Good evening. Welcome to the Monday, April 20th Board of Education meeting. If we can all please rise, we're going to have our Cook Mason kids lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Mason Student Council is honored to lead the pledge. After the pledge, please remain standing to participate in reciting with us both Cook and Mason's different affirmations. I pledge 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. As a Cook Cub, I pledge to be responsible, kind, and safe because other people matter. Every day after the pledge, we remain standing to repeat as a group those words that remind us that we are better together. These affirmations remind us each day- To focus on positive actions ... to value all people, students, and adults ... and to be joyful. We say, as Mason Mountain Lions-
We show respect. We show respect. We are joyful. We are joyful. I belong here. I belong here. You belong here. You belong here. We belong here. We belong here. Thanks for joining us. Everything is better when we do it together. Okay. So now the Cook Cubs go sit down by Mrs. Dean, and the Mason kids turn your bodies and get by the person you follow and read the speech. Okay.
So let's have the people that are on the blue page go please. Line up how you're supposed to be. Sorry if I sound angry. It's okay. I'm on the yellow page. Okay. Take a step back. If you're just on the yellow page, take a step back. If you're just- I'm on a blue page. Okay, find the person Is everybody ready? Okay.
February was Black History Month, so each morning we showcased a notable African American on the announcements. So now it's time for Black History Month's Guess Who game. It's your chance to recall the names of some notable people. Here are your clues for the first person. This person is a basketball legend who won many championships and a gold medal at the Olympics. He helped to advertise tennis shoes that were named after him. This basketball legend reminds us, quote, "I failed over and over again in my life, and that's why I succeed." End of quote.
He is known as one of the greatest players ever. Do you have a guess? Michael Jordan. Yes, that is correct. Today and every day, you have slam dunk day. Here's one more chance for you to play Guess Who. Here are your clues for the next person. This person is a young poet. She spoke in Joe Biden's presidential inauguration. Her words spread hope and courage. We will end with this powerful line from her poem. Quote, "For there is always light, only we are brave enough to see it." End of quote. Do you have a guess for this person? Amanda Gorman?
Yes, that is correct. Thank you for celebrating Black History Month with us. After the students finish these announcements, Ms. Jane shares information with us that helps us make our day better. Tonight, she would like to share some of that news with you. So, student council, why don't you sit down? Mrs. Jane is going to share her news. I think this is Mrs. Jane's, and this is Dale and Joe's. Oh, okay. All right. So we're going to start the slide show in a little. So this data is from Data Day, and it's from February. And as you guys know, we had a snow day, so this is the same
presentation that would have been presented on that day. And it is our mid-year data because we're just rolling into the end of the year data. And we're in a little bit of a unique place with our assessments. You've probably heard that as people have presented throughout the year. We are excited at Cook that 59% of our students met or exceeded their projected RIT score using the NWEA assessment tool. And this graph is a little bit strange. There's something imposed on there. But what it basically shows is the growth from-- Our goal is to have students in the blue and the green. And
it shows the growth across that. So overall, we had students decreasing from orange to yellow or perhaps orange to green. Overall, 6% of our students moved into the blue.That's excellent. We're looking forward to seeing what our end of the year shows. Mid-year NWEA, we haven't been doing NWEA all that long. However, we know that mid-year is the hardest one for our students. We're not sure why, but we tend to see a little bit of a decrease in January, and then come June, it all works itself out.
So we're excited to see what June will bring. Just for Mason, quickly, this is Cook's growth area too, but for Mason, 72% of our students met or exceeded their projected RIT score. One of the things I want to highlight is practically every teacher in Mason is participating in the new pilot, and we contribute some of our growth to that. So you would see for reading, 11% of our students increased in reading according to the NWEA, and the next slide shows 5% in math.
And then the next slide you'll see, I'm going to go quickly, in third grade, we had 31% of our students show growth in the blue area, which is really hard to move from the yellow to the green to the blue. And so our goal is to have all of the kids move one level. And then you could see, the next slide is for our fourth grade teachers. And what I want you to notice about fourth grade is all of the teachers use the program with Fidelity. And what you will see is 42% of our students show growth in the
blue. And in the fall it was 25%, and in the winter it was 41%. And so, each of the teachers that are using the pilot with the growth, their NWEA scores show growth significantly. And then for fifth grade, you will see we have 33% in the blue, which is the 5% in reading, and then 1% in math. And then the last thing we want you to see is last year, you could go to the next slide. Last year for the M
step, our fourth graders were first in the county. Oh. And our third graders, and for math they were third in the county. And what I checked today, the projected M step scores for our fifth grade is showing the same thing. So I'm really, really proud of our Mason students. Thank you. Okay. So turn around and face the board members. All right. And Shelby, you're going to start, so you need to go up here. As you can see, we are a team at Mason. We are strong, we are learners, and we work hard to make you, our
teachers and parents proud of us. We write goals for each marking period, and are given a celebration to acknowledge our accomplishments at the end of each marking period. We also show our unique self by being leaders, by finding ways to do fun projects with our fellow students, such as having a used book sale, by doing public service announcements, and helping to organize student including homecoming activities. We support our community by donating our diamonds to fish during our Grade Divide competition. We also collect food cans at Super Bowl.
