Good evening and welcome to the Board of Education's regular meeting, for Tuesday, December 2. This meeting is now called to order. May I ask you to do the roll call first? Thank you. Okay. Mister Rosento? Here. Miss Heinrich? Here. Mister Hall? Here. I myself am here. President Williams? I'm here. You have a quorum. And we will now stand for the pledge of allegiance. 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. Alright. We'll entertain a motion to approve the agenda. Mister Walker. I move that the Board of Education approve the 12/02/2025 regular meeting agenda as presented. Support. Motion made to approve the agenda made by mister Walker and supported by missus Heinrich. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? Alright. That meeting, that action shall be taken. Agenda is approved. Okay. There's a lot going on. First, I wanna, wish everyone a great holiday season.
I hope that everyone enjoyed Thanksgiving. I wanna thank those that were helpful in feeding others either through our local schools. I know there were several canned good drives. I know that folks are doing a lot of great work on their own. Some were supporting, the family event that I host every year. All of it was super successful and very fulfilling. And I hope that this season of giving kicks off for you in a wonderful way. I want to thank our superintendent for engaging our parents.
We have a parent stakeholder group that is forming. They met and I forgot to mention this at our last meeting, and it was super successful, very engaging. I was really happy to see, parents I hadn't seen before, be part of this group so that we can hear their voices. Very, diverse group of parents from all over, our district. Happy to see that representation from most of the schools across our district. And I was really happy that they wanna meet more often, which was really helpful
and they like the in person meetings. So, kudos to you. Thank you for doing that, and I look forward to our next, few meetings. The FAPN, meeting was held on November 19. Really good engaging conversation. I was really pleased that there were a lot of parents there. What what came up for me, one of the takeaways was how much is going on in the district and how little we all know about it. It's it's, really hard to stay informed. And, it was interesting that, you know, one parent mentioned, like, they had been here
for seven years and never knew of the organization. And so how can we do better about, communicating and engaging folks? I can tell you that I'm probably on the, further end of the spectrum when it comes to being an involved parent. And I don't know everything that goes on. I learn something new all the time. So we're gonna have to figure out how to, keep the the lines of communication open and and make information access easier. But that is a challenge across the board, because there's just a volume of information
and and making anything easy to find is is hard when you have so much information, but we're gonna keep working at it. We had some good updates that I won't, get into because, mister Recinto is going to give us a legislative update. But some good things happening there. I'm really excited that we're gonna be able to, feel comfortable. I feel comfortable, with the subjects that we're we're gonna be talking about, particularly 31 a a. We had a really good discussion about that last meeting, and I expect we're gonna have a really good discussion this meeting. So with that, I'm gonna kick off our meeting and, move us to the next
item, which is got a lot of stuff open here. Excuse me. Just a moment. Oh, here we go. Okay. Yes. Oh, that brings us to public comment. Thank you. We have the first of our two public comment, opportunities. Is there anyone who wishes to make public comment? We have mister Loveaway. You will have, three minutes for folks who are not accustomed to this process. We welcome public comment. Generally, the board does not respond to public comment. We give every person three minutes. There's a timer on the screen to help you, collect your your comments in that
three minute period. We do ask if you have a comment that relates to a specific person that you refrain from using that person's name where, privacy would be more appropriate, particularly if you're talking about, students. So with that said, welcome. We will have mister Lovelway first, and then I have a card from Jessica George, and one from Charlie, I think it's Gumbit. And I apologize if I'm getting those pronunciations wrong. Mister Lovelway, you have three minutes. Good evening. I have some public comments about the public comments, and that is we have public
comments, and we don't have any public replies. So, if you reply, and if you say anything in your reply besides better foggery, the rest of the public doesn't hear about it. And I some think some of these issues are important to other members of the public. One of the thing and one of the things that you violate every three meetings or so is, the handout I gave to you. Yeah. You did make public you responded to a public comment, which I thought was very
well reasoned and well stated, and you went on and more or less decided that you would say that that doesn't necessarily, hurt comment, doesn't necessarily appeal to everybody. So I put it down for you to to read at your leisure. The other one is, when you respond to a public comment, you see it's a correction. Well, I beg to beg to differ with that.
I think every once in a while you flame somebody. When you correct somebody in public, in public comments, you owe them the courtesy of a rebuttal. Period. That's fair. You say in your speech there that they somebody will contact them and talk about it, and I know that doesn't happen very often. And then there are a number of issues that pop up that are legitimate questions. One is like the Oakland County Schools. They ask you to do something about the 1 and a half mils on the
ballot proposal, which would cost us more taxes if that's passed next, November. Well, what's your position on it? Why should you tax us any more than we already are? And, and it seems to be a little bit at cross purposes with your statements, that you are looking at doing a bond issue next year. So we're gonna have two competing tax increases on the bond issue. Lots of luck with those. We had a number of questions on bylaws.
One of Eugene's questions had to do with the academic excellence committee and I read the response and, it doesn't say anything other than you probably included it in your, your, program for this current year. We don't know what it is, so how do we know you're doing it? Based on the result of our ratings, you're not doing it. Thank you. The next the comment we have is from Jessica George.
