e e e e e e e e e e
e e secretary Bulls absent secretary Perkins abson vice president McIntyre pres and myself
present we have two absent and five present secretary perin is not here read the minut I would Now call upon vice president Laura McIntyre to read the district mission statement and
the first statement in this stand of practice it is the mission of the Flint School District to develop a community of Learners who are prepared to live work and contribute in an Ever Changing
Society Flint board of education standards of practice in order to provide outstanding leadership and better serve the Flint Community Schools we the members of the Flint Board of Education commit to the following standards of
practice one we will be consistent in our dealings with each other as well as students staff and Community we will model trustworthiness and honesty in our relationship with each other with with our superintendent
and with our conen we'll focus on a common goal of providing the best education possible for students in the Flint Community Schools we will respect the diverse views that each of us bring to the organization as well as the view of
others that we interact with as we carry out the business of the Board of Education we will we will be open and authentic with each other our staff and Community as we work to make decisions we will focus you not
personalities our decisions will be student centered and based on objectives and facts still number eight D we'll practice good listening skills to better understand our fellow board
members and constituents I seek a motion in a second to approve the minutes from the February 19 2025 regular board meeting and the February 2025 board finance and operation
Committee of the whole meeting so moved support it been properly excuse are there any correction Madam chair yes um I notice uh say 2024 did you catch that
Pam for um February 20th yeah no problems are there any other Corrections see and N the motion to approve the minutes from the February 19th and February 2025 regular board meeting and board finances operation
Committee of the whole meeting will be conducted by a roll call vote as I call your name please say yes to approve the motion secretary Perkin is absent trustee buo yes vice president McIntyre yes
trustee reliford yes trustee King yes treasure Lona yes and myself yes six yes one absent the board will now hear comments from the public we ask that you state the
reason for the addressing the board and that you limit your remarks to 3 minutes on the matter within authority of the board and not address individual by names the presiding office of the board should have the right to limited number of person who may address the board on
the same subject please State your your name and address first before beginning to speak if there's anyone from the public that would like to speak please come forth hi hi excuse me um Nicole Len gang I live
in Huckleberry Lane um my son attends nethercut school I'd like to know um why it's closing number one number two why is it being being kept quiet why are the parents being told it's supposed to be speak up this a little bit more I'm sorry I can hardly
hear you okay um my son goes another cut I want to know why it's closing number one I want to know number two why parents are being told it's supposed to be Hush Hush or not supposed to talk about it um and if all the kids are going to
be transferred to one school can that school accommodate all the children that are going there how big are the classes going to be if the kids are going to become if the kids who are currently Walkers going to become busers how is
that going to be transitioned um my son is autistic so he like needs to have that inter segue like you can't just say hey here's your new school kind of thing so are we going to
do a walkth through of to show parents and students like hey this is going to be the new school this is going to be the new system um I'm just wondering how that's going to happen that's it okay thank you thank
you for your comments and hopefully we will have uh answer excuse me hopefully we have an answer to that all those question uh coming up with the superintendent and could you please state your name clearly for the record could you spell it Nicole Len gang last
name l e SS a o n g a n g thank you yep yes there's anyone else from the public that would like to speak good evening board members my name is Chief pres balinsky
and I'm here to to address the concerning comments made by vice president Laura McIntyre at the last board meeting regarding Flint's Community Schools its students the military and the NGC program first I reject your offensive claims that Flint
students face only two Futures the military or the prison system this rhetoric is false an insult to students families Educators who work tirelessly for every child's success vice president McIntyre point of information we can't call out
the names we can't name the individuals we can't name who the individuals vice president McIntyre please we okay have to refrain from using name you can just say individual board member okay individuals okay it is
clear that your position is to push politically biased beliefs rather than focusing on our students needs and potential your characterization of the NGC program as predatory and a pipeline to prison is incorrect and
undermines a program that has positively impacted thousands of students in Flint for over 40 years these remarks are harmful and a calculated effort to advance Your Personal Agenda and the expense at the expense of our students I'm going to provide um information at the end the NC
program at Flint Southwestern is about leadership accountability and preparing students for success in life it's not about military recruiting with over 300 of our 495 students student population eager to
participate in nearly a nearly 100% College enrollment rate upon my graduates the numbers speak for themselves over the past four years we only had two that enlisted in the military vice president oh sorry your
refusal to visit our program despite numerous invitations says it all without meeting these students and seeing their achievements you instead spread misinformation that that dismisses their incredible achievements
furthermore your claims of military experience is false your my source confirms that your statements about your qualifications and expertise are unfounded you did not train Navy Seals if you have you would have never made
the comments that you've made your lack of honesty undermines the argu your arguments and raises serious questions about your integrity as a leader if you cannot present truthful information about your background how can the Community Trust for you to make
informed decisions about our students your comments are an attack on the n ngtc program the students the families the educators of flint and the service members who defend your right to to speak freely I understand the superintendent
