all right I'm going to call this meeting to order at 7:01 p.m. good evening this is a regular meeting of the Ferndale Schools Board of Education being held on Monday September 16th
20124 our meeting is being video recorded and will be posted on the Ferndale schools YouTube channel all meeting in the meetings in the Ferndale schools are held in public in compliance with the open meetings act printed
documents discussed at tonight's meeting are available to the public upon request with the exception of any information protected by student or employee privacy rights board meeting information is posted on our website at
www. Ferndale schools.org if you do not have internet access and need information please contact the board office is at 248 586
8652 by Thursday of the week prior to the meeting and District staff will do their best to work with you item 1.1 roll call roll call Miss Shephard ceric here elk here har oh
sorry latash here Turner here vice president Fulmer here thank you item item 1.2 approval of the agenda are there any changes to the [Music]
agenda then without objection and with unanimous unanimous consent the agenda as amended is approved item two public comment this is a time for public participation in the meeting the Board
of Education intends for the public to have many opportunities to address the board and administration of their school district these include email phone calls face-to-face meetings Community Gatherings public hearings and other
public meetings we welcome individual and group input into the important issues that confront our schools as noted at the top of the agenda this is a meeting of the school board open to the public we want to provide Fair and impartial guidelines
for participation as required by the open meeting act and to ENC encourage transparency and equal treatment for everyone in attendance we also recognize that an effective meeting facilitates
better decisions and promotes openness by allow allowing more people to stay for the full length of the meeting to meet these goals please note the following we ask that you identify yourself and
list contact information on a contact sheet to help administrators follow up with you and your comment if you do not wish to do so in writing please identify yourself at the podium and if you need a response please provide contact
information with an administrator after the meeting I will call on the people who have completed comment Sheets first each person will have one opportunity to address the board for up to 3 minutes
comments or questions should be directed to the board vice president T Treasurer saric will raise his hand when your time is within a few seconds of expiring this period of public comment
is for both non-agenda items and issues that are on the agenda public comments will end at the close of this part of the agenda in the event that a number of people are wishing to comment requires longer than 30 minutes public comment
will be temporarily postponed after 30 minutes and time will be added at the end of the meeting complaints about staff should be made outside of board meetings and should follow the applicable board policy please contact the superintendent's office if you have
any questions regarding this item the board cannot respond to complaints about employees in public this is meant to promote fairness to the staff person and the complaintant the Ferndale Public Schools Community acts with great
civility towards one another please help us to maintain that tradition during public comment we have two public comment sheets the first one is Mr George Harris [Music]
good evening Mr pres good evening uh members uh my name is George Harris uh I am the founder and CEO of safe School secure Futures and what my company does is we partner with smaller school districts uh to help them with their Safety and Security planning uh with
their emergency planning because I know as the state police has put out their new uh eops for this year and that was the first change since 2012 that can be a daunting task regardless of how many schools you have um we have extensive experience in that
uh conducting behavioral threat assessments training on that training on AC shooter protocols and overall security planning for schools I just wanted to introduce myself to you before you know you saw an email hit your box and you thought it was spam and you sent me over to the spam box and reported me
to it um but I have over 13 years of experience exclusively working in schools uh doing these in large and smaller school districts uh I'm currently partnering with another smaller School District right now uh just reviewed all of their emergency plans so they can submit them to the
state uh and just going over some of the things that I see that they could help make the school safer and the environment conducive to teaching and learning that's I'll uh leave my card as I with Miss Shephard and I look forward to talking to you guys later than you
thank Youk you thank you Mr Harris uh our next uh person for a public comment is Aaron Mohler molar M sorry okay hi everyone um I wanted to introduce myself
uh my name is Aon molar I am running for school board in the November election so if I haven't met you hello I have met several of you and just introduced myself to the community um I'm not able to make it to the candidate Forum that is coming up because it is my oldest
birthday um so I hope to be able to provide answers to questions in some other way I will work with the organizers to do that um I just wanted to introduce myself I have two kids one is uh just started Middle School this year and one is in fourth grade at upper
I've lived in Ferndale for 12 years I obviously love Ferndale it's my favorite sweatshirt says Ferndale um I have a long history of serving the community I've been on um long time ago the Kix Center task force I served on the