Thank you. I'm here on behalf of Team Hackbots, the robotics team, just to give an update on what we've been doing the past couple weeks. My name is Jess. I'm the outreach lead for the team. Lately in the community, we just, concluded our battery and hygiene drive. So we've been collecting, used batteries from the community, especially around Downtown Farmington and hygiene items. And, we got those hygiene items. We're going to get them to our hack boxes and other great places to distribute them back to the community, and we are now finishing up recycling and getting those
batteries, ready to be given to a business nearby to, recycle them and get them out of landfills. Also, we just concluded or ran our robo camps, which are, ways to get kids and others involved in STEM activities through our, robotics team, which includes, the FAAPN kids, enrolled in that program, which we brought in about November 22, I believe, or November 15. And, we had them there for about, at the high school for about two, three
hours to do some STEM activities and, interact with the team and get them introduced to science. And then we also had, some kids from the Visions Academy, sorry, people, into participating in some science stuff and just, have a good time with our team and get introduced. Besides that, we have, another program going on to get back to our community called the Giving Tree going on. A lot of people participate in that. I know personally at Farmington, we have our own school's program of that. But for for the hack bots, we have, a lot of gifts going out right
now, December 4 specifically to give back to our community in that way. And, we always have a lot of community events going on. So, thank you. I know that, the proposal to add on a STEM facility to the building has recently been ongoing, and so I'd like to say that we're very grateful for that and, you guys' support in that. Besides that, I think that's all. Thank you. Thank you. Next, we have Charlie Gumbick. And after that, I do not have any other public comments. So if anyone wants to, make public comment during this session, please, do so now.
Welcome. Hello. My name is Charlie Guralnick. Oh, god. Sorry. Thank you. I'm also a member of the hack bots. I'm our safety captain. I'm also here to express our gratitude for the proposal to add a stem facility to the building. We really appreciate that, especially moving into our season. We start in January, and recently, we've all been preparing for the season. We've started our mock kickoff event where we run through the stages of how to start building the robot, how to start programming it, and all the steps to get the new members ready for the season. We've also just completed our safety training, which I was in charge of, in which we give the students a safety presentation, a written test, and a safety practical where
they design and then make dog tags for themselves as a little souvenir. That's pretty much it. I also just wanted to introduce my gratitude again for the STEM facility and our appreciation. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you all for public comment. I do wanna make it clear that, we are not, here to debate during, public comment. The purpose of public comment is to hear from the public. It is not to engage with the public. We are here to hold a public meeting for the purpose of conducting board business. There are other opportunities to have or engage in dialogue.
And so we we will we will not be debating during public comment. We will continue, however, to, make corrections where corrections are appropriate, and we'll do that at our discretion. There are currently no violations, during the public comment period. I just wanna make that clear. We'll now go to, items from the secretary. Thank you for stepping in. Alright. No problem. The board received communication, regarding office of head start notifications and the board acknowledges all communications and responds as appropriate.
A list of correspondence is included in the board packet, which is available on the Farmington Public Schools website. Thank you. We will now move to the legislative update. Mister Rosinta? Yeah. Thank you so much. Quickly, the, state legislator state legislature is back, to in session today after a two week break for Thanksgiving, and they're expected to continue their session until December 18. One of the key things, of an update, as you mentioned, president Weems is on the 31 AA language, which has been clarified.
As mentioned before, districts have until the deadline of December 4 to, sign a waiver to accept funds for the state, for the, mental health and school safety. However, some language was added that allows schools to resend the opt in language. And they have until December 30 at 11:59 to do that. So, again, as we discussed that, that language does now offer districts, if you do
sign the, the waiver which the MASB encourages folks to do to get on the list for the funds. Districts would have until, December 30 to rescind that. And that kind of plays into the, the two lawsuits that are going on right now. Those decisions are, expected by no later than December 19. So the window would be sort of December 19, depending on how those fall, whether, you know, for or against, for for against, some of the constitutionality questions. And with that in mind, there's also a bit that I'm not sure it's 100%
clarified, but Masbeth does think that if you do opt out, and the funds already dispersed as is per law, instead of having to pay back this year, they would hold funds from a previous disbursement, in in in upcoming funding years. So it wouldn't be like you have to turn the funds immediately. A couple other bills, and I mentioned these, that there's some bipartisan bills, going through the house that will allow opt out of work keys. It's right now, it's a, requirement for graduation, in the state of Michigan, two bipartisan
bills going through there. There's also a house bill working through that will, eliminate the SATSA part, the essay part of the SAT, which is also a requirement. And I think we're one of six states that still require the SATSA. And then there's another bit going through, basically on score reporting, that the SAT, again, it, the students' SATs are reported on transcripts. And I think schools now are opting for, SAT optional reporting. And it makes it difficult, for, Michigan students because it does appear on their transcripts.