will be presenting my grievance letter today I don't know if he's here he's out today okay while only state officials and voters can enforce action I filed this to stand up for my students because a true leader means doing the right thing even when it's
hard the board I urge you to cons to consider the impact of allowing politically motivated rhetoric to oversee the real needs of our students the students of Flint Southwestern Flint schools deserve leaders who uplift and
Empower them not leaders who diminish their value with false narrative and personal agendas in closing can't state your name I urge you to stop using this platform to advance
your political beliefs at the expense of our students I invite you and all board members to visit Flint Southwestern meet the students witness the program's transformative impact firsthand and thank you all for your dedication to our
students thank you sir let's work together and let's try to stop doing all this polarized rhetoric thank you thank you sir is there anyone else from the public would like to speak thank you Mr kings that it's a biased attack thank
you thank you very much is there anyone else from the public that would like to speak seeing none we move to our next agenda items I now call upon Shandra CLE to present action items to the
board human resource committee well go ahead I seek a motion and second from the board to approve resolution 1. six Personnel recommendations so moved support it has been probably moving
second is there any discussions Madam chair yes thank you um I'm looking at the homeless liaison attendance agent and um analyst this particular individual is a
supervisor also my question is are the positions combined um she's currently a supervisor of six attendance agents excuse me um could you come and speak over half of
[Music] that Hi how are you doing good you might want to P your mic a little closer or turn it on I'm not for sure you need me to repeat the question no it's a com combined position as a combined position I guess my concern is a analyst and a
supervisor are completely different right they are so if she's supervising six individuals how is that represented in here is that in the job description because this is a federal position correct uh yeah it's in the job
description and it was based off of it was based off what the employ employe was currently making and it still resulted in an increase um to their position of
$5,000 I I guess my question to you is with this being a federal position and federal dollars is is paying for this position correct it's it's not a federal position a homeless mckenny vento that's not federal you
mean the funding source she she's up this right here is mcken vento correct right okay Federal correct it' be funded through the state no mckin vento is federal okay okay so with that there's a budget for that position okay so the
mcken vento is one position right and supervising liaison attendance agent that's completely different right so I guess my question is how is that the budget that was set for this position and also her supervisor
position that's what you came up with or you just how did you come up with the 50 ,000 so what happened if we look at our we have a scale set for analysts so it was based off of what we had for the scale for step one person that would actually what they would make coming in and we also looked at what the employee
was currently making which resulted in an increase so this is not a new employee to this position um the position is a new position with the district but the employee themselves is not now okay so with again I guess I want I want to make
sure I'm I'm clear this position her Duties are not new the title has changed right the duties are not new how well I take that back with the job description there are some new duties that have been assigned within this
position so how it came about was the grants program director that we had she had been talking to the state and there were some things that we needed to do for compliance uh sake so what she did was she took the job description that she had she got the state to approve the
job description sent that back to us and then what I did was I looked at the W2 that the employee had which we have the ability to do that since it's a contracted uh position that we have an agreement with and we looked and we were able to determine on the scale what should that position look like which
still resulted in an increase for that position I guess my question to you as the HR Director is you you it doesn't look like you took in account her degree her bachelor's degree her years of doing
the the the job also she's a supervisor that figure right there is does not reflect a person that's bringing this to the table and she's already um she's been in the district but this position Federal position requires the person to
be a a district employee as the HR chair I'm aware of that yeah so with that being said when you're dealing with federal dollars I that that salary is concerning to me because it's as if this individual she
should never be on step one because she's been doing this job for I think what last three four years so that's not a step one person so that's my concern is I want individuals to their experience and education to be reflective in their pay especially when
it's a federal position and federal dollars are being used because Federal Federal positions have a budget for that salary so we just want to make sure that that budget is being um represented in that so that's my concern that that's not happening thank
you are there any more discuss cond Madam CH we can barely hear you as I call your name I don't know if your mic please seeing no further discussion the motion to approve resolution
1.6 Personnel recommendation will be conducted by roll call vote as I call your name please say yes or no to approve the motion trustee reliford no trustee King
yes treaser Luna yes vice president McIntyre yes trustee booze yes secretary perin is absent and myself yes one two 3 four there one no and five
five yes that's pathetic I seek a motion and a second from the board to approve resolution 1.7 addendum to establishment of njrotc unit Madam chair yes I make a motion to approve item 1.7
it has been prop thank you Miss Boo has been properly moved and second is there any a discussion proceed vice president yeah so I would like to just clarify some some statements and
misstatements that seem to have been um taken out of context um the first is that my objection to the NRC njrc is is structural it's not
politically motivated and the response from the military and the news media frankly underscores the importance of education and critical thinking even more than ever given the clear lack of
understanding and I'm hopefully I'm I'm hoping it's just uh uh like an innocent misunderstanding but I I see this as their stance as being very divisive and rhetorical this isn't a political statement as a
sociologist I'm just point out the fact that we don't have an international baloria program we don't have sufficient AP classes we don't have um dual enrollment with the University of
