--------- Next item, please. Next item is union leadership commentary. This section of the board of education meeting is being added to further enhance the already strong commitment and longtime partnership between district administration, all bargaining units. Both instructional and non-instructional union members serve on
a wide variety of standing and ad hoc committees that drive the working decision-making in the Dearborn public schools. In addition, administration meets monthly with the leadership team of all unions as well as a group meeting with union presidents. These meetings are not required but are an extension of the collaborative partnership that has long existed in the Dearborn public
schools. This section will further enhance the commitment to valuing all suggestions, views, and opinions brought forth by all staff members in the district. And first we have the Dearborn Federation of School
Employees with Mrs. Angie Laurenetti, Miss Donna Smith, and Mr. Kyle West. Did I say all your names right? Good evening, President Mosie, board members, Dr. Maliko. Thank you for having us here tonight. I am speaking on
behalf of the Dearborn Federation of School Employees, the DFSE, which represents all support staff across the district. We are proud of the work we do and the positive impact we have on the students every day. My name is Kyle
West. I am vice president of the DFSSE, a skilled trades leader in the district and a carpenter by trade. I am one of 19 skilled trades professionals maintaining all 34 school buildings. We also have 11
grounds crew members who maintain outside areas and handle transfers. Um together we complete over 5,100 work orders a year, not including emergencies or daily tasks. We take
pride in keeping our schools safe and functional because we all know a well-maintained environment helps students learn. Thank you again for your time and continued support. Hello, my name is Donna Smith and I'm a union trustee for the DFSE. I started in
the kitchen as a food service employee and now I work as a special education pair professional at Esso Ford High School. I love my job and I take pride in supporting students of all abilities each day. The almost 300 pair professionals in Dearborn public schools
are some of the most caring and hardworking people I have ever met. I say that not just as an employee, but as a mother of a special education student in this very district. Each night I am able to sleep knowing that my daughter is in such loving hands and I hope other
parents feel the same knowing that their child is also receiving the same loving care. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Angie Lorenzetti and I currently serve as a sergeant-at-arms for the DFSC. I've had the privilege of working in this
district for over 23 years. I began my career in food service, then became a special ed parapro. Currently, I work as an instructional technician at Edel Ford High School. There are eight instructional technicians in our district, and through teamwork, each of us provides various types of support for
our special ed students. My job is to assist students who may be struggling with specific subjects like math or English and tutoring them to pass their classes. Another tech will assist the student toward completion of their high school requirements and ultimately
graduation. Throughout my journey in this district, I found my work deeply rewarding. I am passionate about the helping students discover how they learn best and supporting them in reaching their goals. My work brings me great
fulfillment as a union officer. My belief is in to ensure that every student and staff member has the opportunity and support to reach their full potential. Thank you for your support and have a good evening and thank you for your
Dr. Malo, you want to make a comment? Yeah, just thank you. We appreciate you coming up and Alerini and the unions. We value all of our employees and it takes all of our employees to um ensure that our students get a high quality of education. You're one of largest employers in Wayne County, over 2400 employees. So, we appreciate the work
you do and thank you uh to all our employees in the district and DFS. Thank you. Next item, please. Next um presentation is from the Dearborn Federation of Teachers and Miss Kathy Martin.
[Applause] Hi, I know teacher appreciation week is over, but I would like to pass out some pins to all. Thank you. We love our
teachers. Thank you, Kevin. Thank you, Kevin. These are free. And secondly, I want to say thank you to the support staff. Um, as a speech language pathologist, I know that um,
parapros are probably my number one favorite people in the school, followed by secretaries and custodians. I have not had to deal with skilled trades, but I'm sure you guys have helped out in some way, too. So, you know, it takes a it takes a
whole village to make everything work. Um, so I'm here to talk about uh the survey we did. If you recall, I was here last year with a similar survey and we did it again this year. So, all right.
Um, I also want to take a moment um to thank everyone who made teacher appreciation special last week. I know a lot of building administrators, um, PTA and just individual families went all out to make all of our teachers feel
very, very special. Um, so thank you to those people. And oh, these are the people we thank. Okay, so we're looking at member satisfaction. We This is how many people
have work in the district and how long they've been here. So, as you can see, a large portion has been here 21 years or more. Um, no, I'm sorry. Yeah, 21 years or more. And, um, at least worked in education. I'm
sorry. Give me a second. Um, and then the years in Dearborn is uh, a large portion has been here more than 21 years and years in education over 21 years as well. Um so members really value um the
transparency. So first we looked at asked some questions about the union and what they what they like from the union. So over the last two weeks we invited them to take our survey and um this helps us reflect on the effectiveness of building represent of building
representation and the executive board. So every building has a building rep and then you know there's the elected board. So it gives us insight as to how we are serving our members and then it gives us insight as to how our members are feeling in the district. Um I want to
highlight the positive feedback. There's a lot who had a strong sense of pride in their work and they have a continued commitment to our students and our schools. There are several staff members who shared appreciation for their principal's leadership and support, and some reported feeling valued within
their school communities. Educators were especially encouraged by recent gestures of appreciation from building administrators and families, which serve as important reminders of the impact they make each day. Survey data also provided valuable insight into how members perceive support across
different levels of leadership. a strong majority 72 to 79% go here um uh felt protected and well represented by union leadership including both the executive board and the building
representatives when it comes to building administration 64% felt supported respected and heard with an additional 27 and a half% feeling somewhat supported however perceptions of district level leadership are more mixed only 25.9
9% all right um felt supported by central office and uh just 24.1% feel the same about the board uh notably 54 to 61% of respondents reported being unsure about whether they are supported respected and heard by the central office and the
board highlighting a need for greater engagement and clear communication from district leadership uh That said, the survey survey also surfaced important areas uh that need attention. Many educators feel that their professionalism is not fully recognized.
