being able to close one out. And then looking at the demographic of the students and families in this community, it reminded me of my personal journey as an educator and really as a student growing up in the south suburbs of Chicago. I struggled K12 so much so that
college was not an option. So I went to the Army National Guard where I gained the confidence and the skills that I needed um in order to join the college to go in and strive for college. And from there I applied to the chance
program which gave me the opportunity to get the skills that I missed when I was in my prof my student journey K12 and then ultimately I mean only to be a confident learner and engage in being an educator
and that's why I sit before you today looking at the students and the families in this community it reminds me a lot of our journey and so my passion on all this work is to share it for the kids that didn't share it for me and that's why I'm here today. Thank you. All
right. Awesome. Give me one quick second for us to wrap up. So, I'm going to begin with my question and you started to touch base on this briefly with your intro. Um, one best practice of professional leadership is
to research the organization that you are planning to lead. Please share with us your knowledge regarding Benton Harvard area schools but both current and historically. What do you anticipate to be your greatest strengths and challenges as superintendent and how do
you plan to navigate say challenges? Okay, I know that Blue Harbor has been around since the late 1800s. I know that this is a beautiful community work but it's near the lake. I know that currently your track team just did pretty well. Pretty excited and
congratulations out to them. I also know you guys take pride in Gast Day. I would have loved to have seen some photos and video around that. So, in terms of currently there, you guys are situated right now to close out your second partnership with the uh Michigan
Department of Education says be done right around November of this year. And so, I'm excited about transitioning away from state control and being able to own the leadership and own the journey going forward as a district. And I'm also
excited about what's happening with the government. I know the North Americans may have looked at a few of the meetings that they've had, the commissioners have had, and they're trying to put through, I think it's project three or two or something like that, where they're looking to build more facilities, more
apartments, affordable income for the community. And that's going to play very well for a district that is looking to recruit and retain teachers and a teacher shortage around this country. being able to be able to lead those through. That's pretty exciting. The other thing that I couldn't be more excited about is being able to help with
recruiting, retaining, and bringing the kids back home. We know that typically in our history, we've had about 2,200 kids and we're sitting at about 1,400. And so, of course, the goal and objective from that history is to bring those families back, bring those students back. So, they're looking to be
a part of the Tiger Grant as well. I'm also excited about the lieutenant governor. I think it was Lieutenant Donrest. He came here a few years ago talking about what he could do for uh this community and the school. So, I would love to partner with him so that he can make
sure that we have a seat at the table for what those resources look like in a time where clearly there's a deficit in those resources. So those are the things that I'm looking at in terms of history of current. How do we build on that tiger pride? Making sure that we benefit and leverage what's happening in our
field but also helping supporting the staff that has been loyal to this community to the school district. How do we cultivate the growth as well so that we can continue the pride that is taking place in this school in this community?
Thank you. I'll give them a little time to wrap up writing. Our next question is concerning learning loss and it's going to be asked by Vice President Balance. I was spoiled because you did it last time. No, we just had a virtual candidate and I
had to ask all questions. No. Okay. Yes. What strategies and programs would you implement to address learning loss among students especially in the aftermath of the disruptions caused by the pandemic to ensure all students are supported and can achieve academic growth? Great
question. One of the things that is critical that we have to make sure that we do I looked at some of the things that challenges this is happening across the c country post pandemic when you look at the CDC we're moving kids still struggling mentally so one of the first
things I would do is develop a district-wide mental wellness plan that would include state uh standards for socio emotional wellness and what needs to happen for all stakeholders to be very clear to address the learning rules You have to be aware of ways that are
teaching the learners as well. And so when you talk to our staff and our teachers, they suffer trauma too. We all had challenges when we moved through the pandemic. And so districtwide, we want to make sure that we're looking at the CO and identifying where we can infuse
the state standards with social emotional standards as we look at the career and college readiness standards to ensure that every day and every month we're giving kids and staff the opportunity to make sure that they are having a health wellness plan. That's
one way. The other way of course is making sure that we engage in data looking at what is happening already around uh what's taking place and quantitatively doing we conduct a smart analysis right we look at what are
the strengths I know for a fact you guys just got new books making sure that as we look into leaning to being able to bring and elevate for our you know students and families do they cover it right do you make sure that the
curriculum is in their shoes that we are making sure that the different cultures that we take care of are senior in the curriculum and do they have a choice and interest of ideas at the table to advocate for what interests them are
when it is being taught of course we look at the assessments we look at MSTEP we look at ACT and we look at you guys have a a program it's much like the equal readiness program to see where our kids are interested in where they fall.
Here's one thing that's really important because in student center we make sure that everybody knows where we are. So we make sure we lay out once we've conducted this DW system strengths our area and we need our opportunities and
our threats that has to be communicated to all stakeholders including our students. So making sure they know where they fail on the ACT. They know where they fail on any step. And we can see where those standards lie and where they
fail. Did they close and plays into their portfolios that they should have where they can build upon what they do know and look at the skills for those standards and instruction for what they need to know.
and that is examined three times a year as we proceed into getting ready for it looks like MSEP is going to be April 6 of 2026. The good thing is the state has a plan to calendar for the next three years. And so we back now we plan out to
support students and the staff support our staff for professional development and we make sure that they are culturing their own strengths in their areas of growth utilizing what we call set based pedogy. We make sure that for every stakeholder that we engage, we start
with what they do and build upon them. That makes it easier so we can see what are the strengths across the district that are already and then we share those practice. From there we create our strategic plan. We progress monitor that plan
[Music] to make those shifts and course commitment where necessary way before they take the test. So we can develop those predictive analytics and see how we're going to perform. And then of course along the way we celebrate the achievements bold and reasonable so that
we continue to encourage confidence in the process. That's what we do. All right. Thank you. Our next question is regarding fiscal responsibility and is treasurer Bradley. All just give me one second to write some notes.
Everybody ready? Um, this is uh centered around fiscal responsibility. Given the precarious nature of our finances, how will you work with our finance department to make sure that we are in a good fiscal position and what type of school finance
background do you hold or will acquire? Well, I'll start with the letter part. Uh, my doctorate was superintendent endorsed course work that we engaged in, we had the opportunity to study and analyze ministers facilities plans and budgets
across this nation. And so, one of the things that I would do is work in partnership with the families department and making sure that it's community connected what what is our financial picture. I didn't have an opportunity to pull a loan budget, but looking at um the Michigan Department new partnership,
there are also some expectations we have to make sure that we adhere to before we can close out. So, really sitting with the finance department and say, "Okay, what what are our strengths? What are those areas that we have to urgently address? How much are they going to cost? What are the short and long terms? What
are the urgent situations that we need to be mindful of and based upon those budget dollars?" Because of course once we have this information we're strategic with where we put them because the money follows the vision. So that strategic plan facilities plan and all of those
things fundamental levels. We make sure that it's community connected. We get that engagement and so making sure that we look at the trends for what has been budgeted in previous years. We build on the successes because obviously things have been going well. We went from a major uh situation where
we're looking at this 27page agreement down to in 2017 where it's only a few pages and I'm getting ready to close that out. So clearly fiscally you're already doing some great things and so how I would do them is I would partner with the department to see what are the things that you have worked through in
class building on them so that we can build a vision with our parents our community you our students and your staff to take us to the next level without doing any of what we've already did. And so the other thing I would do is make sure I'm looking for ways to do
things that are free. And so one of the things I'm noticing with ED making sure that we those connections we have a lesson with the state and we have a lesson with the county. It's a barrier USA you guys we have consultants that
are working with us. Guess what the region and the state provide full support. They provide free uh grants. There's a grant that just went out to support literacy that's not due till September. There are opportunities for professional development that I've seen that we can help with our staff to
cultivate their capacity and growth. There are also granted and corporate organizations. You guys probably know how many corporation they as many years. We continue with that partnership. So they will continue to donate money for our building going forward. Make sure
that we have a seat at the table for our local government. So as they're making decisions for what's happening with agriculture and with homes, housing, and all those things, they're having a conversation with them about how to best support our students and move us on the next level as well.
Thank you. Thank you. Your next question is regarding navigating educational challenges and trusty rocket Martin. Yes. Educationally, what has been the biggest challenge you have faced?
How did you meet that challenge and what was the outcome? The biggest challenge I faced was uh in Evston uh Skooki school district. I was the director of research accountability and data and one of the reasons I was recruited to the role by the
superintendent was to address one of the largest opportunity gaps in the country. Although it's a fiscally uh lost district when in terms on the scores for student outcomes, there was a 30% gap
across the core subjects for my children as well as young and low income. My department is the director of the department and I was charged with making sure that we disagregated that data so that we can be transparent about what those challenges look like. Although we
had a significant amount of young students that were proficient, we had several several years of data that illuminated challenges the lower communities were learning. And so I was charged with gathering that data,
designing it in a way so that each stakeholder group could understand what students looked like, culture and behavior for that district. So in terms of culture, we look for disciplinary reforms. department was in charge of
making sure an overquality data dashboard so that every stakeholder group could get access to data in town and overcame data in terms of looking at where kids fell in the core subjects who was being sent out of class, who was
expelled and what was happening. And giving information to parents, making sure they can understand here's where we are. Let's be transparent about what that looks like. all of attendance, chronic absenteeism and making sure that from there my task was then to go around
as long as I disagregated the during team was able to show here's what we here where we are. I was also tasked to work with the principles across the 18 schools to approach them to be able to understand that dashboard and then be able to move it. So the information will
be school specific and the way you can make the adjustments in your school work plans and then what things I need to do or put you in the data dashboard to understand what's working was also prepared them in those school works for what we call our learning checks. I love
checks for all 18 schools what each school leadership team was required. So they received their data to disagregate it and then plan what they would do do with it in order to raise it and maintain it. They had to come before members, central office and sometimes
parents to talk about what the matter, what more to it, what are their strengths, what who was tasked with what and what they were going to do in order to move that going forward to ensure that we close those opportunity gaps we talked about earlier. specifically making sure that we highlighted what was
happening with our ENL students, our low-inccome students, even so that they could be centered on making sure that there was some equity in terms of decision making. After the reality check sessions three times a year, I was
also testing with department. We were going to work side by side with those teams to help them course correctly necessary and identify those areas. Since I led those, I already had my notes and I can go and collaborate with them in their teams to ensure that they
looked at what was happening with their children so they could be in those classrooms and identify where the strengths were and weaknesses were and the urgent need those specific things that they needed to fix so that when they came back to us for the next reality check, we could see the growth
we needed to see or empathy wasn't maintained. We called them equals outcomes and so on equals indicators. And so I was task for the results where we saw those opportunity gaps closed at a number of 7 to 8% in each of those
areas because the school lead teams had we got to see it. So we know you can't fix what you don't face. And so we were excited about what those results look like for every school, including an alternative school, making sure that
sure that those special education needs were being met as well. Thank you. I'm going to pass the mic over to Trustee Gavin. She has two questions for you concerning educational models. Okay, Dr. Griffin, thank you for coming. Thank you for having me. My
question is um please describe in detail the structural proven model that you would use that works for students of our demographic to address culture, climate, culture and climate academic achievement
and social emotional learning. One framework that I have mentioned before is the MTSS framework multi-ter systems and support. That's one of the frames that we also used back in um Princeton and we used it in every school that I read because it identifies from
your data once you've looked at it where kids fail in terms of the subject areas. For example, in uh reading they may fall one year three but you don't know how to support them if you remember where they file in terms of the data where kids are
in relation to the state standards. And so from there utilizing that framework we identify quantit quantitatively and qualitatively and qualitatively learning where kids fail. And then from there we do with those school work plans and from
there we also making sure that the functions we're talking about instructional design. That means how teachers teach. Making sure that we utilize standardsbased instruction and standardsbased assessment. unique gives an opportunity to see their data and
reset. When kids had the opportunity to see where they fell, it was an assetbased conversation. They could very easily see, oh, I don't just I'm struggling with ELA, but I'm at least I'm really good at equations, right? And
so they were not only to be empowered with that knowledge, they were able to do word of work as well. So, we train our kids. Also, set goals. It's not just some ownership for them, right? Once they're empowered with that knowledge, they set goals for where they want to be
every step of the way that the assessment that happens weekly, monthly, and of course, every time we take a benchmark as we prepare for the state assessment at the end of the year. So, we're backwards moving what that looks like. And the parent is well, where is where they should know that as a
district, we're presenting to them. We're bringing them into the district or we're bringing them to them. And we're making sure that we're translating where necessary so that uh you know families feel comfortable because they're nervous about coming to the district and talking. So we make sure that the
website make sure the teacher web pages also update and come in real time with strategies that kids can employ, teachers can employ, right? Families can employ around how we move them forward to proficiency in those areas. and then
course curricula necessary. Thank you so much. This question is a followup to that and you may have answered some of it. What specific implementation strategies would you employ to successfully implement your
model without destabilizing the solutions that work for our population? One of the things I would do is analysis. This is an opportunity to identify your strengths. We bring everybody to the table. How are the
stakeholder groups our teachers our staff central office get an opportunity to see okay these areas where do we follow what are your ideas because coming in the meeting I don't just assume that some things are
already happening well so we identify them we name them so that we can build upon them and then those are areas of weakness we we name them and then we develop strategies and plans that we can progress balance over time to make sure that we close those gaps of capacity
among our stakeholders and we're making sure that we're building up our teachers. We're making sure that they have an opportunity to grow and build their capacity. But in terms of the asset piece, share best practice. Many of the teachers probably have strengths. So what we have to do is look and see where we can leverage those strengths
and share best practice. If we have teachers that are really good at disagregating and looking at authentic student work samples, then they pair with other teachers. We make sure that they get an opportunity to be able to go and see what's happening in other schools, partner with each other and
have those avenues where they can say, "Okay, I know I can build in this area." They have professional growth plans. They'll get an opportunity to build too and grow too. We celebrate them along as well. We incentivize them and make sure that they have the amount of time so
that they can get focused on what they need to do to give the students and we partner with them from the citizens and office and leadership level to help them do so. Thank you. Welcome. All right. So, I'm going to give everyone
think everyone's okay. It is your turn. Yes, ma'am. I know. I was just making sure you all were done writing. Okay. So I am next. Um this is concerning M's facilities planning. Bon Harbor area schools is in the process of establishing a master's facilities plan
with the tenative completion date of September 2025. What is your experience with facilities and operations specifically maximizing district resources such as vacant properties? I'll go back to our Evston experience. uh Evston uh had a a building that's
roads that was struggling in terms of the infrastructure construction was several years old and road had been challenged but you have to make sure with the master facility to determine what you're going to do. It's got to be a community process. We were able to use
trio a to help us and develop. We had a person who was brainwash with construction workers and consultants in our stakeholder groups. We had town halls at the school. We had town halls at the district and other places. Our
superintendent made himself available. We were able to get that real time data about the ideas of what should be done. So the minister's facility survey that you guys already have out there. We need to hear what's happening. We need to extend the time. We need to make some
ideas available. But that's something that we do as a unit, as a community. putting the ideas on the table and then looking at work department to see okay we have this ideas and what we have to
do where does what are the resources if we don't know we can work or do we contact across the country nationally or locally to help us bring the vision to pass what the facilities look like one of the things I pride
myself on is leveraging technology be future focused We want to have innovation. And so, who knows what they could be? It could be a place where we maker spaces. You guys have a robotics program. Expand it. Maybe it's only happening for certain levels and we bring it out. And maybe we
decide to host some of these national events and bring some resources to the community. Maybe we stop going where we are. You're coming where you are since we have the facility. And we make sure that one of the things we do is we get an assessment of what's happening of the infrastructure. How solid is the
building? What is the plumbing look like? How do we do we need to wait? Is there a roof leaking? What you get an assessment of building to see how much it's going to take to get this up to where we need it to be. We want to host or stress since we're
going track. If we host a national track week, what does it entail? So it's also doing the research. We want to bring people to bring so experience some of our target. What does that entail? At the tables do so. It's a conversation
with me. Maybe it's a conversation with uh Governor Gretchen. But we make sure that we expand our knowledge about renovation by making sure that when we already have a property, how do we mortgage it? How do we bring income resources and opportunity to our
communities so that it give us threefold not just bring in teachers because they see oh wow look at this is gorgeous and this is the place I want to be and students want to come back home the housing so there's a way happening so
that we can make sure our target okay our next question is pertain to student recruitment And we're back to Vice President Bowens. How do you plan to enhance student recruitment and engagement particularly I think you will
particularly in addressing diverse student populations and what initiatives would you prioritize to build a strong influence in inclusive school community kind of like yeah sorry that's okay uh one of the big things that I would do is
make sure that first we have a good dashboard we have to make sure that we're finding out attendance we need to we will start dropping off when we start to even start to not come to school. We need to be getting a team in place. Our
teachers in our school is to find out why. What is it? Are they not coming to school because of Are they not coming to school because they're struggling? What are that's that mental wellness piece. How do we make sure we have the locker room services? I see the Boys and Girls Club across the street and they're in
their room. How do we pull in the resources that we need to address some of the challenges our families are having? So when we look at attendance, we could find absenteeism. We want those things that surveys being employed to ask the families. We have to we got to be able to truth virtue. But it is set
free. We have to ask them, right? You don't have to buy it anymore. So we ask them and let them tell us what it is they're experiencing because that can help what we do to address those concerns. Then we also make sure that we
have the innovation. We make sure that the people that are here make sure they're having a good experience. It's our teachers need to learn. We give them the time that they need to grow their capacity, right? We're not making sure that when their colleges out there, they
have to cover classes. Those planning parents, they're like gumbled. So, we make certain that we have a robust substitute plan. We're not just recruiting teachers, we got to recruit sales. And so we're going to check in with my colleagues that have been here
of our students and teach where we go. I can't get it back. Where are the time teachers? Maybe we can get their students to come and meet with us now innovation and support. They can give us insight into what their experiences were
and then they can say, "I'm sure you have some solutions you talked about in the teachers." Tell us what they are. students. We make sure that they have a say in a voice until it's happening. One of the things that I had the email working on instead was the
superintendent student advisory council. The superintendent tasked me with making sure there was representation from every school that came together every month that talked about what was happening in terms of their experiences in those schools. They talked about the overwhelm
attendance. They talked about what was happening in teacher and student relationships because remember when we workers in the classroom we're not just one person we're all witnesses and so that gave us the opportunity to utilize surveys as well as a great one because
as a question you graduated today we will be excited to see you. [Music] So when we talk about the student experience, how you treat them, how they treat us, how they treat our teachers and yours, that's how you build the plan
to make sure that we can include we get that data quantitatively, qualitatively from every stakeholder that is in our community, the school community. We trust having staff trust and understanding the gentleman knows exactly what we should be in
[Music] their talent portfolio to build and come with the skills that we need for learning. So it's also in our curriculum making sure you have some executive functioning that we can have 21st century skills sure problem solving
right critical thinking analyzing and evaluating but we can also make sure that we employ opportunities for them to be able to be self-evident so that we know when we're being disregulated and we can employ the skills that they need to have our strength so we can be
successful in in side of the classroom. Those are just a few of the things that I would employ with the global life team and staff and students to move us to the next level and with the hotel students and staff. Thank you. The next question is concerning staffing and it's going to be
answered by Treasurer Bradley. All right. Um you you will be but you will potentially be starting in the middle of summer vacation. Can you commit to making no major staff changes i.e. principles admirers until January of next year so that you will have a chance to adjust and see where we currently
stand and what is not working and what will need to be changed. Of course that it's given the opportunity to be superintendent here for the long haul. We take that time to conduct all the
research that I say we need to research. We need to partner together on all of that. It's going to take some time. It's going to take some time to go through those numbers on the budget. It's going to take some time to see our technology plan. If we want to be a a a district of innovation, it's going to take time to get that. It's going to take me time to
go out and hear from my parents. I'm going to hear from the students. It takes time. Listening takes time. So, it's my hope that by January, we all have an opportunity to lay out what we decided we want to do to move forward.