And with that, I know we're having a more of a discussion on 31 a a, further down on the agenda. So I'll just leave it at that. Thank you, mister Brescinto. We will now move to the superintendent updates. Doctor Coffin? Thank you, president Wiens. I hope everyone enjoyed their, Thanksgiving break with family and friends. While I know there were some out there that were wishing for one more day, due to the winter storm, we were able to get everyone back in after the break, jumping right back into conversations. I know for myself, meeting with birdie building principals, doing our walk and talks, and
really learning a lot about what's happening in their schools, as well as a couple lunch and learns that, took place today with, amazing Hillside and Farmington STEAM Academy students. Thank you to mister Recinto, missus Heinrich, and miss Smith who took the time today to attend and hear from our students about their school experience. You just heard, mister Recinto talk about the, the funding under 31 a a. Tonight, the board is going to, consider passing a resolution that reflects their desire around
accepting the funds as well as providing guidance to the district in the event that the court cases, have caused that which have caused this extension for opting in, happened to end unfavorably, specifically around waiving of privilege. I personally just appreciate the board's thoughtful deliberations, always focusing on the needs of our students in the district. As has become a tradition, I now wanna turn your attention, to our 2,025, 26 new teacher cohort, some of who are in the audience tonight and others are who
are viewing, the meeting online. So the FPS new teacher cohort is our induction program that's supporting 55 new FEA hires this year, guided by fearless leaders, Nanette Suarez, Chelsea Chambers, and Katie Gustafson. If, those of you who are in attendance, please stand up, and those of you online can wave, I guess, to the camera. So This diverse group includes general and special education teachers, social workers, and psychologists representing
all grade levels and content areas. The cohort features a mix of staff who are new to the career, experienced teachers from other districts, former FPS students returning to our community, and new staff and staff that are new to this area. The program launched in August with a day and a half of intensive training, covering foundational Farmington resources, curriculum instruction, and technology. Throughout the school year, the cohort con cohort continues to engage in ongoing monthly professional
development, delivered through mixed format, either virtual, in person, or asynchronous. Recent topics, some of the recent topics they have, have been working through include instructional technology, the growth and evaluation process, and most recently, social emotional learning strategies, including staff wellness, as recent as the month of November. Future learning will focus on critical areas, such as the student support services, district optional learning paths such as Farmington Online and Farmington Central High School, and data and assessment
to ensure every new staff is successfully integrated and equipped to excel right here at Farmington Public Schools. Nanette, Chelsea, and Katie, thank you for all you do. Your amazing leadership, the time and energy that you invest into our new staff is so so appreciate appreciated and doesn't go unnoticed. Thank you. I would now like to invite, our public relation representative, miss Miriam duck Duck into the podium to provide an update for the board of education around the work of
our student round table. Hi, Miriam. Hi. My name is Miriam, and I'm here on behalf of the executive board of the student roundtable to share an update. So our first meeting of the year was held on November 5 now November 19, and we began by reaffirming student roundtable's purpose, which is to create a space where students, administrators, and school board members can openly exchange ideas. And we want to strengthen collaboration among all three of our high schools, and we also wanna encourage community service and develop strong student leadership within our schools.
One of our main focuses this month has been freshman recruitment. This year, we are selecting three freshmen from each high school, and we are committed to welcoming students from all academic backgrounds and different diverse perspectives. And mostly to spread the word, we've used flyers, announcements, outreach through different clubs, and today me and other members visited homerooms to share our personal SRT experiences. North Farmington has already completed their interviews and selected their freshmen, and Farmington High will
be following suit, and we should be conducting interviews next week. During interviews, we aim to look for creative thinking, ethical judgment, awareness of student issues, and the ability to represent and connect with the student body. We also value the unique perspectives that each student brings. And, also, a major discussion topic at the meeting was the superintendent's question about reimagining high school using the profile of a lifelong learner. Students suggested ideas such as expanding transportation between three schools, offering a wider variety of
classes, including hands on options like home ec, and also increasing work based learning experiences and strengthening project based learning to make pathways more relevant and flexible to each student's individual needs. Looking ahead, SRT will continue working on inclusivity across all schools, addressing transportation and safety concerns, highlighting opportunities already available within the district, and strengthening collaboration between SRT and other clubs or organizations.
We also wanna continue expanding student awareness of what SRT is and how to get involved. Our next student roundtable meeting will be held on December 9 at Farmington High School from 9AM to 10:30AM. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Thank you. Does anyone have any questions, thoughts? Okay. We appreciate you. I, you can have a seat. Don't worry. We're not gonna we're not gonna bug you. I did wanna mention though that I attended the, SRT meeting, and I was really impressed with this group of students.
They are very intentional about being super inclusive. They wanna make sure that all schools are represented, that all students are represented. And I really appreciate the desire to make sure that students who learn differently are also part of the conversation to make sure that the superintendent and our board is hearing from all students. So kudos to you and the rest of the student round table for that. I also really appreciated, your desire as you guys were talking about the profile of
a lifelong learner to learn more, skills that will help, post graduation, like skills related to how to live. They talked about, you know, skills like or or classes like home ec and bringing some of that back. They talked about, opportunities to integrate more SEL classes into the English class. They really loved those types of classes. Opportunities to problem solve and take initiative. I was really happy to hear, the the, interest in that, and to also learn
about, moral aspects during high school. What really resonated with me was a comment that in elementary school we spent a lot of time, teaching our children how to be kind to one another. And we don't do that as much in high school and maybe we, maybe we need to. I thought that was a really, really great, thought and and something that, you know, I hadn't really been considering. We've been talking about, you know, things like discipline. How about kindness? So I I appreciated that that perspective.
And finally, I thought it was really interesting. There were some comments around opportunities to provide upward feedback to us, to the superintendent, to, administrators, to staff. If everyone's not doing well in the class, how do we give feedback to, the, our school community that it may not be landing properly? Like the, the, how to, ask for a change in the communication style perhaps to make sure that everyone is learning. So I I don't wanna spend too much time on it, but I thought I
would share what I took away from that conversation. These meetings are really useful, very helpful. I get a lot of insights from it. I'm sure that doctor Coffin does too. Yeah. So just to add on to what what you said, that I believe that having student feedback, successful? Because as, you know, when I was probably younger, and a lot of you guys probably were that, you know, we don't get to express our opinions to adults. Right? So and and adults are always the, does know the answer to a lot of
things that could be very simply solved. You know, it's always one or two ways to solve an issue with parents. So by having the, the feedback from the from the, for the kids and for the students, it makes just just correcting certain things. I was I wouldn't say dismal, but just correcting things, much easier in which that we always had to guess and then we got to do the whack a mole, approach to you know, if it's probably just hit it, hit it, hit it. And that's, not physically, not not this day of age.