Concerns were raised about micromanagement, excessive busy work, limited autonomy, and the lack of authentic staff input in decision-making processes. This these issues have contributed to feelings of frustration, burnout, and a sense that their
expertise is underrated. Experiences with building leadership were mixed. While some educators reported strong relationships with their principles, others noted challenges related to communication, transparency, and perceived favoritism. Working
conditions were another concern. Many members expressed that while they're proud to be part of the district, their job satisfaction is declining. A recurring theme in the feedback was concern over student behavior. staff shared frustration with inconsistent consequences for rule violations,
chronic absenteeism, and a general lack of follow-through. In particular, there's significant concern about the lack of support for special education at the elementary level, both in terms of academic inclusion and behavior management. Additional concerns included
uh the use of teacher absences to determine surplus staffing and a strong preference for absences to be treated as paid time off without requiring justification. Um there are some other issues that came up but I would rather
discuss those privately. Um so maybe we can talk about that and uh Mr. Mle Dr. Malleo when we have our meetings. Those are some things I'll discuss. Um the feedback Oh, this is Um, the feedback's not only valuable, it's necessary. Our educators are
central to the success of our students and our schools, and their voices deserve to be at the heart of our district's decision-making. We must continue working together to build a culture where teachers feel respected, supported, and empowered to do their best work. Um so right
now we are one of the main things that people are here for why people turned out um is because there's a lot of concern. We're coming up at the end of the year. This is when surplus starts to happen and there is some fear of layoffs because of the cuts. I mean we're hoping
that doesn't happen this year but we don't know what's going to happen in the future. And we now for the past year have had the ability to negotiate how layoff and surplus happens. We had that ability prior to
2012. There was some legislative changes at the state level in 2012 when that was taken out of our hands. We were no longer able to negotiate it. Last year, we were able to win that that back. And we've been doing that, negotiating with
the district ever since to try to come to a more equitable way for um us to surplus uh or have layoffs. And right now uh per board policy, layoffs and surpluses tend to
happen. There are a couple of um like they look at evaluations and those things, but usually the bottom line comes down to absences. So right now teachers are allowed to have 16, no 15 absences over the course of two years
without fear of being surplused or laid off. Surplus is when you are moved either from your building or from the subject that you teach to something else to make space. And um this creates a lot of unease for a lot of teachers. Um some of you are new
board members and some of you have been here before. I remember last year and at every year at the end of the year teachers come up speaking about how they were they feel unfairly surplus because of absences and many of these teachers are teachers who had health issues
didn't qualify for FMLA um or unfortunate life circumstances. I have not yet seen a teacher who's been impacted by this who was um using sick days because they wanted to. So there
are many factors that we can use to determine who gets surplused or laid off and absences many of us feel are the most ineffective things that they can use. Uh there's a list of other issues that you can look at a a teacher for and say hey
for this reason we need to move you and absences are not legitimate. So, if we can look at that and come up with a more fair and reasonable and beneficial to students in schools way to determine who
gets surplus and laid off instead of looking at absences. That would really help um teachers because we have teachers coming to school sick for fear of hitting that limit. Um and that's just not effective. Any questions? I do. Uh, okay. So,
trustee Aljah and then we'll have trusty B. So, I'm trying to understand what surplus mean and how it relates to absenteeism. So, is it moving them to another school? Is
this to what would it do if if somebody's has excessive absenteeism and they're considered surplus to move to another school? Is that a form of punishment? What is it? I'm just trying to understand that. I can probably
clarify. So the surplus is let's just say you have a building and I'll just use building A whatever as example and let's say that for example student enrollment went down in that building and uh this year you have 21 teachers but next year because of the enrollment you only have 19. You you don't
necessarily get laid off but because there's not enough positions left in that building you would get moved. So there needs to be a formula. um uh developed to determine prior to 13 it was it was seniority and that's how it
was in the contract the law prohibited seniority in 2011 we negotiated in 13 the board at the time I'm just going to say what it was the initiative of the board there was concerns of absenteeism and s superintendent wiston going back in 200910 11 and so that's why the
direction was to go into board policy in place so this policy has has been in place since 2013. It has not been used tremendous amount because we've generally had positive budgets. When I was HR, we had to use it between probably 2013 through 15. Uh and then
maybe here or there. We haven't had to use it much at all for layoffs in about 10 years. I think that's now why we we are I don't want to negotiate in the public, but we are open-minded to alternative formulas. I know that's a factor. So, thank you. I just passing means you get transferred to another
building. Yeah, it sounds like it's the first option. They're the first uh to be transferred. Correct. Well, it's kind of layoff but more moved to another building. So, what you do is for layoff, you have to look at the entire district staffing
and it's evaluations that are actually it's um employee I can the policy it's got employee disciplinary evaluations. Now the evaluation ratings have changed. It used to be highly effective effective. So now you have effective. So it is the ratings that absences come in
I believe shortly after the they come in after and then seniority is later in the certific oh certification requirements but we're open to right now it's in board policy it's been there since 2013 um we're open to you know negotiating
different formulas for sure um trusty Barry had a question yes uh comments first uh seniorities we use uh Brian Wiston in uh I mean excessive absences was it's not the teachers using or the
employees using the the sick days. It was teachers were just just for the heck of it were taking days off. There's a half a day instead of coming in for a half a day. They were just taking the whole day off. Uh I haven't looked at the contract in a minute. You mentioned
earlier it's 15 days over a two-year period right now. Yes. If you have if you can take up to 15 absences over two years. Once you hit your 16th absence over two years, that's when you uh are
can potentially be surplused. So the formula doesn't kick in. So anyone below 16, the absence won't be a factor for them if they're below 16 absences. It doesn't it's not one of the rating factors over a two-year period. So you would have to have number 16 for that to
come into play as a factor in layoff and recall. So if I'm a surplus, sorry. So if I'm a teacher and I only used 14 days over the last two years, that doesn't come in play. If I'm correct, surplus or whatever, doesn't have an impact. Now the 15 days, that's that's in the contract. No, it's not in the contract.
That's board policy. Board policy. In 2012, that became basically a prohibited subject where we couldn't negotiate layoff and surplus language. So, it left our that was never in the contract. Um, but then when it became board policy, that's what it became. What is in a
contract? How many sick days? Uh, contractually, we are entitled to 13 sick days and two personal business days a year. And that was negotiated. And that that is part of our compensation package. So when you offer someone a job, you know, sometimes you can't offer
them as much money as you can as they deserve. Then you'll say, "Okay, well, we'll give you sick days. We'll give you give them nonmonetary things to entice them to come." I think that's why I was trying to wrap my my head around the you negotiated for those 13 plus two days.
That's where 15 came from. And I know we all know a little bit about negotiations. Uh when you negotiate, once you get something, you obviously gave something up. So, I don't want to jeopardize your, you know, your negotiations. I don't, you know, I'm a step back right now, but just keep that
in mind. Uh, moving forward. I know you guys are going to be, you two are going to be talking about this. So, well, the sick days are going to stay the same. Those are those are in the contract. Yeah. What we are discussing is what criteria is used in order to determine
who gets surplused and or laid off. I got that. And um so I I have a major health issue and I use up all my sick days and all of a sudden it's like you know one of our colleagues here something happened personal life and you have to take a couple more days. At that
point you're getting penalized. If you use 16 over two years that's what I'm saying. I already used up my sick days because I was in the hospital for two and a half weeks. I used up all my sick days but then life happens and Okay. Well, if you're in a hospital for two and a half weeks, you can file for FMLA
and then it bad example. So, if you qualify for FMLA, so you have to be working for a year to have FMLA, you couldn't have had used FMLA in the past year and you have to be a full-time employee to use FMLA. So, if you're
point86.5, you cannot use FMLA. And if you have two babies in a row, you can't use FMLA twice. That was a bad example. Dr. I'm like, let's go back into the classroom where parents, both parents work, their kids are sick, they send them to the classroom, and we know how
that plays out. Guess who ends up getting sick? Yep. You know, the Yeah. the teacher and eats up those. Okay. Anyways, moving forward, I'm we're looking for more information from Thank you. Trust. So, first of all, Kathy,
thank you for everything you do. Thanks to all I see a bunch of teachers back there, too. Thank you for coming out. Uh oh. Woohoo. Yeah. Woohoo. Um I've told the story a bunch of times about how two teacher, you know, two teachers sort of changed the direction of my life and I'm 47 and I'm
still talking about it. So you have much more. Huh? Yeah. Sorry. 47. I mean looking 37 but still 47. And uh so thank you for everything you do. Um so let me get this straight just so I understand. Your contract
says that you get 15 well a combination of 13 six days six days and two what' you call them personal business personal business days. So that's 15 days you guys negotiated for that in lie of more money or whatever whatever and you get
those per year per school year and however if you take more than 15 days over a 2-year period it could be used against you when they start looking to surplus people. Is that what you're saying? Yes. Did I get that right? You
did. Did I get that? Yes. Did I get that right? So the days that we have earned No. Okay. I get it. Yep. So, did I get that right? Correct. Okay. It's a little confusing. Did but I did I get that right? You did get it right. Okay. Thank you.