Downtown Development Authority board I done I'm been a member of the city Master planning committee I'm currently chair of the parks and wreck committee I volunteered elections I'm heavily involved in uh Ferndale and I love the
city and I love these schools um my background is not in schools or education I'm just a regular mom I'm not a regular Mom I'm a cool mom um but I I just wanted to um be of service
and I uh my professional background is in Communications and U marketing and business so I'll probably be um more astute at budget stuff than at school stuff um what else um I'm I'm passionate about
um particularly transparency and communication and trying to um you know Reach people who might not always have time or resources to do things that come to a school board meeting um and uh depending on election results
I will look forward to working with all of you thank you thank you thank you is there anyone else for public comment okay then public comment is closed and we will move on to item three consent
consent agenda item 3.1 request to approve minutes from the special meeting of August 5th item 3.2 request to approve minutes of the special meeting of August 9th item 3.3 request to
approve minutes of the regular meeting of August item 3.4 request to approve new hires resignations and transfers item 35 request to approve bills and accounts
for August item 3.6 request to appr for approval of the 2025 Head Start Grant application does anyone wish to remove an item from the consent agenda for
questions or discussions later seeing none I will entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented so moved moved by Peter second second and by
Jonathan roll call Miss Shephard zeric yes elar yes latash yes Turner yes vice president Fulmer yes thank you with five yes votes the motion Mo passes and the consent agenda is
approved item four action items please note that all action items being voted on tonight were discussed in depth at the committee of the whole meeting held on Tuesday September 3rd at 6 pm. we invite and encourage community community
members to attend our committee of the whole meetings which are also open to the public item 4 one requests to approve masb delegates for the annual leadership
conference delegate president dookie and treasur seair correct standing delegate but yes okay I will entertain a motion to approve item
4.1 I'll move moved by Jonathan second second and by Sarah any discussion on the motion have a great time roll call Miss shepher eler yes lash yes Turner yes siger yes vice
president Fulmer yes thank you with five yes votes the motion passes in item 4.1 request to approve masb delegates for the annual leadership conference is approved item 4.2 request as to approve
the dynamic plan facilitator I will entertain a motion to approve item 4.2 move move by Jen second and by Sarah any discussion
on the matter I just appreciate all the work and rework and rework that has gone into this um in all in all seriousness you know I know there have been a lot of consideration um for people have been part of the
audience about um what's the best you know method to get honest and good feedback you know first and foremost you know transparency costs and I I really feel like we've hit a good place that balances it all out so thank you for the work on that thank
you I want to Echo what Peter said because I know we had a lot of questions and feedback and created extra work in a time where you were ready to get going and I think that the outcome is
a a work plan that positions the district for a really great Dynamic plan MH and I really appreciate that investment thank you thank you did a while back but yes thank
you Royal commas shepher latash yes Turner yes GL yes El Turk yes vice president Fulmer yes thank you with five yes votes the motion passes and item 4.2 request to approve the dynamic plan
facilitator is approved [Laughter] congratulations item five superintendent update good evening um I believe I have
one um tonight I um am U proudly a member of now the um Oakland County Superintendent Association legislative committee um and we had our first meeting and there is
one particular there's always bills that I'd like to have on your radar but there's one very specifically involving all of you all that I want to make sure that is on your radar it is actually currently in the Senate and it is Senate
Bill 9 67 um specifically Senate Bill 967 would I'm getting there um the legislation requires that a school district ISD or Public School
Academy must post the name and contact information of each member of its school board on its public website the contact information must include an email a mailing address and a telephone number so that is new um that is new that it is
becoming potentially becoming a mandate um so again just wanted to make sure that since it is specific to um the board that it is on your radar um from what I understand is moving pretty quickly um through the Senate um so
wouldn't that be like the school board email the School Board office and the School Board phone number sorry Miss shepher no so that was our exact question I'm like don't they have to do all those things to run but um they we
are um we are reaching out to confirm that it does not have to be like a home address a personal we're just trying to get as specific as possible but that was our first read and our understanding so they're reaching out to the um the
legislator that proposed that so if I may ask and if you know the answer you know if it was a Republican yes it was person or Democratic person it was it was a republican okay so again just an FYI um again the
language that was used is that it is moving quickly do sorry one more and this isn't even going to affect me but is is do we know if the MB as the association of school board is going to be advocating for it to be a public