But but, but yes. So this is, this is something that's very important to us and and that, you know, I'm looking forward to hearing more about what the students need and and how we can actually make them grow. And and to add on to then what president Williams said, what I appreciate about this group is when we first met to start planning the agenda, they were very intentional of how do we get feedback from others. And so, they've shifted their meeting structures in a way to make sure that they're
not only representing themselves or their group, but they're going throughout the school and they're spending one time a month making sure they get other voices that come directly back. So, they're not only just their voice, but expanding and making sure all voices are are are heard. So Very good. That's great. Yeah. That's all I have. Yeah. Thank you for that. We will now move to reports from board committees. First, we have the finance and facilities committee meeting. Yes. Finance and facilities committee met, yesterday, December 1 at 04:00.
Myself, doctor Blau, and, mister Hull were present along with various people from the district. The first thing we talked about with this was a custodial contract, and, it was just the beginning discussions that letting us know that the custodial contract is set to expire at the end of the school year. The next thing was the school safety funding budget, and this was really helpful. Jennifer Kaminski prepared, information for us to understand where the money comes from from school
safety as far as the allocations, whether they come from the general fund or whether they come from the, 31 a a funds, that we have. And so we had a big, presentation on school safety. I think that was last meeting or the meeting before, which was really helpful. And so it's really helpful to the board, and we really appreciate to understand. And so the bottom line is all of that money that, one is a $1,200,000
All that money is being, we have it allocated and we're spending it. And so to lose that funding, will be a hardship for the district. As far as making some difficult decisions on, what to do and with the loss of the funding. So that was really helpful to help us understand, where all this money is coming from. And then the last thing we talked about was, the equipment purchase recommendation, for some warming cabinets through nutrition services, and that is a discussion item.
And so we will be hearing more information on that. And so we were just able to, have a preview of it and ask any questions, and ask for more information if, if we thought it was needed to bring to the board. So thank you to my committee members and the district staff for their time and to, Colleen for getting the minutes done in a quick time. Thank you for that report. We will now move to discussion items. Doctor Coughlin? Yep. So I'd like to invite miss Anne Stevens, to the podium.
She's our director of nutrition services, and she will share information on a proposed equipment purchase for nutrition services department. Good evening. I stand before you tonight to request the approval of purchase of eight new food warming carts. One each for Lanigan, Longacre, Forest, and Hillside, and four warming carts for, FECC, Farmington early childhood childcare center. And that's to update our existing, our current meal system.
Through our food consortium, four competitive bids were received, prices ranging from $79,962 to $84,831 the recommended vendor would be Gold Star Products who submitted the bid for $79,962 Pricing for these carts is guaranteed through December 24. In January, we would have to re solicit bids because price increases are expected.
If approved, the funds would come from the food service fund and it's part of our spend down plan. Thank you for that question. Do you have any questions for members? Yeah, just, could you just share a little bit with the board you shared with us as, how these warming warming units are going to be used and and how they will help the, efficiency of the lunch programs? So the elementary school the four elementary schools, they have a little bit higher enrollment
and they also have higher meal participation rates. So it's just to help ease the strain of needing more, warmers to hold the food so that we're prepared at lunchtime. Since we brought a second pizza vendor in, it allowed us to bring little Caesars into the elementaries. And so that is a motivating factor because we just, that day is very popular. So we really need more warming space. And then as far as the, early childhood center, our current setup, we're just in
need. We deliver in these warming bags and they're just in really bad shape. So we wanted to go with some warming carts. We will pack two each day, take them to deliver them to the early childhood center, plug them in. And then the next day, we will take the other two carts, deliver those, and pick up the ones from yesterday. Mister Holt. So for the early early child centers that lunches, the hot lunches and warming bags
before? They're prepared in the central kitchen. Yeah. Yes. You know, they're food safe. They're they are made for deliveries like that, but they're just they've they're aging. Yeah. They're aging. They're losing heat and all that. So, so, yeah, I appreciate the the warming, warming carts, which, you know, we don't wanna serve cold, full, lukewarm food to children. You know? Right. I believe we had a the mac and cheese issue before. And I think by this, it's probably gonna keep it nice and fresh.
So yeah. Yeah. I just had one question. And you your question actually, helped to answer part of it. So thank you for taking us through why they're needed because my question was gonna be around, need as well. I I think you answered it for early childhood. I am trying to understand if we just need one for these. I'm assuming we already have them at the elementary schools, and you're adding capacity. We have them at all of the elementary schools. Some of those are on their last leg as well.
So we do want to update, but the, four buildings really could use some more warming space. Okay. So what what I'm hearing is that the early early childhood didn't have them at all, and so we wanna provide them for early childhood. Correct. And then there are four schools that we think have, need more capacity because they either have more students or the their units have aged or whatever the case may be. So that's why we need four for those specific elementary schools. Okay.