Uh I have a question regarding the surveys that you've done. I know you've done the surveys before last year. Did you compare the results? Did you see improvements in some areas? We did. Um, I actually meant to do a
slide. I wanted to do a slide that compared. Um, I will say that the union satisfaction has actually increased this year by just a couple percentage points. Um, and the satisfaction of like the building administration decreased a
little bit this year. Um, and I don't remember the data for the school board and the central office administration. Was that with the similar number of participants? Because I see you put in just one slide the number who
participated. I don't know if that was uh throughout the entire survey, the 378 people or and when you're comparing things, they better be apples to apples, not apples to oranges. The last survey,
I believe, was a little different than this one. So, and I don't know what your numbers were. we had longer time to uh have the survey. So no, there was a slightly larger sample size. Uh however, if you look at surveys, anything between
20 and 25% is stat statistically significant for results. And we have about 25% respond rate on this one. So, and the way percentages work is if you have a sample size that's stat statistically significant, you assume
that it's going to be the same result even if it gets bigger. But were the surveys the exact same survey? It was pretty Yeah, the questions were the same. Okay. So, uh, going back to, uh, the
negotiations, um, if you were to have changes to the board policy, then we would have to change our own policy. Is that correct? Yeah. Because Okay. So, and to trustes are, this is why it's complicated because the legislature stepped in. That's why it's complicated because
prior to 2011, it was in the contract. So they they were aligned with the layoff and recall and then basically the legislature came in and said you could not use seniority. It it could be like a later factor. So that's what's changed it now. We settled our contract prior to
the legislature going back and eliminating the law. So we had the contract settled. So that's why it's now not in the contract and we're trying to negotiate on the side. And we're open. We're openminded. Like I said, we're open-minded to ideas. And I appreciate your leadership, Kathy. I'm looking forward to the 27th. We have our teacher
advisory committee. And I think, you know, one real positive I see in this was you you have some comments in here that, you know, members appreciated why they stay for pay and the contracts and healthcare, which I think is a positive, you know, and I think we've sustained and we don't have, you know, shortages and things like that. So, we're
open-minded. Uh we're always looking for things. I think, you know, when that policy was put in, it was put in at a different time and there were different things going on. So, uh, we're open-minded to some shifts and like Trusty Barry said, you know, there's things we we can, you know, on both sides and we don't want to negotiate
here, but, um, it's kind of a give and take on all ends. Trustes are. So, so if so, also, if I understand this correctly, then so you guys negotiated and currently are under a contract where you get the 13 plus two days a year, right?
And um this 15 days or 16 days, we'll call it is when you when you can be when it can be used against you in a surplus. 16 days over a 2-year period. That's a matter of board policy. Correct. Yeah. Okay. By law. So I'm sorry. It was by law because of 2011. It had to go into
policy. It could not be part of the contract. Okay. Right. I understand. So but putting into the board policy, we weren't legally required to put it. We were just No, you were required by back then. We were we had to have we had to have you didn't have to have sick days
as part of it though. It became board policy in determining who was surplus or laid off and the district was able to decide the criteria for surplus and Okay. Kathy, would it could are you saying or I guess both Kathy and Dr. Mleo, are you saying that if we wanted
to as a board we could eliminate that existing board policy? Now the board has we have many policies that the board decides. That's not that's not what I ask. I mean you could eliminate any legally. Yes. Legally eliminate that board policy. Now you have you have the
ability on any policies to eliminate to add to tweak. We have our process. We go through the board policy committee. Is that is is a board policy created or modified or eliminated by a majority vote? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Eventually comes to the full board. Okay. Thank you.
to be continued. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Martin, for sharing. Thank you, Kevin. Next item, please. The next item just just to make actually before we move on to the next item, if I may, uh, if there are no objections,
move up citizen participation. So, I know we started late and folks have been here for a while to address us. Sure. So, I'd like to move up citizen participation before special reports. So, if you want to read the Yes. And just to confirm, there's no other union
leadership. No, you're right. I believe we only had DFSC and DFT. So, Okay, good. Thank you. All right. Citizen participation. Citizens wishing to address the board on agenda and non-aggenda items for action who are signed in by 7:10 p.m. or 10 minutes before our meeting by submitting a blue
card to the board secretary may may speak at this time. The board may not be in a position to respond to non-aggenda items. Therefore, speakers should not anticipate an immediate response to their comments or questions. For benefit of all concern, do not mention the names of students or school district
employees. Please keep your comments as brief as possible. There's a threeminut time limit on comments made to the board. Our first speaker is Aaron Tabour. Tabour.
What' you say? Taber. Taber. Aaron Taber who will be speaking to us about the surplus policy. Thank you. Thank you for moving it up. I appreciate that. Uh my name is Aaron Taber. I teach nth grade English language arts at Fortson High School and I love it. I'm very happy to be here.
Um, so I'm here to urge you to remove attendance as a factor in determining surplus and layoff for teachers. Um, I am personally not. Uh, I've been healthy the last two years, so I'm not personally worried about it right now. Um, but I have a lot of colleagues who
are and they let me share some of their anecdotes. Um, I have one colleague who came in sick last week after having food poisoning because she knew that that would put her on the um on the docket for potentially being surplused. I have
another colleague who has been teaching in the district for 15 years and she uh needs to uh take a personal day next week to chaperone her kids a field trip. That's going to put her on that 16 days to be surplused.
I have another colleague who was surplus last year. She was in the district for 15 years and um she went through the process of getting um permission to take a religious pilgrimage uh to Greece for uh Christian Orthodox Easter. So she went through that entire process. She
was super excited and she went to Greece. Um and then not not long after coming back, she was notified that because of that pilgrimage, she was now being surplused. Um, and then we have another colleague who was surplus last year. He was at
Fordson for six years and um, he I'm being told that he was being moved. He was told he had quote impeccable attendance, but he was he was sick on one single professional development day and that uh, made him need to move schools. Uh we're talking about very
dedicated teachers who know that they need to be in the classroom, who love their job, and who know that students learn when they're in the classroom. Um and uh we shouldn't have to choose between getting our students
sick and getting our colleagues sick and uh being worried about being surplused. I think uh we're most frustrated that these days are part of our compensation package. uh they're not extra, but we've already negotiated on these days. So, it
feels really frustrating to take days that have been negotiated for us and not being able to use them. Um, and we encourage uh administrators to uh deal one-on-one with the teachers that might have um excessive absences
rather than dealing with uh 1,400 teachers uh and a blanket policy who are not um having excessive absences. Thank you so much. Thank you for addressing us. Next speaker. [Applause]
Next speaker is Muna Mashra S to here to talk to us about surpluses and layoffs. Hello. Um my name is Manashra. I'm a school psychologist in um the district. Um so when uh our superintendent was in
the classroom as mentioned before surplus and layoffs were based mainly on seniority and attendance was not used as a factor at all. But now surplus and layoff is mainly impacted by attendance. Um so I asked the superintendent and his leadership team if it was good enough
for you when you were in the classroom then why isn't it good enough for us? If you deserve to prioritize your physical and mental health without punishment, then why don't we deserve the same? Especially in a postcoavid era. If you were able to use your benefits package without surplus being held over your heads, then why don't you think that we
deserve the same? The union isn't asking for seniority to be the sole factor for surplus and layoff. But we are asking for attendance to no longer be a factor. We are asking the district to honor the benefits package it provides members by not having strings attached to the use of their sick days. By not continuing to
use a policy that disproportionately discriminates against women and those with health issues. By leading with empathy and compassion just like you ask us to do every day for our students. We are asking you to no longer punish teachers for using their sick days because teachers need to prioritize their physical and mental health to be
effective for our students. Healthy teachers means a healthy classroom environment which is students first. So I ask the district evaluate our impact not our sick days. Thank you. Thank you for Okay. Our next card um comes from
someone who does not want to speak to the board, but I'll summarize their comments from Kirsten Stefo. Did I say that right? Yes. Do the teachers know if I said that right? Yes. Okay. The comment is as as an educator who is a parent, the limitations on how many sick