Michigan Flint and structurally this is this is addressing why I am not voting for this point of information yeah do are you aware of we approved dual enrollment a few month a
month or two ago yes I'm talking in in general the fact that we have not had it systemically over the time that we've had this again listening and reading is fundamental yeah but you say um that's not true so not true at all
okay let's not speak um you hear your turn to speak and address thank you I appreciate that so as a again as a as a sociologist um and as somebody who is
um has the the scholars the students the parents and the community um at the Forefront um this is my position this is what I was elected to represent and again if it's not taken out of context
and used as divisive rhetoric if you look at how things are structured how things um how inequality and race and classism are reproduced in the school system it is
evidence-based just to show that having RJ NJ Roc and other programs including Greek programs um are part of a prison industrial complex and part of a school
to prison pipeline if people want to have more of a discussion um if they want to do have more reading or more information it is certainly available and out there I'm just trying to do my due diligence as an
elected official to to make sure that Flint Scholars have the best um that is available I I don't object to having these these programs uh as an extracurricular outside of the school I don't think that um given the military's
budget that we should have to contribute even half um half of the the price for that so that my objections um have been on record over the years they're clearly stated um and to come after me personally um you know to to
mischaracterize me as a person and as my credentials um I worked at National University in the 9s I taught at the Marine Corps and Reserve Depot and the 32nd Street base in addition to other
military bases around in San Diego and around the San Diego area and yes I did teach Navy Seals and sailors and Marines and enlisted servicemen sociology classes Humanities classes film classes
and a variety of different classes through National University on those military bases so yes I did um okay end of story uh moving on if anyone wants to contact me directly uh you have my information and
you can and I encourage and welcome discourse thank you thank you trusty King yeah um I would say I mean like I've been saying um for a while that um our words that we
speak across the microphone have an impact throughout the district and the community right um I've always said that and it's important that we may have disagreements with certain things but knowing the weight of our words and how
it could send rippers to a district and a community as we see with leadership nationally you know regionally in the state and locally right um as it pertains to the subject I mean the subject at hand which is in njrtc M um I
was fortunate able to attend uh attend the one of the classes not fully attend but check out one of the classes when I tour Southwestern I think it was last year program thriving one of our Scholars that um came up here that went to U uh HBCU tour um latan a Stewart is
her name uh she was a of njrc fin young lady that was in in a program excelling doing what she had to do she went to H going to HBCU now that's what this program allows our students to do right um I'm a advocate
of njrc I you know I I disagree with my colleagues comments that sometimes that you know I maintain that um silence is complicit in some cases right and some of the words that have been said I don't want to be misconstrued that them are not my views
and I know the community didn't elect us to disagree with ngrc when we have bigger things to do in my personal opinion as it pertains to dual enrollment as we you know again our words matter we do have dual enrollment we all approve that
item month or so ago we approved that moving in the right direction but to keep the notion of saying we don't have certain programs let's make the effort to get these programs back which we have started with with d rollan what you have them right we've done these things I
just I can't sit back and say and just let some comments go because like I say one I think it's being complicit when you're silent but also if we don't speak up to some of the the inaccuracies of statements we let the community and District think that's okay in my opinion
no I I don't agree with that I know what ngrc does I've seen it in action and I will be back to see in action again because I know from firsthand personal knowledge right how they able to teach our kids discipline we can talk about
social sociology and not how Flint you know lacks that in some cases with our kids we can talk about that that could be a good topic but to bash an organization that is helping Flint kids not tearing them down not not not demeaning them but giving them uh simple
discipline but other values to uh grow up and to be a productive citizen is wrong in my opinion so I want to be um the board member to commend njrc and the work they're doing is everything perfect no right nothing's perfect but I just
want to sit back and be complicit and silent because I disagree but I want to make sure I clearly say I disagree with those comments thank you thank you trusty K trusty Lona yeah um what can I say so I think our role as a board of
education is to create the environment for students to succeed in school Life College skill trades the military and Beyond and this program I'm going to support it tonight again for a second time but this
program is just one of those opportunities for kids to thrive so I'll speak from personal experience um my younger sister Yolanda she was a part of this at Southwestern Academy and then she finished it she really enjoyed the experience she then went to serve Us in
the Navy F I think six years and now she had just started college this past fall thanks to the opportunity that she got from both this program and also from her service in the Navy but that's her choice I chose to go to Michigan State other sibling chose to join the
Army straight from high school he didn't do any RTC while he was in high school but my point is this our words do matter we shouldn't demonize choices that students have at them matter of fact we should provide them more choices whether
it be ilc it be the Arts we just approv dual enrollment I would love to bring back the IB Program back to our district but to to not recognize that students have choices and that students actually choose these choices because from my understanding I think about six months
ago this program was busting at the seams of students wanted to do it so I'm going to affirm those students who made that choice to be part of that program I'm going to affirm the families that encourage their students and support of those students to be in that program I'm