But yes, you certainly have my company to do that because I got to find out what's going on. How do we know about it? Clearly some things are going wrong because we're closing out the recruitment. How do we make sure that we're learning those things? We got to be conscious of them. how to make sure we have a broad
dashboard so everybody can see what's happening, how to move forward, be clear and transparent about what that looks like. [Music] Thank you so much. Okay, thank you. And I just want to make sure we notate for the record that
Trusty Doyle returned at 2:16 p.m. And I want to ensure we had a notice she left at recess. All right. So, we're going to move right along. Our next question is navigating unpopular decisions. Trusty Rocket
Martin. Talk about your ability to make and stand behind unpopular decisions. When given everything I've said thus far, I will make the decisions I need. So, it's my hope I would stand myself.
Yes. The goal is to ensure that all the decisions are connected to the stakeholders that they impact. So our intent should always be we're transparent about what the challenges are and what led to the decision we're going to need. As long as we're as clear
about guys, here's what we got going on. Whether it's something that's urgent with the building, urgent with closing the school, whatever it is, we have to be transparent so everybody knows what we're doing, especially our parents.
Anytime we do anything, this is their most prized possession with their children. They need to be alerted. So, we need to make sure that we have the technological infrastructure in order to do so. They need to be doing text messages right away if there's a a concern of a fire or a deal or done.
There are too many things happening that will cause our parents to panic. Our objective should be to make sure that we communicate early so that we can mitigate anxiety and play with those solutions. So understand that as the
leader I know the buck stops and I hear the one because I know there are systems and frameworks in place to just say it like it is. Here it is guys. This will be done. We make sure everybody knows we receive
ourselves we make the decision made. So we have shared ownership and responsibility in your plan for solution and we stay together. Thank you. Our final question comes from
Trusty Door and it is in regards to staff retention and recruitment. Greeting. Greetings. Hello. Um, so my question is, what strategies do you plan to implement to retain our current Ben
Harbor area school staff and attract new ones, including certified teachers? One of the things I would do is meet with the teachers from the teacher union. So then I can say, okay, tell me what's going on. What are the things that are of your world and what you
don't say? Why are you loyal to us? What are those things specifically in terms of your experience at teach as teachers? That's the SW analysis. Even Trio Ed, it's a wonderful program that takes us through situation analysis,
problem analysis, accountability. Who are the stakeholders that are going to be the teachers that are currently here? know what are some of the concerns that they have? What are the things that we don't understand what we have to do as a mental wellness plan? There are those
are things of such a thing in research center. We make sure that there is a a foundation of respect for them and family that has been challenged in our society. We make sure that we give them some swelling. We make sure that they're
set apart. They're special. They give the opportunity to prepare our children for the future. So we delegate them. We feel like we're trying to get that's why we talk to them because they can tell us what that elevation look like. You know what they like to do something else but
find out what is we have the courage to have the courageous conversations about what is happening and then we take our we make sure that everybody knows about the topic of control our narrative right
we make sure that we update our website and we make sure that there are opportunities for uh you to see video that you're going to See the gospel here. [Music] make sure our teachers are trained
around what's happening in the classroom. We make sure that it's multilingual to inate and love them new teachers because if we have a population of EL families, they need to see themselves in the classrooms too, not just in the curriculum. So, how do we
bring them in? We recruit them by looking and having conversations with our EL families. What do we need to do to get teachers? Are you interested in teachers? You haven't grown your program. We look at the strategies for that. What's working well and how do we tweak it? Right? And then we develop
those partnerships with the H.B.CU and even you can take a Harvard class online for free intimidating. We develop those partnerships with them. Why? We want to make sure that we're having conversations with them on the front end around how teachers are being
trained. So it's less likely that we have to lose your family come to us. And then make sure you have mentoring programs. And if we don't have the capacity, we want to share we try to find those when I retire son. They're not worth the knowledge. They would love to share them with the new teacher
within at least two years. What do I have opportunity to learn not just with the bathroom? Where do I go when I'm hungry? Why? How do I leverage my prep time? How do they know? [Music]
So they feel willing to share and make sure that we partner with them in terms of their strengths so they can share best practice too. Share that out with the community. Sure that technology whether it's videos, podcast, newspaper articles. Our kids can get involved with
that. We don't have to be the one at the all the time. I'm sure Jesus is here. You guys have courses on our podcast. I saw the great on the coast guard was giving me an opportunity to get some service and get some skin opportunity to talk about that tag of
what you're doing. I'm going to assure you they'll start to see the great things. Okay. So, you have wrapped up all of our individual questions. This is now your opportunity to ask any questions of us
or make any closing statements. As I close, I just thank you for this opportunity. This is a wonderful time for this build and this community knows this separating from the state telling you have a nice
day. Thank you. That's great. when you think about innovation technology everybody will be able to serve alongside of you to take things so I'm talking future first and innovative you know understand how we
can make this work easier for our teachers that's something we do internally there are AI and technology platforms to help them with learning there are opportunities to help our boys with learning to beers to authorous
entrepreneur. I would love to be able to say that you are humorous learning opportunities. This is that time despite the challenges with budgets, despite the challenges and learnings, our kids give us hope and as
many to be able to embrace the hope of this journey with you. That is what I would like to close with. My question to you is what does that look like to transition away from any kind of control to be able to take the wrong means for
what happens for this beautiful community? Was that a was that a a question you actually wanted us to answer or because I thought it was a powerful closing before you but the question we're closing I wanted to I know you guys.
Okay. All right. So, our closing for you. On behalf of Benton Harour Area Schools, we would like to thank you for your candidacy, time, and efforts today. The board of education will be voting to select our second round finalist this afternoon with interviews to be held on
Tuesday, June 24th. After second round interviews and an in-depth background search, we anticipate selecting a superintendent on July 8th, 2025. HYA will communicate next steps with you accordingly. We wish you safe travels on your journey home. have an amazing day
and thank you. Thank you very much. Just need we need five minutes. Okay. So, I know we are I think we're 10 minutes behind for our last interview. We do have a trustee that needs a quick break. So, we're going to just take a quick five minute.
Okay. Recess as of 226. Okay. So, we are returning from recess as of 2:37 p.m. I'm good. Okay. So, we'll return from recess as of 2:37 p.m. Just want to make sure that the mic was able to catch
that. Um, as you all are aware, we are here for our interviews for superintendent. We are getting ready to interview uh Mr. Jeff Dace. And so there is an opening statement that I am going to read to the board as I've done with
every candidate. And then Mr. Dace will have an opening statement for you as well. Um, what did I do with it? Let me see yours. I don't see mine. I might have took it out. Okay, there it is. I think I moved mine
around. I've been at so many different tables. Okay, so this is for the board. The following topics questions were identified by board members to provide consistency to two search interviews. The board member identified before each item should assume the responsibility for making sure the topic is covered
during the interview. If the candidate covers the topic during his or her opening statement or while discussing another topic, there is no need to bring the topic up again. Remember, try to keep the interview as informal as possible. The questions are designed to be asked by the assigned board member. Once the topic is introduced, other
board members can engage in asking clarifying questions. However, we will do that at the end if time allows. Be aware though that you want to use as little time as possible in presenting your questions so that you have ample time to garner from the candidate his or her thoughts and thinking process. Also,
please be conscious of time. Given the 11 questions to ask, you will need to keep each topic or question to two minutes on average. That will leave sufficient time for the candidates to ask his or her questions. Please do not discuss the respective candidates among yourselves until you have seen all candidates. This is the only way you
will be able to maintain your objectivity and treat all candidates fairly. We will be reviewing all of the candidates as a group at the end of each session. Finally, remember you are not allowed to inquire regarding the topics of race, age, sex, religion, marital status, whether they have children, ethnic origin, arrest, or financial
affairs. Please refrain from any questions related to these topics. Um, and then as stated, we've read this same script with each of our candidates. And so, we also have a script for you, Mr. D.
Good afternoon. On behalf of Benton Harbor Area Schools, we would like to officially welcome you to Tiger Nation. Congratulations on your selection as a first round candidate for superintendent of Benton Harbor Area Schools. I will briefly introduce you to our board. I am Desanna Robinson, the president. This is Vice President Trenton Bowens. Our
secretary, Ronaldo Triplet, as your wheel is currently absent. our treasurers Matthew Bradley, that's trustee Angela Doyle, as well as trustee Stephanie Rocket Martin and trustee Elnora Gavin. You will be allotted 45 minutes to interview. Hya associate Dr.
Collins will keep track and signal as the time draws close to the end of your interview time. You'll be asked to give an introduction to share your experience and why you are interested in being the next superintendent of Benton Harbor. This intro should be 1 minute or less. The board already has all application
resume information so we know about you. You'll be asked 11 questions from the board. Therefore, your response for each question should be four minutes or less. Once you have concluded our interview questions, you will be allowed to ask any questions you have for the board. You may also make a closing statement.
Please be mindful of the time and we will officially begin. So, I'm going to start you off um with allowing you to give your intro and then we'll go into the questions. All right. Now, uh, thank you all for this opportunity.