days, care of family days or care of family days disproportionately affects parents of young children who need to be home when their children are sick. The next card from a a community member who does not who wants me to read
it for them is from Joseph Sickener. Am I saying is that person here? Hear my I'm sorry. Sickenator. Sickenator. Okay. Sorry if I don't get the handwriting perfect. No other job counts your sick
days or funerals or emergencies against you. We have to work harder when we're sick. We are on the front lines every day getting in contact with diseases. Give us the days that are already
ours. Uh, President Mosep, that's all the cards we have. Thank you very much. Uh, we do have a section here for board followup on previous citizen participation. Trusty Barry, I guess my question is Dr. from Lake. Why I guess
what would be the argument not to go back to seniority? Um I mean I can't I need to think about that and get back to you in detail. I would just say seniority um one of the reasons it was taken out was because there were other factors like evaluation
and what happened historically was um I'll just say why the law changed was because um you may have had a more highly effective teacher um that was getting laid off because of so seniority when someone maybe was going through
discipline or was like in our system a plan three teacher. So that's where that this law originated with the Michigan legislature and that's why they kind of said seniority should be a later factor. It could because it could be performance what Dearborn did at the time and hey
I'm open to like I mentioned to Kathy and everyone open to changes at the time attendance I remember and it was Brian Wiston with the board that we were very concerned of attendance and that's why when did the law change the law changed in 2011 and then it changed back in 2024
last year just last year so that's why it's fresh okay so that 20 that law has that policy has been so when I get a phone call from a teacher earlier today and he or she claimed that we won't use seniority because the newer
teachers make less money than the veteran teachers that had enough the the the money has moving forward. I mean we you know the last few years we were dealing with a teacher shortage and we were given higher up in the scale. I get that. I'm just it was historically it was there were complaints you know not
from Dearborn per se but across the state of layoffs was happening to those who had gone through you know uh had multiple disciplines or and that's why discipline's a factor or they had gone and then you had a teacher that was highly affected doing a great job the kind of teachers that we all heard at the superintendent honors night like the
teachers we have here and some of them were getting laid off and that was the time if you remember 200 you know when John Artist was here and then Brian high in and the bottom fell out. That was when layoffs were happening. The the the contract I think was also broken with
the layoff pro protocol because we were literally laying off and prior to me even being HR and you might recall 120 to 130 teachers a year and we would call back because of what was in the contract with the seniority and it was written to the point where you'd have to lay off these positions to give cushion so then
you could go and select at you know based on your seniority. So that time because of the budget being bad. The economy tanked in ' 08 09 we were looking at layoffs. The last time we probably had layoffs maybe some of you can correct may have been my last year
in HR I think when you know a few uh but the budget started getting better in 15 and so we haven't had to deal with it which is why it's coming to headwind and times were different. We're open to it if it doesn't work. During co you might recall the board did put a temporary hold on this policy. So during CO the
board took action under our recommendation through administration to actually to suppress that policy during COVID. It kicks back in because you know now we're back to the formula coming in this year but we're open to different ideas depending on the priority. I would
still think that you know evaluation and performance is still important. Now the factors have changed because we no longer have the highly effective uh now it's only a three-factor. Sure. There's no doubt in my mind the last few years maybe six, seven years we've been very generous because comes
our teachers but now it's understandable anxieties are high because what could happen. Correct. We know that. So yeah, that's why it's coming. I mean we always we always want to do the right thing with our teachers. So all of our employees but okay we're open-minded and I know HR has told me they're you know I
don't want to negotiate in the public but we we're open-minded. Like you said it's a give and take. you know, there's things, you know, um, as well that we we're here ultimately to protect the students. The one thing I will just say, again, we want to protect people when they're sick. But I will just say, I go through the school improvement and I walk through the classrooms and we have
we have good subs, but it it is not the same quality of instruction for our students when we go through the classrooms with the subs. Now that we have some very good subs, but overall as the shortage has occurred and the standard has it it is a detriment to our students because the great teachers that do our work when they're there uh the
students are getting a higher quality of instruction which is why it was initially brought in way back. So there's two factors back in uh 2011 I think two one was budget but the other one was the quality of instruction. I look at the equality of instruction as a
higher in my mind. I'm okay with spending extra budget but then you know making sure we have high quality teachers. we got a shortage and we that was the other complaint we get complaints with you know u now we also have paid higher for our substitutes so we're getting a little better as well so we're doing better there and I think
Kathy brought the data of you know compensation is better but that is a factor when I walk through the classrooms you know um it's not the same quality and we hear from parents that say well what happened why do I have a substitute for so long so that's the other factor that we're dealing with I think we're open-minded we need to get
to the drawing board and support our teachers but understand there's some history here as to why We we have this policy and it's been in place for many years. Sure. No, we were at the table. It's a complicated issue. I mean, we always say parents send their kids to school and they're sick. Last thing I want to see, Last thing I think we all
want to see is if a teacher's not feeling well, but she's got to come in to work or he's got to come in to work. That's the last thing we want to see. So, so maybe the formula needs to change. It's it's outdated and it needs to be looked at and maybe there's something else that part of it. You know, we're at that time. Trustes are
you have a question for one of the speakers? Yeah. Miss Taber and Miss Mush, could both of you or either of you come back up for one second? I just have a quick little follow-up question and it and I and it's going to be really quick and I can only give you like 30 seconds to answer it. So, um, please uh just answer.
Why is so bad? I mean, a surplus just means you're moving to a different building. What is so bad about a surplus? Why wouldn't a teacher just so we can all hear it for the community. Why wouldn't a teacher want to be surplus? You're not getting paid. You're not going to get paid less. You're not going to like Why wouldn't a teacher want to be surplus and just deal with that? Well, a lot of our teachers,
especially if you've been in the building for a while, you've built relationships with the families. You built relationships with um your colleagues. Um you you know, at the elementary level, there's a lot of material. There's a lot of time that you've bu you've put into your classrooms. Um and to be uprooted, it's
like somebody, you know, evicting you out of your home. Like, you know, it's devastating to be to leave. You're um now like from the physical standpoint, you have to pack all that stuff up. You have to leave. But from the emotional standpoint, you've made connections with the community that's at that building,
with the students and the families, and you're losing that, and now you're you're being moved. Um, and for it to be based on um sick days, based on using days that are in our benefits package. Sure, I get that. I just wanted to hear why it was bad. Do you have anything to
add, Mr. Taber? No, not at all. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Well, Dr. Miku, you do have a direction for negotiations. um attendance is important but definitely it's something that could be negotiated with the I think there could
be different formulas that you know just like what we did with the in change maybe changing orders and other ideas we can come up with together and I look forward to working with Kathy and like I said I think we've built good relationship where we work together we have different she's you know defending her members and we respect our teachers and we're trying like I said we have the
parents and we have other and our students and I know everyone cares about the students so I think together because we have great union relationships We sit down, we talk, we brainstorm, and we solve things. And that's uh what we'll do. So, Part: 2
Heat. Heat. And good evening everyone. Uh this is the school district of the city of Dearbornne regular meeting for Monday, May 12th, 2025. Uh I call this meeting to order at
7:40. I do truly apologize for starting late. We did have another business to take care of at the other institution that we do serve at Henry Forth College. And I'm happy to report that we did make a decision of an intri uh president uh
to appoint Dr. Gonko as the interim president for Henry Ford College. So we appreciate everybody who came to the meeting today and we appreciate your patience. May I have a roll call, please? Yeah. And we were late and I'd just like to say for the record it was Pat's fault. All right. Trustee Eljami here.