going to affirm the folks who are the instructors and teachers in that program I'm not going to get involved in what this person said but I will say for me I come from a family of diversity whether being military like my father who did 20 years in the Navy my brother who served
nine years in the army or my sister who's active duty right now or my other sister who chose to play basketball in college for several years we have choices and I want to make sure our students have choic does not focus on some Theory or what we think that we can affect at our board level at this level
right here we have a choice to benefit students and give them opportunities and that's within our circle of control so I support this tonight and I want to make my position clear on that trusty thank you trusty D thank you um I think for
me the concern is we've had in the last month two individuals come before the board seeking an apology from um mentioned
individual and we had an employee come before with a complaint and provided like this gentleman did
provided documentation and so did the terminated employee but no one paid attention I guess my question is there's a culture of ignoring erratic
behavior and as a board point of um I'm I'm I'm still I'm still gerain to point of order what your your discussion should it's your' in R otoc it's in ROTC it's the same thing if you allow me to
finish it's your main to not yes I'm looking at his data that submitted we're not talking about this we talking about as IND come to the m you going to let me finish or you go defend your friend I'm not defending my point I'm trying to
redir you to the when an officer of of the Navy a chief of the Navy comes before the board and feels insulted inflammatory baseless and deep offensive comments that's recorded is obvious that verbatim
he went and type what he heard I think there comes a time where apology just needs to come out sometimes you just got to apologize because everyone's not wrong everyone's not wrong and as a board we
should be able to correct wrong and move on not look the other way because it's someone that's dear to us wrong is wrong regardless of who's doing it and as a board I I really stress to my colleagues to be consistent and fair
with what you're saying and doing wrong is wrong and I just don't like the favoritism somebody you like you look the other way no no no you're wrong so let's do better and we have to address this RC is where it that's where
you get correction at our students deserve that they make that decision it's for us to provide opportunities it's up to the students to do it not us and and and we should not utilize our position to promote our personal agendas
that's not what this board is for is to promote the betterment of this district and when we get outside of that we must address that to get them back in their Lane thank you thank you are there any more comments every I'm going to be the last
to speak as it relate to njrc I'm going going to speak on behalf of my my deceased son my four brothers all deceased and my dad but I'm
going to talk about my son and I promise him this during the 70s down in Detroit when African man was round up and sent to prison back and forth the only thing as
a single mom I had was the AR OTC they made a gentleman out of Joseph I didn't Joseph John RC they changed his behavior because he was angry they taught him how to handle
his behavior he went from the ninth grade to the 12th grade never getting suspended did not have did not go to military ending up with this comeon scholarship fund the r
TC uh program was very helpful in the era that I came up in because a lot of young men lost their dad to prison and if you was old enough to remember it was trasure that's when
the prison system became for profit they had to put bodies in the system so I support the uh RC especially with single moms with young young boys they need that
discipline and some of the girls I have no problem with it my brothers now went through it I have my nieces she came up in property and up um a master in
education through this same program that give sometime our community something that's been taken out is not in my opinion it's not about pipeline to school sometime is a pipeline to keep from going to prison so I will be
supporting this here I believe in it I think that it does work for certain sets of people that believe in it that's my opinion seeing that there is in no more discussion we will conduct a roll call vote to sub resolution 1.7 secretary
Perkins is absent trustee Booth yes vice president McIntyre no truste rifer yes trustee King yes treer Luna yes and myself a yes six yes one
no thank you proceed I seek a motion and second from the board to approve resolution 11.3 authorization to purchase boiler system equipment so
moved it has been is there it have been propt to move and second is is there any discussion seeing no further discussion a motion to approve resolution 11.13 authorization to purchase border system equipment will be conducted by a
roll call vote as I call your name please say yes or no secretary person abson treasure Luna yes trustee King yes trustee reliford yes vice president McIntyre yes trustee booze yes and
myself yes six yes one absent I seek a motion and second from the board to approve resolution 11.4 authorization to purchase boiler pumps mam chair yes I make a motion to approve um it item 11.4
support it has been proped move and second is there any discussions seeing no vote secretary Perkin is aing truste booze yes vice president McIntyre yes trustee reifer yes trustee King yes
treasure Luna yes and myself yes six yes one absent board committee as a whole minute 11.4 11.5 I believe we're going into uh no
11.5 authorization Food Service vehicle let me see the last one that I have for I have a 21. do you have 11.5 okay go ahead and read that she got
it do you have it got okay thought you said you didn't sorry okay I seek a motion and second from the board to approve resolution 11.5 authorization to purchase Food Service Vehicles
support I second I second it been prop and move and second if there any discussion saying there's no discussion the motion to approve resolution 11.5 authorization purchase Food Service
vehicle will be conducted by roll call vote secretary Perkin is absent trustee booze yes vice president McIntyre yes trustee reliford yes trustee King yes treer Luna
yes and myself a yes six yes one absent I seek a motion and second from the board to approve resolution 21.14 schools of choice plan Section
105 Madam chair yes make a motion to approve item 21.14 support prpt and move and support is there any discussions Madam chair yes just clarification for me um maybe one of my
colleagues can just help me how is the School of Choice impacting our attendance positively or negatively go ahead can I answer M TR so the state of Michigan is a very Pro school choice
state which in layment terms allows a resident family to go to a neighboring District that is not their home District or attend a charter school in the state however the district the student chooses to attend can impose limitations