And we donated over 120 coats and snow pants. For the Coats for Kids organization. And it was with great pride that we honored the veterans of our Mason families. And our town's first responders in November. Over 100 guests later gave back by showing us the service to others teaches us that we can have empathy for others. And makes us aware that there are people in our community in need, and that even small shows of compassion are valuable. We can make a difference by helping others. Hey, that sounds just like us. I play right field.
And I play first base. When the ball gets past the infield- He's there to back me up. Even our favorite team, the Tigers, can't win with just one player. It takes a whole team. That's what we learned when we honored our veterans and first responders. And that's what we see here at Mason, with our teachers, students, and custodians- And our school board. We're together because we are better together. We all agree. We are better together. Now, at the board's request, we will once again recite the poem we presented at the Honoring Heroes program called Better Together.
You guys want to, those people can want to step forward so that you're doing one stanza after another, kind of get your order. When troubles come or skies turn gray. You always help to light the way. With steady hands and hearts of truth. We feel like champions take steel. Better together, side by side. With courage strong, on we will ride. We serve, we gave, we still defend. Our heroes, neighbors, and our friends. Through hardest times, we've stood so tall.
To lift us up, to catch our fall. You remind us, no storm can sever, the strength we find in- Better together. We honor you with grateful hearts. For all you've done, for doing your part. And as we heal, your bravery lives and will live in us yet. Better together, that's our way. To walk with hope into each new day. With love, with thanks, and hand in hand. Together, stronger, we will stand. Wonderful. Any comments from the board? Well, I don't have really anything to say except for that was
truly amazing. And I'm so excited for tonight's meeting because my adopted buildings were Cook and Mason, and I'm a Reid Rocket, so it's like all my elementaries are all together, so this is wonderful. But thank you, guys. You did so good. Oops, I accidentally pressed the button. You did so good at reciting the poem, and I loved the guess game, and I love that you guys did that every morning for Black History Month. So keep up the good work, and we're looking forward to seeing the greatness that you guys achieve. Thanks. Thanks so much for coming tonight. I know it's a packed house.
Yeah. Do we want to get a picture taken? Yes. Of the group? Okay. All right. Why don't you turn around? You've got to back up just a teeny tiny Come back here, guys. All in the back. All the way in the back. Take some steps back. Parents can come up and take a photo, too. There you go. Let's step back a few steps. Keep going. Keep going. All right. Keep going. Everybody. All right. No, you're good. Ms. Kish, can you get on your tippy-toes? Yes, I can. All right. Three, two, one. And we'll do one more. I love your stance up front. I don't know who you are, but you are handsome.
There we go. Got it. Thank you. Awesome. Okay. Well, great job, kids. And I want to thank our parents for being patient with us. We knew we had a packed house tonight. But I have a quick question for the students. You got a chance to quiz me. I want to quiz you really quickly. Uh-huh. So 15 years, does anybody know how many months 15 years is? It's a math problem. 100 months. That might be right. I don't know the answer. Is it a long time? Does 15 years sound like a long time? Yeah. Well, I think that between the board, our cabinet, the
students, our parents, it's only appropriate that we recognize the 15 years that Mrs. Sonja James has led Mason. And I know that Mrs. James is retiring this year. She didn't leave, did she? She just went out the door. Oh, no. So everybody's got to tell her I did that. But it's a bittersweet moment for us, but we definitely are going to celebrate Mrs. James over these next couple of months. But we really appreciate you guys being here. You did a great job, and I want to wish you a happy end of the school year. I think this is the last of the cold weather, so hopefully your baseball team can
get outside and do well. So thanks again for being here, guys. Great job. Thank you, Mrs. James. So we know it's a tight room, so at this time, if the Cook and Mason families want to head out, you are more than welcome, and then we'll get started with the rest of our meeting. Moving on to section two, approval of the proposed agenda. We'll take a motion. I'll make a motion to approve the agenda. Support. Support. Okay. Ms. McDougall? Lang? Yes. Nolan? Yes. Reichert? Yes. Yellen? Yes. Youngs? Yes. Scianello? Yes. Kish? Yes. 2.02, approval of the March 16th board meeting minutes.
Madam Secretary? Yes, I reviewed the March 16th board meeting minutes and make a motion to approve as written. Support. Any questions? Okay. Ms. McDougall? Lang? Yes. Nolan? Yes. Reichert? Yes. Yellen? Yes. Youngs? Yes. Scianello? Yes. Kish? Yes. 2.03, approval of the April 6th board workshop minutes. Madam Secretary? Yes, I have approved the April 6th board workshop minutes and make a motion to approve as written. Support. Any questions? Okay. Ms. McDougall. Lang? Yes. Nolan? Yes. Reichert? Yes. Yellen? Yes. Youngs? Yes. Scianello? Yes. Kish? Yes. 2.04, approval of the February and March financial reports and bills.
Mr. Treasurer? Thank you. Finance committee met prior to tonight's meeting to review February and March financial reports and bills. Everything appears to be in order. We are spending into our fund balance as planned. But everything appears to be in order, and I'll make a motion to approve February and March financial reports. Support. Any questions? Okay. Ms. McDougall. Lang? Yes. Nolan? Yes. Reichert? Yellen? Yes. Youngs? Yes. Scianello? Yes. Kish? Yes. And moving on to section three, the consent agreement. We have one overnight extended day field trip. So we'll take a motion for that section. I'll make a motion to approve.