address being in the school building so that people's individual home addresses aren't available on a website for the various purposes great question so what so typically what we discuss in our committee meetings is are we as a county going to take a position um and hands
down what we stated was that we wanted to wait for mby to see if what their position was on that um so that is where things were left we want to see what mby says first if they want to dig into that I would would hope that they will honor your personal home addresses and
personal contact info um so I'd be very surprised if they said otherwise um but that that we we're waiting for mby on this um but again because they use the term quickly I just wanted to make sure that I raised that thanks no problem so
as I get updates I'll make sure that I will um inform the board um again Ju Just One More that that is also moving quickly not as much related directly to school board members but it is the
they're calling it The dyslexia bill um and the reason why I'm saying they're calling it The dyslexia bill is probably the first time you may have seen it um it is a very different version of what was initially proposed
now um so um it sounds as if they are taking the feedback from is and making some adjustments um so like every day there's a different iteration of the bill um so we our homework was to
dig in to see the differences we as a county have not historically we have been opposed to this bill because of um it's very very um um it's very um
punitive I guess you could say and our position is if there is a mandate coming from the state and we also need funding to be able to support the implementation of said mandates that's that's our position hands down um so again that was also the only other one that was brought
up and that is currently sorry just a second that is currently in the a lot it's currently in the house so I will get the exact house bill in just a second and make sure you have
that but again um those two um will have huge huge well the Le um the dyslexia Bill potentially have huge implications for all of our buildings um so we're watching that one very closely again we'll keep the board informed of
anything that changes literally every day they're our new bills introduced um so those that are moving quickly I want to um make sure that the board is aware and that's my update today unless there's any questions I have one uh
legislative question um pardon me if this is old news I've been out of uh the game for a few weeks um uh but did was the Myer's rate reduction ever committed statutorily no okay that's my thought
it's still very much so um they made it seem like there's big arguments happening around that one just because I can't get settled on the amount and how they're going to reimburse and you know it's still nothing has been settled with
that got still a biggie appreciate no problem upate great informational items item 6.1 budget to actual report good evening good
evening this is the uh budget to actual for August 31st or through August 31st um it's still early in the year um so there's not too much going on um are are there any
questions no no no okay thank you thank you you early item six see you in a month right yes item 6.2 timeline and process for thrun policy implementation good evening everybody
evening uh presenting uh actually reviewing some information everybody that we shared at the committee of the whole meeting uh earlier this month excuse me one second excuse me um so we have worked with TR and enclosed with the board packet tonight uh information that was
presented to the board earlier this month about a transition to trun policy Services away from niola uh we believe that um as as you will remember seeing at the committee of the whole meeting earlier this month this represents a
really good move across the board really good policies that are authored and developed by our lead Council uh that that connect down to uh administrative guidelines and policy manuals for employees and for students uh we we
think that this is a good thing all around with a relatively tight three Monon timeline um maybe looking a little bit beyond that depending on how much personalization we end up doing um but our next steps are really kind of breaking those policies down as you
recall from the presentation forming committees and looking at um the personalization and and processing those policies um so we're very excited about this move we think it's a good one um legally for the district and we're excited to work with TR on it and I'm
happy to answer any questions anybody has Tom you alluded to this but I I thought the timeline was um Beyond optimistic because we had a conversation
I believe at the committee of the whole about how cabinet and your leadership would take the first and I'm I'm aware this is a lot of policies and you all have other jobs and
responsibilities correct so I just in terms of our own process I mean they have theirs and do we want to just customize it in a way that's more realistic for us and and then my follow-up question was do we go right
from the work that you all do to a full board meeting or does it make sense to have like a small you know Committee of the board be an intermediary in that process so that when it comes to the full board we're
able to move more in a more streamlined way sure so um two things in that question Mary that and I'll try to respond to both of them um as you remember we have existing policy and we do until we get to the very end of the process when we dismiss the old policy
and bring in the new policy so if our very ambitious three-month timeline ends up being a five- Monon timeline that's okay we know that it's like setting goals right we don't always achieve the goals that we set but the point is to to work towards them so um again the
important thing I think is that we already have existing policies in place and those will remain place until we can work through the things that we can work through um I think that we have some good conversations coming about board involvement in that process of