on the number of students or if the student has discipline issues ETC however each district has to reaffirm that we must follow that state school choice law okay so it's a requirement it's a
requirement it's like you know how a couple times a year we sign on different federal and state statutes we just give them our official blessing but we have to sign them or it could put us at risk for funding in certain instances this is different though but I'm just
giving an example right example okay okay because I know gr blank opted out yeah yeah to be clear this is different so this is something completely different that's that's why I was getting clarification okay thank you no further questions are there any more discussions see no further discussion the motion to approve resolution
21.14 School of Choice plan Section 105 will be conducted by roll call vote treaser Luna yes yes trustee King yes trustee reliford yes vice president McIntyre yes trustee boo yes Perkin is
absent myself yes six yes one absent I seek a motion and second from the board to approve item 21.15 lease agreement for Flint saltbox Derby Madam chair yes I make a motion to approve item
21.15 support it's been prop and move and second is there any discussions Madam chair yes have I I think um Dr King yes I'm not I I I've heard of
the Soapbox Derby can you Enlighten on the benefits of of that being inside the district in one of the repurpose schools um what's the benefit for the district is is it okay is okay answer me the
director to come is it Okay Kevin it's so black here could you please come for Kevin's here I want he come oh I don't need you now correct I Don't Need You Now how you
doing today I'm good how are you good evening we have a board member that has uh any other board have any hi Kevin concern hello how are you trusty Rel thank you how are you I'm great how are you good can you tell me about the St box der yeah absolutely so we are a program we've been in existence since
2019 we provide Hands-On stem learning in a collaborative environment that builds Community Partnership we ultimately want to use the track cor and Derby is right behind Fint Southwestern High School where we do our soapbox racing but most importantly what we do
beyond that is the stem concept where we build the cars collectively through a series of workshops which we're going to use at Pierce the reason that we're hoping for the lease agreement and from there we also want to provide additional stem programming throughout the summer throughout the school year specifically
for Flint Scholars Flint kids and anybody else throughout the community that can come to Flint take part in our programming race at um in our at Cor Downs eventually and take part in any other activities that we have that really provide Community collaboration
and cultivate interest in the future and skill sets that are critical for the future future Workforce awesome so is this year round it will be year round right now it's not because we don't have the capacity to okay once we're able to have that capacity it will be year round and that likely will be hopefully
beginning this year is it limited to Flint students or countywide whosoever whoever it's is is not limited to anybody we prioritize Flint students and we go out of our way to make sure that Flint students don't have to pay a cost for it that that was going to be my next question so there's no there's no um
there's no cost at all for if somebody wants to come from out of state and they're more than welcome to take part but they're going to have to they're going to have to pay their own way then too is there an annual race where we could attend and cheer for yeah yep there is an annual race this year it'll be Saturday May 31st at Chevy and
the hall now you know they did a lot of Renovations that Chevy in the hole where there right on yeah right on the street we shut down the city street you know there's two lanes and we have you know one car in each lane racing against each other it's a very fun day it's a very fun activity as well too um and then our
workshops and also what we intended to do through this uh lease agreement is to build those cars in advance of the race using you know utilizing local schools and and kids they'll build them collectively through our workshops and then a race day is when uh when they'll take part in that activity oh good all
right well best to you yeah thank you very much more questions no I don't thank you sir yeah thank you very much you say no further discussion the motion to approve item
21.15 leas agreement Flint so boox der we conduct about a road call vote trust booze yes vice president McIntyre yes trustee reliford yes trustee King yes treaser owner yes and myself yes six yes
one ABS I seek a motion and second from the board to approve item 21.16 lease agreement El ballet folk lorico lorico good job mam chair yes I
make a motion to approve item 21.16 support is there any discussions Madam chair is she here no she's not representative here there's no one in audience us here is there any more discussions Madam chair
yes yeah I would just kind of share a bit about the organization from my experience with them from their website so uho is a nonprofit organization focused on preserving the Mexican culture and enriching the lives of children through
music dance and education and they've been in the community for over 25 years um the director has been really involved in the bilingual program within Flint Community Schools I spoke to her yesterday she supports us proven this tonight um she does a lot more than just
dancing um they teach character in the organization they do language classes for both English speakers and also Spanish speakers who want to learn English and just to be completely honest you know much like Mr Cronan said they do education we have stem with him and
we have cultural and the Arts with her that to me is a pipeline into our schools That's Unique that's not offered at other districts and Char schools in the area and if you read through the lease it says specifically that Flint Community School students would have a
discount if they enrolled in the program as opposed to other students who are not in our schools so I'm going to support this and I think it's uh you know it's our first toll in the water when it comes to repurposing property and working with nonprofits who offer programming for the community and students but as we move forward to pass
this policy hopefully next month because we didn't get it back from the attorneys I think that will give us guidance about how to best approach this you know and how to do it better in the future okay thank you is there any more discussion Madam chair yes um I would definitely
support this because you know repurposing buildings and being able to apply funding to our debt is is it's a winwin for me so um I applaud the repurpose of buildings
that um we deemed necessary to repurpose and to allow the community to benefit from the um from the properties is a win-win so I just look forward to us continuing to do great work but also including the community in the things