Support. Okay. Any questions on that one? Okay. Ms. McDougall. Lang? Yes. Nolan? Yes. Reichert? Yes. Yellen? Yes. Youngs? Yes. Scianello? Yes. Kish? Yes. Okay, we already went through 4.01 with Cook Mason, so we're moving on to 4.02, Reid Elementary. Thank you for having us. I can tell my two kiddos, I'm like, "Oh, it'll be fine. There's not that many people." So you can breathe easy now, right? I'm Mrs. Wagner. I'm the principal at Reed Elementary. Thank you very much for having us. Tonight, I have Mrs. Kristen Taylor with us, and I have Chloe Hester and Becca Abdella,
who you're going to be hearing from in a little bit. Okay. So this is just a synopsis. We focused more on our math scores for this presentation, so it's really hard to see. But what we look for, overall, this is grades three, four, and five, and we look for in the fall are we moving the bar to the winter. So in all of those grade levels, we either stayed, they maintained, or they increased by a little bit in that overall proficiency. So we're pretty proud of that. These are our students for each grade level. They either met or exceeded their fall to winter WRIT score,
so you can see the percentages there. So we're moving in the right direction. We still have far to go. However, we have a lot of good things in place that you'll hear more about in just a minute. So when we looked at our math data, we identified some gaps. So operations and algebraic thinking, fractions and measurement saw the greatest need of intervention support, and we want to get in early with intervention in our lower grades. But what we're super excited about, and these guys are going to talk more about later, is our use of IXL and how that fits nicely with our Bridges curriculum and at-read NWEA.
So Bridges is what we use for our core math curriculum, and with that, we also take the NWEA, and then we have IXL. So these programs read each other, and it's really nice because when our teachers have a Bridges lesson, those students then are assigned something in IXL that matches what they learned about that day. So they can do this at home. They can have extra practice in the classroom, so it's nice that all of these three programs align. And this just shows what we look at for what is the supplemental role, what's recommended for practice.
So IXL enhances our Bridges curriculum and instruction, and then the recommended practice time is 20 to 30 minutes per week or more sometimes. And Mrs. Taylor would talk about that. They do it daily, and then they can also do it at home. So it's not something that's supposed to take place and override our curriculum, but it's in addition to, so it's been nice. They can assign data-driven skill things. So for instance, if a student is struggling in one area, it'll read NWEA, and it'll read where they are in Bridges, and teachers can go in and assign a specific skill to a student. So all with that, it gives them a SmartScore
track, and teachers can monitor this. They have a dashboard where they can see student progress, and then that leads in with what they scored on NWEA and then what their daily lessons are. So for third, fourth, and fifth, you can see the focus areas that we have there. So we look at, in third grade, we'll focus on multiplication foundation and fact fluency and introduction to fraction and fraction models. And then those IXL skills align with those things. And then you can see the same thing, what fourth grade is working on currently and then what fifth grade is working on. So how do we progress monitor? So weekly, they can do IXL metrics, where it
gives them a report of what they're working on that matches what we're doing in the classroom. They can track percentage of students that are reaching that mastery level with that SmartScore. So they really want to get to 80 or better to say, yes, they've mastered that skill before they can move on. This goes along with what we look at for our NWEA. So when we're looking at our winter scores, you can also progress monitor with some of those tools. And then also, we can't disregard our teachers. Those observations and what kids are doing in the classroom also comes into play with that as well. So I'm going to turn it over to Mrs. Taylor.
Do I... Now? Okay. Hello. So this is what we're doing in our third-grade class. So far this year, we've answered 32,055 questions. We've had 1,474 skills practice and so forth. Okay, so we're doing a lot, but we're not spending a whole lot of time, but in a good way because it's not our curriculum like we talked about earlier. We're just supplementing it. And so my biggest thing is whenever we use IXL, we have to be intentional. We can't just say, "Get on IXL, kids." And so we're very intentional in how we use it and why we use it. So this is what we do with our students. We do goal setting.
So each kid has a folder, and after the fall test, we did it, and then after the winter scores as well. So if you can see the colors that are coming down, red indicates one to 20 percentile, so they're going to be significantly below grade level. And then all the way to the right, to the blue, you're going to be, I can't see. I'm sorry. 81 to 100 percentile. So that's where we want, just like Mason and Cook said and what Mrs. Wagner said, we want green and blue if we possibly can. So what we do is we get the WRIT scores, and we shade them in. So in this case, this student, the green is the fall or the spring of second
grade. And you can see they were green, so I think they're partially proficient. They went down over the summer, which is really a common trend, unfortunately, to the orange. And then they went back up to the yellow for the winter. And so then we have goals what we're going to do in IXL. So once the data is in from the WRIT scores, it loads into IXL for us automatically. So each student has their own NWEA IXL plan. And so that's going to... So hopefully, this student goes from yellow, and we get them into green or blue for the spring. And then I just have one more too, because it-- Oops.
Wow. Oh. Where'd the other slide go? I don't know. Oh, there it is. Okay. It's out of order. That's what I thought. I'm like, "I didn't think I was ready for that slide yet." Okay. A little bit out of order. I'm going to go to this one first because we just were talking about it. So obviously, this student... Oh, I'm losing it. I don't know where it went. There. No. Okay. That one. Obviously, this is a student who is not struggling but is getting to where we want that student to be. I don't know what's going on with this arrow, but I need to find the blue one again because the blue one was a student that's proficientI don't know. Wait, one more. No, one more.