Good afternoon. Uh, I am excited to interview for superintendent of school, Ben Harvard area schools, and I just feel like I know that my background uh, qualifies me for this position and tell people, you know, I've been pretty much all of the positions, teacher, assistant
principal, principal, all the way up to chief of schools and deputy superintendent currently. And in all of those positions, I've made a positive impact in all of the districts that I've been in. And I'm just eager to do that as a at a district level where we're talking about sustainability and
building a legacy together. And then you said your current role is assistant superintendent. Deputy superintendent. Okay. All right. Awesome. So, we'll begin with my question and it's regarding your uh Benton Harvard area schools historical
knowledge. One best practice of professional leadership is to research the organization that you are planning to lead. Please share with us your knowledge regarding Benton Harvard area schools both current and historically. What do you anticipate to be your greatest strengths and challenges as
superintendent and how do you plan to navigate challenges? Well, in in doing my research um quite extensive. First of all, I listened to every board meeting since January. So, um I went to sleep and woke
up to a lot of your voices, but like I know you a little bit uh but background and I was looking for things that, you know, I'm familiar with and that I can compliment, but there's a lot of pride, you know, Tiger Pride, Tiger Nation. a great website which keeps
stakeholders informed. Um the AI generated pedigogy I think that was great for interdisciplinary lessons coaching teaching and learning instructional coaching phases mentioning of library of interventions you all use edu staff which indicates you're short
on staff short on teachers um you outsource your busing to first first student um you also own that property that you that you house them on one technology some things that I'm familiar with uh Ames world you use NWA a zello
for career exploration. Uh you give PSAT at the eighth grade which I think is critical because you can get a sense of the students and how they're going into high school. Uh your fund balance is at 6.5% roughly around that. Um definitely above the 5% approximately 76% of your
budget allocates for staffing. Um kudos to the track team going to state competition. You got a new track. uh CTA programming uh ESPN school partnerships you did a commitment for 90 days of peace which was great uh areas of focus attendance decline in enrollment
academic improvement um overall attendance 77% students 1448 roughly around 6 um 269 staff member six schools uh yeah that's low performance identified in reading math and science and social studies according to the
MSTEP um second language offered in cooling Swahili. Uh you mentioned the black gowns and the orange gowns. Well, I'm one of those successful black gowns and we definitely want to increase that. Um 2018 you are winning a championship
on a gamewinning shot. So um board of education like says the seven norms of collaboration. Um you challenge ideas not people which is something that definitely resonated with me. and you're committed, definitely committed, especially when you adjourn a board of
education meeting at 12:44 a.m. So, so, uh, background, I was able to go, uh, see all of the sites of the schools. I was able to also see a lot of schools that are decommissioned, um, around the around
the area. So, um I see that Allan Allen uh Edward was developing. They're they're building homes around here, which is good. Um and now my strengths. I think the strengths the second part of that question, my strengths and
challenges. Yes. So the second part of the question is what do you anticipate to be your greatest strengths and challenges as superintendent and how do you plan to navigate challenges? So my strengths definitely align to all of the qualities
in the profile. But when I look at the demographics and the background of the district, it it reminds me when I was a school principal and as I said I wanted to I want to experience the success at a different level with a team with a family. So, one of my best moments as an
administrator is being able to tell a auditorium full of people that, hey, when you all wake up tomorrow, you're at one of the schools that's been identified as one of the best in the city of Chicago at the time, one of the third largest schools in the nation. And that's that's been my motivation. And I
see that as a strength and a motivation that I've always say you want to get people to a point where you don't want to disappoint them. And you know I've had a career where um even though I've been you know a little bit
of battles which I will get into later I've still made a positive impact. So the idea of which is why I wanted to watch the board board meetings the idea of getting with a family and we're talking about a team of eight including you7 and me and building a legacy and
you know going from you know being identified as possibly one of the lowest performing to making those gradual steps to being recognized on the national level. I want to be the catalyst for that with a team and I think I can do that with you all. Now the challenge the
challenge um really you know it the challenges is coming in and change you know where the academic performance is where the district is. Yes there's a sense of urgency but also
you got to get you got to come in and get to know the people. So while some people will say yes we want to change change change change change change change change change change change change change change change change change change change change change change right away but with those numbers as I mentioned low performing numbers yes but there's people behind those numbers so giving me the time to come in
and say hey um can you explain you know what what are your ideas of us going forward and sometimes people so I guess time time that yes it is a sense of urgency that we need to increase but I want to build those
relationship ships, build those relationships first. So then in the end run, we're moving in the same direction together when we're talking about staff and we're talking about better outcomes for our adults and students within the district. So I guess I guess um time
time will be the the challenge because when you look at the identifiers, it is a sense of urgency. is a sense of urgency, but I think if you put the time in building those relationships and investing in the people within the district, then gradually they'll see,
okay, you're about yes, kids first, but you need that quality staff with a mentality of kids first and then we can go in the right direction together. So, thank you. I would just like to say I commend you for sitting through all of our meetings
since January. The fact that you are still here knowing that we go 1:00 in the morning says a lot at 12:45 me after 12 and I was about to go to sleep. But then I I said 12:44
I just had to keep listening. I said they put in the time, they put in the commitment, so I'm going to go ahead and do it. But yeah, English content which I'm sure will come up today. Um, okay. So, up next we have learning loss. Vice President Bowens, what strategy
what strategies and programs would you implement to address learning loss among students especially in the aftermath of the disruptions caused by the pandemic to ensure all students are supported and can achieve academic growth. I mean and and I think that aligns to when I
mentioned uh Ames web the K through2 assessment. So again coming in you know talking to teaching and learning seeing what they're doing also and I'm probably going to reference a lot of your board meetings because there was good content in there and I remember someone coming
in I think it was from fair uh fair plane and they was like hey let us be a part of this curriculum development. So we want to make sure you know coming in for example that we have a robust MTSS. I use MTSS but Ames web is RTI same
system when we're tackling those individual needs of the students but at the same time we don't want you still have some high performing students within the district. So when we're talking about yeah you know a lot of times people go to tier two and tier three automatically but what about those tier ones? You want to continue to
challenge them so they don't fall back to tier two and tier three. But we got to make sure we got to do an analysis, you know, a curriculum audit, making sure we can have the aligned assessments that's going to not only give us an indication of how our students perform
internally, but are we designing lessons and designing tasks that also will develop them when we're talking about state assessment as well. So yes, it's good to have that progress internally, but how does that transend to state assessments, which is ultimately going
to be our driver when people look at our performance throughout the throughout the nation and throughout the state, we want to make sure both of them align. So having a um aligned curriculum when we're talking about standards um using those I'm I'm used to be over teaching
and learning. One thing that has worked good is having proficiency scales when we're talking about students who are below level, students who are at level and students who are above level. So these are the tasks that you can do with them along the same strand of that standard. So everybody is getting exposed and everybody and you're meeting
the needs of all of those level students. Thank you. Our next question will be regarding fiscal responsibility. Treasurer Bradley. All right, just a second. Let me finish writing these notes. Okay. Um given the uh precarious nature of our
finances, how will you work with our finance department to make sure that we are in a good fiscal position and what type of school finance background do you hold or will acquire? Yeah, I' I've just well different state, but I've taken my chief school business
officer classes in the state of Illinois and going over the the financials online and what's available. We pretty much have the same similar similar um formulas and approaches. It's just you all have different fund numbers and
stuff in the state of Michigan. But however you know meeting frequently with uh I think looking online you have a director of finance you looking online talking frequently with the director of finance you know getting updates and then maybe you know weekly starting out
then after that bi-weekly you know but definitely having those frequent frequent touches and then but also that it also aligns to our strategic planning and our goals for the district. you know where do we want to be in that guide that I gave you that I'll go over you
know my background budget projections you know where do we want to be in 3 years from now and backwards mapping that what do we need in place and what do we have now that we can sustain that will get us there or what the future so
and then just being fiscally fiscally responsible from from so it's like where do we want where do we want to be what do we need and now grad regularly mapping that. Okay, this what we will implement year one, this we will implement year two and year three. And
with that ongoing progress monitoring where we are assessing our progress, we are evaluating our programs because a lot of times people are just, you know, when you find budgets, people are just automatically removing, removing, renewing without really assessing and evaluating that and saying, did it
really work so we can determine if we really want to continue that or do we need to discontinue that and think about something else. So that's the value of having that budget projection whether you want to do that. I would recommend three years so we can see some progress along the way and then gradually we can
increase that when we've had some success. But macro mapping mappers mapping frequent evaluation of your programs and frequent progress monitoring of your goals that you said you wanted to do. Thank you sir.
Okay. Okay. So the next question will be posed by trusty rocket mining concerning navigating educational challenges. Educationally what has Can you please speak in your mic? Educationally what has been the biggest challenge you have
faced? How did you meet that challenge and what was the outcome? I guess it goes back to sense of urgency. Um, I've most of the districts that I've worked in have been identified as low performing in areas or multiple
areas before I got there and we've made some progress. But the challenge is is you know a lot of people are saying well we've been good this way and they don't necessarily get like hey this way has
not been working or it's a better way. So some of the times you come into cultures, cultures that are deeply embedded, which is what I said, you know, I I came up in the accountability era where it was get the numbers, get the student performance, and it wasn't
necessarily all the relationship building. Throughout my career, I even had to adjust and I've had to switch. You go from accountability era to now a seal era where not only do you have to take care of the social emotional well-being of the students but you also have to take care of the social
emotional well-beings of the staff members and all throughout the nation including states a lot has been put on staff members teachers for education and everything is funneled through that and then we're still expecting them to just turn out the numbers turn out the numbers so yes um we've always said that
student first but that's when I go back to you need quality staff staff members with the mindset of students first so they they're able to put in that work and do that work. It's a I I just did a presentation on handle hard better.
Nothing is getting easy in the field of education. So talking to your staff about yes, this is going to be hard work, but I'm not going to I'm not going to ask you do anything that I'm not willing to do. As an educator, I still go in and teach. I still go in and and
coach, you know, I'm coaching, you know, principles that they can coach their staff members because I don't want to micromanage the principal. However, um that's probably been my my biggest challenge is sometimes, I'll be honest, sometimes people have said your
expectations are unrealistic. But I've been there. I've been there where I've taken low performing students and they have risen to the occasion. I've been there where I've taken low performing schools and they've come out as, you know, highly identified. So, um, with the with the work, I don't think I think
students will rise to the occasion and I think when staff members know that you believe in them and that you're going to support them and you're willing to put in the work with them that they'll come along as well. Thank you. Our next question will come from Trusty Gavin regarding educational
models. for two questions under that same topic. Thank you for joining us. Please describe in detail the structural proven model that you will use that works for students of our demographic to
address culture and climate, academic achievement and social emotional learning. incentives, incentive based initiatives, you know, okay, we we look at the data, but I
don't I don't bombard my students with the data because overall, if you're looking at perform performance, you don't want to continue to hit them with that negative data. So you find highlights and that can start with any accomplishments within the school,
accomplishments outside of the school and you recognize that you share history, you know, historical data of performers, you know, who have and let's just take this, we'll find data of great
performers or great graduates that came from Bidden Harbor and you share that. They need to know that quality people and successful people came from where they are. I like to say put touchable role models in front of them. So they know like okay I can do that too
regardless of what people are saying about the district or whatever the data says. So you have to motivate students if they're doing something good again inside the school outside of the school. You have to celebrate those students. celebrate those students so they know it
shouldn't always have to be um you do something to get them to produce but gradually when you do that and you motivate them and tell them then eventually it'll become intrinsic you know you start off with extra with that
external um rewards and incentives and then gradually talking to them having those conversations and saying this is you you can do that on a consistent basis so that is always worth you know highlighting Um, one of the things that I highlighted in my that I'll go over is
having academic recognition. You know, kids that are meeting a certain criteria. It may be the 50th percentile, putting their names on banners, not only at central office but within their schools and celebrating them. And you people always do like sports banquetss.
What about academic banquetss? and acknowledging that where cuz uh what you're doing is you're saying sports is we truly have student athletes when we're just celebrating sports. No, we want to celebrate academics. So just like they have those sports banners in
the gyms, we want academic banners throughout their building, throughout central office and any opportunity that you can, you have to celebrate them so they know, yes, I can do this on a consistent basis cuz once they get recognized, they want it again. when they get recognized, they're talking to
their friends. They friends want to get recognized like their peers. So having a tight incentive base that it can at the district level, this is the minimum, but schools, you know, you can take the minimum and tweak it how you want, but we want to recognize our scholars and
make sure that they not only get recognized at that school, but they get recognized throughout the districts because we go to different schools and they say, "Oh, my friend got recognized over at that school. How do I get that?" and then they're more on board and you you got you get buy in from them. You
gota you got to get the students to understand the value of success and the value of putting in that hard work. Thank you. And my followup question some of which you may have answered which and I'm sorry which also helps out with their social emotional development. You
know when they're successful that's their mind that's in their mind and they know that it can be done because I didn't I didn't mention that. Thank you. Did you want to speak more to that? I don't want to technology as a deal. What specific implementation strategies would
you employ to successfully implement your model without destabilizing the solutions that work for our population if you want to add? Yeah. Go back to building relationships. you know, as a new superintendent, first thing you want
to come in and do is is is first thing I want to come in and do is have those town hall meetings, speak to those groups when you're talking about teachers, talking about staff members, talking about students, parents, then I'll get a sense of what's been working. I'll get a sense of what they feel what
they feel good about or the areas of needs and then you go from there. That's part of the entry plan that I have within that document is going around on a tour talking to those groups and then reporting out afterwards of okay this is what I heard from you all. This is what
has been working. These are some areas that you know may need some improvement and this is how I think will be a good approach to this. However, this is what I think now I want some feedback on that. So that constant back and forth
two-way communication so you don't come in and you knock down historical barriers and things that have been working without without um talking to the current stakeholders. So that's going to take those relationship building that's going to take listening and it doesn't even have to be formal
all of the time. You know that's why I am I'm I'm I'm overly visible. So, when we're talking about at football games, at sporting events, at uh block club parties, I I tell my my stakeholders, hey, especially in the summertime, invite me to the parties cuz I want to I
want to see where you're at. I want to I want to have those authentic conversations. Doesn't necessarily have to be formal all of the time, but have to listen to them. So, I'm like, okay, I don't dismantle this, but at the same time, okay, I feel like these are strategies where I can I can help out
here or help out there. So it's relationship building. If you talk about implementation strategies, I listen and build those relationships. Thank you. All righty. So your next question is posed by myself. Um concerning master's
facilities planning, Bitten Harour Area Schools is in the process of establishing a master's facilities plan with a tenative completion date of September 2025. What is your experience with facilities and operations specifically maximizing district resources such as vacant
properties? Just finished one in Rock Island. We're going through well we just completed the facilities management plan because just like you all we have older buildings definitely costly to to operate them and
keep them um some up and functional. So, we've we've just finished uh a bond where we're going to 55 million. So, I'm familiar with um completing a facilities management plan having those community stakeholder meetings where we're getting
the input of needs for particular schools filling with the audit. We worked with it's it's slipping my mind right now, but we worked with a particular company where we went around and did walkthroughs at each school. They did surveys and came
out with areas of like one first year, second year and three year. We have a three-year plan. Uh these are the these are the areas we're going to attack for the first year, second year, third year. We had a sort of like two-page document that we submitted to each school. Now,
they had those conversations with their staff members. So, they could see what the audit revealed, but they can also say, "Oh, no. Why didn't why didn't they put this on there? we've been dealing with this for years or I think they forgot this. So you again you got to have that input from the stakeholders
because if you build a facilities management plan just off the audit or the the views of the central office, you're missing a good component of the people who have been in the building all of those years who can give you that insight. And then it goes back to financial and we're talking about
backwards mapping of where do we want to go and what is feasible what is financial financially responsible that we will correct this or having those tough conversations of cons consolidating schools or closing schools
or hopefully funding to build new schools. So I have experience with that. Thank you. How do you plan to enhance student recruitment and engagement particularly in attracting diverse student populations and what initiatives would
you prioritize to build a strong inclusive school community? I'm sorry. people. How do you plan to enhance student recruitment and engagement, particularly in attracting diverse student populationations, and what
initiatives will you prioritize to build a strong inclusive school community? Well, first I would I would look at the the trends. We have students that are that are leaving our district that haven't returned. When we're talking
about possible dropouts or have possibly left, getting that last known address and visiting those homes, developing a team, you know, whether that's volunteer or on a paid paid practice, we want to definitely get them in because they're
still within the community. And then the best approach to enhancing student recruitment is getting better. You know, when we're talking about what we're doing for our academics, increasing those academics, when you have a good product, people will come. So, when they
see, oh, Harvard is doing this, they're thinking outside of the box. Um, this is something that my district doesn't have. And we need to highlight that. You know, part of that is our how how we how we publicizing and highlighting things. So then students will come if we I know the
neighboring is like St. Joseph's and we have to go over there and um attract and recruit some students. Um I'm I'm in favor of going wherever we need to go to but but mainly taking care of what's home here first and making sure that we
have everybody within the harbor area in in our schools. Um strong inclusive community. You said building a strong inclusive school community, right? Yes.