that we're doing thank you thank you there any more yes I would like to know where would this program be housed what school Pierce Pierce this is also Pi is that correct is they're going to be we're leasing the space to them at
Pier school okay yeah thank you thank you yeah I think it's it's beyond time that we that we did more integration with the Latino Community um and uh as trusty Luna stated it's it's
to me this isn't just about arts and culture this is about stem as well this involves music this involves um uh you know a lot of different different skills so just to dismiss not not dismiss it but just to say oh it's
just art arts and culture um it involves language it involves mathematics and um this organization has been around for over two decades and this is a first step in um ensuring
bilingual education and uh hopefully um you know creating something that is that is more integrated into the community and and is long lasting and involves you know uh dual language Learners uh which we so desperately need
uh in this Society so I definitely will be will be approving this and I'm very excited about this and I hope that this is I know it's replicable and and and scalable and we they're doing us a favor really by
coming into our district and providing this service this this wonderfully Rich culture um and so I I extend my thanks U and I'm grateful to albal fororo for doing this thank you thank
you um just for the public information as you listen to us talk about lease one of the uh commitment that the board tried to make that when we close school we no longer will leave that building empty year after year property value
goes down uh and it's it creates a lot of pro uh problems as difficult as it was for us to close that school is also challenging us uh to bring individuals in we got uh to leas space I had three
or four more calls from other uh people in the community that's wants to serve the community and have them an opportunity to come in and um at least some of that space I think the auditor has been taken the gy has been taken uh
I have a couple of people wants to uh look at uh doing a community garden and so um it's kind of going to like it's appeared to be something like a community Hub and this is new for us but what we're trying to do is keep our word
what we said that we was going to do and not leave that that place over there empty because it's a solid community and so if you have any information I wants to know about this uh trustee King is our chairperson over planet and
repurposing and you can reach out to him or reach out to Kevin Jones if you're looking for space uh to run your business um we do not ensure your business you have you have to have your own Bond you have to be bonded superintendent make that clear um we can
we just running out of space and trying to get enough money uh to cover at least the utilities and and things that's over there uh and that's just to make sure that you know we keep it up and running so you're more than welcome to contact
us the board uh like these individuals done and you have uh two or three more contacted me this weekend so um we don't want this to be surprised that we selecting certain people uh who is going to be is just you have to go through the
process and and we do involve legal and but you are responsible for your own Bond and your insurance seeing that there is no wa M yeah I just wanted to add a few minutes of like context with this so again we're in the midst of adopting a
policy to better govern this process that's in the works now speak up but okay is that better that good all right cool okay good so again we're in the midst of developing the uh policy to govern this process as it relates to Leasing and the
sell of property but I do want to be clear about this number one we're talking about repurposing either recently closed schools are soon to be closed schools that we approved a year and a half ago but I want the public to know the
further context of this so there's this conception that we've put all this money and effort into the central woodier campus which that has taken a lot of our effort with our partners but to be clear we've invested 14 $ million in schools
like Potter on the east side um schools like d Ryder just north of downtown uh other schools in every quadrant of the city um I think most recently that's most prominent is The Brownell homes prek through a campus on
Carpenter Road or not right on but near Carpenter Road on the North side um because there's been so many years of neglect and not doing this a correct way the we've had to address blight um whether it be through demolition through leasing or sale so we're working with
someone to buy a school on the west side for hopefully housing um that's public information um we've demolished one school on the east side I'm Vernon and we're working with folks in Lancing to demolish schools across the city
including mckenley on the South Side Stuart on the south side and others on the northwest side Northern and Anderson so we're taking this approach but you have to understand this is two decades worth of not making right decisions and it takes a lot of money time and planning and that's why we have the
policy to guide us the administration and the community so I know there's a lot of angst about soon to be closed schools but we are working behind the scenes with our partners with the community and with other parents and faculty and students to make sure it's done in a responsible way that's
Community Driven with the student at mining in first so we could definitely can take feedback in that process I'm I'm a person who thrives on feedback but we are doing this in a very proactive intentional way thank
you see no further discussion the motion to approve item 21.16 lease agreement for a ballet will be conducted by a roll call vote board members I call your name please say yes
to approve the motion trustee Bo yes vice president m McIntyre yes trustee rord yes trustee King yes treasure Luna yes and myself yes six yes one ABS I seek a motion and second from the
board to approve resolution 25.1 authorization to sign memorandum of understanding with CDF Freedom School for summer school pilot 2025 Madam chair yes I make a motion we approve it 21
25.1 support is there any discussion yeah I would I have a question truste ARA and I would just be curious I know some colleagues met with uh the director of the program could
they share how that meeting went they would like to any board member want to talk about the meeting we had Saturday because we had question do you have any discussions if not that's fine I just wanted to have some kind of feedback about how it
went okay good well I think I'm set I got my an is answered in the packet and also from last week from the speaker so I'm good I'll be supporting this I appreciate board m is there any disc questions oh no I I just want to make a