Thank you. Yep. Oh, you just mentioned that some of the warmers are kind of on their last leg at some of the other schools. Do you have any idea when you might need to turn those over and, get new warmers for for to replace those? Well, this is just you know, I'm just being proactive. And then we can use the newer warmers and keep the older warmers as back more of a backup if for the days they don't need two warmers just to extend their life expectancy. Will be the primaries. These these ones that you're presenting tonight with the primary use and then the older
ones will play a backup role. Am I understanding that correctly? Well, not being the kitchen manager, but I would presume they would be. Yeah. Not to get too much of the leads, but just trying to understand. Okay. Thank you. And I also know that, you're newer with us, I think Yes. For joining us. I was gonna ask for, for our next meeting because I'm I'm in support of this, but I would like to know, how this fits into overall inventory. I feel like this has come to us before. I feel like we've approved kitchen equipment, warmers for our schools before.
So I'm trying to understand, it it sounds like we're not replacing. In some cases, we're adding capacity. So I just wanted to confirm that. Yes. And just looking ahead to, we don't want to be without a warmer and we don't have any extras to send if somebody calls one morning and says my warmers got done. So we just want to be proactive. Thank you. Thank you. All right. We can move to our next discussion item. Doctor. Coffin? Yes. So, Claudia, you're handling this.
The review of the OCSBA proposed new and or amended resolutions. I can take that one. Okay. There are two resolutions and, they require that, the board act because, OCSBA, needs approval from all the school districts in order to approve their resolution. The first resolution is in support of, having non partisan elections. And then the second resolution is a resolution in support of fully funding, a program
that benefits children who are disabled from, I think, newborn to three. And, pardon? Correct. Yeah. So in order for those two resolutions to move, they need school districts to, vote on them. And so this is the first opportunity for us to have a discussion about these. Should anyone have any questions or reactions, the information is in your board packet. Otherwise, this would be, in our, come up as an action item for our next meeting. Trustee Heinrich, did you have anything to add on these or any, comments that have
been had at the OCSBA meetings? Yeah. The reason that we need these resolutions is the the, board has, Oakland County School Board Association has legislative priorities. And so if something comes up, then the school board association can act. And, quickly on this, this new house bill forty five eighty eight, we don't have
a legislative legislative priority. And, therefore, the Oakland County School Board Association cannot take any action, on behalf of all of the school districts in Oakland County. So, basically, by allowing them to take action on behalf of all of the school districts in Oakland County over there's, I think, '27, '24, mid twenties. Okay. So anyways, it, it, it has a stronger voice than just individual.
And we, I think at our last board meeting or the one before, we actually took action and sent a letter and signed it, as an individual school district. And all of the school districts in Oakland County were taking similar action. But by having this resolution, then we're going to put it into their legislative priorities, and so they will be able to act on it without, seeking approval of the and there's there's a process to go through. So we have to, discuss it and we have to vote on it.
And so it's just giving authority. And, every year, the, at the MASB conference, the Oakland County School Board Association goes through I guess, MASB has legislative priorities. And so, you know, we discuss those and amend those every year. And so this is just adding to it. Anything else, mister Vicente? I think you're right. Okay. They act as a a whole. They they need buy in from the individual representatives and delegates. Right. And, again, this is the one that, is talking about, the resolutions to, support nonpartisan
school board elections. And so that's, we sent a statement that we believe that school boards should be nonpartisan. And so Oakland County School Board Association wants to be able to, speak on that in behalf of all the school districts in Oakland County. Thank you. Seeing no further discussion, this item will show up as an action item at our next meeting. The next item on our agenda is public comment. This is our second round of public comment. Is there anyone who did not make public comment in the first session who would
like to make public comment now? I see no one else who wants to make public comment. So we'll close the second public comment period. We'll now move on to action items. And the first one is approval of recommended board policy updates for Miller Johnson. This is our second, reading. And so what I have asked, our vice president to do is to outline each of the policies. Just give us a refresher of what we're gonna be, voting on, and then we
can go ahead and entertain a motion. So the motion is going to be around approving the recommendations that we discussed in our last meeting. And just as a reminder, there were six different policies that were presented. The first three policies, policy six zero zero two, which surrounds safety and security, policy a revised policy of 02/00/2003 around education records, directory information, and policy two zero zero two, learning and achievement. These are all policies that had amended language to them.
If we go into our booklet, you can see that amended language from last time. The remaining three policies, we never are are brand new. We didn't have any policy around them whatsoever, and they were around the employee salary schedule. Policy is 4003, policy four zero zero three as a new part of that conditions of employment, and then policy 6014 regarding facility dog usage here in the school district. So that is what we're going to, have a motion on.
Are there any questions before a motion is made? Okay. With that, I move that the board of education adopt the policy board governance committee's recommendations as recommended by Miller Johnson as presented, and waive the second reading for the following policies. Again, those policies are policy six zero zero two, policy two zero zero three revised, policy two zero zero two, policy four zero zero three, policy updated, policy four zero
zero three new, and policy six zero one four new. Support. Motion made by, vice president Walker and supported by trustee Hull. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, can we have a roll call vote? Certainly. Mister Recinto? Yes. Miss Heinrich? Yes. Mister Hall? Yes. I myself am yes, and president Williams? I'm a yes. Thank you. That motion passes. The next item we have is approval of van purchase. Trustee Heinrich. Yeah. We had information on this and had a discussion at the last meeting.
I move that the Board of Education approve the purchase of four mid ceiling vans for student transportation from Gorno Ford using MI deal in an amount not to exceed $290,000 as presented. Support. Motion made by trustee Heinrich supported by trustee, Walker to approve the purchase of four mid ceiling vans for student transportation from Guerno Ford using my deal in an amount not to exceed $290,000 Is there any discussion?