Again, that that that listening to student voice, you know, that goes back to individuals. when we're talking about inclusivity, um majority of our district is African-American, but within that
African-American, you have different, you know, there's differences. So, so recognizing that, giving them the opportunity to celebrate and recognize that whether it's on a a particular day or integrating sometimes students bring in activities, but you
just got to make them feel, you know, belonging and welcome and not shut off anything. That means they feel comfortable coming to staff members. They feel comfortable coming to central office if it's something that they have to come to the board about and we hear about it and say, "Oh, okay. Yeah, we never thought about that." But including
their voice and just making sure that their voice is included and that their voice gets captured and celebrated in everything we do around the around the district. All right, our next question is pertaining to staffing and it is from Treasure Bradley.
And I think you've touched on on this, but I'll ask it. Um, excuse me. You would potentially be starting in the middle of summer vacation. Can you commit to making no major staff changes, i.e. principles or admins, until January of next year so that you will have a chance to adjust and see where we
currently stand and what is not working and also what would need to be changed. Yes, that's actually would be a question that I would I would definitely ask of the board because you're talking about coming here in January. even if I'm which which I'm not um I wouldn't even
think about that would be sort of like a blind side to staff members with the short notice and stuff. So you got to think about people you got to treat people right and it goes back to that relationship building and seeing what's going on within the district. I like to come in and see you know yeah I may I
may see things that need to be tweaked but I'm just making that as a part of my list. So when we're talking about January or when change needs to be enacted, then not only have I seen that, but I have evidence and documentation around the why when I'm talking about
making those changes and that will give me ample enough time to, let's say, talk to people and and have those conversations to say, "Hey, this is what I'm seeing. Um, what can we do about this?" But just like when one of the cardinal rules of working with the board
is no surprises and you don't want to surprise um staff members like that as well. Again, you want to you want to treat people right and so yes. So with that, that's uh nothing's easy, but cuz I want to come in and be able to go
around to the schools and see for myself because even as a new superintendent, I know people are going to be saying, "Hey, this needs to happen or that needs to happen." But I would ask the board, "Hey, give me enough time to come in and form my own opinions and then I can work with individuals and work with people
and then we can make a a intentional and plan changes going forward informed Thank you so much. All right, so our ninth question is regarding navigating unpopular decisions. Trusty Rocket Martin, talk
about your ability to make and stand behind unpopular decisions. First of all, I have no problem with that. And that and that comes back to it. is actually do y'all remember this question? What can lead to complacency that causes people to make decisions
containing ethical dimensions without reflecting deeply? Y'all remember that training? So that aligns to that and I knew ethics would come up, you know, in this in this meeting. And a lot of times it goes back to treating people fairly.
um being confident in in your ability to work through to work through things. And I'm sorry, I missed some of that question. Say, can you repeat that one more time? about your ability to make and stand behind unpopular decisions if it's what's right for the
organization and ultimately if it's what's right for students and adults but you have to have that you have to be informed and I like before I make decisions because especially if you know it's unpopular you're going to have those questions so
when the questions come you already have the answers behind your why of why you made that decision and not just a oneliner but extensive like evidence and documentation of why this is going to be best overall for the students and for the adults within our district. And
sometimes that may be long term, but you have to map that out for your stakeholders so that they know, okay, there was some real thought into this and it's not personal or it's not um vindictive or anything, but that you're
looking out for the best interest of the students and the adults within this district. And one thing that I always say with me, you can rest assure, you can turn your back, you can go to board, and I'm going to do what's right by the district, especially for the students and the adults within the district.
And that that aligns with integrity. Okay, so that was actually the 10th question. We have one final question. It is concerning staff retention and recruitment and that is going to come from Trustee Angel Doyle. Greetings. I'm sure you have probably
already went over this, but my question is, excuse me, what strategies do you plan to implement to retain our current staff and attract new staff, including certified teachers? using using the staff that's here. Those
are the bus cheerleaders, you know. Um you have some veteran staff members, you have some very excited staff members. So that means going outside of Bend Harbor, we have neighboring like hiring fairs where we have a consistent team. So on
the fly, if we hear about a hiring fair that has teachers, we go there. part of our budget is going out to colleges that are, you know, that have graduates coming out in the education field. But we have to be our own cheerleaders and
celebrating the successes and how we will support those that come here. So having that um a robust recruitment plan, recruitment and retention plan, which means when they come in, we support them, that we have mentors for
them so that they're not on an island by themselves and we just say, "Oh yeah, we got a we got a candidate that came to B Harbor and that's it." Because if that's it, that's how you lose candidates. So again highlighting the positives within the district so people feel so that will
attract people to coming in and then when they come in that we support them through mentorship and any other supports that they need here in Ben Harbor to be successful. And that does mean going outside of the district. Thank you.
Okay, so we have wrapped up all of our questions um for you. Do you have any questions of us or any closing statements that you would like to make? Yes. Uh, one Oh, couple of questions here. Anyway, so I know you all mentioned and I know
you all have a working session. So, you were mentioning the committee of the whole structure. Do you all go to the committee of the whole structure? Potentially committee of the whole. So, you notice in our agenda is we discuss each department. Yeah, we would previously do that work behind the
scenes and then come together and report out. Now we flesh it all out together. Okay. Because it was just a little different, but Okay. Um, athletic conference didn't have Are you all still a part of the Lakeland Athletic Conference? Independent currently. Okay.
I know that was mentioned and it was special right now. No, I'm just saying. I'm just saying that because I think that's critical. That's a critical piece within the district because sports programs unfort you know a lot of people come out for sports over academics but
you got to tell them about the academics at the sports program. So utilizing that so that's why I brought that up. So we're currently independent but we're still a strong program. We just get to make our own schedules but we're no longer within that conference. We are making efforts to rebuild our program so
that we're able to maintain a conference of choices that if that's something we decide to do. Okay. So, there was a post um on the live feed. That's a great live feed keeping people informed. It said, "Due to low attendance, Ben Harbor area schools will have an early early release
today. Middle and high schools will dismiss at 11:00 a.m. and elementary schools dismiss at noon. Bush transportation will be available. Please contact your school's office for questions. So, do you all day on the day of?" So that was a particular situation
where there was a major storm in the area. Um and so we had low attendance from for our students but also staff due to lack of power and things of that nature. So um it was not a storm to where people couldn't make it to school or that we had to do a a school closure,
but once they got here and actually saw the tangible staff that we had in place and the students that actually showed up, it was more beneficial to do an early release. Okay. because I know like the focus is attendance and I'm like wait a minute we call a day within the school day. Okay. There were so many
thousands of individuals in our area that were impacted including our staff and teachers. Gotcha. Gotcha. And one more. That's something we would very rarely do. Gotcha. Gotcha. Budget. Budget is due July 1st. Where are you at with the budgeting process? So our
current budget hearing is scheduled for June 26, which is that last Thursday of the month. Um you're more than likely aware that we recently had a conversation at the board table about whether we were going to do any staffing cuts or adjustments. Um the majority of
the board did determine last week when it was like this week, earlier this week um that we would put that conversation on hold currently to allow a new superintendent to come in and kind of do an assessment. So, we are planning to have we've sent notice regarding budget hearing and we're planning to have the
budget hearing on Thursday um open to the public, but then we'll also approve our budget prior to June 30th as well. And so our director of finance had to pause on an actual budget hearing so that she would be able to see whether the board was willing to vote to approve
um her reduction plan because that was going to ultimately um impact the budget that she was presenting to us. So she is working on an amended budget that reflects our actual um you know budget for currently the amendment for this
year as well as introducing a new budget for next year. Okay. Um, and then my my question is, and I know you all have to ask all candidates the same question. So, this is where I open it up for you all. Is there any questions that you have for me outside
of that or any wonders that you have by that maybe I can answer and leave no wonders when I get up from this seat. Does he have do we still have time for him? Yeah. Okay. Um, any questions from the table?
Oh, we have six minutes. Oh, yeah. You can walk us through your your your um Okay, let me know portfolio. All right. So, so you already have my resume um curriculum background. You have a
leadership profile in there where I did a leadership profile a couple of years ago which gives basically my strengths as far as my leadership. Something that I wanted you all to look at that is the red or came out pink tab. Um when I was
looking at the data for Benton Harbor, the orange tab, looking at that gave a brief entry plan of ideas that I had coming in to the to the district where we're talking about building relationships and getting feedback and stuff from the community and different
stakeholders. Um, after that, the blue tab, I looked at the superintendent profile and I basically went over leadership experiences that align to that superintendent profile coming in that
these are things that I have done and ideas that I have that would align to the superintendent profile and definitely enhance overall the things here within Ben Harbor area schools with me as the superintendent. uh the purple tab. You have it's a QR
code. You can scan that QR code and you have various character letters and comments from students, teachers, staff, principles, parents, community members and board members which who have experience with me and engaged with me. So I just wanted to give you um some of
that background. And in in that last letter, this actually came after I prepared this document. This is most recent one of the community members reaching out um talking about um I gave a presentation at our last board meeting on how we decreased our discipline data
particularly for out of school suspension and particularly for those um minority students. So, I just wanted to give you all that insight and I'm I'm well I I'm fully transparent.
Michigan is transparent, too. And I'm I'm surprised the um recent article and stuff did not come up. Um but to give you all background about that, hey, I was going to bring it up anyway. All right. We're not going to ask you what you
want, right? You can volunteer. Yes. Yes. Um nothing, you know, the the for it was unfortunate and really to turn into a conversation, but hey, I'm I'm a person that it happened. Um I follow
God's guidance. So whether good, bad, or ugly, it happened. I can't change that. Um I do, however, and I I'll ask HYA. I just got the report, the investig investigative report that says there was
no evidence. I did absolutely nothing wrong. Really should have never went to an investigation. But if you look online and you follow the background of when I took the deputy superintendent position, the district unfortunately never wanted the position. Um, I got the position
under controversy. Accepted the position under controversy because I believe in my abilities. you know, I said, "Hey, if I get it, my work will speak for itself." But I underestimated some some people within the district who would deliberately tried to sabotage and everything. So, it happened. I can't
change that. Um, going forward, and I guess this actually helps out into my closing statement. Um, I've been I've I've been through a fire in my career when we're talking about central office and stuff, and I am to the point where
I'm just tired of fighting. I'm I'm I'm tired of fighting, but I still have that fight. I'm tired of fighting against people who just want to fight just because. Which brings me to why I feel like I would be great here because
I get to the point where, you know, I don't want students I get my students to the point where they don't want to disappoint me. So you're talking about I advanced and this whole process has been even rewarding for me that I advanced to even come to this interview when I was on administrative leave. So definitely
wasn't in my total right mindset. Um I probably could have done better on the interview, but I still advanced. But when we're talking about a superintendent of school, I think that's that's actually a highlight because everything's not going to be going right all of the time and you still have to
maintain that mentality that yes, this may be going on here, but I still got to focus here and do the right thing by students and adults. So yes, even though I had that on my mind, I was on administrative leave, I still locked in and focused and was able to get here
before you. But with that said is I'm just ready to I'm just ready to join a team, a family that we can work together and do positive things. I've made a positive impact in all of my
positions even when I've been battling. So I just want I just think about the glory days when I can get with a team and say they support me, I support them. And just like I want those students to bust down the walls for me, I'll bust down the walls for you all to make sure
Ben Harbor Area Schools is one of the fastest positive growing districts not only in the state of Michigan, but within the nation. And again, it goes back to I always say I'm not cocky, but I am extremely confident. I'm extremely confident in my abilities to lead
organizations. I'm extremely confident in my abilities to have positive systems and structures. and I'm extremely confident that I will be a great superintendent of Bon Harbor area schools. Thank you. So now we'll um we'll close on behalf of Ben Harvard.
Well, you can clap before I close. I'm about to say I heard a clap last. I'm like a no clap. They not even going to make a peep on this unless I say it's okay. Okay, closing. On behalf of Ben Harvard area school, we would like to thank you for
your candidacy time and efforts. Today, the board of education will be voting to select our second round finalist this afternoon. With interviews to be held on Tuesday, June 24th, 2025 after second round interviews and an in-depth background search, we anticipate
selecting a superintendent on July 8th, 2025. HY will communicate next steps with you accordingly. We wish you safe travels on your journey home. Have an amazing day. Thank you. Thank you. Show show your socks before you go. Oh, I
gotta have my boy with me. Obama thinner version. Oh, young older version. Oh, I'm sorry. I do have this. Thank you. Thank you so much. Okay. appreciate. Thank you.
[Music] Thank you. Okay. Nobody call me for the next week. I'm going Thank you. I got to go. All right. Thank you so much, Mr. D. If you don't have us, that's okay. Thank you. transparent.
Make sure I got all my goodies. Oh, is it supposed to? All I need is a good medic. All right. Oh, we only had two. Yeah, because the other one you may be over. Um, I thought we had three
people that gave us one email. Just two in person. Okay, we take a stretch break. Yes, I I do think we need to take a a quick recess. Um it's 3:30. We'll return about 3:40. Is that enough time or do you all
need 3:45? 2:45. Okay. 3:30. 3:40. Okay. We'll recess to 3:40. So, we are returning from recess as of 3:45 p.m. As a reminder to the public, we have
been taking place um we our superintendent interviews have taken place today. We had the pleasure of hearing from um Donald Pearson, Stephanie Jones, Dallas Lee who was
virtual, Simone Griffin, and Jeff Dace. And then um Dr. Collins, just for the public, I know that we did a press release that included a sixth candidate. Can you remind me of the name of that candidate? No problem. The sixth candidate was uh
Dr. Arena Witten and she has accepted a superintendency in another district and that's why she was not a part of the presentations that took place today. All right. So just for the public just to ensure that you are able to hear Dr. Collins. The sixth candidate selected by
Benton Harour Area Schools was Dr. Reie Whitten. However, she has since accepted another superintendent position with another district and so she withdrew her application for Benton Harbor area schools which is why we now are only
considering five candidates. So I do want to open the floor. I see that I would like to begin by thanking HYA for your efforts, your time and the amazing pool of candidates that you have displayed to us today. I think we are all
with what we have witnessed and so we're so grateful for each of you and your efforts and it's extremely exciting to be here and to feel overwhelmed with the talent that is before us. So I wanted to open the floor up to you all in case there was things that you wanted to go over with us. First, just wanted to say
our job is to make your job difficult. And if we have made it difficult for you to identify finalists um from this pool of candidates, we have done what we were called to do. And so, uh I look forward to the discussion that the board members
have. And then I'm going to ask um my colleague Dr. can aunt to lead us through getting race, identifying the finalists from the group of five that you interviewed today and what the process is going to be and then also
getting some clarification on the process for the 24th, especially when you look at uh having possibly two candidates and we're hoping that we can get to two rather than three, but we will do what the board feels that you need to do. I know it's not easy but uh
just keep in mind uh just the amount of time that would be required and what you want is what we will do but we always hopeful that we can get to two candidates but if we have three that is fine also but when we do that and we look at the presentations on the 24th
really want to know how we do that so that uh the finalists are not in the room presenting at the same time but that we could have one then the other come in etc. So, we want to talk about how the board would like to handle that. So, without further ado, Dr. Art. Well,
thank you, Connie. And again, hopefully we made your difficult your difficult decision even more harder uh this this afternoon. So, boards uh do this process a little bit differently, all all based upon the boards. But usually what boards want to do is they first they just want
to say something about the candidates and you just go down the line so everybody knows exactly where everyone's coming from. Then after that is done so everybody can speak about your candidate opinion about these interviews then we'll ask is there someone that you
interviewed that you think would not perhaps be the best fit at this time and if everybody would agree with that person then that name is taken off the table to keep the process rolling but sometimes that doesn't happen but we
also find out after people are so okay this is what I think about the candidates we ask them just to rank one, two or three on these index cards and we tally the response and then share that with the board and the board might say yes that's exactly who we want number
one and number two or maybe number three but if there's a dis disagreement we still keep talking. So this is not a a decision where it has to be okay winners or losers. You basically want to find these are the two people that we think
really as a collective board would be a wonderful superintendent for Benton Harbor. So that's kind of the process. Okay. Would somebody like to open it up and clarification um for you when you were indicating you would like us to kind of have that conversation about the
candidates? Are you wanting each trustee to give their feedback on each candidate? Whichever feedback they receive, it's kind of it's kind of open to the kind of to the board, right? Okay. I just want to say um Oh, Madam President, you have the floor. I just want to say thank you all. Um I'm going
to be honest with you. When I got the list, I had some concerns. Um when I got the list, I had some concerns and like all of these people from Illinois and all of this stuff. But then I got to see what I got to see today. And you guys
did a fabulous job. And it's even more exciting because someone that was on our list, not Dr. Reena, but another individual just got a superintendent job in Michigan. I just seen yesterday. So,
it's um a testament of your guys' work. And I just want to say thank you for recommending these candidates. Um, and we have a tough job ahead of us. So, and just wanted to add that you hired us
to do a nationwide search and so therefore uh we put this out there nationwide in order to find, you know, the best candidates and as we did the screening interviews, we looked at who most closely represents the profile,
what did the reference letter say, how did they do the screening, how did they do during the screening interviews, etc. And so based on that and we had 26 people who submitted uh applications and so therefore not all of them were
screened uh through Zoom. Some of them were paper screened but we looked at who were the strongest candidates that we felt that we could bring to you in order to identify are really the finalists for the superintendent of the district.