developing those processes whether we invite members to be a part of individual uh subcommittees um or whether we establish kind of an ad hoc board group that's overseeing all of it I think um uh we can talk more about
that yeah um because I think the the process lends itself to to either one of those mhm and I'll just chime in too that um first I think that you're um is rooted in concern for our bandwidth which I appreciate sincerely much um but
I think that um our first step is as a Cabinet team is is still the same plan right and we foresee us being able to give in our weekly updates as a format or even an each of the board me just a status update of where things are how
things are progressing who own what part of the policy review um and I I definitely think that there will be a time where we say we need more time I I foresee that coming but we we definitely um it we we would rather do the hard
work now because we see so um so many issues lack of better words um with some of the Neola policies and we just rather just put our heads down and grind it out so that we can have by end of year we're
ready to go with the launch of um new policy through TR mhm absolutely when you say end of year do you mean end of year calendar year or end of year school year absolutely school year okay definitely not
2024 and I just want to clarify for the folks at home yes um uh reiterating what was said in the Comm the whole um meeting the board getting the professional feedback from the cabinet as so much of this is very
much in the legales of Education right and us want to make sure that it is policy that is going to work for educators absolutely so we're getting that feedback and then still the ultimate responsibility is on the board for how it is revised from there or pass
and I also add for those who were not present at the committee of the whole as well that trun is our legal counsel trun is currently in the process of reviewing our code of conduct um for final launch right um so it just we we are currently
operating with like almost like halfway in with trun and it just made so much sense to make things a lot more aligned um so um just an example of that is there were some pieces in the code of conduct where they were hey we have a
policy around this where if you are moving towards TR it might make sense to kind of adjust some of the language to match so it it it just made a lot more sense to go in this direction because we were already taking a halfway step
towards that anyway with a lot of the work that we're doing from their legal counsel anything else no I think this is long overdue so thank you for a revamp and a review Deep dive for a long time
fantastic I'm super excited about [Laughter] it item 6.3 first read for the purchase of the board policy services um so again documents are en closed
there um the expenses are listed as well um the uh at least they should be are they they I I I think I saw them at the end yes they are okay starting page 82
so you know it it begins obviously some initial implementation costs but the um the annual cost as well as the implementation cost we're still looking at significantly less money than what we're spending on will occur so this just makes sense all around once this
purchase is made we have access to all of the documents all the policies all the administrative guidelines as Word documents um that we can edit maintain so that's great yeah my understanding is we're gain more for Less
cor good point that out of like it is a reduction in what we are paying along with stream lining what we're using for our services so getting more localized Services too yeah and I'll also say Tom correct me if I'm wrong and they do automatic updates
or do they as as things change so for like a Title Nine for example they will do they do both there's an annual update process but they will also provide us with Emer not emergency um urgent updates um as we go and actually that
annual fee you'll notice on the form it goes up to that amount it'll it won't go over that amount but it could be less depending on the number of updates contained in that particular Year we We that's great and we get a
discount as we cat our clients so that helps too great thank you absolutely we have no uh pulled consent agenda items so the next Committee of the whole meeting is Monday October 7th at 6:00 p.m. the next regular board
meeting is Monday October 21st at 700 p.m. Eagles points of Pride I'll go first I feel that have a lot of stuff I'm just going to do a blanket one I know that there were some challenges and some opportunities
lending us leading us into the beginning of the school year and I just want to thank you both and your team and all the teachers for really sticking through this and I think it was a it was a great success starting off with that kickoff down at the high school about the services and I really think that it was
a was a much more smooth line start to the year than last year and I can only see it getting better and better and better so thank you both and to the whole team thank you thank you mine's kind of blanket too but a buildoff of that is just um the events I've been
able to attend and when I'm at my kids schools just being reminded of You know despite those challenges and everything in the building how well um we are doing down to the classrooms you know at providing
an excellent educational experience for our kids and really just uh our oural work in this district is so top-notch and I'm so grateful for it so I'm really grateful for all the teachers I know it's hard starting off that year and for
the students too because it's hard for them too starting off that new year so very proud of both those groups I will go um only had one but because it's our meeting right before homecoming I just want to shout out the homecoming is coming up it's