Seeing none, can we have a roll call vote, please? Mister Rosento? Yes. Missus Hybrick? Yes. Mister Ho? Yes. I myself am yes. President Williams? Yes. Our motion passes. Thank you. The next item that we have is related to, government funding as we've been discussing in our last meeting and as we got an update today, from trustee Recinto. I would like to, repeat that the recommendation is that we opt in for these
funds, because there is an opportunity to rescind. So there really isn't a reason to, not opt in for these funds. So we we have not proposed an option to not opt in. However, we we do have two, options for the board to consider in opting in for these funds. The first option is to opt into the funds and resend the funds if there
is not a favorable, outcome to the two items being litigated. So in that instance, we would be opting in for the funds. And if there were a favorable, outcome, we would receive the funds. If there were not a favorable outcome, we would be rescinding the funds full stop. The second option is for us to opt into the funds and provide a condition
that if there were an unfavorable outcome that we have the option to rescind the funds, which would mean that we would come back if if we wanted to rescind the funds. We would have to come back and act as a board to rescind the funds. Otherwise, if we did not come back, we would be giving the district the go ahead to receive the funds under the condition, albeit with a resolution that named some
of the conditions that are unclear. So let me pause for a second and actually go back to the resolution. In both of these options, we are adopting a resolution that defines some of what our attorneys have made clear to us are unclear in 31 a a. As an example, we've said that waiving privilege is generally, we we don't agree with that. And we have some time limits associated with what that would mean.
So we're not waiving privilege in perpetuity. We're creating some boundaries for it. We're also defining what a mass casualty event is and so forth and so on. So we've read through before the resolution that was prepared by our attorney that kind of highlighted for us the areas that were unclear that were creating a lot of the angst amongst board members across, you know, Michigan. And so we've defined that. And I think we we got clear on what was unclear and included it in
that resolution. So there are two resolutions in your board packet. Each of them is a mirror of each other with the exception that one provides for an opt in and a recission if there's an unfavorable outcome, and the other provides for an opt in with the board conditionally, allowing us to decide whether we're going to rescind or not. And so that's what we need to, vote on today. Missus Heinrich?
Well, it sounds like you're presenting condition that it's not favorable. And therefore, it it seems like we have enough information to make the decision today on saying we wanna go ahead and accept the funds, not make a political statement,
but this is it. We're gonna go with the funds. Or opt in to accept the funds on the condition that the legislature the whatever is favorable and we will not have to waive privilege. And if that is not favorable, then the condition would be to withdraw the funds. And so I I heard you saying that we're doing two conditional things where in
my mind, it's like we're doing one without conditions. We're taking the money. And the second one is we're saying we're taking the money as long as we don't have to waive privilege. And if we have to waive privilege, then we do not like that condition. So technically, you're right. They're both conditional. The second one, though, allows us to accept the funds without conditions, frankly. So even though the second one is conditional, it allows us to accept the funds
full stop. Mhmm. It it allows us to do both. Well, it allows us to accept the funds with conditions. So you're saying No. The second one allows us to accept the funds. There there are no conditions. There except those that are in the resolution. The conditions are if there's a mass casualty, then we have to waive privilege. Correct. Those are the conditions. Mhmm. Correct. Whereas, if we accept the funds so we accept the funds with those conditions or
we don't we accept the funds with the condition that those conditions are removed. We can't do that. We don't have the opportunity to do that. Well, yeah. Because we can resend, by December 29. Which means right. Which means we're not gonna accept the funds. We're not gonna accept the funds. Right. So we're conditionally accepting them on the condition that the conditions are removed. There's a lot of conditions in there. They're compound conditions. So in the second option, we're accepting the funds, and we're giving the board the
opportunity to rescind the funds if there is an unfavorable outcome. Correct. Whereas the first option, we're accepting the funds and we're saying we will live with the conditions regardless of the legislative outcome. No. In the first one, we're saying if that we're gonna accept the funds, if the, outcome is unfavorable, we rescind the funds. That's what we're saying in option one. So when Option one is the superintendent the Option one is we're opting in, and
we're not going to resend. Option two is we're opting in So I may have the order incorrect, but there there are two options going on. One is we're gonna opt in and we're not gonna resend. And the second one is a conditional. We're gonna opt in with the conditional that we can resend. No. No. I wanna I wanna make sure we're clear. So, it it's probably better to not read from the motion. It's probably better to read from the resolution itself. Okay. So when I read the resolution itself, which you suggested, when when we go to
the resolution itself, it says okay. This is the Okay. So this is page starting On page 49. Yeah. So option one, the board authorizes to submit, so we're opting in. And our conditional opt in is void in the event that there's an unfavorable outcome.
So in this scenario, we're saying we're gonna opt into the funds. But if there's an unfavorable ruling, we're saying we're not going to accept the funds, which means That's number four. The board reserves its right to rescind its opt in decision. So that's 49 to 51 in the board packet. Okay. So that's the first one. The second one The second one says that, we reserve the right to rescind.
So we're not full stop rescinding. We're saying we reserve the right to rescind before December 30. If we do nothing, then we are opting in. If but if we wanted to rescind, we have to come back to this table. The second one says the board does not waive They both say that in number two. One says it does not waive attorney client privilege. Both both options say that for number two. So the second yeah. See? That goes back to my question. I think that they're saying the same thing, but they're both conditional things.