I'm only touching it once, too. I'm only touching... Well, okay, right here. Right there. I have no rhyme or reason. I don't know. So now this student, IXL is good for her too, because this student is blue. So this student came in at the end of second grade, was proficient, just dropped a little bit over the summer, but then got back up. And it's super hard to stay in the blue and to continue growing. So IXL is great for both students, for all students. So when you think of intervention, it's not just for the struggling students, it's for the students that we want to push as well. So this was a good example of two different students, both really using
IXL and really doing well with it. And I missed the other slide, so now I've got to go back. There's four ways we use it in the classroom. I'll find it somewhere. And one aligns with the Bridges. Will you find it? Yeah. One aligns with the Bridges curriculum. Oh, it's right here. So it connects to Bridges, so it's awesome. So we can give a lesson. So let's say we're on 3.2 in Bridges, I assign 3.2, and then at the end of the math, you have five or six minutes, seven minutes sometimes, kids are finishing math homework. They get on, and it's exactly what I just taught. And the best thing is that they can go home and the parents say, "What'd you do in math today?" "Well, nothing," or, "I didn't understand math, Mom, can you help me?" And they can go on and totally help their student.
It's wonderful. It's the best thing ever. And then if they're absent, I'm just like, "Go on IXL because your parents maybe can teach you a quick little lesson." It's also connected to NWEA, which we already said. It's great for intervention for tier one, two, and three, in small group instruction, and at home. So we kind of covered all of that as well. We're really excited about the app they have. That just came out, so you don't have to have your Chromebook. You could do it in the car, you can do it on vacation. You can have an iPad or a cell phone and you can work on it. I'm not sure if I have another slide or not. I think that's it. Okay. Oh, yes. Okay. So this is Ms. Beckett, and I think she's going to...
You can just- Do you want to- Yep, take the mic off. Take it off? And just have her hold it. And hold it. Don't drop it. So I think IXL helps me because if I would get a question wrong, it would tell me how I can fix it. And if I don't understand a question, I can watch a video that helps me understand the question. And when I get it wrong, it tells me, and it helps me make it better. Okay. IXL helps me do better on math.
And if I didn't finish my score at 80%, I can go home and get on it. And if I don't understand the problem, my mom or my dad can help me with it. Mm-hmm. Good job, ladies. Yeah. Nice job. Any questions? Any questions? The app you mentioned, is it an IXL app, or is it the NWEA app, or? It's an IXL app. An IXL app. Yeah. So the same login they use- Yeah ... is the same thing. So they do the login. See, we log in once and then it saves it, obviously. Okay. Thank goodness, because they're not going to remember.
But, so they would just have to take that original one, so teachers can print a card for them. Okay. And then once they're in once on that device, they should never have to log in again. Okay. Yes. And the student can go on it if they want to and just do whatever they're last learning about? Or- So, okay. So at least in our class, it's kind of a little bit confusing because they have the Bridges curriculum that's starred. We call those yellow stars. So I only put one up a day because otherwise they get overloaded, then I change it for the next day. Okay. So we know. And then before a test, I can put all of them up for unit five or something. Okay. So they have the yellow stars, and then they have their own NWEA plan.
So their WRIT score, whatever score they got in the winter, is totally geared towards them. So every time they're on that and they answer a question correctly, it's adaptive, so it just keeps getting harder and harder for them. Yeah. So it's an excellent tool. And then, believe it or not, they have an MSTEP plan. So, I don't know if that's loaded in from... I don't know about the MSTEP plan, Elsa. I'm not sure. I think they just gather information from what they've been on, and- On Jamboards. Oh, and then, yeah. So they have those three things they can do. Then they have recommended skills. I think that just pulls from all the data that they've been using. We have group Jams that we do in the classroom, where you can do, let's say I want
a specific skill. I'll put that up. It takes two seconds. It's kind of like a Kahoot. Everyone pushes a button. You get instant feedback. It could be an exit ticket. Okay. We do that in small groups, too, the Jams. Okay. It's really good for intervention. But yeah, so there's lots of things they can do at home or on the app if they are trained to by their teacher. And is this something you're, obviously you're doing in your classroom, but is it in all the third grade classrooms- Yes ... at Reed, or throughout the district, or just- Well, we currently have- So I can't speak for every school, but at my building, we use it second through fifth grade for math. Right. So it's an intervention tool that we have there.
Is there an equivalent intervention tool for reading, too? So we have Amira, which is part of our HMH curriculum that we're using. So that's what we currently use at Reed for our reading intervention, and then of course our coaches and our interventionists, and you can't... The computer's not a substitute for good teaching, so we have those as well. I personally love that in your presentation, you have identified the gaps, and you included it in your presentation. We don't expect all the schools to be perfect and have all this wonderful, awesome, perfect data.
We know we all have to learn and improve and grow and work to get better. And the fact that you'reFocused on that, where are the math domains that we need to improve upon? And that's your focus, and that's okay to have those. We need them so that we can all look and focus and get better. So thank you for that. And girls, thank you for your opinions, and we're glad that it's helpful for you, and just keep working hard and
keep asking your parents for that help because they might not be able to help you much longer actually. It gets hard. Were there other questions from the board? Did you have something, Amy, or no? Well, thank you so much for coming and sharing what it means to you because you guys are the ones who are using it, so it's good to hear from you. And I am glad it's little bits, and it's extra, and they can do it at home. And I love that it's tailored to the student, and it's not one size fits all. That's important. And so it's showing in your data that you've got here, too.