Trusty Barry here. Treasure Drosio here. Trusty Pelichkov here. Vice President Watts. Uh, Secretary Zaher here. President Mos here. Thank you. Next item, please. Next item is the pledge of allegiance to the flag. And
today we are blessed to have the presence of the Dearborn Girl Scouts Troop 77989 to lead the pledge of allegiance. make yourselves known as they come up here. I just have to mention since we had some time to fill when you guys were
heading over. So, they were over here in your seats. We're kind of running a meeting. They sat in our seats. Okay, they did. We'll have a talk with them. Probably 77989. I know that number. Good evening, President Mos and Dr.
Mleco and trustees. So, we do have Girl Scouts Troop 78778989 77989. So, we're going to lead you in the pledge. Ready? I pledge algiance 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. Good job. I can have all of you come over here. Watch your step. Excited group. Yep. So, I'll have Yara Abduni.
Yara. So, the girls have something for you, too. Oh, thank you very much. I am so glad. Oh my goodness. You're so guilty. Who's Nadia? You can win. Oh, thank you. He didn't get one yet. He needs one.
Nadia Deep. Thank you very much. Thank you, girls. Tell them to come up here so we take pictures. Come on up, girls. Oh, you're in it. Okay. Thank you. I got one. I got one. Thank you. I got one. Thank you. I do got one. Thank you. Thank you. Might be doing some trade in behind the scenes. I like those.
If you like what you've got, let let's get the certificates. So, Nadia, where's Nadi? Okay. Narr Okay. And here. All right. Oh, you are perfect. It is
okay. Thank you. And there we All right. You should all have your certificates. Perfect. Let's take a picture. Thank you. I did. I did. There's at least 10 people. Thank you guys.
Thank you again to the girl scouts. Next item, please. Next item is a superintendent's update. Good evening everyone. I'm going to start with our traditional uh retirements that are on the agenda. Uh both uh thank them for their years of service and congratulate them on their retirement. Last month we
had a large uh list because of the deadline for the incentive, but this time we don't have as many. But again, congratulations to all. Camille Elum over 18 years. Alyssa Coleman 26 years. Lisa Demarco 25 years. Katherine Keebler
25 years. Ashar McTar is an update of 31 years of service. And Jacqueline Stazzel is over 32 years of service. Congratulations and thank you for all of your I'll just keep going down the list.
I know we have a lot of teachers in the crowd. Uh last week was teacher appreciation week. We truly appreciate the hard work and dedication of our teachers. I think one of the events that kicks off a lot of positive is um not only the student choice awards that was a few months a few weeks back, but last
week we had our student superintendent honors night and we have students that came up and honored a staff member that made a difference in their lives and you could tell it was really about the relationship and so appreciate the great work the teachers do. It was great. I think we had four kindergarten teachers
of uh that came up which is fantastic. So I always have kind of a special place for those elementaryaries teachers when the students remember. But we thank the teachers at all level elementary, high school, middle school and all the members uh for the great work they do each and every day. I also want to do a
shout out for mental health awareness month. Uh we take it very serious in the district with social workers. I think one of the highest number um on average per uh student. Uh is nodding because we've added over the last several years. We also have support programs like care solus for our students and teachers if
needed. But we also have our u alliance that we provide for staff if uh mental health support is necessary. Um last Monday we had an excellent meeting uh about the potential bond potential bond that we're working towards with our infrastructure. We had
Kit Quinn Evans who presented. It was a very very good meeting. I think we got a lot accomplished. We still got a lot of work to do. Um but if you'd like to watch that, it is on the YouTube. You can go. It was last Monday and it was very very good meeting. Uh we all know that we need to do some up in infrastructure upgrades and it's just a
matter of getting that plan together and I think Quinn Evans has a lot of good data just for the board. They're probably going to be reaching out uh president for either individual or small meetings before the next board meeting. They felt like they needed to get some information in your hands especially because we didn't have some of the
committee meetings today. I want to mention to my role um I'm rotating off the MASA superintendent uh board uh next month. I spent six years and I think it's served us well also in Dearborn. It's given me direct line to
lobbyist connection to the legislators and to advocate for Dearborn students. I'm now on the AASA the national superintendent Midwest regional uh board and uh and another positive is they pay for all the expenses but it gets us in the know. gives us influence and a lot
of stuff going on at the federal level that's very important. So it gets me right in direct ability to advocate for students to build relationships with legislators, superintendents from across the state and it was a privilege and honor for me to serve two last year as the president of the Michigan Superintendent Association. So just
wanted to say I think it pays some dividends for our district and I know president you have mentioned that to me as well. So thank you for the board support and the community and again we're advocating for students um in those roles. One thing most recently that I was able to use lobbyists is our English language learner committee that
I formed uh a year and a half ago, Mr. Sy and Miss Rosel Bailey, but it's superintendent across the state, the Michigan Association of Bilingual Education, and we uh formed a group to advocate for English language learners. Uh we were pleased to see um an increase in the budget at the state level from
the Senate. So, we're hoping we're going to get more funding that way. So, it's a positive and it's sharing in best practice. On the federal level, the news is a little different. Uh, we So, to date, we have been cut uh $5.8 million from the federal government by the Trump
Musk federal cuts. Um, they announced a week and a little bit over a week ago on Friday that title 2, three, and four were eliminated. I believe title six as well. Um, and I'll mention what they're what they are. There will be a transition period. So, we don't know
exactly when that implementation will happen, but um we also had the H health resources advocate um uh eliminated about two months ago and it was retroactive. That's about $1.4 million between the two years. Title two is
staff development for teachers and others. Title Title three, I just said we got an increase potentially at the state, but a decrease now uh of English language learner funding uh at the federal level. And then title four is for multiple types of programs. Um you
know it could be for technology. Uh it's for the arts, social emotional learning techn uh health and uh services uh for students. So that title four funding was also eliminated. Um so far title one and IDA which is the
special ed have not been reduced. We're monitoring that very closely and um I know there's a resolution today about fully funding IDA. Um so to show that right now special ed funding is not fully funded by the federal government even though it's a federal mandate. So
we still don't get full funding but you know we want to maintain and not have any reductions at least to that because if there were reductions we'd have to pick it up with the general fund and therefore it would impact all students. Can can you just let everybody know how much if we lost those two title Sure
programs would be in total? So the the ones that I just mentioned I had the 5.8 million the title one is 15 million and the idea special ed is5 million approximately. So that would be another $20 million correct? So we're talking
closing in on almost $30 million at the end of the day with a lot of this will most likely in talking not that it's happening. Sure. Thank you for mentioning that, Trusty Pkov. We believe that a lot of this will end up in the courts uh and a fight with Congress at the federal level. Um you know, and
there was an injunction put in about districts having to certify about eliminations of DEI programs. And so we have attorneys involved with that, not just our attorneys, but on the state and national level, which is again why it's advantageous for me to be in these associations directly involved
advocating for our students. Um, in fact, I'll be in Washington this summer, um, with the AS Aasa group. Um, but I also have to mention, so we now go into the state budget. So, the state budget is our bigger portion of our budget. Uh,
and I want to say this, I'm not doing it to scare anything anybody. We have the reality is we deal with it and we will um we'll move forward and we'll maintain, we'll protect our students, but these are the realities we're facing in the state budget. We probably will not get Tom's talking about it tonight,
but we do not anticipate getting it resolved at the state level until September. It's going to be one of those years where we have to estimate the board has to approve it in June by law. We have to approve our budget by June 30th and then we may not know exactly what h what is going to happen. Uh Senator Cameilli and then the support of
Santana and other senators, it's more favorable to public education from the budget coming out. uh from what I saw and I was in a meeting with him and other superintendents um the budget coming out of the house is not they want to eliminate all categoricals. I don't necessarily think it'll end up there but
just for an example we have many what we call categorical state grants our at risk categorical grant is approximately $24 million. So just to give you an idea of what now I don't anticipate that getting eliminated but I anticipate in the negotiations we may or may not get