comment I want to make sure I um I'll be supporting this with my vote but I am elated to uh fully support this to have this program that's you know um taught in Flint Flint as a community but housing Flint schools makes me smile
right talking about the opportunities for Flint kids providing opportunities and uh this is a good opportunity for our kids and I I'm glad uh to fully support this tonight appreciate it I'm incredibly excited about this partnership any more
discussion I am very impressed with the fact that this program has been offered throughout the state of Mich michig and other states and I didn't know that until I you know had a chance to talk with the program um director and I like
the fact that it um closes the reading Gap through the summer months so the kids can have an opportunity to learn throughout the summer which I think is important for the kids to learn outside of the classroom absolutely um there's a
rich history with the Freedom School model and and in addition to that some of their greatest strengths are also in parent and and family engagement which is a gap that will be um greatly filled by their expertise in those areas I agree thank
you so I'm I'm excited to uh be embarking on this uh um collaboration um with this iteration of the freedom schools I I think Freedom schools as uh uh Miss Fields pointed out
has a rich tradition and a rich history and um um we we used to have freedom schools with Mrs with Dr eill delone um and this is while not exactly the same program
it's in the spirit of that type of program and it's it's about time that we've integrated a Freedom School model into the Flint Community Schools and so I'm I'm grateful that it's it's coming from uh you know our our
our own initiative and um our own Scholars we have a a a brilliant group of of young women and men who are are dedicated and and it's it's this is this is their heart's passion um this isn't
just about providing an educational service this is about um changing a way of life changing the culture revolutionizing the school system um and speaking about you know anti-school to prison pipeline uh
information um you know this isn't ret uh rhetorical or this isn't political rhetoric this is this is just real evidence-based pedagogy in practice and so I am really glad to to be supporting this and seeing this um this the kind of
program um and opportunities that we need for our Scholars so so thank you to Ashley ashney and and and crew and um I don't know if if could we have them come up and out of here yes they are I
believe is it come on is it and also please and and you're welcome you're you're welcome to bring the kids up come on you're yeah thank you hi everybody hi
hi where's the baby at yeah and okay all right okay because I love how they they integrate intergenerational need a seat Miss pH yes and this is and we have intergenerational leadership we have
another one of the of the committee or the board so to speak probably running down the Halls as as we speak and that's exactly what education is about it it shouldn't children should be seen and heard and
believed and included so I mean unless they're running down the hall because they got better they got better things to do right than this boring stuff so let me hand it over to you because you can say it much better than I can and thank you so much it's all you
okay she's very emotional she's very excited that's what we want yes oh wow and why are you composing yourself together I want to let the board know that they're interested in taking the office space over at Pier school so we are looking forward to working for you
with you and getting you do the lease uh with t ke um and put the lease in and here to talk with you about that would I heard your cry and you wanted to office over there here so anyway go ahead anybody
have any question or you want to explain your program oh oh I'll try to be very suin um this is more than a decade worth of planning and preparation we've been here we just don't you know we don't promote ourselves we try to do the work we
really love each other we really love this city you know my mom was a teenage mom when she had me I remember learning to ride my bike in the parking lot of Northwestern I still got property over on margin like we really are Flynn we really are from here um and so what I
would like to say is that we're grateful for the opportunity and I would like to say that we play well in the sandbox we are not the experts on Flint youth or Flint Educators or Flint Administration each of you all and our youth and our families are the experts on those things
but we do people so we're grateful for this opportunity where we can serve um as someone who can really just support the necessary collaboration who has a dynamic understanding of the curriculum and of people to make those things happen I won't keep talking but if there's anything specific that you would like
for us to say aside from thank you more I would be more than happy to respond I understand your passion and your excitement and just tears of joy not sadness uh that you work so hard to
get to us and we just whatever you need from the for to make sure that you're successful uh we will help you and U we spoke Saturday and I don't know what else to say you guys are just fa this so is there anybody want to discuss
anything yeah I'm on set I read the packet last week oh okay oh thank you I'm fine I'm I'm very familiar with the Freedom School so um you guys have my full support if it's anything I could do I can fold paper and
staple packets so any I can do to help I'm here to help okay thank you all right and I I would also like to say I grew up par stories about Mama delone of how she was somebody who looked out for my mom when people judged her when people didn't understand what she had to
go through just to raise me and so I would just like to say while our model is not the same model you know and I'm I'm not going to stand here like we had all these plans with Mama delone cuz we didn't we just wanted to sit at her feet you know and and not scare her away with you know all of this
um you know we carry that with us and for as long as we exist we will always acknowledge her Legacy and what she has poured into this community thank you thank you thank you everyone thank you Miss field as well thank you thank you
okay you're good send no further discussion the motion to approve resolution 25.1 authorization to sign a memoranda of understanding with CDF Freedom School for summer school pilot 2025 will be
conducted by roll call vote trustee boo yes vice president McIntyre yes trustee reliford yes trustee King yes treasure Luna yes and myself yes six yes one absent thank you very much now we will
have remarks from Individual board member do any board member have any Comm uh comments before we are joined Madam Chair truste King um I want to I want to commend um my colleagues for it's been a long time coming when we
talk about addressing the blight in our community right um you know when we got on the board of education together we talked about no more leaving um uh repurposed buildings just out and open right um and I'm this is a step in the right direction by approving the two