Trusty Gavin. Um, I'm having a hard time with the concept of like publicly saying who shouldn't be on the list as opposed to identify, you know, like starting with I particularly like these top, you know,
and then maybe we if that's okay. I just Yes, that that that's perfectly fine. And again, it's whatever the board members would like to share with fellow board members and actually obviously the public. You know, I just want to share that um these were all as far as I'm
concerned fantastic candidates. So because someone has to be identified to move on to the next level, it doesn't mean that the others did not do a dynamite job. So I don't want anybody who's listening over Zoom or anywhere
else to assume that these candidates didn't do well, these candidates did. So they all did I feel an outstanding job and I was proud of all of them as they shared answered your questions and shared their uh thoughts with the board.
So please anybody listening or even board members just know that we think they are stellar candidates but we can't have them as the next superintendent of Bon Harbor area schools. Okay. And so I will add um I'm on my
board and I know that you have a strong desire that we select c two candidates but I'm almost 95% sure that we probably have three. So I just I don't want you all to think that we're disregarding your recommendation. We know that that is going to take more time um for us.
But as the previous candidate stated, we've gone to 1255 before. So, we're willing to do the work um that evening in the event that we do have a third candidate. Um so, at this time, I'll open it up to the board if there's uh you have a question and then we'll open
up discussion. If you can speak in your mic, please if you can speak. Do we have to say anything or can we just write it on the card and give it to you? You It's It's totally up to you if you would prefer just to write it on the card. Uh but some board members want to talk. So,
I'm kind of concerned with I was pulling up. Um I don't know if that would be considered a secret ballot. Uh the OMA requires that all decisions and deliberations of a public body must be made in open meeting. In turn, decision is defined to including voting. The OMA prohibits a voting procedure at a public
meeting that prevents citizens from knowing how members of a public body had voted. Because of the use of a secret ballot process will prevent this transparency, all board decision subject to the open must be made by a public vote at a open meeting. So I'm a little bit nervous with writing it on the card.
Madam President, we have the floor. If we gave them numbers because we were scoring them one through five. Can we just Madam Secretary would call the candidates's name and we would say their numbers and we all got cell phones. We
could have add them up. Um so I don't know, you know, add them up and that would tell us the top three by the top vote getter. Does that make sense? S it does. Everybody put a rubric down each my I think you all are nervous to say what you like or what you don't
like. And if you want me to jump out there and say who who my tops are, I'm I'm perfectly fine doing so. If you have a consensus, I'll put the fire on your head. You can put you can let me be the the the uh the the So if you say who you
are, if somebody says I second with that miss and put a motion on the floor or whatever, those are the top three then that's how it works. Okay. So let's so let's have so let's begin with the conversation about what we liked about each candidate. How about we go there?
We'll start there. Okay. And we'll work through that. We'll give the public an opportunity to kind of hear our thoughts and our feedback and then we'll be able to get to that and I'm willing to step out there with my top three um after that. So we're going to begin with the first candidate which was uh Mr. Donald
Pearson. Do we have any feedback for Mr. Pearson? Vice President Burns. I think Mr. Pearson brings a historical knowledge. He said something that was very set him apart from the rest. He would not have to hit the ground
running. I'm sorry. He would not have to do meet and greets and get to know the community. He would hit the ground running nonstop. And I'm sorry, this is normally my mic. Sorry. Um, he would have to hit the ground nonstop. And I
think that is very important and also relationships um he has developed. So that's what I would say on Mr. Pearson. Any other feedback from the
table trusty guy vice treasury? Um well with Mr. Pearson I did appreciate his institutional knowledge. Um I kind of disagreed with the he didn't have to do a meet and greet. Yes, people know you in the community, but also um you've been out of the loop for a few years.
So, that was kind of my drawback on that. And then in some of the areas, um I really didn't feel that he had enough um strength in some of those areas. Um especially around the fiscal question and um around the um staffing question,
that number eight question about making, you know, staffing changes. Okay. Trusty G. So I was very much appreciative um of Mr. Pearson's historical knowledge, his um depth in
all areas. Um I would have liked to hear maybe some specific examples of how he turned around culture and climate. Um, I love that he was able to give a
straight playbook of what's possible. I think he actually believed that his playbook on um fiscal responsibility was very smart in terms of utilizing the buildings, bringing in population
um using that monastery program, bringing back some form of the international academy, um cutting um specific ties with organizations that are earning millions off the rest of
every year. I thought that that was smart. Um I I do actually believe that regardless of their knowledge, a superintendent does need to build those relationships in terms of um connecting under their new role. So I you know I
did think I do think that that is still important but um it is definitely we are in a sense of urgency and we do need uh someone who can hit the ground running. So that was you know that was the the
challenge there is I think he's I think he's the strongest in that area being able to get right to work. But I do think building relationships is also super important and cannot be discounted at all. Okay. So, I'll add I'm in alignment with what everyone else says. I think his historical knowledge of
Benton Harbor area schools is um not comparable to everyone else because he's homegrown and so he does have um that advantage of knowing the community being here historically to understand and witness what has happened with Benton Harour area schools and he does
have the strong network and knowledge um to be able to leave Benton Harour area schools. But I agree with uh Trusty Gavin. I would have liked more examples um of strategies that would have been implemented and I I would say I think
that um many of us are very familiar with M uh Mr. Pearson what he's done and I think that his knowledge of our knowledge of him may have been the barrier and him giving us the additional specific examples of the changes and
works that he's made because he's probably assuming that we're free with so many years have passed. It would have been nice for the public to get more details um specific to his experiences. So, I'm aligning with everyone on him as well.
Um my turn. I like the fact that is your is her my car. I like the fact that um I'll just talk. It seems like I'm talking loud to me. Okay. I like the fact that he was uh able to consider
help from outside. uh he mentioned Barry and Lisa uh he mentioned um to help you know bridge those gaps that are needed. So and that's a good thing that you know
to where to go to get assistance if you need it. So, I like that fact that he mentioned that um in his presentation. And I also like the fact that he said he would be bold to invite
um you know, teachers in other school districts uh come work in Ben Harvey. You know, the fact that uh he would tap the retirement population, you know. So, I think that was a plus. However, I do agree with um
my colleagues. I would have liked to seen more strategies as to and then more of the the the current jog in education. Uh do you know what uh tier one tier two three things
more of that kind of thing that we're actually doing in our district? I would have liked to have heard some of those things that I know that you know what we're doing in our district. All right. So, if there's no other feedback, we'll move on to Stephanie
Jones. Um, anyone like to start with Miss Jones? I think she was great. She um studied. She did a chore. Um, she wanted
to help us grow. Um the good thing with her physical responsibility she has managed a team and she was over 2.2 billion if I remember right. Um yes and she um
wanted to make sure you know she talked about making sure our students and families feel safe um and genuine. I I that's what I like. So for Miss Stephanie Jones, I appreciated her introduction um sharing
who she was, how she was raised, and tying her experiences directly into the population that we serve at Benton as Benton Arbor area schools. Um and so my note specifically for her was that she was able to let us know that she is as our students. And so that was something
that was extremely important to me. Um, I was impressed by her statement um of wanting to review fiscally whether the expenditures yield desired outcomes and if they're aligned with the strategic plan the board is familiar with me
saying we have I keep voting on these hundreds of thousands of dollars in programs but is it working and how does it all play together? So the fact that she pinpointed that was extremely exciting for me as well as the $2.2 million budget. Um, I appreciated her
highlighting the she was a part of the urban district with the highest gains post academic. I think she brings some experience from that particular district. Also liked that she focused on holistic support and she was the first to mention the SEAL for student staff
and parents. Um, I like that she has worked um with new schools and transition centers as it relates to facilities. Um, I was impressed that she was familiar with our recruitment plan and um, I loved her notation of us being a
district of choice. Um, I would like us to be number one district of choice. So, those are some of the things that I highlighted for her. Um, any other feedback from Trusty G? Please don't be upset. I I wanted to mention one more thing about Pearson
before I go. He was very specific about the model that he would use um a culturally uh relevant model and how that self-awareness can um increase um you know social emotional learning and the culture and
climate and the academics um and he was clear on what he wanted to do uh um with the specific model in place. So that that was a um very important to me. Um but in regards to um uh Stephanie Jones,
she was very personable um at you know at the beginning just very personable throughout. I'm definitely impressed with her um comfort with um high level finances and I was very impressed with her inclusive
instructional model examples of culture and climate being you know from the moment you know when you're in the I don't know she mentioned a bus but in the hallways in the office every aspect of um the students and the staff's
experience um I got the feeling that um connecting um and believing in our children and believing you know how they are treated and making sure that that's a priority from the top down is something that we
need um and it is something that will impact u the culture and climate um and I believe she talked about like making those types of shifts and how that will shift um our culture and climate. I was I was appreciative of that. Um and then
her ability to not look to change everything but build on strengths. I think that our staff are afraid of having to just her, you know, do everything different. You know, they've already invested time in certain things at work. So, I appreciate appreciated
that. I forgot to mention the resource allocation tool. I think that's extremely important because we put a lot of resources into our building, but actually checking how they're allocated and whether they're being used um wisely or not. Uh Treasurer Bradley um with u
Dr. Jones I think with with um hers I I really did like her presentation. I like how she gave us a plan as well with the action steps and um one thing that stood out to me was um to schedule a board of education retreat. Um you know so they she can tell us what her plans would be.
Um I did like her her um um I did Yeah, I hear there you go. Um, I did like her recruitment ideas as well, her recruitment plan, um, as well. And I did like that she did have some
financial chops, you know, um saying 2 uh 2 billion and you know how she would build a robust plan. Um, and then checking in with the cabinet level because I definitely think that's a good thing to want to work with your team, you know, to know where you're going to
stand or where we're going to go, where's the money going and, you know, with our we already know how our finance director is. And, um, we know how she's very thorough with the finances. And so, this definitely was that's what stood out to me. And I think the other thing was, um, you know, I liked her, like I
said, her recruitment initiative. And um let me see what was the other thing. And um like you said, not looking to change and listening and learning. So I like that you know um listening and learning and finding out what needs to be changed before you make any changes. Just not
going right in there doing something. All right. So did you have anything? Okay. Go ahead. I especially like how she answered Miss Gavin's question, her last question about uh implementing strategies.
um because you know without ch destab destabilizing everything. So um so that goes along with treasurer Bradley that she's willing to listen and then and then learn and then pick up uh on opportunities to build upon what's
already going on. not throwing the baby out like I heard somebody say with the bath water but really listening and finding out where people are or where we are in our district and then just carrying on from there because we are making gains. I also like the fact that
she used the term one word. She said our when she talked, she spoke like she already belonged to us. Yeah. Like she was already a part of us. That she was taking ownership of what we're doing in our district. And when she said our that was I think it was like one of her last
states she said or used the word our political navigation. uh she understood that it is a political uh portion to this just as well as a a educational portion to that because you need both in that spectrum uh to be successful. So um
she was a very strong candidate for me. All righty. Up next we have if there's no other comments we have Go ahead. Okay. Up next we have Are you ready for him? Okay. So up next we have Dr. Dallas Lee. Yeah, before he Dr. Lee was very
impressive. Um he was very impressive, inspiring. Um you know, he says something that was very interesting. He says he has to look
at the data and vow not to overpromise. And so many times you get people that will overpromise I can do stuff and I can do this and do that and they overpromise and then he says you know he wanted to be a team player. Um
you know it's time to think up the um box. He was just overall to me very impressive with his answers and responses and that's all I can say sir. All right. Anyone else for Dr. Dallas?