this the the kind of budgets we've had the last two years at the state level. So, those are other things that we just have to, you know, deal with. Um, I mean, another thing, too, that the state has to deal with is if more federal cuts come, then they may have to find other
funding to fill the gap. For example, there's talk of Head Start, uh, which is about 480 million, and then the free and reduced lunch program, which is about 900 million in federal dollars. So, if those were to go or not come to the state, the state would have to make up
those somehow. So, eventually the pool would be less for everyone. So, this is the reality of what we're facing with a lot of these Trump Musk uh budget cuts. And again, it's not being political. This is being factual. This is what's happening right now. So, um so I don't know. I'll move on to the
next thing. Uh I have a positive things now. Uh graduation ceremonies are going. We start at the Henry Ford Early College. I know the college had theirs last uh weekend, I believe, and hope and sounds like it all went well with our trustees and our students that do great over there at the college. Um and so
ours are starting up next Saturday and then we have some uh going into the year and we'll be we will not have another meeting before the um the before all the ceremonies. So congratulations to all our graduates. Uh we graduate about 1500 a year. So it's great work that the team
does and teachers and all staff to support our students. I have another positive uh mention here. um the Meno Center for Public Policy, which is an independent nonprofit partisan research um educational institute. And I'm just going to read the highlight. Dearorn
School's top new contacts and performance report card, they were we were at the top in the the headlines. And so um congratulation again. We are always looking to improve, but Dearone was the headline of that article. So great job to staff and students as we continue to look forward and always want
to improve. The last thing I have is uh and the board has that in their briefs and it's been also we we also put out a publication through David's department uh communications on that. You could see that. The last two things I have are
um first of all, Miss Courtney Pletky uh received her HR certification from MSBO. Uh congratulations to her. And then you know we're sad to see him go, but we have Mr. Adam Martin who's the next superintendent of Waterford Public Schools. Congratulations, Adam. Thank
you for your hard work. I still remember that interview maybe was it nine 10 years ago over at Dur High when we started over there and you've done great work and we appreciate all that you've done for students and thank you and good luck moving forward and I know we'll be talking a lot as
superintendent colleagues. So and that's all I have. Any questions for the superintendent? Trusty Barry, Dr. Malik, when we ask for information, we're not asking employees. were kind of asking you. Sure.
So, I did ask for something last month. I still don't have it. So, from now on, I would like for you to follow up. Okay. If there's a reason why information is delayed, what is it that you that I asked for? I thought it was simple, but uh I want to see a graph. We already saw
a graph of the DFT Yeah. salaries. I want to see a graph of the non-instructional DFT and exempt employees. Uh I did talk to Mr. Wall I believe sometime last week but uh this is information that I personally want to
is going to need with some kind of decisions moving forward. The other thing I emailed you and copied the president Mos uh on uh regarding some information looking some evaluations and thank you for getting the
legal legal opinion on that. Uh I am not I am not ex expecting a vote on this today. Okay. We our colleagues and I have been very very busy the last couple weeks. We didn't I didn't get a chance to I don't know how to you know to discuss this with them but I do want to
share this list with you uh on uh I did update it from the one I sent you. So then I'll probably put this on the agenda at the next meeting. Okay. Vote on you want to pass this down please. And the last thing I'm going to ask for is uh the last time we did this uh we
asked for uh to be able to look at an employees uh file and we did get it approved. Uh I want to add another one more person. Okay. If possible then I'll I'll talk to
my colleagues why and why not. This is 42. Thank you. That's all I have. President Mos. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions? Okay. Thank you. Okay, next item please. Next item is recognition and acknowledgement.
Good evening. My name is Vivoon Wisnooki and I'm a senior at Zel Ford. And uh good evening. My name is Zin Salam and I'm also a senior at Ford High School. Uh commendations. to the student winners in the PTA art reflections contest. The students will be recognized during an
event on May 16 at Woodworth Middle School. Congratulations to first place winner Nad Mahi in fourth grade at Howard. Second place winner Read in seventh grade at Woodworth and third place winner um Karia Ali in eighth
grade at Woodworth. Honorable mentions were given to Lama Al Shahi, fourth grade at Oakman Elementary. Kellen Cruz, 10th grade at Ford High School. Lana Hazelle, seventh grade at Woodworth Middle School. Selena Sage, seventh
grade at Woodworth Middle School. Huda um Almansu fourth grade at Oakman Elementary. Uh Ayah Hammud, third grade at Duval Elementary. Um, Gama Al Sabahi, seventh grade at Salina Intermediate.
And uh, Lei Ali, seventh grade at Woodworth. For the high school, accommodations to Dearborn High students involved in the video program. Students won best of show this year at the Michigan Student Film Festival for their public service of announcement, Speak
Up, Stay Together, Stay Safe. The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences awarded the students four regional student production awards. The school's third year in a row winning best sound. These movies will continue on to the national competition. The
winning projects include Best of Show winner, Speak Up, Stay Together, Stay Safe, Amina Tumi, producer, Jesse Good, editor, Diara Fuller, camera, Maria Foley, talent. Evelyn Traverse, producer. Best fiction long form winner,
Death in the Family, Jacob Head, executive producer, Noah Almashurker, producer. Best music video winner, Feeling Good, Jesse Good, producer, Evelyn Traverse, talent, Maria Foley,
talent, Colton Abbott, talent, and Amina Tumi, talent best winner. Best editor winner WDHS festival trailer Muhammad Al Mccle editor best ed a audio/ound winner the silent assassin colton Abbott sound
podel aljabber sound guests can see all the submitted videos during the WDHS film festival on May 16th and 17th accommodations to the students involved with the pioneer press the students submitted 20 or 36 entries and
took home 27 individual awards from the Michigan Interscolastic Press Association annual spring awards. The awards include two first place, two third place, and 23 honorable mentions. First place winners were Muhammad Ali for first page new front page news
magazine and Ash Watson for an opinion article. Third place winners include Ash Watson and Hussein Hammud for editorial opinion and Wilson and Yang for advertising layout. Accommodations to senior Jenna
Jenna Dakala from Dearborn High and Rafi Kurri from Henry Ford Early College representing the district on the state superintendent advisory committee. Both students recent recently received a special Michigan Department of Education cord in appreciation of their
service. Accommodation to Forton High School teacher Miriam Abui who recently completed her PhD in STEM educational studies at Wayne State University. Accommodation to fortson autoshop teacher Tariq Algabri. He completed his
ASSENTF accreditation during his first year of teaching is listed as a reviewer for the fifth edi edition of the modern automotive technology textbook and was nominated as automotive teacher of the year. He also oversaw a record number of
forts students who took and pass student certification this year. Accommodations to Sarah Brookisen, etsel Ford band orchestra and piano teacher and Jeffrey Kelm, etford music teacher, for their efforts to bring several different learning uh experiences to
ille students who are involved in both vocal and instrumental music. The visits included guest lectures, specialized clinics, and professional woodwin quintet to discuss the experience of being a professional musician. Accommodations at Zel Ford for hosting
the annual evening of jazz featuring jazz bands from Lowi Lowry Middle School, Bryant Middle School, STEM Middle School, Dearborn High School, and Zel Ford High School. This is a collaborative event by Sarah Brookisen, Nicole Hartrick, Brian McCloskkey,
Marwin Nash, and Matthew Ketwin. Accommodations to Ford students involved an innovative vehicle technology design competition at Ketering University. The team took second place in overall performance for their vehicle which was designed and built by students. Senior
Jeremy Paddock served as the team chief. The team is led by auto and welding teacher Marissa Reno. Commendations to Lori Middle School students who performed the National Arab Orchestra on April 26th and to their music teacher Marwan Nashef. The concert
was held at Ford Community and Performing Arts Center. Commendations to various student groups helping raise money for Smith Middle School student battling cancer. The National Honor Societies at Zel Ford and Dearborn High each raised $150 for the student. The O Smith National Junior
Honor Society in collaboration with Dearborn Education Foundation's crowdfunding support raised $7,500 for the students family. Commendations to elementary instructional coaches Nicole Bush and
Angela Zigar and early childhood specialist Sarah Burkeholder for their outstanding dedication and leadership and development of the 2526 reading assessment resources and professional development. This work was done in partnership with the group included
administrators, curriculum leaders and the assessment department. Their collaborative efforts have ensured a smooth and wellsupported roll out for the upcoming school. You're empowering educators with tools needed to strengthen literacy instruction and student achievement across the district.