lease agreements today would not be the last Le Poli agreements you know in the future but this is a step in the right direction because we know right we all live in the in the city of Flint as the residents already you know been talking about our blighted properties right so
this is one step in saying hey let's address this let's make sure this um Pierce Elementary does not become a blighted property and I I just want to commend my colleagues um today was was a good day and I think we uh we should share this publicly and make sure um our community know we're not leaving
to R and sit and no no further will we leave vacant Properties or repurposed properties in the future to be sit Idol thank you madam chair TR rer okay thank you um I just want to address the article um was it each Village magazine
and the data that he had um he had highlighted and um it's no secret that Flint schools is behind however for several of us board members we had an opportunity to go down to Mississippi
and with the uh green Educational Service and U observe the work that they've been doing I believe green um Educational Service has been um working for 17 years but however they've been in the district one of the district had
been in conservatorship in other words taking over by the state twice and they were able to get them I want to say within 3 years to a be seven points away from an A what I witnessed personally
was intentionality if you will students were engaged in knowing where they were what what um number they needed to hit to be uh proficient in the categories and just seeing the Buy in from the top
down there was no discore it was everyone wanted to win um you had a principal who knew every student score and knew where they needed to be so I'm really excited for us to be
partnering with a consulting firm that has a a proven track record because looking at this list of Partnerships that we had that he listed in his um magazine article and it's all public
information um it just shows where we a great opportunity for growth and making sure we as a board we have to make sure that who we have over our the
staff and the students are doing what's best for the students at all times and in looking at these scores that's not happening so when I when I look at the Freedom School come before us and to see
the leader emotional that's a good sign that means she cares and she's committed and to me that's the bar that every partner or stakeholder that attaches their s to flin schools you need to be
committed the same way because our kids deserve that at all times so I'm looking at this data and I I I strongly urge my colleagues to look at this data because it's the truth MH and
we're repurposing schools but we have to invest in the staff and the students or it'll just end up being nothing so I just ask you all we have to be totally committed to supporting the partners that's in the
district and also having the partners report out half of these Partners I don't even I don't have not that I should but I have no idea what they're doing in the district but there should be a time where they come before this board and Report out where they are what they have
accomplished what they have attempted what barriers they have because as a board we may have to Institute a policy so that we can create what they need because evidently there's a barrier because these numbers are nothing to be pleased about
thank you yeah Madam chair yes yeah I agree um a lot about what you said so it's it's nice to hear us the last couple months really the last year but I think more so in the last six months be really intentional about um academic
data when it comes to math and reading um enrollment because that mean enrollment is dismal and we have a lot of work to do to bring our students where they need to be at when it comes to their math and reading our finances you know we've made a lot of improvements to reduce our top and then
to just improve our efficiency um sell buildings release buildings demolished buildings that have been a huge uh operational overhead but I just want to reiterate what folks have said the last couple meetings we have a lot of eyes on us um a lot of folks who are hoping to
see us do well but some folks who want to see us fall specifically as we work to you know renovate schools do the central rer thing uh work to you know ratify and finish our contract with our three unions um you know work with the
state partners the community to really Drive what we're trying to do for these kids but just be cognizant of our words and what we say because people watch us they watch our social media they watch how we say things they watch our tone even today at the gym at 6:30 in the morning I got stopped by someone asking
about Pierce which was positive but again on the opposite side if we say something that's not factual that's offensive that's inflammatory people in Lancing really people in different states people in this community see that but also folks with money see that and
the reason we're getting people to invest by the millions in our district whether it be teach from America the state of Michigan philanthropies it's because we've been able to show stability and not dysfunction and if we go and give
even give the hint of dysfunction or instability that money may not be guaranteed so I would encourage everyone on this on this stage to continue to have to work towards being a better role model and how we carry as elected officials and those are my
comments anyone else I would just like to um state that we have a a student at Southwestern Academy and she um she uh received her
name is I hope I don't C up her name nari nazari iby Herby Herby and uh she she will graduate from Southwestern uh this year but she
received an honorable um award she received from the Flint African-American Sports Hall of Fame scholarship a well-deserved honor and a testament of her hard work and dedication and she
came to us from Carmen asworth uh high school and I won't get into those details but uh the Flint School accepted her you know as a a student a scholar here in the Flint community school and she did um strive and and met her
requirements and she also have a 3.2 grade point average and I will nari nazari BBY Herby so I want to put her name out there thank you so much thank you and congratulation mad chair can I share I'm
sorry the mom called and that they'll be here at the next board meeting they were going to try to make it tonight awesome trusty why miss boo miss boo is highlighting students I want to highlight other uh Southwestern um uh
Jaguar as well uh to I think her name look Laquisha Chambers um youth Sol youth Solutions uh announced that uh Laquisha Chambers was selected uh as the jmg exemplary Youth of the year for our region uh she received this certificate
and much more um accolades but I want to make sure uh in in tend them in Same Spirit that you're uh recognizing one student I want to recognize another student um Lisa Chambers