Okay. Thank you so much for coming. Great job, Reed. Great job. Do you guys want a picture? Yeah. Okay. I don't know. I'm doing something wrong with this guy's phone. You guys want to come right here? Go back in. Sorry. There we go. Sorry. Yep, you got to come up, too. It's funny you use the word tailored. Tailored by Taylor. Ah, that's funny stuff. Come on, Janie. Seriously. I got to wear heels. Good deal. Thank you. Thank you. Good job. Good job, guys. And you are welcome to scoot out at this time. And as they're leaving, I should probably point out, Mrs. Taylor was a Division 1 basketball player, so her having issues with the clicker is just that high level of
athleticism. Seriously? Thank you, guys. Have a good night. Have a good night. Thank you. Great job. Okay, moving on to 4.03, student government report. Ms. Genevieve. Hello. Well, first of all, this is my last meeting, as the next meeting's after my last day. So I'd like to introduce first Jesse Leon. She'll be a junior next year, and I've been in many clubs with her. She's going to do amazing for you guys. So to start, Saturday, March 21st, Grand Blanc Science Olympiad traveled to Haslett to compete in their regional tournament. Of 23 schools within the region and from
23 science and engineering events, Grand Blanc placed in the top six in 18 of those events, making them third place overall, and this sent them to state finals on April 25th at MSU, and Grand Blanc took first place in anatomy, physiology, designer genes, mechanics, maternal science, material science, my apologies. The team took second place in chemistry lab, disease detectives, and water quality, and the team also took two third-place finishes, five fourth-place finishes, one fifth place, and three sixth places. And overall, they've done amazing this
entire school year. NHS did host their second blood drive of the year on March 20th. This blood donation event with all the student donors, they were able to pull 48 single red donations and 12 double red donations, which brings their totals this year to 86 single blood units and 22 double red units. This will approximately save 302 lives in our community, and all donors were Grand Blanc High School students, specifically. The drama department put on the production of "Once Upon a Mattress" this past week, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and it was a
beautifully comedic show to be the last production of the director, Ms. Botsky. So she will be missed. And then the mock trial team went to States last month from the 20th to the 21st in Lansing, where they competed in the top 12 teams in the state. And after four intense rounds, the team placed highest in school history as third in the state, also beating the team, 2-1, that advanced to Nationals. 30 students headed to HOSA States this past weekend to compete against top five competitors from schools all over the state,
competing in events like medical math, medical terminology, public health, clinical specialty, CPR, and health career photography. The competitors represented GB very well. They even had nine people advance to Nationals. Cheyenne Barraman and Shu Ya Yi advanced individually, as well as we had two teams advance. Vihan Nayak, Aarav Amin, and Shlok Patel were one team, and the second team was Ritvik Bhanseti, Naveen Vadapally, Mit Patel, and Mahi Patel. Then in the classroom for their MEDOC classes, they were given several opportunities throughout the year. MEDOC 3 students were placed-- MEDOC is medical occupations for
those who aren't familiar, and for them, they were placed in local assisted living communities to get hands-on medical care experience. And then students in MEDOC 3 will also be practicing their blood pressure skills by hosting a blood pressure clinic for teachers and staff. Students in MEDOC 2 will be taking a patient care technician certification exam at the end of the year, which allows them to work as a patient care technician while they are in college pursuing degrees in healthcare. And then-Students in all levels, one, two, and three, were CPR, AED, and life support certified in March.
And then Grand Blanc Orchestra had two students participate in a trip to Paris over spring break. They performed in various locations through France and England. 10 students were even invited to participate in the MSBOA District III Honors Orchestra. These were Hannah Shuck, Katrina Johnson, Evan Kilburn, Kylie Purdy, Roman Sims, Zinnia Barber, Tyler Colburn, Skylar Wamsley, Alex Bully, and Cassie Lichenberg. And then also, I know most of you are aware, but AP Seminar and AP Research have all their presentations these coming two weeks.
AP Seminar has worked on their individual reports for the past couple of months, and AP Research students have been working for the entire school year on their research products. So look out for that. Thank you. Any questions for Genevieve? You're on that mock trial team, right? Yes, I am. Congratulations. Very good job. Thank you. That was amazing. And also thank you very much for your thorough reports this year. You gathered a lot of great information, and we appreciate you sharing it with us. And we'll miss you. Good luck next year, and welcome to... Is it- Jesse ... Jesse? Okay, great. And you're a junior, so you'll be able to hang out with us
for two years. Yeah. Okay, great. Awesome. Thanks again, Genevieve- Thank you ... and welcome, Jesse. Okay, moving on to 5.01, Neola Policy second reading. Mr. Evans. Yes, this is the second reading of Policy 8420. There has been nothing new added to the policy, so I will make a motion that we approve the second reading. I support. Any questions? Okay. Ms. McDougall. Lang. Yes. Nolan. Yes. Reichert. Yes. Yellen. Yes. Youngs. Yes. Fascianello. Yes. Kish.