probably one of my favorite friend all activities every year to go to um it is on the 27th I don't know what time the parade kicks off that 4 at 4 o' um so just want
to bring a highlight to that and say go Eagles go Eagles I knew I should have gone before Jonathan takes mine um same thing just homecoming parade is coming up um I know there's been a big push for uh whether it be alumni coming back
whether it be of teachers and staff Schoolboard members alumni from the school that have graduated um just community members that have been in the area to come out for it if you have not been it is an amazing event I um
forcefully pull people along with me every single year and every single year those people are so excited they did come because it is it is such a good time um and it's just a way that the community does come together the prade is amazing whether you stand on the side of the road and watch and get candy or
whether you walk in it with your kids um and then just all the festivities and going into the homecoming game and being able to watch the football team the cheer team the marching band all of it is a good time to be had so looking forward to it I'm very excited for another fun homecoming so yes October
September 27th 400 PM is the parade 700 p.m. is the game kick off for it so and then remember you have to electronically get your tickets for the football game for it you know homecoming is a good uh
segue to this shout out so I Have Become more aware of how many Alum stay and work in our schools and had the chance randomly last week to talk to Thomas
Lindsay who works at UHS who is an Alum we had a lovely conversation he was filling in at Ferndale high school at the desk in an evening where there were a number of meetings related to the Fine Arts boosters super grateful that he was
was there but also just it was really fun to listen to his pride about being a multi-generational Ferndale family the Cross Country Coach Isaac Webb is also a
Ferndale grad and um he's he is coaching this small But Mighty uh cross country team of some really great high school kids um and that's been super fun many other um uh Ferndale Alum including some
people around this table so I just think it's something really special about the district and um I had this idea that maybe every once in a while Robert could highlight an Alum or two some way but
I'm I always have ideas for Robert so I I'm moving this one through our superintendent um I would not be the drum Major's mother without anouncing that the marching band has their first
competition on Saturday in Grand Blank was a lot of good excitement about that and uh yeah so many sports off and running it's been super fun uh to just uh see the the energy around the
building so I also have a number of teachers in my life who on Friday were feeling the stress of the first five day week cuz a lot of them had done two 4 day weeks and they were like done in by
that fed day week so shout out to the teachers that survived the first fed day week and um all good energy uh for the upcoming Five Day weeks because there's a lot in a
row a whole lot we are counting okay um okay so I um there's lots of things to be proud of but I'll Focus tonight on Elementary um I had a chance to attend fuels curriculum night as well as the
elementary PTO meeting um and also had a chance to have a um meeting just with the um Elementary PTO president um and we are really I I would just I would just put it together and say that I'm
just really proud of how we are utilizing our school buildings as a community Hub like it feels like Community like um when I was at fuel it's not just to come and learn about the K5 literacy curriculum there was also the library was there there was
also information from Tom about rooms um there was it was just all PTO was there so it's like we're utilizing all of our opportunities all of our meetings to truly be a community and it just felt good um I have some we have some great
plans alongside Christin sewer Elementary PTO to kind of expand that thinking right because at the end of the day all of our boosters all of our programming is in support of all of our students so how can we streamline that process if you are new to Ferndale or if
you're old to Ferndale how might you be able to continue to support in a streamline way instead of meeting or events every single day of the week so we're um we want to make it easy to get involved we want to make it easy for you
to be a part of this community and it truly feels like that at all of our events so I was just really excited to be at both of those places just looking forward to what's to come so I want to piggy back on curriculum night I attended curriculum
night at lower right really really exciting to PTA was there repres presenting and also selling the yard signs um Taiwan was there um sharing what we're doing in instruction and learning and then the office of food
service was also represented and provided a sample of the foods that we share with our students so there was a cucumber and tomato salad and who would have ever thought blueberries go with bomic vinegar and time but it was really really good and the kids tried it I
couldn't believe it like what kid would eat that but they did but they did it was an opportunity to showcase what we're we're attempting to do this year to reimagine what we do with food and how we serve our students so it was a it was a really good night really good
night is everybody yeah so item 11 request to go into close session to discuss the superintendent goals I think we have to approve this yes with who and with who W and with who
is it the school board and Comm with the school board and I'll move to go into close session to discuss the superintendent schools with the Board of Education and Camille
second any discussion roll call Miss Shephard Turner yes Sig yes elter yes L yes vice president former yes thank you with five yes votes the motion
passes and we will go into close session time