Thank you so much. Um before you leave, any questions for the students? I I know you mentioned your names in the beginning. I I couldn't get them. So, if you state your name again and since you're seniors, where are you planning to go for uh after high school?
Uh my name is Zen Salam and I am a senior at Sephford High School and I plan on attending Wayne State uh for cyber security. Amazing. My name is Vivvenki. I plan on attending uh Michigan State for political science and a double major in economics. Best
wishious. All right. All right. Thank you so much. Good job. Dr. Mico, you mentioned something. Probably you missed something in your update. Yeah, just I had to mention that the board calendar for next year, the draft is there for the board. It would go to the board um in the board briefs
and then it will go to the board uh next month for potential approval. And Trusty Barry, I just spoke to Mr. Wall. We'll get you that report ASAP. He had some clarifying questions which is why he contacted you, but he'll discuss it and we'll get it to you as soon as possible. Sure. Thank you. I mean that's I mean that's I didn't want to like put that
out there but there was one report where it just took forever. I'm talking about like over a year. I know when I first returned to the board uh I was told by colleagues that uh from now on when you ask for information you have to get uh at least three approval like four like a
quorum and that didn't make any sense. We need information. Uh then there was another colleague that came on board later on. He was asking a lot of you know a lot of requests for information and we know how that worked out for that trustee. So, this is a board that's hungry for data, hungry for information.
So, let's just get on track. That's all. Thank you very much. Thank you, Tom. Mr. Wall, thank you. Next item, please. Next item is teacher of the year, right? Yes. Okay. Good evening, board members,
superintendent, Miss Harris. So, uh just a couple quick followups. Uh I just wanted to uh while we were giving commendations uh wanted to take this opportunity to uh once again uh give commendations to all of those who took part in superintendent honors night but
uh at the event I failed to acknowledge my staff who uh put on that event. And so I wanted to acknowledge Mr. Jacob Farah, uh, Eric Chig Fry, uh, Titus, uh, in Young in graphics, Joanna, uh,
Machinsky, and of course, the person who really does everything for Superintendent's honors tonight is Miss Katie Hetrick. So I want to give her a big commendations for all her efforts in organizing 180 students and
uh 20 teachers and getting them all there getting them on stage organizing them. Uh so without her efforts that event would not go as smoothly as it does. So commendations to all of them. Thank you for giving me that moment. Also following up uh then anyone who
wants to view the Dearborn High videos, they're having a film festival at Dearborn High this uh Friday and Saturday, the May 16th uh and uh uh 17th. Great opportunity. We were going to show a couple clips here, but uh
given uh the full agenda for tonight, we opted not to show those uh those video clips here, but I encourage everyone to go and support the Dearborn High video department. They do a great job over there. Thank you uh for allowing me that little uh sidetrack there. So, every
year the Dearbornne Chamber of Commerce sponsors the teacher of the year awards. This is a great partnership between our business community and the Dearbornne public schools. We're very proud and that uh we are able to work with them in
organizing this event to honor our teachers. And it really is an event that honors the teachers from the student perspective. All of the nominations that we received uh close to 2,000 this year were from students and they acknowledge the great work that their teachers are
doing and we appreciate both the students for their efforts and the teachers uh for taking part in that event. We have our winners. This was your cue to come up. This was your queue. So, um we have
um three four we have four of our five winners uh who are here this evening. I'm going to let each of them introduce themselves uh and tell you what school that they are from. My name is No Abuib and I teach Arabic
at Deerban High School. Thank you. Congratulations. Good evening. Um, I'm glad Ml and I teach at Lori Middle School sixth grade math. Congrats. Hello, my name is Deianne Jones and I teach fifth grade at Long Elementary.
Congratulations. Hi, Kathy Loris, GSRP teacher at Snow Elementary. Congrats. Congratulations. They said we had an opportunity to have a little spiel if I could. Um, so when I was um when asked if I would be
interested in sharing my thoughts on this award, I was excited to have this opportunity to share my gratitude, but terrified to speak in front of adults. To be nominated for teacher of the year is truly an honor. And then to win is amazing. First and foremost, thank you.