Yes. Moving on to section six, approval of the 2026-27 food service renewal. Mr. Cushman. Yeah. Tonight, I'm here to seek approval for the food service renewal for this year. As many of you know, some of you may not, we work with a company called Chartwells, and they're a food service management company. And we have a five-year contract with them right now, and in the middle of that, there's renewals that occur each year. So this is really just a formality to approve this next year's food service agreement.
Let's take a motion, and then we'll take questions. I'll move that we approve the renewal of this contract. I support. There's a second? Yes. He supported. Oh, you did? Support. Sorry, Brian. Okay. Any questions for Jeff? And we have Karen here tonight too if there's any questions. The partnership has been 25-plus years, and Karen's been here for just about all of it. So it's been a wonderful partnership. So just in case you're not aware, Karen's been wonderful to work with for a long time, so.
Karen goes above and beyond. Yes. Anything we throw at her, "Yep, we can do that. Yep, we can do that." What year are we on currently for this? You said it was a five-year contract. Yep. What year? This is the second renewal- Okay ... of the five years, so we have three more after this before we have to go out to bid. Okay. Any other questions? Now that the chicken nugget issue is figured out, we are okay. She was all over it, I have to tell you. Now they're super thrilled with the barbecue chicken pizzas and all the other things that they have as options, so these kids, I'm telling you, they don't know what it's like from the old days.
Exactly. Fusion stations and- I still love the mashed potato bowl. Oh. I was walking through Friday, and I'm like, "Hey." Did you get one? I shot in there, I'm like- The kids love ... "Can I still get one?" They're like, "Yeah." They do a great job. Okay. Ms. McDougall. Lang. Yes. Nolan. Yes. Reichert. Yes. Yellen. Yes. Youngs. Yes. Fascianello. Yes. Kish. Yes. Moving on to information reports. Superintendent's report. Well, thank you to Karen for being here. I think that says a lot about her dedication to the district in terms of the last 25, 26 years. So, she doesn't have to be here for a one-year renewal, but it says something that she's here. Yeah. Yeah. It's hard to believe this is the last meeting before the election.
The election's coming up on May 5th. Absentee ballots have been out for an extended period of time. We're still hearing good things in the community. We'll see where things land on the 5th, but I think everyone's aware we moved that workshop to the 11th so that we can follow up after the election and the outcomes and have some things to share with the board on May 11th after the election. So we're excited about that, and we want to thank all the members of our campaign committee for volunteering their time to support the district. Welcome to Jesse. So it is nice that we'll have you for a couple of years.
I want to wish Genevieve well. Sounds like she's heading to Michigan State and James Madison. I love you. So- What are you doing? ... yeah. So she's... Are you going into poli sci? Is that what you're going into? Political theory and philosophical philosophy, so like very specific. Okay. You want to go to law school? Yes. Good for you. Well, good luck to you. Just always be home. If you ever need anything, come find us.I want to thank Mrs. Botsky. I know she recently announced her retirement. She's a longtime theater teacher. This was her kind of swan song performance this year. I think that's a theater thing, right? Swan song?
But Denise has done a great job, and over these last four years, she's taken on the additional responsibility of doing the dress rehearsal for our seniors in the community, and they always love that. We had the luncheon, which Karen and Jacqueline helped host, for roughly 85 to 90 seniors. And it's getting to the point where it's a tradition. We go around the community to the local senior centers, and they said, "Yeah, people have been asking when you're coming." So Abby Park signed up 30 residents the day we dropped off the invitations. So, I think it's a tradition we'll continue into the future.
It's not a heavy lift. We're always a little worried about the walkers and things coming in when kids are crossing. But the kids are great, so it worked out really well once again. Congratulations to Enginerds. They're going to Worlds in Houston. They went into the state championship at Saginaw Valley ranked number one in the state. They won their division. Unfortunately, they lost in the finals, and sounds like they came out of that ranked top 10. So, we'll see. They're one of 85 teams going into the Worlds in Houston, and we'll see where they're going because of that
momentum. I'm telling you, they've been cleaning house. This is the first time they had a little bump in the road, but the competition continues to get a little stiffer. But they're a really impressive group this year. Don't forget tomorrow's Bobcats Be Well Expo, the community resource fair. Last year, we had over 1,200 people attend that, so it's one of the larger events that we put on. I want to thank our SEL director, Betsy Cato, for working on that. We've tried to operationalize that every two years, so it's been a couple of years since we've offered this, but we're expecting a good turnout at the high school tomorrow.
And then on Thursday, I'm looking forward to having dinner with the board for the end of the year. It's getting into that end-of-the-year season, so we have a lot of best of the best for career and tech ed, and scholarships, and senior honors, and this Thursday is the Genesee County Association of School Board Members awards dinner. So we'll see you all there. And then something I don't think I put on the board's radar is I think everyone's familiar with MiLEAP. So the MDE governs K12. MiLEAP governs everything outside of K12, GSRP, community
college, and so forth. So we have a unique connection to the MiLEAP directors in Lansing, as they both are from Genesee County, the director and the assistant director. And they've kind of given us a little leg up on scheduling. They're doing a kickoff. They're calling it the MI Kickoff at Ford Field. And it's specifically targeting junior males for career options. So I think they're going to have some members of the Detroit Lions there, but they're going to have some consultants and people from industry,
and we're sending 30 seniors down to Ford Field next Tuesday for free. The ISD is helping coordinating charter buses, and we'll see how this event goes. But I want to thank high school counselor Nikki Kern for putting that together. So that'll conclude my report. Okay. Board member reports. Do you want to take us off? Or you can do county reports. Yeah. I don't really have much for my board report. Last month, I attended the first game of the Flint City Bucks. I had a great conversation
with two people that I was sitting at a table with. One, he's on the board for the Mott Community College Foundation, and he said, "I want you to join our board." So he was like, "The main thing they do is fundraising." He said, "It's easy. It's a bunch of us old farts." "We need young people like you." So I went, "I don't know." And the other guy who was sitting at the table, his name is Gerhard Mingle. He is 98 years old, does not look it, and he has helped make soccer
what it is in Michigan today. So he gets to go to all these different events for free. He, for his 95th birthday, was presented a signed soccer ball from the president of FIFA himself, given to him by him. So very impressive man. He has awards named after him, tournaments named after him. I said , "Wow, I'm sitting next to a soccer legend, and I didn't even know." And I also had the great chance to talk with Kosta Papista a little bit.