I um I especially liked uh the fact that he understands what's happening in modern education. He talked about the tier he talked about PBIS. He talked about instructional instructional walks and monitorings and walkthroughs um
stuff that we are doing in our district. he would be able to come in and pick up and know exactly what those things mean and what they what they um what they what you do in them, you know, so he can monitor that. So, I especially like the
fact that he um he knows what what the the most updated practices in education are. All right. Uh Trusty Gavin, I think my mic went out. Trusty Gavin. Okay. I think mine did too late. That's what was
Mr. Gant. Oh, you know our mics went out. Oh, they're back. It's back. I was back strong. Okay. So, um I was very impressed with um
every response area. Let me be clear. Um, I appreciate the fact that he managed three budgets in Prince George's C County with no audit findings. Um, that he supervised 12 um, middle
schools. Um, and that he's uh, receiving his certificate in school financing from George University. I more than any of that, although I love all that, I appreciate his respect for transparency
and he had a plan for budget clinics to explain the finance work with all stakeholders and receiving their feedback. I appreciate the fact that um he indicated
um gaining the perspective of all lenses before making those final decisions. And I appreciated the fact that he was honest in saying that he could not make a promise not to make cuts. Even though I'm not a fan of cuts, I know that
depending on certain situations, you do have to have the best driver in the seat. um you know so that might he may see that that needs to happen and he was honest about um his responsibility to be
honest with us. Um I I also appreciate uh his respect for sending us uh detailed um items and everything that he said in terms of
his core values. I resonated. The first one was believing that our students are brilliant because when you come in believing that then they will rise to that occasion. And then also his respect for empathy and um his respect for
equity and he also is clear about our MTSS framework. Um and I think I don't want to give him the wrong credit but I think he was the one that mentioned PLC. Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong,
but I thought I thought he mentioned um PLC's um or someone mentioned PLC. I won't give him credit if I'm not 100% sure, but he did. Okay. Yeah. And um you know, creating those spaces um for best
practices to come through. So I I don't want to hold up the whole mic, but there was a lot of things that I was um impressed with in that regard. I like Treasurer Brownley. Um I did like him. I had a few areas I was kind of concerned and um if he's offered to um
to come in again probably in person, I probably would um you know get a better feel for in person. Um I did like the areas I did like was um especially the financial part. I do have to agree with um Trusty Gavin um Prince George's
County being one of the um wealthiest counties in the country and you have to deal with that budget. that's that's a good thing to look at. Um I did have some concerns, you know, with the facilities, but that's neither here nor there. But I did like how he said looking at, you know, renting space to
generate rate um revenue. Um and then because we got, like I said, I heard that a lot today was thinking outside the box on a lot of things. Um I liked how um going all the way back over here to the staffing and retention part, he said he's a teacher at heart. Uh
teachers need to be heard. Um you know doing the best to meet needs within reason. That's another thing that stuck out to me. Um you know you know recognition honor the hum the humanity of teachers. Um I liken his plan that he emailed us that you know he had the he
looked at each board member. You know, for example, President Robinson stated or observed priority, community trust, responsive leadership, and he one of his priorities was launched the Tiger Talk podcast, publish leadership, 30 60 night, and tracker. Um, you know, for
each board member, he broke that down. Um, and then basically talked about his first 100 days, listening and learning, lunching, quick wins, aligning goals and resources. So, I did did look at that. Um, also I like when he talked about student recruitment, diversifying the
space. Um, so it was a lot of things he touched on and um, you know, what did he say right here? Learning around the school with leadership and PBIS. Um, then the other thing I guess I kind of was concerned on too was um, he did give a good answer though looking at the
situation today that I was kind of concerned about that that question I asked about the commitment to, you know, doing major staffing changes. That was kind of my only thing. um I had with that. Okay. So, I'll go um I'll try not to repeat everything that's already been
said. So, I do agree with my colleagues and his strong suits. I appreciate it that he do this research on Benton Harour area schools, but he also identify that his primary challenge would be being an outsider, but was able to make that a strength and that it
brings a fresh lens of thinking, which is something that I think that we need. So, I thought that that was powerful. Um, I also appreciated his transparency, specifically the budget clinics as indicated by um, Trustee Gavin. So, that was really exciting as well as his
experience with managing um, multi-million dollar budgets, specifically three at one time. Um, I was also impressed with it was a particular statement because I do not want to repeat everything everyone else has already said. um honoring humanity of
staff um telling our story strategically and then what was powerful for me is we will take care of you because we believe you will take care of our students and that that was really powerful to me and I think that is um at the core of what we need as relates to culture and
climate here in our building. So just his his ability to um be technically aware of current aspects of education, being willing to do a deep dive and research what we need um but also having that previous experience to be able to
come in and actually assess it and and take us to the new level. So I appreciated him as well. Treasur one more thing I looked over um when he's talked about the committees um that's a strong lever moving word best to do changes in committees with a voice
having that voice so that's one thing I liked about that um you know going from our board work that we have committees and that's when our best work gets done we sit down and hash out what's going on behind the scenes before we bring to the table so when he said that that was that's something that stuck out to me as
well. Okay. And I forgot one as well. Handle learning to understand the student experience. That was powerful. Um, perspective of perception. Um, and just getting the student acknowledgement of what their experiences and where the gaps are and
what we need to improve. I think that's extremely important to the culture. And I think that's often a voice that we that does not sound loudly. We do try to get information from staff but sometimes the students um their voices are not as strong. So that was something that also
resonated for me. Cate was he the one that also said celebrate celebrate celebrate and I think that was the last candidate. I think that might have been the last candidate. Trusty G. Yeah. It's so much
easier to discuss right after the candidate to discuss. I'm wondering if anyone rec if it was him that said something about the student advisory boards and someone mentioned like a student advisory board and having
I don't want to give anybody the wrong credit, but that was Dr. Griffin. Dr. Griff Okay, thank you for that question. You can leave that along to Dr. Griffin if you'd like. Um Dr. Griffin. Let me go. Dr. Griffin
um just from the gate showing up for kids um that Prof, you know, certain professionals didn't show up for her. If it helped kind of lay out um why to me
why she's so committed. Um I was impressed with that line and her like her sharing her real story and when she developed confidence in learning. Um I love her use of a community connected
process. I think our community needs that. Um um being involved in the proc in the process. um if she is the one that said the student advisory um committees then that
is something that's grossly needed and it will you know my opinion is that the students are the ones that have the real answers are the most impacted and she mentioned that many times just in terms of um ideas of them and their voices
being heard it doesn't always need to be heard on the microphone um I'm very impressed with these SWAT analysis. Um although I know that we are not a corporation. Um I love the SWAT analysis model. Um strengths u weaknesses and
then using those opportunities um to deal with our threats. Um and then just her strategies for retaining staff. um the mental wellness plan I that is
greatly needed and the fact that she's prioritizing that um I think that that's going to make a difference. She um you know talked about um developing uh HBCU and um P relationships with PWIS for
recruitment and um mentoring programs. Uh, Miss Pearson talked about that as well, but uh, it was good to hear her mention that uh, with retired staff incentives with vets. Um, and then share outs with the community podcast with
student involved service learning hours. We should always be thinking about ways to empower our students. And to me, um, she did a great job of of embedding that, weaving that into her and into her
interview, ways to empower students in the community throughout practical ways that also increase their academics, seals, and the culture and climate. And then a good data dashboard. When people have transparency, that's how you build
trust and relationships. and she gave practical um ideas that would allow us to be able to move forward and feel comfortable and not be in long meetings trying to get to the root of the matter.
Okay. So, I'll go with Treasure Bradley. All right. Um I'm sitting over here with highlighting points so I won't be rambling on. Uh from out straight out the gate, I loved it that she served our country in the Army National Guard. That she's a veteran. I love that. Um and um
I know that will that will work a lot, you know, work a lot. Um period. Yes. Yes. Um uh one thing I like how she said she acknowledged the current things that we're doing that she was keeping up with that and she um checked out our
governmental uh institutions. Um she talked about bringing back students um and supporting the staff. One thing I liked was she said the um she looked forward into the future. She said MSTEP is in the uh in April 2026. She said
let's start backwards mapping and supporting staff and getting everything done. So I like how she's forward thinking but also moving back. So where do we start at with getting support for our students? Uh the next thing was um when she went down to the uh fiscal responsibility, the strategic plan
aligning with where we want to put the dollars and looking at ways to get free resources, especially, you know, with everything going on in our country right now. Um then when she got to the um navigating educational challenges, one thing that
stuck out with me when she said um she talked about u mentoring black boys. I like that one. But the other thing that really stuck out to me was you can't fix what you don't face. You can't fix what you don't face. And I love that, you know, because we saying
that we have to just face that reality and we have to deal with reality and we have to uh face it. Uh next thing was um of course the up uh website being updated in real time. Um another thing with the master facility planning community connected process pulling in
all the state uh holders doing real time data um you know making sure that everybody has that what's going on and then hosting national events you know putting us back on the map for good things and not negative things um next
thing I looked at uh the data dashboards that was a good thing um and then um the bus stops with her basically saying, "Hey, I'm I'm the one who's accountable with things. You know, I'm not going to just say, "Oh, this is this is so and so's department. This is my fault." She
said the bus stops with her. And then she said she's not making decisions by herself. So, I like that she acknowledged that she has a team she's working with. And I'll close out with um she said we control our narrative. Mhm. Vice President
from the moment um she proved that she just didn't study. She studied like she was preparing a thesis. Um she also talked about you know the state
laws like you said the testing. Um, when I listen to her story, her story resonates with some young people I know. How she was what she society would consider
uh a failure, but she became a Marine or was it a a veteran? She's a veteran. She served. She got a went to college, high school, got a GED, went to college, became a doctor. She I'm just going to say it and I think I
told you guys when you guys asked me I said one thing I wanted us to know have is a superintendent with confidence and sometimes some people are in the room but she commanded the room and I I
believe she was all around impressive. Um, and she she made me a believer just by listening to her. And it was she knew what she was talking about. She has a vision. Um,
like Trusty Bradley and Treasure Bradley stated about the M ACT testing, the MSTEP testing. She wants to meet with the lieutenant governor, the governor, and you know, get resources. She also knew about Mary Reese and a literacy grant that we didn't even hear nothing
about. You know, she knew what opportunities and it's stuff that she would be above. I I will say it and I I don't know if that's she if I had to vote today, she would be one of my top
three. I like the fact that she talked about having a foundation of respect and I think that's just so important that gives you something to build on uh that foundation of respect. And the other thing that she said that got that
I like we don't gaslight we make it right. So, you know, she's um she was wanting to be transparent and she wanted the message to be out there that we're we're still
all in this together. We're not to cause an uproar. We're not doing that. But it says we're we're just going to make it right. Whatever is going on that you don't like, we're going to make it right for you. You know, we're not going to start a fire. We're gonna work through it and
get it done right on a level of respect. Okay. So, I'll be brief because everyone said everything that I liked. Um, I was impressed by her knowledge of our partnership and our historical historical relationship with the state and her sense of ownership in
ensuring that we're able to self sustain and continue to operate um autonomy. So, that was exciting to me. Um, I was impressed when we got to fiscal responsibility with her statement that money should follow the vision and the strategic plan um, funnels into where we
put the dollars. Um, and another thing that I don't think, let me see, I agree with Treasurer Bradley. I liked her statement that she wouldn't make decisions alone, would not be standing alone. She would be transparent about decisions made. Um,
what were the concerns required in the decision? And then she would use technology to communicate early and often and then partner with individuals regarding solutions. So that was extremely impressive as well. And there was one other thing
may have already been mentioned. Let me see. I think everyone else mentioned everything else. I was highly impressed. She actually scored five for every question to me. And I think that um she showed up knowing that there was a
competition and for lack of a better term, she came in throwing those elbows and everything else she had to get keeping this out of the way. Um I was also impressed with the fact that she um and not that it's a a disadvantage for anyone else, but she didn't have paper
or pencil. Yeah. She just took in the questions and was able to answer from her knowledge base and her tools and her experience. So that was extremely impressive to me. Um so I don't want to repeat anything else anyone else has already said but I agree with my um colleagues and then we'll go ahead and
wrap it up with um Mr. days we'd like to begin vice president. Anybody that watches a meeting that's about eight hours was is impressive, you know. Um
I I wish I could have got his presentation was good. Um he came off strong and you know I think he even he mentioned after he was leaving that he was going to go to Junth parade. Um but
he is another one that showed that he was studying the community. He had questions. He paid attention to one of our board trainee um and then flipped the script back on us. Good thing we paid attention in that training. Um, but it was just very, you know, all in all
it was very impressive. Um, he wants the time to build relationships. Um, and it's, you know, he's just studied and, um, I just think I like his seal statements for trustee Gavin. And one thing he said is, um, he
wants to look at trends, visit homes of parents that are not coming out there. And that's one thing I've been studying saying, you know, we got to go out to the community. Um, think outside to the box. He wants to listen to the voices. But one thing that he did state that was
the end. um well two things. He said we got to treat people right and so many times people do not feel like they're being treated right. Then he also said something um he's going to do what's right. Um and that's like his moral compass the golden rule. He's going to
do what's right. So that was my selective. He came up humble and great. All right. Treasure Bradley. Um I I really this candidate here um after you know doing some research and then looking he came in um transparent. He
brought us a plan of what he wanted to do. Um I appreciate the fact that he knows what he's getting into by watching our board meetings. Um because that was one of my things when I spoke to you all was make sure that they watch our board meetings to know what they're getting into to get a assess of the situation
and um so they can kind of get their um feet on the ground running. Um he talked about of course our seven norms of collaboration um people behind the numbers getting to know the people. I like that. Um he did I like how he talked about continuing to challenge
tier one students. He said, "We talk about tier two and tier three students, but he said, "What about the tier one students that are high performing? We don't want them to slide back to tier two and three." So, I did enjoy that when he said that and meeting the needs of the students. Um, when it came to
finance, you know, that's been kind of, you know, a topic for everybody on the board, I say, including myself. Um, I like how he did the chief business office class in Illinois and compared the similarities u of that state to our state. Um he said he will be meeting
frequently with the director of finance which is good. Um another word I heard backwards mapping. I heard that again. Um and being fiscally responsible. Um talked about the sense of urgency. Uh I do like that. Um not micromanaging people. That's the one thing I like
talking to the staff and not micromanaging the principal. That's what he has said. You know uh give them an opportunity to do the job. Um incentive based look at performance. Um start with the accomplishments. Um, I like the idea of academic banquetss. Um, I don't think
we've had talked about academic banquetss in the district for years and that's something that kind of stood out, you know, letting people know uh where we stand on our academic celebrating academic achievements. Um, then when he got to the master's facility plan, he he
just completed one. So, he knows how to go and start doing that process and getting things. and um he talked about missing a big component the component of that if we were just using the central office staff to try to do a massive facility plan and um you know looking at
the funding to build new schools. Um I did also like how he tied in using our athletic events to talk about our academic achievement. So that would that would be something definitely um you know enhanced student u recruitment thinking outside the box. Um and then
yeah he talked about relationship building again. So and then making intentional and informed decisions um he like you said he used our MASB training quote um on us um and then mapping it out for stakeholders. Um you know not
personal or vindictive but doing what's right for the students and I like that the district integrity and um you know of course we've talked about that all day. building relationships um using the staff that's here going to colleges um we have to be our own cheerleaders. So I
think that was one of the main things. So that's it on that one. Okay. So everything that uh treasure Bradley just said I don't want to repeat it but I think he had a strong historical knowledge of Benton Harbor area schools that was extremely impressive um with
our history but a big indicator of what we're currently doing now. also impressed that he had paid attention to the conference. I was ready to jump across the stage. This is still a sensitive topic for me, but I was impressed that that was something that he had caught. Um,
one of the things that I appreciated that he said is that we need quality staff with a student first mindset. And um, I know that that's something that's been extremely important to us at the table. He initially came in, he had kind of like a I thought he was going to be kind of laidback in his presentation,
but he's kind of like a a gentle giant or a calm storm and he came in with all of his knowledge. So, I was extremely impressed. I appreciated that he's just done facilities management plan finishing a $55 million bond um and was big on um community stakeholder
meetings, which I know is extremely important to us. um and his his need or desire to review trends, see what's already working. Um talk to the staff and kind of get that input. Um so like I said, a lot of what
Bradley said. Um I don't want to repeat, but he was impressive as well. CBO classes were impressive. [Music] You know, okay. I like the fact that he's willing to fight for our district.
He said, "I would bust down walls for you." He said, "Um, you can go to sleep at night and turn your back and I'm still going to do what's right for the kids." Means I don't have to watch you. I don't have to micromanage you. I don't
have to be on your back. I'm intrinsically going to do what's right for your kids. um he's being informed must have the evidence and documentation to uh to what is best. So I'm not going to be making
decisions just out the blue. I'm going to look at the data. He didn't have to say it, but that that implies it. I'm going to look at the data. I'm going to look at the research. I'm going to look at best practices and that's what I'm going to implement for your your district. And that's important to me
because uh you know you don't want people just oh it looks that way and that's my decision to make. You need data. You need the the evidence to prove it. And I think it was one more thing that he said um to me
um he asked questions that directly impacted our district concerns. He cared about what we cared about. he wanted to know what we thought about it or or uh he took enough time to find out that these are the things that we're
concerned about. So, um he was extremely confident to me. So, yeah, he would I appreciate that. Can I also say he said something that required extensive studying about the bus garage situation
and how we outsourced the bus but we own the land and everything and you know you had to study to really know that and it proved he wasn't just bluffing us. trust again. Everything everyone said, I don't
want to, you know, just be repetitive. Um, everything that everybody said, I just really appreciate his tenacity. Like, who does that? Who does that to all of our meetings? Um, there was
something there was something I think that we miss a lot in our district. is the high performing students a lot of times they get ignored because they're dealing with you know other areas and I think um you
know just the idea of really looking for ways to celebrate them um I think that that is super important and it's something that's been missed uh so yeah that in addition to everything that the board said already
so at this time I I'll ask is there anyone So we do have our resolution. Um unless there was more conversation you all had I'd like to keep us going the sake of time. No. Okay. So we have we have our resolution here. Is there
anyone that is willing to um make the motion or would you all like me to leave with my suggestion and then we can see you leave so mine too. I got to see that. I don't I don't mind carrying the burden. I just
hope don't nobody run up on me. Hold on one second. You don't I got to drop. Just want to make sure I have the correct name. Okay. So, I'm going to read the resolution. Oh, with the names. Oh, you
want Okay. So, my names and I have three. I can't break down to two and that might be where we differ is uh Mr. Jeff Dace, Dr. Dallas Lee, and Dr. Simone Griffin. The last three
trust, I was just sharing names or she those are my three names. So, I want to start preface by saying every single candidate was amazing. Absolutely. Like every single candidate. I almost cried today. Um it was motivational.