Thank you to my student Rosa who took the time to nominate me. And knowing that my work has resonated with her enough to put my name forward means the world to me. It's a powerful reminder of why teachers are in this profession in the first place to make a positive
impact on the lives of our students. And of course, a huge thank you to Alberta Mirhead along with the education committee and the board for establishing this teacher of the year award and all of the sponsors. Your dedication to recognizing and celebrating educators is
so important and appreciated. This acknowledgement provides such a wonderful boost and encouragement. And this award isn't just about me. It reflects the amazing students who fill my classroom with curiosity and energy, the supportive colleagues who share their wisdom and laughter, and the
families who entrust us with their precious children. It's a testament to the collaborative spirit that makes Dearborn public schools in Long Elementary so special. I have been fortunate in the last 28 years working under four wonderful principles, George Monroe, Veronica Jacobis, Shannon
Peterson, and now Yavon Lewis. They have helped shape me into the teacher I am today, and I'm so appreciative to the many dedicated and talented educators, and I feel humbled that I was considered among them. It's a moment to pause, reflect on my journey, and appreciate
the incredible privilege of being a teacher. Thank you again from the bottom of my heart. All right. So, good evening, Dr. Mico, members of the board. Um, I'm grateful to be afforded the opportunity tonight to speak as I was truly in a state of
shock and awe and had no words the evening I was chosen as Dearborn Public Schools teacher of the year for the pre-K to second grade category. Most of you here tonight have heard me speak here before and know it's truly a rare moment for me to be rendered speechless. So, I hope you're ready for my words this evening because here they are. Um,
I've been blessed to have been nominated for this prestigious award in recognition for each and every one of my 11 years here teaching in Dearbornne. I'm beyond thankful to have won this year and since then have had many other people ask me what it is I did to have won. This led me to spend quite a bit of time reflecting on what it is I do both
in and outside of my classroom on a daily basis. The more that I think about it, the answer became more and more clear. And it's really quite simple. And being intent, it's being intentional about practicing diversity, equity, and inclusion in my classroom. As all of you
here know, Dearbornne is an extraordinarily diverse city. In fact, of the 195 recognized countries throughout the world, I've had the privilege of working with children and families in my classroom from 13 different countries already. These families have represented the countries
of Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq, Mexico, Morocco, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Libya, Syria, Pakistan, and of course, the United States. I make it a priority daily in my classroom to practice equality. In fact, I'm know I'm
known for saying quite often that fair is not always equal. I've had families in my classroom who have come from war torn countries coming here with nothing and seeking refuge from what most of us here could not even begin to imagine as being considered as a normal day-to-day life. I've had children in my classroom
who come from homes with one parent and also children who come from homes with no parents. Children who are being raised by trusted adults such as grandparents and aunts and uncles and people who love them unconditionally that are doing everything in their power to give these children what they need. I
strive to meet each child and each family exactly where they're at at that exact moment as no two families are the same. They are each unique and need different things. This is equality. Ensuring everyone has not the same things but what they need in order to be successful. Speaking of needing
different things in order to succeed, this year alone in my class of students 25% of them have individualized education plans, one of which also has their one own one-on-one parapro. I've had children in my class with a wide range of what some people refer to as
disabilities. But to me, these are labels that make these children unique and allow them to shine. I've had children with visual impairments, speech and language delays, early childhood developmental delays, students who are completely deaf as well as hearing impaired, students with ADHD, yes, at
the young age of four. Um, and of course, autism spectrum disorder. It was in fact a parent of a child with ASD who sent in my winning nomination this year. The letter this parent sent in spoke of their child having limited speech, said that I made the transition to school
smooth and reassuring. They noted the work I did to create a specific schedule for their child and the help I gave them with potty training. And lastly, they highlighted the special attention I gave them and their child to ensure that their child received the necessary services they needed in order to be successful in a general education
classroom setting. At the end of the day, this is what true inclusivity looks like. So, as I go on continuing to do what I do daily, when people ask me how you get to win teacher of the year when there are over 2,000 nominations for over 400 amazing teachers in a district,
my answer will continue to be to keep being intentional about practicing diversity, equity, and inclusion. Thank you. Good evening, everyone. As I said before, my name is very weird. No Abuib. And I was given the honor of
being this year's high school Alberta Murhead teacher of the year. I would like to express my gratitude to everyone who has supported me as a teacher across these wonderful days, 26 years. Thank you to my school administrators,
all of you, my students, especially my students who nominated me and wrote a poem about me, Zined Bessie, the board members, and so many more whose hard work and dedication brought me to this moment. Thank you
all. I think they pretty much summarized everything nicely up. So mine is very simple. Um good evening again. I just want to take this opportunity to sincerely thank you so much for the incredible honor. Um I'm truly um I'm
deeply humbled and grateful for this reward. Um it's a real privilege to be recognized alongside so many outstanding teachers and individuals who work in this in this district. I also would like to thank my students for taking the time to um write and nominate me. Hiba um Hi
and Ahmed. They um they did a really nice job obviously which means they truly understand why I challenge them on a daily basis. Um once again thank you for the incredible honor and award. I really really appreciate it. Um but I think they did a phenomenal job summarizing how everybody feels. Thank
you. Thank you. I would just like to also mention that Mr. Andrew Wartz was the winner from the adult education category. When the Chamber of Commerce first started the uh uh teacher of the year award, there were just three winners, elementary, middle,
and high school. And over the years, they've adapted and changed because they've saw the different needs. That's why they've broken up elementary into two groups, and they've added the adult education group. So, I really appreciate the chamber, Miss Kelly Vandenbos, who is the current executive director of the
chamber, for all of their work and their efforts. this uh Lefontaine Automotive Group who is the uh sponsor for that for this award ceremony as well. We want to thank them. Again, it's a great partnership between our business community and the Dearborn Public
Schools. We want to keep that going. And I think when you hear these uh teachers and these educators speak, you understand why they were selected. So, thank you all very much. If you guys would like, you can get a quick picture with
your Congratulations. Next item, please. Next item is employee recognition. Good evening. This is our last one for the school year. Um I'd like to ask Lena Hammud to join me. She's the only one
that's able to attend today. Um so I will start with Lena. Lena is a satellite food service manager at Carter. She's been employed by Dearborn Schools for over five years. But I have to say that Lena has been part of Dearbornne schools for much longer than five years. She was one of the parents
that I worked closely with during my time at Woodworth and she gave us so much as a parent as well. She's nominated for her positive attitude and caring for staff members and students. Uh Lena, you want to say a few words? Okay. Thank you. Good evening everyone.
Good evening. My name is Lena Hammud. First of all, thank you for all of you for taking your time to be here. I just want to say thank you to all of you for your all to work for all
the work that you do to make Dearborn public school a safe and well place for our future generation of our kids. And thank you. We will keep them well educated and wellfed together. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. Elizabeth Morrison is a teacher at Duval Elementary School. She's got 24 years with Dearborn Schools and she's nominated was nominated for being a great mentor and teacher going above and beyond for all of her learners and even supporting them before and after school.
So great big thank you to Elizabeth Morrison. Also for the administrator of the month, it is Remma Eunice, the principal at Lorie K8. Remma has been employed with Dearborn Schools for 26 years. She's nominated for her
remarkable leadership and dedication. She fosters a positive, respectful, and supportive environment and has such a positive impact on l on the Lorie school community. Thank you, Reema. And we are honored to have Elizabeth, Lena, and
Remma as part of the Dearborn team. Thank you. Thank you. Next item, please. Next item is acknowledgement of donations. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen of the board. Dr. Malleo, Miss Harris. Um,
I'd like to recommend the following don donations right here, uh, that were offered to the district. The first one is a donation of $586 that was offered to Forzen High School by the Dearborn Education Foundation for the U Animal Farm
Creative Summitive Project. Also, a donation of $300 has been offered to Henry Ford Elementary by the Dearborn Education Foundation for ukulele storage. A donation of $4,000 has been
offered to Dearborn High School by the Dearborn Education Foundation to be used for registration for HOSA. A donation of $200 has been offered to Salina Elementary School by the Dearborn Goodfellows for the student Eid
celebration supplies. Also, a donation of $600 has been offered to Salina Elementary School by Access Youth and Education to be used for the student Eid celebration supplies. Another donation
of $118 has been offered to Salina Elementary School by the Amity Foundation to be used for student Eid celebration supplies. And last, but certainly not least, a donation of an adapted bicycle has been offered to
House School by Amy and Andy uh Fredken to be used uh by students as part of the adapted physical education program for mobility training, sensory integration, and posit uh provide positive behavior support for students. Thank you to all
of our generous donors and support of our school staff and students. Thank you, Mr. Audi. And thank you to the donors, uh, the organizations and the rack family. Next item, please. Next item is the
approval of minutes. Oh, can you read the recommended? Sorry. Approval of minutes of the following Dearborn of Board of Education meeting policy committee meeting April 14th, 2025, board report 24-132. and the regular P12 meeting April 14th
2025 board report 24-133. I'm looking for a motion to make any necessary corrections and move approval of these minutes. So move support motion moved by Trusty Derio supported by Pleskov. Any
corrections or modifications to the minutes? I do have uh just a small correction under uh board member superintendent commentary section where um I commented about the ArabAmerican
Heritage Month and then there is a comment that is just check tape but it um that that could be deleted and then Arabameans could be capitalized. Any other corrections? Seeing none, may I have a
unanimous approval to this motion? Yes. So it is moved.