He said he was so thankful for us allowing them to play at our field. He said, "Our team is kind of the underdogs here. Having this opportunity to actually play a more professional team, it's a great opportunity for our guys." So he said, "Thank you, thank you, thank you so much. I cannot thank you enough." So yeah, that was great. The dinner is this Thursday, which Dr. Albert had mentioned, which I'm looking forward to going to. I know I'm winning an award. Kelly is, Yasmina is. Meredith is going to be in attendance, so that'll be nice to see her.
I know she's winning an award as well. We do have election day coming up, so I have my ballot to tell you all to vote. So you will get your ballots. I'll show the camera. You'll get your ballot. You'll have your box. It says yes or no with all of our approved language. You can use a black or a blue pen only. Those are the only two approved colors.Check your box yes or no. Then you can fold it. If you're voting by mail, you can put it in the security sleeve, put it in the envelope, take it to your clerk's office. If you're voting by mail, you'll get this cool "I Voted
by Mail" sticker. If you're not voting by mail, you'll just get a plain old "I Voted" sticker. But the important thing is make sure to vote on May 5th. I know it's Cinco de Mayo, so you may have other plans, but make sure that one of those plans is to go out and vote and support your schools and voice your opinion. Moving on to the County Association of Board Members, there's not much to report on, because our April meeting has been replaced by the dinner. On May 20th, it's behind the Capitol, so it's a great chance for you to
go, get to meet your representatives, discuss matters that are important to you. Hopefully, they can help you. I know it's an election year, so they may tell you what you want to hear, but that may also be the key to having them help you get your interests and your concerns brought to the floor. There were discussions about the holiday party for December. One idea was that each district would bring a gift to the holiday party. There also have been discussions about raising
the scholarship award amount from, I believe it's 700, right? 750 right now to 1,000 or adding on a sixth person. So, Dr. Albert, that's something that may be coming up in a discussion with the county and the other superintendents, so I just wanted to put that on your radar. But that is all that I have. Again, make sure to vote on the 5th or before the 5th. Brian, anything? Well, in 1969, I was a teenager, and I saw
the Americans land on the moon, and I am not from this country. And the reason I bring this up is that I was at the robotics competition a few weeks ago, and I was really struck by the innovation and collaboration and the whole mindset of how they work. And the U.S. is only 5% of the world's population, and yet it's the leader in so many things. And it reminded me when I went to that robotics competition about how innovative this country is. And
I was so impressed. Thank you. Lisa. Not much from me tonight either. I did want to just give Karen a quick plug, that if you have an organization or something within the school to seriously consider Karen and her team for anything like that. They do a phenomenal job. The food is incredible. And it's to support one of our own departments. So I know we've used you several times for banquets and things, so thank you for that. Glad to see the approval of the renewal. Didn't have a chance to make it to the performance, but I have heard outstanding feedback from folks who did get a
chance to go. Looking forward to graduation and warm weather, and that's it for me tonight. Just to remind everyone that Dana Blaker is still looking for a few more dignitary panelists for the AP research presentation. So if you go to her email that we got, the Google Form or whatever, it'll show the spots that really need somebody, especially the spots with only one person maybe signed up. So if you could do those, check them out. It's great to see the kids' presentations. They are pretty amazing every year. Today I got to do science at Mason Elementary School.