They're both giving the superintendent, and so it will require further action. The second one does not. The second one does, requires the board to come back. So if the board chose not to come back, our opt in would stay. Stays. Mhmm. Alright. Is is are you following us? Because the first one says it reserves its right to rescind. So we're saying that we So number four says it's reserves its right to resend
in the first one. That's the I think that's the second one when we're And the second resolution the second resolution says we don't waive attorney client privilege, and we're directing the superintendent to rescind. So one resolution is we're reducting or to resend, and the second resolution is we're reserving the right. Correct. Correct. Okay. Yes. Alright. So okay.
Why am I going to We want I wanna make sure everybody's comfortable. What what tell tell me what you're what are you thinking? I'm thinking to make the decision. We're gonna take the money, and that's it. That would be in this scenario, that would be option two. Where the where the board Where we have to decide to come back. To come back. Okay. I think though that what, missus trustee Heinrich and I don't wanna put words in your mouth, but maybe what you're introducing is a third option, which is so we're
gonna accept the money full stop. Full stop. That's that's why I think that's what I wasn't seeing here. Correct. And I thought that's what we were deciding on. We're either gonna take the money or we're not gonna take the money. The option two gives us that it is that option. It just, gives us more time, frankly. This is an option. It gives us more an option. Yes. Yes. So we that that is an option that could be on the table. If if if someone wants to go ahead and say, you know what? I'm I'm going to accept this money regardless, we we could do that.
And here's my concern. Right now, the legislature says this is gonna be decided by a certain date. Was it December 19? Yes. And our next board meeting is? December 18. December 18. Okay. So, therefore, if the decision is made after our board meeting, then we're put in a we're put in a difficult decision where we don't have a time to come
back and have further discussion on how we want the superintendent. We're saying we we wanna reserve this option, but we haven't built in any time to have any further discussion on there. And the deadline is December 30. And therefore, I think we should have the discussion out tonight and pretty much know what we wanna do. I think that we should have a robust discussion. I thought we had a really good discussion at the last meeting, and I think we should give direction on how we're going to rather than just saying, well, we
wanna wait and see what they say, and then we wanna have further discussion. I mean, basically, I I am very a and b, you know, front side, back side sort of thing. And and in my mind and not everybody thinks the way I am, but in my mind, the thing that we're talking about is, do we want to, look at the issue of waiving privilege in case of a mass casualty to attorney client privilege,
waiving that right, or do we want and so we're saying $1,200,000. It's, our the district will have to find another way to deal with that money. Or do we wanna say $1,200,000 is important? You know, we're, we're here because of the kids and we're putting the kids needs before ours. And so therefore we want to give direction to the superintendent saying, this is where we stand and this is what we want you to do because we, we really
in reality, aren't gonna have time to come back and have a discussion and have another vote as far as getting, seven board members together. I I don't disagree with you. I wanna pause and see if anybody else has any reaction to that. Here's my perspective. I think option two is giving us that because, essentially, if if we're if we're, we're either saying to your point, we're going to not accept the money, which is option one, if right? Or option two says we are going to accept the money, but it gives us
the flexibility. I don't know what's gonna happen on December 19. Right? They could introduce more stuff into the bill. It what by I believe that by choosing option two, we are saying we're going to accept the funding. We're all hopeful that, you know, there's a favorable ruling. If there isn't an unfavorable ruling, I got the sense from our discussion that we still believe that $1,200,000 is something that we want for our district. And so by choosing option b or option two, we're likely accepting the funding, but
we're giving ourselves the flexibility in case something ridiculous happens that we could come back in an emergency situation and make a different decision. The likelihood is that we wouldn't we would leave it alone, right, and accept the funds. That's essentially what option two is doing for us, but it's giving us that added flexibility, to be able to come back if something, you know, significantly changed, which is possible.
So really Can can I pause you for a second? I wanna make sure other people have an opportunity to speak. So let me just be clear with this. So, actually, we had three three different, options. Mhmm. We have one, we don't we accept the money, whatever. Right? You know, that's it. Number two, we have we accept them we we opt in but decide, that whatever the if if it does come to our expectations to outcome, then we're then we're
gonna opt out automatically. Automatically. Three, we opt in. Well, we if we don't like the outcome, we have the option to come in to decide either or we're gonna accept or not. So it give us, like, a second chance to kinda take a look at it. Am I correct of Correct. And if we did nothing, then we are accepting the funds. Gotcha. Because we need, like because this is December 19, which is on a Friday, and, so we would have to do that, you know, like Over the holiday.
Over the holiday. Yes. Yes. It it's no later than? No later than. Yeah. It's expected. Earlier. But And and just to be clear, there are really four options because we could decide we're not opting in at all, which I don't think is a good option. So I didn't propose it at all. Yes. Do not Right. Right. Mister Recinto? Yeah. I was just gonna say what I like though about the resolution is that it does set those parameters and clarify some of the language. So, you know, you're right. We could do option one and just say we'll just direct Kelly to take money and then go home. But this way, I think we at least we get on the record what we feel is mass casualty.