Um, but if I really wanted to just narrow it down and be honest with myself after hearing what everybody here said, and this is really going against what I initially thought, completely against what I initially thought coming into
this meeting. Um, but for me to not waste people's time, it's it's Dallas Lee or Dr. Simone Griffin. Um, that's what I said. Okay. Okay. Trusty Rock Martin.
Of the three that I've considered, Jess, Stephanie Jones, and Simone Lee. Okay. So, you have Simone. Simone Griffin. Griffin. Okay. So, yours differs slightly.
Okay. Vice President Burns. Okay. The three I have is Mr. Pearson, Dallas Lee, Dr. Simone Griffin. Okay. Uh, Treasure Riley. Um, I had the
same three issue, Madam President. I had Dr. Dallas Lee, Dr. Simone Griffin, and Dr. uh, Jeff Davis. Okay. Uh, Trusty Dale, same as you, Madam President. The last three. Okay. So, it's a consensus. So,
Trusty Gavin, would you be you had um Dallas and Simone, would you be opposed to a third candidate? If I did, a third candidate would be Mr. Pearson. That's what that's what that would be.
Okay. So, so you so you you and are in alignment with him being the third? Yes. with Griffin and Dallas and then me and it's the majority. It's the majority. Okay. Um Okay. So, Bradley, if if there
whoever would like to put the motion on the floor and then we can go from there. I would like to put the motion on the floor that we um make approval of the finalist candidates, Dr. Dallas Lee, Dr. Simone Griffin, and Dr. Jeff Dave as our
three finalist candidates. Okay. So, I'm gonna I'm gonna read the resolution to include those three candidates. We'll see if anyone's it and then we'll see if we have a majority vote. Um, approval of finalist candidates for superintendent position. Do we want two or three? We want you.
Okay. All right. Approval of finalist candidates for superintendent position. Benton Har Schools, Bing County, Michigan. The district a special meeting of the board of education of the district. The board was held at Benton Harour High School Library within the boundaries of the district on the 14th day of June 2025 at 8 o'clock a.m. The
meeting was court called to order by myself. Um each of us are present as we're aware. Secretary Triplet is absent at this time. The following preamble and resolution were offered by Treasure Bradley. Is there a second or support?
Support. Okay. And supported by Trustee Rocket Martin. Okay. Whereas the board of education of Venton Harvard area schools is committed to selecting a highly qualified and visionary leader to serve as the next superintendent of schools. And whereas
the board has undertaken a comprehensive and inclusive search process to identify and evaluate candidates for the superintendent position, including the engagement of a professional search firm and stakeholder input. Well, the board has conducted preliminary interviews and reviewed the credentials of all applicants and following through
deliberation has identified the most qualified individuals for further consideration. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the board of education of Benton Harour Area Schools hereby approves the following individuals as finalist candidates for the position of superintendent of schools. Dr. Simone
Griffin, Dr. Dallas Lee, and Mr. Jeff Days. The motion to approve resolution number 202504 regarding the approval of finalist candidates for superintendent was made by Treasurer Bradley and supported by Trusty Rocket Martin. Are there any questions, comments, or
concerns prior to taking the vote? Madam President, you have the floor. I will say um with those three and final three um I believe we will be in good hands with either one we se anyone we select.
I wish there was a way we could just select all three of them call it a day, but I was actually at a point where I was thinking bring them all back. Trusty G. I want to say uh hya, y'all gave us a
very good problem. I I mean a very good problem. This was this experience um to hear all of the candidates speak life um into our district and our community and to see
what's possible with any one of them. If if any one of them was chosen, I would not be upset. I could live with that. Um, I do believe that I do believe deep in my heart that um,
Mr. Pearson belongs in our district. Um, I don't know what that would look like. I believe he belongs in our district. Um, but I do respect um, I respect my colleagues. I believe that the input that you all gave it was from um a place
of uh deep care for the district and um you know I'm willing to support this um and I don't know what you know I don't know what's possible um but like I said I believe that all of the candidates are
amazing and so it's nothing that I would fight um if if it was any of them. So yeah. All right. Any other comments, Treasurer Brownley? Um, you know, here again to u reiterate what uh Trustee Gavin has said, um you all were very
personable. You all called, reached out, took our concerns, took our questions to what was going on. And like you said, um we were presented with a good problem. We had a lot of numerous candidates. Um, and like I said, being through a search process before, um, it's it's you took a
lot of the stress out of it because it's like you sit here, you review, and then I want to thank, you know, all our candidates because they all came in, they took time out to u come in, sit before us. I know I don't know if they're, you know, listening or whatever, but um, thank you all for
coming out and, you know, thank you for taking time to show us your vision of what you wanted to do for our district. Um, you know, I thank you for being transparent. I thank you for sharing your the took the time out to make plans to send us emails to show us what your plans would be for our district. So,
thank you so much for that. So, thank you to like I said to the search firm. I would like to say that I agree with my colleagues. I think all of the candidates did phenomenal. Um even though even though we have a motion on the floor including three candidates, I think the other two could have easily as
you can see with trustees that had the other two within their top three. And so it just shows uh it speaks to the credibility of the options and the choices that you provided to us. I would also like to say if uh Mr. Pearson is listening anywhere, please don't hit me
up. You are be will be one of my favorite teachers and I agree with uh Trustee Garden. definitely believe that Bon Harbor area schools um is a part of your heart and your center and your base and so we do value you for um considering us for this position. Um I'm
excited about the candidates that are noted and so I am um I think that I'm in a position where I would like to give the public an opportunity as we've stated before to give us their feedback on these candidates. And so I think that's going
to be what makes the difference. Um, so if there's no other comments for the board, I would ask that Miss Single in the absence of Secretary Triplet. Um, as a reminder, the motion was made by Treasurer Bradley and supported by Rocket Martin for candidates Dr. Simone
Griffin, Dr. Dallas Lee, and Mr. Jeff Dace. Miss Singer, can you please call the vote? President Robinson. Yes. Vice President Bowen, can you come back to me? M treasurer. Yes.
Trustee Martin. Yes. Trustee. Yes. Trusty Doyle. Yes. Yes. All right. So, congratulations to our
top three candidates. You have been selected unanimously. That again is Dr. Griffin, Dr. Dallas Lee, and Mr. Jeff Days. Um, our next finalist interviews are going to be on Tuesday, June the
24th. And I think that at this time you wanted to have a brief conversation about what that looks like. Um, so we do have our start time at 6:00. We're all in agreement that we wanted to have an open reception so that the public can mix and mingle with them. I'm wondering from the board, do you think that an
hour is sufficient time? Should we do 30 minutes? What do you think about just the open rooming section? I think an hour would be before the meeting actually starts. So at 5 6 to 6:30 the reception 6:00 to 6:30.
Well, so 5:30 to 6:30 or 5 to 6. I think we already communicated at 6:00. The meeting starts at 6. Um, so you could do the reception earlier, but I would think, yeah, I would think a five to five to six o'clock reception because that way people getting off of work.
Okay. And we need to know, um, because we were looking at having each of the finalists do a 10 to 15 minute presentation. And so, uh, and I didn't want them sitting there or being there
in the room at the same time. So what did you want that to look like? So that um you know basically maybe before the meet and greet and the interaction uh the presentations took place first um with each candidate one candidate at a time coming in to do their presentation
then the second one doing the presentation then the third one and then the uh interaction with the community. So that's an idea of what could be done but what are your thoughts about what you wanted that to look like? So you're suggesting they present before they interact. Um, did you want them to
present? Did you how did you what did you want it to look like? That's an idea of how it could be done, but how did you want it to look? So, so my thoughts with that would be that there would be a open there would be a reception that wouldn't be the formal meeting. Yes. And it would give individuals an opportunity to
interact with them before the actual meeting starts. Yes. And then the start of the meeting would be at 6:00 and we would do each of the presentations in the same manner that you indicated bringing them in one at a time and then do the conversation the discussion that would be fine. I just didn't want them
all in the room doing their presentations in front of each other. Right. So, if the meet and greet was first and then you have each of them to come in and do a 10-minute presentation and then have, you know, your uh common meeting or the meeting with the board
and have feedback from the community, that would be fine. Okay. Trusty Ger, a couple questions. I'm wondering if there is some way to utilize the superintendent search committee um in that you know in in the plans. Um and
then also I'm open to either I guess what I was thinking is if they present it first then during the meet and greet people can ask them questions based on what they saw. Is that the rationale for doing the meeting first and then the I mean doing the presentation first and
then the meet and greet. It does. Whatever the world wants is what we can do. So we do the the mix and mingle because it's if we so we're still within the meeting. Would we bring recess to allow for that? So just because we have and that's why I was putting the meet
and greet first because once we start business we'll have we may potentially have people that are online virtually watching and waiting for the actual meat of the meeting. President. Yes. from my previous experience. Um, again, 2007,
we had both of the Oh, I'm so sorry. I forgot there was another part of the resolution on the back. I'm sorry. Um, be we've already voted, but I just want to acknowledge what we voted on. be authored resolved that the board authorized the next phase of the selection process which may include site
visits, reference checks, community engagement, final interviews to be conducted in accordance with the board's established timeline and procedures. We will finally resolve that this resolution so take effect immediately upon its adoption adopted on the 14th day of June 2025 by the board of education for Benton Harvard area
schools. And so we just took a vote on that, but I wanted to ensure that the public heard the full resolution. My apologies. Yes. Go ahead. What's your question? we did before is both of the candidates got to do the first half an hour on both different sides of the room
and that was the time for the audience to interact. Then the board called into meeting and they got to give a presentation to the public. Then as of the next day the board had a meeting. It was probably during the daytime. It was in their
daytime because it was graduation that day. They announced Carol Schmidt as the superintendent. They didn't make the decision right there. They did call a meeting to order. They did not comment. We didn't comment because I was a student board member,
but they both got to talk there. They both got to present a presentation and then the next day they wrote it. Now, that was different. I know laws have changed. How do you guys How did it go with Townsville? So, we have the difference with this one. They they'll do their deep background check after the
meeting on the 24th. So we have quite some time before we actually have to take a vote on who we select. Okay. So well and who we're offering the job for. We have 10 days to Right. You're going to do the background check before we vote. We will start immediately now that
we know that you have three finalists. Then we will uh contact the company to do the deep background check on the three finalists. So that will be in process and it takes a maximum of seven to 10 uh business days. So we're going to get that process started and then
like I said how the question becomes you know and the information as I indicated goes to your attorney as well as to the board president and if there's anything that's alarming or whatever then the board would be notified of that. But that's how we're doing that part. But as
far as having the three candidates, you know, present and having the meeting greeted as well as the presentations, that's what we need to know. How do you want to handle that? I don't I didn't think the board wanted to come back on another day that you wanted to get all
of this done on the same day. And I go ahead and I'm sorry. I want to reiterate the superintendent search committee. How can we, you know, we were very intentional and um that's a diverse group. They have a background with the
district in in many ways. We indicated their relationships. How can we incorporate um that committee in in what we're doing? It's my understanding that we can't have because we had initially talked about having that group meet with
the finalist and ask them questions etc. and the board would and we would rotate the candidates between the board and that but we can't do that. We can send them a special invitation the same way so that they know that we're asking them personally to to attend that day. So
they can be invited to the meet and greet as well as to the board meeting where they could you know if they have any questions they want to ask etc of or give any comments to the board they can do that but we can't have two meetings
one with the board and then one with that particular group. We did talk about that and whether or not that was a possibility and we aren't able to do that. We were advised against that by the attorney. Go ahead. So they would be able to give public comment. Is that how that would
work? So you would do the meet and greet, the preation, then they could do public comment before we vote. We don't vote until the end. We don't vote to the to July that we would be able to take in their feedback. Okay.
That that and they would get a special invitation. Correct. That feels fair. And I was and I was at first I was thinking that we would have extra questions, but I don't know that we have extra follow-up questions. I think if we allow them to do the presentation and give the public an opportunity to give us feedback or do we want to give the
public an opportunity to ask some questions? I don't know how that works because the public's questions might be different for each person. What's your thoughts on that? Can be different for each person. So I it's all on how the board wants to do. So if the board wants to if the board doesn't feel a need to
ask additional questions then um you know we don't the board doesn't have to ask additional questions. If you if there we want to have an opportunity for the public to ask the finalists you know questions and then the board is taking that information into consideration that
can be done. I think I I like that idea. I just want to see how you guys say what I'm thinking as we do the reception and then bring the meeting to order at 6:00 with the three presentations within each presentation section. We
give the community an opportunity to ask some questions based on their presentation and those are the questions that they answer in the second room interview. But then if there's a particular member of the public that does not have a question to ask, they still have that public comment section
at the end of the meeting to give us their feedback on if they have a candidate of choice. How do you all feel about that? Okay, you had I had Oh, he was before you. Go ahead. Um I know that they will the public will have a chance to to converse
with them in a nonformal kind of atmosphere when they do the reception. And I think that's probably really good because whatever questions they have, if they talk to the candidates um in that setting, I think they would get some
pretty good feedback, too. Okay. Treasure B. Okay. I was just going to make the comment because I think that's how we kind of did it last the last search was that we had um I don't know if we did community questions been around. Um but I think we did something similar to that where the audience
provided feedback forms and they had forms to write down. So I don't know if we'll have that. Um where they can just write down the name of the candidate, how they felt about it, what they thought, you know, their strength and weaknesses. Um and then I do like the fact that we'll have the reception. Um, and like I said, we have a big enough
facility here if we need to, you know, put them in three different rooms so they can have a different conversation and everything that could, you know, work like that too. So, um, but definitely we want to make sure we get our admin staff in too, so they can meet the family. So, you guys want to do, did
we say 5:30? Are we just doing a quick 30 minute reception? So, we're starting at 5. So, reception, which is not a meeting. It's open reception till to interact the public to interact with the candidates at 5:00.
Okay. At 6:00 we start the meeting. Each of the three candidates will get will be able to present. And I know that we we had the option of choosing a topic or allowing them the topic. I think two is all three of them. Two out of the
three gave us an actual document. So I feel comfortable with allowing them to present themselves based on Are you guys okay with that? They can present two of them. And I think I'm pretty sure that um
um Dr. Griffin Griffin would be able capable to create um a document as well. Um so 5:00 reception where they would interact with the public. six o'clock we would start the meeting. Each one of them would
present. They would not be in the room and the other is presenting. We allow the public to ask questions and then after the question and answer um for each candidate, we still have an opportunity for public comment.