I enjoyed it very much. It was the fifth grade class. And Alison, if there's other fifth grade teachers, I really do match it right with the curriculum. It's quite nice. No, but the kids were really great and super inquisitive and asked some great questions. And I was really impressed with them, and it was nice to do some of that. I was able to attend the senior event with the "Once Upon a Mattress" show. And at one point-- It was a dress rehearsal, so things are going to go wrong, but the screen started to come down,
and then we thought, "Oh, it's something interactive on the screen for the play." And then it just started going right back up. And the actors on the stage didn't skip a beat. They just kept going and talking, and our guests afterwards at lunch were just like, "They were amazing. I thought, 'Oh, what's going to happen?'" And then they realized that didn't mean to happen, but the kids were excellent through that whole thing. And so, the kids who are on the stage and in the pit orchestra are also in so many other
things. I don't know how they have the time to devote to this, and it just shows how awesome our kids are, and I want to thank them for a great show. And the pit orchestra sounded really great, too. And it was all students. Sometimes we have to hire a guitarist or other instruments that we can't fill, and this was all students this time, besides the piano accompaniment. But they did a wonderful job, too, and I hope that we can provide them... a theater to continue doing such amazing shows and
a true pit for the orchestra, it would be pretty cool to see. Robotics, I got to see some of the weekend competition on YouTube, and then I was able to go to Kearsley to watch their competition there. And at one point, our robot got hit by another robot, and it stopped working for one round, and we lost that round. And so they took the robot back to what they call their pit. And they have a toolbox that's super tall, and the kids were just rush and try to fix it. And it was like,
is that what in car racing? Pit stop. Yeah, that's what it's called, is a pit. And they zoom fast and that's what they were doing at this robotic thing. It was amazing. And then they went right back into the next competition. And they were finishing it while they were waiting in line to go, and then they do it, and it worked, and they won the round. It was very exciting, this robotics. So I encourage people to watch on the YouTube if they can, to continue to support our team at Worlds. And there is a can drive for them as well this week
on April 25th from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. all day in the parking lot at the high school. So you can just bring your cans to support them. And then, my son plays baseball, and it's fall baseball, or spring baseball in Michigan. It's just rain after rain day. And, it's great to be able to have at least the one turf field, maybe more in the future, who knows. But, having the turf baseball field, they're able to at least play and practice on without ruining the field, and the water's drained off. And, so that's been really nice, and I appreciate it.
MASB does have the Spring Institute coming up, but they also have a Summer Institute in August, I believe. So check out the calendar for that to see if there's some classes that you want to take. That one's a little further away, I believe. I can't remember where. Is it Kalamazoo? So check the schedule for that. The duck tickets are available for the GBEF. We're starting to sell them. We will be at the expo tomorrow, so if you come to that, bring $5 or $10 or $20 to buy some duck tickets to help support the grants we do.
And the senior all-night party is on May 16th. We are still looking for volunteers, so check out the Facebook page or Instagram page for the senior all-night party. We also have a website. You can see our volunteer sign-up genius. You can pick when you want to work, if you want to work. There's also opportunities to give donations or prizes to the party to benefit the class of 2026. So that's it. Thank you. I also was a first-timer with the Enginerds at Kearsley a few weeks ago, and I was also amazed.
I've said this before, I come from a very small district, have never really seen anything like that. And so this is just another thing to celebrate in Grand Blanc, the opportunities that our students have. Which also, I can piggyback off of ACC. I'm on that committee, so I sat in. And just the classes that we have to offer, it just makes me proud to be a part of Grand Blanc, and I just never had that opportunity, so I really like to say that and how lucky and fortunate we are. I like to call this celebration season, because this is the best
time of the year. Winter's behind us, we think. Graduation, all the end of the year parties and celebrations, and lots, again, to celebrate. And last, Meyers Elementary is one of my adoptive schools, and I had the opportunity to stop in there on my way home from work on Friday. They had a lock-in, and it was a fundraiser for Dimes for Diapers. So I thought that was a clever way to raise money for that. And that's all I have. Thank you. Well, a few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to go to Reid
Elementary and enjoy their performance of "Seussical," the musical. It was really great. They did such a great job, and the stage, all the props, everything. It was quite a performance. I was very impressed with them. And then on Thursday night, I went to "Once Upon a Mattress." They did a great job. So much talent, and I really do hope that
we're able to provide a beautiful new theater for them to perform in. So make sure to vote. Thank you. Thank you. Couple things. The Be Well Expo, please come out. I have duck tickets right here, and you can stop by and get your picture with the duck tomorrow. She's going to be dressed up in a duck suit. Shh. Sorry, I'm so excited about it. There will be- Question. Who's going to be dressed up in a duck suit? She is. Oh, now I've got it. So come get your picture with the duck. Anything for Ms. Yasmine. That's right. Okay. Robotics. Yes, I went to that, and I was watching online this
week, and I'm like, "Man, the defense is getting after it." They're not just shooting now. The other one's coming in the area and pushing them out of the way. So I think that is going to be very interesting when they go to Worlds, because I think there'll be a lot more defense going on And then the last thing, you all know that water polo is near and dear to my heart. My girls both played water polo, and they are doing outstanding this year, our team. They're ranked in the top six. Never ranked that high. And I'm kind of reflecting, we talk about our drama,
and we hope to have a better facility so they can excel. And I think we're seeing that with the facilities that we're providing for our students. It's giving them the opportunity to be better than they were before. The last pool we had had a shallow end, and it was very difficult to train. And so having the right facilities for our students, not only academically, but all the extracurricular, I think is really important. So I'm hoping that the community sees the success that we're having with the new facilities that we have in place now, and that we
can continue to provide that for all of our students. So looking forward to that. Okay. Real quick, Ms. Kish. Yes, go ahead. There's one thing I want to say. This Wednesday is Administrative Assistants Day, so make sure to stop in CO to thank our wonderful Linda McDougall. Yes. The best. Also, Yasmin, you're a former science teacher, right? So is that a scientific term, the zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom around? Yeah. It is. Okay, just wanted to clarify. I knew that was coming. Okay, moving on to section eight, public comments. We have none tonight. So next we
are going to go into closed session. So we'll take a motion to go into session for personnel matter. So moved. Support. Around the table, or Ms. McDougall. Lang. Yes. Nolan. Yes. Reichert. Yes. Yellen. Yes. Young. Yes. Fascianello. Yes. Kish. Yes. Thank you. We're in closed session. Memories