What we feel is, you know, a time line a time line for attorney client privilege and things like that. So Yeah. So I think the motion should be clear as far as including in the motion what is in the resolution rather than just the Yeah. Motion. Yeah. Alright. It would be this. It is, but she'd like to read the, yes. I'm I'm on page 54. And just those four points. Yep. Four. I agree. Yeah. Those four points. Yep. Okay. Alright. You wanna go with it? Sure. Alright. So I move that the Board of Education declares its intent to opt in to
receive section 31 a a funds, and that the board authorizes the superintendent to execute applicable section 31 a a documents required by Michigan Department of Education for the district to receive section 31 a a funds, and that to the extent allowed by law, any waiver or consent required to opt in to receive section 31 a funds pursuant
to paragraph one shall be limited to only if a mass casualty event as defined in section 31 a a takes place after the district replace receives 31 a funds to the end of the 2526 fiscal year and shall apply only to the twenty twenty five twenty six fiscal year or any shorter duration consistent with the law and that the board reserves its right to resend its opt in decision prior to 11:59PM
on 12/30/2025. Support. Motion made by trustee Heinrich, supported by trustee Walker to approve the conditional section 31 AA opt in resolution as read and waive the second reading. Is there any further discussion? Yeah. I'm just kind of reading the room, and I think out of respect to everybody involved and differing opinions that we really need to include that reserving the right.
And if we really feel strongly, then we will by if we approve this, then we are committing to finding time to have that discussion needed because it's a really important decision. And I don't think it's something that any of us are making lightly. I I think by, adopting this resolution and and making this motion, we are saying that we are accepting these funds. I think that that's what we're saying.
And barring anything unusual happening after December 19, we're not expecting to come back to this table. That is correct. Yeah. That that seems reasonable. It it seems like a a good Yeah. Standing. I think it was good to have this discussion to make sure that we're all clear on what we're voting on. That was the intent of providing that. That's that's why we the superintendent and I had a lengthy conversation about this, and and it's why we wrote the motion this way. Okay.
Let's have a roll call vote. Mister Vicinto? I'm sorry. Yes. Donna mister Walker, support it. Okay. Mister Vicinto? Yes. Missus Heinrich? Yes. Mister Hall? Yes. I, myself, am yes. President Williams? Yes. Motion passes. Thank you. We will now move on to the consent agenda. I'll do the simple one. Yeah. Mister Walker. I move that the Board of Education approve the 12/02/2025 consent agenda as follows. Item one, 11/18/2025 special meeting. Item two, 11/18/2002 thousand twenty five closed session.
Item three, 11/18/2025 regular meeting. And item four, 12/01/2025 finance facility committee meeting minutes. Support. Motion made by mister Walker, supported by missus Heinrich. Is there any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? That motion passes. We are now, open for reports from board representatives. Yes. Yes. So on 11/21/2025, that I would I attended the, Alice, training and, stop the bleed
and CPR training that was, held at the Hawk. And it was it was something that I I believe that everybody should take or take off. We had the the Farmington Hills, police department there to help us with the ALICE training, and which they it was different from the board ALICE training because they actually brought in, like, a, like, a dart gun and was shooting shooting darts at us and everything, which was made us more of a, you know, more of, like, kinda
like a real scenario ish type of thing just instead of just speaking about it. And and also gave us some motivation in which that, you know, instead of just staying, you know, staying put that we have a decision to act upon or to flee, but not just to, be frozen. So to ask us to get us our mind moving and, and try to find x's and strategies on how to to do that. Even even it tells even just a a mild distraction that somebody just throwing a book at the individual or whatnot can actually disrupt a person's train of thought in
which that you can actually act upon it. So that, I really appreciate it. Secondly, you know, stop the bleed. The, students from North EMT class, they were helping us train. So you have high schoolers that were learning how to, you know, help us out in case of emergency, which I will grab any one of those and take them on a mercy trip over anybody I know right now. And they, you know, they tell us how to, you know, pack a wound, how to not pack a wound, how to, make sure that we do the, CPR method
and and call help and and everything like that. So it's something that I believe that everybody should take, you know, even if it's just just learning how to stop a a a somebody bleeding on the side of the road because they said six ounces of blood is a matter of life and death. So with that so that's not that much. You know? So, you know, it's it's something that I strongly encourage the whole district and even, you know, people who are not in the district to get with the local Red
Cross folks and just do some basic, you know, first aid. So, I really enjoyed that program. And, shout out to all the students and the teachers and and everybody who will participate in that. And I really appreciate that. Thank you. Mister Rosinto. Yes. I just had a couple quick things. Just a thank you to superintendent Coffin. A few weeks ago, I was part of a presentation panel with Jack and Jill of Oakland County. And it was about fifteen, eighteen, middle school students from different, school districts.
And I and a board member from Bloomfield Hills presented, but superintendent, came by just to say hi. Then we ended up pulling her in impromptively, impromptu, to, kinda help us out. And they they loved it. I got very positive feedback from the, the input for the students, who are very well, knowledgeable about, school boards and things like that. Special thank you to Colleen and Julie for, getting together some packets that they really liked that included a bookmark of the lifelong learner, which we're able to get out to kids, some of them in our districts, some in neighboring districts and some that
go to private schools who live in, in our city. And also just to thank you to all the folks I know again, super non coffin was at a full day of day of strings. Again, put together by the music education, departments across many schools, volunteers, parents, students who devote a lot to music education and learning about, things. And I think it's, very valuable to keep that, as as much as we can. I think that it's a good reflection of school district of a community of their arts and culture. And this is one way unique part of Farmington Hills.
And again, my daughter went from one part where she was a sixth grader playing scratchy strings all the way through in six years to, front and center. And, it was kind of a proud but also sad moment. So again, thank you again for, superintendent Coffin for attending. I think, Claudia, you attended, the earlier version. Yep. Yep. So I think about good rest restation, and it sounded great. So thanks again to everybody. Thank you. Well, with that said, I wanna wish everybody a good evening. The meeting is now adjourned.