All right. our end time anticipation for that day. Well, five o'clock reception, the board meeting will start at 6 o' 10 minutes each and then we'll move on to the board meeting. So that would be
what you're talking about maybe I would say probably around eight. Okay. So that would be president. I think I think you need the microphone so people on Zoom can hear. So I think we're starting at 5. Then uh we will
meet with the board do the presentation starting at 6:00. Uh each presentation will be about 10 minutes each. So that would amount to a half hour. And then um basically after they have done the presentation there would be the board
would help the public will get a chance to do that. And so how much time do you want to allow for the public to give uh feedback? That's a big part of this. You want to do 30 minutes 30 minutes total or 30 minutes of public
comment for each person? Uh well each person I don't think you want to do 30 minutes because I think we will be here. Excuse me. How much time are we giving? Oh, you're How much actual overall time? Yes, overall time.
10 minutes, I would think. Uh, overall for both candidates or I think 15 minutes for public comment. Well, 15 15 minutes for public comment for each
question and answer. Is that what you mean? Yeah, I'm fine with that. Okay. So we will Did you get that Kim? 15 minutes for each candidate. And then if you think about a five minute transition window where we can just count 30 minutes times three hour and a half
together and then after that we still have public comment which would not be it's just a standard that we have to follow. So I think we should be able to get out of here by 9. Okay. And the candidates will be in another room. They will not be listening
to each other. Correct. Right. But I'm okay with them being in the same reception space. I think they need to be spread out because it's a competition. So you get in and work the floor and work the room. Right. Definitely. It's just the presentations that they're show who who
is the person that shines and fits in most comfortably with our with our community. I don't I think that they they're each they each appear extremely confident. They are little person. And I think that we will see who shines and who you know what I mean in that interaction. Yes. We're not asking them
any questions, right? We're not. The public is the public is after their presentation after their presentation and their presentation will all be on the same subject. Correct. They're going to present off of what they gave us. Okay. So, yeah. I don't even see why they have to be se Yeah, I think we're
good. Each one of them already gave us a booklet except for Dr. Griffin. Griffin. so she could just present. Okay. Should we call a vote on this? Madam President, can we go to the next item of business? I understand. I know you're trying to get wrapped up, but I just want to make sure everyone is okay with what we
discussed. Okay. Are you guys okay with that? Does that sound good? Okay. So, then the only other thing that we had, let me make sure I'm not out of alignment with our agenda because I'm pretty sure we only have one more thing. We have a resolution to appoint a superintendent, an interim superintendent
of schools because we anticipate that this process will go um through July 1st. Um so I guess I'll ask the floor. Was there I don't know if there's more than one suggestion of who we are interested in. Madam President, yes.
I make a motion that we appoint Dr. Chris Bernick as interim superintendent. All right. Is there second that? So let me read you guys ready to vote. We even had Okay, madam person. Let me read it. Resolution number 2025-04
appointment of interim superintendent pending contract negotiations. Benton Harour area schools bearing county, Michigan. the district. A special meeting of the board of education of the district of board was held in Benton Harour High School with the boundaries of the district on the 14th day of June
2025 at 8:00 a.m. The meeting was called president of course with secretary chief trip around 10 a.m. resolution were offered by trustee vice president Bowens made the motion. Who made the support?
Supported by Cat Martin. Okay. Whereas the board of education of vent harbor area schools recognized the importance of maintaining maintaining strong continuous leadership through the transition to a permanent superintendent in which the board has conducted a review of qualified individuals and has
determined that it is in the best interest of the district to appoint an interim superintendent to provide stable and effective leadership during this period and roles the individual identifying has the experience qualifications and leadership capabilities necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of interim superintendent. I therefore be resolved that the board of education of the area
schools hereby appoints Dr. Chris Vernick to the position of interim superintendent of schools effective Jan July 1st 2025 pending the successful negotiation and execution of an employment agreement be further resolved that this resolution shall take effect
upon this adoption. Um and this is adopted the 14th day of June 2025 by the board of education for Benton Harvard area schools. The motion was made by Vice President Balance and supported by Trusty Wat Martin. Questions, comments, or concerns? Trusty Gman,
I was wondering if we had a list of certified um you know who who's qualifying. for it just this felt a little sudden but I know it's on the agenda but did we have a list of um you
know qualified candidates in the district who so I have a list of who our current administrators are but I do not have the cross reference to ensure that they all have the certification they need to be um a interim superintendent.
My other question is I'm wondering and I'm I don't know if Haya can even help with this. I'm wondering, you know, I know one time we u the I don't think I wasn't on the I wasn't on the board at the time, but the district selected a superintendent and then that
person wasn't available for quite a while, right? Um I think it was Townzel wasn't available for quite some time. You were I think it was a two two month gap. That was it. It seemed like it was Yeah, I think he was selected like the middle of de I remember the day he was
selected because it was the mayor's inauguration and they brought him to the inauguration. So it was like the middle of December like the 16th or something but he actually started December 12th I mean February 12th he had a twomonth wrapping time. Okay. And I'm I guess
what I'm wondering is have the candidates I don't know if this is premature if candidates identified like how soon like if we chose our candidate you know by July beginning of July would
they be able to take those positions pretty quickly? Um did they indicate anything like that? Yes they are aware that this job starts July 1st. So, uh, no one has expressed any concern with starting when they are appointed as
superintendent of the district. Okay. Um, with that in mind, um, being that, um, being that Dr. Bernick is already in central office, he doesn't have a building to close out. He, you know, all of these other issues and it's, uh, you
know, just a few weeks. Um, I can support that. Okay. Um, I also can support Dr. Bernick and I would like to um
thank Dr. Bernick for ensuring that for for letting us know that this was a way that he was willing to support the district by standing in the gap. I think that's extremely honorable. Um to my knowledge, to my knowledge, no one actually reached out to him to ask him
if that was something he would be interested in doing for us, but I know that he was um the candidate that I thought would be um the perfect administrator to stand in the gap because he does have the history with the district. Um he's been amazing with
us and and answering our questions as it relates to SEO and special education. he's willing to sit here through hours of meetings to give over one presentation to the board of education. Um, and I've just seen him stand in the gap and be 10 toes down for lack of a
better word. Um, for Bitten Harbor Schools, of course, the knowledge base, the experience that he has, the qualifications, but just his willingness to offer his service in this manner is extremely appreciated. So, I also would be willing to stand behind um Vice
President Burns and Trusty Ware Martin in their recommendation. Um what would take place if this vote would pass? Uh Dr. Bernard currently has an administrator contract. And so, similar or exactly to how we did it with um Dr.
does as an administrator, he would simply have an addendum to his contract that would say that he's working within the position of interim superintendent and that this is the amount that we would be increasing his pay to and that we're we're presenting to him. So, with us taking this vote now, we're
appointing him pending contract negotiations and then I would reach out to Dr. for Bernie to let him know that the board made the decision and then we would go into conversations as to what would be the the short-term increase to his amount for doing that interim role
and that would be a conversation that the board would have and work on collaboratively with him. Yes, ma'am. I do have one question. Yes, he is the director of um special education and so would he be wearing two hats? would be,
you know, would there be an assistant director that now takes over his responsibilities? You know, if there is any responsibilities within that role. Um, I'm just hoping that we can get clarity. We can Yeah, we can definitely clearly I
know that we have So, I will initiate the conversation with him um about what the dynamics of his current role is. I know that there was and I was looking at it when we were doing the budget cuts and I still still strong in it but I noticed that one of the position they
were potentially cutting was a a special education manager position is something like that and so I don't remember whether that role was vacant or if there's someone currently in that role but I think it's a good thing at this point if it is if it is a body that it wasn't eliminated but we definitely have
the time to have that conversation to determine whether or not he's going to be wearing two hats one and and and looking and looking at that and considering the amount of money that we're willing to supplement him for the short term um that he's working. One of the financial benefits of it is that in
this gap after June 30th, we do not have a superintendent. And so we are not paying that maximum salary that we've been paying. we would only be paying the difference of elevating him to the level that we want him to be at temporarily, which would be probably about a hundred,
not $100,000 because it's not an annual amount, but it would be a cost savings for us. Um, because we would not be giving him the same rate that we were giving Dr. Bus every two weeks, if that makes sense. We no longer have a superintendent salary to give out
bi-weekly. We would just be giving uh Mr. to burn an increase in his salary to compensate him for the additional duties. I hope that wasn't confusing what I just said. Okay, Trusty W. Uh yeah, plus Dr. Bernick uh reached out himself. So
evidently he's thinking that he can do whatever needs to be done to fill that gap along with his other duties. La last question. Who's choice? Yes, ma'am. Effective when? July 1st. July 1. So yes, July 1st
to until when we have a start date for our superintendent. Gotcha. Okay. Thank you. And then the board has the the determination to decide do we want to compensate him for an additional two weeks over that to give do give that overlay of him being able to whatever
he's been transition to transition to that person. But that's a later conversation that we can have once we get to that place. Thank you. Just for the board's information, we will contact the five individuals who interviewed today to let them know what the status
is and thank all of them for coming in and interviewing. So, we will reach out to them to let them know how what occurred during this meeting. Okay. So, if there's no other uh Trusty D, can you please let them know that we were very
impressed with all of them? Will do. Definitely. All right. So, if there's no other questions about the interim superintendent position, uh, Miss Senior, can you please call the for the appointment of Dr. Bernick? Yes.
Yes. Treasurer. Yes. Trustee Martin. Yes. Trustee. Yes. Trustee Doyle. Yes. President, great job board of education. This is a
hefty meeting. We So, I don't know if you all really process the agenda as it what what it represents, but today we completed our final partnership training. We did interviews for our top five
candidates and selected our finalists and we also appointed our interim superintendent in that meeting. So give you all yourselves a round of applause. Um so I am extremely grateful. I know that you all are ready to go. So I'm going to go right into um opening open
public comment. Anyone here that would like to make a public comment sing proceed. We're gonna start with Trusty Doyle today. This was an an amazing experience. Um, again, I'd like to thank HYA for the wonderful candidates that
you brought before us. Um, the candidates was amazing. We got a lot done. I'm excited about the possibilities of being great restoring the roar. Thank you. Awesome. Next up, we have Trusty Rocket Martin. Yes. I'd
like to thank Hya for not making this process painful. So, um this is my first time having to select a superintendent and um learn some things. So, thank you again. Thank
my board for uh the way we cooperated with each other and got the job done and I look forward to choosing a new superintendent for Benton Harour Area Schools. Yes. Thank you, Trusty. Uh,
Gabin, I am so excited. You know, one of the board questions was, you know, can you make a difficult decision or something like that? And this was a this was a very difficult decision. Um, but for all of the good good reasons. I
truly believe that our community is going to be excited about um Ben Harbor Area Schools and about what we have to offer and about what we can create with our students. It just felt really good to hear,
in my opinion, top-notch um professionals who had a perspective about our district and shared what's possible, shared a vision of what we can um kind of create
together as a board. And so I'm just really excited about what's possible and I'm grateful to Ha um the way that you handled this process. I'm grateful to my colleagues and the way that we were able to work together. Um and so I'm just
looking forward to um the leadership that we have access to. And you know, it was just my prayer that the community, I know the community is going to feel the same way we do when they come in here uh in a couple weeks and see the amazing people uh who are interested in Ben
Harbor Schools. Thank you. And next we have Treasure Valley. Um once again, thank you to HYO for coming in working with us. Um this being my second superintendent search. Um, one previous was 2019, but then I'm like,
whoa, that was a long time ago. But, um, right. Right. Yeah. Right before the pandemic. Um, but, um, this process was awesome. I'm glad we worked together um to get things done to handle business. We came in, did our training
this morning. So, kudos to Dem. I want to also thank members of the public who are listening. Um, these decisions are not easy. Um, thanks to our um, tech staff for coming in this morning and working with us all day. I see y'all packed and ready to go. So, make my comments right. Thank you to our awesome
secretary, Miss Singer. Um, you know, she did an awesome job. So, let's give her kudos as well. So, thank you. Thank you. And, um, you know, that's that's our gatekeeper. And I was up there joking with her earlier. I said she needed a rubric, too, because she has to work
with the um with the cand. you know, like, wait, okay, how are they going to do in the office and stuff and but um but like I said, thank you. Safe travels to you all. Um like I said, once again, thank you to our candidates and thank you to the uh board members. Um and you
know, we all later at some point in time. Thank you. Thank you, Vice President Burn. Well, the good thing is whoever is selected, they have to trade in their Chicago Bear stuff for us because we bleed blue over here. So we
blew kind of Lulu. So um that bear stuff gots to go. But I do want to say um this was a unique experience and um Trusty Gavin often says we deserve the best and
um today gave me reaffirming belief that we cannot just talk about bit of what was but what can be and I am so excited about the future of whatever candidate
we select. Um, if I was to knock a word, die and leave here tonight, I would be safe knowing that Benton Harbor Area Schools is going to be in good hands. Um, I do want to give for those that are in Zoom rand um this past week about two
weeks ago, we lost two chairs people. One was um Dr. Sher Collins and the other one was her husband Dr. Collins who used to be over the dire department of special ed. And Dr. Collins was a principal, husband and wife. They died a
week apart from each other. So, please keep the Colin family in your um thoughts and prayers. And um it's Saturday, so I will call you guys Monday. Don't call me tonight and have a good Okay. So, I will be brief. I will be
extremely transparent. I kind of shared this with the board of education at recess in that I was extremely nervous and anxious um about today's meeting. And you can never really tell my emotions because I I I do my best not to show them. But I feel such a heavy
weight removed from my shoulders after today's interview. There was so much on the line like I said with the partnership training uh getting our interviews uh to the second round as well as the appointment of an interim superintendent. And I am extremely proud of this board and being
able to do both of those tasks unanimously as well as us being able to finalize our training. So I think that today um even though it isn't officially Junth, it's the weekend celebration of Junth. I think it's extremely meaningful
for Bitton Harvard area schools as a district that we were able to accomplish as much as we did on a day um that our community is celebrating cultural pride. And so I think that all things um come together and serve a purpose. And I think that the date that we selected,
although not intentional, has a very strong um meaning for us as a community. So, I just want to thank my colleagues um for being willing to come in today, for being open to working through virtual training. I want to thank uh Miss Min for being willing to to assist us in that capacity, our tech
department, as well as Miss Singer for being there um to assist us and let me call you a thousand times to work on these agendas to make sure that they are okay. Um, thank you to the team. Um, I call you all HYA. Should it be higher?
Okay. Okay. Okay. So, I just want to say thank you to the team from HYA. You all have done a phenomenal job today um with the selection of candidates that you've brought to us and I've enjoyed working with you and so I'm extremely excited
for what's to come. I will ensure because it's the weekend and staff are um out, we more than likely going to have a press release that goes out today, but I'll ensure it goes out Monday to announce our finalist candidates and the schedule for um our next meeting. So, that's all I
have. If there's nothing else, I'd ask for a motion to adjourn. Madam President, before you make a motion, I want to thank Natalie for ordering the food. Okay. A motion to adjourn, please. Second the motion. Can I make a motion to adjurnn? The motion has been made by Vice President Burns
and supported by Troy Bradley. Any questions, comments, or concerns? I have five questions and I will reach out to uh Mr. Bernick. I'll email him and you blind copy so he's aware that he was selected. Um,
Miss Singer King, please call the vote. Yes. Vice President Bowen. Yes. Treasurer Bradley. Yes. President Cat Martin. Yes. Trustee Gavin. Yes. Trusty Doyle. Yes. Motion carried. All right.
This meeting is a journ as 5:25 p.m.